"Yes, encircle from all sides." Huaseylevsky pointed the map with a teaching stick. "The border troops on the north are Hot's tank cluster, the border troops on the south are Klester's encirclement cluster, and the sixth army of Manstein's infantry group in the middle is the west. As for the east... I wonder if you have noticed Rommel's armored troops?"

Vasilevsky dragged his tone and said in a very clear and firm voice: "Although the British have always been very secretive about how they failed in Egypt, and even boasted that 500,000 German and Italian troops landed in northern Egypt at that time, forming a full encirclement of Montgomery's troops, according to the information we have and the information provided by the United States, there were no more than 100,000 German and Italian troops landed near Matru, Egypt... Their landing process was extremely bold, which was amazing!"

"The German army adopted a landing plan coordinated by the army, navy and air force. First, the sudden landing of airborne troops was used to control several airports in northern Egypt, and then large transport planes landed. Before that, the landing troops carrying army forces set off in advance, and there was no escort force during the journey, with only a few torpedo boats at most!"

"The news is absolutely true!" Seeing everyone's suspicion, Kuznetsov, who was in charge of the navy, became anxious and made a supplementary speech in time. "The Germans used S-boats, which were actually a slightly larger torpedo boat, and then used a large number of landing crafts. This landing craft can not only be assembled by railway transportation, but also has a good carrying capacity. Each can be equipped with 2 tanks. Under the unexpected attack, the Germans used an armored battalion to control the landing situation, and then the subsequent troops continued to land."

"After discovering the German landing attempt, the British Mediterranean fleet launched an attack, but was wiped out by German bombers before it arrived at the battlefield. The British so-called main force of Germany and Italy in the Mediterranean naval forces were dispatched, and the Mediterranean fleet was outnumbered at all. The British Mediterranean fleet had been removed before the German and Italian fleet arrived at the battlefield." Vasilevsky sighed, "After this group of landing troops landed, they immediately cut off the retreat and supply routes of Montgomery's troops. 300,000 fully armed British troops were finally wiped out by less than 200,000 German troops in the desert. Then the German army took advantage of the situation to sweep the entire Middle East and Egypt. The British and American support fleets and landing troops who rushed to rescue collided with the main force of the Japanese joint fleet in the waters of the Point of Africa, and almost destroyed the entire army..."

"What a bunch of waste!" A group of people were talking.

"So, we cannot underestimate the German landing ability. On the premise that neither the enemy nor our side in the Caspian Sea can invest in large-tonnage warships, the German landing advantage of S-boats and landing craft can be used to make use of the German landing advantage of S-boats and landing crafts are even greater than before. Judging from the information currently available, the two elite paratrooper brigades are still under Rommel's army organization." Huasilevsky gently inserted the blue flag on behalf of Rommel to Atlau at the mouth of the Ural River. "If the German army first controls the coastal front line with two airborne brigades, and then lands in the first wave of armored division and infantry division, what consequences do you think will occur?"

Everyone thought hard: Atlau is a city on the north coast of the Caspian Sea, more than 350 kilometers away from Astrakhan. If the German army really landed here, the Stalingrad front that guarded Astrakhan would definitely not have time to rescue, and the other reserve forces scattered near the Caspian Sea were completely at the level of militia, and they could not defeat the elite German airborne troops or armored divisions.

"Only the independent army of Comrade Malinovsky was dispatched to carry out anti-landing operations... They are only 200 kilometers away from here and can arrive within three days."

"If there are enough landing ships, three days will be enough for the German army to send all two divisions ashore."

"So what?" Brother Timuxin shouted, "A group of 250,000 troops can't defeat 2 divisions?"

Zhukov, who had not spoken, suddenly smiled bitterly: "Maybe it really can't be defeated. 250,000 people cannot be put into the battlefield at one time. Comrade Malinovsky can at most send one tank army and one-2 infantry troops to attack at one time..."

"This..." Everyone hesitated.

"Because the armored division on the opposite side is not easy to mess with." Vasilevsky sighed helplessly, "At present, we learned that Rommel has two armored divisions, one is the Great German Division and the other is the SS Viking. Comrades, we cannot take it lightly. This is a difficult enemy. One division has more than 400 tanks, which is slightly more than our tank army."

"400 vehicles?" Everyone was stunned, but soon felt relieved. The German armored division was not easy to mess with. The armored division with the word "title" was even hard to crack. Many people had fought with the Great German Division and the Vikings, and knew that it was false and real. Brother Temuxin's face turned red, but he couldn't say a word.

"If Rommel's troops are fully landed successfully, suppose there are 2 armored divisions, 2-3 infantry divisions, and 2 airborne brigades, a total of 100,000 people landed in the Caspian Sea, and then attacked the Stalingrad side from east to west, and the defense line will be shaken. The enemy may not have to attack Astrakhan. They can achieve the same effect when attacking Stalingrad." Vasilevsky gently pushed the small blue flag 500 kilometers in the northwest direction, and then there were four flags appearing on the map to surround Stalingrad. This is the true meaning of the four-sided encirclement!

