Let's look at the map, about 100 kilometers northeast from Odessa is Chisinau, the capital of Bessarabia (Moldova). Heading about 100 kilometres to the southwest will take you to Izmail. And Izmail is only a line away from Romania, and across the Prut River is Romania.

Let's look further west, and in the southwest of the port of Izmail, about a hundred kilometers in a straight line, Bucharest, the capital of Romania. That is, from Odessa, for the highly mechanized armored units of the Red Army, it was only necessary to run to Bucharest with just a tank of fuel. Once the capital of Romania falls, Ploiesti, about 30 kilometers from Bucharest, will certainly not be saved, and the Third Reich will lose its most important oil producer.

So in May, when the siege of Odessa was lifted, the army. The Committee began to consider the future direction of the offensive of the Red Army in southern Ukraine. Should it penetrate from south to north and cut into the ribs of the German Army Group South, or will it penetrate Romania and seize the oil-producing areas that were vital to the Nazis?

Truth be told, both options are attractive, if the Red Army has sufficient forces, the army. Venezuela has no objection to the two measures coming together. However, it is a pity that the strength of the Red Army is not endless, on the contrary, the strength of several groups of armies of the Red Army in southern Ukraine is actually relatively weak, and it is absolutely impossible to complete a strategic assault in one direction at most.

That is to say the Red Army . The question facing the Venezuelan was whether to capture the city or to annihilate the living forces of the German army. According to the most basic military principle, it is better to attack a city than to kill or injure the enemy's living force. But the temptation in Romania is not ordinary.

Why is the temptation in Romania unusual? Is it simply because Romania has oil?

Definitely not, before the destruction of the main oil refinery in Ploiesti. Oil is indeed the most important issue. But with 70% of Ploiesti's oil production capacity in dissipation. Oil vs. Army. The attractiveness of Venezuela has greatly diminished. It's just that oil isn't worth the military. So hesitant.

Really make the army. It is also the political issue that is on the mind. Yes, you read that right, it's a matter of politics, because the military has always been at the service of politics. At that time, the government. The ruling situation saw the possibility of taking Bucharest directly, forcing Romania to withdraw from the war, and even making Romania defect.

In fact, the Red Army has successfully done this in history. It seems that Romania's withdrawal from the war or its defection will have a knock-on effect, and Eastern and Central Europe will be forced to vote. Or the small countries that were barely able to get on the German chariot made a new choice. Even if they are not able to withdraw from the war or defect immediately, it will promote the revival of anti-fascist forces in these countries and allow the resistance movement to flourish.

This would be a great blow to the industrial production of Eastern and Central Europe, which was vital to the Nazis, and would force the Nazis to distract themselves from quelling the revolt in Eastern and Central Europe and reducing the pressure on the Red Army on the frontal battlefield.

This possibility is against politics. The governance situation is too attractive, including Li Xiaofeng. The members of the governing bureau all thought it was worth a try, and this gave the military. Venezuela's subsequent strategic choices have had a great impact.

In line with the basic principle of annihilating the enemy's living forces as much as possible, it is necessary to take into account both political affairs. The political needs of governance, total. The staff racked their brains to come up with a compromise:

The Voronezh Front and the Red Banner Separate Primorsky Army were to attack Kisinau in the north-west direction along the railway, while the 3rd Ukrainian Front was to stick the remnants of the German and Romanian armies from the front. Buy time for the "left hook" of the Voronezh Front and the Red Banner Separate Primorsky Army to encircle and destroy the enemy in the northern part of Odessa.

It doesn't seem like this plan has much to do with Romania? On the surface, it looks like this. But the total. In this memorandum of the plan, the General Staff remarked that if the Romanian army withdrew too quickly from the preset encirclement and fled to Bessarabia, then the main forces of the Red Army would follow the transfer, liberate Bessarabia and wait for an opportunity to counterattack into Romanian territory.

Of course, there was another possibility at that time, that is, the Romanians did not choose to flee in the direction of Bessarabia and Romania, but fled with the Germans to Western Ukraine, then the tasks of the Voronezh Front and the Red Banner Independent Primorsky Army and the Third Ukrainian Front will also change and will become a retreat through Bessarabia to directly penetrate Western Ukraine to seize Lviv and block the escape of the German Army Group South.

That is, the direction of the strategic attack of the Red Army depended entirely on the actions of the enemy, and if the Romanians were in a hurry to return home, then the Red Army followed closely into Romania. If the Romanians fled with the Germans, then the Red Army would carry out a large-scale outflanking encirclement, leaving the German Army Group South on the territory of Ukraine in one fell swoop.

The main generals of the Red Army naturally liked the latter possibility, and they were well trained during the civil war for this tactic of leaping through thousands of miles and then encircling the enemy, and they were very accustomed to this tactic, and they also liked this clean and thorough solution to the problem. If the German Army Group South can be annihilated in one fell swoop, it is almost certain that the Germans will not survive 1944!

