USSR 1941

Rokossovsky was right, Manstein did want to surround Karachi.

This sounds a bit unbelievable. 6 German divisions surrounded 9 Soviet divisions, and there were Soviet troops everywhere. For example, the flank of the 57th Army was the 51st Army, and the 51st Army could also give reinforcements if necessary.

Manstein, however, took the risk.

This is not only because Karachi is backed by the Don River, but also because the other side of the Don River is the German Sixth Army.

This gave Manstein's troops an inherent advantage. Their offensive could be assisted by artillery from the 6th Army... Although the German 6th Army was short of supplies due to being surrounded at this time, these artillery shells were very important to the Soviet army. Reverse bombing, that is, flying from the rear across the Don River, will have a great impact on the morale of the troops.

On the other hand, the German army has air supremacy, plus the advantage of tanks... The German "Tiger" heavy tank battalion can be said to be almost invincible, as long as they can still move.

Therefore, it was not impossible for two German tanks to cut off Karachi's supplies from the left and right flanks.

And once this situation is formed, that is, the German army reoccupied Karachi, then Manstein successfully rescued the German Sixth Army from the encirclement... To be exact, it was not to rescue the encirclement, but to smash the Soviet encirclement to pieces It is even possible to continue to attack Stalingrad in an anti-encirclement situation.

This is also the importance of Karachi, whoever occupies it means whoever has the initiative to encircle it.

"Their weakness is the front!" Rokossovsky made a judgment immediately: "They concentrate the elite on the two wings, so the front will inevitably be weak. This is why they want to build fortifications on the front!"

Tolbukhin agrees with this statement.

Because it is obvious that if a tank unit is sent to fight the German tanks, it is almost like hitting a stone with a pebble... At this time, although Tolbukhin did not know that the German army had a "Tiger" heavy tank battalion, the German army had air supremacy, and their "Stukas" "And the "Henschel" will destroy the Soviet tanks one by one like a target.

Therefore, what the Soviet tanks had to face was not the German tanks, but the German bombers and attack aircraft.

If the Soviet tanks are lucky enough to escape the bombing of these planes, then they will face the German tanks.

"We can't wait!" Rokossovsky said: "Time is not on our side, and if we continue to wait, we will only make the enemy's fortifications more complete! You must immediately organize a counterattack!"

"yes,

Comrade Rokossovsky! "

Tolbukhin moved quickly, and organized a frontal counterattack after more than half an hour.

In this respect, Manstein has already won a step, because he turned the German army into the enemy... Originally, the German army needed to attack the Soviet defense line and the cities it defended, but now the Soviet army launched an attack on the German army.

The Soviet attack was launched under the cover of two tank regiments.

In order to prevent the tanks from being bombed by enemy fighter planes, Tolbukhin ordered the infantry to burn tires and release a large number of smoke bombs. Then hundreds of light and heavy tanks covered the two infantry divisions and charged towards the German defense line.

It should be said that Rokossovsky's strategic direction is correct.

As long as the front of the German army is broken through, the elite troops on the two wings of the German army will be divided, and the German supply line will also be hit.

The problem is that Manstein was prepared for this...

The tank divisions transferred to the two wings deliberately distracted the Soviet army's sight, making the Soviet army think that the German army had transferred all the elite away.

In fact, Manstein secretly deployed two heavy tank battalions to the front line of defense.

Therefore, when the Soviet tanks attacked the German defense line... the "Tiger" tanks "rolled" the Soviet tanks rushing to the muzzle one by one.

In an instant, Soviet tanks that were turned into fireballs were everywhere on the battlefield, and the Soviet army thought it was caused by German anti-tank guns, until the German "Tiger" tanks fired up and came out of the bunker...

On the other side, Shurka was still working hard with the German army in Surovikino. Shurka enjoyed this time very much, because the troops seemed to only need to confront the enemy, and then occasionally make a few feints.

If there is any result, it is to place snipers on the battlefield to "communicate" with the enemy.

"Have you heard?" While Shulka was eating American-style compressed biscuits, Trufanov called: "There is a situation with the 57th Army!"

Shulka gave a vague "hmm" and continued to deal with the food.

American-style compressed biscuits are also only eligible for regimental officers like Shulka, and of course Shulka will not enjoy them exclusively. He usually distributes them to the staff and guards of the command headquarters... This is a big deal for them. It's simply delicious.

This compressed biscuit is good for everything, but it is too dry, and Shulka can hardly speak after stuffing his mouth.

He raised his head and drank a few sips of water, which made him feel better.

"Should we do something?" Trufanov asked. "I mean, if this continues, the enemy will probably reoccupy Karachi!"

"Not yet!" Shulka replied.

"When is the time?" Trufanov asked.

"The Southwest Front Army is still far away from us!" Shulka replied while looking at the map: "More than two hundred kilometers..."

Trufanov suddenly understood what Shulka wanted to do.

Shulka never gave up the big encirclement, even when the main force of the big encirclement had been transferred to the small encirclement by Stalin.

The current facts may have proved that Stalin's approach was wrong.

Stalin was too impatient, eager to eat Stalingrad and then make a final decision.

In fact, if the main force is placed in a large encirclement, then the Soviet army does not need to worry about Manstein's reinforcements at all... Insufficient troops are the weakness of the German army.

Therefore, if the original plan is fought, Stalingrad may be liberated later, but the possibility of victory is greater, because the Soviet army has more room to operate and the logistics supply line is wider.

It's a pity that Stalin's set of operations disrupted the overall plan and made the anti-encirclement complicated and confusing.

Shulka believes that there is only one way to solve this mess now...that is, when the Southwest Front Army is close enough to him, suddenly launch an attack to join forces with the Southwest Front Army.

Of course, this requires the Southwest Front Army to be strong enough.

Shulka estimated that the concentrated energy of the 51st Army may be able to break through about 100 kilometers forward, and then Manstein may react and turn around to attack the 51st Army.

So, they need to wait.