"I think it's very difficult. His troops on the front line will be more powerful than we have noticed." Zhukov pointed to the map and said, "From Pavlovsk to Rostov's overall defense front, it stretched for more than 90 kilometers. Even if Manstein shrinks the defense system and consciously abandons the Don River Quarter's competition, the overall length of the defense front will still exceed 70 kilometers. Deducts the area defended by the left-wing Hot cluster and deducts the area defended by the right-wing Kleist, the entire defense system that the cluster needs to face will last about 40 kilometers. This means that if Manstein places 15 divisions on the front of the defense line, each division's defense front will reach more than 25 kilometers. This is a relatively dangerous number in terms of German equipment and troop strength."

"So, what is your conclusion?" Stalin asked in confusion.

"Two. First, Manstein will not defend such a wide front, and he will inevitably continue to shrink. As long as we add fuel, we can break through his first line of defense; the second possibility is that he invests more troops than we imagined, so this defense width is what he can bear." Zhukov said after thinking carefully, "The General Staff believes that the first plan may be closer to reality, and that line of defense will not be as unbreakable as it seems. Our response strategy is very simple, send as many troops as possible across the river, put further pressure on this line of defense, find the enemy's weak links as soon as possible and then launch a rapid attack."

Vasilevsky added: "There is another very small possibility that Manstein is bluffing. The reason he put on such a huge position in the early stage was to cover up his true intentions. The result of doing so undoubtedly means that he only has this little force on the defense line, and the rest of the force was put into other battlefields."

"This possibility also exists, and we cannot underestimate it. At present, the supply from Batumi, Poti to Novorossiysk, Tuapse and other places has been greatly hindered. The enemy fleet has become our confidant." Stalin looked at the two generals and asked, "Since your analysis is so consistent, what is the subsequent response?"

"We believe that at least one army on the upper reaches of the Don River and the Hequ team need to launch an army to attack, and we also need air force cover. Now the German planes are rampant. If we don't suppress this arrogance, we will continue to suffer losses." Zhukov said, "I have issued an order to the Southwest Front and the Don River Front to step up the crossing of the river tonight, and use two days to invest in another army and then launch a full-line attack."

Stalin nodded: "You can do it according to this idea. Tell comrades not to be anxious first, find the weak link and then take a fatal blow, and at the same time think about the difficulties more fully. The enemy will not have depth or reserve forces, and there will definitely be a second and third line of defense. We must open it completely in one go to the final victory."

Vatutin received a telegram urging the promotion army. He shouted in the command center: "Attack the sea, first cut off the connection between the Hot cluster and the Manstein cluster..." Rokosovsky also received a telegram urging him to advance. He thought about it and then, and finally decided to send the 24th Group Army across the river.

Seeing the review of the enemy situation transmitted from the front line and the defense system and military deployment set up by Manstein, Zeitzler took a breath of air conditioning, followed by a snoring toothache.

"What's wrong?" Seeing his expression wrong, his friend and military commander of the Eastern Front asked strangely.

"Our good marshal made the Southern Army Group surrounded by the enemy..."

"Encircle?" Schmont widened his eyes, "How could it be? The Southern Army Group has nearly 140,000 troops. How could the Russians surround him? The Russians do not have this strength at all."

"He voluntarily surrounded the enemy. He divided the troops into three parts, left, center and right. Although he barely formed a whole, the connection between each other was very weak - as if he was tempting the enemy, come, come, let's cut off our connection with each other." Zeitzler said angrily, "He has played a little too hard with this move."

"Can the Russians bypass him and march towards Ukraine?

"This cannot be. If the Russians did not solve any of the Hott and Manstein clusters, they would be attacked by two heavy troops on the left and right wings by themselves. Not many Red Army troops could withstand the attack of two German clusters. So their strategy would definitely solve one first."

"Will the Hot cluster be solved first? Romanians and Italians are not very reliable comrades-in-arms. If it were my commanders, I would pick this soft persimmon first."

"The enemy either solves the Hot cluster first or solves the Manstein cluster first. There is no other way, but these two groups are so easy to solve?" Zeitzler smiled faintly, "Martin Manstein put himself in a dead place. This is obviously one, of course, it cannot be said to be completely surrounded. Since we have the control of the Black Sea and the Asian Sea, the waterway connection is unobstructed."

