USSR 1941

Shulka guessed right. After Manstein's last phone call with Major General Ellen, he immediately contacted Hitler who was in Wolfsburg.

"Your Excellency the Führer!" Manstein reported, "I regret to tell you that Surovikino has fallen, and it will take three hours for my reinforcements to arrive there! There is only one infantry division in Romania and our army in front of us! We can't let the situation continue like this!"

Hitler froze for a moment, then swore with his fists: "These bastards! These cowards! That's Surovikino, the 29th Panzergrenadier... They used to be our most elite unit! Once! They occupied all The location is favorable, but you can’t stay there for a few more hours!”

Manstein knew that this was not the case. The 29th Panzergrenadiers had done their best, and they were very brave. Major General Ellen, in particular, was able to organize the defense successfully in that situation. Even Manstein could not Surprised.

But Manstein said nothing.

Because Manstein knew it would be useless to talk about it.

The Fuehrer is looking for someone, or it can be said that he is looking for a unit to take the blame... The order was given by the Fuehrer. His previous judgment was that the 29th Panzergrenadier Division could at least hold out until Manstein's reinforcements arrived and organized a defense .

But now the facts gave Hitler a slap in the face.

Hitler of course would not admit his mistake, so it must be the fault of the 29th Panzergrenadiers.

In this respect, Hitler's command is quite similar to that of the political commissar of the Soviet Army: during the battle, everything was dispatched according to his requirements. He is afraid to fight.

I'm afraid this is also one of the reasons why Hitler's assassination groups will appear in the German army... The generals of the Wehrmacht will inevitably be dissatisfied with Hitler's command.

Hitler on the other end of the phone got angry, but he also knew that it would be useless to get angry at this time, so he stopped after a while and asked Manstein: "My general, what help do you want to change? This situation?"

This is Hitler's art of speaking, he considered himself a "military genius", so instead of asking his subordinates what to do next, he asked "what help do you need".

Although they are talking about the same thing, the nature is completely different.

At this time, Manstein dared to care about these things with Hitler. He replied: "I need the air force,

Your Excellency the Führer! Only by regaining air supremacy can we prevent the enemy from advancing, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous! "

At this time, Hitler was no longer willful, because he knew what it would mean if the enemy broke through from the flanks and outflanked the Army Group Don... Even if Goering's air force could really transport supplies to the 6th Army, it would definitely not be able to supply the Don Army again. The River Army transported supplies, not to mention that the Don Army had no defense depth at all, and even transport planes could not land.

So, Hitler agreed without thinking: "You will get the air force you need! Block them and drive them back!"

"Yes, Your Excellency the Führer!" replied Manstein.

After Manstein hung up the phone, he stared at the map in a daze.

He seemed to have no other option but to retreat.

Because Manstein knew that the enemy's penetrating troops or outflanking troops were equipped with a lot of tanks... The 51st Army has been fighting on the battlefield for a while, and its equipment and even its organization are no longer suitable for the German army. secret.

It is obviously unrealistic to rely on the Romanian army to resist these tanks. The Romanian army seriously lacks anti-tank equipment.

It is impossible to completely rely on the air force to block this army, because it can be seen from the previous battles that the tactics of the Russian army have been updated at this time. They will strive to use the air force to fight for air supremacy in the direction of Surovikino The Luftwaffe would compete with the Russian Air Force for air supremacy, at least for a while, without being able to focus too much on enemy tanks.

It is of course a fool's dream for an infantry division to block the Russian army... The reason why the 29th Panzergrenadier Division was able to block the Russian army before was entirely because of the inclusion of a large number of anti-tank troops to enhance its anti-tank capabilities and the fact that it occupied a strategically important throat.

The other line of defense obviously did not have these benefits, so they would soon be overwhelmed by the flood of Russian troops.

So, there seems to be only one option to stop the enemy, and that is armored forces.

But Manstein only has two armored divisions in his hands... It is undoubtedly dangerous to transfer the armored divisions to the direction of Surovikino, because the Russian army in Karachi should not be underestimated. The Don Army, which was originally understrength, still has one division The troops of the Armored Division turned around to block the gap. If one was not good, they would not be able to stop the enemy's counterattack in Karachi, and they would be directly counterattacked by the enemy and then collapsed thousands of miles away.

The adjutant seemed to have seen through Manstein's thoughts, and he suggested: "Your Excellency, Marshal, we should suspend our attack on Karachi! Order the infantry to build a defensive line to fill the gap, and then transfer the armored division to Surovikino..."

"Do you think our weak line of defense can stop the enemy's counterattack?" Manstein asked back: "Especially on the flanks, the infantry line of defense will be flanked by the enemy from both sides!"

The adjutant fell silent after being asked this question.

After thinking about it, Manstein said: "No, we should continue to attack!"

"Continue to attack Karachi?" The adjutant couldn't believe what he heard.

"Yes!" Manstein replied.

"Then Surovikino..."

"If you keep attacking Karachi, the Russians won't fight back, understand?"

The adjutant said "Oh", then he looked horrified and asked, "What if the Russians counterattack?"

"No, they won't!" Manstein ordered: "Do as I say!"

Manstein, because this is the plank road of Mingxiu, crosses Chen Cang secretly. On the surface, he is still attacking Karachi to stabilize the enemy in front, but the attacking force has changed from an armored division to an infantry division without anyone noticing... The infantry division also has a small number of tanks. Urban street fighting originally did not require too many tanks, so it was difficult for the Russian army to distinguish whether it was an infantry division or an armored division attacking them.

At most, Manstein confessed to the German soldiers that once captured, he would confess the number of the armored division, so at least for a period of time, the fake one could be confused with the real one.

The real body of the armored division flew back from Karachi and rushed to Surovikino overnight, including the heavy armored battalion equipped with "Tiger" tanks.

With these tanks, Manstein believed that at least one battle with the enemy would be possible.

At that time, when reinforcements from other directions of the German army arrive, the crisis in the direction of Surovikino will be over.