"Something's wrong!" Zhukov put down the phone, and the tone of the first sentence was very gloomy. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"What's going on?"

"Comrade Tyulenev sent a telegram that 50 minutes earlier the enemy launched a heavy artillery attack on him."

"It's nothing, the Germans have been firing heavily these days, so that comrades can hide a little."

"It would be nice to be able to do that." Zhukov walked to the map and sighed silently, "preliminary identification of the shelling was launched from the sea, and the target was the Sochi ......"

His speech was so fast that Rokossovsky didn't hear it clearly at once, but Vasilevsky reacted quickly and unconsciously repeated, "Sochi? ”

"What?"

Now everyone is dumbfounded, the Germans are going to land? There is no need to look at the map, these generals who have been in command for many years know that the situation is not good, Sochi is just the key point connecting the inner and outer Caucasus, and the German army can go straight to the middle of the Caucasus Mountains if they take here, not only the 100,000 troops who are currently fighting hard with the Turks and Iranians in various passes have been cut off, and the entire Caucasian Front is facing the danger of being divided and encircled. What's even worse is that after the Turkish and Iranian coalition forces, which are as high as 500,000-600,000, rush in, plus the Kleist cluster, which already has 500,000 troops, the Caucasian Front will face the heavy pressure of several times the superior forces.

"The enemy sent a fleet?"

"I couldn't see the situation clearly in the night, but from the analysis of the power of the explosion, there were a large number of guns with a caliber of more than 203mm attacking on the opposite shore, and only naval guns, especially those of the capital ships, had this kind of power...... The city defense system is on the verge of collapse, and our fortifications simply cannot withstand the attack of such large-caliber artillery. ”

"Immediately dispatch troops to strengthen the defense." Rokossovsky couldn't help but follow, but as soon as he said it, he realized that something was wrong -- in the face of overwhelming firepower superiority, strengthening the beachhead was simply a food for the naval guns.

"It is only possible to let Comrade Tyulenev strengthen the defense first, and then find a way to solve the crisis in the Caucasus." Vasilevsky replied worriedly, and then explained to Rokossovsky, "The situation in Stalingrad must be maintained, and it cannot be further retracted, and the reserve troops that have been drawn out may not be able to be given to you, and a part of it must be reserved for the Caucasian Front." ”

"Yes, I will stand up to the Germans!" Rokossovsky knew that now was not the time to put his breath, and Tyulenev was several times more dangerous than him.

At 5 o'clock in the morning, the east slowly showed the whiteness of the fish's belly, and the German troops began to land after a night of shelling, and this time it was the main forces of the Italian Navy and the German Navy Mediterranean Fleet that provided cover for the troops.

Since the German Navy currently has no available battleships in the Mediterranean (either rebuilt in the shipyard or taken to the North Sea Fleet by Krak, and the only new battleship Reich is still grasping the final outfitting), the main Italian battleships accounted for the majority of the troops this time, in addition to a few cutting-edge Veneto class, the old Giulio Caesar battleship was also pulled out, and the overall level was far worse than the firepower intensity of the Combined Fleet's shelling of Kuah Island, but it was enough to crush the defense system of Sochi.

Admiral Iakino, commander-in-chief of the Italian Navy, assumed command of the fleet, and Flick, chief of the German Naval Staff, temporarily replaced Krank's co-command, but because the Red Navy and the Black Sea Fleet had been basically wiped out, and Germany had regional air supremacy, the fleet was completely unscrupulous.

Since the completion of the Kungunir plan, Rommel has become the number one expert in the German amphibious landing warfare, and this time he quietly escaped from the southern front of the Caucasus and led elite troops including the Great German Division, the Viking Division, and the German-Italian Airborne Forces to the beachhead, and the first batch of landing troops went up on a very large scale, and directly used two armored battalions equipped with No. 4 diving tanks and two armored grenadier battalions.

Rommel nodded with satisfaction as he watched the fury from the 381mm guns on the flagship Veneto extend in depth, the naval guns were much more powerful than the army's firepower, but Flick quietly told him that the Reich being outfitted was not a 381mm gun of the same class as Veneto, but a 380mm naval gun of the same class as the Tirpitz, but it was replaced by a twin outfit to a triple outfit. Rommel didn't understand the essential difference between 381mm and 380mm at first, but after a detailed explanation, he understood.

Although the 381mm main gun of the Italian Veneto class is longer and more powerful than the 380mm of the German general, and Mussolini also said that another batch could be built for the Reich, Raeder decided to install a triple 380mm for the Reich: first, for the sake of generality, in the future, Tirpitz, Reich, and Scharnhorst class will all use the same shells, which can effectively reduce the logistical pressure; Second, although the Italian drug cannon is huge, the side effects are not small, including poor dispersion accuracy, serious body tube ablation and other problems, the German main gun barrel can usually be replaced after 250 shells, and the Italian naval gun must be considered to be replaced after 100 rounds, and the gains outweigh the losses in the long run. Of course, it doesn't matter if it is used for attacks on the other side and the defect of fire suppression, but it can bring the power of the drug cannon to the extreme.

