Iron Cross

Chapter 057 Eastern Feast (1) There is a saying that Krank is not right. Americans still value him, otherwise they would not have let the main force of the Atlantic Fleet rush out to besiege him in the South Atlantic. However, Hoffman does not care about the Ma Island Fleet for the time being. There are more important battles to fight now - the second non revolutionary air raid in the west and the Soviet counterattack in the east both involve great energy from the F ü hrer. Under Hoffman's intentional or unintentional indulgence, the flames of the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus finally grew stronger and stronger. By the first week of April, the total number of Soviet troops gathered in the Transcaucasian region had reached nearly 400000- almost an entire front army. Chernyahovsky continuously received supplies and technical troops from the east coast of the Caspian Sea. On April 8th, the Transcaucasian Attack Group had obtained over 1000 tanks, nearly half of which were relatively advanced IS-1, T-43/85, and American Sherman tanks. Among the remaining 500 tanks, there were also over 200 T-43/76 tanks, and less than 200 earlier T-34/76 tanks, with even fewer being other light tanks. In order to compete for air superiority in the vicinity of the Caspian Sea, the Red Army aviation troops also mobilized their forces and took the initiative to fight against the German army in recent days. Especially after receiving supplies from the US military twice in a row (the Soviet Union received 36 ships and Japan received 24 ships), Comrade Stalin went crazy and sent them all to the Caspian Sea and Central Asia, mobilizing more than 600 aircraft, of which nearly 400 were various types of combat aircraft and the remaining 200 were the unique Soviet Il-2. As for the bomber squadron, Stalin no longer expected them to come out and die. Voroshilov, who was in charge of military production, believed that the raw materials and fuel consumed by one bomber could be used by two fighter planes, and it was more difficult to train bomber pilots compared to fighter planes. Therefore, in the second half of 1943, especially after 1944, the Soviet side completely stopped manufacturing bombers and concentrated resources on developing fighter planes, with a clear goal of competing for battle air superiority and local air superiority. The main opponents currently faced by the German Air Force are the main forces composed of the Yak-3 and La-5, but new aircraft such as the Yak-9 and La-7 have also begun to be equipped in bulk. There are also a considerable number of US aid aircraft, but the models are still tragic. They are neither the popular P-47/P-51, nor the Navy's F4U, nor can they be the Meteor jet that the US and UK have not equipped themselves with much. Now there is a problem of protection fees, which can be ignored but cannot be really ignored. Advanced fighter jets cannot be given, and the P-63 that the Americans themselves do not want is still given to the Red Army. But the P-63 is much better than the original P-39/40 series in terms of garbage. Comrade Stalin was still grateful for Roosevelt's generosity. When he knew that Japan was going to get a share of the pie, Roosevelt sent the Red Army extremely valuable high standard aviation fuel, armor steel, aluminum ingots, and other urgently needed supplies from the Soviet side. He was even more grateful. The main opponents currently faced by the German Air Force are the main forces composed of the Yak-3 and La-5, but new aircraft such as the Yak-9 and La-7 have also begun to be equipped in bulk. There are also quite a few US aid aircraft, but the models are still tragic. They are neither the popular P-47/P-51, nor the Navy's F4U, nor can they be the Meteor jet that the US and UK have not equipped themselves with much. Now there is a problem of protection fees, which can be ignored but cannot be really ignored. Advanced fighter jets cannot be given, and the P-63 that the Americans themselves do not want is still given to the Red Army. But the P-63 is much better than the original P-39/40 series in terms of garbage. Comrade Stalin was still grateful for Roosevelt's generosity. When he knew that Japan was going to get a share of the pie, Roosevelt sent the Red Army extremely valuable high standard aviation fuel, armor steel, aluminum ingots, and other urgently needed supplies from the Soviet side. He was even more grateful. So he not only provided the complete set of physical items and materials of IS-1 and T-43/85 as requested by the US, but also offered additional compensation - sending the wreckage of German technical equipment obtained on the battlefield, such as Assassins, Himmler organs, and even the Tiger tank that the US was most interested in. In addition, negotiations were made with the Japanese side, demanding that the Japanese side, who had received protection fees, release a group of American crew members who were initially detained. Stalin and Molotov were very thoughtful: if someone were to entangle in the future about some of the Soviet aid materials falling into the hands of Japan, rescuing these sailors would give an explanation to the United States - they would have to redeem them in exchange for American citizens. The Japanese side, who received the benefits, quickly agreed, and the US side naturally expressed deep gratitude. Japan is now living a very comfortable life. No one dares to deal with the looting of the Horta Fleet outside Australia and New Zealand. The Indian troops who have continuously increased their troops have defeated the British army, and the aid to the Soviet Union has received 40% of the benefits. The war in the direction of Chinese Mainland has basically subsided, and they are still making money again and again. Then the trade with Europe has been replaced by another crop of useful materials, including Do-412 and Ju-198. All parties are deeply satisfied that this is the best day since the beginning of the war. The proposal to establish 15 security divisions was naturally approved, and even the Tibetan Prime Minister took the initiative to state at the Five Ministers' Meeting that if the army really needs it by the end of the year, another 15 security divisions can be established. Happy to receive continuous praise from Prince Toshihiko of the Eastern Palace for "ancestral protection" - after all, no one is a god, and they did not know that Spruance would soon bring the TF44 fleet, four escort aircraft carriers, and two British domestic divisions to India to cause trouble for them. The Japanese side also received the P-63 and