Odessa is the location of the Soviet Union's Black Sea Fleet, and the defensive force cannot be too small, the Black Sea Fleet protects 50% of the Soviet Union's foreign trade, and Li Mo will not interfere with Bock's command, and he can fight as much as he likes, and Li Mo of the Soviet Union in the early stage does not think that there is any huge threat to the German army.

Bock commanded more than 500,000 German troops of Army Group South, broke through the three lines of defense of the Soviet army in one day, and surrounded Odessa, and also used air strikes to inflict heavy losses on the Soviet Black Sea Fleet and was forced to withdraw from the Black Sea Fleet base.

The Soviet troops defending in Odessa at this time were the 12th Army of the Ukrainian Front, the 12th Army had 3 infantry divisions, the 4th and 5th Cavalry Corps, the 25th Tank Army and 2 tank brigades, which were actually rapid clusters of the Front. The total army of 120,000 people, plus the temporarily formed militia units, the number reached 200,000, which gave the Soviet army the ability to compete with the German army, and the German army already had some information about Odessa in their hands at this time.

The Soviet army in Odessa was the general command of the Ukrainian side, and the commander-in-chief of the front army was Marshal Timoshenko, which consisted of the 5th, 6th, and 12th armies, including aviation regiments and units. Among them, the 5th and 6th armies were scattered on the three routes on the German-Soviet border, and the result went without saying, it disappeared in one day, and the 12th Army of the Ukrainian Front was originally used by Timoshenko as a reserve support force, and if there was danger, it would go there to support, and it can be seen from the composition of the 12th Army of the Ukrainian Front that it was not cavalry or tanks, but three infantry divisions, and the rest were all mobile forces.

Timoshenko also wanted to support his own fronts, but when he saw that Germany's millions of armored troops were crushing him and breaking through on all fronts, even if Timoshenko sent out all the 12th Army in his hands, he would not be able to save the three lines of defense.

And this new situation is a huge threat to Army Group South, Bock took the latest intelligence to discuss tactics with Li Mo, because now this situation is likely to make the German army have several choices, one is to surround but not fight, it is inevitable to drag down the German army's already small attacking troops, and the other is to fight in the assault, this is a fortified city guarded by 200,000 Soviet troops, Odessa is a seaside city, most of the buildings in the city are reinforced concrete houses, which is very conducive to the defense of the Soviet army, in this case, It was bound to cause a large number of casualties among the Germans.

"Commander-in-chief, you see how to fight in this situation."

After Bock finished speaking, he handed over the intelligence information in his hand to Li Mo, 200,000 Soviet troops defended the city of Odessa, Li Mo was indeed surprised, and he was also one of the oldest marshals in the Soviet Union, according to Li Mo's understanding of Timoshenko, this person's campaign command ability is not very good, but it is not bad to fight this kind of defensive war, otherwise it is impossible to mix with the position of marshal.

"My deputy commander-in-chief, how many six-barreled rocket launchers and cannons can you concentrate now?"

……

Without even thinking about it, Bock immediately replied:

"Two regiments have 600 six-barrel rocket launchers, and more than 2,500 artillery pieces."

"Where's the ammunition?"

"Three cardinal ammunition."

"How's our shipping going?"

"The railway is being repaired urgently, and it will take seven days to fully repair it, and we can still rely on our trucks."

Although the strength of Army Group South was small enough this time, Li Mo used his convenience as the heir of Krupp to get 400,000 trucks for the entire Army Group South, while the other two Army Group only had 600,000 trucks, and Odessa was also 190 kilometers away from the German-Soviet border, and Li Mo could draw at least 200,000 trucks to support Bock's attack on Odessa, and those 200,000 vehicles needed to support the German supply mission in the northern sector.

Germany has no shortage of artillery at all, and it can be said that the largest number of artillery remaining in Germany's national weapons reserve is also artillery, and Li Mo's German army of 1.05 million people can be equipped with about 500 large-caliber artillery pieces according to the regular establishment, and there are countless mortars and small-caliber artillery.

Didn't Li Mo form 12 new German infantry divisions? Each division was 16,800 people, and Li Mo directly ordered the artillery of Germany's national weapons reserve to be emptied of most of the artillery, and six German artillery divisions were formed, each division was equipped with more than 120 cannons, 1,000 guns, and a super perverted artillery division, so that the large-caliber artillery of the entire southern army group reached more than 6,500 guns and more than 1,200 rocket artillery.

Li Mo's idea is that Lao Tzu is not as many as the group army group above you, but Lao Tzu's artillery must not be less than you, and there is no shortage of German artillery, Li Mo moved artillery from the German national weapons reserve, and it will not make them have too much resistance, after all, it is the Sun Tzu of the Command who does not fight for righteousness.

"My deputy commander, don't worry, I'll send you 5 German artillery divisions, and at the same time there are 200,000 trucks to assist you, but I want to send two heavy tank divisions to reinforce our assault group, this medium tank is fighting in the streets, it is really easy to be destroyed by the Soviets, it is better to take it away."

"Commander-in-chief, then there will only be 6 armored divisions left in the attack on Odessa! In the face of 200,000 Soviet troops, will there be no problems? ”

Instead of answering Bock's question directly, Limer went to a huge color photographic map, picked up a command pole and pointed at the three places above Odessa: Vorog, Rostov-on-Don and Baku.

"My brother, if you look at these three places, our first stage is to occupy Rostov-on-Don, the main railway hub of the Soviet Union, which is the meeting point of the three railways, through which the material and military forces from the depths of the Soviet Union will pass to Moscow, and there is another important reason, that is, there are two railway lines for oil from Baku to be transported to Moscow.

One is through Rostov-on-Don, the other is through Stalingrad, and as soon as we take Rostov-on-Don, we will use its railway system to divide our forces to occupy the Soviet Union's Baku oil-producing area, which is the key to the success or failure of the first phase of our Barbarossa plan, and in order to achieve this strategic plan, we will give up some offensive objectives to complete our operation to occupy Baku.

Now 60% of the strength of our Army Group South is being dragged in Odessa, and 40% of the total strength is needed to complete this task, the strength is a bit insufficient, I not only have to transfer two armored divisions, but also 200,000 infantry to support our in-depth assault plan, and the strength we use to attack Odessa is about 350,000, I think it is completely enough, and you can also transfer more than 300,000 EU troops at will, you see how it is, Your Excellency my deputy commander. ”

…… R1152

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