On March 6, the Turkish Western Route Army marched north along Batumi to the southern foot of the Caucasus Mountains, cutting off the railway line connecting the Caucasus and the outside world; The Central Route Army successfully captured Tbilisi, gaining a key pass through the Caucasus Mountains, and the Eastern Route Army rushed into the Azerbaijani hinterland, with the vanguard only 195 kilometers from Baku. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Turkey's entry into the war triggered a violent reaction, and the United States was shocked, because not long ago Turkey had quietly accepted a loan from the United States, vaguely stating that it would maintain its "established policy" unchanged, and in the eyes of the Americans, the so-called "established policy unchanged" means that it would remain neutral, and in appreciation of this decision and in order to appease the feelings of the Turkish hardliners, the Americans readily disbursed the first batch of $100 million in loans, and hinted that Turkey could take a pro-German position in terms of material supplies and other aspects - as long as it did not enter the war. The United States, which sells things or something, pretends not to know.

When Secretary of State Hull angrily approached the Turkish ambassador and questioned him, he told him eloquently: "We have indeed maintained the established policy...... Turkey continues to remain neutral in the wars between Britain and the United States and Germany, but the history of the Russo-Turkish war tells us that there has never been peace between Russia and Turkey, and the so-called peace is only a temporary truce, and it is easy to achieve peace, as long as Russia returns to us the land that it has taken from Turkey over the years, it will be peaceful the next day! ”

Hull was so angry that he directly wanted Congress to decide to declare war on Turkey, but after thinking about it, he endured it: the decision to allocate $100 million to Turkey did not go through Congress, and if this matter was exposed, the announcement of the inside story of the Americans being played by Turkey guaranteed that it would cause a public outcry, and both President Roosevelt and his own political prospects would be affected, and finally gritted his teeth and endured it. But Hull did not dare to face Roosevelt's disappointed gaze, and hid for two days without daring to see the president.

Stalin in the Kremlin was shocked by the speed with which the Transcaucasian army was dispersing: in just three or four days, 8-90,000 Red Army troops were wiped off the map by the Turkish army, although the other side sent more than 500,000 troops, the ratio of the Red Army's strength was almost 5:1, but the traditional mentality made him still contempt for the fighting power of the Turks, and he was completely stunned when he received the news.

In the entire Transcaucasia, only the Persian Army Group under the command of Lieutenant General Mezov is still relatively intact, and the more than 40,000 troops guarding the Baku oil area have barely built a defensive line, but only a fragile line is maintained between the two, and they are in danger of being completely divided.

"What do you think of Comrade Mezhov's telegram repeatedly demanding that the Turkish army withdraw to Baku by taking advantage of the fact that the Turkish army has not yet completely cut off its rear route, and then withdraw to the South Caucasus with the help of the river flotilla in the Caspian Sea?"

Now the commander of the Caucasian Front, Tyulenev, was so anxious that Stalin simply bypassed him and began to command the Persian army group and the defenders of Baku.

"This is not a very good choice...... Zhukov looked at Stalin, and found that the latter's face was full of exhaustion, vacillation and chagrin, and he considered his words and said, "First of all, the Persian army group cannot be withdrawn, the department is facing Rommel's Middle East army group, and the enemy will immediately pounce on it in a large-scale retreat, and when the time comes, let alone a smooth retreat, I am afraid that even the troops will not be able to keep it; Secondly, he cannot withdraw, we simply do not have the ability to provide such a large-scale transport fleet, and it is difficult to complete the task of transporting 40,000 defenders of Baku in a short time, let alone add another 130,000; In the end, he should not withdraw, and the General Staff advised him to rely on the existing defensive line to resist the Germans, to buy the defenders of Baku enough time to destroy the oil field facilities, and not to allow the oil resources to be used by the Germans......"

"Nope! Never! Stalin suddenly waved his fist and shouted hysterically, "Baku cannot retreat!" Baku can't give up! Baku can't be destroyed either! ”

Zhukov knew that the other party could not accept this decision emotionally, so he wisely closed his mouth and said nothing. My mind was racing and I was thinking about how to solve the next problem.

Baku was the most important oil-producing region in the Soviet Union, accounting for more than 74% of the Soviet Union's oil production at its peak, and with the vigorous exploitation of the Volga-Ural oil fields and the reduction of Baku's own production, the proportion gradually decreased, but even in 1942, Baku still provided nearly two-thirds of the 36 million tons of oil in the Soviet Union, and once it was lost, Soviet-controlled oil production would soon fall to the level of more than 13 million tons (slightly less than the total German production in 1942). This figure is barely enough to maintain the minimum number of tanks and planes on the front line, and it is not enough to be used for winter heating.

