Iron Cross

Heavy snow fell in the middle and upper reaches of the Don River, and visibility became very poor, but the bloody battle between the two armies continued. However, the German army's main target of attack today became the 27th Army led by Karpov. According to Chistyakov's instructions, Karpov gave up the attack on the German positions, gathered his troops in time, and was determined to retreat to help the army group deal with the superior German troops in the rear of the river bend. However, he did not expect Manstein to move faster than him. As soon as it got dark, he sent 4 divisions to attack him, and more importantly, there were 2 cavalry divisions among them.

If it was two days ago, Karpov would not be afraid of the cavalry division at all, because he had a tank brigade at that time. Unfortunately, in order to maintain the attack on the German positions, this tank brigade was almost wiped out, and the troops were moving backwards. At this time, it was not pleasant to suddenly attack two cavalry divisions.

The Don River bend was originally a gathering place for Cossacks. The Cossacks, who had long been angry with the Bolsheviks, cheered when they heard Manstein's order to go into battle. They could no longer suppress their eagerness to try. The Cossacks fighting at home were not only familiar with the terrain, but also had the help of the local people. Under their leadership, under the cover of heavy snow, the two German divisions quickly penetrated the gaps between the junctions of the Red Army's troops and surrounded the 27th Army's affiliated troops. Subsequently, in view of the fact that the pressure of the Red Army's attack had been reduced, Heinrich drew out elite troops from each of the three infantry divisions stationed on the defense line to temporarily form a reinforced armored grenadier battalion with a total of about 1,200 people, which gathered into a special Southern Army Group Storm Commando. Of course, the marshal was joking about leading the team, but Manstein's idea inspired Heinrich. After checking the warehouse, he found that the STG43 and G43 rifles sent from the rear for battlefield testing were in excess in addition to the headquarters security forces, so he simply mobilized all of them to this commando.

A unit mixed with two rifles is likely to cause confusion in use and increase logistics pressure, but with only a reinforced battalion, he thought the problem would not be too big. He originally required this commando to cooperate with the cavalry division to quickly break the enemy's defense system, but a miracle happened. After being equipped with STG43 and G43 rifles, the combat effectiveness of the storm assault group soared, and the firepower density was far more powerful than the two infantry regiments using traditional Kar98 rifles. In just three hours, it ate up a Red Army infantry regiment and dug a big hole in the Red Army's defense system. The last commando to set out eventually became the first dagger to break into the heart of the Red Army. Manstein was overjoyed. On the one hand, he ordered the commando to adjust the direction of attack, and on the other hand, he tried his best to put pressure on the 27th Army.

Facing the fierce attack of 4 divisions and 1 commando, Karpov suddenly felt a lot of pressure. Even though the Germans had almost no tanks like him, the Germans' numerous half-track armored vehicles controlled the situation and became a nightmare for the retreating troops - they were constantly caught up and eliminated, and the road of retreat was filled with the bones and blood of the Red Army.

Under Yeremenko's order, the Second Guards Army began to reverse to Kudinov, which was more downstream. It was more than 180 kilometers away from the core area where the 57th, 62nd, and 64th armies fought. Although they avoided the surveillance of the German army, they were too far away and needed to conceal their whereabouts. Therefore, the army was unable to build a pontoon bridge and cross the river within the specified time. It was not until 14:00 in the afternoon that the first pontoon bridge was built. One and a half hours later, a Guards Infantry Division took the lead in crossing the river.

Although the location and timing chosen by the Second Guards Army were concealed, their luck was really bad. When the upper reaches of the Don River and the river bend were covered in heavy snow, the weather in the lower reaches of the Don River was cloudy. The German planes that could not be dispatched to the middle and upper reaches had been cooperating with the German defense forces in the lower reaches. One of the lost planes accidentally discovered the Second Guards Army's attempt to cross the river. The frightened pilot immediately reported to the army group headquarters. At 16:00, a large number of Bf-109s arrived with Stukas to cover them. Three of the four pontoon bridges built by the Red Army were destroyed, and a large number of Red Army corpses were left on both sides. In particular, the 6th Guards Tank Brigade, which lined up to cross the river and had no air defense preparations, was quickly turned into a pile of scrap metal by the German Air Force. The commander of the army group, Malinovsky, was furious but had no way to deal with it. When the reinforcements of the Red Army planes arrived, the German army had already completed the air strike and retreated.

Although the air force was dispatched in time to prevent the 2nd Guards Army from sneaking across the river, Manstein felt that the situation was serious: it was dark and the air force could no longer be dispatched. The destroyed pontoon bridges could be repaired by the Russians in just 4-5 hours. If the Red Army was fast enough, the main force of the army could be transported across the river at dawn tomorrow morning. After an urgent discussion with Heinrich, Weller and others, he finally made a difficult decision: on the one hand, the 8 divisions in the lower reaches of the Don River were to adjust their deployment as soon as possible, and 2 divisions were to be separated to block and encircle the Red Army troops in that area, and then the last reserve division in his hands, the 168th Infantry Division, was also released.

