Bismarck

Even though Paulus was organizing his troops to fight and retreat towards the second front southeast of Borisoglebsk where Dietrich was, with only less than 350 troops left to defend a -kilometer-wide front, it was really stretched. And Dietrich's SS First Panzer Army, although it had troops and tanks, could only barely cope with one direction, but now it was being attacked from both sides, with ♂ men on the left and right...

Although he was also a veteran, Marshal Lister was really undecided in the face of such a dire situation.

However, at this critical moment, the signalman outside ran in:

"Report to the Marshal, there's a call from headquarters!"

"A call from headquarters? Let me see!"

Marshal Lister took the telegram and read it quickly. However, after just a quick glance, Lister's face instantly turned ugly, and he even cursed a few times.

"What? Let Paulus cross the Don River to the south to defend the Don Bend? Buy time for the 17th Army of the vassal states (of Mariupol) and the Southern Army Group in Grozny to retreat and defend Rostov? This... if this is done, how can we defend the Volga River? The defense line will be directly reduced to Borisoglebsk and Tambov!!"

Looking at the order written in black and white in his hand, Marshal Lister's heart was filled with a feeling of doom.

You know, Paulus was standing in front of Dietrich. If he was transferred south to defend the bend of the Don River, then Dietrich's main force would have to defend Borisoglebsk and would not be able to reinforce Busch. Without Paulus's cover, this place would be attacked from three sides. Lister was not sure whether he could hold this crossroads.

But this is a military order after all!

Besides, with Lister's ability as the commander of the army group, how could he not realize that if he did not let Paulus go south, the consequences would be even more disastrous!

After all, Rostov is the main logistics line of the Southern Army Group! It is also the fuel supply point for all the armies on the Eastern Front! From the perspective of military economics, it is even more important than Moscow!

As the largest core transportation hub of the entire southern route, the transportation network around Stalingrad is well connected. Among these roads, there is one that leads to the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine. If you continue to go south from here, you can directly reach Rostov on the Sea of ​​Azov!

Once Rostov is occupied by the Soviet army, while the Crimean Peninsula is still struggling in the hands of the Soviet army, the three armies of the Southern Army Group in the entire North Caucasus will all be trapped!

After all, the Crimean Peninsula is still in Soviet hands! Although the Soviet Black Sea Fleet only has a few weakly defended cruisers and an old battleship, it still firmly controls the sea power in the Black Sea, and even various regiment-level and division-level landing raids have never been lacking - the only naval force of the Axis in the Black Sea that can play a little role in front of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet is the Romanian Navy's several miniature submarines of less than 300 tons.

The reason why the Crimean Peninsula was not stormed before was entirely because there were fortresses everywhere. If an attack was launched here, it would be estimated that at least four armies would be deployed, and it would take at least nine months, and at the cost of crippling at least two armies, to occupy this place. With so many troops, it would be better to seize the Maikop oil field at the beginning of the war. At least, the oil field's crude oil refining equipment could guarantee the fuel supply of the Eastern Front Army.

Therefore, for the Crimean Peninsula, although the German army knew that the Soviet Union had deployed 200,000 troops here, the only thing they could do was to send two armies to defend the Mariupol area outside the Crimean Peninsula. The exit of the peninsula was a swamp, and the army could not deploy. There were only two coastal roads for entry and exit. In theory, two armies were more than enough to defend here.

But in this case, even with the suppression of Marshal Wolfgang Richthofen's Third Air Fleet, the 200,000 Soviet troops on the Crimean Peninsula are still a serious flank threat. And the only road for the entire Southern Group is the Rostov-Maikop-Grozny Northwest Suburb Front. And this road must not only ensure the logistics of the three armies of the Southern Army Group, but also ensure that the refined oil from the Turkish oil refinery facilities in Maikop is transported to the logistics station to ensure the use of the entire Eastern Front. There are even many to be dragged back to the country, either as fuel or as reserves.

and……

Not long after, the call came back. After reading the content of the call back from the mustache man, it just confirmed Marshal Lister's guess:

"Even Grozny is retreating... In other words, they would rather give up that place and defend the Maikop-Rostov-Don River Bend line. Then I guess they don't want the Volga River defense line anymore. But if that's the case... Not only do I have to dismantle Dietrich's tanks, I also have to completely change the battle plan... This damn Bavarian corporal, this battle is so frustrating..."

