What Major Gavrilov didn't know was that although Shulka had not fought such guerrilla warfare, he did have relevant experience, and it could even be said that he had a lot of experience.

Soon, a detachment was formed.

For reasons of secrecy, it remained unknown for quite some time.

But there is often a dramatic scene on the railway:

"Such a coincidence? Train hijacking? ”

"yes, you hijacked the train too? Let's do it together! ”

"What about the other comrades?"

……

As a result, the train was not hijacked, but those who hijacked the train were tied up and loaded into the train one by one.

This information quickly reached the headquarters of Army Group South.

Now it can be said that Manstein, who is also the chief of staff...... In fact, this position should be more serious for Manstein, because before he became the commander of the 56th Panzer Army, he served as chief of staff of Army Group South and Army Group A.

"Interesting!" Manstein took the telegram and said: "I believe he can find a way to deal with it, but I didn't expect him to react so quickly!" ”

"They work!" "The wartime martial law shortened the time for the guerrillas to sneak attack, and they were able to deduce from the location of the destroyed railroad which villages and towns had problems and focus on the investigations!" ”

This is easy to understand.

If the guerrillas sneak out at night to carry out their missions, they must return before dawn the next day...... Every morning at 7 a.m., when the martial law is lifted, the group is responsible for the roll call.

In case of absence, a valid reason needs to be given.

This will first leave villages and towns far away from the tracks and unable to return in time, unless they are not worried about being exposed.

Secondly, once the railway is attacked by a sneak attack, it is only necessary to draw a circle with the sneak attack point as the center and a radius of more than ten kilometers.

"Even more odious are the guerrillas in disguise!" Reichenau angrily slammed the document in his hand on the table: "We can't tell the truth from the fake, so we even conveyed the sneak attack target to them!" ”

"Why don't we let each of them take charge of their place?" "Then we can know what is true and what is not!" Manstein said. ”

"It's not going to work!" Reichenau replied: "Because the Russians will cooperate with the fake partisans, they will always get the job done...... At least that's what they got out! ”

To be honest, this incident also gave Manstein a headache, because he came out of a regular military academy and studied traditional warfare and fought traditional warfare. Guerrilla warfare, which seemed to be incomprehensible and fragmented, was not his forte, nor was it for other German officers.

If there was a solution, it was to use the Italian Expeditionary Force to launch an offensive against Soviet supply lines.

After all, the Italian Expeditionary Force is a mechanized force, and according to the "theory of offensive superiority" mentioned earlier, it is advantageous to use mechanized troops to attack the enemy's long defensive line, because they can appear here and there from time to time, carefully looking for holes in the enemy's defense.

Here's the problem...... They were the Italian army, not the German army.

And it was too risky, because the Italian expeditionary force was arguably the only fighting force of Army Group South to protect the rear, and if they were routed again, the Soviets could counterattack the old border and cut off the supply lines from Romania to the Soviet Union, which the Germans would never allow, because the railways there were constantly transporting ammunition, gasoline and other necessities to the front line.

Manstein thought for a moment and said, "Even so, their supplies are not enough to launch an attack in a short time!" ”

"Yes!" Reichenau agreed.

He learned from the intelligence that the Russians' Southwestern Front had consumed a lot of supplies in the previous battles, and that it had been exacerbated by the German occupation of the east bank of the Dnieper, and that supplies from Odessa had only kept his million-strong army still in line with the existing defensive line.

"So we don't need to worry too much about what is wrong here!" Manstein turned his gaze to Moscow and said: "The focus has always been on Moscow!" ”

But Manstein, who had always focused on regular warfare, apparently downplayed the effects of such guerrilla warfare, or the role that the "escaped hero" could play.

However, Manstein was right, because the Soviets were also worried about Moscow's defenses, and they did not pay attention to guerrilla warfare.

Because by this time Hitler had already focused all his attention on Moscow, and transferred not only from Army Group South, but even from Army Group North...... According to statistics, up to now, Army Group Central has assembled more than 1.8 million people in 74 divisions, including 14 armored divisions, 8 motorized divisions, 1,700 tanks, more than 14,000 artillery pieces, mortars, and 1,390 aircraft.

Hitler triumphantly said to his staff: "Now, the only hope for Russia is Britain, unless Britain attacks us now, in order to force us to withdraw our tanks and planes from the Eastern Front, but Churchill has rejected Stalin's demands." So, the fate of Moscow is already sealed! ”

The atmosphere in Odessa also became tense.

The first is that the equipment and supplies brought in from the Crimea are decreasing, as they prioritize reinforcements to Moscow.

It is said that even Leningrad, which was attacked by the German Army Group North, was ordered to send reinforcements to Moscow when the supply of troops was insufficient.

Secondly, the Southwestern Front was ordered to immediately launch an offensive against the enemy.

This may be strategically correct, Kyiv is stuck south of Moscow and cannot reinforce Moscow, or rather, it will have to pay a considerable price...... From Kiev to Odessa, from Odessa to Crimea and then into Moscow.

This is obviously unrealistic, as it is a waste of resources that are urgently needed in wartime.

Therefore, simply let them attack on the spot, although Moscow did not want the Southwestern Front to break through the German defense line and threaten the German supply line, but at least it could play a role in containment.

The problem is that Kyiv's supplies are just beginning to improve, and they don't even have tanks for the offensive...... Most of the working tanks were incorporated into the mechanized 9th Army for the attack on Odessa, and those left in Kyiv were heavy tanks captured by the Germans or broken down after not driving far.

To make matters worse, the Germans defended on the east bank of the Dnieper, where there were even pillbox fortifications, artillery and ammunition left for the Germans when the Southern Front was defeated.

The use of infantry to launch a strong assault on such a line of defense can be imagined.