Now that the general plan for the attack has been decided, the rest is a matter for the Army General Staff and the various army groups. Accardo wanted to know the specifics of the attack on Stalingrad, which was the basis for the subsequent battles of Kursk and Baku.

"Our troops have already crossed the Kalitva River on the front, because the bridge is still well preserved, so the crossing speed of our army is not slow. Guderian reported to Accardo on the position of his Army Group G's attack: "Although the Soviet defenders were heavily fortified, our troops quickly captured the Chir River and occupied a large area in the north of the Rostov region. ”

He pointed to a large area on the map, then glanced at Brauchitsch and the other generals, and said: "The important towns on the Chir River, Bokovskaya and Sovetskaya are already under the control of our army. The forward units of our army have approached Surovikno, and although the Soviets have resisted steadily, they have not committed any decent troops. ”

The main force of the German army, Army Group G, was advancing in the direction of the Don River, and it was a devastating advance. The well-placed defensive positions of the Soviet army were easily crossed by the German special forces and paratroopers, which instantly caught the Soviet commanders and troops by surprise, and they had no way to prevent the collapse of the front line, nor to organize an effective counterattack when the German army was advancing rapidly.

Rokossovsky was a well-known Soviet general, and while he ordered his two armored divisions to retreat to Karachi, he increased his forces along the Don River, hoping to use the wider Don River to defend against the German attack. Surovichino was already within the scope of his abandonment, and was cleanly discarded.

Although the German troops on the southern front said that the supply conditions were better than those of the central cluster, they were only better. In fact, Guderian had only one transport trunk in his hands, which connected from Donetsk to Surovichino in one go. Because the Germans ensured the smooth flow of this transportation line during the attack, they were able to use the railway to ensure the transportation of materials for the front-line troops when the mud came.

Guderian pointed to this important and fragile transport line, and said to Accardo: "My Führer, at present, there are no problems with transportation, and in three days, under the cover of the air force, our army will raid Karachi and break through the defense line of the Don River of the Soviet defenders." ”

In fact, because of careful preparation, and because Manstein's troops were better at attacking fortified positions in conditions with dense water networks. Manstein's forces had now captured various important strongholds along the Don River. He first led his army to capture Bataiysk, dealt a heavy blow to the Soviet troops defending the Caucasus, and then did not rush south, but went all the way to the east, eating up many areas where the Soviet defenders were seriously insufficient.

First of all, he set out from Aksai and captured the important cities of Bagaevsky, Semykalaersky, Konstantinovsk, Ust-Donetssky. The 13th Panzer Army, the main force under Manstein, had already threatened Volgodonsk and Zimryansk.

The Manstein army group moving south was overwhelmed along the way, successively taking Azov, an important port near the Sea of Azov, and then another port of Yeysk, controlling all of the Yaya River basin. The southernmost unit had already advanced into Salisk, completely disrupting the strategic deployment of Soviet troops near the Caucasus.

Before the meeting had even begun, Army Group M, which had not stopped, launched an attack on Voskhod and, after more than an hour of fierce fighting, occupied it. The Soviets routed south to Yuzhne, only to be followed by German grenadiers, who by this time had already captured Yuzhny and had taken Veliko Orlovka and Veliko Martnovka without a single shot.

The Soviet Union's Red Banner Black Sea Fleet has almost no room for it, and if the momentum of the German army's continued southward movement cannot be stopped, then these Soviet combat ships deployed in the Black Sea will be dumpled by the German army on land, and it will be difficult to escape the final destruction.

After Guderian had finished talking about Army G's plan of attack and sat back in his chair, Manstein stood up and briefly explained the plan for his troops' attack. He walked to the front of the map, pointed to the Kerch Strait and said: "My Führer, the next offensive plan of Army Group M will be to open up the Kerch Strait to shorten the supply line of our army. ”

Then his hand was drawn along the Kerch Strait to the east, and he continued: "Our army will fully occupy the Krasnodar Krai, and then sweep the entire Caucasus along the central part of Georgia. Finally, the attack on Baku began, completing the entire Caucasus raid. ”

The railway line into the Caucasus, which crossed the whole of Georgia from the central part of the country, was an important supply line through the Caucasus, and Manstein had studied countless ways to capture Baku, and as a result, a quick attack along the railway line became his preferred method.