Shaking his head, sighing, and waving his hand, Lister called the signalman and issued an order for the Sixth Army to rush south to the Don River Bend and hold on to the end. Lister knew that Paulus was a soldier who "absolutely obeyed orders and would not even doubt them." Even in this situation, he would resolutely execute the order if he was asked to hold on to the Don River Bend to the end. However, with the 77,000 remnants of his Sixth Army, he was afraid that they would never return...

"Ugh……"

Chapter 825: War in the Snow

On December 1942, 12, heavy snow fell across the Soviet Union, the temperature dropped sharply, and everything froze.

What makes people feel the coming of winter more than the flying snow is the battle report that List's Army Group in the Volga salient encountered a massive attack by two fronts of the Soviet Southwestern Theater.

After this battle report triggered a new round of wrangling between Little Mustache and the General Staff, it soon spread to several other army groups along with the strategic guidance order urgently issued by Little Mustache's German headquarters OKW.

Faced with the Soviets' likely all-out counterattack, Leb's Northern Army Group immediately chose to shrink and defend - their battle zone was farthest north, and now it was the northern part of the Soviet Union where heavy snow was flying everywhere. The land and swamps had long been frozen as hard as steel plates, and the frozen rivers had completely turned into "plains", and were strong enough to withstand the bombardment of heavy artillery and the galloping of tanks.

In the face of nature's great power of "turning natural dangers into thoroughfares", and facing the Kalinin Front with 800,000 troops that were ready to attack at any time, even though he had concentrated all his tanks and engineers when adjusting his deployment, he was able to barely form an armored reserve. But he tragically discovered that the tanks he had were simply not enough for Mao Yue's. His enthusiasm and expectations for the defense capability of the defense line and the prospects of the battle had become as cold as the temperature of the ice and snow outside.

On the diagonal of the Northern Army Group, Marshal Scherner's Southern Army Group had also begun to retreat from the Grozny front while destroying all the troops - the deployment of this theater for the next three months had been determined by the little mustache: to defend the line from Maikop to Rostov with all their strength and to make "preparations for the last moment". At the same time, the Eastern Front General Logistics Department also sent two-thirds of the 100,000 motor soldiers and 50,000 trucks directly under its command here. The purpose is self-evident - even if Maikop cannot be defended, as many barrels of oil as possible must be dragged away from here before the oil field is blown up!

Moreover, in addition to the grabbing of oil, there was more of the madness of the defeated - especially the crazy revenge of the three lights on the local people!

At the edge of the scorched earth village, looking at the bodies of villagers lying in mass graves where the blood of the villagers had not yet coagulated after the large-scale massacre, the Soviet Red Army soldiers, whose steel guns were clenched in their gloved hands, looked at the German prisoners being escorted to the rear, and their eyes looked as if they might pick up weapons at any time and shoot those heinous robbers and murderers on the spot.

Even the political cadres and internal security soldiers who were maintaining order on the roadside when escorting the prisoners, the force of the butts of their rifles in their hands driving the prisoners away became more fierce with each village they passed.

The fate of the Fass bandits has been determined, which is to serve hard labor in the reclamation brigade of a Siberian prisoner-of-war camp, until the results of their reclamation can offset the value of the crimes they committed and the materials they looted before - and that is the principal and interest!

As for the Geneva Convention which stipulates that once the war is over, they can be repatriated on the spot... there is no such thing!

When the French and French bandits were burning, killing, looting and committing all kinds of atrocities, when did human rights organizations ever talk about the Geneva Convention?

Being merciful to the enemy is a crime against the people!

........................

Among all the war zones, only the situation on the side of Army Group Center facing Moscow made Rundstedt and even Little Mustache feel in a dilemma.

