In Berlin, Germany, in the command and war room of the German High Command, Hitler was discussing future combat plans with several marshals, and the fat man of the Air Force Goeringo was also there, although at the beginning of the rescue of the German 6th Army, compared to Goering's Haikou, the performance of the Air Force was still as bad as ever (promised to deliver 500 tons of supplies per day, but in fact only about 100 tons). But later, the 6th Army's miraculous breakthrough and reversal of defeat turned the pattern of the entire southern battlefield around, which made Hitler feel very good, and looked at the fat man much more pleasing to the eye, so he continued to participate in the discussion of strategic decision-making.

By mid-January 1943, although after many hardships and repetitions, the German army finally basically achieved the original combat goal, captured Stalingrad, and basically occupied the Caucasus (the part along the coastline of the Transcaucasia was still in the hands of the Soviet army, but they had more than enough self-preservation and insufficient offensive, but in order to suppress them, the German army in the Transcaucasia needed to maintain a certain military strength, which affected mobility). The German commander-in-chief has two opinions on how the German army should fight:

One is that it is necessary to seize the present powerful opportunity to carry out a major assault from north to south in the North Caucasus, which has already been occupied in the south, to attack the combat units of the Soviet Central Theater from the flanks and from the back, to crush the Soviet Central Army Group, and to realize the convergence of the German Central Army Group and the Southern Army Group.

Another view is that the march from the south faced many practical difficulties, first of all, the troops needed to be transferred in batches from the northern and central theaters to the North Caucasus, the distance was long, and the Soviet Union could not turn a blind eye, and the Soviet remnants of Transcaucasia were always a threat, and if in the offensive from the south to the north, its troops were reinforced, but they did not start, and suddenly launched an attack and cut off the German supply lines in the North Caucasus, then the counter-offensive forces were likely to be surrounded by the enemy. They believe that by taking advantage of the current strategic superiority and without the Soviet army having completed the replenishment of its strength and equipment, it is possible to pool the superior forces of the central and southern army groups and focus on attacking the small salient of the Soviet central theater, that is, the Kursk area, not only can eliminate the Soviet offensive momentum, but also, if it goes well, they can obtain a German salient in the Soviet central defense area, which will not only greatly shorten the relative distance between the central German army and the southern German army, but also save 200,000 to 300,000 defensive troops and enrich them into the mobile combat unitsMoreover, for the next step, it chose to go north to encircle Moscow, or go south to gather and annihilate the Soviet Southern Army, which had the strategic initiative and strategic decision-making power.

Hitler was still hesitant to choose which of the two options, but he preferred the second option, although the first was supported by Manstein, but once the Soviet counterattack on the supply line succeeded, the attacking German army would be encircled and possibly encircled, then the result would be catastrophic, which meant that the German army would lose the initiative in the war. But whether it is the first or the second, a prerequisite is needed, that is, the arms of the copycat company His Excellency Bismarck (the 1,000 Lion tanks and a large number of other large military supplies), according to the material consumption estimate of the German General Staff Headquarters for the two campaign plans, if there is no support from the cottage company, it will completely rely on the German rear to produce and transport itself, and it will take about 3 months of preparation period for the German army to transport enough munitions to the Soviet-German front line and arm the offensive troops. That is, the offensive could not be launched until mid-April 1943 at the earliest, but at that time, the Soviet army would also receive more supplies, after all, the Soviet rear was closer than the German army. Hitler was troubled by this.

At this time, a young officer entered the house with a telegram in his hand and handed it to Hitler. ”

"Really, great! So that we can let go of the offense! Manstein responded.

"Honorable Führer, have you decided which way to attack?" Another field marshal asked.

