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On the evening of November 12, the night of the first day of the Battle of the Meander finally fell, and Manstein's plan was largely realized: the troops crushed 5 Red Army divisions and weakened the remaining 7 in a rapid sortie, the main forces of each army reached their assigned positions, artillery preparations were in full swing, 7 gunboats firmly controlled the key waters of the Don Meander, and although the Red Army 24th Army had been trying to cross the river again, its repeated efforts to restore the pontoon bridge were destroyed by the gunboats and the Stukas together, The east bank of the Don River was littered with the corpses of Red Army engineers and artillery units, and more corpses and tank wreckage fell into the bitter cold of the Don River and were lost. On the first day of fighting, the Germans killed and wounded nearly 50,000 enemies, destroyed 89 tanks, shot down 49 aircraft, and lost less than 4,000 of their own troops. Of the 50,000 men, more than 40,000 were surrounded by the Red Army at the Hequ Division, and 10,000 were paid by the 24th Army for trying to cross the river.

In the blocking operation in the upper and lower reaches of the Don River, the exchange of fire between the two sides was very fierce, although the upstream Southwest Front successfully crossed the river, but they were stubbornly resisted, even if Vatutin used the tank 5th Army to open the way, it had little effect, the overall combat losses exceeded 10,000 people, more than 60 tanks were destroyed by German anti-tank fire, and the German losses exceeded 2,000 people; The Stalingrad Front downstream sent three armies, 57, 62, and 64, to storm onslaught, but eight German divisions firmly held the line along the river, and the Red Army's repeated efforts to build bridges failed. Due to the bloodier fighting here, the Red Army paid nearly 20,000 casualties, and the German casualties exceeded 4,000. Judging by the results of the day. The Germans traded more than 10,000 casualties for nearly 80,000 casualties of the Red Army, and the tank exchange ratio was 23:148.

However, the regrets of the first day of the battle were also obvious: the goal of reducing the enemy's will to resist and cutting off the enemy's foreign aid had not been fully achieved, and the 21st Army in the meanders had been resisting stubbornly, especially the 27th Army, which had not been subjected to the key surprise attack of the German troops, had gathered nearly 7 divisions of strong strength around it, even more than the troops that the commander of the group army, Chistyakov, could directly control at this moment, and it became a major hidden danger in front of the German defense line; The attacking troops, although in the daytime battles, destroyed numerous enemy troops. As the number of Red Army troops in the encirclement exceeded the original estimates, the remaining strength was estimated to be at least 150,000, a figure that even exceeded what had been planned when the initial battle plan was drawn up. The general belief of the troops was that it was impossible to complete the scheduled task within three days, and demanded that the command extend the offensive time, and that a forced attack would only bring many unnecessary casualties to the troops.

The discussion of whether to extend the duration of the attack caused a heated debate in Army Group South Command, and a large number of operational staff officers, represented by Lieutenant General Weller, did not approve of the continued extension of the attack. It is also not in favor of forcing troops to attack at the expense of increasing casualty rates. They believed that since the intended goal was to eat 12-140,000 Red Army troops, it would be enough to achieve this goal in three days, and that the focus after achieving this goal was to withdraw the attacking troops as soon as possible, without considering how much Red Army would have left in three days.

A part of the operational staff staff, headed by Heinrich, believed that since there had been a major change in the enemy's situation, it was necessary to make a major adjustment to the strategy, and that they could consider extending the period by one day and informing the front-line troops of the change in plan in advance, so that they could make proper arrangements. In terms of the final result, they agreed with Lieutenant General Weller, believing that the total number of enemy troops was as high as 190,000. It is impossible to completely annihilate them in a short period of time, and there must be a trade-off. Ignoring the few densely fortified points where the enemy forces had gathered, and only weakening and destroying the wavering and weakened enemy, the 27 th Army, which had not yet been subjected to a large-scale attack, must not be easily let go, and should dispatch powerful troops to launch an attack.

After two hours of discussion, Marshal Manstein finally made a decision: "Send four divisions to attack the 27th Army, and extend the overall campaign by one day. ”

"Four?" Weller was stunned, "Now we only have a total of 3 divisions in reserve, how can we still draw a 4th?" ”

"You're undercounting the troops." Manstein laughed, "Leave the 168th Infantry Division and drive the remaining four divisions up - 2 German infantry divisions, 1 Cossack cavalry division, 1 Kalmyk cavalry division......

"Oh......" Weller suddenly realized, "but then the entire army group command will have only one division left in its hands, and there will be only a little guard unit in addition to the artillery and technical units, and the defensive forces in the Rostov direction are too thin." ”

"We still have a division."

