The decisive battle against the Third Reich

It was easier to defeat, but much more difficult to annihilate, as this would prevent the Soviet troops from escaping.

But this is not a big problem for the German army, because they have 500 amphibious landing ships...

The Soviets should have learned a lesson from the German landing in the Kerch Strait long ago. They knew that the sea could no longer stop the Germans. However, they just took it for granted that this kind of amphibious landing ship was used by the Germans to cross the Kerch Strait and would not be used in other battlefields. What people do.

As a result, the 1st Infantry Regiment drove its amphibious landing ship back to the sea again when it was still two kilometers away from the Soviet defense line. The ship was fully loaded with ammunition.

Twenty "No. 4" tanks were also launched into the water with the fleet, but these tanks were soon left far behind by the fleet... The underwater speed of amphibious tanks is too different from that of amphibious landing ships. , it can only serve as the second echelon.

Then, in order to prevent the Soviet army from discovering the sound of the amphibious boarding motor in the sea, the German army from the front launched an attack.

First, several illumination bombs rose into the sky and illuminated the panicked faces of the Soviet troops on the defensive line, and then pieces of artillery shells roared towards the Soviet positions with a roar.

Ironically, most of these shells were captured by the Germans in Soglione.

Regarding these shells, Manstein's order was: "Don't worry about not having enough of them, because there will be more ahead!"

Manstein is right. The Caucasus, especially the Transcaucasus, not only has a very important strategic position, but was once considered the safest place in the Soviet Union.

It is not unreasonable to say that it is "the safest", because the German army has only two roads to the Transcaucasus:

One is from the sea route, that is, through the Mediterranean Sea, into the Aegean Sea, through the Black Sea Strait and then to the Black Sea.

But this road is obviously impassable, because the powerful navies of Britain and the United States form an iron wall in the Mediterranean, not to mention the Soviet Union also has a fleet in the Black Sea.

The other is the land route, which runs from the Don River through the North Caucasus and across the Caucasus Mountains to Transcaucasus.

Historically, the German army took this route to attack the Transcaucasus. For this reason, Hitler also specially trained several mountain divisions to seize the Caucasus Mountains.

The problem is that the Soviet army also trains mountain divisions, and most of these mountain divisions are Caucasians who grew up on this land.

The right time, location, and people, coupled with the advantages of low-speed Seagull fighter jets in air combat in the Caucasus, made it difficult for the German army, which was good at blitzkrieg, to move here and ultimately ended in failure.

Taking these factors into consideration, the Soviet army relocated part of its industry to Transcaucasia.

This approach should be said to be correct, because once the German army attacks the Caucasus, it will be difficult for the Caucasus Front troops stationed here to obtain supplies from the north. The British and American artillery shells, bullets and equipment are different from the Soviet army, so although they can get supplies from the British , the United States is likely to have difficulties in supplying supplies.

Therefore, Transcaucasia must be able to produce shells, bullets, firearms, artillery, and even tanks to achieve self-sufficiency.

A natural barrier coupled with a self-sufficient industry, coupled with the warm climate, rich products, and almost inexhaustible oil in Transcaucasia, there will be no problem even if Transcaucasia is blocked for several years, but it will become more and more open. The stronger the country became, the industry here even became an important supply base for the Soviet army during its counterattack... This was also one of the reasons why the German army suffered defeat in the Caucasus in history.

(Note: The Caucasus Mountains block the cold current from Siberia in the north and gather the warm sea breeze blowing from the Black Sea in the south, so the climate is very warm, with the lowest temperature not lower than 5 degrees)

But no one expected that Qin Chuan thought of another way: crossing the Kerch Strait and landing on the flank of the Caucasus Mountains.

As a result, what the German army faced were supply warehouses and even arsenals one after another. Of course, there was no need to save on things like artillery shells.

The explosion of the artillery shell immediately alerted the army headquarters stationed in Novorossiysk.

Major General Sergatskov, commander of the Soviet 43rd Army, climbed out of bed in a hurry. After cursing, he hurriedly put on the military uniform he had just taken off, buttoning the buttons and opening the door. Walking into the headquarters in the hall, he asked the staff officer who was busy on the phone: "What's going on?"

"Comrade Sergatskov!" the staff officer reported to the major general in a panic: "We are attacked by the Germans!"

"How many are there?" Major General Sergatskov asked.

"We don't know yet!" the staff officer replied: "But we saw a lot of tanks and the artillery fire was very fierce!"

Major General Sergatskov looked at the map, and then ordered: "Order the artillery to return fire and suppress their artillery fire!"

"Yes!" the staff officer responded and passed on the order.

"Comrade Sergatskov!" At this time, political commissar Chigashev also walked into the headquarters: "Are they German?"

"Yes!" Major General Sergatskov pointed at the map and replied: "I think the Germans were worried about being surrounded by us in Soglio, and in order to gain more combat space, they attacked us first! "

Zygashev nodded in agreement, because Novorossiysk is a mountain pass. Although it is an important defensive area, it is also a good place for the Germans to intercept... The front is only a few kilometers wide, and the strength of several Soviet divisions cannot be used here. Fully expanded.

"So!" Zigashev said: "The Germans may just be bluffing, and they won't invest too many troops in our direction?"

"Yes!" Sergatskov replied: "Because in addition to intercepting us, they also have to station in Soglione. In addition, they have to detach at least one force to fight against the two divisions of the North Caucasus Army!"

Under Stalin's order, Budyonny could only send two divisions to cooperate with the Transcaucasian Army's attack.

"So!" Sergatskov continued: "We are not in a hurry. We will prepare tonight and wait until dawn to launch a counterattack against the Germans! Then we will make them regret setting foot on our soil!"

Chigashev had no problem with this, because he also knew that the Soviet army was not good at fighting at night... The troops who lacked training seemed not to be suitable for fighting at night.

But what Chigashev and Sergazkov didn't expect was that the Germans were not just stopping them as they thought, but were going to annihilate their four divisions in one fell swoop.

But this doesn't seem to be their fault. Who would have thought that the German army, with only two divisions, would want to defeat the Soviet army of four divisions in one go?

Before the battle on the Kerch Peninsula, even the German army themselves did not dare to have this idea, but after that...the German army did not doubt that they had this ability from top to bottom.