Hitler glanced at Manstein and said: "Although the first option has the best combat effect, but the risk is too great, I decided to implement the second set of plans, knock out the small salient of the central theater of the Soviet army, realize the convergence of the central and southern armies, and the name of the combat operation is the castle!" ”

In mid-January 1943, the German High Command decided to launch a new campaign, which was named Castle. The purpose of the campaign was to shorten the German front and greatly increase the mobility of the German troops. From November 1942 to early 1943, Germany suffered heavy tank losses on the Eastern Front. Moreover, the No. 3 and No. 4 tanks, which are the main forces, have proven to be no match for the Soviet T34 tank, while the new generation of No. 5 Leopard and No. 6 Tiger tanks have a monthly output of only 50 and 25 units respectively, which is obviously at a disadvantage compared with the Soviet army in terms of quantity. However, at the end of 1942, the 6th Army of the German Army in Stalingrad, the copycat company, the Lion tank provided by the Lion tank with powerful firepower (the power of the 100mm tank gun is much more powerful than the 88mm of the Tiger), solid protection (the frontal 200mm homogeneous steel protection is also better than the Tiger tank), and the leather is durable, and soon won the support of the German soldiers. Although the poor shifting and shock absorption made the German soldiers who drove him miserable, the sense of security and security in his heart in the midst of a strong steel fortress was irreplaceable by anything else.

After two battles in late 1942 and early 1943, the Lion tank still has no record of being destroyed (of course, it is also related to the insufficient number of anti-tank guns and tank destroyers in the North Caucasus of the Soviet Union), which made the German army, especially the Central Army Group, have great expectations for the Lion tank! The Northern Army Group was not very enthusiastic because it was the farthest away, the slowest to transmit information, and the incomplete reception of the Lion tank.

On January 16, 1943, Wang Fan flew to the German Central Army Group accompanied by a German captain, stayed there for four days, accepted 400 tons of gold from the Air Force, and then traded to Germany 1,000 Lion tanks, a large number of maintenance spare parts, and 1 million Type 56 semi-automatic rifles (semi-automatic non-AK!). ), enough 107 rocket artillery and various types of artillery shells and a large amount of material equipment. Then flew to Berlin, the capital of Germany, and met with Hitler and Goering for an hour, the three of them shared a car, rushed to the nearest airport, where Wang Fan showed the majestic posture of the 6th master (J-6), when a German ace pilot, with profound flight experience, after studying the operation manual (German), after piloting it to experience the thrill of high-speed acceleration unique to supersonic fighters, he was full of praise, and Goering's fat man immediately asked to buy all 1,500 planes in Wang Fan's mouth. For Ge Fatzi, the temptation of having 1,500 advanced fighters that surpassed the technology of the time by 10 years, and the formation of an air fortress was enough for him to deal with the strategic bombing of the German hinterland carried out by the Stars and Stripes Republic. So, after some bargaining, Germany exchanged 300 tons of gold for 1,500 J-6s and an aircraft maintenance plant and a large number of spare parts.

In the next 20 days, Wang Fan visited the top ten German military enterprises in World War II: 1. Krupp, the world's best artillery and tank gun manufacturer, is everywhere in the world. 2 Henschel Company, from which the famous "Tiger King" came from, and the best tanks in the world were made by them (without taking into account the products of copycat companies, of course). 3 Mauser manufacturing plant, the king of light weapons manufacturing, if you don't even know kar98. 4 Wilhelmshaven shipyard, the hometown of the battleship "Bismarck". 5. Mercedes-Benz doesn't know that you can wash and sleep. 6 Messerschmitt, without Messerschmitt, then today's F22, J10, Su27 may have been born 10 years later, and the ME-109 at that time could be called the masterpiece of the century. 7 Augsburg Mechanical Plant, who was the backbone of the German armored forces? It's a panther chariot, that's right! They all go out from here. 8 Rheinmetall Group, German tank guns were studied by them, 9 Hanomark Company, the birthplace of infantry fighting vehicles, Hanomark provided the material basis for mechanized troops, and the appearance of the SDKFZ251 changed the course of human warfare. 10 Volkswagen, well, you know. After some secret talks, Wang Fan looted 1,900 tons of gold (almost seven-eight-tenths of Germany's reserves at that time) and a large number of historical relics from Germany, leaving 45 million tons of oil, 40,000 tons of tungsten ore, 50 million tons of copper ore and a large amount of iron ore, which was enough for Germany to consume normally for 4 years and desperately accelerate its use for about 3 years.

