The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The Soviet 392nd and 394th Infantry Divisions simply could not stop the German 11th Army's attack.

Part of the reason for this is that the German 7th Airborne Division airborne into the Caucasus region behind the Soviet army... This can almost be said to have cut off the logistics of these two Soviet divisions. If they do not retreat, they will be like the previous four divisions. Facing the situation of being surrounded and annihilated.

As a result, the 11th Army passed through Tuapse and Sochi as if entering uninhabited territory, and then entered the relatively open Transcaucasus area.

Qin Chuan rode an American Willys Jeep and moved forward with the troops.

The jeep was seized on the road to Sochi when it overturned in the mud on the side of the road, perhaps abandoned by the Soviet officer who owned it in a hurry to escape.

The German soldiers pulled it out of the mud, and when it was turned on, there was no malfunction... The quality of World War II Yankee items, especially military equipment, was unparalleled.

The German soldiers who towed the jeep did not take it as their own... This is clearly stipulated in German military discipline, and the spoils of war must be turned over and distributed uniformly by superiors.

In fact, this rule is not that strict, especially when fighting or chasing the enemy. Does it mean that if you snatch a rifle from the enemy, you must hand it over and come back to fight again? So many times I turn a blind eye.

These German soldiers were more "law-abiding" and they didn't know what to do with the car. Manstein's jeep happened to pass in front of them, and one of them stepped forward to ask for instructions: "Marshal, we have seized it." A jeep and none of us are officers!"

"Very good!" Manstein replied, and then asked: "Do you know the 'Legendary Sergeant'?"

"Yes, Marshal!"

"He's not far behind me!" Manstein said, "You can give this car to him!"

"Yes, Marshal!"

So Qin Chuan got a Jeep, an American Willys Jeep.

In the imagination of Qin Chuan, an "experienced person", the United States and the Soviet Union should be two mortal enemies, so it is very awkward to see American equipment, especially American Jeeps, on the Soviet battlefield. But he owns one. If the bridge of his nose is Wearing a pair of sunglasses and holding a cigar in your mouth, it's no different from what you see in the movies.

But that's not what Qin Chuan was thinking about.

Perhaps because he had a better view from the car to the jeep, all Qinchuan saw along the way were people with fright and resentment in their eyes... Georgia is the hometown of Stalin, and most of the people here regard this as their Rong, the vast majority of people are firmly on the side of the Soviet Union, unlike Latvia, Poland, and Ukraine that were previously occupied by the German army.

The results of the German army should be said to be quite good. They captured cities one after another along the way. They joined the 7th Airborne Division three days later. The battle with the Soviet army almost became a kind of march.

But everyone knows that the battle will not end so easily, because the Soviets' retreat is obviously planned... the people who can evacuate will evacuate with them, and the materials that can be moved will be moved, but those who cannot be moved will They will be blown up and burned, and they will never be left to the German army.

This made it difficult for the Germans to capture anything for a while.

"They hope to bring us down!" Eberhard, who was sitting next to Qinchuan, looked at the map and said: "The Caucasus Mountains are more than 1,200 kilometers from west to east, which means our supply lines will be more than a thousand kilometers. In fact, we even have It can be said that there is no supply line!”

Qin Chuan understood what Eberhard said.

The German 11th Army does not have a supply line, because supplies must enter the Transcaucasus region from the Kerch Peninsula, through the Taman Peninsula, and then via Novorossiysk.

However, due to insufficient manpower, the German army has actually abandoned the Taman Peninsula and fully attacked the Transcaucasus region. As a result, the German supply line from Kerch to Transcaucasus was actually cut off.

It should be said that the German army still has two supply lines. One is transported from the port from the Black Sea, but this is not feasible because the German army has almost no large transport ships in the Black Sea. At the same time, the Black Sea is full of Soviet ships and submarines, and they will attack at any time. German transport ship.

The other is to use transport aircraft to transport them by air... This is also the main method of supply for the German army at this time. They occupy the airport wherever they hit, and then use their powerful air superiority to protect the transport aircraft to transport supplies.

However, the transport capacity of the transport aircraft is very limited, so it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a drop in the bucket.

Therefore, the main source of supplies for the German 11th Army was actually the Soviet supplies captured in several cities such as Novorossiysk and the Port of Sochi.

"We are engaging in another kind of competition!" Qin Chuan replied: "Should we defeat them first, or they would delay us until we have no supplies!"

"Did you expect this situation to happen from the beginning?" Eberhard looked at Qin Chuan doubtfully.

Qin Chuan acquiesced.

"And you still plan to do this?" Eberhard asked: "I mean, suggest that Manstein attack Transcaucasia!"

"Otherwise, what else can we do?" Qin Chuan asked.

Eberhard rolled his eyes. He couldn't understand the thoughts of the young major sitting next to him... This battle was actually risking the entire 11th Army, including himself.

But what Eberhard didn't know was that it was not surprising at all that Qin Chuan would take this risk, because in his mind...if things were allowed to develop, the German army would definitely attack in both the Caucasus and Stalingrad. Failed miserably.

The disastrous defeats in these two directions determined that the German army would no longer have the strength to compete with the Soviet army. The reason was that the German army lost 1.5 million people in these defeats, and a considerable part of them were of good quality and combat effectiveness. force. From then on, the defeat of the German army was doomed.

(Note: Some people believe that the turning point in the Soviet-German war was the subsequent Battle of Kursk)

Therefore, Qin Chuan believes that no matter how big the risk is, it is still worth it, otherwise no matter what he does, he may not be able to reverse the situation.

Eberhard was right, that was what General Tyulenev on the other side planned.

Because Stalin gave him a fatal order to defend Baku.

In fact, Stalin did not give this order to Tyulenev alone, nor was it just to Baku.

Because at this time the other direction was Kharkov, the Soviet army also suffered a disastrous defeat, and the German army had launched a full-scale counterattack against the Soviet army.

In order to stop the German offensive, Stalin issued the well-known Order No. 227: No retreat is allowed. Anyone who retreats will be considered a traitor to the motherland. Mother Soviet Union will not tolerate traitors!