Tyulenev's fears soon became a reality, and the Red Army received information from various sources that the strength of the German army on the southern front had grown particularly rapidly, and that this increase had exceeded the strength needed to defeat the British 10th Army, which by 23 January had three less than capable divisions, and had basically lost all its heavy equipment, and that there were not even a few covering aircraft, and that the destruction of the entire army was imminent - but the Germans did not follow in the footsteps of the retreating Indian and British troops in the direction of eastern Persia, Afghanistan, and India. Instead, the focus of the deployment moved deeper and closer to northern Persia, and on January 24, the Germans occupied Isfahan, a major city in central Persia, only 350 kilometers from Tehran. Although there had not yet been an exchange of fire with the Red Army, it was unanimously determined by the deliberations of the Front General Staff that the German army was attempting to attack northward, and that it was imminent, and that at this time, the troops drawn from Central Asia into Persia had not even completely crossed the border, let alone joined up with the Red Army's Persian Army Group - which made Tyulenev deeply uneasy.

The Caucasian Front did not exaggerate the predicament it faced, the Eastern Front was not the place where the Germans increased their forces the most, and the Southern Front had become the third largest heavy army group in the Third Reich at present.

After repeated troop transfers, additions, and adjustments, the German army on the Eastern Front is undoubtedly the largest heavy army group in Germany, with a total army strength of 202 divisions, and the German army on the Western Front (Western European countries and the mainland) is the second largest heavy army group, with a total army strength of more than 50 divisions; Originally, the German army on the Northern Front (in the direction of Norway and Denmark) was the third largest heavy group, with more than 14 divisions (including one panzer), but now the total strength of the Northern Front has dropped to 11 divisions, while the strength of the Southern Front is multiplying.

The southern front mainly consisted of Guderian's African Army and Rommel's Middle East Army (officially renamed the Middle East Army after the capture of the Persian oil fields), and the Middle East Army's area of operation included all of the Middle East east of the Sinai Peninsula, and the African Army Group was responsible for all of Africa. The two group armies, one fighting from west to east and the other from north to south, were quite terrifying. In order to strengthen the force, the troops originally deployed in the direction of West Africa to intimidate the French colonies and the Anglo-American landing attempt (under the command of Guderian, the strength mainly includes 2 armored divisions and 2 infantry divisions) were reinforced, Rommel was assigned to the 22nd Infantry Division, and Guderian was assigned to the 10th Armored Division.

At the same time, according to the order of the General Staff, the 2nd SS Reich Division was to join Army Group Middle East in early February. In this way, the African Army Group has 5 armored divisions and 3 infantry divisions with a total of 120,000 men; Army Group Middle East will have 4 armored divisions (Viking, Großdeutsch, 15th and Reich), 1 infantry division and 2 paratrooper brigades for a total of 90,000 men. In addition, Guderian had 501 and 502 Tiger heavy armored battalions, and Rommel had 506 heavy armored battalions.

Hoffman vowed to pack the tickets for his two men, and by the end of March, they would receive further reinforcement, and the total strength of the southern front would exceed 20 divisions. But the day after he said this, Rommel sent a telegram through Kesselring, hoping to be supported by another infantry division, and he asked for a mountain infantry division by name, for good reasons - northern Persia and Transcaucasia are large mountainous and hilly areas, and mountain infantry divisions are valuable, and the Russians also sent mountain troops, because he asked for reinforcement in this area, and even euphemistically said that the deployment of the Imperial division could be postponed - his armored force was sufficient.

This request made Hoffman cry and laugh, but he had just patted his chest and could only accept it, so he had to temporarily change the reinforcement plan - the Imperial division was assigned to Guderian first, and the infantry division originally given to Guderian in mid-February was ordered to suspend the operation and free up the transportation capacity for Rommel to add a mountain force. The problem was that Germany's most prestigious mountain troops were either deployed in Norway or in the Kleist cluster in the Caucasus on the Eastern Front, and it was not practical to deploy them in the short term. In the end, it was Keitel who offered to let the 7th SS Prinz Eugen Mountain Infantry Division go to the southern front, and Rommel happily accepted.

Although Germany's additional troops on the southern front helped to reduce the pressure on the Red Army on the Eastern Front, Stalin and the Red Army General Staff still felt that it was difficult to cope with the relevant report from Tyulenev, because it was really impossible to separate the Middle East theater, especially since Rommel's continuous siege of Persia and the defeat of General Wilson's 10th Army made everyone worry - the British Empire's rule in southern Persia was soon coming to an end, but what would happen to Northern Persia in the future?

The significance of the existence of the Persian battlefield is to protect the passage of aid supplies, and the second is to cover the fragile Baku oil fields, and now the first level of meaning has completely lost its meaning after Britain and the United States lost their control of the Indian Ocean, while the second level of goal is not easy to achieve.

"Can we now let the Persian Army Group attack?" At the symposium on the Middle East, Stalin frowned and asked, "Is it ...... that the forces of Rommel's cluster are still relatively scattered, with a part in Iraq and another part in Persia, and any part of it is not an opponent of the Persian army group."

Zhukov and Vasilevsky looked at each other, silent, and after a long time, they shook their heads and said that they were not optimistic about the offensive plan.

The two originally drew up a plan together: when Rommel pursued the British 10th Army deeply, he planned to take advantage of the opportunity of the German army's elongated logistics supply line and scattered troops to launch an attack and attack the enemy's flank, but they did not expect the Germans to follow the predetermined script at all - he easily let go of the remnants of the defeated General Wilson, who was panicked like a lost dog, and took the initiative to disengage with the British army, but instead retracted his forces back to Isfahan, and put on a posture of attacking Tehran.

Then the two men thought that Rommel was about to attack, and not only nervously ordered the garrison in the direction of Tehran to be more vigilant, but at the same time asked the Persian army group to speed up its march to the south and prepare for battle, but they were busy for a long time to find that the Germans were staying in Isfahan and not moving, only busy holding on to the local defense system and arranging air power.

Not only did the Russians not understand, but even Hoffmann did not understand what Rommel was trying to do.

Soon the Russians knew what Rommel was doing, and in the early morning of January 24, the Italian paratrooper brigade landed and assaulted, lightningly occupying Urumiyah, more than 200 kilometers from Mosul, in northwestern Persia, and then the Viking division quickly moved through the triangular belt of Turkey, Iraq, and Persia, and took control of the oasis west of Lake Ulmi, which was a very advantageous position, and more than 120 kilometers northeast of the lake was Tabriz, an important town in northwestern Persia.

If the city could be taken, it would directly cut off the Red Army's Persian Army Group from Transcaucasia. (To be continued.) )