BXBX NOVEL Chapter 734: Don Army
This gave the Soviet army more time to build trenches and equip, supplies, and establish safer and more reliable supply lines.
Actually, this is not because of Manstein’s kindness or missing the opportunity to fight, but that “every family has its own hard-to-read scriptures”, and the German army also suffered from the German army.
First of all, Manstein's troops are seriously insufficient.
At this time, the troops commanded by Manstein were not the 11th Army, but the newly formed Don Army... The 11th Army continued to defend the Crimean Peninsula, and the strength of the Soviet Army in the Crimean Peninsula should not be underestimated. If the 11th Army is pumped to the direction of Stalingrad, I am afraid that the backyard will catch fire.
Therefore, Manstein transferred some troops from the 11th Army, and then moved around in other locations to form the Don River Front Army and rushed to Stalingrad for rescue.
Originally Manstein hoped to form two assault groups: one in the Kotelnikovo area and one in the Tormosin area.
In this way, a pincer attack can be formed against the enemy blocking the front...The pincer attack is a common tactic used by the German army. Although it is an old tune, it is still timeless, because the two attacking troops can force the enemy to spread their forces over a large area It also formed the advantage of "offense is greater than defense".
This is actually easy to understand.
If there is only one army attacking from one direction, then the enemy can completely concentrate its forces according to the main attack direction of the German army, and even where the main attack direction of the German army is shifted, the enemy's main force will also be transferred there, so the Soviet army almost only needs the same force as the German army. It can be defended, and there is no such thing as "offense is greater than defense".
However, if the German army has two troops and they are separated by a certain distance, the German army can sometimes attack from the left wing and sometimes from the right wing. Since the German army's combat effectiveness is generally much greater than that of the Soviet army, it is often difficult to move the main force of the Soviet army back and forth between the two places. Gu.
Now the problem is here. Although these two assault groups have been formed, one of them cannot participate in the battle.
"Your Excellency, Marshal!" The adjutant reported to Manstein who was hiding in the car and looking at the map: "I'm afraid the assault group in the direction of Tormosin will not be able to arrive!"
Manstein asked casually: "How long will they have?"
"No, Your Excellency Marshal!" The adjutant replied with some embarrassment: "They... the head of state just transferred them to the north to prevent the Russians from outflanking!"
Manstein suddenly looked up at the adjutant, with disbelief in his eyes.
"That's my army!" Manstein said: "So, what should I use to rescue Stalingrad?"
Of course the adjutant cannot answer this question.
Manstein wanted to call Hitler, but after looking at the map, he shook his head helplessly and gave up.
He knew that even calling Hitler would be of no avail, and that it would undoubtedly be a waste of time.
Because the north does need military defense... The situation on the map is clear, the enemy still has a large encirclement in the general direction, the 51st Army is in the south, and the Southwest Front Army is in the north.
The 51st Army Group in the south was temporarily blocked, but there was an entire front army in the north, and it was heading south at a speed of tens of kilometers every day.
If the Southwest Front successfully joined forces with the 51st Army, even Manstein himself would be surrounded, let alone the rescue of Stalingrad.
So Manstein can only admit this reality, that is, the Don River Front Army was transferred by half of its troops by Hitler just after it was formed, which disrupted Manstein's overall offensive plan.
This made Manstein very passive. The two troops became one, and all the changes would disappear. He seemed to be able to face the Soviet army in a face-to-face assault, which is obviously not what the German army is good at...to be exact. It's not cost-effective, what the Soviet army likes most is this kind of war of attrition without interspersed and tricks.
At this time, Manstein said that there was an army group (Don Army), but in fact there were only 6 divisions: the 6th tank division, the 23rd division, 4 infantry divisions and some reinforcements.
There were also 2 Romanian cavalry divisions, but Manstein didn't know what they could do, other than scouting or protecting supply lines.
If there is any consolation, it is two heavy tank battalions equipped with "Tiger" tanks.
It is impossible to divide such a small force into two parts to attack the Soviet defense line... Doing so will only make you be divided and surrounded.
This is also the reason why Manstein had to stop the attack, although he knew that it was also a difficult time for the enemy and he should organize the attack in the shortest time.
Looking at the map for a while, Manstein ordered: "Order the 6th Tank Division to move to the north, the 23rd Division to move to the south, and the 35th Infantry Division to build defenses on the front!"
"Defense?" The adjutant couldn't help being taken aback when he heard the words: "But Your Excellency Marshal, the head of state wants us to attack immediately!"
"That was before!" Manstein replied: "If the Fuhrer hadn't transferred the Tormosin assault group, I would have carried out his order!"
The adjutant did not dare to say anything, turned around and conveyed the order.
In fact, Manstein's deployment is clever.
The reason is that the German army has too few troops. There are only 6 divisions available, while the Soviet army has at least 9 divisions in Karachi alone. friendly forces.
This disparity in strength made Manstein only use a trick: use elite tank troops to launch an attack to compress the supply lines on Karachi's two wings.
As for the front, they switched from offense to defense, allowing infantry to build trenches to confront the enemy, hoping to use a small amount of troops and infantry to withstand the frontal attack of the Soviet army.
Because the German army's actions were during the day, Rokossovsky got the German army's intelligence immediately.
"Comrade Rokossovsky, the Germans are building fortifications!" said the staff officer.
"Build fortifications?" Rokossovsky frowned.
It is already surprising that there is no offensive. The German army has also built fortifications. This is not what rescue Stalingrad should do.
But soon, Rokossovsky understood why the Germans did this.
Rokossovsky did not hesitate, and immediately called Lieutenant General Tolbukhin, commander of the 57th Army.
"The enemy wants to surround Karachi!" Rokossovsky said.
"Surround Karachi?" Tolbushin replied suspiciously: "They don't have that many troops..."
"No, they have!" Rokossovsky replied: "Because your back is on the Don River, and the tank army is no match for the enemy!"
(end of this chapter)