In the headquarters of the Central Army Group, which was covered in snow, there were many generals and they were arguing heatedly:

"I say, we must not retreat now... Our current position is in the forest, with forests on both sides to rely on, and we can also block the exit of the forest road. You all know that although the forest is conducive to the infiltration of small troops, it is not suitable for large troops to deploy. Even if a large force infiltrates, the logistics cannot be solved. Even if engineers temporarily build a road, it will take at least ten days or half a month to repair it. Therefore, we must not give up the natural barrier of the forest!"

A circle of senior generals gathered around the fire, spitting in the cold wind in the tent. At this moment, one general was slamming the table, shouting at the top of his lungs to oppose retreat.

"But... even if we don't give up this place, do you think we can hold out with our limited forces?" Another general squatted by the fire. In this leaky tent, even if he stretched out his hands to warm himself by the fire, he would shiver. "The south and the north are encircling us. Loeb and Lister are under great pressure now. What's the point of us holding out if they can't? Besides, we only have so many troops now. If we want to hold out against the Russians in Moscow, all the troops must be pulled up. If the Russians break through on both sides at this time, won't we be surrounded?"

"So you mean to retreat? The problem is, if we retreat, can you run faster than tank tracks in this icy and snowy place?"

"It's okay not to retreat. As long as you can conjure up soldiers for me, I can hold on. This is not a pot of stone soup. Do you have a way to conjure up a million soldiers for me with a handful of beans?"

(PS: "Stone soup" is a German proverb, which means to get something for nothing.)

"How about... who will stay behind to cover the retreat?" Another general said weakly, but quickly covered his mouth. The other people looked at this person with the same expression as if he was an idiot.

If I stay here at this time, I will basically die. I haven't received enough special wartime allowance for soldiers yet. If you want to die, go ahead, please!

Seeing the generals below quarreling like vendors in a vegetable market early in the morning, the one sitting in the upper seat

Field Marshal Rundstedt and Field Marshal Bock, two military veterans, as well as several corps commanders including Hoth, Kluge, Guderian, Rommel, Model, Manstein and Kleist, looked at each other, shook their heads, and some even covered their foreheads.

However... facing the war situation that has deteriorated to this point, they are not much better than the senior advisors below. Apart from other things, judging from their faces, the two marshals and seven legion commanders are now all sitting around the map table holding hot water bottles, each one more gloomy than the other.

"I should be able to hold out for another three to five days with all my might... Manstein, how long can you hold out?" The person who asked this question was Model from the Ryazan side, who was covering the flanks of the three armies of Manstein, Guderian and Rommel. Now Kleist and Busch on his right wing were overwhelmed by Timoshenko, so it was obvious that he had to prepare for the worst.

"If we have to retreat, I estimate that I can only hold out in the forest for three more days at most... Now it depends on the situation with Fox and Guderian." Manstein glanced at Model, then at Long Zai Zai and Gu Bu Shuai who were as famous as him on the other side, and finally at the two marshals above him. He had a wry smile on his face, and looked as guilty as a gentleman.

"...On Fox's and my side, the Russian reinforcements have already begun to advance through the woods. It would be a disaster if they were to break out of the forest... General Kluge, what's going on in your direction due west of Moscow?"

"On my side? On my side, the Russians have already begun to seize tactical points in the woods and settlements on the outskirts of the city. I guess it's the same as yours, a precursor to an imminent large-scale counterattack..." Kluge slumped on the backrest of a shabby sofa with a Ge You look on his face, his face as sour as a salted fish that has been hanging on the wall for three years.

"If we want to defend the front, we should still be able to do so, but there is a possibility that Kleist and Hoth on both sides may be outflanked and broken through... If both sides are broken through, it will be meaningless for Moscow to hold on. But retreating in the face of the enemy..." Looking at Hoth and Kleist, whose army groups were responsible for the southern and northern wings of the entire group respectively, Rommel felt helpless and sympathetic.

Come to think of it, I can't even remember how long it has been since I went back to visit my wife... Although the war situation is so bad now, I don't know if I can go back to see my wife...

"Wait, don't just talk about us, how are things in Moscow?" Hoth and Kleist looked at each other and looked at Rommel with a somewhat unfriendly expression.

