Manstein led the German army to successfully escape from the Crimea because he had perfect timing and did not start crossing the bay in large numbers on fishing boats until dawn, which made the Soviet army unable to pursue them.
But Manstein didn't feel good about it.
Manstein returned to Yamiansk by plane.
The current situation is that the Soviet army occupies Zhankoy at the southern end of the Perekop Isthmus, and the German army occupies Yamiansk at the northern end. They are separated from each other by an isthmus only 8 kilometers wide, and no one can do anything to the other.
Hitler made no attempt to blame Manstein.
On the contrary, Hitler also praised Manstein in the telegram.
"Well done, my general!" Hitler said: "When everyone thought that we could not stop the enemy's attack and everyone was asking for a retreat, you stood up and let the enemy, especially those cowards who asked for a retreat,
, let them see a real imperial army, a real imperial general!"
Hitler's praise for Manstein cannot be overstated, because he could indeed turn the tide when the German army was on the verge of collapse.
Although it cannot be said that he rescued Army Group Center, at least the 11th Army's offensive threatened the Russian army's southern flank. At the same time, he also transferred a large number of Russian troops to the south, giving Army Group Center some breathing time.
But Manstein was not excited at all. He looked out the window at the Crimean Peninsula on the plane. The white snowfield was filled with tanks, cars and artillery that the Germans could not take away but detonated on their own. There were wisps of black.
The smoke filled the coast, seeming to hide the groups of German soldiers who were scrambling for the fishing boats in a panic.
"This is a shame!" Manstein said to himself.
If Manstein had never suffered a defeat on the battlefield before, then this battle was a solid and undisputed defeat. What was especially unacceptable to Manstein was that, as a noble, he
He was defeated at the hands of a captain.
After thinking about it, Manstein said to the staff: "Major Fein, you are responsible for investigating the captain. I need to know everything about him. The more detailed the better!"
"Yes, General!" the staff officer replied, hesitating for a moment before asking: "Which captain, General?"
Manstein looked at the staff officer with incredulous eyes, stared at him blankly for a while, and then said: "'Breakout Hero', otherwise who do you think there will be another captain?"
"Yes, General!" The staff officer nodded with relief.
Watching the staff leave, Manstein shook his head and said to the adjutant: "We failed. The sad thing is that they still don't know at the hands of whom they lost?"
"It's not just us who don't know!" The adjutant handed a newspaper to Manstein and said, "Stalin may not know either!"
Manstein opened the newspaper and read it. There was a German annotation on it, which was a good news about the Russian army's successful occupation of Feodosia. (Note: The Russian army occupied Feodosia a few days ago, because the newspaper
Due to the lag, it did not flow into the hands of the Germans until this time)
"Look at this!" the adjutant said, pointing to one place: "They said the one who defeated us was Mahlis, that idiot!"
"The 'king of snitches'?" Manstein asked.
It can be said that the nickname of "King of Snitches" of Mahlis is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, even the German army knows it.
"Yes!" the adjutant replied: "I think it is the 'king of snitches' who stole the credit of the captain. What do you think, general?"
Manstein thought for a while, then nodded and said: "You're right, Detrich, if that's the case... why don't we cause some trouble between them?"
"Trouble? I don't understand what you mean, General!"
Manstein said nothing, but raised the newspaper in his hand.
Of course Shulka didn't know this. At this time, he had followed the "Tiger" safely back to Anapa, taking his troops and an entire engineer battalion with him.
All were armed and loaded... They had received orders from Moscow that anyone approaching without permission should be treated as a spy and shot.
Then, the "Tiger" wreckage was sent to an underground warehouse.
This underground warehouse had been emptied before this, out of fear that the ammunition explosion would destroy the "Tiger".
Therefore, there was only one "Tiger" in a huge warehouse, which looked empty and deserted.
Sisoy, Kalashnikov and other scientists had been waiting here for a long time. As soon as they saw Shulka and others coming in, they hurriedly greeted them while looking at the "Tiger" covered by canvas.
While asking: "Is this it?"
"Yes!" Shulka replied: "If they have a few more tanks like this, I'm afraid we won't be able to come back!"
"Well done, Shulka!" Sisoy said.
Kalashnikov nodded to Shulka, then impatiently untied the rope and lifted the canvas.
The searchlights lit up one by one, and then the majestic "Tiger" appeared in front of them.
The scientists were stunned for a moment, and then let out bursts of exclamation.
Before this, they thought that the Soviet army could completely overwhelm the German army at least in terms of tanks, protection, firepower, and mobility.
If it were not for insufficient communication equipment and inappropriate tactics, the Soviet T34 would undoubtedly have defeated the German army.
In other words, at least when it comes to tank research and development, it’s not the fault of scientists.
However, now when the "Tiger" appeared in front of them, they knew that this would be overturned again... The T34 was like a toy in front of this thing.
Then, dozens of scientists swarmed up, some got into the tank, and some measured the artillery and armor. Of course, among them was Kalanikov, a former tank soldier.
"What a big guy!" Sisoy said to Shulka: "We are lucky to be able to capture one. Otherwise, we will have to fight with countless tanks and soldiers for a long time to come.
At the expense of 'trying' to find its weaknesses!"
"It doesn't seem to be much different now!" Shulka said: "Do we have anything to deal with it?"
Sisoy was speechless.
Just as there was a "T34" crisis for the German army before, there was also a "Tiger" crisis for the Soviet army.
"Front armor 102mm!"
"Mantlet 135mm!"
"The gun caliber is 88mm!"
…
"How do they make this thing move?!"
102mm, which just exceeds the armor-piercing capability of the rocket launcher. In other words, even if the rocket launcher shooter can get close to and hit it, he may not be able to do anything against it.
"You're right!" Sisoy shook his head and said to Shulka: "We seem to be in trouble, big trouble!"