"And?"

"The 1st Division of the Russian Liberation Army." "All forces must be used, let them serve as guards in Rostov-on-Don, and the 168th Division will take on the task of mobile defense." ”

Everyone was taken aback, "Sir, what if...... In case ......" Weller didn't say the second half of the sentence, but everyone understood what he meant: in case the Russian Liberation Army is unreliable and backwater, it will be able to wrap dumplings from Army Group South Command tonight.

"Why don't you let them go to the front line to attack?" Heinrich advised, "At least it's safer that way." ”

"Their tactical structure and command level are not enough for this kind of interspersed operation." Manstein shook his head with a wry smile, "They are all prisoners from the original Red Army units, and all links are still in the process of running-in, and it is easy to cause a disconnect between the upper and lower commands if they are released to attack rashly." ”

"But...... If we are not politically reliable, it will kill us. Weller again suggested, "Whether or not to switch roles between them and the Kalmyk cavalry division, I think the Kalmyks are more reliable." ”

"The cavalry division will not defend the city. We must believe in them and in their firm opposition to the Bolsheviks, which is not only about the success or failure of this battle, but also of the war as a whole. "Tell their commanders that I will stand behind them and be ready to defend Rostov with them, hoping that they will fight their bloody battles to bring glory to the rebirth of Russia." ”

Everyone's faces were gloomy, and looking at the low level of interest in the staff, Manstein took the lead in joking: "Don't be afraid, even if you fight in the streets, we have new equipment - the Assault Tiger is watching us!" Anyway, I wanted to sign up to command a storm commando during the last big war, but in the end I was not accepted, and this time I finally have a chance. Later, we will consider the formation of a commando unit of the highest rank in Germany, the commando of Army Group South, with the marshal as the captain. ”

"Ha......" Everyone burst into laughter, and the dull atmosphere was swept away.

For Zhukov, the news of Major Vasily's wounded wounded was only a small episode, and as long as there was no need for his life, Comrade Stalin would not necessarily take it to heart, and the comrades below were completely unfounded. However, the situation at the front was very unsatisfactory, and he could imagine that it was almost inevitable that Stalin would be angry: the 21st Army had not gotten rid of the situation of being passively beaten, the entire army had fallen into disarray, Chistyakov himself could not figure out the exact situation of his troops, and the only 27th Army with a relatively complete structure had returned in vain in front of the German positions; The 24th Army failed to cross the river in many attempts to reinforce it, and the 62nd, 64th, and 57th armies sent by the Stalingrad Front could not cross the river despite heavy sacrifices.

The only good news is provided by the meteorological department: after 4 days, a cold snap will move south, and the temperature will drop by 8-10 degrees in a short period of time, and the probability of ice in the upper reaches of the Don is 100 percent, and the probability of freezing in the meanders of the river is also 70 percent. Based on this inference, Zhukov believed that the current unfavorable situation would be reversed as long as the reinforcements could quickly cross the river by then.

Staring at the map and thinking about it carefully, Zhukov changed his requirements for the 21st Army, judging from today's battle situation, the Red Army in confusion is not the enemy's opponent, and the German army that has squeezed out and infiltrated has long become a luxury, he can only retreat and ask the army to further hold on to the existing positions, and he strictly ordered Chistyakov to firmly hold on to the Germans and create opportunities for other friendly and neighboring troops to annihilate the enemy - it is almost impossible to save the 21st Army now, so all the orders they received are to hold on to death! Hold on! Hold on again!

Stalin was very dissatisfied with the progress of the situation on the first day and rebuked: "Who let Comrade Vasilevsky stay in the 8th Army of the Air Force all day? Don't just focus on my son, he has other more important and urgent things to do. ”

Zhukov whispered a sentence of defense for the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army: "He coordinated the Air Force to deal with the enemy's warships on the Don River -- this is the biggest threat to the 24th Army crossing the river at present, and tomorrow there will be heavy snowfall, and the Air Force is no longer suitable for dispatch, and today is the most suitable opportunity, but unfortunately it was not possible, and as for the concern for Comrade Vasily, it is completely incidental." ”

Stalin nodded, not wanting to continue the discussion on this issue: "Send a telegram to Comrade Khrushchev and ask him to urge that Yeremenko fool to see what he is doing?" Why is there no progress at all, they should learn from Comrade Vatutin, take out all his strength, and cross the river as soon as possible! Why didn't he use the 2nd Guards Army, what did he want to keep this force for? If he doesn't know how to command, I'll just assign the troops to Comrade Rokossovsky. ”

As soon as he said this, the atmosphere in the General Staff immediately became tense again. (To be continued.) )