PS: This chapter is an addition to the 400 monthly tickets last month, and I implore book friends to continue to vote strongly, and today this book ranks 15th on the list......

In fact, the offensive on Voronezh was the focus of operations on the southern flank of the Eastern Front in the summer of 1942, that is, in June-July, when the Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad campaign was launched with the Weix cluster as the main force, and also achieved certain results and occupied Voronezh, but due to the later southward movement of the main forces, most of the troops turned to the direction of the Caucasus and Stalingrad, and the front near Voronezh also fell silent.

By October, the dormant front was active again, and before the start of the Battle of Uranus, Manstein had let the Hult cluster maneuver in search of a weak point in the Red Army line, and the Voronezh direction was a significant weak link, and the Hult found the soft spot of the Voronezh and Bryansk Fronts to carry out a fierce attack, and the passage was opened in an instant. In addition to his ability to seize opportunities, this success is also closely related to the fact that the strength of the front army itself is not too strong. The Voronezh Front was formed on July 7 from part of the left flank of the Bryansk Front, with the aim of improving the operational command of the troops defending the Voronezh area (because of the importance of Voronezh's position, which could outflank Moscow to the north, Stalingrad's flank to the south, and to threaten the Saratov transport hub by striking in depth), with only 3 army groups (i.e., the 6th, 40th, 60th armies) and 4 tank corps (4th, 17th, 18th, and 24th armies), Among them, the 6th Army was reorganized from the 6th Reserve Army, and the 60th Army was reorganized from the 3rd Reserve Army. is a substitute for the second-line team, with poor personnel, equipment, and training, and bearded soldiers in their 40s can be seen everywhere. The combat effectiveness was counted as being in the backwards platoon of the Red Army. However, the four tank armies equipped should not be underestimated, with nearly 600 tanks, which has good combat effectiveness.

"The Italians asked to take the lead?" While discussing the plan of how to attack the flank of the Voronezh Front, General Hoult suddenly received a telegram from General Giovanni Messer, commander-in-chief of the Italian 8th Army, asking for battle. The German army fought continuously all the way, charging ahead, and they were reluctant to go, hoping to share in the burden; Second, it is improved after summer rectification. Their combat ability and skills have been greatly improved, and their equipment has also been improved, hoping to train the team; Third, from the point of view of deployment. The Italian 8th Army and the Romanian 3rd Army were closer to the flank Red Army. If they turn around and attack, they will be more able to take advantage of the assault; Fourthly, last and least, Italy desperately wants to contribute its all its strength to "the abolition of the cannibalistic Bolshevik system and the liberation of the Russian people."

"What is the attitude of the Romanians?" Admiral Jorg Hans-Reinhardt asked. In the operation of "dismantling the army and replenishing the division", General Reinhardt, who was originally the commander of the 41st Panzer Army, also lost his position, but as an excellent tank commander, the Army General Staff obviously would not place him at will, and after Hoffman's approval (he is the commander-in-chief of the army), Reinhardt took over the post of deputy commander of the 4th Panzer Group (newly established after September, and the German army's high-level command system generally has few deputy positions), in fact, Hoult has a division of labor with him. Hot was responsible for coordinating and commanding the entire group of 450,000 horses, while Reinhardt, a tank warfare specialist, was specifically responsible for commanding the 4th Army. Especially the armored divisions among them.

Shortly after the telegram from the Italians, the Romanian 3rd Army also expressed its willingness to take the lead.

"It seems that the two of them have agreed in advance, they are not satisfied with eating some leftovers, they want to come and taste the feast." Hult teased.

"I think they can try it, and they can also have a good idea of their combat effectiveness, and General Messer is still a person with a lot of ideas." Reinhardt said with a smile, "The Führer gave them equipment and supplies, and also sent them officers, and we helped them adjust and integrate the troops, so they should have a new look, and this not too strong Red Army should be a touchstone, and you can see how good they are." ”

"Well, the Italians and Romanians are closer to the Red Army line, it is true that they can try it first." Hott agreed to the two countries' request for war, and at the same time ordered the 4th Panzer Army to gather its forces and prepare for a second wave of attack, so that the Italians and Romanians could strike in time in case the attack was weak.

According to Manstein's grouping, the left flank of the center group, followed by the 4th Panzer Army, was about 250,000 Axis Little Brothers, including the Italian 8th Army with more than 90,000 men, the Romanian 3rd Army with more than 110,000 men, and one division each of the Croatians and Slovenes (a total of more than 30,000 men). After the summer of reorganization and replenishment, they had been severely improved in combat effectiveness - not only were the German adviser officers sent to the battalion section, but at Hoffmann's request, all the heavy equipment of all the other units withdrawn to the country was left behind and concentrated in these two units, which was at least two notches higher for the Italians and Romanians, who themselves lacked heavy equipment.