"If this is the case, it will be better than Krim and Sevastopol."

"I almost forgot that the Crim Peninsula and the Sevastopol Fortress were defeated by Marshal Manstein. In comparison, he should have a lot of experience in how to defend the harbor city.

"However, the three fronts, with a total of more than 10,000 troops, are almost equal to the strength of the entire Southern Army Group. Can Marshal Manstein defend it?" Schmont said worriedly, "or can he survive at a smaller price?"

"This is hard to say, but of course we should fully trust the front-line commanders.

Of course, you have to believe it, because the new commander of the 6th Army finally came Heinrich's turn, he came

"I heard you are going to be surrounded, so I quickly pulled me over and died together..."

"Of course, we will die together without you. With you, the Russians dare not do it." Heinrich brags with Manstein, and on the other hand, he has conducted on-site inspections, "This line of defense is not good..."

"Why can't it work?"

"Look," Heinrich said mercilessly about the loopholes in the defense line.

Manstein's face turned red all of a sudden. He thought that his level of commanding the defense system was still in the construction of the defense system, but he didn't expect that he would fall into such a very important task.

"Also, I heard you took away all the troops' assault guns?" Heinrich stared into Manstein's eyes.

This made the latter feel a little relieved. After thinking for a long time, he spoke: "Yes."

"You have to pay me back." Heinrich said bluntly.

"No, I still have some use."

“How long will it take?”

“A week…”

"No, I can't wait that long, 5 days." Heinrich stretched out his five fingers and swayed in front of Manstein.

"Okay, 5 days are 5 days." Manstein looked reluctant, but he could only agree. This was something he did not do. He had heard that the infantry division had returned from the armored division to defend the defense, but he had never heard of people taking all the assault guns.

"Where is the armored division?

"One week!"

"Okay, the establishment must be returned after 10." Manstein was stunned. He thought Heinrich would bargain with him, but he didn't expect that the other party not only did not have this intention, but also generously extended the time for 3 days. He was a little uncomfortable with this rhythm and asked with a smile, "I heard this, right?"

"The armored division is an essential part of the elastic defense system, so in the next cruel defense time they will play the role of people who put out fires everywhere. As for your needs?" Heinrich blinked mischievously, "I think 10 days is enough."

"Enough, enough."

"Also I almost forgot to tell you that Yuan said the Navy was going to take it away at the end of November."

"What?" Heinrich complained in distress, "Can this force not be drawn away? I still keep it for great use..."

"No, this is impossible, there are big moves in other directions." Manstein immediately interrupted Heinrich's complaint, "This is an order given by Yuan himself."

"Okay." Heinrich shrugged helplessly, "I'll give me a few more days anyway, even on December 5th."

"I will report this to Yuan, and it will be good to have an extra day."

"I also need to know the hoarding of materials..." Heinrich heard the quarantine officer report on combat supplies and said, "There is not enough cement, rails, and logs, and it needs to be improved as soon as possible..."

It’s easy to understand cement, but the rails and logs are a little confused. Seeing that the quarantine officer was still stunned, Heinrich immediately reminded him: “These are all necessary equipment for building bunkers. Don’t you want the front line observation that we finally built to turn into a pile of residue under heavy shelling of the Soviets, right?

Seeing Heinrich 66 asking me a lot again that day, Manstein said: "Why do I feel that we are back to the last war situation.

"You are right, you are indeed planning to use the tactics of the last war. However, this time we have better equipment and we can still fight streets if necessary.

"I really want to fight in the street?" Lieutenant General Weiler was shocked and stuck out his tongue.

"I hope it won't be used, but I have to make this preparation... Whether I can kill the Red Army's 150,000 yuan depends entirely on this..."

"Crazy... can a few lines of defense kill 150,000?" Manstein looked disbelief.

But Heinrich said: "Spring is still far away. This will be a decisive battle that attracts attention from the world. We will have to survive until at least the end of March..."

"But it's only mid-November now..." Weller lamented.

"So I said we have enough time to kill these Russians." Heinrich smiled at the corner of his mouth, "I'm going to see the Marshal's specialty tomorrow."

"I can't hide anything from you." Manstein also smiled.

...
Chapter completed!