On February 10, 1943, the German army launched the Battle of Castle (i.e., the Battle of Kursk), which was supposed to be July in history, and with a torrent of steel with 1,500 Lion tanks as the backbone, with a large number of No. 4 tanks and a small number of Leopard and Tiger tanks, the German army began the offensive. To the south of the salient was Manstein's Army Group South, which included General Hort's 4th Panzer Army and Kempf's Group and Paulus's 6th Army. The 4th Panzer Army had 154,000 men, 625 tanks, and 1,404 artillery pieces under the command of the 52nd Infantry Corps, 48th Panzer Corps, and 1,404 artillery pieces, and the Kempf cluster on the right flank, with 8 divisions, 96,000 men, 174 tanks, and 1,500 artillery pieces. The 6th Army has the 14th, 16th, and 24th Panzer Divisions, the 3rd, 29th, and 60th Motorized Infantry Divisions, and the 8th, 11th, and 51st Infantry Divisions, with 120,000 men, 500 Lion tanks, and 2,732 artillery pieces.

Facing Army Group South was Vatutin's Voronezh Front, which commanded the 6th and 7th Guards Armies, the 40th and 38th Armies, and the 35th Infantry Army, with a total strength of 325,000 men, 4,718 artillery pieces and mortars, and 1,204 tanks and self-propelled guns (a third weaker than historically).

The 9th Army of General Moder, to which Army Group Center belongs, is in the north of the Kursk salient, which has 17 German and 2 Hungarian divisions and 275,000 people, including 7 tank divisions, a total of 1,990 tanks (including 1,000 Lion tanks), and 4,824 artillery pieces. In the middle of the salient was the 2nd Army of the German Army Group Center, 96,000 men

Directly opposite the direction of the German Army Group Center was Rokossovsky's Central Front, which included the 70th, 13th, and 2nd Tank Armies, with a total strength of 411,000 men, 3,900 artillery pieces and mortars, and 852 tanks and self-propelled guns. Marshal Zhukov also personally commanded here (two-fifths to one-half weaker than in history).

In the rear of the Central Front and the Voronezh Front was Konev's Steppe Front, whose task was to provide reinforcements to the two fronts when the situation was tight, and in the event of a breakthrough of the Kursk Line by the Germans, it would become the last line of defense. This front has jurisdiction over the 4th and 5th Guards Armies, the 27th and 53rd Armies, the 5th Guards Tank Army, the 3rd and 5th Guards Cavalry Corps, the 4th Guards Tank Army, and the 3rd Mechanized Army. The total strength is 353,000 men, 4,210 artillery pieces and mortars, 739 tanks and self-propelled guns (a third weaker than historical).

In the absence of sufficient heavy weapons to replenish the Soviet army, the total strength of the German offensive reached more than 820,000 (because the 6th Army was saved from annihilation, a large number of troops were able to participate in this battle, which was not much less than the historical 900,000 people), more than 10,000 artillery pieces and mortars, 4,200 tanks and self-propelled guns (more than 1,000 more than in history, and including 1,500 Lion tanks), and 2,050 aircraft. After 7 days of fierce fighting, the Soviet army had to implement a strategic retreat after paying a huge price, and the German army successfully completed the purpose of encircling and destroying the Soviet army in Kursk, because it was 5 months earlier than in history, the defensive positions of the Soviet army in Kursk and other places were more than a step worse than in history, but the German army was much more ferocious, and finally the German army defeated the Soviet army of 1.1 million (more than 1.5 million in history) with a force of 820,000 troops. Having occupied a large number of positions in and around Kursk, the Soviets were forced to retreat more than 150 kilometers, withstanding the offensive momentum of the German army with mines and a large number of ravines and trenches. After the war, the offensive and defensive forces of both sides were basically exhausted, and for more than three months, they did not have the ability to launch a new campaign, and the Soviet-German battlefield entered a period of stable stalemate.

And when the pointer of time was dialed to March 21, Wang Fan's figure quietly came to the northwest region of the Yanhuang Republic and visited the first city - Yan'an!

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