Iron Cross

"What? You said they all surrendered?" On March 23, the Kremlin received extremely shocking news: More than 60,000 people had no supplies inside and no reinforcements from outside. The remaining Red Army troops, with no way out, laid down their weapons and surrendered in despair. .

"Yes, Comrade Stalin, that is the case, both from the intelligence we have and from the last telegram sent by Baku."

"Traitors! Traitors! I will hang them all! Hang them all!" Stalin lost his temper with rage, and everyone fell silent.

Zhukov and Vasilevsky looked at each other with helpless expressions: They could never have imagined that the Baku defenders would surrender, but it made sense if they thought about it carefully. Moscow only emphasized that the troops should fight to the "last man", but did not provide any assistance or supplies, nor transported them via ships on the Caspian Sea. It only talked about "fearless revolutionary momentum", which of course would not allow the defenders to persevere to the end. Although it is difficult to carry out large-scale transportation through the Caspian Sea in the face of fierce enemy air attacks, if the defenders are not even given hope, how can they be allowed to persist to the end?

Stalin's attempt to use these defenders to consume the Axis forces failed. In the entire Transcaucasus campaign, the Red Army lost a total of 170,000 people including casualties, prisoners and surrenders, but the losses they caused to the Axis were - —The total number of Germans, Iranians and Turks is only over 20,000, of which only 45% are Germans.

From the beginning of the offensive at the beginning of this month to the formal surrender of the Baku defenders, the Axis Group used only about three weeks to not only capture a large area of ​​territory in the Transcaucasus, but also occupied Baku, the Soviet oil center. Finally, the defenders still had some conscience and bombed Baku's oil field facilities into ruins before surrendering, but this did not help. The Soviet Union's oil production suddenly dropped to the terrifying figure of more than 10 million tons.

This great victory (because the German army lost nearly 10,000 people and many of them were elite troops, so it was not perfect in Gauss’s eyes) greatly encouraged the two young brothers who had recently joined the axis: Turkey suddenly won all the territories including Georgia, Nearly 160,000 square kilometers of land including Armenia and Azerbaijan. Iran not only regained all the land, but also, with the acquiescence and connivance of Germany, used the traditional ethnic forces and territorial disputes for many years to seize from neighboring Armenia and southern Azerbaijan. It has reached nearly 30,000 square kilometers of land. Although Turkey expressed dissatisfaction with this, what the Iranians said was not unreasonable. In addition, the essence of the Transcaucasus and the Baku oil fields are in Turkey's hands. The Turkish Foreign Minister muttered a few words and then stopped.

In fact, this victory not only did not relieve the pressure on President Inonu of Turkey, but brought him more difficulties: he originally just wanted to give up when things were good, and taking back the territory of Transcaucasus could temporarily end the relationship with the Soviets. We talked about it. Unexpectedly, this easy victory greatly stimulated the ambitions of the hawks in the military, almost forcing the government to agree to another 600,000-strong military expansion. All newspapers and public opinions in Turkey unanimously demanded "revenge" and "recovering everything". Homeland", at the cusp of such a storm, anyone who advocates "taking advantage of the situation for peace talks" is treated as a traitor.

Moreover, President Inonu also found that his divide-and-conquer strategy for the military was gradually failing. Because the Germans sent Field Marshal Bock, the top leaders of the Turkish military could not agree with each other. However, under the leadership of the veteran German Field Marshal, In front of Bock, who had served as the commander of Army Group Center, they all showed respect without exception. This respect was not only because of Bock's reputation and past achievements, but also because of the strong combat effectiveness of the German army - the most difficult battle in the Transcaucasus. It was the Germans who took the lead, and it was also the Germans who forced the Baku defenders to surrender. The Red Army habitually maintained contempt for the Turkish army, which was several times more powerful than them, but was routed in front of the German army with equal or smaller numbers.

Not to mention the domestic situation in Iran. The newly succeeded Pahlavi has been able to stabilize the domestic situation with his two achievements of regaining the country and opening up new territories. In addition, apart from Germany's demand for oil, it has not colonized Iran. plans to provide Iran with great support in other aspects, even agreeing to provide the latest Tiger tanks, and also stated that it would subsequently donate a number of escort boats and torpedo boats to Iran for offshore defense and ensuring oil output. This has made the country originally The very powerful pro-German forces became even more determined. Pahlavi raised 6 new divisions in one go and prepared to hand them over to Rommel. He thought very clearly that he could no longer fight for the Transcaucasus because of Turkey, but The northeastern part of Iran borders Soviet Turkmenistan, and the people above it are not Russians. As long as the troops are trained, there will be a lot of room for operation there.

