As soon as Rommel heard that the Soviets had invented the latest tactics, he hurriedly abandoned his work and ran by helicopter to the command post of Guderian's Army Group South. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Rommel was very clear about the Soviet Union's theory of large-depth defense, and Germany's blitzkrieg was the result of the Soviet Union's large-depth defense.

The idea of a large-depth operation was first put forward by Soviet military theorists Tukhachevsky, Triandafilov, and Egorov in the 20 s. In their military writings, they made a preliminary exposition of the theoretical principles of large-depth operations.

However, due to Stalin's purges, this tactic was forced to be interrupted, and now this tactic has been taken seriously by the Soviets and has begun to be used in the defense of Petrovsk.

The strategy of great depth includes two tactics, the first is the large depth attack and the large depth elastic defense.

According to the Soviets' tactics of attacking in depth, it was simply to concentrate as many men and artillery as possible in the weak points of the enemy on the front line, and then tear one or more openings with an overwhelming attack.

Then there is the rapid armor cluster cut, the infantry division completes the occupation and expands on both sides to tear a bigger opening, and the rapid armor cluster continues to advance in depth to completely destroy the enemy's logistics and defensive depth.

The large-depth defense tactic is actually a variant of territorial elastic defense, which does not pursue the first-line defense of the border against the enemy outside the country, and establishes a multi-echelon and multi-line defense depth.

And use cannon fodder troops to absorb and consume the enemy's offensive forces, and then concentrate as many reserves as possible, as many rapid armored clusters as possible, and carry out defensive counterattacks. Historically, the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk are masterpieces of this tactic.

Whether offensive or defensive, the Soviets' large-depth tactics emphasized reserving enough reserves and using these troops at the most critical moments, or being used to plug the gap and fight counter-assaults after being broken through the front.

Or is it used to fight a counterattack and a war of annihilation after the enemy's offensive is exhausted. In addition, the Soviets placed extreme emphasis on firepower, always concentrating as much firepower as possible on the offensive front, and at that time a Soviet infantry division was generally only responsible for a frontal attack or defense of one kilometer.

And in the offensive and defense, it is often concentrated in the firepower of an artillery brigade or even an artillery division for fire support. The density of this artillery fire is extremely terrifying. From the above examples, it seems that this tactic is a very effective and practical tactic.

This tactic was not so much a creative invention of the Soviets as a compromise with reality - the Soviets had more tanks, but far from the point where they could squander them, and the infantry fell victim.

Whether defending against an enemy attack or tearing through enemy lines during an offensive, infantry is responsible for the task of cannon fodder with heavy casualties (of course, infantry divisions are generally reinforced by a regiment or brigade of tanks), and the Germans and Western countries prefer to rely on powerful tanks for this task.

The rapid cluster of tanks and mechanized units that had torn apart the position and the infantry division to complete the task of occupying and expanding to the flanks was actually a compromise, because the infantry divisions and artillery units of the Soviets lacked motor vehicles to follow up the attack of the mechanized rapid group, so the two units with mismatched mobility had to be assigned different tasks.

In this way, if you run into an opponent who also loves to stay in reserve, it is quite possible to break away from the armored cluster that broke through alone with the large army and be dumpled. ”

Historically, this problem is similar to the situation in which the Germans' mechanized groups repeatedly suffered during the blitzkrieg in the middle of World War II.

As the belligerents matured their anti-tank tactics, the invincibility of simply concentrating as many tank forces as possible quickly hit the nail on the head.

It's just that in 44 years, the Soviet Union and Germany had a huge disparity in strength, and the Germans basically had no reserves, and the Soviet Union's large-depth offensives were repeatedly successful.

Neither Germany's blitzkrieg nor the Soviet Union's strategy of great depth were flawless, and the fight to the back could only be the final showdown of the comprehensive strength of the two countries.

Rommel, who arrived at the headquarters of Army Group South, excused himself as a little airsick, so he leaned back on the military chair and pretended to sleep, of course, Rommel was not dizzy, he was using the "eye of God" to observe the defensive positions arranged by the Soviets in Petrovsk, while Manstein and Guderian discussed in a whisper.

The defensive position of the Soviet army in Petrovsk was more than 200 kilometers wide from east to west and 300 kilometers from north to south, and the entire Petrovsk city was surrounded in the middle.

Within these defensive positions, there was an artillery position at intervals, and there were many anti-tank trenches in and in front of the positions, which were connected by trenches.

With such a huge defensive position, the USSR had at least a million troops, of course, there were certainly not so many of their regular troops, but there were quite a few men in the Petrovsk region, and they were all good cannon fodder.

Rommel, who had seen the position with the eyes of God, was sure in his heart that this was the first practice of the Soviet Union in defense in great depth, and they wanted to use practice to prove the great role of defense in great depth.

Rommel would never give them such an opportunity, and he had to destroy this practical defensive position in great depth at the first opportunity, thus creating a false impression that the Soviet army was useless in defending in great depth.

This illusion does not need to be maintained for long, it only needs to be maintained until Rommel takes Moscow, and it really cannot be maintained until the troops are under the city of Moscow.

Rommel, who was no longer "dizzy", opened his eyes and did not speak, but listened to the discussion of Manstein and Guderian.

"Deputy Commander-in-Chief, the Soviets are now using a large depth elastic defense, and once we attack, the Soviets use a large number of infantry as cannon fodder, resisting step by step, consuming our offensive, holding us back, and when we are exhausted, that's when they counterattack, right? Commander in chief. ”

"Yes, that's pretty much what it means."

"So how do we deal with it?"

"I don't have a good idea."

Rommel took a leisurely sip of tea and said:

"I have a way, first seize air supremacy, and then find the Soviet artillery positions, and use the air force or our heavy artillery to destroy the Soviet artillery in the defensive positions.

Since there are not many Soviet troops around Petrovsk, and they are almost the only ones who have been delaying our attack on Moscow, then we will cut off their supply lines first, one or two mechanized infantry divisions.

Then concentrate the forces to storm a little, and it is a continuous wave attack, once the defensive positions of the Soviet troops are torn apart, while advancing in depth, while expanding the breakthrough to both sides.

……

[It seems that there is only one March ticket today, which is a bit bleak! ] (To be continued.) )