"Damn it, don't mention it, the Russians are all crazy!" Rommel was full of anger when talking about this matter: "Those crazy guys don't care about their lives when they fight. There are barricades and bunkers everywhere. The houses are either old brick and stone structures that are more than one meter thick and can be used as city walls, or steel-concrete frames with temporary internal reinforcements that cannot be blown down by Stukas... And do you know how crazy these Russians are? Not only do they tie explosives to dogs, they also use people rushing over with explosives, and they even bury explosives in those buildings. As long as they find that they can't defend, there is a 100% chance that both the people and the buildings will self-destruct!"

Speaking of the Soviets' will to fight to defend their country at all costs, even Rommel, a veteran general, felt a little scared in his heart. Who was the idiot who told me that the Russians were gray animals under Stalin's dictatorship? They were cannon fodder who charged barehanded under the machine guns of the supervision team and picked up guns before the battle? They were inferior people who "could not withstand the attack after crossing the Pacific War and getting American weapons"? Or did they really think that everyone in the officer corps was a war genius and could do everything?

I really believed your lies at the beginning!

Looking at the different expressions on the faces of the legion commanders, the two marshals looked at each other with serious eyes.

As a marshal, no matter from the perspective of uniting his subordinates or stabilizing the morale of the army, it is impossible for him to participate in such a quarrel. However, even they have to rack their brains to judge their current situation.

"How many of us are there now?" Rundstedt asked, tilting his head.

"Probably... less than 540,000, maybe a little less..." Bock answered with a sad face.

"Where's the tank?"

"About 800, but many tanks damaged in the battle are still being repaired. No more than 450 tanks can be moved now, and most of them are still on the front line. In the second-line position, there is not even a reorganized tank battalion except for the tanks being repaired by the repair team..." Bock shook his head helplessly, "I say, this is not a solution. Although our second-line position is not far from the front line, the Russians still have several nails guarding behind the first-line position. As long as they break through one point, they may be able to bypass us and surround us before we return to defend... We have to think of a way."

"We have to withdraw, but the problem is that if we withdraw now, we won't be able to escape. Whoever withdraws will be blamed..." Speaking of this, Rundstedt smiled bitterly. Bock beside him nodded sympathetically.

The two old marshals are veterans of the officer corps themselves, so how could they not know about the dirty things going on in the officer corps?

only……

Although retreating would probably result in being scolded to death, not retreating would definitely result in being beaten to death. So should we choose to be scolded to death or not to be beaten to death?

This question is not difficult to think about. But what is difficult is how to retreat...

“If Hoth on the left wing and Kleist on the right wing can’t hold out, the areas west of Moscow to Rzhev and Ryazan south of Moscow will basically be destroyed by the Russians. Maybe even Tula will be captured by them in one fell swoop - that damn city, it hasn’t been taken yet!” Rundstedt calculated the battle situation while muttering some curses: “…If Klin, Ryazan and Tula are really lost, Kluge can still retreat along the Vyazma highway, while the four armies of Manstein, Guderian, Rommel and Model with 300,000 people can only squeeze in Kaluga. We retreated on one road... Model, who was defending the rear wing, was not counted. Manstein and the other three were now squeezed in the southeast of Moscow. Podolsk and Tula had not been taken yet. If we wanted to retreat, we had to go around a big circle... This route was too long and took up too much time. It was also easy for the Russians to cut us off in the forest. Maybe even Model or even Kleist would be dragged down by them if they wanted to retreat! Oh, right! And Moscow itself - it was a transportation hub, and it was such a big city. It could cover the deployment of hundreds of thousands of troops. If we attacked the center directly, the 500,000 troops in my hands would be divided and surrounded immediately... This was not okay!"

Rundstedt kept chattering, and Bock on the other side tightened his windbreaker, took the map reluctantly and started flipping through it.

After all, they had heard the discussion of the corps commanders before - if they retreated, Model and Manstein could only hold out for three more days at most. But the problem now was that within three days, they had four corps with nearly 300,000 people, but there was only one way to retreat, bypassing Podolsk and heading towards Kaluga.

Three hundred thousand defeated soldiers are trying to squeeze into one road. Not only will three days not be enough, but once things get out of control, no one will be able to escape!

