Most of these transport lines from Kiev to Stalingrad, as well as the various factories and infrastructure along the way, are now in the hands of the Germans, and in order to protect these equipment, the Germans have even invested special forces and paratroopers to fight a joint operation on an unprecedented scale.

It was only after these facilities fell into the hands of the Germans that Soviet intelligence realized the seriousness of the problem. When it was in Ukraine, the Germans relied on roads and railways to complete the rapid intersperse, and now they have fought Ukraine, and they have relied on these roads to complete the assault on Stalingrad.

By the time they provided this report to Zhukov, everything had fallen into place, and the Germans had completed their infiltration and attack on the Soviet oil-producing areas by relying on their own upfront fee investment. Those roads and railways were in fact bought by the Soviet Union with a lot of grain, and when they were exchanged, they became a model project for the whole country, and they were used everywhere to praise them.

Zhukov pointed to several important strongholds in the southern part of the map with a whip and told Stalin: "After the capture of Rostov-on-Don, the Germans have divided their offensive into two directions, one is that the German Army Group G, that is, Guderian's Division, is slowly advancing in the direction of Stalingrad, and the other is to cut south into the northern Caucasus in an attempt to seize the oil facilities there. ”

When he said this, he used his whip to draw twice in the direction of the German army's attack, and then pointed to the direction of Stalingrad and said: "I believe everyone is familiar with Guderian's department that attacked Stalingrad, this Army Group G is a well-known armored force of the German army, but now it is used to fight Stalingrad, which is absolutely unreasonable." ”

He went down again, and painted near Rostov: "But this Army Group M, which has just occupied the Crimean Peninsula, is worth studying carefully, Manstein, a general, was sent to the Caucasus, it is definitely not accidental, presumably this person should be the same as Guderian, a difficult character." ”

"The Germans are still increasing their forces in the direction of the Caucasus, and some of the armies of the client states and some German units are moving in this direction. Our local intelligence officers reported that some of the German troops who had not seen the number of the troops had also appeared in the southern theater one after another, which showed that the German army was increasing its strength there. Zhukov pointed to the map and reported to Stalin in detail what he knew, and then watched as Stalin stopped talking.

Stalin was silent, did not speak out immediately, he just looked at the map, not knowing what he was thinking. An air force general glanced at the army general on the opposite side, but the army general shook his head secretly. Before the meeting, the two of them were privately worried that Stalin would focus on Stalingrad, so they agreed to persuade Stalin to focus on the defense of Moscow together, but depending on the situation, neither of them wanted to speak first, so they had to exchange glances.

Obviously, the two of them had worked in vain, because Stalin finally opened his mouth, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he set the main content of the meeting: "The main direction of defense should still be placed in the south, this is the established policy, which cannot be changed." ”

It was not that Stalin was willing to abandon Moscow, but because the Caucasus was so dominant that he had to think about the possibility of losing the Caucasus, and how long the Soviet Union could support it once it was lost.

As a result, many of Stalin's economic advisers and industrial experts told Stalin that if the Caucasus was lost, the Soviet Union's oil reserves would be depleted, and it seemed that transporting oil from the United States would be far from quenching its thirst, and that the war would fall into a very pessimistic situation after Germany restored the production capacity of the Baku oil fields.

Moreover, once the Baku oil fields are lost, the Soviet armored forces will not be able to make up for the qualitative gap with quantity, and it will become extremely difficult to launch a large-scale armored battle, and it will become impossible to regain the territory lost by the Soviet Union.

This was intolerable to Stalin, who was counting on the future to regain lost territory so that he, the great leader of the crumbling Soviet Union, could continue to exist. If the war is lost and the country is lost, the foundation of his rule will also collapse, which is not good news for him.

If he were to step down from the pinnacle of power, with his habit of sending people to Siberia at every turn, there would surely be countless people waiting to seek justice from him, something that would have crept Stalin at the thought of it. So he accepted Zhukov's advice and set the focus of defense on the Caucasus line in the southern theater of operations.

