Iron Cross

"I think this is very difficult. He will have more troops on the front line than we realize." Zhukov pointed to the map and said, "The overall defense front from Pavlovsk to Rostov stretches for more than 900 kilometers. Even if Manstein shrunk his defense system and consciously gave up the fight for the bend of the Don River. The overall length of the defense front would still exceed 700 kilometers, excluding the area defended by the left-wing Holt cluster and the area defended by Kleist on the right-wing. The length of the entire defense system that needs to be faced will last approximately 400 kilometers. This means that if Manstein places 15 divisions on the front of the defense line, each division's front defense will reach more than 25 kilometers. In terms of the German equipment and This is a relatively dangerous number in terms of military strength.”

"So, what is your conclusion?" Stalin asked puzzledly.

"Two. First, Manstein will not defend such a wide front. He will definitely continue to shrink. As long as we add more fuel, we can break through his first line of defense. The second possibility is that he invested There are far more troops than we imagined, so this kind of defensive width is what he can afford." Zhukov thought about it carefully and said, "The General Staff believes that the first option may be closer to reality. By then, this defense line will be far away. It will not be as unbreakable as it seems. Our response strategy is simple, send as many troops as possible across the river, put further pressure on this line of defense, find the enemy's weak link as soon as possible and then launch a swift attack."

Vasilevsky added: "There is also a very small possibility that Manstein is bluffing. The reason why he put on such a huge posture in the early stage was to conceal his true intentions-he only had With such a small amount of troops, the rest were put into other battlefields.”

"This possibility also exists. We cannot underestimate it. At present, the supply from Batumi and Poti to Novorossiysk, Tuapse and other places has been greatly hindered. The enemy fleet has become a thorn in our side. " Stalin looked at the two generals and asked, "Since your analysis is so consistent, what is the follow-up response? "

"We believe that at least one group army each needs to be deployed in the upper reaches of the Don River and the meander of the river to attack. At the same time, we also need air force cover. Now the German planes are very rampant. If we don't suppress this arrogance, we will continue to suffer losses." Zhukov said, "I issued an order to the Southwest Front Army and the Don River Front Army, asking them to step up their efforts to cross the river tonight, use two days to invest another group army and launch a full-line attack."

Stalin nodded: "You can follow this idea. Tell your comrades not to be anxious first. Find the weak link before launching a fatal blow. At the same time, you must think more fully about the difficulties. The enemy will not be without depth or reserve forces. , there must be a second and third line of defense waiting for us, we must fully open it in one go and win the final victory.”

Vatutin received a telegram urging the army, and he shouted in the headquarters: "Attack to the sea, first separate the connection between the Hoth Cluster and the Manstein Cluster..." Rokossovsky also received a telegram urging him. He thought about the telegram about the advance, and finally decided to send the 24th Army across the river as quickly as possible.

Seeing the summary of the enemy's situation sent back from the front line and the defense system and troop deployment laid out by Manstein, Zeitzler took a breath of air, followed by a convulsive toothache.

"What's wrong?" Seeing that his expression was wrong, his friend and Eastern Front Munitions Director Schmont asked strangely.

"Our good marshal allowed Army Group South to be surrounded by the enemy..."

"Surround?" Schment's eyes widened. "How could it be? Army Group South has nearly 1.4 million troops. How could the Russians surround him? They don't have such strength at all."

"He voluntarily let the enemy surround him. He divided his troops into three parts: left, center and right. Although they barely formed a whole, the connection between them was very weak - as if to tempt the enemy, come on, come on, come and cut us off. "The connection between each other," Zeitzler said angrily, "He went too far."

“Can the Russians bypass him and move toward Ukraine?

"That's not possible. If the Russians don't deal with either of the Hoth and Manstein clusters, they will be attacked by two heavily armed groups on the left and right flanks if they go deep alone. Not many Red Army troops can withstand the two German clusters. A pincer attack, so the enemy’s strategy must be to deal with one first.”

"Will the Huot Cluster be dealt with first? The Romanians and Italians are both unreliable comrades. If I were in command, I would pick this soft persimmon first."

"The enemy has to either deal with the Hult cluster first or the Manstein cluster first. There is no other way. But are these two groups so easy to deal with?" Zeitzler smiled faintly, "Manstein Marshal Stein put himself in a dead end. This will obviously be a hard nut. Stalin must have a good mouth, but it cannot be said to be completely surrounded. We have control of the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov, and the waterway connections are smooth. Unhindered.”