This time, no one objected to Manstein's approach. Everyone realized that the situation had reached a critical moment. If the Red Army in the bend of the river could not be eliminated first when the Red Army Group attacked Rostov, the entire plan would be in danger of total collapse. The current adjustment measures were only stopgap measures - the defense line in the lower reaches of the Don River had been extended to 350 kilometers, and it was impossible to defend it with 8-9 infantry divisions.

The atmosphere in the headquarters was very dull. Heinrich planned to allocate one of the existing infantry divisions stationed on the defense line for emergency support, but the overall strength was still insufficient. However, at 18:00, Weiler, who had been looking grim, retreated. When the telegram arrived, his dull expression instantly turned into ecstasy.

"Sir, good news, good news, Reinhard is here..." He waved the telegraph newspaper and swept into the headquarters almost like the wind.

"He's here? Where is he?" Manstein and Heinrich also stood up excitedly.

"He went to attack the troops of the Southwest Front."

"What?" Everyone was shocked and quickly gathered in front of the sand table to observe. A few days ago, General Hott informed the headquarters that he was preparing to launch a diversionary attack on the Bryansk Front. How come he was on the flank of the Southwest Front in the blink of an eye? Is it a small force?

Manstein asked: "How many people did he send? Is there an armored division?"

"It is the main force of the Fourth Armored Group Army. There are more than 500 tanks and about 160,000 people..."

"So many?" Manstein waved his hand excitedly, "Didn't Holt take them to deal with the Bryansk Front?"

"General Hott led the Romanians and Italians to disguise themselves as the main force of the cluster and defended in place. He sent General Reinhardt to lead the armored force to assault southward. It is expected that he will be able to meet the enemy early tomorrow morning... Then General Vatutin, commander of the Red Army's Southwest Front, will The main force of the front was mobilized across the river. There was only one army group and headquarters left around him, with less than 100,000 men and only 100 tanks at most. They tried to destroy him first..."

good! Everyone was happy. This was undoubtedly great news. Vatutin's troops put too much pressure on Rostov's left wing. They had originally considered sending troops back to defense, but gave up because of the excessive pressure from the enemy. This plan.

"Call back: We agree with his approach and will create conditions for him." Manstein thought for a moment and then issued the order, "Let the left defense troops retreat and let the enemy's Southwest Front troops advance."

"Retreat?" Everyone was stunned. "What if Vatugin's front army headquarters can't wait to cross the river?"

"Not so fast. Let the Red Army's offensive troops move forward a little farther and put a little distance between them and the headquarters. In this way, when the rearguard troops are attacked, they will not have too many troops to rescue..." Manstein said with a sly smile. , "I don't care if I can capture Vatutin, but I want the 100,000-strong rearguard!"

Everyone laughed.

At 2 o'clock in the morning, when the battle in the Hebend was in full swing, and when the main force of the Southwest Front broke through smoothly, Vatutin was caught off guard and ran into the main force of the speeding Fourth Armored Group Army.

At 3 o'clock in the morning on the 14th, the confused Zhukov was urgently called out of bed. This poor man had been independently supporting the overall situation in Moscow, while accepting the cynicism of Voroshilov, Timoshenko and others. Facing Stalin's high-pressure criticism, he was already exhausted mentally and physically. Finally, Vasilevsky arrived at the Stalingrad Front Army Headquarters during the day to coordinate the command, and promptly urged the Second Guards Front Army to cross the river. Comrade Stalin had a smile on his face, but he received the bad news that the Southwest Front Army Headquarters was under siege. He was shocked and speechless.

"Where did the German troops come from? Aren't Manstein's troops all along the Don River?"

"It's the armored troops of the Hult Cluster."

"Aren't they confronting the Bryansk Front?" Zhukov felt furious. "This afternoon, the Front also said that the enemy's defense system is complete and the armor is sufficient, and asked me to dispatch more air force and tanks to them. It is impossible for Huot to both On the Bryansk front and on the flank of the Southwestern Front!”

"This..." The staff officers on duty at the General Staff Headquarters were all speechless.

Soon, Zhukov's doubts were dispelled: the Southwest Front sent a telegram clearly informing them that there were 3 German armored divisions and 2 motorized infantry divisions attacking them, all of which were the main force of the Fourth Armored Group Army. They guessed that Hotter had no intention of attacking them at all. Not on the Bryansk front line, where there are at best the main forces disguised by Romanians and Italians...

"If this is the case, the Southwest Front Army Headquarters will be in danger..." Zhukov said to himself while staring closely at the distribution of enemy and enemy situations on the map.