USSR 1941

  Chapter 737 Supplies

   "That's all right, Comrade Rokossovsky!" Shulka replied.

   "No problem?" Rokossovsky almost exclaimed: "The problem is serious, Comrade Shulka! The enemy is advancing steadily from both wings, and they are about to cut off Karachi's supplies!"

  Karachi is backed by the Don River, and the front is the German defense line. If the two wings are hit by the German armored divisions to the banks of the Don River...then it will be completely surrounded!

   "No, you won't!" Shulka pointed to the map and said, "You still have the Don River!"

   "You mean the navy?" Rokossovsky shook his head and said, "No, no, Shulka, we only have two shallow-water heavy artillery ships on the Don River, and the rest are on the Volga River!"

  Although the Don River and the Volga River are very close in the Stalingrad area, the two rivers are not connected, so the heavy artillery ships cannot be freely mobilized. (Note: The Soviet Union did not dig an artificial canal between the Don River and the Volga River to connect them until after the war)

"That's not what I'm talking about, Comrade Rokossovsky!" Shulka replied: "I think that the 57th Army should preserve its strength, that is, stick to Karachi. As long as Karachi is in your hands, the German 6th Army There is no escape!"

"I know this, Shulka!" Rokossovsky said with an incredible expression: "I also hope to stick to it, and I also know that we should fight the enemy in street fighting in Karachi... But Shulka, we will not have any soon There is no food or ammunition!"

   "The Don River is your supply line!" Shulka replied.

   "Transportation on the river?" Rokossovsky laughed: "No, the Germans will block the river with artillery fire!"

   "Why don't you use underwater transportation?"

   "Underwater transportation?" Rokossovsky looked at Shulka puzzled.

"Yes!" Shulka replied, "the supply is waterproofed so that it just sinks in the water, tied with ropes to a floating log so that it can be found, lowered upstream and received at Karachi ..."

"You are such a genius, Shulka!" Rokossovsky almost jumped up excitedly when he heard the words: "This will greatly ease our plight of transporting supplies, and it will also allow us to be stationed in Karachi and the enemy. Co-rotating capital!"

   "But there is one thing!" Shulka pointed to the map and said, "The upstream should not be completely controlled by the enemy!"

   Rokossovsky nodded again and again: "I will strengthen the troops upstream and try to drive the enemy away from the river bank!"

  The reason why the upper reaches cannot be completely controlled by the German army is because once the German army hits the Don River and finds that the Soviet army is using river transportation, they only need to erect barbed wire or send someone to intercept them to easily cut off the Soviet army's supplies.

This is why the Soviet army did not use this method during the Battle of Stalingrad... The upper river bank of Stalingrad has been completely controlled by the German army, and it is still tens of kilometers long. It is almost impossible to safely reach Stalingrad in the ten-kilometer interception zone.

   But Karachi is different.

  Manstein only had 6 divisions in total, and the armored divisions were interspersed from the two wings.

These two armored divisions cut off the supplies of the Soviet army, and the Soviet army would inevitably launch a counterattack against them. Therefore, the enemy's attention point was that the south and north sides would not pay attention to the Don River where the enemy could not appear, and the other side of the Don River would even Still my own.

  So, as long as the Soviet army compresses the space of the German army small enough, there is a high probability that the supplies will be delivered to Karachi.

  Of course, this also requires confidentiality measures, that is, try to let the German army know about it later.

  In fact, if the German army does not control the river bank for a long time, it does not matter much even if the German army knows it, because the Soviet army located in the upper reaches of Karachi can block the river bank with artillery and machine gun fire so that the German army cannot intercept it.

   But even so, keeping the German army from discovering can still reduce unnecessary troubles.

   Therefore, at the beginning, the delivery of supplies is usually carried out at night, and it is also necessary to select troops with strong political beliefs and trustworthiness to perform the task.

   But having said that, it is actually difficult to keep secrets for a long time in the Soviet army.

   This is not only because there are many "spies" in the Soviet army, but also because many Soviet soldiers are Ma Daha, who will leak secrets at every turn.

  These are things for later, and Rokossovsky will deal with them. With his ability, these small things can still be done very comprehensively.

  But Rokossovsky didn't want to let Shulka go like this.

   "I'm afraid this is not your final plan!" Rokossovsky said.

   "You guessed right, Comrade Rokossovsky!" Shulka nodded.

   "Still thinking about your encirclement?" Rokossovsky said, and smiled at Shulka.

   Rokossovsky is not a fool. If Karachi has any hope of holding and holding the enemy to consume their supplies, then it is natural to consider a breakthrough on the other hand.

  The place that can break through and change the situation of the battle is definitely not Stalingrad, which is caught in bitter and street fighting... Anyone can see that the battle in Stalingrad in this situation cannot be ended in a short time.

  Then, what can break through is the large encirclement that is blocked on the outside, either the Southwest Front Army or the 51st Army.

   Of course Rokossovsky knew it was the 51st Army.

  The reason is very simple. The Southwest Front Army is too conspicuous. If the entire Front Army is outflanked, it will definitely be surrounded by the main force of the enemy.

However, the 51st Army was very low-key, especially at this time they were caught in a turning point of a river and were blocked by a German division and suffered heavy casualties... If there were no heavy casualties, the German army might still think that the 51st Army was showing weakness, but the 51st The group army did lose a large number of troops and tanks in the previous attack.

  From this aspect, political commissar Shevchenko still has some effect.

  Thus, the German army's defense is the 51st Army.

   "The problem is that we need to break through this line of defense!" Shulka pointed to the position of the German 29th Panzergrenadier Division on the map and said: "And we have to break through quickly!"

   Rokossovsky nodded.

  Because if Manstein cannot break through quickly, Manstein will immediately realize his mistake and send additional reinforcements, and it will be difficult to break through by then.

   "I can send you more air power!" Rokossovsky said: "Do all I can!"

   Before this, Rokossovsky might not be willing to use the air force of the Don River Front Army for the Southern Front Army, but now, it is related to the failure of the entire battle, and he is obliged to do so.

   "Thank you!" Shulka said. "We do need air power, but they won't do much to break through this line of defense!"

  (end of this chapter)