In the end, Hoffmann himself was quite troubled by which of the two plans, because the principles of each side seemed to be correct. He was anxious about it during that period, but after a week of painful thinking, he suddenly calmed down and summoned Zeitzler and cartel to issue orders.

"The purpose of the Castle Campaign is not to occupy here or there, nor to seize or try to seize Moscow. Our battle is very clear, with two items in total: First, to attract the attention of the Red Army's heavy army group and create opportunities for the southern wing battlefield; Second, if possible, the Central Army Group can also annihilate the enemy's living forces, such as the Bryansk Front. Therefore, I decided..." Hoffman paused, "I hope you will forget the Tula plan or the Lezhev plan for the time being, and we will fight Tambov first."

"From Orel to hit Tambov?"

"No, start from Voronezh!" Hoffman explained his action plan. "Voronezh is about 200 kilometers away from Tambov, which is a one-week assault distance for the armored cluster. After occupying the place, we have a more relaxed opportunity to choose the next attack target. Tambov is about 300 kilometers away from the Tula-Ryazan line to the northwest and about 360 kilometers away from Saratov to the southeast. I am determined to play a protruding point here."

The two looked at each other: The initial statement was that the Central Army Group carried out the castle battle, but Voronezh was the defense area of ​​the Southern Army Group. Both agreed to command Model and assist Weix. Should we temporarily change it to command Hort now?

Faced with this doubt, Hoffman was amused and laughed: "Why can't the Central Army Group use the defense zones of other Army Groups to launch an attack? It is true that Voronezh is General Hot's defense line. If he is attacked by the enemy, can Model stand by and watch?"

"Then..." Zeitzler asked in confusion, "What is our real goal after seizing Tambov? Tula Ryazan or Saratov?"

Hoffman's answer made him vomit blood: "My goal is to have no goal. In the exchange ratio of 1:7, if Stalincoln loses 1 million people for Tambov, I don't want Tambov, even Voronezh can be given to him. At worst, I will set off from Kharkov to continue to fight Voronezh next time. Gentlemen, you must know that seizing here or there is not the most important thing now, and even Stalingrad itself is not the most important thing. The most important thing is the elimination of the enemy's vitality."

Therefore, the Tambov plan immediately became the third choice for the Castle Campaign. Although the plan was not the most clever and seemed a bit hilarious, it was finally passed because several army commanders believed that it was feasible to set a small goal first and then decide the next strategic direction. Moreover, Tambov's strategic position itself was also relatively important, and it was an important node for the Red Army to connect the Bryansk Front and the Southwest Front to the Army equivalent to Voronezh connecting the Central Army Group and the Southern Army Group.

Of course, there will be a series of problems to implement this plan: for example, the direction of Lezhev-Viazima will be attacked by the Red Army, and the Orel defense zone will be subject to counterattack. After final discussion, the most important line of Lezhev-Viazima will be defended by the 9th Army. After Model's promotion, Hoffman chose General Scherner to serve as the commander of the army, and the 4th Army will be responsible for the defense of the remaining areas; the Orel line is controlled by Marshal Weix's Oriental Army Group, and the functions of the combat reserve team are also undertaken.

On May 11, a series of personnel changes and organizational transfers related to the Castle Campaign began to be implemented: the Hort Cluster was renamed the B Army Group, with General Hort as commander, and General Joelger Hans Reinhardt officially served as commander of the 4th Armored Army Group; the Klester Cluster was renamed the A Army Group, with General Klester as commander, and General Eberhard von Mackenson as commander of the 1st Armored Army Group.

The biggest change is that the Middle East Army was renamed the C Army Group, with Marshal Rommel as commander, and the German troops were renamed the 5th Armored Army. After Hermann Bark was promoted to general, he served as commander from the position of commander of the Great German Division. He was originally sent to Turkey, and the troops led by Major General Walter Wink also joined the army. Wink was highly valued by Rommel for his good performance and strongly recommended him to take over as commander of the Great German Division. In addition to the 5th Armored Army, the army group also received cooperation from the 1st Iranian Army. Although the total strength of the C Army Group was only 250,000 (the 5th Armored Army was 150,000 and the Iranian Army was 100,000), because there were several ace divisions that had been reorganized, their combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.

Hoffman clearly stipulated that the three armies a, b and c are all affiliated with the Southern Army group and are unified and commanded by Marshal Manstein.

Although Manstein was very proud to become the commander of the army group of the army group, he saw that other army groups had armored armies and the Southern Army group had not yet, he became anxious again and telegraphed Yuan to set up an armored army and strongly recommended Hu Bei's father to serve. Two days later, his request was agreed, and Hans Valentine Hu Bei was promoted to general and appointed as commander of the 6th Armored Army.

