Fortunately for Rokossovsky, when the German army encountered the Soviet army, it only launched a few tentative attacks and did not launch a full-scale attack.
This gave the Soviet army more time to build trenches, equip them with supplies, and establish safer and more reliable supply lines.
In fact, this is not because Manstein was merciful or because he missed the opportunity to fight, but because "every family has its own scriptures that are difficult to recite", and the German army also suffered from the German army.
The first is that Manstein's troops were seriously insufficient.
At this time, the troops commanded by Manstein were actually 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 were to pump air conditioning toward Stalingrad, there would probably be a fire in the backyard.
Therefore, Manstein transferred part of the troops from the 11th Army, and then moved east and west from other positions to form the Don Front and rush to Stalingrad to rescue.
Originally, Manstein hoped to form two assault groups: one in the Kotelnikovo area and one in the Tolmosin area.
In this way, a pincer attack can be formed against the enemy blocking the front... The pincer attack is a tactic commonly used by the German army. Although it is an old tune, it has never become outdated. The reason is that the two attacking forces can force the enemy to deploy its troops over a large area.
Dispersion also creates the advantage of "offense being greater than defense".
This is actually easy to understand.
If there is only one force attacking from one direction, then the enemy can completely concentrate its forces according to the German army's main attack direction. Even wherever the German army's main attack direction moves, the enemy's main force will also move there. Therefore, 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".
But if the German army has two troops, and they are some distance apart, the German army can sometimes attack mainly on the left and sometimes on the right. Since the German army's combat effectiveness is generally much greater than that of the Soviet army, it is often difficult to mobilize 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 is unable to participate in the battle.
"Your Excellency, Marshal!" the adjutant reported to Manstein, who was hiding in the car looking at a map: "I'm afraid the assault group in the direction of Tolmosin will not be able to reach us!"
Manstein asked casually: "How many more days will they have?"
"No, Your Majesty Marshal!" the adjutant replied awkwardly: "They...the head of state just transferred them to the north to prevent the Russians from outflanking!"
Manstein suddenly raised his head and looked at the adjutant, with a look of disbelief in his eyes.
"That's my army!" Manstein said: "So, what should I use to rescue Stalingrad?"
Of course the adjutant could not answer this question.
Manstein wanted to call Hitler, but after looking at the map, he shook his head and gave up.
He knew that calling Hitler would not help and that it would be a waste of time.
Because the north does need troops to defend... The situation on the map is clear. The enemy still has a large encirclement in the general direction. To the south is the 51st Group Army and to the north is the Southwest Front.
The 51st Group Army in the south was temporarily blocked, but there was an entire front in the north, moving southward at a speed of dozens of kilometers every day.
If the Southwest Front successfully joined forces with the 51st Group Army, even Manstein himself would be surrounded, let alone rescuing Stalingrad.
So Manstein could only admit the reality that Hitler had transferred half of the Don River Army's strength just after it was formed, thus disrupting Manstein's overall offensive plan.
This made Manstein very passive. If the two troops became one, then all the changes would be gone. It seemed that he could only attack the Soviet army face to face, and this was obviously not what the German army was good at... To be precise, it was
It's not cost-effective. What the Soviet army likes most is this kind of war of attrition without interruption or tricks.
At this time, Manstein said he had a group army (Army Don), but in fact there were only 6 divisions: the 6th Tank Division, the 4th Infantry Division and some reinforcements.
There was also a Romanian cavalry division, but Manstein didn't know what they could be used for, other than reconnaissance or protecting supply lines.
If there is any consolation, it is the presence of two heavy tank battalions equipped with Tiger tanks.
It is impossible for such a small force to be divided into two parts to attack the Soviet defense line...doing so will only cause itself to be divided and surrounded.
This was also the reason why Manstein had to stop the attack, although he knew that this was also a time when the enemy was in difficulty and he should organize an attack in the shortest possible time.
After looking at the map for a long time, Manstein gave the order: "Order the 6th Tank Division to move to the north, the 6th Tank Division to move to the south, and the 5th Infantry Division to build a defense on the front!"
"Defense?" The adjutant couldn't help being stunned when he heard this: "But your Excellency, Marshal, the head of state wants us to attack immediately!"
"That was before!" Manstein replied: "If the Führer had not transferred the Tolmoshin Assault Group, I would have carried out his orders!"
The adjutant did not dare to say anything, turned around and conveyed the order.
In fact, Manstein's arrangement was clever.
The reason is that the German army has too few troops, with only 6 divisions available, while the Soviet army has at least 9 divisions in the Karachi area alone. This does not include its continuous reserves rushing here and the reinforcements that can be reinforced from both wings at any time.
friendly forces.
This disparity in strength forced Manstein to resort to a trick: launching an attack with elite tank troops to compress the supply lines on both sides of Karachi.
As for the front, the attack was turned into defense, and the infantry was allowed to build trenches to confront the enemy. It was hoped that a small number of troops and only infantry could withstand the Soviet frontal attack.
Because the German movement took place during the day, Rokossovsky got the German information immediately.
"Comrade Rokossovsky, the Germans are building fortifications!" the staff officer said.
"Build fortifications?" Rokossovsky frowned.
It was already surprising that there was no attack, and the German army still built fortifications. This was not what they should have done to rescue Stalingrad.
But soon Rokossovsky understood why the Germans did this.
Rokossovsky did not hesitate and immediately called the commander of the 57th Army, Lieutenant General Tolbukhin.
"The enemy wants to surround Karachi!" Rokossovsky said.
"Surrounding Karachi?" Tolbukhin replied doubtfully: "They don't have that many troops..."
"No, they do!" Rokossovsky replied: "Because your back is on the Don River, and the tank troops cannot match the enemy!" (To be continued)