That night, as usual, it was the Brandenburg detachment that took the lead.

In fact, the Brandenburg detachment had already been dispatched to reconnoiter during the day, when the 11th Army was resting.

The results of their reconnaissance were consistent with Qin Chuan and others' guesses, and they assigned the main forces to the front of the Baku defense line and the Caspian Sea coast, while most of the troops stationed in the direction of the Caucasus Mountains were routed, wounded and logistical personnel who had been withdrawn from the front line...... The routs and wounded, mostly from the 392nd and 394th Infantry Divisions, were ordered to stop the German advance at the front, but rather to stop than to break and flee, and were chased by the Germans all the way to Baku.

"They arranged three divisions on the front of the defensive line!" Erich pointed to the map and said, "The 406th Infantry Division, the 155th Infantry Brigade and the 242nd Mountain Division!" On the shores of the Caspian Sea were the direct units of the Front, namely the 417th Infantry Division and the 52nd Tank Brigade. ”

"They clearly think that we will bypass their lines from the Caspian Sea!" Manstein said: "That's why the elite troops were placed on the shores of the Caspian Sea!" ”

"Yes!" Major General Wagner said: "But this is not good for us! ”

Manstein nodded in agreement.

Although by now, the German raid could be considered half the battle...... Until this time, the Soviets did not realize that the Germans had penetrated into the rear of Baku.

However, the disparity in the enemy's forces was still very large.

The Soviet army had four complete infantry and one tank brigade, and two infantry divisions that had been disabled and were resting in the rear as reserves, with a preliminary estimate of about 100,000 troops.

Strictly speaking, the German army had only two divisions of more than 30,000 troops.

"As soon as we storm Baku!" Major General Freko said: "As soon as the enemy's forces scattered around us return, they will form a counter-encirclement of us!" ”

"If we have reinforcements...... Wagner said, "then we can defeat them from inside and out." The problem is that we don't have reinforcements, and we'll be besieged by them and unable to move! ”

"What's worse is that we don't have heavy weapons!" Qin Chuan added: "And the enemy has a tank brigade!" ”

The 11th Army had to climb the Caucasus, so all the heavy equipment was left on the other side of the mountain. Otherwise, with the quality of the German armored division, there is still a chance of victory against the Soviet armored division.

But now it's a different story.

Erich advised: "Sneak attack, blow up the oil refinery, and retreat to the Caucasus!" ”

That's really good advice.

In fact, this is one of the reasons why Manstein agreed to intersperse from the Caucasus...... The Baku oil fields accounted for 71.5% of the total energy of the Soviet Union, and the ignition of these fields and the blowing up of the refineries would have caused considerable losses to Soviet industry, which could already be said to be a victory.

The Germans then retreated to the Caucasus with supplies captured from Baku, taking advantage of the terrain to block the Soviet attack until Army Group A broke through the Don line of defense and pinned the Caucasus.

The problem is that in this way, it will not happen overnight for the Germans to get oil from Baku.

"We may be able to hold Baku!" Qin Chuan looked at the map and said.

"Major!" Erich objected: "Although I would also like those oil fields and refineries to be used by us, with all due respect, this is not a rational approach!" ”

Wagner also shook his head and said: "Although the Soviets are not strong in combat!" Among them, the 242nd Mountain Division is still a newly formed recruit, but the difference in strength is too great, and the two troops directly under the front army should not be underestimated! ”

"We don't need to face so many troops!" Qin Chuan said.

"You mean to use our army's frontal offensive and the Caspian offensive to contain it?" Major General Freko said: "Major, they have a wall of fire, and it only takes a small number of troops to keep our 22nd Panzer Division in the other way!" ”

"I'm talking about the wall of fire!" Qin Chuan said.

"What wall of fire?" Manstein asked.

"Marshal!" Qin Chuan pointed to the map and said, "As we said before, the Soviet army may have more than one wall of fire on the front. To put it simply, after we break through a wall of fire, we have to face a second wall of fire, and then a third ......."

"What does this have to do with us?" Manstein asked.

"Of course it is, Your Excellency!" Qin Chuan replied: "Because I think, these walls of fire are definitely not dug temporarily, it is very likely that they are digging now, and they are still in the rear of the front-line troops!" ”

The officers couldn't help but nod their heads with an "oh".

The reason is very simple, the length and width of the wall of fire determine that its amount of work is quite large, it is impossible to wait until the front-line troops retreat before digging, but should dig in advance and prepare, and wait for the front-line troops to retreat immediately after the oil and then ignite, so as to stop the pursuers behind.

Erich continued: "We did detect that the Soviets were digging a trench......"

Saying that, Erich looked on the map for a while, then pointed to a location and said: "Here, three miles away from Baku, a large number of Soviet civilians are working, we thought it was a trench, but now we think about it...... It's more like what you call a wall of fire, because it doesn't have corners! ”

There is a peculiarity of trench digging: in order to prevent several enemy machine gunners from jumping into the trench and erecting a machine gun to block the entire line of defense with fire, the trench is very taboo to dig into a straight line, it should be more jagged.

The fire wall does not have this problem, and even in order to reduce the amount of work and increase the mobility of fuel, the fire wall should be dug in a straight line.

Qin Chuan pointed to that position and said, "As long as we occupy this wall of fire and let it ignite a fire, then the three divisions of the Soviet army will be blocked out of the wall of fire!" ”

"It doesn't seem to be finished yet!" "They are divided into sections, with gaps in between!" ”

"That's not a problem!" It was Manstein who said: "On the one hand, we can organize the prisoners and the Soviets to hurry up and connect them." On the other hand, if it's too late, you can block the gap with firepower! ”

The officers couldn't help but nod their heads in agreement, the Soviet army's combat effectiveness was not strong in the first place, and if they could only charge in certain gaps, then their superiority in strength would not be able to be brought into play, and it would not be difficult for the Germans to hold these gaps.

"Well, about three divisions of troops on the front are solved!" Qin Chuan said: "They will be trapped in the front and back walls of fire and have nowhere to go, unless they enter the Caucasus, but it will be at least a few days before they want to climb the Caucasus like us and get here again!" ”

"There are also two troops directly under the Front Army!" Manstein said: "Especially the tank brigade! ”

"We can choose the battlefield!" Qin Chuan pointed to the map and said, "For example...... We can build a line of defense between the oil fields! ”