Katukov was a steady attacker.

He prepared for more than ten hours, and when Zhankoy had gathered enough strength and supplies, he launched an attack on the Perekop Isthmus.

The offensive was also launched at night, which was the correct and helpless choice when the Soviet Air Force was inferior to the German Air Force.

Although in some respects, the Soviet Air Force should be on an equal footing with the German Air Force, because the Soviet Army had a numerical advantage.

However, the German army, which had an advantage in quality and quality, could always succeed at any time as long as it concentrated its forces and attacked a certain airspace with all its might, and the Soviet Air Force had no way to deal with it.

Therefore, if the 1st Guards Tank Brigade had attacked during the day, it would undoubtedly have been brutally bombed by the German Air Force.

This was one of the reasons why the offensive of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade on the Perekop Isthmus had to be postponed.

Otherwise, after taking Dzhankoy, Manstein will have no skills to use.

The offensive of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade was very smooth, and the Germans relied on mines, anti-tank guns and other equipment to fight and walk, barely blocked for ten hours, and finally gave up resistance and withdrew to the Perekop Isthmus before dawn the next day.

After the Germans entered the Perekop Isthmus, it was difficult for the Soviets to continue the offensive, because the narrowest width here was only 8 kilometers, and the dense deployment of German artillery and anti-tank fire in this area made it an easy bottleneck to defend and difficult to attack, not to mention that it would soon be dawn.

However, the Soviets did not need to continue the offensive, because their capture of the gap meant that they successfully blocked the German reinforcements and surrounded the German army in Crimea, in other words, the Soviets won the Battle of Crimea.

All the officers and soldiers cheered, and Katukov immediately reported the good news to the command, and Mehris shouted excitedly: "Great, you are the heroes of the motherland, and what we have to do next is to annihilate those lackeys who invaded the Crimea!" ”

This was basically not a problem, because the Isthmus of Perekop was blocked, and the German supply and transportation lines were completely cut off, and unless the Germans used air force airdrops, the German troops entering the Crimea could not get a single bullet.

In other words, the fall of the German army was only a matter of time.

However, the situation of the battle was unexpected by everyone.

As soon as dawn Katukov got a report: "Colonel, we found out that the Germans are retreating!" ”

"Retreat? Where did they retreat? Katukov asked.

"Calkinit Bay!" Scouts report: "The Germans occupied the Sami zone and then used fishing boats to transport soldiers to Yamiansk via Karkinit Bay!" ”

Katukov couldn't help but half-open his mouth and couldn't close it for a long time, he didn't expect Manstein to have this trick, but the situation that was originally to catch a turtle in an urn made him escape by sea.

This was mainly because the Soviets always thought that they had control of the sea, so once they cut off the retreat of the German army from land, they had nowhere to go, and they did not think of it at all...... In the case that the German army had partial air supremacy, the Soviet army also had only partial sea supremacy.

It was clear that Manstein had prepared well beforehand, on the one hand, he had Sponek fight and go to buy time, and on the other hand, he had the Germans on both sides of the bay collect fishing boats.

The Germans didn't even spend much effort collecting fishing boats, because many of the Ukrainians supported the Germans, and many fishermen were even willing to help the Germans with their transportation.

As a result, overnight, the Germans had hundreds of fishing boats, which shuttled back and forth between the Gulf of Karkinit, which was only 30 kilometers wide, and transported German troops from the Crimean Peninsula to Yamiansk, the other end of the isthmus.

It's a bit like Dunkelke, except for the German version of Dunkelke.

"Attack now!" When he received this information, Mehris ordered without thinking about it: "Navy, and Army...... And, of course, the Air Force, attacking them with all its might, and these aggressors cannot be allowed to escape from the Crimea like this! ”

Shulka was at the headquarters of the Crimean Front at the time, and he stopped Mehris from doing so, which was clearly unwise.

"Comrade Mehris!" "The entrance to the Gulf of Calkinit is narrow, and if our navy were to attack it, it would expose itself to the double blow of the enemy's shore air defense and air force, which would not only be ineffective, but would also cost us many warships!" In addition, let the ground forces attack, too, it is daytime and our tanks will be exposed to the fire of the enemy's air force! ”

"Shall we just let them escape like this?" "No, even some losses are worth it, and we will never be intimidated by difficulties and casualties," Mehris said. ”

"You are right, Comrade Mehris!" Shulka said to look around, then walked aside with Mehris and whispered, "But, Comrade Mehris. So far, our losses and casualties for this can be described as insignificant...... In addition to the casualties of more than 2,000 people of the Naval Infantry Brigade, the 1st Guards Tank Brigade lost some tanks and more than 1,000 casualties during the attack. In other words, we regained the entire Crimean Peninsula at the cost of more than 3,000 casualties, and also killed and wounded tens of thousands of German and Romanian troops, and captured countless pieces of equipment! ”

Needless to say, the latter is self-explanatory.

Although the main German army returned to mainland Ukraine by fishing boats around the isthmus, there were still many stragglers and Romanian troops scattered in the Crimea, and they could only surrender or be annihilated if they could not return in time.

In addition, the main force of the German army was transported by fishing boats, which meant that all heavy equipment such as tanks, artillery, automobiles, and even ammunition had to be left in the Crimea.

But of course, the Germans will choose to blow them up.

It is rare for the Soviets to win more with less and achieve such a large result at such a small cost, but the Battle of Crimea did.

"I guess this in itself will attract the attention of Moscow!" Shulka said: "I mean less wins more and there is such a huge disparity in battle losses. If we launch another full-scale offensive......"

There is no need to say Shulcado in the next words, the offensive during the day will cause the losses of the Soviet army to rise sharply, and even the entire 1st Guards Tank Brigade may be destroyed under the bombing of German fighters, and if a few more warships are blown and sunk, the battle loss ratio will be flattened.

Mehris nodded as he listened.

His goal was not to drive the Germans out of the Crimea, or to achieve victory or anything, but to gain attention and increase his bargaining chips in the struggle for political power.

Before, it was because of the rise of the fight, thinking that the pursuit of victory could achieve greater victory.

Now, according to Shulka's analysis, continuing to attack will not only benefit but will cost the victory that has already been achieved.

So, without thinking, Mehris immediately canceled the order for an all-out attack.