Iron Cross

"Comrades, commanders, must be good at using their brains and don't stick to one direction. Since the 62nd and 57th Group armies are so difficult, they can simply cross the river and attract the key German troops. Other group armies should then cross the river through the meander. If a group army is besieged by the enemy, it is Trap, after we invest 3, 4 or even 5 or 6 group armies, can the enemy easily surround and eat us?" Stalin glanced at the map, "Besides, as far as the bend of the Don River, can we? Having three armies is already the limit, no more troops can be deployed..."

"Comrade Vasilevsky and I discussed it..." Zhukov replied cautiously, "We plan to wait for a while and launch a full-scale attack when the entire Don River freezes, so that the surface of the Don River will not become ours. Obstacles, the fascists cannot stop our attack..."

"Do we have to wait at least another week?" Stalin asked with a frown.

"I'm afraid it will take 10 days. After 10 days, the ice will be thick enough to support the tank across the river."

"So, how long do you plan to delay the downstream? Comrade Constantine..." Stalin asked in a mocking tone, "Don't say you don't know that there will be no ice in the downstream for another month..."

"This..." Zhukov's original intention was to continue delaying, but according to the Supreme Commander's wishes, he did not have so much time to delay.

"The Black Sea Fleet sent a report that yesterday and today they were subjected to fierce attacks by the enemy in succession, and two more destroyers were sunk. Now the ports on the left wing of the Caucasus, such as Novorossiysk, Tuapse, and Sochi, are We are in a precarious situation under the threat of the enemy. The enemy controls the sky and the sea. Our troops cannot resist it. What if the enemy lands here and attacks?" Stalin said angrily, "Ok a few days ago? Comrade Jaborsky was still bragging in front of me, saying that he could fight the Germans, but now it is better. After being taught a lesson by the fascists, he sent telegrams asking for help one after another to Moscow, begging the General Staff and Kuznetso Comrade Husband, try to find a way for him. Do you have any good ideas?"

Zhukov and Vasilevsky both smiled bitterly and shook their heads. They could consider sending reinforcements to other places, but there was no way to send reinforcements to the large closed pond in the Black Sea.

"Don't ignore this possibility..." Stalin raised his voice, crossed these cities one by one on the map with his hand, frowned and said: "Originally, the rugged Caucasus mountainous area is the best barrier for the front. The Germans want You have to pay a heavy price if you want to pass through these mountain passes, but on the other hand, these mountain passes will also become a trouble for us. If the enemy lands behind us, we will not be able to mobilize our troops calmly..."

Neither Zhukov nor Vasilevsky could deny this. Behind the passes of the Caucasus was a strip of plains. The troops of the Caucasus Front extended from Novorossiysk, Tuapse, and Sochi to Sukhumi, forming a string of The defense system of the Long Snake Formation is connected by railways between cities. Once Germany lands somewhere in the middle, the entire defense system may be destroyed. At that time, the Red Army whose retreat is cut off will have the sea on the left, mountains on the right, and the German army in front. , with no way out, they can only wait for death in the encirclement. However, there are still so many ports where they can land, and there is no way to focus on them one by one.

"So I guess that Manstein deliberately laid such a trap in the bend of the Don River, using our mindset and panic to force us not to move, and he has quietly transferred the main force to the southern flank, preparing to launch a fatal attack... ... Otherwise, why would Hitler send such a fleet in for no reason - wouldn't it be better to stay in the Mediterranean to deal with the British? "

Vasilevsky thought for a long time and held back a sentence: "I have a suggestion. Is it possible to ask the Southwest Front Army to launch an attack on the upper reaches of the Don River?"

"Should we attack the enemy's left wing first and eat the Hoth Cluster again?" Stalin frowned displeased, "Can we directly hit Rostov? What if the Hoth Cluster moves north? Vasil Lieutenant Comrade Vsky, you must have a global perspective. The enemies of Rostov are not afraid of our outflanking at all. Now they have a huge fleet and firmly control the sea power of the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov. They can send as much supplies as they want through sea routes. No matter how much supplies they send, even the only guerrilla group that can harass them no longer exists..."

Zhukov remained silent. It was obviously a good move for the Germans to send a fleet to the Black Sea. Not only did they use the Black Sea and the Azov Sea to organically connect the clusters in the three directions, but they also used the fleet's artillery fire and fast movement capabilities to form a formation. A powerful deterrent, because with the dispatch of this fleet, the enemy can easily move inside the three battlefields and find the weak links of the Red Army for assault. The reinforcement speed of the Red Army's land march cannot keep up with the speed of warships sailing in the sea. ——This advantage cannot be solved in a short time, because the Red Army currently does not have an advantage in the Black Sea in terms of sea and air. Even a sneak attack is very difficult. The Red Army aviation lacks dive bombing capabilities and experience in dealing with surface ships. Can do useless work.

