As soon as Moder received the order, he rushed to the headquarters of the 9th Army in a barrel car.

His heart was heavy along the way.

No one would take the promotion order at this time as a good thing, because at this time everyone could see that the German army had failed, and the most likely outcome of the promotion to commander was to bear the responsibility of disappointment.

That's not what Moder had in mind, though.

This is what sets Moder apart from others...... Others usually think of their own good and bad luck first and try to avoid it.

But as a professional soldier, Moder thinks about how to make this doomed war less ugly.

It's difficult, even more difficult than attacking Moscow.

But Moder had no choice, otherwise the Imperial army would have suffered an unprecedented blow and would have been crippled ever since.

Modell looked at the map from the rickety car, frowning.

The Fourth Tank Army retreated, the Fourth Army retreated, and the left flank of the Ninth Army was exposed to the Russians, and if the Russians opened a gap, they would immediately outflank the rear of the 9th Army and cut off the 9th Army's transportation lines to encircle it.

In fact, the Russians did exactly that, and if it weren't for the 23rd Army's flank at Solomino, the Russians would have surrounded the 9th Army long ago.

But what now?

The situation at hand seems to have only one way to retreat, but it is clear that the Führer will not agree to retreat, even at this time.

With a "hiss", the barrel truck stopped in front of a simple wooden house.

Moder couldn't help but look at the driver suspiciously, and asked, "This is the headquarters of the 9th Army?" ”

"Yes, Your Excellency!" The driver replied: "This morning the Russians bombed our original headquarters, and we had to temporarily move the headquarters here!" ”

Moder didn't say anything, he never expected the Germans to be so embarrassed.

He opened the door and stepped out of the car, where he was soon greeted by several officers, one of whom had a bandage on his hand and blood on his face.

"Your Excellency, General!" The officer said anxiously: "There is a new situation, and you need to make a decision immediately!" ”

Without saying a word, Modell followed the officers briskly towards the cabin.

The first few officers were waiting in front of the map, and one of them was Moder's old subordinate, the chief of staff, Hans. Colonel Krebs.

"General!" Colonel Krebs saluted Modell, then immediately pointed to the map and said: "Here, west of Rzhev, the Russians have broken a gap nine miles wide in our line, the junction of the 23rd and 6th armies!" ”

Moder gasped, the worst had happened when he had just taken office...... Russian troops rushed in from the exposed left flank and went around to the rear of the 9th Army.

"The Russians have two army groups!" Colonel Krebs continued: "The 29th and 39th armies, respectively, have been rapidly penetrating this gap in the last two days with tank, infantry and sled units to the south. About 9 divisions have already passed, our connection with the 23rd Army has been severed, the 23rd Army is surrounded and can only be supplied by airdrop. ”

"What about the 6th Army?" Modell asked.

"The 6th Army managed to build a new line of defense at Rzhev and stop the Russians!"

Moder couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, if the 6th Army was also surrounded or defeated, then the 9th Army would be completely finished.

However, this does not seem to make much difference, as long as the two Russian armies penetrate through the gap to the west of the 9th Army, then the 9th Army has only two choices: either surrender or destroy the two armies and go back.

The latter is almost impossible.

"We should retreat, General!" Colonel Krebs said: "The best thing to do is to retreat before the enemy completely surrounds us, and try to get in touch with the 23rd Army!" ”

Modell looked at the map and was silent for a moment, then shook his head and said, "We can't retreat, Krebs. The first is that the Führer will not agree to us doing this, and secondly, ......"

As he spoke, Moder pointed to the map and said, "Look at this, the Russians' 22nd Army has arrived at Lake Vogo and is beginning to penetrate south. In other words, even if we retreat now and escape from the encirclement of their 29th and 39th armies, we will still be surrounded by their 22nd army in the end! ”

This is Zhukov's strategy.

He set up the encirclement into a heavy and heavy cycle.

As long as the Germans were entangled in one of the encirclements, the consequences would be unimaginable, because the other troops would soon rush forward and expand the encirclement.

The reason why the Soviet army was able to do this was because of the large number of Soviet troops...... The Soviet army originally had more rear strength than the German army, and with reinforcements from Siberia, of course, there were more troops to carry out the encirclement.

On the other hand, it was the Soviets who marched faster in the snow than the Germans.

Of course, this is multifaceted, for example, the Soviet tanks and cars can better adapt to the extremely cold climate, the soldiers also have the experience of marching in extremely cold temperatures, and the Soviet army has an advantage in the air at this time, so it has the conditions to implement this kind of large-depth encirclement.

"So...... What are we going to do? Colonel Krebs had a look of horror in his eyes.

They may have just taken command of the 9th Army when they were surrounded by the enemy.

Holding his chin, Moder thought for a moment and replied, "If we can't retreat, and it's a dead end to stay here, then what other options do we have?" ”

"Attack?" Colonel Krebs's eyes widened when he heard this.

"Yes, attack!" Moder replied.

"But where are we going to attack from?" Colonel Krebs asked rhetorically.

Moder did not answer, but only pointed to the gap opened by the Russian army on the left flank of the 9th Army.

"But there are two armies of the Russians there!"

"Do we have any other options?" Modell asked rhetorically.

After a pause, Moder continued: "Only by filling this gap can we counter-encircle the enemy's 9 divisions that have broken through the defensive line. At the same time, if we continue to attack north, we will threaten the supply lines of all Russian troops, do you know what this means? ”

Colonel Krebs nodded: "I think you're right, General!" This will make it impossible for the enemy to pursue our troops with confidence, as the fragile supply lines behind them will be exposed to our forces! ”

"Yes!" Moder replied: "It's not just the 9th Army's way to live, Krebs!" This is the way for our entire army to live, because only in this way can the Fourth Army, the Fourth Tank Army...... They only have time to hold their ground! ”