Even though he knew that there was little hope, Admiral Kleist transferred an armored division in the hope of crossing the Dnieper and returning to the west bank.

It is normal for Admiral Kleist to have this thought.

On the one hand, Admiral Kleist was holding on to a fluke mentality, in case the Soviet army on the Dnieper was not well prepared and reconnoitred, an armored division would be able to cross the Dnieper before they could react.

On the other hand, the war on the west bank is too important, and it is related to the logistical supply of the 1st Panzer Group and even the entire Southern Army Group, if it is cut off by the Soviet Mechanized 9th Army, it is likely to lead to the collapse of the entire defense line.

Thus, the 29th Panzer Division turned around and returned to the Dnieper on the orders of Admiral Kleist.

The location is in Gorodishe, lower Kremenchuk, and the crossing is at night.

The choice was made because the pontoon bridges in Kremenchuk were so obvious that Admiral Kleist believed that they were already under the surveillance of the Soviets.

The night crossing was for cover, and at this point the German Panzer Division also had the initiative...... The Dnieper River south of Kiev stretches for hundreds of kilometers, and the German armored division can choose a section to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river at will, and even choose the time at will, which is difficult for the Soviets to guard against.

Admiral Kleist thought that if the panzer division could successfully cross the river, they would be able to cooperate with the German infantry on the west bank to build defenses, or they could use the excellent mobility of German tanks to harass the Soviet mechanized 9th Army along the way.

The latter was a common tactic used by the German army, which is a bit like the tactics of Genghis Khan when he used cavalry in ancient times.

It is not for nothing that the total strength of the Mongol cavalry is only a few hundred thousand, but it is not for nothing that they can gallop across the territory of history, they always use the high mobility of the cavalry to harass the enemy's infantry, and give full play to the principle of "the enemy advances and I retreat, the enemy retreats and I advance, the enemy is stationed and disturbs, and the enemy is tired and I fight", until the enemy army has become a tired army and a chaotic army.

The same was true of the mechanized units of the German army...... In fact, its "blitzkrieg" tactics were very similar to the tactics of the Mongol cavalry running deep into the enemy's hinterland.

This is one of the reasons why German tanks attach great importance to mobility: the "Three" tank weighs twice as much as the Soviet light tank T26, but its speed and cross-country ability are much better than the T26.

So, the point is whether this armored division can cross the Dnieper.

To this end, Admiral Kleist also made some arrangements himself:

First, Admiral Kleist deployed two artillery regiments on both sides of Kremenchug.

There is no need to say what the role of the artillery regiment was, they formed a crossfire to block the upper reaches of Kremenchuk from the left and the right, so that the shallow water heavy gunboats of the Soviet army could not pass through here.

Secondly, it is to order the aircraft to increase the laying of mines in the upper reaches of Kremenchuk.

Finally, several regiments of engineers were laid downstream, and pontoon bridges were erected at the same time.

The obvious purpose of this was to confuse the Soviets so that they could not tell which part of the landing site was the real landing site.

But Admiral Kleist underestimated the Soviet army, and Shulka certainly took this into account.

"How can we stop the Germans from crossing the river?" Admiral Kirponos asked: "They will most likely blockade a certain section of the river with artillery or torpedoes, rendering our shallow water fleet ineffective!" ”

In fact, this happened before the German army crossed the river.

"We don't need a shallow water fleet, General!" Shulka replied.

"Air Force?" Admiral Kirponos shook his head: "Don't expect too much from the Air Force, Sergeant! ”

Of course, I can't help but hope for the Soviet Air Force, not to mention that at this time they have been beaten by the Luftwaffe and are powerless, and they cannot bomb the pontoon bridge at night.

"No, not the Air Force!" Shulka replied.

"So, what else?" Admiral Kirponos looked at Shulka suspiciously.

In addition to this, all Admiral Kirponos could think of was to use artillery, but if the Germans' 1st Panzer Group had already crossed the Dnieper, it would be difficult to deploy artillery on the east bank.

It was also true that after the German 1st Panzer Group crossed the river, the Southern Front, which was deployed on the east bank of the Dnieper, quickly collapsed.

"First of all, we need to have information!" "If we don't know where or when they crossed, it's hard to react accordingly!" ”

"There's no problem with that!" Admiral Kirponos replied: "We can deploy reconnaissance units on both sides of the Dnieper, and they will provide the information we need!" ”

It's really not a big deal, because this is the Soviet Union.

Although many Ukrainian people do not have a good impression of Moscow, after all, it is the Soviet Union, and it is easy to send several reconnaissance units to disguise themselves as fleeing civilians and mix in the crowd to conduct reconnaissance.

If anything, it's the radio stations needed for the communications of the scouts.

However, this was certainly not a problem for the commander of the Front, Colonel-General Kirponos, who even sent a report to Timoshenko, requesting that the radio station of the Southern Front be urgently transferred to the use of the Southwestern Front.

This sounds unreasonable, since the transfer of the Southern Front's radio stations would mean that their troops would inevitably have communication difficulties.

But judging by Kirponos's plan, it makes sense...... Anyway, the Southern Front played the role of being defeated, and there was a difference between a radio station and no radio station, so it was a big deal that you could report to your superiors where you fled to!

Marshal Timoshenko knew about some of the plans of Admiral Kirponos, so he actually agreed to this request.

"And then there are the mines of the Germans!" Shulka turned his gaze to Admiral Kirponos: "I heard that the Germans used a kind of magnetic mine? ”

"Yes!" Admiral Kirponos replied: "They do not need to be fixed by a reso, they sink directly to the bottom of the river, so it is difficult to rule them out!" ”

Shulka knows something about this: the traditional mine is with an anchor, which can hook the bottom of the sea or the river like an anchor, and then hold the mine to a certain position in the water through the mine so that it will not drift away with the flow of the river and seawater.

This kind of mine removal is more convenient, that is, the mine rope is cut with a minesweeper with a cutter, and the mines will surface one by one and then they can be detonated.

But magnetic mines...... It does not require a mine anchor or a thunder cable, or even if there is a mine anchor or a thunder cable, it is at a very deep part of the seabed.

The Dnieper is not needed, it sinks to the bottom like a stone. In this way, ordinary minesweepers will not be able to play a role, and once a warship passes over it, the magnetic mine will sense the magnetism of the warship's armor and will "boom" it......