The decisive battle against the Third Reich

"What's worse..." Alexander said: "A large number of Soviet troops were found in the defense areas of the Romanian 3rd Army and the 4th Army!"

"Does the head of state know these situations?" Qin Chuan asked.

In fact, this sentence is just to confirm that Hitler cannot not know such important information.

Sure enough, Alexander replied: "Of course he knows, but he doesn't pay attention to it!"

"We sometimes don't understand why!" Another staff officer interrupted: "Our flanks are already in such a dangerous situation, why does the Führer want to transfer flank troops to France!"

"Maybe it's because France needs troops!" Alexander replied.

"Yes, I know this!" the staff officer objected: "But can we ignore the Eastern Front because France is in danger? Stalingrad is located at the protrusion of the Two Rivers defense line. If the flank is breached, the 6th Army will be defeated by the Soviet Union. The danger of being surrounded by people!”

The staff officer's words silenced everyone, because everyone thought he was right.

Qinchuan knew why. Hitler was overconfident on the Eastern Front, thinking that Army Group South could block a possible Soviet attack with its existing strength. Or it could be said that Hitler was deceived and believed Canaris. The intelligence believed that the Soviets were unable to organize a counterattack.

Qinchuan knew very well that this was wrong. The Soviet Union's war potential far exceeded the imagination of the German leaders... This was related to the Soviet army's quality requirements for soldiers. Without high quality requirements, a huge army could be organized in a short time. Troops, even if hundreds of thousands or even millions of these troops were surrounded and annihilated by the German army, the Soviet army could immediately organize another unit.

"We have several plans now!" Alexander said: "The first plan is to persuade the head of state to pay attention to the weak flanks on both sides of our army. If he can recognize the danger involved, then he will take corresponding measures!"

As for the measures, Alexander did not go into details, but everyone knew...either sending reinforcements to make up for these weak points, or shrinking the defense line, that is, retreating.

"Another plan!" Alexander continued: "That is to deploy troops from the 6th Army to defend the two wings."

Qin Chuan shook his head and said: "This plan is not realistic. The northern defense line centered on Kotluban has always been the focus of the Soviet attack, and the defense on both wings requires at least two mechanized armies!"

The 6th Army has only five corps in total, and all of them are seriously lacking in strength and equipment after the tragic Battle of Stalingrad. If two more corps are deployed to defend the flanks, the defensive power in the Stalingrad area will become everywhere. It's a flaw.

"Then there is only the first option!" Alexander said: "In fact, this is what General Paulus is doing. He is trying to convince the head of state to let him realize the vulnerability of this line of defense!"

Just as he was talking, a jeep stopped outside the door. Paulus, wrapped in a windbreaker, and his guards jumped out of the car and walked quickly into the headquarters, their faces very ugly.

Alexander and Qin Chuan looked at each other and both knew that Paulus' trip was not going well.

Qin Chuan was not surprised at all by this. Hitler was famous for his arrogance and stubbornness. For example, he was deceived by the Allies' "Mincemeat Plan" in the Battle of Sicily. Until the last moment, he thought the Allied attack on Sicily was a bluff.

It would be nice if Hitler could realize his mistake, but he pretended that nothing happened, and the generals and staff around him also pretended that it was not Hitler's fault, so mistakes like this happened again and again, and Normandy This was true at the time of landing, and it is true now on the Eastern Front.

"Oh, Major!" Paulus seemed to have just seen Qin Chuan. He nodded towards Qin Chuan and said, "Seeing you may be the only thing that makes people relaxed today!"

Alexander hoped that Paulus could talk to them about the progress, but Paulus was obviously unwilling to do so. He greeted the officers and walked into the lounge.

Paulus's adjutant, Major General Weber, came up and explained: "Sorry, the general has been busy for two days and he needs to rest!"

"The situation is not good, General?" Alexander asked.

Major General Weber nodded: "The head of state believes that we have enough troops to defend, and at the same time, he believes that the Soviets will not launch a counterattack so quickly and do not have that many troops!"

The staff couldn't help but fell silent.

This is a very powerless feeling. Most of them know that the Führer is wrong, but they just can't change this. Qin Chuan is also one of them.

After a moment of silence, Alexander turned his attention to Qin Chuan: "Major, the head of state trusts you very much. If it is up to you to convince the head of state, do you think it is possible..."

"Colonel!" Qin Chuan interrupted Alexander: "If General Paulus can't convince the head of state, do you think I can?"

Alexander was speechless.

This is indeed a stupid method, because even if Hitler trusts Qin Chuan, Qin Chuan is a low-level officer after all, and he has no more say in strategic matters than Paulus.

"Maybe..." Then Alexander said: "We can make some preparations for the Soviet attack!"

"Like what?" Qin Chuan asked.

"For example..." Alexander pointed to the map and said: "We can build fortifications or lay mines on the weak wings, so that when the Soviets attack, they will not be too fast. At that time, the head of state realized that he had judged If we make a mistake, we can evacuate before the Soviets complete the encirclement!”

Qin Chuan shook his head.

This sounds feasible, because once the Soviet counterattack is launched, the German army will soon know the strength of the Soviet army's offensive, and then Hitler will realize his mistake, and then the 6th Army can either suffer greater losses or It can also be said that they evacuated before the Soviet army formed an encirclement.

but……

"Even so, will the head of state agree to retreat?" Qin Chuan asked.

Qin Chuan hit the nail on the head, just like in the North African battlefield, when the situation was obviously unfavorable to the African Legion, Hitler still ordered not to retreat... This has almost become Hitler's mantra.

This is indeed the case. It goes without saying in history that Hitler realized his mistake. Even though Paulus's 6th Army was surrounded by the Soviet army, Hitler still ordered Paulus to stay in place instead of breaking out.

Hitler seems to have forgotten a famous saying of Frederick the Great: "He who wants to hold on to everything will end up holding on to nothing!"

After thinking about it, Qin Chuan said, "We seem to have a third plan!"

"What?" Alexander looked at Qin Chuan in surprise.