There are two routes, one that follows Grozny in the north and then south, and one that enters Georgia and crosses the entire region before heading straight to Baku. Manstein, because of his abundant forces, adopted a two-pronged offensive approach, and opened up the situation in unison.

This arrangement was based on the fact that the Germans were superior to the Soviets in their strength and fighting qualities, and Manstein's Army Group M had more than 400,000 men, 70 percent of whom were veterans of the Battle of the Crimean Peninsula, and he believed that these forces could defeat more Soviet troops than he could, and that intelligence supported his views.

The Soviets had a total of 330,000 troops in the southern Caucasus, less than Manstein's troops, most of whom were new recruits and more than half of whom had never fired a shot. To add insult to injury, almost 100,000 of these troops were deployed along the Kerch Strait to prevent the Germans from landing at Kerch.

Then the Soviet troops in front of Manstein were no more than 250,000 people, which could be said to be no match for the German Army Group M. No matter which way the Soviet army is, it is tantamount to a fantasy to stop the attack of almost 200,000 German troops. Of course, in fact, the Soviet army still had an elite reinforcement force, which the Germans did not know about at this time.

"Although the speed of our army's offensive is very fast, the Caucasus is too big, and I am worried that even if the Soviet army cannot hold the Caucasus, it will have time to destroy the oil depots and destroy the oil production equipment. Manstein pointed to distant Baku and said, "I think if we want to subsidize the domestic consumption of crude oil, at least we must start preparing for emergency repairs and equipment from now on." ”

"Personnel and equipment were prepared a few months ago, and in fact at that time you were still in the Crimea, and Guderian was still on the territory of Ukraine. Accardo glanced at Manstein and said in a calm tone: "This repair force can be dispatched at any time, with more than 3,000 people and a lot of large equipment. If there is no problem with the railway line, and the Baku oil fields are not completely damaged, then we are sure that they will be repaired within six months to a year. ”

"My Führer, at such a distance, I really can't guarantee anything, I can only say that if I were Rokossovsky, then as soon as one of the strikers of my troops crossed Yevlakh, I would have given the order to blow up the Baku oil fields. Manstein reluctantly told the truth: "I can destroy the whole of Baku in a few days with just a few shells and explosives, and at that time, my troops can only advance to the Ujare area at the earliest." ”

"I don't know how the actual situation will change, I just want to ask, if, I mean if, when I advance to Yevlakh, paratroopers near Baku and occupy Baku, can I better change the tide of the battle and reduce the damage in the oil fields?"

"IMHO, a raid on Baku is an impossible task solely with paratroopers and even with the addition of special forces and helicopters. If it is an assault and destruction, then the Air Force can do it, but to occupy and protect, this is not the strong point of the paratroopers. Air Force Admiral Catherine, who was sitting on the sidelines, said: "General Studenter's troops will be completely destroyed, and the Baku oil fields will be reduced to rubble by the flames of war." This is not the outcome we want to see. ”

"Even if the paratroopers were successfully airborne, I did not have the strength to make a continuous assault, and in two days I advanced the infantry to Baku, leaving the paratroopers alone behind enemy lines for a week...... I think you know what that means. Manstein also spoke.

Accardo nodded, he did develop a large number of ultra-modern troops for the German army, and also developed and enlightened a lot of new combat ideas, but he couldn't change the limitations of science and technology in this era on warfare, and he couldn't force a certain class to do things that he was not good at.

If the paratroopers were to be thrown into a certain area, and simply defended for a few days or even a dozen days, the Student might be able to do it regardless of the losses, but even if it did, in the course of his paratroopers fighting the enemy, the area would be in ruins - this was the inevitable result of the paratroopers holding their positions, and they would beat the city into ruins, and then not give up an inch of land in the ruins.

But that is Baku, the oil-producing area that the Germans want to loot, and how can production be restored after it is reduced to rubble? Even if it is destroyed by blasting, the Germans do not want the whole of Baku to be completely reduced to the ruins of Smolensk.