Seeing that the two generals were silent, Stalin made his own suggestion: "Perhaps, we can let the leading troops of the 21st Army continue to attack to see what the enemy's plan is, and at the same time prepare the following 24th Army to cross the river. How many troops can we spend in one day at most?"

"If the Germans don't interfere, there will be about 40-50 thousand people and corresponding technical equipment..."

"The 24th Army has less than 100,000 troops. If we seize the opportunity, two days will be enough. The 27th Army will not be eaten by the Germans in two days, right?"

"This..." Zhukov smiled bitterly, "Of course not, but even the 27th Army's small force cannot defeat the enemy."

"Then use the troops of the 21st Army to continue the attack. They don't need to shake the enemy's defenses. They just ask them to further test the Germans' strength. I don't believe that Manstein can always give up the territory to us. Let's give it a try. His tortoise shell. Comrades, you can't move because you are afraid of the enemy's trap. Can you regain the lost ground if you keep your eyes open?" Stalin said to his two subordinates, "You are afraid that Manstein's main force is here. We are waiting for us to fall into a trap, and we are afraid that Manstein will play a trap with us and not put the main force there, but from the perspective of dialectics, there is only one result. How will we know if we don’t try it once?”

"Okay, Comrade Stalin, we will try to launch a tentative attack early tomorrow morning..." Zhukov was convinced by Stalin. In fact, he had no other better choice.

"Crazy... let one of our armies deal with a group army? Or a huge force like the German 6th Army?" Karpov, commander of the 27th Army, tore up the paper after reading the telegram asking him to attack. The telegram ordered him to keep attacking until he encountered the enemy's strong defense. "This is the largest army group organized by the Germans. It is stronger than any of our front armies. Does this mean that all of our 27th Army should die?"

Political Commissar Masnov also did not understand the true intention of this order, but he still persuaded him: "Comrade Commander, you can't say that. The enemy's situation is unclear now, and the superior commander hopes that we can ascertain the enemy's defense for the main force. This is against Our trust. Besides, the superior leaders did not give us any indicators such as conquering the defense line or which city to occupy. They only asked us to touch the enemy's defense system..." After that, he winked at Karpov, and then The reporter immediately realized that this was his old partner's hint that he should proceed cautiously and retreat immediately if the enemy became too powerful. The corners of his mouth raised slightly and he smiled.

After forwarding the telegram ordering the 27th Army to attack, the commander of the 21st Army Chistyakov himself was very irritable. Emotionally speaking, he wanted to lead the entire army to follow and support the 27th Army. In any case, the 27th Army They are all sharp-edged troops of the group army. Karpov and he were comrades in the same company back then. He was just the company commander and Karpov was the platoon leader. But rationally, he could not let the entire group army come forward to respond. In the absence of clear support from other friendly troops in the rear, going forward together may lead to dying together.

After deliberation for a long time, he finally made up his mind: "Except for the three divisions left to guard the bend, the entire group army pressed forward 50 kilometers to maintain a high degree of vigilance to prevent sudden enemy attacks... assign the 10th Tank Brigade to Comrade Karpov. Once the battle situation If the situation is unfavorable, immediately retreat and request support from Front Commander Comrade Rokossovsky and Moscow.”

Of course, Zhukov did not simply copy Stalin's orders and do nothing else. He and Vasilevsky discussed it for a long time. Although Stalin had not allowed the Southwest Front to attack the Khot cluster on the right, he did not object to the front's attack on the Khot cluster. His left wing attacked Rostov. He sent a telegram to the commander of the Southwest Front, Vatutin, asking the Southwest Front to cooperate with the 21st Group Army in launching an attack. He also asked him to build a pontoon bridge on the upper reaches of the Don River and prepare to go south to join the war.

As soon as the Red Army moved, various battlefield information was immediately fed back to Manstein. He was keenly aware that the Red Army's determination to fight had changed, and the mentality of the Red Army's top brass had also become impetuous.

Watching the combat staff adjust the latest enemy situation on the sand table, he nodded and said: "Prepare the Southwest Front Army to attack our left wing - very good, they finally gave up their attempt to attack the Huot Cluster from the flanks, and told the soldiers defending frontally, Never retreat an inch, firmly guard the position in your hands..."

"What about the deployment of the flanks?" Weiler asked. "If the Red Army crosses the river, at least it will not be less than one army group."

"The flanks..." Manstein pondered for a moment, then waved his hand and said with great force, "Let them cross the river..."