"But where did the ships for the landing operations come from?" The speaker was the staff officer of the major general in charge of the logistics plan of the high command, and because Lin Youde paid special attention to logistics, he barely remembered his face.

Lin Youde tapped the map with the stick in his hand.

"After the start of the war, we had a large number of transport ships stranded in Turkey, in addition, the shipping industry in the Black Sea itself is very developed, Romania and Bulgaria have a considerable number of transport ships, and there are also some ships in the docks in Ukraine that the Russian army has not had time to deal with. These ships are sufficient for us to carry out landing operations and to ensure sea transportation. ”

"But there are no landing ships in those ships."

"We will use the Airborne Forces to cooperate with the Romanian fleet in raiding the port, and then unload directly at the port, so that there will be no need for landing ships. To this end, the Air Force must strike a thorough blow at the remaining warships of the Black Sea Fleet, forcing them to withdraw from the operational range of our Air Force, or at least force them to retreat to ports on the territory of Georgia. ”

The German generals looked at each other, the traditionalist generals were suspicious, and the generals, who were mainly from the armored corps and the air force, seemed to be interested in the plan.

With the development of the Star 1 operation, the German army was increasingly divided into two factions, the generals who commanded a mixture of mechanized troops and traditional infantry to repel the Russian army in Warsaw mainly formed a traditionalist faction, and they improved the traditional infantry offensive doctrine and incorporated the air force and mechanized troops into the doctrine; The German troops in the south, who were responsible for breaking into Ukraine, fully believed in Lin Youde's doctrine of armored attack, and although the views of the two sides penetrated each other and were not completely opposed, the foundations behind the two factions were different, and in the eyes of ordinary Germans, both factions achieved great victories, but the victory in the south came relatively early.

Therefore, while Manstein, Guderian, Rommel and others gained great prestige in China, Lundstead and others, who commanded the combined forces of the Middle and Northern Routes, also gained great prestige.

However, at this time, the highest prestige was Lin Youde, who did not have a military rank or even nominally had nothing to do with the military.

In the past, the public's awareness of the new military doctrine proposed by Lin Youde was not high, far less than his economic and political skills, but now the people believe that Lin Youde is a great military strategist from the East. This kind of cognition also radiated backwards into the grassroots units of the German army, so at this time, even Halder and other German generals who had always been at odds with Lin Youde only muttered and did not raise objections - it was useless to oppose anyway, Lin Youde's current reputation could do whatever he wanted.

"Of course, in order to make this plan easier to execute," Lin Youde continued to point to the map, "Rostov must be taken." ”

"When is the earliest we can start landing?" Guderian asked, holding up a hand.

"Airborne and landing operations require a lot of preparation, and I think they will probably be ready around March next year."

Guderian frowned: "Then it's too late, if we can attack in October or November of this year, we can drag down the Russian Cossack troops in the Kuban steppe, which will be of great benefit to our capture of Rostov." ”

"That's unrealistic, and we're not going to attack within this year."

"Then this attack is of little significance," Manstein continued, "once Rostov is taken, the Kuban steppe area cannot be defended, and if I were the Russian commander, I would order the Kuban steppe troops to fully retreat and abandon the cities, including Yekaterinadar." ”

"I agree." At this time, there was a echo from the traditional German generals sitting on the other side of the conference table, and it seemed that the German generals who believed in different military doctrines had reached a consensus on this point.

Of course, Lin Youde knew what the Russian army would do after the occupation of Rostov, in another time and space, the Soviet army spent nearly two months blocking the German army from capturing Rostov, and immediately abandoned the Kuban steppe after the loss of Rostov, leaving only a certain amount of defensive troops in Yekaterinadar and other cities, but the German army still captured the Kuban steppe and this city known as the southern capital of Russia within a month.

The reason is very simple, after the German army occupied Rostov-on-Don, there were only steppes on the way south to the Caucasus Mountains, and there was no terrain to rely on to defend at all. ”

Therefore, after the occupation of Rostov, there is really no need for landing operations, and the German army can go south from Rostov to outflank the Russian army in Kuban, and then occupy the ports on the Black Sea coast to obtain sea supply lines.

"But the question is," Lin Youde said, staring at Manstein, "can you capture Rostov in October?" ”

"Of course we can." "We have already routed the Russian Don Front, and now only the newly formed Russian troops are in front of us, they are barely heavily equipped, and our advance group has broken through to Shakhtinsk, and soon we will reach the banks of the Don River and force the Don River, at which point the connection between Rostov and the industrial hinterland of South Russia will be cut off......"

"But it's going to snow in Russia soon."

