Chapter 850

Most of these transportation lines from Kiev to Stalingrad, as well as various factories and infrastructure along the way, are now in the hands of the German army. In order to protect these equipment, the German army even invested special forces and paratroopers to fight a joint operation of unprecedented scale at all costs.

Only after these facilities fell into the hands of the Germans did the Soviet intelligence service realize the seriousness of the problem. When they were in Ukraine, the German army relied on roads and railways to complete the rapid penetration. Now they have hit Ukraine, and rely on these roads to complete the assault on Stalingrad.

By the time they provided the report to Zhukov, everything had come to the conclusion. Relying on their early fee investment, the German army had completed the penetration and attack on the Soviet oil producing areas. As a matter of fact, the roads and railways were bought by the Soviet Union in exchange for a large amount of grain. When they were exchanged, they once became the model projects of the whole country and were praised everywhere.

Zhukov used his pointer to point out several important strongholds in the southern region of the map, and introduced to Stalin: "after the German army captured Rostov, the spearhead of the attack has been divided into two directions. One direction is the German G group army, that is, the Guderian department, which is slowly advancing towards Stalingrad; The other direction is to cut south into the Northern Caucasus and try to seize the oil field facilities there. "

When he said this, he used the pointer to draw two strokes along the German attack direction, and then pointed to Stalingrad's direction and said, "I believe you are familiar with the Guderian Department of Stalingrad. The G group army is a famous German armored force, but now it is used to fight Stalingrad, which is absolutely not in line with common sense."

He went down and drew near Rostov: "however, the M group army, which has just occupied the Crimean Peninsula, is worthy of our careful study. It is absolutely no accident that the general Manstein was sent to the Caucasus. Presumably, this person should be a difficult role like goodrian."

"The Germans are still increasing their forces in the direction of the Caucasus, and some of the servants' troops and some of the German troops are moving in this direction. According to the information from our local intelligence personnel, some of the German troops who have not seen the serial number have also successively appeared in the southern theater. It can be seen that the German troops are increasing their strength there. " Zhukov pointed to the map and reported what he knew to Stalin in detail. Then he watched Stalin stop talking.

Stalin was silent. He didn't speak at once. He just looked at the map and didn't know what he was thinking. An air force general winked at the army general opposite, but the army general secretly shook his head. Before the meeting, the two of them privately worried that Stalin would focus on Stalingrad's defense, so they agreed to persuade Stalin to focus on the front line of Moscow. However, depending on the situation, they did not want to speak first, so they had to pass their eyes on each other.

Obviously, the two of them wasted their efforts, because Stalin finally opened his mouth, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he decided the main content of this meeting: "the main direction of defense should be in the south, which is the established policy and can not be changed."

It was not that Stalin was willing to give up Moscow, but because the Caucasus was so important that he had to consider the possibility that the Caucasus would be completely lost, and how long the Soviet Union could support it once the Caucasus was lost.

As a result, many of Stalin's economic advisers and industrial experts told Stalin that if the Caucasus was lost, the Soviet Union's oil reserves would be exhausted, and it seemed that the transportation of oil from the United States was far from enough. At that time, even if the war would not end immediately, it would fall into a very pessimistic situation after Germany restored the production capacity of Baku oilfield.

Moreover, once Baku oilfield is lost, the Soviet armored forces will not be able to make up the quality gap with quantity, and it will be extremely difficult to launch large-scale armored war at that time, and it will become an extravagant hope that the Soviet Union can not complete its lost territory.

Stalin could not tolerate this. He also hoped to take back the lost territory in the future so that he could continue to exist as the great leader of the crumbling Soviet Union. Once the war fails and the territory is lost, his ruling foundation will collapse, which is not good news for him.

If he stepped down from the peak of power, with his habit of sending people to Siberia, there would be countless people waiting to ask him for justice. Stalin would feel creepy when he thought about this kind of thing. So he accepted Zhukov's suggestion and focused his defense on the Caucasus line in the southern theater.

