Manstein walked around in the bunker that served as the headquarters, and the officers standing in front of him did not dare to make a sound.

"It's right in front of us, right in front of us!" Pointing in the direction of the Baku oil fields, Manstein said: "We can even clearly see the drilling and the black oil in the telescope, but now we are blocked and we can't move forward even a step!" ”

"Your Excellency, Marshal!" Wagner, commander of the 28th Chasseur Division, advised: "Their trenches of fire are in front of us, why don't we cross from the sea as before?" ”

"You mean, using amphibious landing ships?" Manstein asked.

"Yes!" Wagner pointed to the map and said: "Behind Baku is the Caspian Sea, as long as we follow the wall of fire all the way to the end of the southeast, it should be ......"

As he spoke, Wagner pointed to a point and said: "Then Syrvan, as long as we capture here, we can use amphibious landing ships and amphibious landing tanks to get around!" ”

Manstein did not answer, but set his eyes on Qin Chuan.

Qin Chuan knew what Manstein meant, so he replied, "I'm sorry, General. I can't agree with you! ”

"Why?" Major General Wagner asked.

"First of all!" Qin Chuan said: "Judging from this wall of fire, we know that the Soviets are prepared for this defense!" And they know that we have amphibious landing ships and amphibious landing tanks...... Well, the Soviets will definitely have something to guard against in the Caspian Sea! ”

The German officers nodded their heads in agreement, and the strategic intent was too obvious.

"But what if they knew?" Rear Admiral Wagner asked: "Send warships to intercept?" Or a submarine? ”

After a pause, Rear Admiral Wagner continued: "That's the Caspian Sea, Major, the Soviets only have five warships and a World War I submarine, and the rest are gunboats and fishing boats, and our planes can easily suppress them!" ”

Rear Admiral Wagner is right that the Caspian Sea is an inland sea, that is, it is cut off from the outside world in the Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, etc., so it is impossible to run into the enemy's fleet, so the Caspian Sea Fleet is also called "the fleet kept in a fishbowl".

(Note: The Don River goes to the Black Sea, and the Volga River goes to the Caspian Sea.) In 1948, the Soviet Union built a canal between the Volga and Don rivers, which was completed in 1952, so that the small-tonnage ships of the Caspian Flotilla could sail through the Volga-Canal-Don-Black Sea and then to the open sea. Prior to that, the Caspian flotilla was enclosed in the inland sea)

It is also because of this that the Caspian Flotilla, although it is the oldest fleet, has always been the weakest...... There is no enemy, and of course there is no need for development, unless enemy warships can drive into the Caspian Sea from land.

In this case, the 500 amphibious landing ships of the German 11th Army could almost ignore the presence of the Caspian Flotilla.

"The Caspian flotilla may not be worth mentioning!" Qin Chuan said: "But general, the Soviet Union has troops in Baku, and they can deploy them along the coast of the Caspian Sea, waiting for us to pass through from the sea!" Then we will be under the wild fire of Soviet planes, artillery and tanks on the sea! ”

"We can attack at night!" Major General Wagner said: "Just like before! ”

"For the Soviets, there will be no night!" Qin Chuan replied: "They can light a wall of fire in front of us, and they can also burn the Caspian Sea into a sea of fire!" ”

This time Wagner was silent.

Qin Chuan is right, Baku has oil and gasoline, and these things are still floating on the water, as long as they are poured into the sea with fishing boats or other things, they can be covered with gasoline and oil.

In this way, any time the German amphibious landing ship went to attack, it could fall into a vast sea of fire.

The German officers, apparently aware of what that meant, did not hesitate to veto Major General Wagner's idea.

"Why don't we fill the road?" The commander of the 22nd Panzer Division, Myleman, asked: "I mean, fill those trenches with bulldozers!" We captured a lot of this stuff from the Soviets! ”

"That's not a good idea either!" Qin Chuan replied: "Although it is indeed feasible, it is foreseeable that the enemy's artillery fire will increase our great difficulty, on the other hand, even if we fill a gap in the wall of fire and rush in, we will suffer heavy casualties due to the enemy's artillery blockade...... Worse still, how can we guarantee that the Soviets do not have a second, third, or even more wall of fire? ”

The officers nodded in agreement.

If the Soviets had one wall of fire, they could have a second, after all, it was not difficult to dig a trench and pour oil into it.

If the Germans pushed forward one by one, they were afraid that they would not be halfway through the army when they were exhausted.

"So, what are we to do, Major?" Manstein looked at Qin Chuan: "We can't wait like this any longer!" ”

Qin Chuan understood what Manstein meant.

The Germans really can't wait any longer, the supplies are getting less and less, the Soviets' defense in Baku will be more and more perfect, and there will be more and more reinforcements, and with the almost incessant bombing and harassment of Soviet fighters, there is no need to say what the outcome of the German 11th Army will be.

But......

The line of defense in front of the Germans was almost impassable.

After thinking about it, Qin Chuan said: "Your Excellency Marshal, the front and the Caspian Sea can't be passed, then there is only one way!" ”

"You mean......" Manstein looked at Qin Chuan with a puzzled gaze: "Caucasus? ”

"Yes, Caucasus!" Qin Chuan nodded and replied: "Let's go over from the Caucasus Mountains!" ”

"This can't be done, Major!" Major General Freko, commander of the 1st Mountain Division, said: "That's the Caucasus, which means we're going to throw away all our heavy equipment!" ”

"Because of this, it is even more unexpected!" Qin Chuan replied: "I think it's time for us to leave our equipment behind!" ”

The German officers couldn't help but look at each other, which meant abandoning tanks, artillery, amphibious landing ships, everything else.

"But how did we deceive the enemy?" Major General Wagner asked: "If they find out that we are entering the Caucasus, they will launch a counteroffensive and besiege us in the Caucasus Mountains!" ”

"They have a wall of fire!" Qin Chuan replied: "We can leave a force behind, with a feint on the front on one side and a momentum in the direction of the Caspian Sea on the other, so that they think that we are ready to penetrate from the Caspian Sea!" ”

After thinking about it for a while, Manstein nodded and said: "So that the Soviets will concentrate their forces on the front and the shores of the Caspian Sea, when we suddenly emerge from the other end of the Caucasus Mountains......"