"We have prepared for winter operations as you commanded, we have antifreeze lubricants, and we have enough cotton clothing."

"Okay, I'll see." Lin Youde shrugged his shoulders and continued, "Since Manstein thinks that he will be able to capture Rostov in October, let's skip this part for the time being and talk about what happens after the capture of the line from Rostov to the Caucasus Mountains and the acquisition of a line of communication by sea. Originally, we planned to cross the steppe of the Don River, enter the west bank of the Volga, and start attacking Tsaritsyn, and after seizing Tsaritsyn and securing the flanks, we would use our troops to move south and occupy Baku. However, Charitsyn is a difficult target to take.

"First of all, it has the Volga River, although this river cannot provide a barrier for the city defense of Tsarytin, but it can block our outflanking of Tsaryzin, as long as the Russian army controls the ships on the Zhì River and garrisons along the river, it will be difficult for us to complete the comprehensive encirclement of Tsarytin. Secondly, the city is located in a densely populated area in southern Russia, and it is very convenient for Russian soldiers and logistical supplies to be obtained, while our army has to cross thousands of kilometers to ensure supplies; Finally, this is a large industrialized city, and street fighting in large cities is not conducive to giving full play to the superiority of our army's mobility and firepower. ”

Lin Youde stopped and observed the reaction of the generals, and found that all the generals had no opinion on this point, and it seemed that Chalijin was more difficult to fight, and everyone agreed on this.

"So our new plan is to maintain a heavy group of troops on the Rostov line and confront the Russian troops deployed on the Tsaritsyn line, while the newly formed Caucasus Army Group advances along the Caucasus Mountains and attacks Baku. When the Russian army rushes south to help Baku, our army will have a decisive battle with the Russian army on the plains of the North Caucasus. ”

"What if the enemy moves troops only in the Caspian Sea? Our army has no way to influence the Caspian Sea. ”

"No matter where they move their troops from, the total number of their troops and supplies is constant, and when the strength of our army is reduced by the frontal enemy, we can move in a frontal group. In addition, our army should have enough troops in the southern foothills of the Caucasus Mountains to fight a decisive battle with a large Russian army, do not worry about the supply problem, when we open up the land access with Turkey, we will buy supplies from Turkey, you must know that after the Turkish war, our country has always had an advantage in arms sales to Turkey, Turkey has our technology authorized factories, and the specifications of ammunition and parts produced are consistent with the needs of our army. ”

Lin Youde's words caused a burst of exchanges, obviously the German generals did not expect that Lin Youde would suddenly throw out such a "foreshadowing" that had been buried a long time ago. Lin Youde's seemingly inadvertent foresight obviously shocked these well-informed generals.

Lin Youde waited for a while, enjoying the praise of the generals, either implicit or visible, and after a long while, he asked, "There is no doubt about the war in the south, right?" ”

No one answered, so Lin Youde continued: "While the attack is being carried out in the south, the central and northern routes should also launch offensives to contain the Russian troops, and Army Group A should move forward out of Belarus to further gain defensive space and reduce the defensive pressure on Ukraine's northern border." Army Group North will be upgraded to Army Group North, and we will liberate the three Baltic states and establish a united Republic of Lithuania, which should include most of the Principality of Lithuania before it was annexed by Russia. In this way, the range of strikes of the Air Force will be extended to the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, and the Baltic Fleet will completely lose the ability to threaten our Baltic sea transport lines. ”

"Are these all tasks to be completed in the remaining months of the year?" Brauchitsch asked with a frown, apparently unsure that he would accomplish so many tasks this year.

Fortunately, Lin Youde did not have the whimsy to accomplish so many things this year.

"No, Marshal." "No one wants to fight the Russian army in the winter, these are the main elements of the offensive that will start in March next year, and I think Army Group North and Army Group A should be prepared for this for the rest of the year, this is your last job of the year," he said. ”

"Very good, we'll get it done." Brauchitsch breathed a sigh of relief.

Lin Youde looked at Manstein again: "If you can take Rostov in October, I will ask my wife to send you the marshal's scepter, if you can't take it, I'm afraid you will have to stay in the position of general for a few more years." And the commander of the upcoming Caucasian Army Group, I think His Excellency Guderian is very suitable, and your current position will be replaced by Erwin Rommel, but since Manstein is ready to take Rostov in October, you will have to go back and continue to command your group until the end of this year's offensive. Until then, I'll put Paulus, commander of the 10th Army Group, in charge of the formation of Army Group on the Crimean Peninsula, no problem, right? ”

"No, that's reasonable, sir." Guderian nodded.

(Before, I had a convulsion and wrote Rostov as Rostock, and now it's all corrected back)