The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The next day, German fighter planes bombed the Soviet Black Sea Fleet patrolling outside the Crimean Peninsula.

The Soviet Union's tactics on land were very rigid, and sometimes even the timing and sequence of charges were regular. For example, in the Battle of Holm, they often charged in this direction and then attacked in that direction, so that the German army could follow this rule. After the fight is over, move to the other direction to continue defense.

However, the tactics of the Soviet Navy are relatively flexible. For example, the Black Sea Fleet often implemented harassment tactics during the Battle of Crimea... When the Luftwaffe concentrated its bombing of Crimea, it appeared on the coast to provide fire support for the Crimean defenders. , withdrew to the Caucasus just as the Luftwaffe turned on them.

The same was true this time. Half an hour after the Luftwaffe bombing, the Soviet Black Sea Fleet withdrew again to the Caucasus.

Manstein took advantage of this moment to send troops everywhere to seize fishing boats, assault boats and other vessels.

"We are recruiting people from the army who can sail ships!" Manstein said: "There are more than 200 large and small ships, the largest of which can carry 2,000 people!"

"It can be transported in two batches!" Colonel Sline said.

"The second batch may be dangerous!" Manstein replied: "Although we drove away the Soviet surface ships, we can't do anything against their submarines!"

"How many submarines do they have?" Qin Chuan asked.

"The entire Black Sea Fleet has about 40 ships!" the adjutant replied on his behalf: "But we are not sure where they are!"

"They are unlikely to gather near Sevastopol!" Manstein pointed to the map and said: "They should be divided into two parts. The main force should be distributed in the Turkish Strait (also called the Black Sea Strait, which connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea). Narrow waterway ), the others should be located in the Sea of ​​Azov or along the coast of Odessa reconnaissance!

Qin Chuan nodded to agree with this statement.

The role of submarines is mainly torpedo attacks or reconnaissance at sea, and gathering near Sevastopol cannot play any role.

But being distributed in the Black Sea Strait can prevent the German navy from entering... Although the other half of the Mediterranean is blocked by the British and US navies, no one can guarantee that German submarines will secretly enter the Black Sea through the Black Sea Strait and cause trouble.

"So, are you ready?" Manstein asked.

Colonel Slaine said nothing because the obvious answer was that many of the men in the 1st Infantry Regiment couldn't even swim.

"No, we are not ready!" Qin Chuan shook his head and replied: "We have never had time to prepare, but they are not ready either, right?"

"That's right!" Manstein said with a smile: "But I believe that they are at least ready to surrender after defeat!"

Several people couldn't help but laugh.

As the saying goes, soldiers need speed, so the First Infantry Regiment was ready on the coast at nine o'clock that night.

Perhaps because of the coast, the mud here is worse than other places. Walking on the ground is like walking in a swamp, one foot is deep and the other is shallow. Many soldiers lost their boots because of this...the boots were absorbed It's hard to pull out in the mud.

Luckily there were no stars in the sky and it was raining a little.

Although this caused some trouble for the soldiers when boarding the ship, the soldiers who came off the battlefield all knew one thing: such trouble is not a big deal. Being discovered by the enemy on the battlefield is a big deal, especially at sea or when landing. .

Qinchuan was one of them. He led the soldiers in groups of ten each to board wooden fishing boats... This kind of fishing boat is very common along the coast of Crimea. Almost every household has several of them. The people of Crete use them to catch fish. Fish make a living, especially during times of war and when resources are scarce.

Of course, these fishing boats have no defense at all, and their firepower is just a squad machine gun set up on the bow. It can be said that once discovered by the Soviets, it would definitely be a disaster for the First Infantry Regiment without swimming training.

However, perhaps because of the weather or because the starting point was only ten kilometers away from the destination, the infantry regiment successfully passed through the fortress defense line and landed in the west of Sevastopol an hour later... Of course, the 1st Infantry Regiment You cannot land directly at Sevastopol. This is partly because Sevastopol is also defensive, and partly because the Soviets are also constantly transporting supplies to Sevastopol in the dark. The 1st Infantry Regiment If these small fleets of boats collided directly, it would obviously be a dead end.

After landing, the fleet will return along the original route, and they will return again with the second batch of troops and supplies.

The landing troops headed towards the target power station three kilometers away in light rain.

This process was not smooth, because they encountered a Soviet defense line as they advanced... This was completely unexpected, because the German reconnaissance planes had carefully scouted this area during the day and determined that this was no man's land. That’s why I chose this route.

"This may be the enemy's newly reinforced troops!" Colonel Slaine lowered his voice and said to Qin Chuan who was lying next to him: "It looks like there are a lot of people!"

Qin Chuan said "Hmm". He had already seen it in the telescope. The tents were dotted with stars, so dense that they could not be seen to the end.

Colonel Slain was right. These were two regiments of the Soviet 138th Brigade, with a total strength of about 5,000 people. The transport ship carrying them had actually arrived in the offshore waters of Sevastopol long ago, but because Worried about being bombed by the Germans, they didn't land at the port of Sevastopol until dark, and then randomly found a place outside the city as a base.

What they didn't expect was that they randomly found a base and blocked the way of the First Infantry Regiment... Qin Chuan and others should be lucky that this unit did not set up camp at the German landing point.

Colonel Slaine frowned and remained silent.

Qin Chuan knew what he was worried about. It was still two kilometers away from the target power station, and its strength was twice that of the First Infantry Regiment. If they fought in the dark, not only would the First Infantry Regiment suffer heavy losses, but the defenders of the power station would also suffer heavy losses. If the army is still prepared, it will not be able to receive the effect of a surprise attack.

"Colonel!" Qin Chuan said in a low voice: "If the enemy is a force that has just arrived here as reinforcements, they will not understand the environment and the situation, let alone be prepared!"

Colonel Slaine said "Yeah". It could be seen that they were unprepared, because these Soviet troops did not even have basic fortifications, and some just randomly set up a few sentries around the camp.

"As I said before!" Qin Chuan continued: "We are equipped with MP43, and our firepower is much greater than that of the enemy, so..."

"So!" said Colonel Slaine, "should we force our way in?"

Qin Chuan nodded. Sometimes on the battlefield, one should make decisive decisions immediately.