Of course, the main generals of the Red Army, such as Ubolevich and Triandafilov, were well aware that this was unlikely, and that it was more direct and safer for the Romanians to flee with the Germans on a long detour and simply retreat to Bessarabia and then go home. Even a significant part of the German army would have chosen this path.

So total. The General Staff believed that the Red Army in southern Ukraine in the next stage was more likely to turn to the direction of Bessarabia and Romania, and that it was not realistic to encircle the German Army Group South. At least that's what Ubolevich thinks: "Considering that the German Army Group South is still relatively strong, and our army has a certain advantage, this advantage is not particularly obvious. Considering that a considerable part of our army's troops do not have rich combat experience, it is too difficult to carry out such a large-scale corps interspersed operation in a hurry. It would be more realistic to recover Ukraine and Belarus, and then finish off the main forces of the German army in Poland! ”

It should be said that Ubolevich is still very sober-minded and does not blindly seek more. And Manstein quickly told the Red Army with real actions. The German army was not the only one who attacked quickly. The speed of escape is not weak, and it is basically impossible to encircle them around Lviv.

Having said the strategic intentions of the Red Army's side, let's look at the options of the German and Romanian armies, after all, their choices will determine exactly where the future battlefield is. When news reached the Wolf's den that the Red Army had relieved Odessa and routed the combined Romanian and German forces that had previously been responsible for attacking Odessa, Hitler's inevitable thunderous rage reached the Wolf's Lair.

He had been preparing to squeeze out two or three more corps from this direction to strengthen Manstein's assault, and the Führer had dreams of a big victory in Chernihiv and a reversal of the passive situation. Well, before he could usher in this victory, Odessa in the south collapsed. Not to mention the transfer of troops to support Manstein, I am afraid that he will have to go to great lengths to draw troops from other fronts to fill the hole on the southern front.

Suffice it to say, Hitler thought that the sudden defeat in the south had disrupted his overall plan and created "a formidable obstacle to a turning victory for Germany." All in all, the Führer was angry and manic.

Therefore, the Führer immediately issued a stern order to Rundstead, demanding that the Rhodes coalition army on the southern front must stabilize its position as soon as possible, and must not allow the Ukrainian Third Front and the Voronezh Front to move north to disrupt Manstein's counterattack.

According to Hitler's vision, the Romanian and German armies had to immediately build a strong defensive line on the spot, and the Red Army must not be allowed to move north. But what the Führer did not expect was that the Romanians were simply too unreliable. These greased gentlemen have long been disgusted with endless battles. After being defeated by the Red Army, Na Zhen ran faster than a rabbit one by one. And what left Hitler and the German generals speechless the most was that the Romanians' choice of escape route was quite simple and straightforward - that is, the closest straight line between the two points, and whichever road was closest to Romania, they ran to that road.

Let's look at the map again, what is the closest way to escape from Odessa to Romania? It was certainly not to the northwest into Bessarabia, and although Bessarabia belonged to Romania at the time, the Romanian soldiers apparently did not consider Bessarabia to be their home. Their goal is that Bucharest is the Danube!

So instead of fleeing to Bessarabia, the Romanians turned left and fled towards Jakerman on the Black Sea coast.

Maybe now the big guys can't find this Akerman with a search engine or a long time on the map. It is not that the city was destroyed, but in fact it was simply changed to a Slavic name - Belgorod-Dniesterovsky. However, we should call it Ackerman according to history.

Yakerman is actually Turkish (don't be surprised, Crimea was snatched from the local chicken!). ), which means white fortress. The city is located in the lower reaches of the Dniester River, near the fjord at the mouth of the Dniester River to be exact. The city is separated from Odessa "across the sea" by a huge fjord.

Yakerman is really close to Odessa (20 km) and there are two routes to Odessa, one is to go around the fjord via the Dniester and the other is to take the bridge over the sea at the mouth of the fjord, where there is a direct railway connection to Odessa.

Which path did the Romanians choose? In fact, both roads were taken, and the Romanian troops who had attacked the southwestern city of Odessa fled directly from the "sea bridge", while the rest of the Romanians chose to bypass the fjord.

Of course, no matter which path they chose, one thing was the same, that is, the Romanians ran really fast, which was beyond the reach of the Red Army boys who wanted to chase them. And this also makes the army. Committee and General. The staff was dumbfounded.

Because the Romanians did not play according to the routine at all, they chose a total . The route that the staff had never thought of before, how did these guys run in the direction of Izmail? It's not the same as saying yes, right?

So the Ukrainian Third Front and the Voronezh Front hurriedly asked for instructions. Committee: "Is this chasing or not chasing?" ”

Truth be told, the army. Commission, especially Ubolevich is incomparably painful, chase it, before the army. The strategic focus chosen by the committee is not in that direction, huh? Not chasing? Is it just watching the Romanians run away?

After some urgent consultations, the military. The order was given to the Voronezh Front and the Red Banner Primorsky Army: "Pursue immediately!" "Of course, at the same time, the army. The Venezuela also ordered the Ukrainian Third Front to attack north. Purge the remnants of the Nazis in southern Ukraine.

