Iron Cross

The next afternoon, at the Army Group South headquarters in Rostov, Manstein and Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Weller (also his partner in the Crimean Campaign) were looking at the photos sent back by the reconnaissance plane. It shows that the pontoon bridge used by the Soviet army to cross the river has been changed into five channels. After nearly 24 hours of forced crossing day and night, the entire 27th Army crossed the meander of the Don River.

"Sir, are you just watching the Russians cross the river? I thought you would stop them at the river..."

"Block?" Manstein shook his head, "It is easy to block the enemy across the Don River, but how to destroy the enemy?"

"Only by stopping them can we better eliminate them." Weller said, "After all, the first task assigned by the head of state is to defend the existing defense line."

"I can't stop it. The local guide told me that starting from mid-November, there will be a 140-day ice age in the upper reaches of the Don River. By mid-December, the lower reaches will also begin to freeze, and then there will be an ice age of more than 90 days. By then, I can go anywhere. They can all come over. We are currently at a disadvantage in terms of strength. I can't defend the area as a whole while also guarding it along the river, let alone keep an eye on this place all the time. Then the depth of the defense line will be too shallow for them. A flood outlet - at least let them find a place to cross the river. If they are forced to disperse across the river, how can I stop them? "

"So you chose this place?"

"I didn't pick it, it was the Russians themselves." Manstein laughed, "because they think this is the easiest place to cross the river: from the hydrological conditions, due to the existence of the big bend, the water flows here It is relatively easy to set up a pontoon bridge when the river is slowing down; from the perspective of strategic situation and troop distribution, the bend is closest to Stalingrad, and the troops crossing the river can be well covered. Once the river is successfully crossed, it is easy to deploy quickly. Of course, it is impossible for the Russians to cross the river. There is only one place here, and they will definitely choose another place downstream.”

It is not that there are no bridges on the Don River. On the contrary, there are more than one. The Red Army did not have time to blow up these bridges when they retreated. The German army did not choose to blow up the bridges after retreating across the river. But anyone with a brain knows the bridges. It was very unreliable and destined to be the focus of the enemy's defense. Therefore, the Red Army wisely did not choose to cross the river by bridge, but stayed far away from them. Upon hearing Manstein's explanation, Weller also laughed. He changed the subject and then talked about another thing: "The people below are complaining, saying that you took away all the No. 3 assault guns and defended What should we do if we face Russian tanks in combat?”

"Didn't we give them 57mm, Russian-made 76.2mm anti-tank guns and our own 88mm guns?"

"But these things can only be used to set up ambush in fixed positions and cannot be maneuvered."

"Why do they need to maneuver? Someone has done the maneuvering work. Lieutenant General Hube's 16th Armored Division is used to do this." Manstein waved his hand, "Please don't think nonsense, I have already arranged it, and I am not I have never been a group army commander.”

Weller laughed.

While Manstein and Weller were discussing the war situation, Zhukov, the Supreme Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Union, also explained the war situation in the Supreme Command:

"Based on the situation detected and combined with intelligence analysis from various channels, the commander of the German Army Group South is Marshal Manstein. He has about 85-90 divisions under his command, with a total strength of between 1.45 and 1.7 million. . Strangely, in September and October of this year, the Germans unexpectedly disbanded the corps-level organization. On the one hand, they strengthened the divisions, and on the other hand, they tried to reduce the army-level organization. However, this work has obviously not been completed so far. , the Germans only split up the army, and have not done enough to reduce the organization of the army. For example, the 6th Army, which Manstein himself served as commander, is said to have more than 300,000 troops..."

During the Eastern Front Campaign, the Soviet and German armies had completely different organizational structures. In terms of infantry, the Soviet Union adopted a small division system. The full strength of a division was about 10,500 troops. Unfortunately, most of the time it was not fully equipped. The basic number Between 4,000 and 7,000, the full strength of the German infantry division is about 15,000 to 16,000, and the actual number is about 12,000 to 14,000. If it is less than 10,000 (unless it is surrounded), it is generally required to go back for rest and replenishment. After Hoffman's "dismantling the army and replenishing the divisions" operation, the full strength of the German infantry division reached about 17,000, and the actual number was about 13,000-15,000. Considering the firepower of the German army, it was almost equivalent to one German division. 3 Red Army divisions.

