To a certain extent, the strategic purpose of Hitler's campaign, launched with Army Group South as the main force, had been achieved.

As mentioned earlier, the Caucasus and Stalingrad could achieve the goal of blockading Soviet energy.

Now that the Caucasus is in the hands of the German army, the Soviet Union's energy supply from the direction of Baku has been completely cut off, which accounts for 71.5% of the energy, and the Soviet Union has suffered heavy losses.

At this time, the Germans should have slowed down.

The reason is simple: the capture of Baku would mean a decline in Soviet industrial capacity, and in time for Germany to restore the oil refineries and arsenals in Transcaucasia, Germany's transportation pressure on the Eastern Front would increase exponentially...... As a result of this, the gap between the Soviet Union and Germany will widen.

But Qin Chuan knew that it was almost impossible.

Because, the Germans would not have stopped their advance in the face of such a great victory, and neither would Hitler, especially when they still had the energy to attack...... Stopping the offensive means missing a good opportunity to give the enemy a chance to breathe.

It's human nature.

So Qin Chuan appeared only thirty kilometers from Stalingrad...... The 21st Panzer Division had already moved forward, and the 1st Corps was then following under Rommel's orders.

When Major General Stryker, commander of the 21st Armored Division, saw Colonel Slein and Qin Chuan reporting to him, he raised his head and said, "I've finally waited for you, I've had enough of those Romanians!" ”

Later, Qin Chuan learned that because the 1st Corps was transferred to fight in the Caucasus, the 21st Armored Division lacked infantry to provide cover for tanks. General Stryker had always wanted to transfer a German soldier from other units to fill the vacancy, but the German units had their own formations and their own tasks, and no general was willing to make his troops smaller.

In desperation, the 21st Panzer Division had to temporarily recruit the Romanian 20th Infantry Division for this task...... The Fourth Panzer Army was staffed by a large number of Romanian soldiers, one of the three armies and the other division of the three armies, who were mainly responsible for logistics and supply and such work as clearing obstacles and building roads.

The results of infantry coordination with such an army are predictable, in Stryker's words: "We are more worried about our own men than about the enemy on the battlefield, because they are always in front of the tracks of the tanks when we are about to advance." On the contrary, when they were needed to advance, they were all hidden behind tanks! ”

After complaining, he warmly shook hands with Colonel Slane and Qin Chuan, and said, "Welcome back, this is the best news I've heard recently!" ”

"Please, General!" Colonel Slein said: "Isn't it good news that we are only 30 kilometers from Stalingrad? ”

"Do you think that's good news?" General Stryker said: "Colonel, if you think that the enemy will let us into Stalingrad so easily, then you are mistaken! ”

General Stryk was right, as the Germans advanced into Stalingrad, the Soviets became more and more heavily defended.

Of course, this is also partly due to the fact that Stalin personally went to Stalingrad to organize the work before this, formed the Stalingrad Front and the South-Eastern Front, and established "punishment battalions" and "interception teams".

"Look at this!" General Stryk moved out of the way so that the two men could better see the map in front of him: "On the left is the Don River, on the right is the Volga River, they form a channel in front of us, the cross-section is only more than a hundred kilometers, and the Soviets have laid two army groups on our way. But it's nothing, the problem is that we can only go along the road and rail...... The Soviets are already waiting for us ahead, understand? ”

Qin Chuan understood what Stryker meant, this was actually a weakness of the armored forces, which relied heavily on transportation.

If it was in the area south of Stalingrad, there were large plains and steppes, and such terrain was obviously more suitable for the German mechanized troops, but the closer north to Stalingrad, the mountains, lakes, and rivers crisscrossed it, it was a nightmare for the Panzer Army.

It was also true that the Fourth Army could only take a defensive position and stalemate with the Soviets on the opposite side when advancing here.

"On the left flank are our infantry, and on the right flank are our armored forces!" General Stryk said: "In front of us is the Soviet 64th Army, which has a total of 12 divisions and 150,000 men, including a tank army!" ”

"How many tanks do they have?" Colonel Slane asked.

"The exact number is not clear!" General Stryk replied: "But this is not a big problem, we have air supremacy, we can use fighters to destroy their tanks first after we find them, the problem is that the Soviets have one narrow checkpoint after another, they aim their artillery at the path of the tanks, as long as one of our tanks is destroyed, we may block our way!" ”

Tanks operating in areas with difficult terrain will encounter such problems.

"Now, we can only pin our hopes on the 6th Army!" General Stryk pointed to a point on the map and said, "Karachi, General Paulus intends to launch a surprise attack from here......"

"Then you must force your way across the Don!" Colonel Slain was taken aback.

"Yes!" General Stryk nodded: "Our attack has attracted the strength and attention of the Soviets, and if it succeeds, it will collapse the entire Soviet line, although it is dangerous to do so!" ”

General Stryk was right, because historically the battle was indeed won by the Germans...... Paulus led the 6th Army across the Don River and took Karachi, but this was done at the cost of heavy casualties and supplies, so that the 6th Army was unable to attack Stalingrad for a long time.

"Why don't we switch the offensive positions of the infantry and the armored forces?" Qin Chuan, who was looking at the map, asked.

"What do you mean?" General Stryk asked.

"I mean ......" Qin Chuan said, pointing to the map, "the Soviets thought that our tanks would only move along the railways and roads. So, they will put a lot of armored forces and anti-tank units on the right flank, and on the left flank they will deploy only light infantry, if we attack its left flank with armored forces......"

"But how are we going to attack?" General Stryk said: "There are muddy roads everywhere, and tanks simply cannot pass through!" ”

Colonel Slane glanced at Qin Chuan, he already understood what Qin Chuan was thinking.