The decisive battle against the Third Reich

A group of helicopters landed at the airfield of Fort Kinov (now Ganja).

The reason why Fort Kinov was chosen as the base is because it is located directly under the eastern and middle sections of the Caucasus Mountains and is not far from the Caucasus Mountains and Baku. Reinforcements can be quickly implemented at these strategic locations at the speed of helicopters.

The soldiers felt a little uncomfortable as soon as they got off the helicopter.

It was early December, and the lowest temperature in the Soviet Union had reached about minus ten degrees, while the temperature here was about ten degrees. The German soldiers near the base watched the soldiers coming down wearing bulky cotton coats and white camouflage uniforms. Everyone had some weird expressions on their faces.

"Major!" Alexander looked around. Except for the snow that could be seen in the Caucasus Mountains, there was no sign of cold at all. He said, "I don't think this place is suitable for our training base!"

"Why?" Qin Chuan asked while taking off his camouflage uniform.

Alexander spread his hands around and replied: "Our soldiers will adapt to the warm weather here. They can even jump into the river and swim naked..."

Just as he was talking, the German soldiers were already running towards the river outside the base one after another, naked and cheering loudly.

Alexander couldn't help rolling his eyes: "What did I say?"

"I think this is just the right place!" Qin Chuan replied.

"I heard you right!" Alexander said, "What we are going to do is highland training..."

Alexander raised his head towards the Caucasus Mountains to the north: "The temperatures there are covered with ice and snow all year round and the temperatures are extremely low. The environment between the two is very different..."

"That's why we can hone our adaptability!" Qin Chuan interrupted Alexander: "It's like throwing them from heaven to hell suddenly!"

Alexander couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, and then nodded in agreement.

In fact, if it's just about skills, the First Infantry Regiment, especially Qinchuan's troops, have almost mastered them. For example, the rappelling training that was directly upgraded was actually taught by the mountain division's coach. Next, we only need to add some essentials of mountain combat. .

Therefore, training should focus more on the ability to adapt to various environments, and this requires differences in environments.

"So..." Qin Chuan said to Alexander: "Enjoy your life in heaven, we will go to hell again soon!"

With that said, Qin Chuan also took off his clothes and walked towards the river to join the ranks of the soldiers.

In Moscow, Zhukov and Vasilevsky were called to Stalin's office again.

Stalin was smoking his pipe, and the office was filled with the smell of tobacco smoke.

After a while, Stalin took the pipe in his hand and asked, "So, our plan has been leaked?"

"I think so, Comrade Stalin!" Zhukov replied: "This has something to do with the German helicopter raid and the capture of two of our generals!"

"I am very confused about this!" Vasilevsky said: "According to our intelligence, it was Seninovich who became a shameful traitor, and Stekov died heroically on the day he was captured. Seninovich did not know the contents of the plan..."

"But the facts are before our eyes!" Zhukov said: "The Germans retreated before we launched the attack. They must have sensed something. Moreover, it is obvious that they were in Serafimovich and Abganerovo There are so many mines laid in both directions, and the traffic damage is the most complete, which makes it impossible for our army to pursue! "

Vasilevsky wanted to say something else, but Stalin stopped him.

"There is no point in discussing these now!" Stalin said: "The retreat of the Germans can be said to be a good thing, because we have recovered a large area of ​​land that belongs to us, which has a certain effect on boosting our morale. But..."

Stalin put the cigarette butt on the table and knocked it, poured out the ash inside, grabbed some tobacco and carefully stuffed it into the pipe under the light of the desk lamp, and said: "This encouragement is very limited, because we did not defeat them, but They retreated voluntarily. This is like telling us...our millions of troops are not enough to protect this country. It is like an undefended city. It is not difficult to imagine that the Germans can come and leave whenever they want. Next spring, when the ice and snow melt and the weather becomes warmer, the Germans will launch another offensive, and then massacre Soviet soldiers and civilians again, once again destroy the roads, railways and houses we just repaired in the winter, and then withdraw!”

"No, Comrade Stalin!" Zhukov said: "I won't let this happen again!"

"What guarantee do you use?" Stalin said: "Marshal Timoshenko once made a similar guarantee. At that time, the Baku oil field was still in our hands, and we still had enough oil to run the machine!"

Timoshenko was the commander who initiated the Battle of Kharkov.

But this is not his fault. Stalin seemed to have forgotten that it was his order to launch a counterattack in Kharkov. At that time, many Soviet generals believed that the time for the counterattack was not yet mature and opposed the counterattack plan.

"We can build a defense line along the Don River!" Zhukov said: "In this way we can block the Germans on the west bank of the Don River!"

"I wonder if you have noticed, Comrade Zhukov!" Stalin lit a match and lit his pipe, took two puffs and then continued: "In addition to retreating to the west bank of the Don River, the other direction for the Germans is to retreat to the Transcaucasus!"

"Of course, Comrade Stalin!"

"And Transcaucasus is located on the east bank of the Don River!" Stalin said: "That is, the flanks of the Don River defense line. This means that if we build a defense line based on the Don River, next spring we will be attacked by the Germans from both sides. …They don’t even need to cross the Don River to attack us!”

This is another clever feature of Qinchuan's strategic layout.

Transcaucasus can be said to be a strategic location. If you occupy it, you can use the Caucasus Mountains as a natural barrier to retreat, defend or attack. Once you leave the Transcaucasus and enter the North Caucasus, you will immediately threaten the flanks of the Don River defense line and surround it. potential.

On the other hand, the Soviet army was unable to build a safer line of defense because of the threat from the German troops on the flanks... Only rivers could stop the blitzkrieg launched by the German armored forces, but they were unable to do this.

"So!" Zhukov said: "While we are building the Don River defense line, we have to compete with them for the Caucasus and even Baku!"

"When?" Stalin asked: "Wait until next spring? By then the Germans will have launched an attack!"

"No, right now!" Zhukov replied.