"It's a little better than the situation in Crimea and Sevastopol."

Zeitzler laughed: "I almost forgot that the Crimean Peninsula and the Sevastopol Fortress were conquered by Marshal Manstein. In comparison, he should have great experience in how to defend seaport cities."

"The three front armies add up to more than 1 million people, which is almost equal to the strength of the entire Army Group South. Can Marshal Manstein hold it?" Schment said worriedly, "Or can it survive at a relatively small cost?"

"It's hard to say, but we should fully trust the commanders on the front line."

Of course we have to believe it, because the defense expert and the new commander of the 6th Army, Heinrich, has arrived.

"I heard that you were going to be surrounded, so quickly drag me over to die together..." Heinrich joked as soon as they met.

"Of course, without you, we would die together. With you, the Russians would not dare to do this to us."

Heinrich greeted Manstein while conducting a field inspection of the defense line. He said with emotion: "This defense line is not well built..."

"Why not?"

"Look..." Heinrich mercilessly pointed out several loopholes in the defense line. Manstein's face turned red all of a sudden. He thought he was very good at commanding the construction of the defense system, but he didn't expect that it was a big mistake in the eyes of the defense experts.

"I heard that you took away all the assault guns of the troops?" Heinrich asked, staring into Manstein's eyes.

This made the latter feel a little uneasy. After thinking for a long time, he said: "Yes."

"You have to give it back to me." Heinrich said bluntly.

"No, I still need it."

"How long will it take?"

"A week..."

"No, I can't wait that long, 5 days!" Heinrich stretched out 5 fingers and waved them in front of Manstein.

"Okay, 5 days is 5 days." Manstein was reluctant, but he could only bite the bullet and agree. This was not a good thing for him to do - I have heard of infantry divisions taking assault gun units from armored divisions to defend, but I have never heard of people taking assault guns from infantry to support armored units.

"What about the armored division?"

"One week!"

"Okay, return it in 10 days." Manstein was stunned. He thought Heinrich would bargain with him, but he didn't expect that the other party not only didn't mean to do so, but generously extended the time by 3 days. He was a little uncomfortable with this rhythm, and asked with a smile, "This, did I hear it right?"

"The armored division is an indispensable part of the flexible defense system. In the next brutal defense time, they will play the role of the fire brigade. As for your needs..." Heinrich blinked mischievously, "I think 10 days is enough."

"Enough, enough."

"I almost forgot to tell you, the Führer said that the navy will be withdrawn at the end of November."

"What?" Heinrich complained distressedly, "Can this force not be withdrawn? I still keep it for great use..."

"No! This is impossible. There are big moves in other directions." Manstein immediately Heinrich interrupted his complaint, "This is an order from the Führer himself."

"Okay." Heinrich shrugged helplessly, "Give me a few more days anyway, even until December 5th."

"I will report this to the Führer, one more day is good."

"I also need to know the situation of stockpiling supplies..." Heinrich said after listening to the quartermaster's report on combat supplies, "There is not enough cement, rails, and logs, and they need to be improved as soon as possible..."

Cement is easy to understand, but rails and logs are a bit confusing. Seeing that the quartermaster was still in a daze, Heinrich immediately reminded: "These are all necessary equipment for building bunkers. You don't want the front-line observation post that we have built with great difficulty to become a pile of debris under the heavy artillery bombardment of the Soviets?

Heinrich asked a lot of questions one after another, and Manstein said: "Why do I feel like I'm back to the last war?"

"You guessed right, it is indeed prepared to use the tactics of the last war, but this time we have better equipment, and we can still fight in the streets if necessary."

"Really want to fight in the streets? "Lieutenant General Weller was shocked and stuck out his tongue.

"I hope it won't be used, but I have to make such preparations... Whether we can kill 1.5 million Red Army soldiers depends on these preparations."

"Crazy... How many lines of defense can kill 1.5 million?" Manstein was full of disbelief.

But Heinrich said: "Spring is still far away. This will be a decisive battle that will attract global attention. We have to hold on until at least the end of March..."

"But it's only mid-November now..." Weller lamented, "We still have to endure for a full 5 months."

"So I said there is enough time to kill these Russians." Heinrich smiled, "Tomorrow I'm going to watch the marshal's specialty."

"You can't hide anything from you." Manstein also smiled.