The 1st Guards Tank Brigade quickly broke through the defense of the 8th Romanian Cavalry Brigade, and it only took an hour... During this hour, almost all the Romanian cavalry continued to charge towards the 1st Guards Tank Brigade.
Then they fell into a pool of blood one after another.
Then, the 1st Guards Tank Brigade just launched a counterattack and immediately defeated the 8th Cavalry Brigade.
When the news reached the 11th Army Headquarters, Manstein was so anxious that he walked around the office like an ant on a hot pot.
"Where is the 28th Division!" Manstein asked.
"They have just arrived at Simferopol, general!" the adjutant replied: "They were bombed by the enemy's air force. It may take a day to reach Zhankoy!"
"Order them to speed up!"
"yes!"
The Soviet Air Force had a numerical advantage, so they could attack everywhere with confidence. They sometimes attacked the 52nd Army surrounding Sevastopol, sometimes bombed the 28th Infantry Division rushing to support Occupy Coy, and even bombed Occupy Coy.
This caused the German air force to rush back and forth. When they appeared here, they encountered the enemy in another airspace, and they were very passive for a while.
After thinking for a while, Manstein said to the adjutant: "Contact Lieutenant General Sponeneck!"
A few minutes later the adjutant handed the phone to Manstein.
"How's the situation, Lieutenant General?"
"Too bad, General!" Lieutenant General Sponneck replied: "I didn't have time to control the situation. They were overwhelming and I was retreating towards Zhankoy. My men and I tried to slow down their advance, but now we have
It’s impossible, my men are getting fewer and fewer, and mines have no effect on them!”
If it were in other seasons, it might be easy to stop the pursuers, because they can blow up bridges and destroy roads along the way.
The problem is that it is winter now, the rivers are all frozen into ice, and the roads are frozen soil.
So blowing up the bridge obviously won't do much, because enemy tanks can drive directly across the frozen river.
Not to mention breaking the road... Not only does it take a lot of work to blow up a section of the road, the enemy can also easily bypass it from both sides of the road.
"Lieutenant General Sponneck!" Manstein said: "You leave a small force behind, and you will rush to Zhankoy to take over the command immediately. I need you to organize a defense there, and you must hold on until reinforcements arrive.
Arrive, do you understand?"
"Understood, General!" Sponneck replied with confidence, because this almost meant that Manstein admitted his mistake, that is, Sponneck's previous disobedience and retreat from the Kerch Peninsula was the right choice.
In fact, there is no need for Manstein to admit this at all. If the 46th Infantry Division commanded by Lieutenant General Sponnecker had not blocked the way, the German army at this time would have been blocked in the Crimean Peninsula with no way to escape.
.
"General!" the adjutant asked Manstein: "Do we want to send more troops back to support Zhankoy?"
Manstein understood what the adjutant meant.
This "return to aid" is actually an escape and a breakout.
Otherwise, it would be too late to wait for the Russian army to capture Chankoy and then gain a firm foothold.
"No, Eric!" Manstein shook his head feebly: "If we do this, we will expose our backs to Sevastopol. I have reason to believe that... the Russians will soon
will land from Sevastopol and attack us!"
This is the embarrassment of the German army's attack on Crimea. They will be naturally surrounded by Sevastopol and the Kerch Peninsula.
But in history, Manstein solved this problem perfectly. Not only did he solve this problem, he also defeated the Soviet army horribly.
Of course, part of this also includes the credit of this guy Maihelis for his blind command in the Soviet camp.
Therefore, Manstein was promoted to marshal thanks to Mahlis.
But now Manstein cannot be so relaxed. In fact, at this time, his offensive plan in Shulka is already messed up.
It should be said that Lieutenant General Spanek was lucky. After receiving the order, he immediately handed over the command to his adjutant and led the guard company straight to Zhankoy.
Less than half an hour later, Lieutenant General Sponneck received a telegram that the troops behind him were under attack.
"General, they have caught up with us!" the adjutant reported to Lieutenant General Sponneck: "Their strength is as large as a battalion, and the firepower is very fierce. We can hardly resist it!"
"How did they catch up with you?" Spanek wondered.
Although nothing could stop the Russian army from advancing, the German army retreated while laying mines.
This forced the Russian army to advance behind the mine-clearing tanks, and the mine-clearing tanks had limited speed, so they should follow the German army.
"It's a half-track armored vehicle!" the adjutant replied: "I think they took a shortcut to catch up with us!"
"Retreat, retreat now!" Spanek ordered.
But then there was no sound anymore, only a burst of gunfire was heard from behind, and soon there was complete silence.
"Speed up!" Spanek ordered, realizing that the 46th Division might have been completely wiped out.
Sponneck's guess was correct, the only remaining 46th Division was also wiped out in the battle just now.
"We received intelligence!" Katukov found Shulka after defeating the Romanian 8th Cavalry Brigade.
He got off his jeep and jumped onto the half-track where Shulka was. As he advanced, he spread out the map and said to Shulka: "The Germans have transferred a force from Sevastopol back to support Zhanko."
Yi!"
"That should be an elite force!" Shulka immediately made a judgment.
"Yes, I think so too!" Katukov nodded.
This is the combat habit of the German army and is also determined by their tactics.
"Blitzkrieg" is to put the strongest and fastest troops at the front, and then insert them into strategic locations like a sharp knife.
From this perspective, the German troops that invaded Crimea were all elite troops, including the German 46th Infantry Division that was defeated not long ago.
Now, the German army has transferred another division from Sevastopol back to support Zhankoy... So it goes without saying that this division must be the elite of the elite.
"If this division is allowed to rush to Zhankoy, it will be very detrimental to us!" Katukov said.
"They'll get there!"
"Yes!" Katukov said: "Although we can use the air force to bomb and harass them now, it will be dark in a few hours, and they can march towards Zhankoy with confidence!"
"How long will it take for them to reach Chamkoy?"
"A whole day's time!" Katukov replied: "We may arrive a few hours ahead of them, but it's not enough!"
It is indeed not enough, because even if the 1st Guards Tank Brigade has good combat effectiveness, it will not be able to occupy Chankoy within a few hours, and it will be trapped in the dilemma of being attacked from both sides.