Both the Supreme High Command and the Army General Staff were very worried about the impending great war -- after two months of dormancy and the addition of General Winter's force, the Red Army would be able to break out in combat effectiveness. However, Hoffmann clearly told Manstein that he did not have any reserve troops for him, so he had to base himself on winning the battle with the existing forces, and of course, he was not stingy with equipment and supplies. At this point, the General Staff represented by General Zeitzler could not blame Hoffmann for not doing so, and at the moment when faced with the threat of the Torch Plan and the tension of the war in North Africa, the three armored divisions and eight infantry divisions held by the Führer as the reserves of the Supreme Command really could not be squandered at will, and they must be used where they are most needed. The more than 30 divisions in the reserve army had not yet formed a combat capacity, and Hoffman was unwilling to hastily pull them into battle, and it made more sense to use them as field troops to supplement the strength than to build new division-level troops alone, and this strategy of Hoffman was no less different from Hitler's almost pathological obsession with the formation of new troops. For the first time, the Wehrmacht was able to find a way to fill the gap in the existing combat units (with the exception of the Waffen-SS, which had expanded by four new divisions) rather than sharpening their heads and digging out new units, so that the number of front-line combat divisions on the Eastern Front remained almost unchanged (still at about 180), but the actual field strength was greatly increased.

In terms of the entire strategic situation, the deployment intentions of the two sides are very clear and even-for-tat -- Army Group South relies on two large salients and is divided into three relatively distinctly separated clusters from north to south: the northern route is the main force of the former Weix cluster. In the personnel and subsequent troop adjustments in September, due to the transfer of Field Marshal Weix to the post of commander of Army Group Center, the North Road Group was under the command of General Hoth, and mainly governed the 4th Panzer Army and the Italian 8th and Romanian 1st armies. The total strength is about 400,000 and 750 tanks, constituting the left flank of Army Group South, opposite the two fronts of the Red Army Bryansk and Voronezh, with a total strength of more than 500,000 troops and nearly 500 tanks; The middle section was in the Stalingrad and Rostov directions, mainly the headquarters of Army Group South. Under the direct command of Field Marshal Manstein, it mainly has the direct forces of the 6th and 2nd armies and part of the army group, with a total strength of about 32 divisions. 550,000 people, 550 tanks, and the Red Army's Don, Stalingrad, and Southwestern armies were opposed, with a total strength of about 1.3 million. 1,300 tanks; On the right flank was the main force of the former Army Group "A" under the command of General Kleist. The core is the 1st Panzer Army and the 17th Army, with a total strength of about 500,000 and 600 tanks, and the Red Army Caucasian Front, which is opposite it, has a total strength of 800,000 and 700 tanks.

Manstein himself was very satisfied with such a disposable force, and felt that the capital in his hands was not small, and if someone told him before the outbreak of war that he would be able to command so many troops in the future, he would have to drive them out as madmen. Of course, he was still very covetous, and Hoffmann had several key armored divisions in his hands, including Vikings and Greater Germany. But as soon as they heard that this was a unit prepared for the second phase of the North African campaign, they were silent. In addition, Hoffmann did not send the Tiger tanks to the Eastern Front. However, the marshal was very satisfied with the first batch of 12 assault tigers, which were converted from the defeated chassis of Dr. Porsche, and the 380mm thick tube, a shell was 324 kilograms, and the power was even more powerful than that of heavy aerial bombs.

In addition to the Assault Tiger, the Army Weapons Bureau also sent 2,000 G43 experimental rifles, 800 STG43 experimental assault rifles, 5,000 rounds of Iron Fist No. 1, and 1,000 rounds of Iron Fist No. 3. How do you send all the equipment for street fighting?

"You're right, in the Führer's vision, maybe we should put our street fighting skills to the test, and you can count on those other than our newly formed Storm Strike Team...... ......" General Zeitsler, Chief of the General Staff of the Army, who came to investigate the situation on the battlefield, squeezed his eyes and said, "Who do I mean, you know......"

"You mean the captives?" Manstein understood that what the other party said was that it had recently been formed using Soviet prisoners of war, including Cossacks, Ukrainian nationalist units, and the Russian Liberation Army, which were not included in his combat expectations, and he thought that at most they could only serve as rear security units, but seeing that the Führer meant that he hoped that they would be tested in actual combat, he nodded and accepted this suggestion.

"The Führer explained before leaving, you will not interfere with how you want to fight him, but there is a dead order, you must not give up Rostov, after all, you don't want to see the Kleist armored group locked up in that corner of the Caucasus and beaten by the Soviet crowd, right?"

