On 5 November, at the height of the South Pacific campaign, the Red Army's Black Sea Fleet, after being hit by the German naval fleet under the command of Richthofen, retreated in disgrace and prepared to withdraw to the ports along the Caucasus coast that had been providing cover. It's just that before he could scold him, let's remind him that today's bombing was mainly done by HNA, and HNA also belongs to the navy. In order to manipulate the warships obtained from the French, Marshal Raeder transferred the reserve troops of the base and the sailors on the other ships, and the warships in the North Sea direction only retained the most basic and critical positions to maintain operations, and the remaining positions were all filled by cadets and recruits. However, it was not without gain, through sailing and combat duty all the way, at least now he was able to get a clear picture of these French warships, and those recruits who had never been on the ship before had finally undergone the baptism of actual combat and grew up rapidly, at least the orders he gave could be dealt with accurately, timely, and effectively, which made him feel extremely gratified - only then did he understand the Führer's good intentions in not asking the navy to lay off redundant personnel for other purposes, Otherwise, even with such a large fleet now, it may not be possible to find enough sailors.

"Sir, we have the latest order. Field Marshal Manstein, commander of Army Group South, wanted us to reinforce the army units, and he made two demands, the first of which was to firmly grasp the absolute sea supremacy of the Sea of Azov. Because this is the only way for Rostov to maintain a supply channel by sea in extreme cases; The second was the shelling of Caucasian ports, making signs of preparation for a large-scale landing, and assisting the Kleist cluster on the southern flank to hold back the Soviet Caucasian Front. ”

"Roger, please reply to the marshal, these tasks can be completed by this fleet."

In the strange atmosphere of the Germans, who did not move or even fight back, and at the same time from the urging orders conveyed from Stalin, Vasilevsky, Rokossovsky and other high-level leaders, the commander of the 21st Army, Chistyakov, finally decided to speed up the pace of the march. By the evening of 4 November, nearly 100,000 men and horses from 14 divisions and two tank brigades had crossed the river with all the main forces of the group army, including infantry units, armored units, artillery units belonging to the group army, and the headquarters of the group army.

In contrast to the rapid crossing of the river by the 21st Army and the establishment of a solid starting position, in the Karachi direction in the lower reaches of the Don. The third attempt of the 62nd Army under the command of Chuikov to erect a pontoon bridge to cross the river failed, and whenever he prepared to erect a pontoon bridge, he was always attacked by a large number of Stuka and heavy artillery, outside the pontoon bridge erection site. Chuikov experimented with traditional crossings on the west bank of the Don River. It was found that all of them were firmly guarded by the Germans, and although the Red Army had the advantage of firepower, the 400-meter-wide Don River blocked the way like a moat; Further south of Karachi is the Chilie River, a tributary of the Don River, and the Chilie Bridge on it is a relatively large road and railway bridge leading from the Don River to Stalingrad, which was assigned to Tolbukhin's 57th Army when the theater of operations was divided. Manstein not only arranged a strong interdiction force, but also planted a large amount of explosives on the piers on the West Bank side. Once it is found that it cannot be defended, the bridge will be blown up in time. Faced with such a focused German defensive system, both Chuikov and Tolbukhin found it difficult to start. Since they were already in the lower reaches of the Don River, and by the beginning of December they could not freeze, and they had to build pontoon bridges or control the Chilie Bridge to cross the river, so the commanders of the two army groups were anxious but helpless.

Manstein's attitude seemed clear: it was possible to cross the river, but only at the bend of the Don, and the rest of the Red Army units would either go north or wait for me on the other side. This strange behavior soon attracted the attention of the General Staff of the Red Army, Zhukov, Vasilevsky and others were puzzled, they were not only afraid of what would happen to the 21st Army that had crossed the river, but also afraid that the Don Front would fall into Manstein's trap, so from November 5 onwards, the commander of the Don Front, Rokossovsky, ordered the follow-up troops to postpone the crossing of the river, and Chistyakov received two orders that put him in a dilemma, the first required him to prudently consolidate the meanders of the Don River to prevent the enemy from launching a surprise attack; The second order was for him to use all possible means to find out the true situation of the enemy in front of him and judge Manstein's next plan.

He snorted angrily and said, "These are two orders that are difficult to take care of, who should I listen to?" ”

Political Commissar Buchin frowned: "Obviously, this task is not easy to complete, but Comrade Stalin is watching us, and if we don't come to complete it, who will complete it?" ”

"What do you mean?"

