The decisive battle against the Third Reich

After receiving Hitler's call back, Manstein finally let go of his heart. As for whether he would be promoted to marshal, Manstein didn't care at all.

This is another difference between Manstein and Rommel.

Rommel made no secret of his pursuit of fame and power, sometimes at all costs.

As for Manstein, perhaps because he was born into a noble family and had long been accustomed to these so-called honors, he didn't take them very seriously, especially because Manstein clearly knew that... at this time, the war between the Soviet Union and Germany had already begun. Entering a critical stage, if Germany is not careful, it will make the same mistakes as during World War I. Compared with these, personal life is even insignificant, not to mention military rank and honor.

From this we can also know that Manstein actually still has a pessimistic attitude towards this battle.

But now he seems to see hope: if he can march into the Caucasus and occupy the Caucasus Mountains, not only will the German army obtain the Baku oil fields and cut off the Soviet Union's energy channels, but it will also cut off British and American military aid to the Soviet Union to a considerable extent. It will obviously greatly reduce the strength of the Soviet Union.

There are five routes for Allied supplies to aid the Soviet Union, two of which are in the Caucasus: one starts from Egypt, passes through Turkey, enters the Black Sea, and reaches the Caucasus. The other goes from the Indian Ocean into the Persian Gulf and lands in Iran to reach the Caucasus. The capacity of these two transportation lines accounts for about one-third of the total amount of aid supplies.

The transportation line with the largest capacity was actually an American transport ship flying the Soviet flag into the Sea of ​​Japan to transport to the Soviet Union. Since Japan and the Soviet Union signed the "Soviet-Japanese Non-Aggression" treaty, Japan did not dare to stop these materials from landing in the Soviet Union through the Sea of ​​Japan. Siberia, so this route is very safe, accounting for 47.1% of the total transportation volume. This is equivalent to Japan guaranteeing the United States' aid to the Soviet Union in disguise. (With pig-like teammates like Japan, it would be difficult for Germany to remain undefeated)

Then, Manstein thought of Qin Chuan.

Then he couldn't help but sigh. It was not his own fault that opened such a good situation for this battle, but the captain.

After looking at the map for a while, Manstein no longer hesitated and ordered to the correspondent: "The 28th Chasseur Division will take over the defense of the Taman Peninsula. The 1st Infantry Regiment, the 51st Regiment of the 22nd Armored Division and the 1st Mountain Division will continue. Heading towards the Caucasus!”

After thinking for a while, Manstein continued: "Call Colonel Slaine. In view of Captain Frick's outstanding performance in the battle, it is recommended that he be promoted to the rank of major!"

Colonel Slain couldn't help but smile when he saw the telegram and handed it to Qin Chuan.

"Captain, you're a major now!" Colonel Sline said.

"What's the difference?" Qin Chuan asked.

"I guess the difference is..." Colonel Sline said, "You can become a battalion commander!"

Qin Chuan couldn't help but cast a doubtful look at Colonel Slaine. It was now a period of marching operations. In order to maintain the stability of the troops, we should try to avoid changing commanders unless necessary, because this requires a familiar process.

"You are perfectly capable of commanding, aren't you?" Colonel Slain said.

"But I have no experience, that's a battalion!" Qin Chuan replied.

In World War II, a German battalion had 708 men, which was completely different from a company of more than 100 people.

"Don't worry!" Colonel Slain said: "No one in the First Infantry Regiment doesn't know you. I believe they will be very willing to become your subordinates!"

Colonel Slain's guess was correct. Qin Chuan's worry was actually unnecessary.

On the one hand, as Colonel Slain said, Qinchuan already had his own prestige in the First Infantry Regiment, and the entire battalion officers and soldiers were convinced of Qinchuan... This made it much easier to command, and he could even They could arrange everything in an orderly manner without Qin Chuan's command, even in battle.

On the other hand, it was Colonel Slaine who made some arrangements for Qin Chuan:

The commander of the second battalion was injured during the Battle of Kerch and was unable to follow the troops here... He is a very young major. Qin Chuan has met him several times in meetings, and his relationship with Qin Chuan is lukewarm. It seemed that Qin Chuan was not used to Qin Chuan's position in the First Infantry Regiment.

This should be said to be quite normal, especially for those officers in the army who were born into noble families. They had a very serious sense of hierarchy, but since all the majors and lieutenant colonels were not as good as captain Qin Chuan, they would inevitably feel a little unbalanced.

This poor major had a problem while marching. A carriage towing a cannon was driving on a muddy road. The major saw a wave and took the lead to help push the carriage forward.

Unexpectedly, when the artillery carriage was going uphill, the horse towing it slipped and fell to the ground. The artillery carriage lost traction and slid back a few meters on the muddy slope... It was just these few meters that broke the major's left calf.

The medical soldier's initial injury was a comminuted fracture, and the major may never be able to go to the battlefield again.

The position of major, that is, the commander of the second battalion, has always been temporarily replaced by the adjutant.

Now, because there was a new candidate for the battalion commander, Colonel Slain took advantage of the rest in Soglione to make some personnel adjustments: transferred Bazel to the second battalion as battalion commander, and then asked Qin Chuan to serve as the battalion commander. Battalion commander.

This can be regarded as an exceptional promotion in the German army, because under normal circumstances, adjutants who have not served for a period of time and learned from the battalion commander how to handle affairs within the battalion are not allowed to directly serve as chief officers.

In order to allow Qin Chuan to adapt to the position of battalion commander as soon as possible, Colonel Slain also arranged for a staff officer named Eberhard to be Qin Chuan's adjutant.

"Major Eberhard served as a battalion commander for two years before becoming a staff officer!" Colonel Sline said: "He is familiar with everything a battalion commander has to do!"

"Maybe..." Qin Chuan turned his attention to Eberhard, who had a mustache.

After all, Major Eberhard is already a regimental staff officer and once served as a battalion commander for two years, but now he is to be Qin Chuan's adjutant...

Major Eberhard seemed to see Qin Chuan's concerns and happily stepped forward to shake hands with Qin Chuan and said: "Sir, you don't need to worry about this. I am honored to be your adjutant. In fact... I believe that if other staff officers If they knew there was a vacancy, they would definitely rush for this position!”

Colonel Slain couldn't help but rolled his eyes and joked: "Eberhard, do you really want to leave my staff group that much?"

"No, Colonel!" Eberhard replied: "It's not 'that', I should say 'very much'!"

Colonel Slaine couldn't help but grimace and shrugged helplessly. Several people laughed knowingly.

Qin Chuan is very satisfied with Eberhard's performance, and Qin Chuan believes that he will have a pleasant cooperation with him in the future.