Chapter 191 Battle of Dahequ Tribe (4)

"But this will increase the pressure on the flanks. The 21st Army in the front has 100,000 troops, and the flanks are estimated to be no less than 100,000. The two downstream 62nd and 57th Group Armies add up to almost 160,000-180,000 troops. The front-line troops will soon It will withstand the attack of 360,000-380,000 enemies.”

"Don't worry, I have a way... to call Huot and attack the Bryansk Front in three days."

"What?" Weller was stunned, "I thought you would let Holt assist us?"

"We don't need his help. I haven't seen the three Red Army fronts yet. I may not be able to defeat them when attacking, but when it comes to defense, there's nothing I can't defend." Manstein said with a smile. "But your suggestion reminds me that we really need an expert in commanding defense now. I have to control the overall situation and also distract the 6th Army's offensive and defensive efforts. I really don't have enough energy..."

"Huh? Last time General Zeitzler asked you if you needed General Model to take over this position. Why did you refuse?"

"Of course Model is very capable in managing defense. He is our number one defense expert, but he has a problem..." Manstein said cheerfully, "He always cares about others when he is defending. If you want that, you need air force today and tanks tomorrow, and later it is best to give him two infantry divisions - if not, one will be fine. The head of state has said that there are no reinforcements for me, so I don't dare to ask for Model. Pick him up."

"Oh..." Weller smiled and let out a long sigh.

"Actually, I first wanted Seydlitz, the former commander of the 51st Army, to come and assist me, but the head of state did not agree. He only said that he was unreliable and kicked him to the Western Front to serve as a military officer for Marshal Rundstedt. Senator, let him serve under Paulus."

"Unreliable?" Weller asked in a low voice, "What does this mean?"

"What else could this mean?"

"He dares to oppose the Führer?" Weller exclaimed, "I haven't heard anything about this. He is not from Halder's group..."

"I didn't understand what the Führer was thinking, but last time Seydlitz sent me a telegram, I knew that the Führer was right - he was smarter than us."

"What did the telegram say?"

"A bunch of complaints, all pessimistic and disappointing about the future - I have to admit that Guderian is much better than them. At least after he was dismissed, this man was still worried about the development of a new generation of tanks, the formation and training of troops, He is still respectful to the Führer, and I have never heard his complaints in public - this is where his destiny is different from that of Hoppner," Manstein said. "Even if he is not Guderian, he should be like him. Marshal Liszt was so silent, not to mention that the head of state had not done anything to him. At least he was still serving in the army, with the same rank and level. He was just on the Western Front in a more relaxed position with less heavy responsibilities. Didn't Paulus still have a good job on the Western Front? He was a serious commander of the Sixth Army, and his position was not higher than that of Seydlitz. Why didn't he complain so much? Trying to flatter me in various ways, trying to get me to find a way out for him."

"But I don't remember that you have any friendship with this guy?"

"Yeah, I didn't." Manstein smiled meaningfully, "But he figured out the situation with Marshal Rundstedt. He probably knew that I had served as the old marshal's chief of staff and we had a good relationship with him. I want to take this route..."

"Hmph, he's quite good at digging into camps."

Of course, what Manstein didn't know was that the deepest reason why Hoffman was unwilling to use Seydlitz was that this guy historically led the troops to retreat first in the Battle of Stalingrad, forcing Paulus to give him a fait accompli. The order to retreat disrupted the overall deployment. Although retreating or not would lead to death, this obviously caused extra pressure on Paulus; then he surrendered to the Soviets. This was not the end. After surrendering, he also tried to change. He became a figure like Vlasov, trying to gather German soldiers in Soviet prisoner-of-war camps to fight for the Bolsheviks. This was even more despicable than Paulus, who at best only exposed it after being captured. Seydlitz This kind of virtue was declared a death sentence for Hoffman's political future early on, and he was driven into the shadows by this unified action of disarmament and expansion of troops.

"Who are you going to recommend now?"

"General Gothard Heinrich, the current commander of the 4th Army." Manstein raised the telegram in his hand. "The head of state responded very quickly. Yesterday, my telegram requesting instructions was sent less than 3 days ago. He called back officially and agreed tomorrow, and you can see Heinrich take office tomorrow.”

There was a reason Manstein did not tell Weller that his relationship with Model was average, but his relationship with Heinrich was very good, because the latter was Rundstedt's cousin and they were very close to each other. When Lundstedt was in charge of Army Group South, Manstein was his chief of staff. The old commander was calm, and Manstein made extraordinary moves. The two sides cooperated well and won many battles. Later, due to the strength of the troops, When he was forced to withdraw from Rostov (the Second Battle of Rostov), ​​Lundstedt took full responsibility for himself and left Manstein completely. He even strongly recommended the latter to take over as commander of Army Group South. Although Hitler originally replaced Lundstedt with Bock, Manstein also served as the commander of the Crimean Campaign under the unremitting recommendation of the old marshal and was awarded the title of marshal after the final capture of Sevastopol. Military rank, and now that he controls the entire Army Group South, he naturally wants to reciprocate the favor and choose Heinrich, who has a close relationship with him.