But now, in terms of air force, the Imperial Air Force and the Russian Air Force are in a balance of power here - but if they give up several airports south of Moscow, the air supremacy will be completely taken by the other side! Then a bunch of bombers and IL-2 attack aircraft will bomb and sweep the road like crazy... The picture is too beautiful, and the consequences are unimaginable!

Then, we have to think of another way...

Bock rubbed his numb hands as if to relieve the chill in his heart. He flipped through the map of the Moscow suburbs and muttered his views on the battle situation: "... In other words, whether it is retreating or defending, Moscow must continue to hold on. And we must be able to make full use of the transportation capacity of the road to leave a retreat route. Three or four armies squeezed on one road is a dead end - that is, we must find a way to break through the restrictions of the terrain and the enemy, so that the young men in our several legions can arrange their own ways home!"

At this point, Bock raised his head and looked at Rundstedt, who also raised his head. Almost at the same time, the two people nodded:

"Then there is only one way to go - turn around and attack backwards! Within three days, I will cross Moscow! ... Everyone! Listen to me! Now is a life-and-death moment, we must attack backwards to open a passage! ... Pull all the heavy artillery and anti-aircraft guns into the city, flatten the Russian barricades, and the engineers will open a passage through the wall for me! No matter the cost, no matter the loss! ... Even if it means sacrificing human lives, we must build a passage for me to retreat through the south of Moscow!"

From the large headquarters tent, which was shivering under the heavy snow, came bursts of desperate roars.

Chapter 826: The Fox and Guderian

Following Rundstedt's battle strategy of "being ruthless and sacrificing the van to save the king", starting from dawn on December 2, the officers and soldiers of the Soviet Capital Guards who were defending the barricades and reinforced buildings throughout Moscow discovered that the German invaders in the factory area in the southwest of Moscow, like trapped beasts desperately trying to break out, dragged their fierce anti-aircraft guns and bulky but powerful heavy artillery in front of the barricades, and launched a crazy all-out attack on the barricade positions in the capital Moscow, regardless of the loss of ammunition and casualties.

The brick and wood barricades were vulnerable to direct bombardment from 105 or even 150 heavy howitzers. The roads blocked by self-destructing buildings had lost their meaning of blocking the way as the German engineers opened up the "alternative" wall-penetrating blasting tactics. The fire chain of anti-aircraft machine guns was enough to penetrate brick walls, sandbags and even thin steel plates and scatter armor-piercing explosive shells to any window in the tall buildings on both sides of the road where Soviet firepower points might be hidden. The water pumps by the lake were frantically pumping water into the subway station driven by gasoline engines. Flamethrowers and combat engineers were also madly spraying the little gasoline in the high-pressure cylinders into the isolated strongholds that were divided and surrounded. The modified Type tanks, with their tracks roaring, rushed out of the "tunnels" opened by the walls of the former ruins of the buildings that were still emitting thick smoke, accompanied by a large number of infantrymen. Then, in the name of attacking backwards, with the intention of fleeing in panic and the momentum of fighting to the bitter end, they rushed to the next block in a swarm of wolves and pigs...

Behind the breakout troops, on the edge of the open area between the Balashka industrial area and the city of Moscow, the Germans racked their brains to set up obstacles one after another, relying on the cover of the forest and suburban buildings under their control to fight hard. Even the expensive and powerful but relatively fragile armored trains were placed across the railway to serve as obstacles and firing points. They did not ask these iron lumps to withstand the firepower of the Soviet army, but only to use their steel bodies as a barrier to desperately delay the time for "the new Russian tanks that could not be hit at all" to rush out of the forest road.

"...The three German armies in the east of the city now seem to be determined to break out. In terms of the specific situation... In addition to the simple road between Podolsk and Moscow, the two armies of Guderian and Rommel should have put in all their efforts - and many of the participating troops are still their SS!... Now, the enemy is attacking the railway hub in the south of the city along the railway in the south of the city. It is estimated that their target of attack is the area from Lenin Hill Park to the University Town in the southwest, leaving the city along Lenin Avenue, and then breaking out in the direction of Kaluga. In addition, a considerable number of German devils are now attacking the central railway station in the riverside area south of the Moscow River, and there is also a mechanized force attacking the Kremlin, seemingly trying to cover the flank of the enemy in the south of the city... The above situation has been reported. ... In addition, the fascists are only three kilometers away from here in a straight line. Comrade Stalin, are we really not going to move?"

