USSR 1941

"No, no..." Then Trufanov overturned his own thoughts: "They won't allow us to slow down!"

By "they" Trufanov meant the Supreme Command.

Of course, the Supreme Command will not allow the 51st Army to slow down. They will speed up in order to allow the 51st Army to hold Manstein, and even send people to monitor the 51st Army.

"Of course not!" Shulka said. "But... Paulus will let us go? I mean, the German Sixth Army, which is besieged in Stalingrad, they will let the situation develop as it is now. ?”

After hesitating for a while, Trufanov, who was still like a wilted cabbage, sat up as if thinking of something.

"You mean..." Trufanov said while looking at the map: "Paulus will send troops to prevent us from closing the encirclement? Just like he sent two divisions to reinforce the Romanian army?"

"Why not?" Shulka replied: "Of course Paulus hopes that our encirclement will be closed as soon as possible, so that they can get as much supplies as possible, and it is best to last until the reinforcements arrive... I'm afraid our encirclement circle won't be able to close!"

After a pause, Shulka corrected: "To be precise, the outer encirclement cannot be closed. By then, the inner encirclement may have been closed and a fierce battle of encirclement and annihilation has already begun!"

"That's right!" Trufanov understood Shulka's meaning: "In other words, it's not that we don't want to close the encirclement, but that there are enemies blocking us!"

Shulka nodded, and added: "And they are Germans with strong fighting power!"

"Yes, Germans with strong fighting power!" Trufanov's frowning brows slowly relaxed: "At the same time, they also have a large number of Romanian troops to cooperate, no matter their strength or equipment, they should not be underestimated!"

"They organized an orderly defense with the German army as the center and command!" Shulka said: "And we, because of the weak air power, so..." New 81 Chinese website updates the fastest computer terminal:

Trufanov couldn't help laughing.

"I have never wished so much to meet the enemy!" said Trufanov. "I have one request, Comrade Shulka!"

"any request?"

"At that time... don't make any suggestions, let us break through the enemy's line of defense!"

"Of course!" Shulka replied, then looked at Trufanov and smiled.

In fact, this is the saying: "There are policies above and countermeasures below."

As Stalin had his policies, Shulka would have his countermeasures.

This was a normal thing for Shulka, but a nervous Soviet like Trufanov just couldn't think so far.

So soon, Trufanov responded positively to his superiors.

Even Trufanov swore an oath to his superiors with great confidence: "Guaranteed to complete the task! Quickly penetrate deep into the enemy and do everything possible to join forces with the Southwest Front Army!"

In fact, Trufanov was not as confident as he appeared when he said these words.

Because the telegram was sent shortly after, Trufanov asked Shulka in a low voice: "What if the Germans didn't set up a defense line in front of us? Are we going to pretend to be stopped by the Romanians?"

Being stopped by the German army is justifiable, but being stopped by the Romanians is a bit too much.

"Don't worry, Comrade Trufanov!" Shulka replied: "The Germans are not fools,

They will. "

In fact, Shulka himself was not sure... Although he knew the general direction of the battle, he couldn't go into detail to the extent that there would be a German army standing in the way. starter

It's just that at this time, there is no other way but to take one step at a time.

The 51st Army continued to advance westward as Stalin wished, although the speed was not fast due to problems with roads and air supremacy.

On the other side, in the direction of Stalingrad, the Don River Front Army has greatly increased its strength because of the three armies split from Stalingrad, as well as the integration of tanks and aircraft. The Front Army has a total of 212,000 people and about 6,900 artillery pieces. and mortars, more than 250 tanks and nearly 500 combat aircraft.

Stalin and the Military Council of the Front jointly proposed a code name for the elimination of the besieged German army group, called the "Ring" plan.

It can also be seen how much Stalin attached importance to this plan. Before that, Stalin basically did not interfere with the specific command, let alone naming the code name of the plan.

Rokossovsky was ordered to draw up the plan immediately and submit it to the Supreme Command.

To be honest, this made Rokossovsky a little unprepared. The Don River Front Army, which was originally ignored and mainly used to contain the German army, became the most powerful Front Army overnight, responsible for annihilating and liberating Stalingrad. important task.

Although even Rokossovsky felt that this was too hasty, he had to draw up the plan as ordered.

That night, Vasilevsky flew to the Don Front Army Command.

"The Supreme Command believes that ..." Vasilevsky said, pointing to the map: "In the first phase of the campaign, your main tasks should be in Kravtsov, Baburkin, Malinovka, Karpovka Territory to cut off and annihilate the Western Group of the besieged enemy, so that the main assault of our army from Dmitrievka, State Farm No. 1, Baburkin Dungeon turned south towards Karpovskaya Station, No. The 57th Army should carry out an auxiliary assault opposite the main assault from the Kravtsov and Sklyarov areas, and join the main assault in the Karpovskaya station area.”

"But Comrade Vasilevsky!" Rokossovsky couldn't help but gasped as he looked at the offensive lines on the map: "The muddy roads make it inconvenient to march, and such a quick attack will inevitably make our army's heavy equipment and The logistics can't keep up..."

"The enemy will be more difficult than us!" Vasilevsky replied: "Because in this way, we can cut off the enemy's communication and supplies with the outside world in the shortest possible time!"

Rokossovsky can't refute this, because the facts are indeed like this, but some things are based on guesswork and luck.

"In addition!" Then Vasilevsky said: "You should organize the 66th Army to carry out an assault in the direction of the "Red October" village via Orlovka, and the 62nd Army to carry out a surprise attack in the opposite direction, so that The two assaults could be combined to cut off the enemy in the factory area from the main enemy group..."

"It's... very difficult!" Rokossovsky said. "The Germans are very well defended, and this will inflict us with great casualties!"

Vasilevsky didn't speak, so Rokossovsky understood ... at all costs.

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