The 1st Guards Tank Brigade quickly broke through the defenses of the 8th Romanian Cavalry Brigade and it took only an hour before and after...... For an hour, almost all of the Romanian cavalry continued to charge the 1st Guards Tank Brigade, and then fell in a pool of blood one by one.

Then, the 1st Guards Tank Brigade launched a counteroffensive and immediately routed the 8th Cavalry Brigade.

When the news reached the command of the 11th Army, Manstein was so anxious that he walked around the office like an ant on a hot pan.

"The position of the 28th Division!" Manstein asked.

"They have just arrived in Simferopol, General!" The adjutant replied: "They are being bombed by the enemy's air force, and it may take a day to get to Zhankoy!" ”

"Order them to speed up!"

"Yes!"

The Soviet Air Force had numerical superiority, so they could safely attack everywhere, occasionally attacking the 52nd Army encircling Sevastopol, sometimes bombing the 28th Infantry Division, which was rushing to the aid of Djankoy, and even bombing Djankoy.

This made the Luftwaffe exhausted and rushed around, and they appeared here only to receive the enemy in another airspace, and for a while they were very passive.

After thinking about it, Manstein said to the adjutant: "Contact Lieutenant General Sponek!" ”

A few minutes later, the adjutant handed the phone to Manstein.

"How's it going, Lieutenant General?"

"Very bad, General!" Lieutenant General Sponek replied: "I didn't have time to control the situation, they were overwhelmed, and I was retreating towards Zhankoy. My men and I tried to stop their advance, but now we can't do it, my men are getting fewer and fewer, and mines don't work for them! ”

In other seasons, it might be easy to hold back their pursuers, as they can blow up bridges and break roads along the way.

The problem is that it's winter, the rivers are all frozen to ice, and the roads are frozen ground.

So blowing up the bridge obviously didn't do much, because enemy tanks could drive directly over the frozen river.

Not to mention breaking roads...... Not to mention the amount of work required to blow up a section of the road, the enemy can also easily bypass both sides of the road.

"Lieutenant General Sponek!" Manstein said: "After you leave a small army to break, you yourself will rush to Zhankoy to take command, and I need you to organize the defense there, and you must hold out until reinforcements arrive, understand?" ”

"Understood, General!" Sponek replied confidently, because it almost meant that Manstein had admitted his mistake, that is, Sponek's previous disobedience to the order to retreat from the Kerch Peninsula was the right choice.

In fact, there is no need for Manstein to admit that if the 46th Infantry Division under the command of Lieutenant General Sponek did not block it, the German army at this time would have been blocked on the Crimean Peninsula and had no way to escape.

"General!" The adjutant asked Manstein: "Do we want to send more troops back to Zhankoy!" ”

Manstein understood what the adjutant meant.

This "return aid" is actually an escape, a breakthrough.

Otherwise, there will be no hurry to wait for the Russian army to capture Zhankoy and gain a firm foothold.

"No, Eric!" Manstein shook his head weakly: "If we do this, we will expose our backs to Sevastopol, I have reason to believe it...... The Russians will soon land from Sevastopol and attack us! ”

Such was the embarrassment of the German attack on the Crimea, where they would be under a natural encirclement of Sevastopol and the Kerch Peninsula.

But in history, Manstein solved this problem perfectly, not only solving this problem, but also beating the Soviet army miserably.

Of course, this also has the credit of the guy McHelis who commanded blindly in the Soviet camp.

Therefore, Manstein's promotion to marshal also needs to be thanked by Mehris.

However, Manstein can't be so easy now, in fact, his offensive plan at Shulka is already in a mess.

It should be said that Lieutenant General Sponek was lucky, and as soon as he received the order, he handed over the command to the adjutant and went straight to Zhankoy with the guard company.

Then, less than half an hour, Lieutenant General Sponek received a telegram that the troops were under attack.

"General, they've caught up with us!" The adjutant reported to Lieutenant General Sponek: "They have a battalion of troops, and the fire is so fierce that we will not be able to resist it!" ”

"How did they catch up with you?" Sponech wondered.

Although nothing could stop the advance of the Russian army, the Germans also retreated while laying mines.

This forced the Russians to follow behind the minesweepers, which had limited speed, so they should follow behind the Germans.

"It's a half-track armored car!" The adjutant replied: "I think they took a shortcut to catch up with us!" ”

"Retreat, retreat now!" Sponech ordered.

But then there was no more sound, only a burst of gunfire from behind, and soon there was a complete silence.

"Speed up!" Sponech ordered, and he realized that the 46th Division was likely to be wiped out.

Sponek was right, the only remaining 46th Division had been annihilated in the battle.

"We've got information!" Katukov found Shulka after the defeat of the 8th Romanian Cavalry Brigade.

He got out of his jeep and jumped into Shulka's half-track, spreading out his map and saying to Shulka as he went: "The Germans have sent a force from Sevastopol back to help Zhankoy!" ”

"That's supposed to be an elite troop!" Shulka made his judgment right away.

"Yes, I think so too!" Katukov nodded.

This was the combat habit of the German army, and it was also determined by their tactics.

"Blitzkrieg" means putting the strongest and fastest troops at the forefront, and then they can be inserted into strategic points like sharp knives.

In this respect, the German forces that attacked the Crimea were elite units, including the 46th German Infantry Division, which had recently been routed.

Now, the Germans have transferred another division from Sevastopol back to Zhankoy...... Then don't think about it, this division must be the elite of the elite.

"If this division is allowed to rush to Zhankoy, it will be very disadvantageous to us!" Katukov said.

"They'll be there!"

"Yes!" Katukov said: "Now we can use the air force to bomb and harass them, but in a few hours it will be dark, and they can safely march towards Zhankoi!" ”

"How long will it take for them to get to Zhankoy?"

"What a day!" Katukov replied: "We may arrive a few hours earlier than them, but this is not enough!" ”

It was not enough, because even if the 1st Guards Tank Brigade was good at fighting, it would not be able to capture Dzhankoy in a matter of hours, and it would be in a dilemma of being attacked on both sides.