After the troops were settled, Colonel Slane took his adjutant and Qin Chuan to the headquarters to report.

They were informed in advance that Rommel's 21st Panzer Division was to be incorporated into the 4th Panzer Army, and that Rommel was chief of staff within the army headquarters.

It didn't take much effort for the two to find the headquarters of the Panzer Army in a two-story cement building...... In the city is often such a low and sturdy house has a strong survivability, so they will always be used as a matter of course command.

When Colonel Slane and Qin Chuan walked into the headquarters, Rommel was discussing something with an officer in front of the map.

Seeing Slane and Qin Chuan, Rommel was stunned for a moment, and then laughed and stepped forward to hug him warmly to welcome.

"Colonel, Major...... I thought Manstein was going to let you go! Rommel said, "It seems that he has finally shown a little gentlemanly demeanor!" ”

Then Rommel introduced the officer: "General Hult, allow me to introduce you to two of my men, Colonel Slein and Major Flick......"

"I know, I know!" General Holt walked over, shook hands with Colonel Slein and Qin Chuan respectively, and said, "During this time, I can always hear about you from General Rommel, not only General Rommel, but all of us know something...... Manstein relied on you to take the whole of Transcaucasia and Baku in particular, which is amazing! ”

"I said ......" Rommel patted Qin Chuan's shoulder very proudly and said: "Wherever they go, victory will follow!" ”

"General!" Colonel Slain modestly replied, "That's not just our credit!" ”

"Yes, of course I do!" Rommel replied: "But I believe that without you, Manstein would not have been able to occupy Transcaucasia, I am afraid that even the Kerch Strait would not have been able to cross!" ”

This is true, especially amphibious landing ships and amphibious tanks.

Then Rommel introduced to Qin Chuan and Colonel Slein: "This person in front of you is the commander of the 4th Panzer Army. Admiral Hult! ”

Colonel Slain and Qin Chuan stepped forward towards Herman. Hult saluted.

To this Herman. Hult, Qin Chuan also knows a little, he is one of the commanders of the four ace Panzer armies of the German army, and he is also Rommel's old superior...... Rommel was commander of the 7th Panzer Division from 1940 to 1941, which was also part of Hermann. The 4th Panzer Army under the command of Hort, together they took part in the battle against France.

If you think about this relationship, it is understandable that when the war in Africa is stalemate, Hort would want Rommel to become chief of staff on the Eastern Front.

However, Holme's assessment of Rommel hurt him a bit: Holmel thought Rommel was too prone to acting on impulse, and accused Rommel of being too narrow-minded when others questioned his contributions.

(Note: Many people believe that Rommel's success on the battlefield was partly due to Hitler's "special care" of him, and Rommel was always unceremoniously ridiculed and-for-tat, which in Hort's eyes was a sign of narrow-mindedness.)

It should be said that these two shortcomings are really unavoidable for Rommel, but they do not seem to be shortcomings: the former allowed Rommel to defeat the Allies again and again in the North African theater, while the latter is a manifestation of his straightforward personality.

"Major!" Hult said to Qin Chuan: "What surprised me the most was ...... The amphibious landing ships and amphibious tanks you built, it should be said that they played a decisive role in the Transcaucasian theater of operations! ”

"Yes, General!" Qin Chuan replied, and then vaguely guessed the reason why Hort and Rommel were so anxious to urge the first regiment to return...... You must know that if Army Group B is added to the reserves, the total strength is nearly one million people (including the Italian, Romanian, and Hungarian armies), and there will not be an infantry regiment at all, even if this infantry regiment is very strong in combat.

Hult led Qin Chuan to the map and said, "Moreover, General Rommel also told me that his creative inventions of yours are not uncommon, because there are also bazookas, minesweeper tanks, and so on. Of course, I've heard these stories, but I didn't think they were real before, and I thought that at least half of them were developed by scientists, but I seem wrong, right? ”

"Can't say that, General!" Qin Chuan replied: "They are indeed made by scientists and technicians, I just told them the method!" ”

Hott rolled his eyes and replied, "Uh-huh, I see. I was wrong, because everyone knows that the method is the most important thing! ”

After a pause, Holt continued, "I'm sorry, I seem to be digressing. You know, our battle is mainly against the river, do you think...... Is it necessary for us to transfer amphibious landing ships or amphibious tanks from Transcaucasia? Or, should we scale up and build these things? ”

Holt didn't understand what he said, and his thinking jumped hard because the preface didn't match the afterword...... Smart people often talk like this because they tend to think that something is too obvious to say too much.

Qin Chuan understood, in fact, he had guessed before that Hort and Rommel hoped to use amphibious landing ships and amphibious landing tanks to fight the Battle of Stalingrad.

The Battle of Stalingrad was ostensibly a siege of a city, but in fact it was militarily ...... It should be called an offensive and defensive battle on two rivers.

These two rivers are the Don and the Volga.

It should be said that it is also the credit of the creator that these two rivers that enter the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea respectively, from the point of view of the trend, when approaching Stalingrad, it seems to be attracted to it, and this is especially the Don River, which was originally almost pulled from north to south into east and west.

As a result, a natural encirclement was formed along which half of the Don River and half of the Volga River were formed, along which the Soviet troops defended.

This encirclement consisted of a small gap about 100 kilometers long, on which Stalingrad sits.

(Note: The Volga-Don Lenin Canal, which was completed by the Soviet Union in 1952, connects the two rivers, is located in this gap, with a total length of 101 kilometers.) This canal, in addition to the need for transportation, has a strategic defense role, since it can fill this gap)

That's why the capture of Stalingrad was so difficult.