Chapter eight hundred and fifth lure the enemy deep
On the first day, two armored divisions were transferred to Karachi from the 65th Army of the Don Front.
The reason why it was transferred from the 65th Army was because this army had been sent to Stalingrad from the beginning to perform the task of containing the main force of the German army... This can be said to be the most thankless task in the entire "Operation Uranus".
Needless to say, the reason is that the main force of the attack was the Germans' main force, but its function was to "contain" it. At the beginning of the operation, the Southwest Front Army and the Stalingrad Front Army fought the enemy's servant armies, but their function was to intersperse and encircle them.
These two armored divisions also fought very hard in Stalingrad. They faced a serious shortage of tanks at the beginning of the battle.
This was determined by the supply method in Stalingrad at the time. Simple pontoons and amphibious landing ships could not transport tanks. Only river shipping could transport tanks. However, river shipping was precarious. It was either blocked by German air power or blocked by artillery fire by the approaching German army.
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Therefore, although the personnel of the Armored Division were reinforced in Stalingrad, they had to wait for the tractor factory's production line to produce a tank as soon as it was produced. Sometimes the tank troops were even used as infantry.
So far, these two armored divisions only have the strength of one armored division. This is because they were "spared" by the commander of the tank corps.
If it weren't for Shulka's plan, these two armored divisions would probably fight to the end in Stalingrad.
But because Stalingrad has already reached a truce and even Paulus has agreed and is planning to surrender, of course Stalingrad no longer needs so many tank troop reserves...these tank troops stay in Stalingrad so that the tanks produced by the tractor factory will not
Workers in the factory drive to the front line. On the one hand, this will cause the factory to lack skilled workers, and on the other hand, the tanks will not be fully utilized.
After the truce, these tank troops were the first to be mobilized. They first withdrew from Stalingrad and returned to Znamensk, and then took a train to Karachi.
It is said that when the train arrived in Karachi, the staff were shocked when they opened the carriage. There were soldiers lying everywhere in the carriage. At first glance, they thought it was a carload of corpses.
For the front line, a carload of corpses also exists, such as a train that transports corpses back for burial.
So the staff thought they might have been transported to the wrong carriage, but when they heard snoring, they realized that the "corpses" here were actually sleeping people.
The next day, five more infantry divisions arrived.
Infantry divisions are not as troublesome as armored divisions. Armored divisions also have tanks, artillery shells, gasoline, etc. to transport them, while infantry divisions only need people. In principle, each person holds a gun, and at most they need to transport a few more.
Cars, artillery, etc., so transporting one armored division can transport at least three infantry divisions.
On the third day, the focus was not on how many reinforcements were sent to Karachi, but on the night before... the main force of the 51st Army had already moved to Miloway's flank by night.
"We should put the enemy in the direction of Karachi!" Shulka said, pointing to the map.
Trufanov agreed without thinking. In fact, this was also their idea: when it was meaningless for the enemy to attack Karachi, putting the enemy inside was to lure the enemy deeper.
But of course, the Soviet army still had to ensure that Karachi was in their hands.
After all, Paulus's 6th Army did not necessarily surrender if it agreed to surrender. Once Karachi was successfully captured by the enemy, how could the 6th Army be willing to surrender when it saw the opportunity to break out.
Zolotarev was a little worried: "If we put the enemy inside, will it..."
Zolotarev was worried that the morale of the 6th Army would change.
This worry is not unfounded. The Don Army does not actually need to capture Karachi. Their attack on Karachi is a form of support for the 6th Army trapped in Stalingrad. Even if this is the case, the 6th Army and the Don Army will use all their strength.
It is not impossible to attack Karachi from both sides, capture it and complete the breakout.
By then, even Paulus' heart of surrender would be shaken when he saw this change in the situation.
In a way, Zolotarev's idea is more stable, because the surrender of the 6th Army involved nearly a million people. Such a big victory is enough for the Soviet army, so there should be no other unforeseen complications.
The change.
Shurka's statement, which is to lure the enemy deeper, is a destabilizing factor, or will bring more uncertainty to the victory.
But Shulka insisted on his opinion.
"What if the Germans find that they have almost surrounded the Don Army Group, or that the train guns have been blown up or even captured by us?" Shulka said: "Then this won't happen, right?"
"Train gun?" Zolotarev's eyes couldn't help but light up.
On the other side, Manstein, who was directing the full offensive of the Don Army, did not realize that someone was already trying to attack his train gun.
The German army's tactics were still to attack and penetrate along the gaps opened by the giant artillery.
Another advantage of giant artillery is that it can coordinate better with air power... When a shell passes, the air force can clearly see the smoke and dust raised, so they immediately know where the focus of the infantry attack is.
It goes without saying what to do next, they will immediately drop bombs on nearby enemy fire points.
After several attacks, the German army finally took advantage of the tanks to open a gap in the Soviet defense line and advanced deep into it.
This time, Manstein was quite satisfied with the speed of the German advance, because it advanced two kilometers in less than two hours. If this speed could be maintained, the troops would be able to reach the outside of Karachi before dark.
But at this time, the adjutant reported to Manstein: "Your Excellency, Marshal, Colonel Pfeiffer reported that the enemy seems a little strange. Their defense lines and fortifications have not been destroyed, but there are very few defensive troops!"
"Did he interrogate the prisoners?" Manstein asked.
For something like this, the best way is to ask the enemy.
"Yes!" the adjutant replied: "The prisoners' answer was... they were ordered to spread out in order to reduce the casualties of our train guns. In addition, some people ran away because of fear of the train guns, so the troops were divided into
Dispersion becomes insufficiency!”
"That makes sense, doesn't it?" Manstein asked, "So what is Colonel Pfeiffer worried about?"
"Colonel Pfeiffer thinks things are not as simple as they seem!" the adjutant explained: "He suspects this is an enemy conspiracy!"
Manstein shook his head and said: "Order Colonel Pfeiffer to keep moving forward!" (To be continued)