Iron Cross

On March 6, the Turkish Western Route Army marched north along Batumi and reached the southern foot of the Caucasus Mountains, cutting off the railway lines connecting the inside and outside of the Caucasus; the Central Route Army successfully captured Tbilisi and gained the key pass through the Caucasus Mountains, and the Eastern Route Army rushed Entering the hinterland of Azerbaijan, the vanguard was only 195 kilometers away from Baku.

Turkey's participation in the war triggered a violent reaction, and the United States was shocked. Not long ago, Turkey had quietly accepted a loan from the United States and vaguely stated that it would keep its "established policy" unchanged. In the eyes of Americans, the so-called "established policy remains unchanged" "It means that they will still remain neutral. While appreciating this decision and trying to appease the sentiments of Turkish hardliners, the Americans readily disbursed the first batch of US$100 million in loans and hinted that Turkey could take pro-liberal measures in terms of material supply and other aspects. Germany's position - as long as it does not participate in the war, the United States will pretend not to know anything about selling things.

Unexpectedly, just after disbursing the first batch of funds, Turkey suddenly turned its back and opened fire directly on the Soviet Union. When Secretary of State Hull angrily approached the Turkish ambassador and questioned him, the latter plausibly told him: "We have indeed maintained what we have established. The policy remains unchanged... Turkey continues to remain neutral in the war between Britain, the United States and Germany, but the history of the Russo-Turkish war tells us that there has never been peace between Russia and Turkey. The so-called peace is just a temporary truce. It is easy to achieve peace. As long as Russia gives us back the land it has stolen from Turkey over the years, there will be peace the next day!”

Hull was so angry that he wanted Congress to decide to declare war on Turkey, but he thought about it and endured it: the decision to allocate $100 million to Turkey did not pass Congress. If this matter was exposed, the inside story of the Americans being tricked by Turkey would be revealed. It was guaranteed to cause an uproar in public opinion, and both President Roosevelt and his own political prospects would be affected. In the end, he gritted his teeth and endured it. But Hull didn't dare to face Roosevelt's disappointed look, and stayed away for two days without daring to see the president.

Stalin in the Kremlin was shocked by how quickly the Transcaucasian army disintegrated: in just three or four days, 80,000 to 90,000 Red Army troops were wiped off the map by the Turkish army, although the other side dispatched more than 500,000 troops. , the strength ratio with the Red Army was almost 5:1, but the traditional mentality made him still despise the combat effectiveness of the Turks, and he was completely stunned after receiving the news.

In the entire Transcaucasus region, only the Persian Army commanded by Lieutenant General Mezov still maintains a relatively intact structure. In addition, more than 40,000 troops guarding the Baku oil area have barely built a defensive line, but only a fragile line is maintained between the two. route is in danger of being completely divided.

"Comrade Mezov sent telegrams repeatedly requesting that the Turkish army should take advantage of the opportunity before the Turkish army has completely cut off its retreat to withdraw to Baku, and then rely on the river fleet in the Caspian Sea to withdraw to the South Caucasus. What do you think of this?"

Now the commander of the Caucasus Front, Tyulenev, was so worried that Stalin simply passed him over and began to command the Persian Army and the Baku garrison. Although Zhukov and Vasilevsky knew that Tyulenev was responsible for this matter Not big, and Turkey did send more troops, but they were still worried about his fate.

"This is not a good choice..." Zhukov looked at Stalin and found that the latter's face was full of exhaustion, wavering and annoyance. He considered his words and said, "First of all, the Persian Army cannot withdraw. This unit is facing Rommel's Middle East. If the group army retreats on a large scale, the enemy will pounce immediately. Let alone a smooth retreat, even the troops may not be able to be saved. Secondly, he cannot withdraw. We simply do not have the fleet to provide such a large-scale transportation capability to transport Baku in the short term. It is difficult to complete the task of the 40,000 defenders, let alone an additional 130,000 troops. In the end, he should not withdraw. The General Staff suggested that he rely on the existing defense lines to withstand the Germans and obtain sufficient support for the Baku defenders. Time is needed to destroy oil field facilities and the relevant oil resources cannot be used by the Germans..."

"No! Never!" Stalin suddenly waved his fist and shouted hysterically, "Baku cannot retreat! Baku cannot give up! Baku cannot destroy!"

Zhukov knew that the other party could not accept this decision emotionally, so he wisely kept his mouth shut and remained silent. My mind started working rapidly, thinking about how to solve the next problem.

Baku is the most important oil-producing area in the Soviet Union. At its peak, it accounted for more than 74% of the Soviet Union's oil production. With the vigorous exploitation of the Volga-Ural oil field and the reduction of Baku's own production, the proportion is gradually decreasing, but even now In 1942, Baku still provided nearly two-thirds of the Soviet Union's 36 million tons of oil. Once it fell, the Soviet Union's oil production would soon fall to a level of just over 13 million tons (slightly lower than Germany's 1942 Total output) - This number is only enough to barely keep the minimum tanks and aircraft running on the front line, and cannot be used for heating consumption in winter.