Everyone did not say such stupid words as setting up defenses along the Caspian Sea. The coastline of the Caspian Sea is more than 1,500 kilometers, and because of its endogenous reason, it is actually more like a big lake. The terrain along the coast is flat and there are places where landing can be landed everywhere. If the troops are divided and guarded, there is no defense everywhere. Only an independent group army like Malinovsky is deployed in advance as a reserve force for the war zone, and the counter-log landing will be carried out immediately after receiving the enemy's landing information. This is still a glimmer of hope. Of course, if the small fleet in the Caspian Sea can play a role, the situation will be more ideal.

But before everyone could ask questions, Kutsnetsov had made it clear that the small fleet in the Caspian Sea was deeply suffering from the bombing of German aircraft that took off from Iran and the Caucasus, and now there are no decent warships. So all hope can only be placed on Malinovsky. However, there is only one independent army like this, and if you want to form more, you will not have more troops and equipment. What's more, countless battles have proved that it is not enough to have troops and equipment but not quality.

What is more terrifying than the sharp decline in the number and scale of the Red Army is that the performance and quality of technical equipment are also declining rapidly. Taking tanks as an example, the basic equipment of the Red Army tank troops is currently t-34/76, and a small number of them are replaced with the latest t-43. Although the design direction of the new tank (t-34/85 and is-1) has been clarified, mass production cannot be carried out before winter comes. Instead, the thickness of the front armor is improved and the t-43 that improves the suspension mechanism has achieved a better development opportunity than history. In a sense, the t-43 is closer to the improvement idea of ​​the No. 4 G type.

The t-34 that was factory in 1943 was completely incomparable with previous products. Not to mention the quality was not as good as the t-34 in 1941, it was even worse than the t-34 produced in the emergency last year. Many insignificant parts were cancelled to simplify production. At the same time, due to the lack of high-quality armored steel, large pieces of the car body such as the head and sides originally needed to be rolled armored steel with cast iron of the same thickness were replaced by cast iron of the same thickness. The production simplicity, the source of the material was of course simplified, but the quality also dropped to a terrible level.

Germany, which has world-class metallurgical level, can only reach 90% of the defense level of rolled armored steel by using casting technology. This is why Hoffman refused the factory to equip the Tiger-style casting turrets to increase production. The cutting-edge weapons should maintain the best quality so as to give the front line enough confidence. For the Soviet Union's own casting technology with bubbles, the quality is even worse. In the past, the 37mm anti-tank gun could not penetrate the front armor of the T-34, but now there is no pressure to be installed at a distance of 400 meters. The decline in defense capability is the most significant proof of the deterioration of production quality. In addition to the handling and the average engine failure-free level is getting worse.

Germany also noticed the fact that the quality of the T-34 was significantly reduced: after the T-34 was seized by the front line troops, it could directly exchange No. 4 tanks with the Military Affairs Department at a ratio of 1:1, and then take them to the southern line to fight against Britain and the United States. Later, the turret was removed and the chassis was used to produce various types of deformation vehicles assault tanks and destroyers. The T-34 chassis was used, and the exchange ratio could still be maintained at 2:1. For those T-34 seized or destroyed in the Spring Awakening Battle, military experts took a look at it and came to a conclusion "garbage!", and only 4 or even more could be exchanged for 1 No. 4 tank. Their latest place was for armored soldiers training in various Eastern countries. If the defense was low, it would be no problem at all, and a high level of faults could be used to exercise the maintenance level!

Of course, it is not possible to use this tank with water to deal with the elite No. 4 H or Tiger, but this method of water exchange was praised by Marshal Voroshilov, who was in charge of the national defense industry production in the rear because the Soviets were unable to supply enough armored steel. If the previous standards were adhered to, it would mean that the output would be greatly reduced, which was politically unacceptable. Replacing armored steel with cast iron can barely ensure that it can meet the expected quantity.

As for the quality, Voroshilov explained this: "Anyway, when T-34 armored steel will be penetrated by one shot when it encounters a Tiger or No. 4 tank or No. 3 assault gun. Even if the quality is almost the same, it will be penetrated by one shot. This difference will not be obvious during combat. Our armored soldiers should be braver, fight in close combat with the enemy, and fight indiscriminately, so that they will have a chance to win."

Is this sentence wrong? Of course it is good! The problem is that when the T-34 approaches the enemy tank, it must first withstand multiple attacks. Originally, 45mm tilted armor could be used to defend the 48-distance 75mm anti-tank gun design (both No. 3 assault gun and No. 4 tank are equipped with this model), but now it cannot be stopped, which invisibly increases the chance of being destroyed. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!