"That's no problem, Comrade Rokossovsky!" Shulka replied.
"No problem?" Rokossovsky almost exclaimed: "The problem is big, Comrade Shulka! The enemy is advancing steadily from both sides and is about to cut off Karachi's supplies!"
Karachi has the Don River at its back and the German defense line in front. If the German armored divisions hit the two flanks to the Don River bank...then it will be completely surrounded!
"No, you won't!" Shulka pointed to the map and said, "You still have the Don River!"
"You mean the navy?" Rokossovsky shook his head and said: "No, no, Shulka, we only have two shallow-water heavy gunships in the Don River, and the others are in the Volga River!"
Although the Don River and the Volga River are very close to each other in the Stalingrad area, the two rivers are not connected, so heavy artillery ships cannot move freely. (Note: The Soviet Union did not dig an artificial canal between the Don River and the Volga River until after the war.
connect it)
"That's not what I'm talking about, Comrade Rokossovsky!" Shulka replied: "I think the 57th Army should preserve its strength, that is, stick to Karachi. As long as Karachi is still in your hands, the German 6th Army
There’s no way to escape!”
"I know this, Shulka!" Rokossovsky said with an incredulous expression: "I also hope to hold on, and I also know that we should fight the enemy in street fighting in Karachi... But Shulka, we will soon
No food and no ammunition!"
"The Don River is your supply line!" Shulka replied.
"River transportation?" Rokossovsky laughed: "No, the Germans will use artillery fire to block the river!"
"Why don't you use underwater transport?"
"Underwater transportation?" Rokossovsky looked at Shulka in confusion.
"Yes!" Shulka replied: "Put the supplies in waterproof protection so that they can just sink in the water, tie them to floating logs with ropes so that they can be discovered, drop them from upstream and receive them in Karachi.
…”
"You are such a genius, Shulka!" Rokossovsky almost jumped with excitement when he heard this: "This will alleviate our difficulties in transporting supplies to a considerable extent, and will also allow us to be stationed in Karachi and fight against the enemy.
Tongxuan’s capital!”
"But one thing!" Shulka pointed at the map and said, "Don't let the enemy completely control the upper reaches!"
Rokossovsky nodded repeatedly: "I will increase the strength of Youyou and try to drive the enemy away from the river bank!"
The reason why the upper reaches cannot be completely controlled by the German army is because once the German army reaches the Don River and discovers that the Soviet army is using the river for transportation, it only needs to set up barbed wire or send people to intercept it to easily cut off the Soviet army's supplies.
This is why the Soviet army did not use this method during the Battle of Stalingrad... The river bank upstream of Stalingrad was completely controlled by the German army, and it was still dozens of kilometers long. Underwater supplies wanted to cross this long stretch.
It is almost impossible to safely reach Stalingrad in an interception zone of tens of kilometers.
But Karachi is different.
Manstein only had a total of 6 divisions in his hands, and the armored divisions were interspersed from both wings.
These two armored divisions cut off the Soviet army's supplies, and the Soviet army would inevitably launch a counterattack against them. Therefore, the enemy's focus was on the south, and the north would not pay attention to the Don River where enemies could not appear. The other side of the Don River even
Still one of our own.
Therefore, as long as the Soviet army compresses the German army's space into a small enough space, there is a high probability that supplies will be delivered to Karachi.
Of course, confidentiality measures are also needed, that is, trying to prevent the German army from knowing this as late as possible.
In fact, if the German army controlled the river bank for a short period of time, it would not matter much even if the German army knew it, because the Soviet army located upstream of Karachi could block the river bank with artillery fire and machine gun fire, making it impossible for the German army to intercept.
But even so, preventing the Germans from discovering it can still reduce unnecessary trouble.
Therefore, the initial delivery of supplies is usually carried out at night, and troops with firm political beliefs and trustworthiness must be selected to perform the task.
But then again, it is actually difficult to keep secrets for a long time in the Soviet army.
This is not only because there are many "spies" in the Soviet army, but also because many Soviet soldiers are Ma Daha, who will leak secrets at every turn.
These are things for later, Rokossovsky will deal with them. With his ability, he can still do these small things very thoughtfully.
But Rokossovsky didn't want to let Shulka off like that.
"I'm afraid it's not your final plan!" Rokossovsky said.
"You guessed it right, Comrade Rokossovsky!" Shulka nodded.
"Still thinking about your encirclement?" Rokossovsky said, and then he looked at each other and smiled at Shulka.
Rokossovsky was no fool. If Karachi had any hope of holding on and delaying the enemy from consuming their supplies, then it would naturally be necessary to consider a breakthrough on the other hand.
And the place that can break through and change the situation of the war will definitely not be Stalingrad, which is trapped in bitter fighting and street fighting... Everyone can see that under the current situation, the battle in Stalingrad cannot be ended in a short time.
Then, what can be broken through is the large encirclement that is blocked on the outside, either by the Southwest Front Army or the 51st Group Army.
Of course Rokossovsky knew it was the 51st Army.
The reason is very simple. The Southwest Front Army is too conspicuous. If an entire front army is outflanked, it will definitely be surrounded by the enemy's main force.
The 51st Group Army, however, kept a low profile, especially at this time when they were stuck at a turning point in a river and were blocked by a German division and suffered heavy casualties... If there had not been heavy casualties, the Germans might have thought that the 51st Group Army was showing weakness, but the 51st Group Army
The 51st Army did indeed lose a large number of troops and tanks in previous attacks.
In this regard, Political Commissar Shevchenko still has some role.
Therefore, the 51st Army was the one that the Germans were least prepared for.
"The problem is that we need to break through this line of defense!" Shurka pointed to the location of the German 9th Panzergrenadier Division on the map and said: "And we need to break through quickly!"
Rokossovsky nodded.
Because if he could not break through quickly, Manstein would immediately realize his mistake and send more reinforcements, and it would be difficult to break through by then.
"I can send you additional air power!" Rokossovsky said: "I will do everything I can!"
Before this, Rokossovsky might not have been willing to use the air force of the Don Front for the Southern Front, but now that it was related to the failure of the entire battle, he was bound to do so.
"Thank you!" Shulka said: "We do need air power, but they can't do much to break through this line of defense!" (To be continued)