Sherman tanks for the aid to the Soviet Union, and their evaluation of the P-63 was also very low. They believed that it was not as good as the Fw-190 or other German planes, nor as fast as their own country. Therefore, they proposed to the Soviet side whether they could exchange Sherman tanks and were willing to exchange two planes for one Sherman tank. Nowadays, Japan is the country with the most complete range of Sherman models in the world - almost none of them. Both the UK and the US use gasoline versions of Sherman, while the Soviet Union received diesel versions. Only Germany and Japan have both versions, but Germany has very few diesel Sherman models, far less than Japan. So the Japanese army, especially the Kwantung Army, wanted to build more pure American armored vehicle brigades. Although the Soviet Union wanted the P-63 very much, tanks were also urgently needed and they were reluctant to exchange them for the P-63. Fortunately, there are many smart people after all. Some people proposed to exchange bombers for P-63 and received Voroshilov's approval. In the end, both sides reached an agreement, and the Soviet Union exchanged 40 Pe-2 aircraft for 93 P-63s from Japan. The Japanese side expressed deep satisfaction with this and was even more satisfied after the test flight evaluation. They believed that the Pe-2 was not as strong as the German Ju-188 bomber, but stronger than other aircraft in Japan's hands, especially compared to the Italian BR20 bomber introduced by the Army and the domestically produced main equipment Flying Dragon or Swallowing Dragon Heavy Explosive (said to be heavy explosive, carrying less ammunition than the Pe-2). After this project started, everything else became easier to handle. The Red Army had a lot of Pe-2 in stock, and since bombers were not a top priority, they could be exchanged for the even more scarce supplies in the hands of the Japanese army. As a result, the armor steel and aluminum ingots (high standard aviation fuel that Japan refused to give) had not yet heated up, and in the blink of an eye, they had become Pe-2 again. The Soviet side also did not feel sorry for this, because they had better Tu-2 bombers in their hands, and even a hundred or so Pe-2 planes could not change anything. They simply exchanged them for export - in a few months, the British and Indian armies would have a chance to taste the bombs dropped by Pe-2 planes with Japanese markings. In the face of the deteriorating situation in Transcaucasia and the Turks' request for help, Chuetzler could not sit still and went straight to Rostov to prepare for the deployment of the counter offensive work. But here he heard the shocking reply of Marshal Manstein of the Eastern United Theater: "Counter offensive? Why counter offensive? Let the Russians fight! I wish they would fight." I know you have deployed a considerable number of troops in the South Caucasus, but the investigation shows that the three Red Army front forces on the Stalingrad front are all eager to try. If the enemy forces attack and encircle our army from north to south, it may be even more troublesome in the future The Caucasus Division refers to the Caspian Army Group under the responsibility of Marshal Kleist. Prior to the establishment of the Eastern Joint Theater Command, the Southern Army Group had jurisdiction over three army groups, A, B, and C. Among them, Army Group A was Kleist, Army Group B was Holt, and Army Group C was Rommel. After Manstein became the commander of the Eastern Joint Theater Command, the three army groups A, B, and C were integrated. Marshal Holt's B Army Group, together with the original headquarters of the Southern Army Group, formed a new Southern Army Group. Marshal Holt served as the commander, responsible for the front line roughly along the Volga River from Samara to the outskirts of Stalingrad, with nearly 600000 troops. The northern wing was Marshal Weix's Eastern Army Group, and the southern wing was Marshal Kleist's Caspian Army Group. The most elite attacking force under his command was the 4th Armored Army Group, commanded by General Georg Hans Reinhardt. The Caspian Army Group was formed by the merger of the headquarters of the former Group A Army Group and the Rommel Group (Scherner was the commander of the 5th outfit Army Group, not the commander of the Central Asian Army Group), and Field Marshal Klest was the commander. The battle line included the Volga River basin, the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea coast from Astrakhan to Stalingrad. The northern wing was the Southern Army Group, and the southern wing was the Turks from Transcaucasia. In theory, Central Asia is also under the jurisdiction of the Caspian Sea Army Group, but due to the relatively long distance and the special circumstances of the Central Asian Army Group, Sherna gained independent status. Excluding the total force of just over 500000 troops under Scherner's command, the most elite attacking force is the 1st Armored Group Army commanded by General Eberhard von Mackensen. In Cai Zile's view, it is fully confident that the Caspian Sea Army Group alone can deal with the Red Army's forces in the Transcaucasian region, even with the addition of the Malinovsky Independent Army Group on the east coast of the Caspian Sea. However, if the two northern armies of Yelumenko and even Rokossovsky attack together, it will be difficult to cope - the total strength of the latter two alone is nearly 900000. Even if Marshal Holt's support force is included, which is 750000 vs. 1. 55 million, the German army is clearly at a disadvantage. Manstein acknowledged all of Zeitzler's judgments and analyses, but the response strategy he proposed made it difficult for Zeitzler and Kleist himself to understand. Block the Russians at the pass of the Caucasus Mountains and let them in, "Manstein laughed." They love coming to the Caucasus so much, let them come... It's almost spring, and the scenery of the Caucasus grasslands is so beautiful. It's a pity not to come and take a look Block the Russians at the pass of the Caucasus Mountains and let them in, "Manstein laughed." They love coming to the Caucasus so much, let them come... It's almost spring, and the scenery of the Caucasus grasslands is so beautiful. It's a pity not to come and see Grassland! "Cai Zile and Kleist were pondering this word when they suddenly realized," Are you going to put it in for armored cluster warfare How can we fully leverage the advantages of tanks in the mountainous and muddy areas of the Caucasus? "Manstein laughed strangely." The F ü hrer has prepared a feast for them