"Is it possible to consider sending a tough vanguard to launch a tentative attack in depth, if the Germans have an ambush, they can warn the main force of the army group in time, if not, we will advance smoothly."

"But if there is really an ambush, won't that little force be sent to the door?"

"It's a sacrifice we have to make, otherwise what do you want to do?" Buchin sighed, "The Germans must have hidden great strength, and the strength of their counterattack should be very strong, if each army group does not dare to move first because of the fear of losses, the battle will never be fought, and we can only watch the Germans entrenched in Rostov-on-Don." In that case, let alone the recovery of Rostov by the end of this year, even if you will not be able to touch the edge of Rostov until the end of next year. ”

"We are not afraid of sacrifice, but we can't just let us sacrifice." Chistyakov hatefully kicked a stone away, "At least one more army group, let the 24th Army quickly cross the river and push it over with us...... Even if we act as the vanguard, it is okay for the 24th Army to hold the rear road for us. Otherwise, after the war, the troops who were rewarded for their deeds and deeds were all brave and fearless, and the brave men who turned the tide were the brave ones who made great sacrifices and first withstood the enemy's first round of blows, but we became cowards who compromised and wavered, and were vulnerable, I am not afraid of being wronged, but I can't let 100,000 commanders and fighters die with us. ”

"This is certainly a more proactive and prudent approach." Buchin thought for a moment, "I advise you to be prepared with both hands, but in any case to rush forward, and if necessary, send a telegram directly to Comrade Stalin, he sees the credit for your first breakthrough of the Don line, and he will not tolerate some high-ranking officers disobeying his orders." ”

Seeing that Buchin pointed to it, Chistyakov nodded knowingly, and now the Red Army has a not very good tendency: because Stalin and the General Staff always punish the commanders of the armies or fronts who have lost the battle and suffered the impact of the enemy, because in the course of a large battle, some senior generals always want other troops to take the lead, and the advantages of doing so are too obvious - the second wave of troops pounced, and the success showed that the commanders were more clever and the troops were better at fighting; Defeat means that the enemy is indeed strong, and the first wave of troops also failed? Therefore, on the one hand, he ordered the 27th Army, which had broken through to the forefront, to prepare for a deep assault, and on the other hand, he racked his brains to draft a telegram -- he must let Comrade Stalin see the difficulties of the 21st Army in going deep alone and lacking support.

"Sir, your current strategy has frightened the Russians a bit, you see, they have piled up at least 4 army groups and more than 40 divisions on the other side of the river, and 3-4 army groups and 40-50 divisions in the lower reaches of the river, and such a huge force is that they dare not use the risk-free pontoon bridge in the meandering part of the river to come, and they are desperately trying to build a pontoon bridge and seize the bridge downstream...... "Sitting in a luxurious train compartment - this was brought by Manstein from Bulgrade, It is said that the special train, which originally belonged to the king and queen of Yugoslavia, has now become the headquarters of Army Group South, and the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Weller, smiled at Manstein, "If it goes on like this, the Don River will really freeze......

"It's not pleasant for so many troops to rush in, so there must be some sparse and some blockage, I have no intention of ambushing them, all this is their imaginary persecution - they are afraid of us." Manstein laughed.

"Aren't you afraid? If I were to cross the river at will, and not let a single step downstream, if I were the General Staff of the Red Army, I would have thought that there must be a trap here, but ......," Weller asked suspiciously, "Won't this time drag on?" The enemy is accumulating more and more, and sooner or later it will become a big problem. ”

"You say, should I fight the Russians faster or slower with the Russians?" Manstein said to his old partner with a smile on his face, "There was no doubt that there was only one answer to this question before September, and the sooner the better, while Stalin was stunned by us, he should have pounced on him and continued to bleed him, so that he could not gather reserves, but now time is on our side." General Schmunt, the Quartermaster General, told me that now the production of the 4th G tank is rising every month, more than 800 in September, more than 1000 in October, and 1200-1300 this month, and after Minister Speer mobilizes the forces of Western European countries, the output will continue to go up, and it is expected to reach a peak of 1500 by New Year's Day next year, and the heavily armored destroyer battalions equipped with Tiger tanks have been formed one after another, and now there are 2 (sent to North Africa), and this month is expected to be 3 again, It is estimated that there will be 4 or 5 troops every month, and it is impossible for all these troops to be sent to Guderian, and will they all be sent to us by then? What am I anxious about? (To be continued.) )