The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Although Paulus, Alexander, etc., including Conrad himself, all had doubts about this method of helicopter combat, these doubts were mainly focused on the survival of helicopters... This thing does look like a target, especially When hovering over the enemy, all it takes is a machine gun to fire a "click-click" sweep in the air, which will cause considerable damage to the helicopter and its members, or even destroy the helicopter and kill people.

However, Paulus and others finally agreed to the raid plan. After all, Stalingrad had reached a deadlock at this time, and they had no way to break the deadlock.

More importantly, even if the raid plan failed, it would only result in the loss of two hundred men and ten helicopters. This loss was insignificant to the 6th Army, and even these people actually belonged to the 4th Armored Group.

But if this raid succeeds, the benefits will be great... Occupying the sandbar will not only continue to block the central ferry with artillery fire as before, but also lay a nail between Stalingrad and the east bank of the Volga River. The artillery fire can also be used to block the Volga River, and the Luftwaffe will also be able to block the Volga River more effectively because the anti-aircraft firepower of the sandbank is in its own hands.

It is conceivable that Stalingrad's logistics supplies will be severely hit, even worse than the blockade at Mamayev Heights.

"I have only one request!" Qin Chuan expressed his opinion in a separate conversation with Paulus.

"Just mention it, Major!" Paulus replied: "I will try my best to meet your request!"

Paulus was very confident in this, because he believed that if Stalingrad could be captured, even Hitler would be willing to exchange it for anything.

"Don't report this plan to High Command!"

Qin Chuan's words surprised Paulus. He originally thought Qin Chuan was proposing a promotion, a medal or some other reward.

"Why?" Paulus asked, "I want to know the reason!"

"General!" Qin Chuan said: "I think you know that everyone, including you, the general, thought this plan was ridiculous when they heard it. If we submit the plan and it is rejected by the Supreme Command, do you think it will how?"

Paulus couldn't help but nodded when he heard this.

Things are indeed as Qin Chuan said, reporting some things has greater risks than not reporting them.

For example, this raid, a considerable number of people cannot accept this new and risky tactic. If it is reported, the Supreme Command, or to be more direct, even Hitler himself may not be able to accept it. If he vetoes it...Paul What can Si do? Go to "Werewolf" personally to convince Hitler? Or disobey orders?

On the contrary, if it is not reported, these problems and risks will not exist.

If the mission was successful, then there was no need to say anything. All you had to do was tell Hitler... This was a spur-of-the-moment attack. I didn't expect it to be successful, so I just didn't report it. If the mission was successful, Hitler would not care about this small detail.

The mission failed, so it was just a little whim, but it cost two hundred people, which was a drop in the bucket compared to the casualties in the Battle of Stalingrad.

What's more, if it is reported, even if the head of state agrees, the operation may be commanded remotely. And the head of state knew nothing about the performance of helicopters and this brand-new tactic...

Paulus believed that what Qin Chuan was more worried about was the last point, which was that Qin Chuan hoped to have complete freedom and full command power without being restricted by anyone.

Everything seemed reasonable, and Paulus had no reason to object.

"I agree, Major!" Paulus replied: "But don't mention this to anyone!"

"Of course, general!" Qin Chuan replied.

Paulus was worried that others would label him as concealing military information... From this point, it can be seen that Paulus was very cautious. As a staff officer, there was still a big difference between him and Rommel, who dared to fight and kill. The difference.

What Paulus didn't know was that Qin Chuan made this request not because of any command authority at all. He believed that if Hitler knew about this plan, he would not be stupid enough to interfere without knowing anything about it. If he had done so, no one would have been able to prevent the fall of the Third Reich.

The reason why Qin Chuan made this request was that he was worried that the British would leak the contents of this plan to the Soviet Union...

As mentioned before, Britain has many German military secrets because of its "super secrets."

The reason why Britain did not tell the Soviet Union was, on the one hand, because it hoped that both the Soviet Union and Germany would suffer losses. On the other hand, once the British informed the Soviet Union of relevant information, there would be many uncertain dangers. For example, the Soviet Union would wonder how the British knew such secret information, and the Germans would also be alert... With the Soviet Union's poor intelligence network, how did they know this and be prepared?

Therefore, the "super secret" is likely to be known to the whole world, and its own value will decrease exponentially... In order to protect the "super secret", the British even knew that a German submarine would attack a certain cruise ship but pretended not to know. The Germans sank their cruise ship filled with cargo and soldiers and suffered great losses.

Therefore, the United Kingdom would not easily and unnecessarily leak intelligence to the Soviet Union until the critical moment. What was shared was relatively low-level intelligence.

However, what if the British regard the intelligence of the German army's sneak attack on the sandbank as a "critical moment"?

Because it is obvious that this will directly affect the outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad, and it would not be in Britain's interests if the Soviet army was defeated in Stalingrad.

Qin Chuan was unwilling to take this risk, especially since his own battalion was performing this task.

"Besides, do you have any other requests?" Paulus reminded Qin Chuan: "For example, holidays, honors..."

"General!" Qin Chuan replied: "If this mission fails, then none of these will be possible. If this mission succeeds, they will not need my request at all!"

Paulus glanced at Qin Chuan unexpectedly: "You're right, Major, you are very smart! This gives me more confidence in this plan!"

"With all due respect, General!" Qin Chuan replied: "Whether you have confidence in this plan is not important. What is important is whether my soldiers have confidence in it!"

Paulus nodded in agreement.

If even the staff officers and officers sitting in the office feel that this plan is almost equivalent to suicide, then as a member of this mission... what should they think? !