In another alternate time and space, the Germans repeatedly fought for the area around Kerch throughout the Crimean Peninsula. This also caused a large number of casualties among the German army, and also caused the entire Crimean Peninsula to repeat the battle. Finally, when the Germans captured the fortress group of Sevastopol, the battle of Crimea, which lasted more than 200 days, was finally ended.

Today's German army occupies the right place at the right time, and it is much better than the previous situation that Manstein dealt with alone. First of all, the German army cut off the support operations of the Soviet army in the Caucasus in advance in the offensive and defensive battle of the Crimea, although this was caused by Khrushchev himself, but it was regarded as allowing the German army to occupy the time.

Then the Soviet Union did not continue to strengthen and refurbish the military fortifications on the Crimean Peninsula as it has historically, and most of the navy's funds were lost on the huge Soviet-class battleships, so there was no decent investment in the civil engineering of the Crimean Peninsula - many of the areas where the armored turrets were originally intended to be installed had only one shell, and no real artillery in them, which gave the Germans some advantage.

In the end, the Soviet army had no external reinforcements, and the internal elite was also consumed and destroyed, although there was no shortage of ammunition, but because of the lack of soldiers to replenish it, there was no way to effectively counter the German attack, and finally the entire Sevastopol fortress group fell, and poor Marshal Voroshilov was helplessly isolated near Kerch. At this point, the Soviet side was completely lost, and the outcome of the entire Crimean Peninsula campaign was doomed at that time.

Therefore, when Manstein originally formulated the offensive operation plan for the Crimean Peninsula, he decided to attack the Sevastopol fortress group first, and after killing this hard bone first, he would obtain the sea supply line from Romania to Sevastopol, so that the German army on the southern front could get supplies more conveniently.

"To replenish the armored forces to their pre-war state as soon as possible, I want plenty of fuel and direct delivery from Romania, the problem of ships does not seem to be a problem anymore, Turkey promised to lend us 40 cargo ships, and Romania also has 90, which is enough to transport a large amount of supplies. Standing in front of the map, Manstein pointed to the area between Romania and Sevastopol, and ordered his subordinates: "The port of Sevastopol will return to its pre-war level as soon as possible, and the day after tomorrow I will hear that it can be loaded and unloaded normally." ”

"General, 10,000 additional troops have been assembled in Romania, 3,000 local mercenaries, and 7,000 Austrian youths and domestic soldiers. The officer in charge of replenishing the troops reported: "The train carrying the soldiers dropped them in Turke, Romania, and left." ”

"The 3 divisions of the infantry are storming in the direction of Kerch, the strength of the Soviets' defensive line is much worse than that of the Sevastopol fortress, our advance is very fast, and we are already close to their core defensive circle. The chief of staff pointed to the huge map hanging on the wall with his whip and gave Manstein a detailed account of the current situation of the battle: "Our troops have been counterattacked here and here, but the Soviets have not captured any positions, and they have retreated in the early morning when our air force arrived. ”

You know, although the junction of the Kerch region and the Crimean Peninsula is also a long and narrow terrain that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, without the support of the entire Caucasus behind Kerch, the defense line here is actually not as impregnable as it seems. At least at the time of the German offensive now, Voroshilov's troops were routed, faster than Khrushchev had been defeated in Sevastopol.

"Report!" a German officer walked up to Manstein's side with a document in his hand, and saluted: "Long live Führer Accardo, Rudolf!" He was mild-mannered, and at first glance he was from a famous family, and his clean face was a young version of Marshal Brauchitsch.

"Long live the Führer!" Manstein replied with a meticulous salute, and then asked Brauchitsch's nephew, who had just returned from the front, with a smile: "Is there anything you want to tell me about returning from the front in such a hurry?"

"General! news has just come from the front that Khrushchev's body has been found. He died on the way to the attack, which was in line with his usual style. Brauchitsch's son said solemnly: "His body has been found, and he has been lying there for a day, but it is very well preserved because of the weather." ”

"......" Manstein was silent for a moment, then said, "Pack it up for him, and then send it to the wolf's den by special train." I heard that this former No. 2 person in the Soviet Union has seen our Führer, but I don't know if it's true. But now that he's dead, it's also true, and it seems that we have one less opponent. ”

The officer, who was close to the field marshal, immediately nodded: "Okay, general, I'll do it." ”

Manstein watched him go out, walked straight to the edge of the huge map hanging on the wall, raised his head and looked at the markings on it carefully, and finally stretched out his hand and dotted on the map with his fingers, and said in a cold voice: "Since Khrushchev has been kicked out by me, now you ...... Voroshilov, are you ready for your funeral?"

