The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Five days later, news came from Alexander that a suitable target had been found.

"Their designation is Southwest Front Army!" Alexander handed Qin Chuan a document and said, "This Southwest Front Army is newly formed and is completely different from the previous Southwest Front Army!"

Alexander did not explain too much. After all, this was not the point, but Qin Chuan understood the meaning... The Southwest Front Army was formed last year. This year, due to the attack on Kharkov, it was surrounded by the German army and most of it was wiped out. Therefore, the Supreme Commander of the Soviet Army The Ministry immediately revoked the designation of the Southwest Front Army, and the surviving troops were incorporated into the Stalingrad Front Army and the Southeast Front Army.

Many people think that this designation that was revoked due to defeat is unlucky. For example, Germany is also taboo about this, so it stopped using the names of historical figures to name its plans after the failure of the "Barbarossa Plan".

(Note: Frederick I, also known as "Redbeard" or "Barbarossa", was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in the European Middle Ages and a famous statesman and military strategist in German history)

But the Soviets didn't seem to care. When Zhukov was preparing for the counterattack, he decided to reorganize the Southwest Front Army, although the troops were completely different.

"This Southwest Front has jurisdiction over the 21st and 63rd Army Groups, as well as the 5th Tank Army and the 17th Air Force Army!" Alexander said while flipping through the documents: "The specific troop strength and equipment have not yet been detected, but these are not what we need to know. Yes, what we need to worry about is...this!"

Alexander pointed to a photo and said: "This village is called Nizhny Tusk. Most of the villagers have been requisitioned as migrant workers to build fortifications on the Don River. Only dozens of old people and children are left. Because it is only three meters away from the Don River defense line. Ten kilometers away, we have the honor to be the division headquarters of the 97th Infantry Division of the 21st Group Army. The division commander, Major General Stekov, set his headquarters in..."

Alexander pulled a photo from the file and said, "In this two-story house!"

Qin Chuan looked at the aerial photos of the village and compared them with the reconnaissance data, and couldn't help but praise: "It's an ideal target. There is only one guard company, and the nearest troops are five kilometers away!"

"Yes!" Alexander said: "Obviously, the Soviets were busy gathering troops and supplies so they ignored the safety of the headquarters. In other words, they thought it was safe thirty kilometers away from the defense line!"

"They will regret this!" Qin Chuan said while looking at several aerial charts with interest.

The next thing is to build some buildings or models based on these villages for the commandos to practice in them until they can find their goals in the village with their eyes closed and come out smoothly.

"I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you in one thing, Major!" said Alexander.

"What?"

"We have no way of knowing for sure whether these officers were insiders!"

Qin Chuan nodded. He had actually thought of this a long time ago... Unless he was tortured, it would be difficult to determine whether the target knew about a certain plan.

"So, we still need luck for this operation, don't you think so?"

"Yes!" Alexander replied: "But it cannot be said that it is entirely based on luck... The Southwest Front is a newly formed front by the Soviets. Compared with the Don River Army, they are not familiar with the fortifications of the Don River, and the Southwest Front is not familiar with the defenses of the Don River. There is a tank army and an air force army. It is obvious that this front army is used for offense! "

"That's right!" Qin Chuan said: "Since this front is used for attack, then it is very likely that an officer at one of the division headquarters will know the detailed attack plan!"

"Yes!"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Qin Chuan said, "It's time to make preparations!"

The preparation work was very detailed, and Alexander mobilized an engineering regiment to rebuild the target village specifically for the commandos... Of course, the reconstruction mentioned here is not a complete reconstruction, but a large-scale reconstruction to the scale of the photo. With the exception of a few extremely important buildings, most houses were quickly built by driving a few piles, covering them with ponchos, and then painting them with color. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been built in a week and a half but a month and a half.

In order to keep it secret, the engineering regiment was even placed under guard or under house arrest after doing this... Alexander was worried that the engineering regiment would spread the news about their reconstruction of the village, and then the Soviets would know where their target was.

Then, Qinchuan deployed "Soviet soldiers" among them according to the intelligence... In order to make the image more vivid, these "Soviet soldiers" even wore Soviet military uniforms and held Mosin Nagants.

The German soldiers who performed this mission joked: "You should communicate with other troops, otherwise, if they find us in the telescope, they will call in artillery fire or even bombers to blow us into pieces!"

He almost got it right. When a fighter jet flew over the training ground, it was shocked to see the heavily armed Soviet soldiers in this village. Without saying a word, it swooped down and fired... Fortunately, this man was The pilot was a rough recruit and his bullets left nothing but holes in the canvas.

The commandos trained on this model.

What made Qin Chuan feel a little distressed was that during the commando training, the intelligence coming from Alexander kept changing. The number of troops in the village increased from one guard company to two companies, and another one was stationed one kilometer away. A howitzer battalion.

On the other hand, as the weather gets colder as time goes by, floating ice has appeared on the Don and Volga rivers.

This made Qin Chuan realize that he could not delay it any longer.

Otherwise, there will be too many variables. For example, the target village may add more troops, and the Soviet offensive may be launched before the action. More importantly... if it continues to be delayed, even if Qin Chuan successfully obtained "evidence" to prove everything, but in the end it was of no use because the German army did not have enough time to react.

So, after training that day, Qin Chuan said to Alexander: "It's time to take action!"

"Choose a name for this operation!" Alexander said.

After thinking about it, Qin Chuan replied: "How about 'Operation Rat Hunting'?"

"What a good name!" Alexander said, "We are eagles, and the enemy is rats. The eagle will fly over the rats in the night, and then show its sharp claws and catch the rats back to their nests!"

"I just don't know..." Qin Chuan said, "Will the eagle become food for mice?"