USSR 1941

  Chapter 778 Confidence

Shulka does not need to think too much about the situation of the German army, because judging from the battlefield situation, as long as the Soviet army can hold Karachi, the German Sixth Army will always be surrounded by the Soviet army; In the encirclement of the Soviet army, it will be annihilated sooner or later.

  Goering's so-called air transportation is of course a bad move, which will even drag down the German Air Force, which originally had an absolute advantage.

   In other words, if the German army does not abandon the 6th Army by the gecko tail-docking method, it will sink with the German Air Force.

   Obviously, the German army at this time has not realized this.

In other words, Hitler hadn’t realized this yet. He still had the extravagant hope that Manstein’s Don Army could recapture Karachi and rescue the 6th Army and even finally capture Stalingrad... Hitler was somewhat similar to Stalin, They all believe that as long as the troops are brave and united, they can ignore all objective difficulties and finally win.

  Hitler was so stubborn that Manstein went to Wolfsburg to discuss with Hitler several times without any results.

"Your Excellency the Führer!" Manstein said to Hitler: "We have only one chance now, I mean the chance to minimize losses, order the Sixth Army to attack from the direction of Karachi with all our strength, and at the same time I will lead the Don River Front Army to Karachi. Offensive, the enemy's foothold in Karachi is not stable and the defense depth is insufficient, as long as our air force cooperates properly, the 6th Army still has a chance to break through!"

   What Manstein said is correct.

  The German 6th Army was surrounded not long ago, and it has been supplemented by air transportation, and the supply has not reached the point of being unsustainable.

   At this time, the German 6th Army and the Don Army were attacking Karachi with all their strength. Coupled with the German air superiority, it was not difficult to break through. After all, the German combat effectiveness was there.

  Hitler hesitated when he heard this suggestion, but only for a moment.

"Do you know what this means?" Hitler said, pointing to the Don River on the east side of Karachi: "The 6th Army needs to break through the Don River to break through. The enemy can use fighter planes and artillery to destroy our pontoon bridge on the Don River at any time! "

As I said before, the Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft can be equipped with four to eight rockets. Although the rockets are not accurate, if more than a dozen Il-2s shoot at the target at the same time, the effect will be like "click" The "Qiusha" rocket launcher blasted the target into a sea of ​​flames.

What's even more frightening is that this can be done within ten seconds... This tactic is a bit like the "Katyusha" of the Soviet army. It is very weak, and basically waits to die when facing enemy fighters), but they can quickly fire rockets and leave.

  The only difference is that "Katyusha" is on land and "Il-2" is in the air.

  This tactic is especially important for the situation where the German army has air superiority, because it can make the German army difficult to defend against the Il-2's rocket rain attacking the target despite having air superiority.

  For example, the German army built a pontoon bridge on the Don River.

  It is impossible for the German Air Force to fill the surrounding airspace with fighter planes. The Soviet Army can send several teams of fighter planes to harass and attract the attention of the German Air Force.

  Hitler has been commanding battles in Wolfsburg, so of course he knows the tactics of the Soviet army.

  Manstein could not deny this, he nodded and replied: "Yes, the Sixth Army will suffer heavy losses!"

   "How serious is it?" Hitler asked again: "You estimate it!"

  Manstein thought for a while, and replied: "I believe... In the end, only half of us can successfully break through!"

  This is actually Manstein's overly optimistic estimate because he wanted Hitler to agree to his plan.

You must know that there are many uncertain factors besides Il-2. For example, the German 6th Army only has a short time to break through... If the time is delayed, the Soviet army will compress the German army's breakthrough from the two wings of Karachi, or even stop. The He Group Army must risk being surrounded.

  For another example, the Soviet army only needs to attack to a position about ten kilometers away from the Don River, in any direction, then they can bombard the pontoon bridge with artillery fire without using Il-2, which is almost impossible to stop.

  So, if Manstein is really asked to estimate objectively, it would be considered good to be able to escape one-third of the time.

   "And all the heavy equipment, isn't it?" Hitler asked again.

  Manstein nodded.

  This is beyond doubt, heavy equipment simply does not have the time and conditions to cross the river, they can only be blown up in Stalingrad.

   "However, Your Excellency the Führer!" Manstein said: "Even so, it is much better than annihilation!"

"Not necessarily!" Hitler replied: "Because if we choose to break out, we will completely abandon Stalingrad! We still have hope to occupy it, as long as we occupy Karachi... It is not difficult, is it? It is only a medium-sized city, We have occupied countless cities like this! We could do it before, and we can do it now! What we need is confidence, will, and courage!"

  Manstein didn't know what to say.

  Hitler's logic is a bit strange, because the German army took down many cities like Karachi before, and they took it easily, so they should be able to take it now, what is lacking is the spirit of taking down countless cities before.

   This seems to make sense on the surface, but this is war, real war.

The German army is no longer what it was when the war broke out. At this time, after the failure of the Moscow defense battle, the German army was short of troops and its morale was poor. Although it still maintained its combat effectiveness, it was different from the situation when everyone believed that Germany could win. worlds apart.

  The enemy is no longer the enemy at that time. At the beginning of the war, the Russian army was completely caught off guard, with chaotic command, low morale, and even many internal conflicts.

  But now, the enemy has grown up in the war and has also calmed down. They actively and effectively organize resistance and seek counterattacks.

   This, Manstein can see from the battle in Karachi.

  If it was in the past, even if the Don River Front Army had insufficient troops, it would be unimaginable for the enemy to return to a city from two German armored divisions and several infantry divisions.

  However, Manstein realized that he could not convince Hitler.

   "Cheer up, my general!" Hitler patted Manstein on the shoulder and said: "I will transfer the heavy artillery unit to your command and use it to attack Karachi! Victory will definitely belong to us!"