Even knowing that there was little hope, General Kleist mobilized an armored division in the hope of crossing the Dnieper River and returning to the west bank.
It is normal for Admiral Kleist to have this idea.
On the one hand, General Kleist had a lucky mentality. If the Soviet army's prevention and reconnaissance on the Dnieper River were insufficient, an armored division would be able to cross the Dnieper River before they could react.
On the other hand, the war on the West Bank is too important, which is related to the logistics supply problem of the 1st Armored Group and even the entire Southern Army Group. If it is cut off by the Soviet 9th Mechanized Army, it is likely to lead to the collapse of the entire defense line.
As a result, the 29th Armored Division turned around and returned to the Dnieper River under the order of General Kleist.
The location is Gorodishe, downstream of Kremenchug, and the crossing time is at night.
This choice was made because the pontoon bridges at Kremenchug were so obvious that Admiral Kleist believed they were already under Soviet surveillance.
Crossing the river at night is for cover. At this point, the German armored divisions still have the initiative... The Dnieper River south of Kiev stretches for hundreds of kilometers. The German armored divisions can choose a section to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river, and they can even choose the time. Logically speaking,
It is said that it is difficult for the Soviets to guard against them.
General Kleist thought this way: If this armored division could successfully cross the river, then they could cooperate with the German infantry on the west bank to build a defense, or they could use the excellent mobility of the German tanks to harass the Soviet 9th Mechanized Corps along the way.
The latter is a commonly used tactic by the German army, which is a bit like the cavalry tactics used by Genghis Khan in ancient times.
It’s not without reason that the Mongolian cavalry, with a total strength of only a few hundred thousand, was able to gallop and conquer the largest territory in history. They always used the high mobility of the cavalry to harass the enemy’s infantry, giving full play to the principle of “when the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy retreats, we retreat”
According to the principle of "advance, we harass the enemy while he is stationed, and attack when the enemy is tired", it is not until the enemy army becomes a tired and chaotic army that we can take advantage of the victory to pursue and win in a single battle.
The same is true for the German mechanized troops... In fact, their "blitzkrieg" tactics are very similar to the Mongolian cavalry's tactics of long-distance raids deep into the enemy's hinterland.
This is also one of the reasons why German tanks attach great importance to mobility: the weight of the Panzer III tank is fully twice that of the Soviet light tank T26, but its speed and off-road capabilities are much better than the T26.
Therefore, the key point is whether this armored division can cross the Dnieper River.
To this end, Admiral Kleist personally made some arrangements:
First, General Kleist deployed two artillery regiments on both sides of Kremenchug.
There is no need to say more about the role of the artillery regiment. They formed a crossfire to block the upper reaches of Kremenchug from the left to the right, making it impossible for the Soviet shallow-water heavy artillery ships to pass here.
Secondly, the aircraft were ordered to increase the laying of mines upstream of Kremenchug.
Finally, several engineering regiments were deployed downstream and a pontoon bridge was built at the same time.
The purpose of this is obvious, which is to confuse the Soviet troops so that they cannot distinguish which part is the real landing point.
But General Kleist underestimated the Soviet army, and Shulka certainly took this into consideration.
"How do we prevent the Germans from crossing the river?" Admiral Kilponos asked: "They will probably use artillery or torpedoes to block a certain section of the river so that our shallow water fleet cannot function!"
In fact, this had already happened before the German troops crossed the river.
"We don't need a shallow water fleet, General!" Shulka replied.
"Air Force?" General Kilponos shook his head: "Don't place too much expectations on the Air Force, Sergeant!"
Of course, I can't help but have hope for the Soviet Air Force, not to mention that at this time they were beaten by the German Air Force and were unable to fight back, and they were unable to bomb the pontoon bridge at night.
"No, not the Air Force!" Shulka replied.
"Then, what else?" Admiral Kilponos looked at Shulka in confusion.
In addition, all General Kirponos could think of was to use artillery, but if the German 1st Armored Group had already crossed the Dnieper River, it would be difficult to deploy artillery on the east bank.
This is indeed the case. After the German 1st Armored Group crossed the river, the Southern Front deployed on the east bank of the Dnieper River quickly collapsed.
"First of all, we have to have intelligence!" Shulka said: "If we don't know at which point they crossed the river or when they crossed the river, it will be difficult to make a targeted response!"
"That's no problem!" Admiral Kirponos replied: "We can deploy reconnaissance troops on both sides of the Dnieper River, and they will provide the intelligence we need!"
This is really not a big problem, because this is the Soviet Union.
Although many Ukrainian people do not have a favorable impression of Moscow, this is the Soviet Union after all, and it is very easy to send a few reconnaissance troops disguised as fleeing civilians to blend in with the crowd for reconnaissance.
If there is any problem, it is the radio stations that the reconnaissance personnel need to communicate.
However, this was certainly not a problem for the commander of the Front, General Kilponos. He even sent a report to Timoshenko, requesting that the Southern Front's radio station be urgently transferred to the Southwest Front for use.
This sounds unreasonable, because if the Southern Front's radio station is diverted, it means that their troops will inevitably have communication difficulties.
But from the perspective of Kilponos' plan, it is very reasonable... Anyway, the Southern Front plays the role of being defeated. The difference between having a radio station and not having a radio station is that it can report to the superiors where to escape to!
Marshal Timoshenko knew some of General Kilponos' plans, so he actually agreed to this request.
"Then there are the German mines!" Shulka turned his attention to Admiral Kilponos: "I heard that the Germans used a magnetic mine?"
"Yes!" Admiral Kilponos replied: "They don't need to be fixed with cables. They sink directly to the bottom of the river, so it is difficult to eliminate them!"
Shulka knows something about this: traditional mines carry an anchor, which can be hooked to the seabed or river bottom like a ship anchor, and then the mine is fixed at a certain position in the water through a cable to make it unmovable.
It will float away with the flow of rivers and seawater.
This kind of mine removal is more convenient. It is to use a minesweeper with a cutter to cut the mine cable, and the mines will surface one by one, and then they can be detonated.
But magnetic mines... they do not require a mine anchor or a mine cable, or even if there is a mine anchor, the mine cable is located very deep on the seabed.
There is no need for the Dnieper River. It sinks to the bottom of the river like a stone. In this way, ordinary minesweepers cannot function. Once a warship passes above it, the magnetic mine will sense the magnetism of the warship's armor.