This sentence is absolutely true, Rostov must not give up, otherwise Kleist's 500,000 troops will be locked in a cage by the Red Army's Caucasian Front and the Stalingrad Front, and under the barrier of the Kerch Strait, 500,000 horses and horses will not be able to withdraw in a hurry, and there will be no other way out except for the destruction of the whole army. And once the Kleist cluster is finished, the Taman Peninsula and the Kerch Peninsula will be completely finished, the Crimean Peninsula and the heart of Ukraine will be directly threatened by the Red Army, not to mention anything else, planes to Japan will not be able to fly......

"Of course Rostov will not be lost, my army group and army group headquarters are located here, unless I die here, it will never be lost." "We have built a complete and adequate line of defense for the coming great war, the inhabitants of the city have been moved, and here is now a great fortress—a strong fortress armed with hundreds of thousands of troops against the powerful assault of the Red Army." ”

"But the number of enemies you face is really high, and the balance of power is out of balance." Zeitzler reminded, "I couldn't sleep all night because of this, and when I woke up, I thought that more than a million torrents would be coming at you, would you like to adjust your deployment and bring back the armored troops stretched out from both wings first?" At the very least, take back Hort's 4th Panzer Army. ”

Manstein looked at the troop indicator on the map and slowly smiled: "No, they will continue to attack and try to eat the Red Army in front of them - I'm talking about the two fronts of Bryansk and Voronezh on the left flank, because we have the advantage in armored forces; I have told him to keep an eye on the Caucasian Front on the right flank, and not a single Red Army division can be reinforced; In the middle I will take the maximum pressure and let Rostov become Zhukov's meat grinder! As for you, I hope that you will be able to get the commanders of the other two army groups to contain the Red Army in front of them and not give them the opportunity to reinforce the Southern Front. ”

"I see, we're going to try to do it all." Zeitzler added, "The Führer also told that you must control the ratio of casualties, and I hope you can play a 1:4, 1:5 exchange ratio, or 1:3 at worst, otherwise this battle will not be fought." ”

"It's the strangest order I've ever heard in all my years in the military -- no strategic goals." Manstein muttered and complained, "It turns out that when Halder was in power, the Führer was in too much control, and he wanted to interfere in the dispatch of each division, but now it's good, he doesn't even care about the goal of the campaign, and we are in charge, which makes people sigh whether it is the same person before and after." This really made Manstein guess right, but he couldn't have thought of crossing this matter with ten more dares.

"Yes!"

"Where?"

"First, give full play to the subjective initiative, repel the Soviet attack and hold the main line of defense on the southern flank; Second, control the number of casualties, play a high exchange ratio, and encircle and annihilate the enemy's living forces; Thirdly, threaten Stalingrad from the flanks, but do not rush to seize. ”

Manstein smiled: "This is really a strange order, if it weren't for the fact that I have recently become familiar with the Führer's thinking, I would have thought that you were a spy sent by the Red Army to falsely convey orders." ”

Zeitzler shrugged his shoulders indifferently and continued: "The last time you asked for no longer to be the commander of the 6th Army, I would like to ask you if you still insist on this point of view? If so, the Führer is ready to transfer General Moder to you...... Anyway, now there is not much pressure on the Ninth Army in person. ”

"Thanks to the Führer's kindness, now the left flank is handed over to General Hoth, and the right flank is handed over to General Kleist, and I have only left myself 2 armies, which can fully cope with it......" Manstein rejected Zeitzler's kindness, thinking: If I had been happy to tell me about this stubble a month earlier, seeing that the battle is about to begin, it would be inappropriate to change people temporarily, and all the current deployments and plans have been designed by me, so can I wait for Moder to come over and take advantage of it? If I won, I will be able to command Moder, and if I lose, I will not be so stupid.

Zeitzler complimented: "Sure enough, the Führer guessed your answer, who called you the most capable marshal of the southern wing?" ”

Manstein asked suspiciously: "Is this what the Führer said?" ”

"Of course......" Zeitzler winked mischievously, "who else could there be if it wasn't the Führer, not even Chief Keitel would dare to draw such conclusions, let alone me." ”

"You are the most capable marshal of the South Wing!" After sending Zeitzler away, Manstein was still complacent about this flattering remark: he still had weight in the Führer's mind, maybe he was still the heaviest one. Unexpectedly, when his adjutant heard this, he stabbed the heavens: "Sir, don't be deceived by that guy's rhetoric, it can't be said by the Führer." ”

"Why?"

"Because you're the only marshal in the entire south wing right now......"

"Bastard!" Manstein finally understood that he had been molested by Zeitzler. (To be continued.) )