Of course, Zhukov also considered that with the coming of spring, the heating problem will not be very prominent. If we seize the time to increase the exploitation of the Volga-Ural oil field, we can increase the production to more than 20 million tons before the next winter, and then consider Obtaining 3 million to 5 million tons of refined oil from the United States may cause more people to freeze and freeze for a longer time, but he can barely cope with it in 1943. It was based on these considerations that he decisively decided to blow up Baku. .

But Stalin couldn't listen to this. He turned around and asked Vasilevsky: "If I ask Mezov to withdraw the main force to Baku, do you think we can hold it there?"

"This..." Vasilevsky instinctively wanted to say no, but looking at Stalin's blood-red eyes, his eyes shrank involuntarily, "If Baku's logistics supply line can be guaranteed, there is still hope for that place. Defended, but..."

"Okay! As long as you have confidence!" Stalin didn't wait for him to say the rest of the sentence, and immediately asked, "How can we guarantee this supply line? Is it relying on the inland river fleet?"

"Comrade Stalin, I haven't finished the last part of my sentence yet."

"Then go on and finish." Stalin thought he was going to add some specific content. Unexpectedly, as soon as the other party said the next sentence, his face that had just been ignited with hope quickly fell down.

"Baku is now directly exposed to German bombers. Even if we hold this place on the ground, it is impossible to prevent the enemy from destroying the oil fields from the air. What we need to defend is the oil, not the land of Baku."

"Can't defend?" Stalin said in a very disappointed tone, "I will mobilize enough anti-aircraft guns and aircraft, and I will also mobilize more engineering troops..."

"There is no defense. The oil field is so big and flammable. It is far easier to destroy than to build." Vasilevsky sighed. "What is more difficult to defend than the oil field is the refinery. The oil wells are at least scattered one by one. Unless it hits directly, it is difficult to destroy it immediately. A plant as big as an oil refinery is right in front of the enemy. As long as there is a 100-ton bomb, it will blow them all into the sky. "

"But no comrades reported to me that the Germans were raiding there."

"That's because the enemy wants to seize it and use it for themselves." Zhukov pointedly punctured this illusion. "Once we organize a strong and reliable defense in Baku, the enemy will immediately destroy it. They now have the oil of the Middle East. It’s not that Baku is particularly short of oil.”

"They are not in short supply, but we are in short supply..." Stalin tried his best to control his emotions and asked these two people, "Then what do you think we should do now?"

"The Baku defenders quickly destroyed the oil field facilities, and then organized a river fleet to support their retreat. At the same time as the Baku defenders retreated, the Persian Army retreated to Baku with equal strength of troops." Zhukov's opinion is very clear, Mezov's The main force must stay in northern Iran to withstand Rommel and cover the retreat of the Baku defenders. For every retreated division, a division from the Persian Army will be taken out to supply the direction of Baku. In this way, Baku can always maintain a strength of about 40,000 people, which is barely enough. Continue to maintain that small defensive circle.

"How many troops can be saved like this?"

"40,000-60,000 people, maybe more than 70,000 if you're lucky."

"But now there are more than 170,000 troops there, including the 11th Guards Tank Brigade, which has the latest KV-3 tanks. You asked me to transfer them there. Comrade Constantine, you are responsible for this. "Stalin shouted angrily.

Zhukov sighed and said helplessly: "Comrade Stalin, the 170,000 troops in Transcaucasus are still a small matter, and Baku is also a small matter. What I am worried about now is what will happen to Comrade Tyulenev's Caucasus Front? There are still more than 400,000 troops. Woolen cloth."

"What happened to the Caucasus Front?"

"Look." Zhukov led Stalin to the map. "Now the connection between the internal and external Caucasus has been cut off by the German and Turkish armies. Once they completely occupy the entire Transcaucasus region, the Caucasus Front will be in the Kleist cluster and the Turkish cluster." , Rommel's cluster, the Caucasus Front now only has more than 400,000 troops, while the enemy's total strength is as high as 1 million..."

"Then, the subsequent chain reaction will be even more terrifying." Vasilevsky took a step forward, "Once the Caucasus Front collapses, there will be a heavy enemy group of more than 1 million people in the South Caucasus. If they and the more than 500,000 Mansch If the Tanyin cluster cooperates, our three fronts in the North Caucasus - the Don River, the Southwest and the Stalingrad Fronts will be faced with disaster. "

Stalin was stunned, and after a long time he murmured to himself: "This is impossible, this is impossible... We will not fail!"

"Comrade Stalin, it is true that we have not failed yet, but if we do not deal with it properly, we can easily fail."

"You guys go down first and let me think about it alone..."