After the war in the Transcaucasus came to an end, the focus of the axis offensive was on the passes and strongholds of the Caucasus Mountains. These tasks were not suitable for mechanized troops, so the heavy task of attacking was given to Iran and Turkey. Rommel only sent the SS Prince Eugen Division. Assist in the battle to give full play to the division's expertise in mountain warfare. Encouraged by their early victories, Turkey and the Iranians fought wildly. However, due to the terrain and the enemy's tight defensive position, they could only achieve an exchange ratio of about 1:1, and their advancement was not fast.

"The major passes in the Caucasus Mountains were attacked by the Germans, Iranians and Turks. Comrade Tyulenev fought very hard and repeatedly asked us to send him reinforcements, at least enough technical weapons, especially aircraft. Zhukov said, "I originally planned to transfer 6-8 aviation regiments to him, but..."

In fighting in the Caucasus Mountains, tanks are not the first priority, and artillery is difficult to push to the front line for large-scale use, but aircraft are absolutely indispensable. In terms of air power, Germany has a significant advantage. The ground attack aircraft modified from the Ju-87 has played a great advantage, and incendiary bombs are often better than ordinary bombs. Without the help of German aircraft, it would be difficult for the exhausted Turks and Iranians to capture these passes.

"But what?" Stalin asked in confusion after hearing Zhukov's hesitant answer.

"The General Staff estimates that the enemy will soon launch a large-scale offensive in the Don River Basin. At such a critical moment, all aviation forces must remain where they are most critical."

"Have you obtained reliable intelligence? Why did you make this judgment?" Stalin asked doubtfully, "Haven't the Germans maintained a relatively calm situation in the past one or two months?"

"First, Manstein was too calm, which was not in line with the situation of the confrontation between the large corps, nor his style and habits; the second important factor is that the weather is getting warmer, and spring is about to come. "

"The weather is getting warmer..." Stalin pondered these words repeatedly, showing a thoughtful expression.

In the alpine zone of northern Russia, spring does not enter until late April or even early May, but in the southern region, this process will be advanced to mid-April. On the Eastern Front, the arrival of spring is a very important reference for the war. It means that the land will soon begin to thaw. Large areas of land that are frozen hard and will look like cement when rolled over will soon turn into a piece of mud. In severe cases, Half of a wheel can be lost when a vehicle drives over - those wheeled trucks and half-track armored vehicles will soon be unable to move, and the staggered and overlapping road wheels that are precision-made and highly shock-absorbing will also be damaged due to mud getting into the gaps between the wheels. Constantly getting stuck, only the T-34's unique full-track large road wheels can offset this impact to the greatest extent. In a word, the German mechanized forces are about to enter a difficult period.

"This is a good thing. I am planning to spend this period withdrawing the three fronts on the Don River front." Stalin nodded lightly.

"We believe that the enemy will launch a large-scale attack soon, and the target is the three front armies." Vasilevsky explained, "The relative calm of Manstein's Southern Army Group in the early stage does not mean that it has done nothing. We have reliable intelligence. The enemy has used these two months to accumulate a large number of troops and equipment, and a large-scale attack will soon be launched, and this window period is very short. In April, especially in mid-to-late April, the land thaws and turns into a mess. It is no longer suitable for the movement of German mechanized troops."

"If the enemy attacks, when will it be?"

"If it's fast, it will be next Monday, if it's slow, it will be at the end of the month." Zhukov reported, "And it won't take a long time, maybe a month at the longest."

Stalin remained silent: Launching a large-scale attack now is just like the attack in early winter. The only difference is that at that time, the plowing period had just ended and the ground was frozen, but now it is about to enter the plowing period - all while avoiding the severe cold. Maximum traffic conditions are maintained.

During the silence, shocking news suddenly came: 2 hours ago, on a front of more than 500 kilometers, the German army on the southern flank launched a full-line attack. 400,000 large-caliber artillery shells were poured out in a short period of time. The number of German fighter planes over the theater was as high as 1,500, and more than 200 Red Army fighter jets that took off to attack were all shot down within half an hour. At first, all front armies thought this was just a diversionary attack by the Germans. However, when the assault force of 4 armored divisions and 3 heavy armored battalions appeared in front of them, several front army commanders realized that this was not an ordinary attack. , the German army attacked across the board.

"It seems that it is neither next Monday nor the end of March. The enemy's large-scale attack will be today." Stalin looked at the map, turned to Zhukov and Vasilevsky and asked, "Are you confident to stop the fascists?"

"Yes! Comrade Stalin, I will go to the front line immediately." Zhukov was very embarrassed by Manstein's surprise attack at noon, and replied loudly: "We have a series of plans for the German offensive in the past two months."

"Very good, order the comrades on the front line to block the enemy troops and not retreat even an inch."