The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The 11th Army seized 150 cars and a large number of guns and ammunition at the train station... As mentioned before, Transcaucasia has certain industrial capabilities and can produce guns and ammunition on its own, so it is actually the Don River defense line and Kazakhstan. Erkov provided arms to the front line.

With one order, Manstein loaded all 150 vehicles with guns and ammunition, and even towed artillery behind the vehicles and then advanced towards Baku.

The Transcaucasian Front Army Command received relevant information at this time.

"Comrade Tyulenev!" The new political commissar Srinov said to Tyulenev with a telegram in a panic: "The Germans have occupied the train station and are advancing rapidly here!"

"Occupy the train station?" General Tyulenev asked in confusion: "We have two regiments of reserves there. Where have they gone?"

"They were surrounded by the Germans and most of them were captured!" Srinov replied, his voice was very low, because the morale of the Soviet army was low at this time. If he knew that the reserve troops in the rear were captured, he would probably treat them badly. Deal another blow.

General Tyulenev looked at the political commissar in disbelief.

The political commissar explained in a low voice: "Comrade Tyulenev, we believe that what crossed the Caucasus Mountains was not a small group of enemy troops, but the main force of the German 11th Army. In other words, the German attacks on the front and the Caspian Sea were all false. "We are probably being fooled! Their real main force is advancing on us!"

General Tyulenev couldn't help but stood there for a long time after hearing this. The contrast was too big for him. He was originally confident and prepared to beat the Germans to the top of his life, but he didn't expect that the Germans would kill him with just one trick. Back to the cruel reality.

After thinking about it, Tyulenev ordered: "Order the 406th Infantry Division and the 242nd Mountain Division to withdraw to Baku immediately, as well as the 417th Infantry Division and the 52nd Tank Brigade... withdraw them too!"

Tyulenev believed that he still had a chance. It didn't matter if Baku fell. Several divisions of troops could surround Baku, annihilate the Germans and then recapture Baku... they could also win.

At this time, a staff officer hurried in, holding a telegram in his hand and saying: "Comrade Tyulenev, the Germans have occupied the Bakar defense line and ignited the gasoline on the defense line!"

General Tyulenev's face suddenly turned pale. He knew what this meant... none of the divisions in the direction of Sylvan could withdraw.

But Tyulenev's order was not changed and was still issued as it was, because he knew that at this time he had no choice but to treat a dead horse as a living horse doctor.

"Comrade Tyulenev!" After issuing the order, the political commissar asked again: "Where are we?"

"What?" Tyulenev asked.

"Comrade Tyulenev!" the political commissar repeated: "The Germans are advancing towards us and will reach here in about half an hour!"

Tyulenev gritted his teeth and ordered: "Retreat!"

Retreating was a difficult choice for the Soviet command, because it seemed to the Soviet army to be an escape, especially after Stalin issued Order No. 227... The retreat of the command would become a irony.

Therefore, although Order No. 227 can boost the morale of Soviet soldiers to a certain extent, everything has two sides: it will also cause the Soviet army to lose flexibility, and sometimes even have the opposite effect.

For example, now, Tyulenev's command does not matter whether he withdraws or not.

Don’t withdraw.

It is conceivable that the headquarters will be waiting to be captured alive by the Germans in Baku. This would not only be a blow to morale but also cause the Transcaucasian Front to lose command.

withdraw.

Although the headquarters can be saved, it is another matter in the eyes of Soviet soldiers... Order No. 227 emphasizes that "Soviet soldiers are not allowed to take a step back, otherwise they will be traitors to the motherland, and Mother Soviet Union will not accept these traitors." , but why can commanders retreat but lower-level officers and soldiers cannot? !

Therefore, the decision to withdraw would seriously challenge Order 227 and affect morale among the army, especially those who had just been drafted into the army.

This is indeed the case, especially the 242nd Mountain Division. When they were ordered to retreat to Baku, they became more and more unbalanced. In addition, most of them were locals and were familiar with the terrain of the Caucasus, so they retreated as they went. He had almost escaped by the time he rushed back to Baku.

Not to mention the distance, the same is true for the Soviet troops in Baku.

However, this cannot be said to be affected by the retreat of the headquarters, because the news of the retreat of Tyulenev and others was not spread at all, and the Soviet troops stationed in the city did not know this.

Their situation was unprepared and uncommanded, and many people did not even know from which direction the German troops were attacking.

What the Soviet army could do was to pile some sandbags in the streets in the hope of stopping the German attack.

However, such crude fortifications were obviously useless to the German army.

The reason is that the German army has rocket launchers. This equipment is used to shoot tanks directly. It is also a weapon for destroying enemy fortifications...

Artillery can actually destroy enemy fortifications, but they all have obvious shortcomings in this regard:

The trajectory of the mortar is curved, making it difficult to hit the fortifications directly, and even if it hits the fortifications, it will hit from the top.

Anti-tank guns, howitzers, etc., are inconvenient to maneuver and their targets are too large. If they are used to attack enemy fortifications, they will be covered by enemy artillery fire.

The rocket launcher is different. First, it is a direct-fire weapon without the problem of mortars. Secondly, it has a small target and can almost be said to be a single-soldier weapon. The infantry can carry it and aim at the enemy fortifications in the bunker, and then "boom" it, and blow up a corner of it.

The biggest advantage is that the infantry can carry multiple rockets for multiple attacks: there is nothing that cannot be solved by one rocket, and if there is, two rockets will be used.

This point was also greatly utilized by the US military in the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.

In fact, not only in the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, but also in the subsequent wars such as the Vietnam War, the Americans often did this, that is, using rocket launchers or recoilless guns to bombard the Volunteer Army fortifications until the fortifications were broken and then attacked.

Therefore, the Volunteer Army called these things "front-line artillery", that is, artillery for fortifications in front of the position.

At this time, the German army was of course no exception. They first suppressed and covered the Soviet army with mortars, and then destroyed and broke through the Soviet sandbag fortifications one by one with rocket launchers.

In less than an hour, the German army completely occupied Baku.

Then, the German army continued to advance towards the oil fields outside the city, which was actually the focus of the German army's occupation and defense.