Different from history, due to the early start of the explosion of the German military industry, while the German army's own equipment was optimized, the embarrassment of the Italians and Romanians who had been complaining about the lack of anti-tank firepower was also improved a lot, and more than 400 anti-tank guns and corresponding shells were sent to the two armies in October alone, of course, most of them were 50mm. A small number of them are captured Russian-made 76.2mm anti-tank guns (all of which were eliminated by the Germans themselves), as for those 88 guns, the logistics department is still reluctant to take them out, and Hoffman can only pretend not to see, after all, he also has to take care of the emotions below. In addition, some of the 38T tanks that the Germans themselves eliminated were also given to these allies. The main factor in the rout of the Battle of Stalingrad in history was that the Red Army broke through the weak Romanian lines, completely exposing the flank of Paulus's 6th Army - at least it would not be repeated.

The winter equipment of the Axis allies was also greatly improved this time, to the satisfaction of the Romanian soldiers, who were mostly poor peasants, and felt that there was a future for following the Germans, while the Italians, because of the fact that the officers were assigned and the ******** were the same, they were a little more affectionate, and their style of being a fool was much better. The Croatian and Slovenian divisions, which were already the only Germans, followed suit. Strictly speaking, the reasons for the low level of combat effectiveness of Romanian and Italian troops are different, Romania is mainly constrained by insufficient equipment and strength, and the soldiers have never seen the world and have always had a fear of the giant of the Red Army (otherwise Stalin would not have glared at him, and the Romanians would have obediently handed over Bessarabia), while the Italian army was more or less from a great power, and there was still some confidence (the Italians were not very afraid of the Red Army, but they were afraid of the British, which made people puzzled), The key reason for the low combat effectiveness is that they are not serious and hardworking in handling affairs, and their combat thinking is outdated. Therefore, the prescriptions prescribed to them by Hoffman are different, but they are very targeted, the Romanians mainly replenish supplies and equipment, and the Italians mainly replenish spirit and officers. After the merger of the German and Italian naval and air forces and the military-industrial complex, the Italian army group on the Eastern Front was almost completely controlled by the Germans, and now the two countries can really be called steel allies.

Now the situation is beginning to be reversed: it has always been the Germans who let the little brothers be cannon fodder, the first to bear the first blow of the Red Army, poor equipment, little supplies and the first to suffer, from top to bottom complaining, everywhere there is prevarication and perfunctory work, but under Hoffmann's education, now the Germans who are in the front of the war and the little brothers who enjoy the back have become the little brothers of the Axis, in this mobile operation they followed General Hort everywhere to pick up cheap, chase and kill the remnants of the enemy, clean up the battlefield, I was tired of doing this kind of work to defend the logistics line, and occasionally cleared out the Red Army infantry divisions that were still trapped in the encirclement, and I felt better all of a sudden, thinking that my combat effectiveness had been "reborn" after the transformation of the summer, and I actually took the initiative to ask for battle, which surprised General Hult and Admiral Reinhardt, considering that this combat enthusiasm could not be easily rejected and obliterated, they finally planned to take the opportunity of the flank attack to let these little brothers try a different feeling.

The order was given in the morning, because the troops of the 4th Panzer Army had not yet been completely gathered, and by the afternoon, Hott and Reinhardt were still discussing the choice of a follow-up route to advance and the target of the attack. Why hasn't there been a telegram yet? ”

"I guess I failed, and I'm embarrassed to ask for help." Reinhardt laughed, "Let's send a telegram to ask, although the Italians love to brag, but sometimes they are still very cute - they have been at least much better than they used to be, and in the Führer's words, it is still necessary to encourage." ”

The adjutant suddenly sent a report that he had just received the latest telegram that the Italians and Romanians had broken through the Red Army defenses in the direction of Svoboda and were expanding in depth, hoping that the Germans would quickly keep up with the expanded gains.

"What?" General Holt glanced at the map and exclaimed, "How is this possible?" The Red Army on the opposite side has 2 army groups, and no matter how the second-line troops are also equipped with hundreds of tanks, it shouldn't be something that the Italians and Romanians can easily deal with, right? Could it be that they lied about the military? ”

"I'm weird too, or maybe ask the liaison?" Another advantage of the German officers sending Axis brothers troops was that they could keep abreast of the dynamics and not be afraid that they would lie. (To be continued.) )