Inside the Kremlin where artillery fire roared, Admiral Lukin, who had been promoted by Stalin to commander of the Moscow defense for his service in defending Tula, was persuading Stalin to take shelter for a while together with Marshal Zhukov, the representative of the theater headquarters, and Marshal Vasilevsky, the chief of the general staff.

After all, Marshal Timoshenko of the Southwestern Theater had already opened up the situation. After List's Army Group C collapsed, Rundstedt's Army Group Center would definitely not be in a good situation. It was certain that the fascist bandits were just desperate and desperate. On the eve of such a sure victory, there was really no need to risk one's life.

"That's not necessary. They are struggling to survive anyway. The troops in the city may be the SS troops sent down to occupy the flanks and cover the main force's breakout from the temporary passage in the south. These thugs are really loyal to the little mustache." The fearless Stalin smiled disdainfully, but soon thought of something else: "On the contrary, we should pay attention to the German devils who may use biological and chemical weapons in desperation... Have you made preparations for this?"

"The gas warfare plan has been prepared and distributed long ago, Comrade General Secretary." Hua Xilievsky patted his chest and promised confidently: "Although we lack natural rubber, we also have synthetic rubber, and every soldier basically has a gas mask and gas suit, and there are ten chemical defense regiments on standby at any time! Besides, our gas production and quality are not much worse than those Nazi bandits!"

"That's good..." Stalin chuckled and nodded, then picked up his pipe and looked at the map: "Then, we must not let them get away like this in our attack on Moscow - pass the order! Ryazan and Klin-Kalinin's two wings continue to encircle the enemy, and Moscow will block the enemy's retreat. Put the main force of the Guards Armored Army into the open area in the direction of Balashka, and our six combined armies in the city, as well as the Guards and NKVD Internal Guards, should also press forward. Use the method of fighting wolves, block the head, cut off the tail, and cut the waist, force them to squeeze together, and then annihilate them for me - tell all the soldiers that I, Stalin, am in the Kremlin, and I want to see with my own eyes our heroic Red Army soldiers eliminate these French and Spanish bandits!"

The words were as firm as steel and powerful.

…………（BGM: Defenders of Moscow）…………

Under the heavy artillery fire, the rear guard position of the Fifth Armored Army deployed in the Balashka factory area was already a sea of ​​fire. Under the flames of the goddess of vengeance, the soldiers of the Soviet Red Army Guards Armored Army rushed out from the exit of the forest road one after another, fearlessly and in an endless stream, even making people feel endless, and the more they fought, the more they fought!

The roar of artillery fire and the cries of revenge by the Red Army soldiers shook the earth. Even in the corps headquarters ten kilometers away, the sound of "Ura" could be faintly heard, as if it was a death warrant, making people restless and uneasy. Even Rommel, who was in charge of the corps headquarters and had been promoted to marshal, had an irresistible feeling of fear.

In order to coordinate the breakout, the remnants of Guderian's Second Panzer Army and Rommel's Fifth Panzer Army, with 120,000 men and 300 tanks, were combined and the headquarters were moved together for a combined command.

However, the current situation is not good at all!

The southwestern factory area, the starting point for the German breakout, was at least ten kilometers away from the exit of the breakout, the exit of Lenin Highway in the southeast university town of Moscow - and they had to cross the Moscow River in front of the Soviet army's barricades on the opposite bank!

Behind them, at the Balashka factory area, which was already 15 kilometers behind them, was an open area of ​​several kilometers. At the intersection of the Vladimir Highway and the Yaroslavl Highway, there were at least 400 tanks of a Soviet tank army, pressing forward step by step towards the rear guard! The eastern part of Moscow, opposite the factory area, was also being counterattacked from the city by a combined infantry army with heavy tanks. Under such huge pressure, the fate of the two divisions of the rear guard troops, more than 10,000 people, was doomed to be a disaster...

