The decisive battle against the Third Reich

"I have to know a date, Matevich!" General Pukaev did not intend to let Matevich go just like that: "I can even give you more troops, but Holm must win. ,Understand?"

"I understand, Comrade Pukaev!" Matevich hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "I hope... you can give me a month!"

"A month?" Pukayev was a little surprised: "You asked for much more time than Vardani!"

"Obviously, he is wrong!" Matevich replied: "What we are facing is not an ordinary enemy!"

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a while, and then Pukayev's voice came again: "Tell me, what do you need?"

"I need more anti-aircraft troops, infantry and tanks!"

"You will get these!" Pukayev replied: "I hope you will remember Vardani's lesson!"

"Yes, Comrade Pukaev!" Matovich stood up and replied, feeling a chill in his heart.

Pukayev kept his promise and dispatched an anti-aircraft regiment to Matevich the next day.

Matevich organized the anti-aircraft regiment into a triangle in battalion units, surrounding Holm in the middle.

In this way, no matter which direction the Luftwaffe approached Holm, it would be flanked by two anti-aircraft battalions.

"What you have to do is not to let any transport aircraft enter the Holm airspace!" Matevitch said to the head of the air defense regiment.

"Yes, Comrade Political Commissar!" replied the head of the air defense regiment.

It is basically impossible to do this, because there will always be a few transport aircraft that break through the Soviet air defense network. After all, the German transport aircraft are "Junkers 52" with very good safety, and they can fly over in the blink of an eye. Holm's sky and dropped supplies.

Matevich knew this, so he didn't place his hopes on it.

The key point is that German transport aircraft can no longer carry out low-altitude airdrops as before under the threat of anti-aircraft fire, so the accuracy of airdrops decreases exponentially.

Qinchuan soon felt the pressure... The Air Force used six transport planes to airdrop eighteen boxes of supplies every day as usual. It could receive ten boxes before, but soon it could only receive five boxes. Two or three boxes is considered good.

But Holm's supply needs grew.

One reason is that the Soviet army carried out almost continuous harassment attacks against the German army... Obviously, the Soviet army was using this method to consume the German army's ammunition.

The other is that the number of Soviet prisoners is constantly increasing... Soviet prisoners are a big headache for the German army. Their number is quite large. Just a previous successful siege battle captured more than a thousand people. In the successive battles that followed, nearly two thousand people were captured.

These two thousand people are not like the Soviet people. Most of the Soviet people are old, weak, sick or disabled, or women and children. The prisoners are all young adults and have received military training. If they are not careful, they will rebel and cause big trouble to the German army from within. .

Therefore, the German army imprisoned these prisoners in the school, divided them into rooms, and strictly guarded them with barbed wire fences around them.

These are minor issues. More importantly, the two thousand prisoners also need to consume food. In other words, the German army tightened their belts, but they still had to give food to the prisoners.

"For the first time, I don't think it's a good thing to capture enemy prisoners!" Colonel Sline said.

"It's easy!" Major General Hartmann said, "We can get rid of all these prisoners!"

Seeing the looks the officers gave him, Major General Hartmann spread his hands and said, "Isn't it right? If you are not willing, then I am more than willing to do it for you!"

"That's two thousand men, General!" said Colonel Slaine.

Although shooting prisoners on the battlefield is not a big deal, especially on the Soviet-German battlefield, the scale of two thousand people is somewhat unimaginable to everyone.

"Uh-huh!" Major General Hartmann nodded: "This is indeed a problem, because it means that we have to consume at least two thousand rounds of ammunition!"

The officers looked at Hartmann in shock. They could not imagine how Major General Hartmann could show such indifference to life, even more so than they, the soldiers fighting the enemy on the battlefield.

Qin Chuan was not surprised, because this is what the German police force did, shooting enemy civilians or prisoners who were unable to resist, and the SS also shouldered some of this responsibility.

This is completely different from the National Defense Forces, which has a sense of honor and mission.

Because of this, the team that assassinated Hitler in history hoped to win over and control the Wehrmacht, hoping to rely on the Wehrmacht to take control of Germany after Hitler's death.

"No, we can't do that!" Colonel Slain shook his head and said, "This will have side effects. For example, if the Soviets realize that the only result of being captured is death, then they will fight to the death!"

"Yes!" Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard agreed: "This will greatly enhance the enemy's combat effectiveness, and at the same time they will also shoot our captured soldiers!"

"Oh, come on, they seem to have done that!" Major General Hartman said.

Major General Hartmann was right, this happened two days ago.

Perhaps it was to vent their anger at not being able to capture Holm, perhaps as a form of intimidation, or perhaps as a pastime... The Soviet army drove more than a dozen German prisoners into the middle of the defense lines of the two armies, and then used marksmanship skills to train them. They were defeated one by one on their way back to the German defense lines.

"That's another thing!" Colonel Slain said to Hartmann: "In short, don't think about it again!"

"Okay!" Major General Hartmann shrugged: "Then feed them with food!"

With that said, Major General Hartmann left.

In fact, Major General Hartmann was not too worried about the supply problem. They had an advantage... they could rummage through the boxes and cabinets of the Soviet people to find the food they had hidden.

This can also be said to be a tragedy for Germany. The Wehrmacht made huge sacrifices to fight the enemy on the front line and won again and again, but their status was always under the SS and police forces... Just like now, The dangers and difficulties are borne by the National Defense Forces. The police force not only receives protection from the National Defense Forces, but also takes advantage of supplies.

"So!" Colonel Slain said, "Now, this is what we need to consider!"

"Colonel!" Qin Chuan said: "I think we have only one choice now, and that is to ask the command to increase airdrops to us!"

"But they are unwilling to do this!" Colonel Slain said: "As mentioned before, our air force is blocking the Soviets' penetrating troops!"

"What if..." Qin Chuan said: "They realize that Holm's existence can just delay the penetration of the Soviets?"