When it came to the Airborne Forces, the entire German army became nervous, because in the eyes of the German army, the Airborne Forces were all elite units with extremely strong combat effectiveness, at least the German Airborne Forces were like this.

Moreover, both Manstein and Qin Chuan knew one thing: if the Soviet Union carried out an airborne operation against Baku, it was entirely possible to recapture Baku or even completely annihilate the two German divisions in Baku.

The reason is that the German army is too weak compared to the Soviet army, and there is a defensive line to defend here, and there is a defensive line to defend the other, and once the airborne troops are airborne to the rear, it may lead to the collapse of the entire German army.

On the other hand, the Airborne Forces have a strong initiative, that is, no one knows where these Airborne Forces will land or attack before they are airborne.

In this regard, Manstein immediately took action and did several things.

The first is to evict the people of Baku from their houses and gather them in the refinery.

This is not to say that the people are used as shields for the oil refinery, but once the airborne division lands directly in Baku and gets the help of the people, the German army is afraid that it will be difficult to win this war.

Then Manstein drew a regiment from the 1st Mountain Division to garrison the city of Baku. Only by occupying the commanding heights and important places in the city can the Soviet airborne troops have no gaps.

Eventually, Manstein withdrew the First Infantry Corps from the defensive line as a mobile force.

It is known that it is important to deal with the mobile forces of the Airborne Forces.

The reason is that it is not known in advance where the enemy will be airborne, and a fast mobile force can rush to the enemy's airborne place in the shortest possible time and annihilate it before they are ready.

Of course, this mobile unit is none other than the 1st Infantry Division.

So the 1st Infantry Division immediately got busy.

Mobile troops are not as easy as they think, they just need to equip a few more cars or side three-wheelers or something.

There are also many questions, such as ammunition supply, such as estimating where the enemy will land, what kind of battle plan is for the possible landing sites, and so on.

The most prominent of these problems is the problem of supply...... The 1st Infantry Regiment MP43 is running out of ammunition.

But this problem was not difficult to solve, and Manstein sent a telegram to the commander of the army group, von Stein. Bork.

Feng. Bock, of course, also knew the importance of defending the Baku oil fields, and without saying a word, he transferred ten Junkers 52 transport planes to Baku overnight to deliver ammunition.

As mentioned earlier, the Junkers 52's stout landing gear gives it the ability to take off and land rough in the field, and at this time, there is no need to worry about being intercepted by Soviet fighters at night...... Supplies were quickly sent to the 1st Infantry Regiment.

Then Colonel Slane sent people to organize the Soviet people to repair the road from Baku in several directions, which was the basis for the rapid mobility of the mobile troops.

Then there is the battalion as a unit, divided into three groups, and familiar with the three directions and so on.

In short, from top to bottom, everyone dare not be sloppy, for fear that they will accidentally lose the fat in their mouths...... In fact, this is still secondary, if Baku cannot be held, the German troops fighting deep behind enemy lines will not even have a place to escape.

In other words, it was a matter of life and death for the German army.

But in fact, these worries of the German army were completely superfluous.

While the Germans were in full swing making various preparations, the 4th Guards Airborne Army, which received the order, was actually a chaotic existence.

This is due to two factors.

On the one hand, there is a lack of competent and qualified officers in the Airborne Forces.

This should be said not only of the Airborne Forces, but also of the entire Soviet Army, because for a long time it was politically correct and not competent officers who could rise to the top in the Soviet Army.

Therefore, Lieutenant General Petrokov, commander of the 4th Guards Airborne Army, did not formulate a complete and unified battle plan at all when he received the emergency airborne operation in Baku, he only briefly convened a meeting of the generals, stipulating that he must rush to Baku before dawn and carry out the airborne landing, and then let his subordinates go down to prepare.

It makes sense to rush to Baku before dawn and carry out the airborne landing, because once dawn comes, then the German BF and F fighters will be like no one in a no-man's land to carry out a massacre of Soviet transport aircraft...... As mentioned before, Soviet fighters lagged behind the Germans in the Caucasus, and they could only rely on the complex terrain of the Caucasus to maneuver with German fighters.

On the other hand, there is the problem of transport aircraft.

At this time, the Soviets used the Li-2 transport aircraft. (Note: This transport plane was exported to China in 1949, which is the design of the transport plane on the two cents)

This transport aircraft is not actually a military transport aircraft, and its production and positioning are civilian transport aircraft (imitation of the DC3 transport aircraft imported from the United States).

However, due to the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, the Soviet Union did not have a suitable transport aircraft, so it urgently requisitioned such civilian transport aircraft in large quantities for transport and parachute aircraft.

In this regard, the USSR did have something that should not have been.

Because the Soviet Union was the first country in the world to have paratroopers and parachute tactics......

In 1933, the Soviet Union held an air show in Moscow, and 10,000 spectators watched in silence as 46 paratroopers jumped out of two large bombers – a world record at the time. The Soviets also used a large parachute to throw a small battle tank, which failed to start after landing and had to be towed off the exercise ground, but it impressed the foreign observers who watched from the scene. Inspired by this, European and American countries have established their own airborne troops.

But now, the Soviet Airborne Forces are far behind other countries, and even parachute transport aircraft use civilian transport aircraft.

The biggest disadvantage of the mile 2 transport aircraft is its slow speed...... The cruising speed is only 240 kilometers per hour.

Stalin's plan was feasible.

The 4th Guards Airborne Army had three brigades with a total of 10,000 men, and Stalin intended to gather 250 2 transports...... Each 2 transport aircraft can carry 20 paratroopers, so that 250 transport planes can drop all these 10,000 people to Baku in two parts.

Then the Airborne Forces and the Transcaucasian Front should merge inside and outside, and the recapture of Baku will not be a big problem.

But war is never a matter of imagination.

The reality is that Stalin did not take into account the fact that the mile-2 had a speed of only 240 km, and the required mile-2 was not all in Stalingrad...... There were only 50 in Stalingrad, and the other 250 had to be transferred from other airfields.

Then, according to calculations, only 30 could reach Stalingrad within the allotted time.

But the Soviets could not wait, because if it was too late, it might not be possible to carry out the airdrop before dawn, so Petrokov could only order 80 sorties to be airdropped in batches.