The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Qinchuan's guess was correct. The Soviets, including Stalin and Zhukov, did not expect the role that helicopters could play in the Caucasus Mountains.

This may be a bit hard to imagine, because if the helicopter takes into account the characteristics of the helicopter, that is, it can hover and rappel, then it can basically be judged that it can airlift troops and supplies to the Caucasus, and even as long as there is a suitable location, such as opening a large enough area, Landing field, where helicopters can also land.

But the helicopter is still a new gadget for this era, and all the tactics it uses are the first time for this era... So it is like Columbus erecting eggs. Before you knew it, you didn't think it could be done. You may find that this is normal or that you can certainly do it.

Before this, helicopters had only been used to rappel sandbars and capture prisoners in "rat nests". This was the first time that helicopters were used in mountain operations. In other words, it had never been experienced by the Soviet army, so it was not surprising that they did not know.

Therefore, the Soviet army landed in Kreinovka from the Black Sea step by step... The German army had limited troops and could not defend too many places, so it had to take the initiative to abandon large areas, including north of the Caucasus Mountains.

Kreinovka is an inconspicuous small port north of the Caucasus Mountains. It is not even connected by a railway... but even if there is a railway, the Soviet army will not use it, because there is no doubt that the German army will It is destroyed and demolished.

Because there were no German troops stationed, the Soviet army easily occupied the port.

The first thing the Soviet army had to face was the ubiquitous landmines, which made Zhukov feel a little foreboding, because there were so many landmines here, which seemed to mean that the German army guessed that the Soviet army would land here.

But even so, Zhukov still did not stop.

The Soviet army advanced along the Caspian Sea coast, occupied Makhachkala, an important port, and turned it into a logistics supply base for the Soviet army... Soviet supplies can be continuously transported here from the north through the Caspian Sea, and then Then transported to the front line to maintain the Soviet offensive.

Of course, the Soviet army immediately began repairing the railways and roads connecting the port. Because of the serious shortage of rails and sleepers, and at the same time, the Soviets hoped to repair as many railways as possible before the real severe cold came, and even dismantled the sleepers and rails of some branch lines on the east bank of the Volga River and transported them to the Caucasus.

It should be said that the Soviets have never been good at concealing their strategic goals.

At this time, the Soviet army had two possible directions of attack:

One is to continue southward along the Caspian Sea, bypass the Caucasus Mountains and directly attack Baku along Gubden and Chilik.

The other was to attack the Caucasus Mountains.

The Soviet army's actions to build railways and roads toward the Caucasus Mountains clearly told the enemy that they had chosen the latter.

However, this seems to be normal, because if you choose the former, you must have tanks and other heavy equipment to coordinate with you to launch an assault on the German defense line, otherwise it will be tantamount to death.

The Soviet army's large transport ships were almost lost as early as the Battle of Stalingrad. It was difficult to transport heavy equipment such as tanks and artillery, so they could only choose the Caucasus, which did not need or could not use heavy equipment. mountains.

Zhukov is very confident in this attack because he has formed five mountain divisions with considerable combat effectiveness, or it can be said that they are mountain divisions suitable for fighting in the Caucasus Mountains:

These five mountain divisions are based on the three mountain divisions that escaped from the Caucasus, namely the 9th, 20th, and 242nd Mountain Divisions, and are supplemented by the 22nd Infantry Division and the 39th Infantry Division...these two infantry divisions Coming from Siberia, they are used to living and fighting in low-temperature environments.

One of the evidences is that their boots are always one size larger so that they can stuff straw, cotton wool, etc. into the boots to keep them warm. The German army's military boots always fit the feet very well. If something is stuffed inside, the boots will become too crowded.

Of course, Qin Chuan and others do not need these special boots. They have hiking boots with crampons, as well as fur waterproof military uniforms, thickened gloves, ice axes and other snow mountain equipment.

Looking at the complete set of snow mountain equipment of the 1st Infantry Regiment, even Major General Frecco had jealousy in his eyes.

"Do you know?" Major General Frecco said: "Only the most elite mountaineering commandos in our division have equipment like this, and their equipment is not even as good as yours, such as military uniforms..."

"Don't envy us for this, general!" Qin Chuan replied: "There is a price to pay for having these equipment!"

Major General Frecco nodded in agreement.

The battlefield is a very fair place. Having more advanced equipment means that it will be put into the most dangerous places and there will be more and more brutal battles... The German military is not a fool, and they will not spend a lot of money on it. The 1st Infantry Regiment was equipped with these equipment and then let them stay in the rear to show off.

The troops were then pulled outdoors for training.

The training subjects sound very simple, which is to move to a highland one kilometer away to build fortifications, and the entire process is accompanied by mountain division officers who are familiar with the area.

But actually doing it is not simple at all.

"We must pay attention to snow ditches!" the mountain division officer said to Qinchuan and others: "As you know, some places are deep ditches in the summer, and the soft snow layer will block the upper parts of them, making them look different from other places. There is no difference between places, but if you step on it...congratulations, you can be freed from this hellish world!"

The mountain division officer's name was Christian, staff captain, a Hanoverian.

Qin Chuan only knew so much about him, because he seemed unwilling to talk about anything other than the mission.

Later, Qin Chuan learned from Major General Frecco that Christian was partly Jewish. No one knew the details, so Christian was always cautious, which seemed to be very useful in snow mountain operations.

It took the group more than two hours to reach the designated area out of breath, where they built fortifications and conducted live fire...

Then problems appeared one after another. The mortar could not be fired because the barrel was too tight due to thermal expansion and contraction.

The mortar crew hurriedly threw the mortar to the other side of the trench, but it did not explode, perhaps because the shell got stuck and froze before it hit the bottom firing pin.

"It's right to throw him away!" Christian said: "If you try to take it back, it will make a 'boom' when you are not prepared..."

"You can be freed from this hellish world!" Werner finished Christian's words.

This phrase has become Christian's mantra.