USSR 1941

  Chapter 720 The Ring Project

   "No, no..." Then Trufanov overturned his own thoughts: "They won't allow us to slow down!"

  The "they" Trufanov said refers to the Supreme Command.

   Of course the Supreme Command will not allow the 51st Army to slow down. They will speed up in order to allow the 51st Army to hold Manstein, and even send people to monitor the 51st Army.

"Of course not!" Shulka said. "But... Paulus will let us go? I mean, the German Sixth Army, which is besieged in Stalingrad, will they let the situation develop like this? "

  Hesitating for a while, Trufanov, who was still like a wilted cabbage, sat up as if thinking of something.

   "You mean..." Trufanov said while looking at the map: "Paulus will send troops to prevent us from closing the encirclement? Just like he sent two divisions to reinforce the Romanian army?"

"Why not?" Shulka replied: "Of course Paulus hopes that our encirclement will be closed as soon as possible. I'm afraid the encirclement circle cannot be closed!"

   After a pause, Shulka corrected: "To be precise, the outer encirclement cannot be closed. By then, the inner encirclement may have been closed and a fierce battle of encirclement and annihilation has already begun!"

   "That's right!" Trufanov understood Shulka's meaning: "That is to say, it's not that we don't want to close the encirclement at that time, but that there will be enemies blocking us!"

  Shuerka nodded, and added: "And they are Germans with strong fighting power!"

   "Yes, Germans with strong fighting power!" Trufanov's frowning brows slowly relaxed: "At the same time, they also have a large number of Romanian troops to coordinate, no matter their strength or equipment should not be underestimated!"

   "They organized an orderly defense with the German army as the center and command!" Shulka said: "And we, because of the weak air power, so..."

   Trufanov couldn't help laughing.

   "I have never wished so much to meet the enemy!" Trufanov said: "I have one request, Comrade Shulka!"

"any request?"

   "At that time... don't make any suggestions, let us break through the enemy's line of defense!"

   "Of course!" Shulka replied, then looked at Trufanov and smiled.

  In fact, this is the sentence: "There are policies above and countermeasures below."

  Stalin had his policies, and Shulka would have his countermeasures.

   This is a normal thing for Shulka, but a nervous Soviet like Trufanov just can't think so far.

   Soon, Trufanov responded positively to his superiors.

  Even Trufanov swears to his superiors confidently: "Guaranteed to complete the mission! Quickly penetrate deep into the enemy and do everything possible to join forces with the Southwest Front Army!"

   In fact, Trufanov was not as confident as he appeared when he said these words.

  Because the telegram was sent not long after, Trufanov asked Shulka in a low voice: "What if the Germans didn't set up a defense line in front of us? Are we going to pretend to be stopped by the Romanians?"

   It is understandable to be stopped by the German army, but it is a bit too much to be stopped by the Romanians.

   "Don't worry, Comrade Trufanov!" Shulka replied: "The Germans are not fools, they will do this."

  Actually, Shulka himself was not sure...Although he knew the general direction of the battle, he couldn't go into detail to the extent of whether there would be a German army standing in the way.

   It's just that at this time, there is no other way but to take one step at a time.

  The 51st Army continued to advance westward as Stalin wished, although the speed was not fast due to problems with roads and air supremacy.

On the other side, in the direction of Stalingrad, the Don River Front Army has greatly increased its strength because of the three armies split from Stalingrad, as well as the integration of tanks and aircraft. The Front Army has a total of 212,000 people and about 6,900 artillery pieces. and mortars, more than 250 tanks and nearly 500 combat aircraft.

  Stalin and the Military Committee of the Front Army jointly proposed a code name to eliminate the besieged German army group, called the "Ring" plan.

   It can also be seen how much Stalin attached importance to this plan. Before that, Stalin basically did not interfere with the specific command, let alone naming the code name of the plan.

   Rokossovsky was ordered to draw up the plan immediately and submit it to the Supreme Command.

To be honest, this made Rokossovsky a little unprepared. The Don River Front Army, which was originally ignored and mainly used to contain the German army, became the most powerful Front Army overnight, responsible for annihilating and liberating Stalingrad. important task.

   Although even Rokossovsky felt that this was a bit too hasty, he still had to draft the plan as ordered.

  That night, Vasilevsky flew to the Don Front Army Command.

"The Supreme Command believes that..." Vasilevsky said, pointing to the map: "In the first phase of the campaign, your main tasks should be in the areas of Kravtsov, Baburgin, Malinovka, and Karpovka. Cutting off and annihilating the western group of the besieged enemy forces so that the main assault of our army from Dmitrievka, State Farm No. 1, and Baburgin City can be turned southwards towards the Karpovskaya station, 57th The army group from the Kravtsov and Sklyarov areas should carry out auxiliary assaults opposite the main assault and join the main assault in the Karpovskaya station area.”

"But Comrade Vasilevsky!" Rokossovsky couldn't help but gasped as he looked at the offensive line on the map: "The muddy roads make it inconvenient to march, and such a rapid attack will inevitably make our heavy equipment and The logistics can't keep up..."

   "The enemy will be more difficult than us!" Vasilevsky replied: "Because in this way, we can cut off the enemy's communication and supplies with the outside world in the shortest time!"

   Rokossovsky cannot refute this, because the fact is indeed the case, but some things are based on guesswork and luck.

"In addition!" Then Vasilevsky said: "You should organize the 66th Army to carry out an assault in the direction of the "Red October" village via Orlovka, and the 62nd Army to carry out a surprise attack in the opposite direction, so that The two assaults could be combined to cut off the enemy in the factory area from the main enemy group..."

   "It's... very difficult!" Rokossovsky said: "The Germans are very well defended, which will cause us to suffer a lot of casualties!"

  Vasilevsky didn't speak, so Rokossovsky understood...at all costs.

  (end of this chapter)