It was precisely because of the power of the battleship guns that after Turkey joined the Axis, it was very covetous of the old battleships such as the Ocean, which Romania had acquired from Germany, and the need to maintain the balance of power in the Black Sea, and also put forward the hope that Germany could support a capital ship. Raeder could not come up with a surplus warship, and in the end Hoffmann intervened to have Speer execute a triangular deal: Italy handed over the old battleship Giulio Caesar and some torpedo boats to Turkey; Germany gave Turkey 10 offshore submarines, and at the same time gave Italy another 500,000 tons of coal every month; Turkey gives Italy 3 million tons of coal and 100,000 tons of bauxite every year, and Germany 1.5 million tons of grain for a total of three years. After an exchange, the three families took what they needed and were all happy.

The Sochi defense line failed to withstand the joint attack of the German-Italian army, navy and air forces, and at about 8 o'clock in the morning, the first troops of the Middle East Army Group successfully landed. By noon, Rommel had sent more than 10,000 men to firmly control the beachhead, and although Tyulenev ordered the Red Army defending there to launch round after round of counterattacks, this struggle was doomed to be futile, and there would be no effect except the loss of troops.

In the evening, there was a relaxed atmosphere in the headquarters of Army Group South in Rostov-on-Don, and Lieutenant General Weller walked up to Hoffman and saluted: "Report to the Führer, Field Marshal Rommel has led his troops to occupy Sochi, and at present the follow-up troops are constantly coming ashore to fight, and the losses in the entire landing process are very small, we have only lost 7 tanks, 10 armored vehicles, more than 400 casualties, and more than 10,000 enemy troops killed, wounded, and captured." ”

"Very good, send a telegram to Marshal Bock, asking for those Caucasus mountain passes to be taken as soon as possible......" Hoffman nodded with satisfaction and turned his gaze to Manstein, "Dear Erich, the conquest of Gibraltar is imminent, I am going to Spain today, and the follow-up of the 'Spring Awakening' campaign is all up to you, but I would like to know how you plan to fight next?" ”

"The key target of the attack remains the same, and it is still the enemy Caucasian Front." "Intelligence shows that the initial strength of the front was between 550,000 and 600,000, and in the Transcaucasian direction, after the destruction of the enemy's Persian army group and the surrender of the defenders of Baku, the strength of the army dropped to about 400,000, and the current strength of our army to block our army at the Caucasus Pass is about 8-100,000, and the strength of the confrontation with the Kleist cluster north of the Caucasus Mountains is about 25-300,000." After the occupation of Sochi, it was considered that Rommel would lead his troops to outflank the Turks in front and rear, completely occupy the passes of the Caucasus mountains within a week, and then encircle and annihilate the main forces of this front in three ways. ”

The goals of Manstein's "Spring Awakening" plan were completely directed at the Caucasian Front of Tyulenev: one was sent by the Kleist cluster to attack from west to east, with no less than 300,000 attacking troops; The second route was dominated by Marshal Rommel's Middle East Army, plus part of the Turkish army attacking from south to north, with a total strength of about 200,000; The third route, Marshal Bock, led the main forces of the Turkish and Iranian armies of 400,000 men from Baku and the eastern section of the Caucasus Mountains to the north, and then attacked from east to west, with the primary target reaching Grozny.

Hoffman silently calculated that the strength of the encirclement and annihilation of the Caucasian Front would reach 900,000, while the Red Army would only have more than 300,000, and that the technical weapons such as planes and tanks would also have an advantage on the side, so it should be said that it could be completed with great certainty.

"As for Yeremenko's Stalingrad Front and possible enemy reinforcements, it is planned to contain them with the main forces of the center cluster and the remaining forces of the Kleist cluster." Manstein paused, "If the relevant campaign in the Caucasus theater can be completed by the end of April and the losses are tolerable, it is planned to consider further weakening the forces of the Stalingrad Front and attacking the lower Volga." ”

"This is the idea of the third phase of the 'Spring Awakening' campaign?"

"Yes." Manstein nodded, "After controlling the lower reaches of the Don River basin and the Volga basin, the enemy Volga industrial area will lose half of its economic potential, and Stalingrad will form a huge salient. ”

"If it's too late during the 'spring awakening' period, it can be considered according to the summer campaign scenario." Hoffman then added, "I will send another representative of the Chechen nation, and after the second phase of the campaign, consider the establishment of a separate state by the nation and some other Caucasian peoples." ”

Keitel interjected: "I'm afraid this will cause discontent on the Turkish side." ”

Hoffman smiled slightly: "I know, but the Turks' hands can't stretch too long." ”

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then they all smiled meaningfully. (To be continued.) )