"The 30 divisions transported from the Far East, also deployed in the Caucasus, were distributed proportionally, 7 divisions went into the Stalingrad defensive positions, and the remaining 23 divisions all went south to defend the Baku oil fields. "Stalin walked to the location of the Caucasus on the map, stretched out his hand and knocked near Baku:" At any cost, keep the Baku oil fields!"

......

The generals present at the strategic decision-making meeting of the German Forward Command and the Supreme Command were much more famous than the Soviet Union's top meeting: except for Field Marshal Rundstedt of the Central Cluster, who continued to stay on the front line to preside over the battle, the generals of the entire German Eastern Front who could be named were already sitting in front of Führer Accardo.

Moder of Army D, Liszt of Army E, Kluge of Army F, Guderian of Army G, Manstein of Army M, and Commander of Army N, Quchler, who had just been transferred to the Southern Cluster. This can really be regarded as a gathering of stars.

"The campaign plan has not changed, everything is still according to the original plan, after strengthening the replenishment of ammunition and fuel, a large-scale annihilation operation will be carried out against the Soviet troops in the Caucasus. Field Marshal Brauchitsch, as the supreme commander of the German army, was standing in front of the map, assigning tasks to all the German generals who attended the meeting.

"General Guderian commanded Army Group G, continued to advance eastward, seized Soviet positions along the Don River, and opened a gap for the attack on Stalingrad. He pointed to the map with his whip and said the first combat mission.

Guderian immediately stood up and replied loudly: "Yes!"

Then he motioned for Guderian to sit down, and then pointed to Stalingrad: "Army Group N, under the command of General Kuchler, will be responsible for a frontal assault on Stalingrad, and after capturing the city, cross the Volga and attack Leninsk. ”

"Yes!" Quchrel's force, which consisted mostly of infantry, was therefore very fast in maneuvering on the railroad line, and a part of his force had now taken over from Manstein's troops, and was in the rear of Gudeli's armoured troops, supporting them in their advance.

It was also the established policy of the High Command to attack Stalingrad by his troops, and Accardo did not want the Germans to be over-depleted at Stalingrad, so he used a new army group to attack, intending to capture there regardless of losses, so as to save the German forces on the frontal defensive line.

In fact, the strategy of Stalingrad drawn up by the German army was, to put it bluntly, to use its forces to ram into it, desperately scrap Army Group N, and also occupy Stalingrad as soon as possible, because the German army did not have time for the Soviet Union to stalemate there, and Manstein, who was heading south, needed a stable rear and let him ensure the victory of the battle for the Baku oil fields in the Caucasus as much as possible.

Stalingrad was not unlike any other city, in addition to being a huge industrial city in the southern Soviet Union, it was also a transportation hub, connecting the Don and Volga rivers by waterway, and even affecting transportation in Moscow and other regions to the north. By occupying this area, the Germans would be able to establish a solid defensive ring nearby, radiating the entire Caucasus and laying the foundation for victory in the Battle of Kursk.

So unlike Hitler, this time the Germans did not aim to level Stalingrad, but to occupy it as quickly as possible. The attacking force was no longer the elite 6th Army, but a newly formed Army N.

"The task of going south was given to General Manstein of Army Group M, to seize the most important oil fields of Baku and to ensure the security of the Caucasus. Brauchitsch continued to point to the bottom of the map, circled the key points of the battle, looked at Manstein and said, "The fate of the empire will depend on your performance in the vicinity of the Caucasus. ”

"Yes! I am here to assure the Führer that I, Manstein, will definitely take the Caucasus and occupy the Baku oil fields!" Manstein has replenished a large number of troops, and the combat capability of his troops has improved a lot after being tempered by the battle of the Crimean Peninsula.

"General Modell's Army Group D, which will be responsible for securing the flanks of the entire southern theater of operations with other friendly forces. After General Guderian's troops have completed the surprise attack and encircled Stalingrad, his troops will move north to attack Kursk, and the security of your defense, General Moder, will be completely guaranteed. ”

"Yes! I, Moder, am here to assure the Führer that the flanks of the southern theater of operations are absolutely safe, and that with Army Group D, the Soviets cannot move south!" replied Moder, who also stood up.

"So, then!" Accardo sat down at the main seat of the conference table and said slowly but firmly, "Everyone, let's do whatever it takes!