In terms of armored forces, the Red Army adopts a tank corps-brigade-battalion organization. A tank corps usually has three brigades and some infantry units. The total number of people does not exceed 10,000, and the number of tanks is about 170. The German army adopts an armored division-regiment-battalion organization. An armored division has an armored regiment and 3 armored battalions. It has about 160 tanks and a total number of about 12,000 to 14,000 people. After the summer of 1942, After reinforcements, the number will rise to about 170 tanks and a strength of about 13,000 to 15,000. So even if a Red Army tank corps has the same number of tanks as a German armored division (regardless of the difference in equipment quality). Due to differences in infantry units, its combat capabilities are weaker than those of German armored divisions.

"The enemy forces in front of us are divided into three interconnected but independently separated heavy military groups." Zhukov pointed his pointer at the 2,400-kilometer front on the southern flank. "The enemy's left wing is the Huote Group, the center is the Manstein Group, and the right wing is It's the Kleist Group - this group was the original so-called Army Group A. It was reorganized with Army Group B to form Army Group South at the end of August. When Hitler launched a purge in the army in September, the former commander of this group, Marshal List, Instead of hanging up and leaving after a conflict (this is why Manstein didn't react for a while when Zeitzler teased him as the most capable marshal on the southern flank), the strength of the three enemy groups was roughly evenly distributed. According to incomplete statistics, there are about 450,000 to 500,000 enemy troops on the left, 500,000 to 600,000 on the center, and 500,000 to 600,000 on the right. The enemy's armored forces are also divided into three groups, with the left wing being the strongest and the right wing second. The middle is the weakest..."

Others in the Supreme Command were talking about it: "Manstein's deployment is very strange. Isn't it clear that we should be divided and surrounded?"

"I don't understand the deployment of the German army, but evenly distributing troops is obviously not what a commander should do. It seems to be comprehensive, but in fact it will only make the troops focus on one thing and lose another." Veteran Red Army Marshal Voroshilov said sarcastically, " The marshal is probably still immersed in the victory in the Crimean Peninsula..."

"Perhaps he feels that there are too many troops and must be divided up to facilitate command. After all, he has not been the commander of the group army for a long time." Timoshenko said with a smile, "Otherwise, why would he also serve as the commander of the 6th Group Army? What a strange person."

"If you consider that he actually retreated when he was in a good situation in September, this arrangement is not surprising at all." Molotov added, "I don't understand how Hitler could let such a person become a marshal. He was also in charge of Army Group South, so maybe he was very obedient - those who were disobedient were killed or purged by the Führer."

Zhukov seemed not to have heard these discussions, but continued to introduce: "We have also made adjustments in response to the enemy's deployment. For the Manstein Group in the center, we plan to concentrate more than half of the troops and technical weapons on the southern flank of the front to push them over. We strive to achieve a 2 to 3 times advantage in strength and equipment over the enemy. On the left and right flanks, we use three front armies to carry out diversionary operations. We have slightly more troops than the enemy, but their technical weapons are slightly inferior to our operational expectations. It is: By holding back the left and right wings, we create opportunities for our center group to encircle and annihilate the Manstein Group. In the overall battle plan, the center is our main offensive direction, and we will divide it into two groups to attack from the north and south. "

Looking at the attack arrow drawn by Zhukov, everyone basically nodded in agreement. After all, it is impossible for more than 1 million troops to be concentrated in one direction, which would not be able to expand at all and give full play to the advantage of the force.

"Of course... the General Staff also has different opinions. Comrade Vasilevsky hopes to encircle and annihilate the enemy's left-wing group first." Zhukov made a twist. He used red and blue pencils on the map to outline the offensive spearhead on the north side of the center road. An arrow turning to the right, while saying, “He believed that he could quickly cut off the connection between the enemy’s left flank and the center, use the main forces of the Bryansk, Voronezh, and Don Fronts to encircle and destroy the Hot Cluster, and then turn to Rostov. "

Stalin put down his cigarette butt and asked in a deep voice: "What do you think of this point of view?"

"I don't recommend doing this." Zhukov's answer was simple, "The enemy's Hult Group's left wing is the enemy's Central Army Group, and its right wing is the Manstein Group. If we attack in this direction and route, it does not mean that we can encircle Huot Group. Special Group - As long as he moves to the center, he will be in contact with the Central Army Group, which means that we are far away from the flanks of the Manstein Group, so that the pressure from the enemy in front of us will be weakened. I still insist on my opinion - - The center should be strengthened at all costs! Of course, the center still faces many difficulties. Although the offensive has been launched across the board, comrades generally report that there is a lack of ammunition and supplies, and it is difficult to maintain high-intensity operations, and most of the new infantry added in the summer are I haven’t received training, and now I can’t even line up. If I can delay it for a little longer...\

,""This is not possible..." Stalin interrupted Zhukov's complaint unhappily, "Let Comrade Vasilevsky tell you the specific reasons."