Of course, Zhukov also took into account that with the coming of spring, the heating problem would not be very prominent, and if he seized the time to increase the exploitation of the Volga-Ural oil fields, he could increase the output to more than 20 million tons before the next winter, and then consider getting 3 million to 5 million tons of refined oil from the United States, maybe there would be a little more people and a little more time to freeze, but in 1943 he could barely cope with the past - it was on the basis of these considerations that he decisively decided to blow up Baku.

But Stalin could not listen to this, he turned his head and asked Vasilevsky: "If I ask Mezzov to retreat the main forces to Baku, do you think we can hold there?" ”

"This ......" Vasilevs basically wanted to say no, but looking at Stalin's blood-red eyes, his eyes involuntarily shrank, "If the logistics supply line of Baku can be guaranteed, there is still hope that the place can be held, but ......"

"Good! If only you had faith! Without waiting for him to say the second half of the sentence, Stalin immediately asked, "How can this supply line be secured?" Rely on the river fleet? ”

"Comrade Stalin, I haven't finished the second half of the sentence."

"Then you can go on." Stalin thought that he was going to add something specific, but as soon as the other party's next sentence came out, his face, which had just ignited hope, quickly collapsed.

"Baku is now directly exposed to German bombers, and even if we hold this place on the ground, it is impossible to resist the enemy's destruction of the oil fields from the air, and we need to defend the oil, not the land of Baku."

"Can't defend it?" Stalin said in a tone of great disappointment, "I will mobilize enough anti-aircraft guns and aircraft, and I will draw more engineering troops......

"There is no way to defend it, the oil field is so big, and it is flammable, it is far easier to destroy than to build." Vasilevsky sighed, "What is more difficult to defend than the oil field is the oil refinery, the oil wells are at least scattered one by one, and it is difficult to destroy them immediately unless they hit directly, and the refinery is such a large plant in front of the enemy, as long as there are 100 tons of bombs, they will all be blown up into the sky." ”

"But no comrades reported to me that the Germans had an air strike there."

"That's because the enemy still wants to take it and use it for his own use." Zhukov hit the nail on the head to puncture this layer of illusion, "As soon as we organize a strong and reliable defense in Baku, the enemy will immediately destroy it, they now have oil in the Middle East, and they are not particularly short of oil in Baku." ”

"They don't lack them, we don't lack them......" Stalin tried to control his emotions and asked the two men, "then what do you say should be done now?" ”

"The defenders of Baku quickly destroyed the oil field facilities, and then organized the river fleet to meet their retreat, and while the defenders of Baku retreated, the Persian army group retreated to Baku with the same strength." Zhukov's opinion was clear, Mezzov's main force must remain in northern Iran to resist Rommel and cover the retreat of the Baku defenders, and for every retreating division, a division from the Persian Army Group would be drawn to supply the Baku direction, so that Baku would always maintain a strength of about 40,000 men, barely able to maintain that small defensive circle.

"How many troops will be saved?"

"4-60,000 people, and if you're lucky, you can exceed 70,000."

"But now there are more than 170,000 troops there, including the 11th Guards Tank Brigade with the latest KV-3 tanks, and you asked me to transfer it, Comrade Konstantin, you are responsible for this." Stalin yelled angrily.

Zhukov sighed and said helplessly: "Comrade Stalin, the 170,000 troops in Transcaucasia are still a trivial matter, and Baku is also a trivial matter, and what I am worried about now is what to do with Comrade Tyulenev's Caucasian Front?" And there are more than 400,000 troops. ”

"What happened to the Caucasian Front?"

"Look." Zhukov led Stalin to the map, "Now the connection between the Transcaucasia and the Caucasus has been cut off by the German and Turkish armies, and once they completely occupy the entire Transcaucasian region, the Caucasian Front will be under siege by the Kleist cluster, the Turkish cluster, the Rommel cluster, the Caucasian Front now has only more than 400,000 troops, and the total strength of the enemy is as high as 1 million ......"

"Then, the chain reaction that followed was even more terrifying." Vasilevsky stepped forward, "Once the Caucasian Front collapses, there will be a heavy enemy group of more than 1 million on the South Caucasus side, and if they cooperate with the Manstein cluster of more than 500,000 people, then our three front armies in the North Caucasus - the Don, South-West and Stalingrad Front - will suffer a catastrophe." ”

Stalin was stunned, and after a long time muttered to himself: "This is impossible, this is impossible...... We won't fail! ”

"Comrade Stalin, it is true that we have not yet failed, but if we do not respond properly, we can easily fail."

"You go down first, and let me think about it alone......" (To be continued.) )