......

"It's all over, comrades. Of course, Voroshilov knew how many brushes he had, and he now had only about 100,000 troops at his disposal, and it was really a bit stretched to hold Kerch and the surrounding area. What is desperate is that he was in an even more difficult situation than Khrushchev, after all, the ammunition reserves in Kerch were not as abundant as in Sevastopol.

The Sevastopol fortress complex has always been built as the core of the entire Crimea, so most of the ammunition reserves are also placed in this fortified fortress, and although Kerch also has some reserves, it is not as large as the Sevastopol fortress group.

Now that the Germans have knocked out Sevastopol and turned their guns on poor Kerch, the Soviet troops in the direction of Kerch are even more desperate.

Khrushchev was defeated and killed in the Sevastopol fortress, and Voroshilov immediately felt the pressure on his defensive line double. The intensity of the German offensive was many times stronger than when the Sevastopol fortress group was still there. Several positions were captured by the Germans in an instant, and his strategic depth was compressed to the point of almost collapse.

"Damn Manstein! he's going to kill them all. Voroshilov originally thought that the Germans would take a break after the attack and defense of the Sevastopol fortress before starting the attack, but he did not expect that the German infantry would begin to advance almost on the same day. His troops were defeated again and again, and now they were on the verge of being defeated back to Kerch.

Compared to Khrushchev, Voroshilov was a well-known military gentleman, one of the early marshals of the Soviet army, and an indelible contribution to the preservation of the Soviet mid- and high-ranking officers in the aftermath of the Great Purge. Now that he is in trouble, his first reaction is not to fight to the death, but to continue to lose.

Although on the map, Kerch is a dead land, and the loss of the rear here is almost no different from a desperate situation, the entire Kerch region is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and the Germans have already captured the only land side, so it seems that Voroshilov will inevitably follow in the footsteps of Khrushchev.

But only he himself knows, in fact, he still has a way back, not far to the east of Kerch, across the strait, is the Soviet Forte Caucasus, as long as a ship is prepared, it is not difficult for him Voroshilov to escape and ascend to heaven.

These days, in addition to dispatching troops to deal with the German attack, he has actually been in contact with Moscow, begging his old colleagues to run and beg him to return to the Soviet Union and continue to command troops in the Caucasus to resist the German invasion.

His campaign was not without results, and many officers felt that the marshal had contributed to the Soviet army, and there was no need to force him to fight to the death in such a place as Kerch. Khrushchev's death gave this matter a step, and everyone threw the blame on the dead and insisted that they were victims of persecution.

Everyone has selfish intentions, and everyone has their own side of fear of death. Once you give people hope and hope that they can live, then this person will not do anything desperate to fight for their lives. In ancient times, the siege used in the siege of the city was missing one, which is such a reason.

Now Voroshilov sees that his retreat is being successfully planned little by little, so naturally he has no intention of resisting to the death, he will shrink the Kerch defense line little by little, and wait for the Soviet Moscow side to send him accurate news, he will run away with his tail between his legs.

As for the life and death of his Soviet soldiers, he did not have a very good way, obviously the fewer people who knew about this kind of thing, the better, once tens of thousands of people crossed the strait and retreated to the Caucasus, then the whole thing would be exposed, and it would undoubtedly be a huge blow to the morale of the Soviet troops on the front line - a group of people who had already been classified as traitors were forgiven, and then surrender or temporarily disobey the command would be overflowing.

"Send a telegram urging Marshal Zhukov if I can move the headquarters to the Caucasus...... Forget it, just ask...... When can I leave and go to the Caucasus. Voroshilov knew that he was two pounds, and he bargained directly with Stalin, and it was estimated that he would definitely be rejected. So he approached Zhukov, the commander-in-chief of the front who had a personal relationship, hoping that he could help him. Zhukov, of course, did not disappoint him, and decided to arrange a false identity for him, send him to the Caucasus, and become an idle old man who no longer intervenes in the military.