Heinrich was a devout Protestant believer, and his wife was Jewish (Hitler presented her with an honorary German certificate on the spot to win her over when they got married, so the anti-Jewish racial policy actually depended on the person). Someone once raised objections to Heinrich's religious beliefs, believing that this practice was incompatible with the party and National Socialism, but Heinrich ignored this warning and continued to go to church to worship the next week. Not only did he go in person, but his wife and daughter also went together. Manstein appreciated this point very much. A soldier, especially a senior officer, should have some beliefs that he always adheres to. Without such beliefs, it is difficult to be as solid as a rock in defense by blindly following the trend. This characteristic is also very obvious in Model. It is true that he is the favorite of the Führer, but Model's position was not obtained by flattery and following the trend. He really believes in National Socialism and really worships the Führer - although he is more ruthless than anyone else when it comes to arguing with the Führer. As for people like Seydlitz, he would go with whichever side the wind was blowing in his favor. Not only did Hoffman look down on him, but Manstein also had a bad impression of him now.

The reason why Hoffman approved this appointment was simple: Heinrich was a historically recognized defense expert, and his defense ability ranked second after Model. If we talk about the level of using the weak to defend against the strong, he might be the first. The commander of the Oder River Battle before the Battle of Berlin in 1945 was Heinrich. He had only about 820,000 exhausted, demoralized, and mixed-age troops, and only 1,519 tanks. He faced a 2.5 million-man army composed of the three most elite Soviet fronts, equipped with more than 6,000 tanks and self-propelled artillery. However, in the defense of the Seelauf Heights, he successfully blocked Zhukov for three days, interrupting Zhukov's honor of monopolizing Berlin and causing huge losses to the First Belorussian Front - 30,000 officers and soldiers were killed, 210,000 were injured, 837 tanks were destroyed, and the number of tanks and self-propelled artillery damaged reached 1,653, almost breaking the backbone of the front. As for Hitler's dislike of Heinrich's religious beliefs and Jewish factors, they no longer existed for Hoffman.

Hoth was worried that the Southwestern Front would sever his connection with Manstein's group, and was afraid that Vatutin would threaten Manstein's flank, so he didn't dare to act arbitrarily. But now that Manstein let him do it, he immediately issued an order to prepare for an attack to the north. Even though the Bryansk Front had more than 600,000 troops, he only had 400,000 troops, and Romania and Italians accounted for nearly half of them, but he was very confident in the combat effectiveness of his troops.

Three days ago, he had just received 2 bases of fuel supply (according to German military regulations, the total amount of gasoline and diesel required for all vehicles of the entire army to move 100 kilometers is considered 1 base), plus the original reserves and the part seized from the Voronezh Front in the last short assault, he had a total of nearly 5 bases of fuel in his hands, which was enough for a good fight. During this supply, he also received more than 70 Type 4G tanks as reinforcement. He knew that Manstein only had two armored divisions at the moment. At such a tense moment, he allocated all the tank supplies of the entire army group to himself, which touched him very much. After consideration, he finally decided to withdraw all the Type 3 tanks in the army, a total of more than 40 tanks, to reinforce Manstein. Now the Fourth Armored Army is the first group to achieve a comprehensive replacement of Type 3 tanks. Although the Romanians and Italians are very envious of this batch of replaced Type 3 tanks, they heard that they were supporting Manstein's central defense line, and they also kept silent.

He studied the map for a long time. This time, it was not possible to attack the junction of the Bryansk Front and the Southwestern Front. The two learned the lesson of the last Voronezh Front being defeated and watched the junction tightly, but Hoth quickly came up with a solution-attack the flank of the Southwestern Front!

"Didn't Marshal Manstein ask us to attack the Bryansk Front? Why did it become the Southwestern Front?" A bunch of people asked him curiously.

"When the Southwestern Front crosses the river, I'll kick his ass hard. Do you think Vatutin should retreat and deal with me again, or should he let the Bryansk Front help contain our offensive?"

Everyone thought about it and thought it was most likely the latter.

"That's right..." Hoth smiled slightly, "The Bryansk Front is now like a hedgehog, hiding there and I can't do anything about it, but the Southwestern Front will soon move to cross the river and go south. As long as they try to support Vatutin, there will be loopholes..."