"Comrade commander, you must be good at using your brains, don't die in one direction, since the 62nd and 57th armies are so difficult, then simply cross the river and attract the key forces of the German army, and the other group armies should continue to cross the river through the meanders of the river, and it is a trap for a group army to be surrounded by the enemy, and when we put in 3, 4, or even 5 or 6 group armies, can the enemy easily surround and eat us?" Stalin glanced at the map, "Besides, in the bend of the Don River, it is already the limit of being able to place 3 army groups, and no amount of troops can be used at all......

"I discussed it with Comrade Vasilevsky...... Zhukov cautiously replied, "we intend to wait a little longer, and when the entire Don River freezes over, we will launch a full-scale offensive, so that the water surface of the Don River will not become an obstacle for us, and the fascists will not be able to stop our attack......"

"Wait at least another week?" Stalin asked with a frown.

"I'm afraid it will take 10 days, and after 10 days, the ice will be thicker enough to support tanks across the river."

"So, how long are you going to drag it downstream? Comrade Konstantin ......" Stalin asked in a mocking tone, "don't say that you don't know that the ice will not form in another month downstream......"

"This ......" Zhukov's original intention was to continue to drag on, but listening to the Supreme Commander, he didn't have so much time to delay.

"The Black Sea Fleet sent a report that yesterday and today they were under fierce attack by the enemy in succession, and two more destroyers were sunk. Now the ports of Novorossiysk, Tuapse, Sochi and other ports on the left flank of the Caucasus are under the threat of the enemy and are in a precarious situation. The enemy controls the sky and the sea, our troops simply can't parry, what if the enemy lands here and attacks? Stalin said in annoyance. A few days ago, Comrade Oktya Borsky bragged in front of me, saying that he could fight with the Germans, but now it is good, after being taught a lesson by the fascists, he sent telegrams to Moscow asking for help, begging the General Staff and Comrade Kuznetsov to find a way for him. ”

Zhukov and Vasilevsky both shook their heads with wry smiles, and other places could consider sending reinforcements. Even the big closed pond in the Black Sea could not send reinforcements there.

"Don't ignore this possibility......" Stalin raised his voice, scribbled the cities one by one on the map with his hand, and said with a frown: "Originally, the rugged mountains of the Caucasus were the best barrier for the army of this front. The Germans would have to pay a heavy price for the passage of these passes, but on the other hand, these passes would also become a nuisance for us if the enemy landed behind our backs. We simply can't calmly mobilize our troops......"

Neither Zhukov nor Vasilevsky could deny this. Behind the passes of the Caucasus is a strip of plains, and the troops of the Caucasian Front stretch from Novorossiysk, Tuapse, Sochi all the way to Sukhumi, forming a long series of serpentine defenses, the cities are connected by rail, and as soon as Germany lands somewhere in the middle, the entire defense system can be destroyed, and then the Red Army, which is cut off from retreating, will have the sea on the left and the mountains on the right. In front is the German army, and if there is no way to retreat in the back, you can only wait for death in the encirclement. However, there are still so many ports that can land, and there is no way to focus on them one by one.

"So I suspect that Manstein deliberately set such a trap at the bend of the Don, using our mindset and panic to force us not to move, and that he has quietly moved his main forces to the southern flank, ready to launch a deadly attack...... Otherwise, why did Hitler send such a fleet in for no reason - wouldn't it be better to stay in the Mediterranean against the British? ”

Vasilevsky thought for a long time and held back a sentence: "I have a suggestion, can we ask the Southwestern Front to launch a ...... in the upper reaches of the Don River."

"Or do you want to attack the enemy's left flank first and eat the Hult cluster?" Stalin frowned in displeasure, "Can you hit Rostov directly?" What if the Hult cluster moves north? Comrade Vasilevsky, you have to have a big picture, the enemies of Rostov are not afraid of our flanks at all, now they have a huge fleet, they firmly control the sea supremacy of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, they can send as many supplies as they want by sea, and even the only partisan force that can harass them no longer exists......"

Zhukov was silent and did not speak, and it was obvious that the Germans were making a good move by sending a fleet to the Black Sea, not only using the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to organically link the clusters in the three directions, but also using the fleet's artillery fire and rapid movement ability to form a powerful deterrent, because with the dispatch of this fleet, the enemy could easily move between the three battlefields and pinpoint the weak links of the Red Army for a surprise attack, and the reinforcement speed of the Red Army's land march could not catch up with the speed of the warships sailing in the sea. However, this advantage cannot be overcome in a short period of time, because at present the Red Army does not have an advantage in the Black Sea, whether it is sea or air, and even a sneak attack is very difficult, and the Red Army air force lacks the ability to dive bomb and the experience of dealing with surface ships, so it can only do useless work.