Behind Guderian's assault troops, in the open area of ​​the railway freight marshalling yard west of Moscow, large numbers of Soviet troops also formed layers of offensive skirmishers between the railway hub and the surrounding villages, which looked like continuous waves at first glance. Under the cover of heavy tanks, they launched continuous waves of attacks towards their positions - once the Soviet army broke through the blocks they were holding, it meant that the remaining breakout troops on their side would be directly cut into several pieces by the Russians on the opposite side!

In Rommel's view, the whole situation was like a German proverb: between the anvil and the hammer - two men in one…

Whenever Rommel thought about the consequences of failure, he felt a chill in his heart.

After staying in Russia for a whole year, Rommel knew that his country and the fighting nation on the other side had long been mortal enemies, fighting to the death. Even though he had felt that it was difficult for refugees to survive in the chaotic times in North Africa and had strictly ordered his troops to observe military discipline, the Russians on the other side thought that he was most likely a fascist marshal who deserved to die...

What makes people feel colder than the biting cold wind is the corrupt war situation!

The two shivering legions had to huddle together for warmth in order to break out together.

Guderian led the way, Rommel covered the rear, and even the headquarters was put together. If we don't unite at this time, there will be no future! ——But before that, we must quickly confirm whether the Soviets will stab us in the back.

"Hello? Hello? 164th Division, this is Rommel! How are you now? How are you?!"

"Commander (boom!)... The Russians are attacking more and more fiercely! Their new tanks (boom!) are completely invincible (boom!)..." Halfway through the sentence, a cannon shot was heard. After the roar, there was no more sound in the receiver of the phone.

"Hello?! Hello?!... Is the communication down? What the hell!" Rommel was so angry that he threw the microphone in his hand: "Someone come! Pass my order immediately!..."

After ordering the messenger and signalman to ride motorcycles to restore contact immediately and sending two divisions to reinforce Balashka and occupy the second-line positions respectively, Rommel, who was extremely panicked on his face and even more panicked in his heart, barely suppressed his palpitations.

"Fox, what's wrong with you?"

At this moment, a man walked into the command center. It was Guderian, who had already been awarded the rank of marshal.

He had just returned from the front command post to inspect the assault situation, and before he even entered the door, he heard the fox barking in the tent. With a worried look on his face, he hurried in and asked his colleagues about the battle situation.

"Guderian, you're back from the front. I can't get in touch with Balashka anymore. I'm dispatching the reserve troops and the signalmen... To be honest, I'm really worried about whether they can hold on..."

"Stop talking. I'm still worried about whether I can get out..." Guderian, whose face was as black as the bottom of a pot, looked helpless: "To tell you the truth, our current advancement is very difficult. The main roads and intersections are blocked by barricades and building fire. If we break through walls to open roads and clear out buildings, the Russians will organize small teams to counterattack... Now my attacking troops have four divisions, but now they are scattered in the streets and alleys to fight with the Russians. We are still ten kilometers away from the highway exit on the university town side, but it's already afternoon, and we have just taken down a factory area and two streets..."

"Don't look at me. I can't support you now." Fox gritted his teeth and shook his head with a depressed look on his face. "I have already deployed four divisions to Balashka. The Russians at the flank freight marshaling yard are also making trouble. There are mostly rural houses and open areas over there. Most of my anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank guns are in Balashka and the freight marshaling yard. The remaining troops, except for those who have already reached the flank, are just the reserve troops for fighting street battles against the Russians."

"Forget it. We are both in the same boat, eating bread on the same bench. I know your situation well, so I'll take care of the attack." Guderian sighed and patted Rommel on the shoulder. "It's still 1200 meters from here to the river, and two kilometers to the bridge for breaking out of the South Third Ring Road. But that's a river bend, and on our side is the parking lot and freight station on the edge of the factory area, and we have a crossfire with the Russians on the opposite river bend. So I have to expand my flank position first, withstand the Russians' encirclement and suppress the flanking fire before I can find a way to cross the river - so the earliest time to cross the river is tomorrow dawn... Let's put it this way, can the remaining troops you have hold out until tomorrow dusk?"