As the commander of the Voronezh Front, Yeremenko against the army. The Commission's order is somewhat vague. His Front was subordinate to three army groups (37, 38, 41). In addition, the Red Banner Independent Coastal Army, which cooperated with the operation, only had the strength of four group armies. This little force is rushing into the heart of Romania, which seems to be very dangerous!

On the whole, Yeremenko was full of doubts, and his natural movements were a little sluggish, and he did not immediately carry out the army. The Commission's instructions were to immediately pursue the attack, and this gave the Germans an opportunity to take advantage of it.

What chances? Hitler was furious when he learned that the Romanians were running away from his hometown, but at this point the Führer knew that there was no point in being angry. He saw a dangerous possibility that the Red Army would take advantage of the Romanian army's panic to enter Romania and overthrow its fascist regime.

It has to be said that in terms of politics, Hitler's level was still very high, and he saw through Soviet politics. the situation and immediately reacted. He immediately ordered the Germans, who had retreated with the Romanians, to stop running away and immediately regroup their troops to Akerman, and demanded that Akerman be defended.

Jakerman was too important, and only by holding off the Red Army here could a chain reaction in Romania be avoided. Holding on here will not only calm the Romanians who are like frightened birds. Keeping this important bridgehead also means attacking Odessa again in the future. Hitler stubbornly believed that the present was only a temporary passivity, and that he would regroup in the future.

Soon, the 44th Mountain Army, which had originally belonged to the German 17th Army, received a strict order from the Führer, and the poor mountain infantry had to stop fleeing and turn back to Yakerman, who had just been abandoned by them. Thank God, Yeremenko's hesitation led to the arrival of only a small vanguard of the Red Army in the city, and after a modest battle, the Red Army, which had not yet gained a foothold, was driven away.

Of course, it was certainly impossible for the broken 44th Mountain Army to hold Akerman, and in order to keep this important fortress and bridgehead, Hitler exerted tremendous pressure on the Romanian government, forcing the Romanians to transfer the garrison originally stationed in the Izmail area to Akerman (about two infantry divisions), and in addition to organizing some of the routs that had fled back, and cobbling together about three divisions of troops into the Akerman area. That is, in the military. When Yeremenko was again ordered to pursue immediately, the Axis garrison in the Akerman region was approximately as follows:

The 257th Infantry Division and the 100th Light Division of the German 44th Mountain Army (these are not actually the main forces of the elite 44th Mountain Army, the main force of which is the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Mountain Divisions).

Romanian 6th, 7th and 14th Infantry Divisions, 2nd and 7th Mountain Infantry Brigades and 8th Cavalry Brigade.

The total strength of the Romanian and German armies was about 50,000. Their opponents, the 41st Army of the Voronezh Front and the Red Banner Independent Primorsky Army, had a total strength of 150,000 men, and the balance of forces between the two sides was about three to one, with Germany and Romania at an absolute disadvantage.

This was an impossible task for the German commander, Colonel-General Jenek, and the infantry general also considered the task meaningless. The admiral complained directly to Rundstead: "The stupid Bohemian corporal sent us to death for nothing in order to remember the land......"

This may sound reasonable, but in fact Hitler's military talent was not so bad, and of course he knew that it was dangerous to hold on to Akerman, but if he did not hold back the Red Army, then Romania would be dangerous, and in order to keep Romania and its oil fields in his camp for a longer time, Ackermann had to hold on, and the Red Army had to be blocked. Even though we knew that it would be difficult to hold on, symbolic resistance was necessary. It should be said that Hitler, as a brilliant politician, had deeper insight and judgment than his generals.

However, Admiral Jenek did not have much time to complain, because in the army. Under the supervision of the committee, Yeremenko had to speed up the pace, and the 37th Army under the command of Vasilevsky quickly advanced and cut off the escape route of Yenek's troops to Izmail, while Konev's 38th Army also appeared on the outskirts of Yakerman, and Tolbukhin's 41st Army was also ready to attack.

All in all, Jenek was surrounded by a group, and there was nothing he could do but hold on to it. Over the next two days, the Red Army swept through much of southwest Yakelman, directed its forces toward Izmail. It was the nasty nail of Jakerman that cut off the Red Army's lines of communication, causing the Red Army to continue to advance and face supply problems, which made the Red Army have to seriously face Admiral Jenek and his troops.

Under Yeremenko's orders, Tolbukhin's 41st Army was chosen to attack Yakerman, not that Yeremenko liked Tolbukhin, but that the bearded general was well aware of the army. Venezuela appreciates Konev and Vasilevsky even more, their troops are more elite and cannot be consumed in the battle to gnaw bones.

At first, Tolbukhin was glad to accept the task, believing that the capture of Ackerman would not be a difficult task, but soon the fat future field marshal found the bone to be difficult to gnaw...... (To be continued.) )

PS: Bow and thank you to SC-VX, Pig Chic 2, Lost Remnant Maple, Ground Fly and Comrade Juventus!