Together with Guderian, Manstein planned to use 350,000 German troops to destroy the 200,000 Soviet troops in the fortified city, and also to cut off the oil transportation line from Baku to Moscow on the right side of Moscow. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

As for Army Group Center and Army Group North, Manstein, the deputy commander-in-chief, could only pray for coordination, and it was really difficult for him, the deputy commander-in-chief, to intervene in the specific command.

But Army Group South was different, this was the unit under the command of his brother Guderian, and Manstein could discuss tactics with Guderian at any time and intervene in the tactical arrangement.

The attack on Odessa was about to begin, and in order to meet the needs of artillery shells on the front line, Manstein ordered 50,000 trucks carrying shells of various calibers to be delivered to the front line in Odessa overnight, a distance of 190 kilometers, which could arrive in the middle of the night, and the artillery bombardment could be launched just tomorrow morning.

……

Let's talk about how Stalin responded to the all-out offensive launched by Germany.

At 12:30 p.m. on April 1, 1940, Stalin's secretary received a phone call from the front saying that Germany had concentrated more than 5 million troops and had begun an all-out attack on the great Soviet Union.

But this was exactly six hours after the all-out German attack on the Soviet Union, in fact, it was not that the Soviet troops on the front did not report to Stalin's secretariat, but that Stalin's work and sleeping habits were completely reversed.

Stalin usually started his work at half past two in the afternoon, and Stalin's spirit was still relatively strong, and he had to work until twelve o'clock in the evening, and Stalin rested at about two o'clock in the morning, and got up at about twelve o'clock in the afternoon the next day.

Stalin didn't sleep well, he had already given strict orders to the people around him, even if the sky fell, he couldn't wake him up, for Stalin's brutal dictator, the people around him were all trembling and careful, and they dared to violate Stalin's strict orders.

Therefore, six hours after the German attack on the Soviet Union, no one dared to wake Stalin, but waited until Stalin woke up before the secretary dared to report this extremely urgent situation to Stalin.

Unfortunately, this was six hours after the German attack on the Soviet Union, for which the Soviet Union missed the most precious hours and the last opportunity to adjust its forces.

Germany's all-out attack on the Soviet Union made Stalin a little unbelievable, wasn't Germany in trouble with Britain? How, in the blink of an eye, Germany was entangled in the Axis armies and began to attack the Soviet Union, Stalin did not believe such information at all, and he immediately ordered to continue the reconnaissance and report back.

Stalin really wanted to shoot the officer who had reported this false information to him, and soon urgent telegrams from the front and for help came like snowflakes. Stalin couldn't figure out why Germany could be so treacherous, and Germany and the Soviet Union had just signed the "Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact."

But in the blink of an eye, Germany was entangled in some ******** to attack the great and holy Soviet Union, which made Stalin unable to accept such a reality anyway, but Stalin was a cold and brutal tyrant after all, and he quickly adjusted his mentality and immediately convened an emergency high-level military meeting.

Attendees were:

Budyonny; Marshal of the Soviet Union, Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, Commander-in-Chief of the Direction, Commander of the Cavalry, Director of the General Supervision Group of the Ministry of Defense

Shaposhnikov; Marshal of the Soviet Union, Chief of the General Staff, People's Commissar of Defense, President of the Military Academy of the General Staff

Kulik; Marshal of the Soviet Union, Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, Head of the General Ordnance Department, Deputy Minister of the Department of Formation and Replenishment of Soviet Troops

Minister of the People's Republic of the Interior; General Beria

Georgi? Konstantinovich? General Zhukov

Vassili? Ivanovic? General Chuikov

Ivan? Stepanovich? General Konev and others......

The first two veteran marshals were trusted by Stalin, so they were not purged, and there was another marshal Timoshenko in Odessa, and there was no way to come to the meeting today.

It has to be said that although Stalin was brutal and ruthless, he had his own unique ability to perceive people in the selection and cognition of military talents, and Stalin was quite accurate in employing and recognizing people.

History also proves that Stalin promoted a few generals, which will be the pillar of the Soviet Union in the future, otherwise the Soviet Union would have been defeated by Germany long ago, Bizhukov and Vasilevsky and so on.

It was almost 2 o'clock in the afternoon when all the personnel arrived, and now the situation on the front line was almost understood, and in front of the conference room was a huge Soviet military map, painted with red arrows of various colors, and dozens of huge red arrows pointed to various important places in the Soviet Union.

The attendees only silently stared at the huge military map in a daze, and besides, they did not dare to express their opinions in front of Stalin.

Comrade Stalin, the great leader, the great mentor, and the great helmsman, began to preside over this emergency military meeting after seeing that everyone had arrived:

"Ahem...... Everyone talks about their opinions, the German fascists have entangled 5 million to 8 million troops to launch an all-out attack on the great and sacred Soviet Union, and now the situation is very critical. ”

When Stalin finished asking with a gloomy face, everyone became even more silent, because everyone could not figure out what Stalin was planning, and finally Marshal Budyonny made an ambiguous suggestion:

"Comrade Stalin, whatever instructions you have, we will resolutely carry them out without hesitation, and I firmly believe that under your wise leadership, we will certainly defeat the invading German aggressors, and I think that all of you here are waiting for your incomparably correct and great instructions."

Wasn't Stalin helpless in the face of a sudden German invasion? Otherwise, with Stalin's character, he will come to you and ask you if you are good as Budyonny, and if you say it, you will not say it.

Of course, Stalin was not satisfied with Budyonny's suggestion, but Stalin did not put his dissatisfaction on his face, but named Zhukov, whom he valued the most, and Stalin asked Zhukov to express his opinion.

Zhukov had already shown his outstanding command skills in the Far East, and he used not too many troops to beat hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops in small Japan to the ground, and if it were not for Stalin's haste to build an eastern defense line, Zhukov would have almost swept his army into the three northeastern provinces......

Because Stalin created an eastern defense line in order to prepare for a possible German attack, Stalin deployed 170 army and navy divisions and 2 brigades on the German-Soviet border, with a total of 2.9 million men, 1,800 heavy and medium tanks, 1,540 new aircraft and a large number of old aircraft, 34,965 artillery pieces and mortars, 269 surface ships, and 127 submarines.

However, these forces of the Soviet Union were scattered and arranged on a defensive line of more than 2,000 kilometers long, and the Soviet Union's eastern defense line lacked sufficient strategic depth. (To be continued.) )