Seeing that the two generals were silent, Stalin himself made a suggestion: "Perhaps, we can let the vanguard of the 21st Army continue to attack forward to see what the enemy has planned, and at the same time let the follow-up 24th Army prepare to cross the river, and now how many troops can be crossed in a day?" ”

"If the Germans do not interfere, it will be about 4-50,000 people and the corresponding technical equipment......"

"The 24th Army is less than 100,000 horses, if you seize the opportunity, 2 days will be enough, and the 27th Army will not be eaten by the Germans in two days, right?"

"This ......," Zhukov said with a wry smile, "of course not, but even the little strength of the 27th Army can't move the enemy." ”

"Then use the troops of the 21st Army to continue the attack, and do not need them to shake the enemy's lines, but only ask them to further test the reality of the Germans, and I do not believe that Manstein can always give us the territory, let us touch his tortoise shell. Comrades, we can't not dare to move for fear that the enemy will have a trap, can we regain the lost ground with a wide eye? Stalin followed the two subordinates, "You are afraid that Manstein's main force will wait for us in front and throw yourself into the net, and you are afraid that Manstein will play a trap with us and not put the main force there, but from the perspective of dialectics, there is only one result, how can you know if you don't try once?" ”

"Well, Comrade Stalin, let's try to launch a tentative offensive tomorrow morning......" Zhukov was persuaded by Stalin, in fact he had no other better option.

"Crazy...... Let's go one army against one army group? Or such a super-large unit as the German 6th Army? Karpov, the commander of the 27th Army, tore the paper to shreds after reading the telegram asking him to attack, and the telegram ordered him to attack until he encountered the enemy's strong defense, "This is the largest army group of the Germans, and its strength is stronger than that of any of our front armies, which means that all of our 27th Army will die?" ”

Political Commissar Masnov also did not understand the true intention of this order, but he still persuaded: "Comrade commander, you can't say that, now the enemy situation is unknown, and the superior commander wants us to find out the enemy's defense for the main force, which is a trust in us." Besides, the superior commander did not give us indicators such as conquering the defensive line or which city to occupy, but only asked us to touch the enemy's defense system......" After speaking, he glanced at Karpov, who immediately reacted that this was the meaning of his old partner hinting that he was cautious and would immediately retract if the enemy was strong, and the corners of his mouth rose slightly and smiled.

After forwarding the telegram ordering the 27th Army to attack, the commander of the 21st Army, Chistyakov, was also very irritable, emotionally speaking, he wanted to lead the whole army to follow up and support the 27th Army, in any case, the 27th Army was the sharp knife unit of the group army, Karpov was still a company comrade-in-arms with him back then, nothing more than he was the company commander, and Karpov was the platoon commander; But intellectually speaking, he could not let the entire group army press up to respond, and when his rear was not clearly supported by other friendly and neighboring troops, it was likely that moving forward together would become a death together.

After pondering for a long time, he finally made up his mind: "Except for the three divisions that remain to guard the bend department, the entire group army will press forward for 50 kilometers and maintain a high degree of alert to prevent a sudden attack by the enemy...... The 10th Tank Brigade was assigned to Comrade Karpov, and in the event of an unfavorable situation in the battle, it immediately retreated and contracted, and at the same time requested support from the commander of the Front, Comrade Rokossovsky, and Moscow. ”

Of course, Zhukov did not simply copy Stalin's orders and do nothing else, he discussed with Vasilevsky for a long time, although Stalin did not allow the Southwestern Front to attack the Hort cluster on the right flank, but did not oppose the attack on Rostov from its left flank, he sent a telegram to the commander of the Southwestern Front, Vatutin, asking the Southwestern Front to cooperate with the 21st Army to carry out the offensive, and at the same time asking him to build a pontoon bridge in the upper reaches of the Don River and prepare to go south to join the war.

As soon as the Red Army moved, all kinds of battlefield information was immediately fed back to Manstein, and he was keenly aware that the Red Army's determination to fight had changed, and the Red Army's top brass had become impetuous.

Watching the operational staff officers adjust the latest enemy situation on the sand table, he nodded and said: "Prepare for the Southwestern Front to attack my left flank - very good, they have finally given up the attempt to attack the Holt cluster from the flank, and tell the soldiers on the front defense not to retreat an inch and firmly guard the position in their hands......"

"What about the deployment of the flanks?" Weller asked, "If the Red Army crosses the river, it will not be less than the strength of one army group." ”

"Flanks......" Manstein muttered, waved his hand, and said imposingly, "let them cross the river......" (to be continued. )