According to Hoffman's suggestion and after Zeitzler's central coordination, the commanders of the army groups reached an agreement: to launch an attack on Tambov on May 25, the northern wing cluster was commanded by Model, the 3rd Armored Army under General Ehard Rous and the 2nd Armored Army under General Rudolph Schmidt were responsible for the main offensive tasks, the southern wing cluster was commanded by Hort, and the 4th Army under Reinhardt was responsible for the secondary offensive tasks.

On May 15, signed by Hoffman, the No. 11 combat order of the base camp signed by Kettle was issued:

...I decided to carry out the first attack of a series of offenses this year, the "Castle" attack, as soon as the climate allows.

This offensive is of decisive significance. It must be successful quickly and thoroughly, and must lay the foundation for winning the initiative this summer and completely eliminating the Bolshevik regime. Therefore, all preparations should be made very carefully and vigorously. In the main assault direction, the most elite troops, the most exquisite weapons, the most outstanding commanders and sufficient supplies should be invested. Every commander and every soldier must fully recognize the decisive significance of this offensive, and its victory will surely attract the attention of the world.

The purpose of this attack is to use Voronezh as the main starting base, divide it into two routes, and carry out intensive, brave and rapid assaults with three armored armies to encircle the enemy in the Tambov area and annihilate it through centripetal assault!

The so-called enemy in the Tambov area actually refers to the main force of the Bryansk Front Army. According to intelligence, after the group of troops has been organized and strengthened, its strength cannot be underestimated. It has the 3rd Guard Tank Army (Tank 12th and 15th Tank Army, Mechanized 2nd Army, Independent Tank 91st Brigade), the 1st Guard Tank Army, the 20th Tank Army and other forces, with a total number of tanks exceeding 800 and a total force of more than 500,000.

However, the offensive force prepared by Hoffman for Tambov can be called violent. A total of three armored armies were mobilized, with a total of about 600,000 troops, but the total number of tanks was more than doubled than that of the Russians, with nearly 2,000 vehicles, including 5 Tiger armored battalions. Of course, considering that the Red Army might receive a large amount of reinforcements, in addition to the initial advantage of force, Hoffman also asked Zeitzler to prepare emergency reinforcements of 100,000 troops and 600 tanks.

In addition to the significant tank advantage, the air force power comparison is also overwhelming. The total number of Red Army aircraft does not exceed 1,000, while the Eastern Airlines fleet prepared 3,200 troops. The only close Red Army's main technical weapons is artillery: Germany has about 10,248 artillery pieces, while the Red Army's artillery pieces are about 8,000.

What Hoffman regrets is that although the name of the castle was added, the Leopard tanks that appeared in the castle battle in history were impossible to participate in the war this time because they had not been produced at all.

In terms of military strength, this time he had an overwhelming advantage. Unless Stalin mobilized heavy troops in the short term, the Bryansk Front would not be able to save it, but this also achieved the significance of castle combat.

He asked Model habitually: "The battle will be launched tomorrow, what difficulties do you still face?"

"I have encountered a big and small difficulty recently." Model said with a smile when he said this, "I originally asked to get 400 tanks to replenish, but I sent me 600 vehicles in one go. This, I found that... the tank crew is not enough, and even the backup crew is used, and there are dozens of gaps!"

Everyone in the command center was stunned at first, but finally they all laughed out loud

This sounds like a cold humor, but in fact it reflects the German army's greatly improved supply situation. According to the scheduled plan, the Leopard should have been put into small-scale production in April, but due to the insufficient overall number of No. 4 tanks, Hoffmann made up his mind to postpone the production of the Leopard until August, and even believed that if necessary, it would be possible to postpone the production until September. Domestic tanks were fully capable of producing No. 4 tanks.

With Sperer's efforts, the monthly production of No. 4 tank increased again to 1,468 in April from 1,394 in March. It is expected that the ultimate goal of 1,500 by May, but no matter how high it is, it cannot be high, because the supporting production line is gradually preparing to switch to the Leopard. Unless it is no longer ready to produce the Leopard, 1,500 is the limit. Although the expansion of the quantity makes everyone happy, and the performance of the No. 4 H model is not bad, Hoffman considers that the Allies will definitely launch new tanks, so he decided that the Leopard must be put into production this year, and the timing depends on the results of the Castle Campaign and the Spring Awakening Campaign.

If the loss is large, then the Leopard will be put into production in September or even October; if the loss is small, then the Leopard will be put into production in August. In any case, the 3,000 No. 4 tanks in 6 and 7 months are certain to be sure that they cannot escape. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!