Iron Cross

ps: There will be another chapter later, so stay tuned...

When the Atlantic War temporarily came to an end, the battle for Tabriz and Baku entered a climax.

In the first few days of Turkey's fierce offensive, the Middle East Army commanded by Rommel unexpectedly remained stationary. On the one hand, he was waiting for follow-up troops to arrive, and on the other hand, he was observing the dynamics of the enemy forces on the opposite side. He hoped that Mezov's The Persian Army retreated in a hurry because it was worried about cutting off its rear route, but this hope finally came to nothing. The Red Army was in a panic at first, but starting from the fourth day, the panic gradually disappeared, including Stalin, the Red Army General Staff, Faced with a series of stern orders from the Caucasus Front, Metzov had no choice but to defend on the spot.

This was certainly not the result Rommel wanted to see. He originally wanted to drive the enemy to Baku like a duck, but now he had to turn to a forcible attack. Originally, he had another option, which was to besiege the Red Army. An army group that had its logistical supply lines cut off would not be able to support it for long, but Wenke, who had been cooperating with the Turks in fighting, sent him a telegram saying that the Russians were deploying support forces. Blocking various passes in the Caucasus Mountains, he hoped that Rommel would help him to capture the passes and Baku as quickly as possible to create opportunities for the next battle.

Rommel did not dare to neglect this coordination requirement. As the front gradually lengthened and Turkey joined the axis, the Middle East Army, except for oil and some food, will mainly transport supplies through Turkey in future operations - helping Wenck is equivalent to Help yourself. Berlin has high expectations for the war situation in Turkey. A few days ago, Marshal Bock, who had been hidden away by Hoffman and was rumored to be under "house arrest" by the outside world, suddenly appeared in eastern Turkey and began to coordinate and command the German army and the 500,000-strong Turkish army in joint operations. Rommel didn't have to blame others, but he still respected seniors like Marshal Bock very much.

The rumors from the outside are actually not wrong: after the "treasonous group" was exposed, Bock (who was Treskov's uncle), who was closely related to the conspirators, was indeed investigated and monitored, and because Bock had many conflicts with the conspirators in the past, Due to the history of the head of state's confrontation, this kind of surveillance and investigation became even more stringent. Himmler and Bormann took turns in the battle, hoping to dig out this "big man", but they were ultimately disappointed. Hoffman knew what Bock had done in history, and also understood that the other party was a pure and traditional Prussian soldier, so he did not make it too difficult for Bock. Of course, the arrangements for the various army groups on the Eastern Front are now very complete. Although Hoffman was not satisfied with the performance of Marshal Kuchler, the commander of the Northern Army Group, he did not want to make a big move in a short time, so he sent Bock to the Caucasus. On the battlefield, I hope to take advantage of this veteran - his history and experience in fighting the Red Army is much richer than Rommel's.

By March 14, the war was progressing smoothly. Rommel captured Tabriz, which was heavily defended by the Red Army, wiped out nearly 80,000 Red Army troops entrenched there, and compressed Mezov's troops into northeastern Iran. , and Wenck's troops formed a pincer offensive towards Baku. To capture the city, he paid a high price. The German army suffered more than 7,000 casualties, and the Iranian troops suffered about 4,000 casualties.

In the eyes of Iran's Shah Pahlavi, this result was simply a miracle: Marshal Rommel used 120,000 to defeat 130,000. Not only did he successfully kill the opponent's 80,000, he recaptured Tabriz and suffered very few casualties. Gauss, the chief of staff of the Middle East Group Army, could only smile bitterly. The Iranians are ignorant. Does he know what these more than 7,000 people mean? These were no ordinary 7,000 people. They were all elite officers and soldiers from first-class units such as the Viking Division, the Grossdeutschland Division, the Prinz Eugen Mountain Infantry Division, and the Airborne Forces. He felt panicked at the loss even at 1:20, not to mention 1:7.

However, Gauss did not blame Rommel. On the contrary, he felt that it was impossible to do better. War comes without any dodge and mercy. If the speed is reduced now to reduce casualties, a large number of casualties will be paid in the next battle. The only thing that pleased him was that before this battle, he got more than 10,000 bottles of an anti-inflammatory drug called "penicillin". The country told him that it had miraculous effects on wound infections. He was skeptical and asked the military doctors to use it, but the results were effective. Surprisingly well, the chance of infection due to complications has been greatly reduced, which is equivalent to saving the lives of countless wounded people. For this reason, he felt that the price of 175 marks was no longer so disgusting.

After learning that there was such a good thing, Pahlavi also bought 10,000 bottles. However, Gauss knew that except for the Guards and officers, he was reluctant to use it on other ordinary soldiers, and he said it was 10,000 bottles. , after the palace nobles, government and military officials carve it up, it would be lucky to have half of it fall on the troops.

"What about the direction of Baku? Has the enemy begun to retreat?"

"No, but oil production equipment was being destroyed on a large scale. Reconnaissance planes reported that there were explosions everywhere."

Rommel frowned and asked: "Is Stalin so cruel? These troops can obviously retreat. They can evacuate at least 50,000 people through the Caspian Sea waterway. Now that they are gathered here, they will probably cause us 10,000 more casualties. But he could not avoid the destruction of his entire army."

"Maybe this is the result he wants. In order to buy time for the Caucasus Front, he would rather leave all 170,000 people to us..." Gauss sighed, "The Russian soldiers captured by us have not woken up yet. Think they are fighting to defend Baku - that place will be in ruins in a few days."

"Didn't the prisoners tell us there was another heavy tank brigade? Haven't found it yet?"

"Not yet, but I believe it will be soon." Gauss said confidently, "It's just a brigade of heavy tanks, what's the big deal? Let the two Tiger battalions deal with them."

Neither Rommel nor Gauss expected that while they were talking, Mezhov had played his last trump card - the 11th Guards Heavy Tank Brigade had set up its position in a small village called Mazarali at the border between Iran and Azerbaijan, waiting for the German army to take the bait.

On the main road at the entrance of the village, three KV-3 tanks and well-trained crews occupied a well-camouflaged position behind several huts, which were built on a seemingly endless grassland. Half of the huts were built underground to provide shelter in the harsh climate. The nearby firing parameters had been calibrated. On both sides of them, machine guns, mortars and the famous 76.2mm anti-tank guns had found good firing and sheltering places.

This was the only way to Baku, and they waited quietly for the German troops to come crashing down on them.