"Captain!" Manstein said to Qin Chuan with some dissatisfaction: "It seems necessary for me to remind you that our troops, artillery, tanks, and even planes are now only half of the enemy's!" ”

"I know, General!" Qin Chuan replied.

Of course, Qin Chuan knew that the only advantage that the German army had before that was air power. The 8th Air Army, led by General Richthofen, deployed more than 1,000 warplanes to take full control of the skies over the Crimean Peninsula...... This figure accounted for two-fifths of all types of German fighters on the Eastern Front.

But now, because of the Soviet attack on Kharkiv, Richthofen hurriedly switched 800 of its fighters to support Kharkov, leaving only 200 fighters on the Crimean Peninsula, while the Soviets had 400 fighters on the Kerch Peninsula alone, not counting the possible new reinforcements.

"You know that?" Manstein asked: "You still insist on attacking yourself instead of defending?" ”

"Yes, General!"

"Okay!" Manstein spread his hands to the map and said, "I would like to know...... The enemy is rushing towards us, and there is no other passage on the Kerch Peninsula, how can we attack the enemy? Bypassing by sea? ”

"No, General!" Qin Chuan replied, and then pointed to the map and said: "From the moment on, we really have no chance to attack, because the enemy's 47th Army and 51st Army are attacking us from left to right, and the 44th Army is following as a reserve!" ”

This is also the meaning of Manstein's words just now...... The Kerch Peninsula is only 18 kilometers wide, and the two armies, one on the left and one on the right, will defend the entire line of defense without leaks, and the Germans will attack from any point and collide with the Soviets head-on and fall into a difficult tug-of-war and war of attrition, which is exactly what the Soviets want, because they have more men and more equipment and can afford to spend it.

It was for this reason that everyone in the room, including Manstein, was not in favor of attacking.

Manstein knew that Tai Chuan had something to do, so he didn't interrupt Qin Chuan's words, but just motioned for Qin Chuan to continue.

"So we're going to artificially create an opportunity!" Qin Chuan said: "Or it can also be said to be a gap!" ”

Saying that, Qin Chuan pointed to the map and said: "My plan is divided into two stages, the first stage is to retreat, to be precise, to be precise, while retreating, holding on to death. In this way, the 47th Army and the 51st Army of the Soviets will no longer go hand in hand, and a gap will be formed between them! ”

Manstein immediately understood Qin Chuan's words, and said, "Then, we will quickly penetrate this gap with mechanized troops and break into the enemy's rear?" ”

"Yes!" Qin Chuan nodded.

"Captain!" Colonel Adam objected: "I don't believe that the Soviets would be so careless, they would have let the 44th Army close behind fill this gap!" ”

It is normal for Colonel Adam to say this, because if it were the Germans, this mistake would not have been made.

But......

"They are Soviet!" Qin Chuan said: "We all know that the Soviet army has backward communication equipment and poor coordination ability. Yes, they may indeed let the 44th Army fill this gap, not to mention whether they can arrive in time, even if they do...... It will not be difficult for us to concentrate our forces on breaking through the defense line of the 44th Army! ”

The officers in the conference room nodded in agreement, they had been fighting the Soviets for some years, and they knew that the Soviets did have these problems.

"I still have a question!" Colonel Adam added: "We know that the roads in the Crimean Peninsula are muddy due to melting snow and spring rains, which will make it difficult for mechanized troops to move quickly, if they are trapped...... Our main forces will be surrounded in the narrow Kerch Peninsula and will not be able to get out, which will deal a devastating blow to our army group! ”

"Colonel!" Qin Chuan replied: "This question...... The Soviets should have helped us out! ”

"What do you mean?" Colonel Adam looked at Qin Chuan suspiciously.

"I believe that this attack of the Soviets was not launched suddenly, but was prepared for some time!"

"Yes, of course!" Colonel Adam said, "Of course they planned it! ”

"So......" Qin Chuan said, "what do you think they will do?" ”

Colonel Adam couldn't help but let out an "oh", and then understood what Qin Chuan meant.

"The captain is right!" "In order to get tanks to the front line, and at the same time to ensure the supply of the front line, they will build roads on the Kerch Peninsula!" ”

After a pause, Manstein continued: "The Soviets put three army groups in front, and there is only one army group for dozens of kilometers inside. As long as we are fast enough and strong enough to attack all the way to Kerch Harbor along their supply lines, we probably don't need supplies, because that's the supply line of the Soviets, with endless fuel, ammunition and food along the way! ”

The German officers couldn't help but nod their heads, of course they would not refuse this plan, this was the blitzkrieg they had been looking forward to, but they had not found the opportunity to launch a lightning station before.

"Well done, Captain!" Manstein nodded to Qin Chuan: "Very good plan!" You're right, we only think about blocking the enemy's attack, but we don't see the opportunity to attack right in front of us. If we can't win this battle, it's the 11th Army and us...... It's so incompetent! ”

I don't know who started it, but there was a round of applause in the conference room.

Only Qin Chuan himself knows that this credit can't actually be regarded as his...... In this battle in history, the Soviet army also launched a fierce offensive as it is now, but the left and right sides of the German defense line were unbalanced, and the right flank, that is, the southern part of the sea, was another important port on the Crimean Peninsula, Fodorosia, so it was garrisoned by the German 30th Army, which had strong combat effectiveness. The left flank was garrisoned by the ineffective 42nd Army (note: the German 42nd Army consisted mainly of Romanian troops).

Thus, the battle naturally developed: the Soviets were overwhelmed on the left flank and difficult to move an inch on the right, and the two flanks staggered and soon formed a fatal gap.

If the Soviet army had been commanded by Tolbukhin, then this problem probably would not have arisen, after all, the Soviet army had too many forces to mobilize.

However, the command of the Soviet Crimean Front consisted of a mediocre commander (Kozlov), a political commissar who knew nothing about military affairs but was domineering and frequently intervened (Mekhlis), and a staff chief of staff who was also inexperienced and even a follower of Mehris (Vechne), so the tragedy was inevitable.