"The 30 divisions transported from the Far East were also deployed in the Caucasus and distributed in proportion. Seven divisions entered the Stalingrad defensive positions, and the remaining divisions all went south to defend Baku oilfield." Stalin went to the location of the Caucasus on the map, reached out his hand, and knocked near Baku: "at all costs, keep the Baku oil field."

……

At the strategic decision-making meeting of the German front command and the supreme command, the generals present are more famous than those of the Soviet Union: except for marshal lundstedt of the central cluster who continues to stay in the front line to preside over the war, all the famous generals in the eastern front of Germany have already sat in front of the head of state akado.

D group army, modle group army, Liszt group army, F group army, Kluger group army, Guderian group army, M group army, Manstein group army, and N group army commander who has just been transferred to the southern cluster, quhille group army. This is really a gathering of stars“ There was no change in the campaign plan. Everything was still in accordance with the original plan. After the supplement of ammunition and oil was strengthened, large-scale annihilation operations were carried out against the Soviet troops in the Caucasus region. " As the top commander of the German army, marshal brauchich is standing in front of the map, assigning their respective tasks to all the German generals attending the meeting“ General goodrian's G group army continued to March eastward, captured Soviet positions along the Don river, and opened a gap in the attack on Stalingrad. " He pointed to the map with a pointer and said the first combat mission. Goodrian immediately stood up and answered loudly, "yes." then he motioned goodrian to sit down, and then pointed to Stalingrad: "the N group army under the command of general drosiller will be responsible for the frontal attack on Stalingrad. After seizing the city, it will cross the Volga River and attack leninsk."“ Most of his troops are composed of infantry, so when they rely on the railway line, they are very fast. Now part of his main force has replaced Manstein's troops, and they are at the rear of goodrian's armored forces, providing support for them to move on. It was also the established policy of the supreme command that his troops should attack Stalingrad. Akkado did not want the German army to consume too much in Stalingrad, so he used a new group army to attack Stalingrad with the intention of occupying it regardless of the loss, so as to save the German troops on the front defense line. In fact, the Stalingrad strategy formulated by the German army, to put it bluntly, is to use force to smash the N group army, but also to occupy Stalingrad as soon as possible, because the German army has no time to stand off with the Soviet Union there, and the southward Manstein needs a stable rear, so that he can guarantee the victory of the battle for Baku oil field in the Caucasus as far as possible. Stalingrad is no better than other cities. Apart from being a huge industrial city in the southern Soviet Union, it is also a transportation hub here. The waterway connects the Don River and Volga River, and even affects the transportation of Moscow and other areas to the north. Occupying this area, the German army can establish a stable defensive circle nearby, radiate the whole Caucasus, and lay a foundation for victory in the Kursk battle. So unlike Hitler, this time the German army did not aim to level Stalingrad, but to occupy it as quickly as possible. The attacking force is no longer the elite sixth group army, but a newly formed N group army“ The task of going south was given to general Manstein of the M group army to seize the most important Baku oilfield and ensure the security of the Caucasus. " Blauchich continued to point to the bottom of the map, drew a circle of the key parts of the battle, looked at Manstein and said, "the fate of the Empire will depend on your performance in the Caucasus."“ I'm here to assure the head of state that Manstein will take over the Caucasus and occupy the Baku oil field. "Manstein added a large number of troops, and the combat capability of his troops has improved a lot after being tempered in the battle of the crimson peninsula. This battle for Baku can be said to be a battle he is determined to win. After such a long rest, the M group army is also high spirited, Everything can be said to be under control“ General modle's group D army, together with other friendly forces, will be responsible for securing the flanks of the entire southern theater. After general goodrian's troops complete the raid and encircle Stalingrad, his troops will go north and attack Kursk. General modle, your defense line will be completely guaranteed. "“ It's me, modle, who is here to assure the head of state that the flanks of the southern war zone are absolutely safe. With the presence of the D group army, the Soviets will not be able to move south. "Modle also stood up and replied“ So in that case, "akado said slowly and firmly, sitting on the main seat of the conference table," ladies and gentlemen, let's seize Baku oilfield at all costs. "