The decisive battle against the Third Reich

That night, as usual, the Brandenburg detachment took the lead.

In fact, the Brandenburg detachment had already been out reconnaissance during the day when the 11th Army was resting.

The results of their reconnaissance were consistent with what Qin Chuan and others guessed. They allocated the main force to the front of the Baku defense line and the Caspian Sea coast. Most of the troops stationed in the direction of the Caucasus Mountains were broken troops, wounded soldiers and logistics personnel withdrawn from the front line. ... Most of the defeated and wounded soldiers were from the 392nd Infantry Division and the 394th Infantry Division. They were ordered to stop the German advance on the front line, but rather than stopping, they fled and were chased by the Germans all the way to Baku.

"They have arranged three divisions on the front of the defense line!" Erich pointed to the map and said: "They are the 406th Infantry Division, the 155th Infantry Brigade and the 242nd Mountain Division! The troops directly under the front are arranged along the Caspian Sea, that is, 417th Infantry Division and 52nd Tank Brigade."

"They obviously think that we will bypass their defense lines from the Caspian Sea!" Manstein said: "That's why they put their elite troops on the coast of the Caspian Sea!"

"Yes!" Major General Wagner said, "But this is not a good thing for us!"

Manstein nodded in agreement.

Although by now, the German raid can be considered half successful... Until then, the Soviet army had not realized that the German army had penetrated into the rear of Baku.

However, the enemy's strength gap is still very different.

The Soviet army has four complete infantry and one tank brigade, as well as two disabled infantry divisions that are resting in the rear as reserves. The preliminary estimate is that the strength is about 100,000.

Strictly speaking, the German army only had two divisions with more than 30,000 troops.

"Once we attack Baku!" Major General Frecco said: "The enemy's troops spread out around us will immediately form a counter-encirclement after turning back!"

"If we have reinforcements..." Wagner said, "Then we can defeat them by cooperating inside and outside. The problem is that we don't have reinforcements, and we will be trapped by them and unable to move!"

"What's worse is that we don't have heavy weapons!" Qin Chuan added: "And the enemy has a tank brigade!"

Because the 11th Army had to cross the Caucasus, all its heavy equipment was left on the other side of the mountain. Otherwise, with the quality of the German armored divisions, there is still a chance of winning against the Soviet armored divisions.

But now it's a different story.

Erich suggested: "Sneak attack, blow up the oil fields and refineries, and then retreat to the Caucasus!"

This is really good advice.

In fact, this was one of the reasons why Manstein agreed to pass through the Caucasus... The Baku oil fields accounted for 71.5% of the Soviet Union's total energy. As long as these oil fields were ignited and the refineries were blown up, it would cause considerable damage to the Soviet industry. A loss, this can already be said to be a victory.

Then, the German army retreated to the Caucasus with the supplies captured from Baku, taking advantage of the terrain to block the Soviet attack until Army Group A broke through the Don River defense line and attacked the Caucasus.

The problem is that the German army's desire to obtain oil from Baku will not happen overnight.

"Maybe we can hold Baku!" Qin Chuan said, looking at the map.

"Major!" Erich objected: "Although I also hope that those oil fields and refineries can be used by us, with all due respect, this is not a rational approach!"

Wagner also shook his head and said: "Although the Soviets are not strong in combat effectiveness! Among them, the 242nd Mountain Division is still a newly formed recruit, but the difference in strength is too great, and the two units directly under the front army should not be underestimated!"

"We don't need to face so many troops!" Qin Chuan said.

"You mean to use our army's frontal attack and Caspian Sea attack to contain it?" Major General Frecco said: "Major, they have a wall of fire. They only need a small number of troops to block our 22nd Armored Division on the other side!"

"I'm talking about the wall of fire!" Qin Chuan said.

"What wall of fire?" Manstein asked.

"Marshal!" Qin Chuan pointed at the map and said: "As we said before, the Soviet army may have more than one wall of fire on the front. To put it simply, after we break through one wall of fire, we will then face the second wall of fire. And then there is the third way..."

"What does this have to do with us?" Manstein asked.

"Of course it does matter, Marshal!" Qin Chuan replied: "Because I think these fire walls must not have been dug temporarily. It is very likely that they are digging them now, and they are still behind the frontline troops!"

The officers couldn't help but said "Oh" and nodded one after another.

The reason is very simple. The length and width of the fire wall determine that the amount of work is quite large. It is impossible to wait until the frontline troops retreat before digging. Instead, we should dig in advance and be prepared. After the frontline troops retreat, we should immediately put in the oil and then light the fire. , so as to stop the pursuers behind.

Erich continued: "We did detect that the Soviets were digging a trench..."

As he spoke, Erich searched for a while on the map, then pointed to a location and said: "Here, three miles away from Baku, a large number of Soviet civilians are working on construction. We thought it was a trench, but now that we think about it... this It’s more like what you call a wall of fire because it has no corners!”

The digging of trenches has a special feature: in order to prevent a few enemy machine gunners from jumping into the trenches and setting up a machine gun to block the entire defense line with firepower, it is very taboo for trenches to be dug in a straight line, and it should be more jagged.

The fire wall does not have this problem. In order to reduce the amount of work and increase the mobility of fuel, the fire wall should be dug in a straight line.

Qin Chuan pointed to that position and said: "As long as we occupy this fire wall and let it ignite a fire, the three Soviet divisions will be blocked from the fire wall!"

"It doesn't look like it's finished yet!" Erich said. "They're divided into sections, with some gaps in the middle!"

"This is not a problem!" Manstein said: "On the one hand, we can organize the prisoners and the Soviets to connect them quickly. On the other hand, if it is too late, we can use firepower to block the gap!"

The officers couldn't help but nodded in agreement. The Soviet army's combat effectiveness was not strong in the first place. If they could only focus on charging in certain gaps, then their strength advantage would not be brought into play. It would not be difficult for the German army to hold these gaps.

"Then, the troops of about three divisions on the front will be solved!" Qin Chuan said: "They will be trapped in the front and rear walls of fire with nowhere to go, unless they enter the Caucasus, but they want to cross the Caucasus again like us. It will take at least a few days to get here!”

"There are also two units directly under the front army!" Manstein said: "Especially the tank brigade!"

"We can choose the battlefield!" Qin Chuan pointed at the map and said, "For example... we can build a defense line between the oil fields!"