Chapter 1415 German countermeasures

  After Manstein finished the call with Kenff, he stood in front of the map by the wall to study the possible next steps of the Soviet army. After watching this, I watched it for more than half an hour.

   Seeing Manstein turn away from the wall, his chief of staff immediately greeted him and asked respectfully, "Your Excellency, Marshal, do you have any new considerations for the upcoming battle?"

"Chief of staff," Manstein said to his chief of staff, pointing to the map, "judging from the current situation, the Russians who have occupied Kharkov may launch an attack on Kharkov at any time. Do you think the army of Holt and Keff can stop the Russian attack?"

"It's hard to say, Your Excellency the Marshal." The chief of staff replied cautiously: "There are too many variables in it, although the troops of General Huot and General Kenf can use the solid fortifications and perfect defense system to Crush the Russian attack, but the enemy has an advantage in strength after all, and even if we want to win, it will be a miserable victory."

Manstein heard the voice of the chief of staff, opened a box on the table, took out a cigar from it, cut off the cigarette holder with special scissors, and asked casually: "Then tell me, what do we want?" How can we defend Kharkov?"

   "I think troops should be drawn from other areas to strengthen Kharkov's defense." The chief of staff suggested to Manstein: "We should try to shorten the gap in strength between our army and the Russians."

   "Then where do you think the troops can be transferred to Kharkov?"

The chief of staff quickly came to the wall, picked up the explaining stick leaning on the side, tapped twice on the map, and said to Manstein: "Your Excellency, Marshal, the troops of our army fighting in the Donbass are completely capable. To block the Russian attack, I suggest that all the reserves there be transferred to Kharkov to reduce the burden on General Huot and General Keff."

"The reserve team in the Donbas region?" After listening to the chief of staff's suggestion, Manstein put his right hand under his left armpit, his left elbow on his right arm, and rested his chin on his left hand. Consider whether to mobilize the reserve team in Donbass.

"Yes, Your Excellency the Marshal." Seeing that Manstein did not veto his proposal, the chief of staff continued: "Don't look at the Russians' attack on the Donbass, but our soldiers are fully capable of killing them. Block it. I think it is absolutely necessary to transfer the idle reserves in the Donbas region to Kharkov to fight."

"Chief of staff, you have said a lot. The offensive launched by the Russian Southern Front in the Donbass looks menacing, but the results achieved are very limited. Our defense forces there are fully capable of blocking their attacks. I think we can transfer troops from the Donbas region to Kharkov to strengthen our army."

After Manstein finished speaking, he paused for a moment, and continued: "But even if we transfer the Donbass troops to Kharkov, compared with the Russians, we are still at a disadvantage in numbers. It seems that we We must also find a way to transfer troops from other regions to strengthen Kharkov's defense force."

   Hearing what Manstein said, the chief of staff quickly moved closer to the map and carefully checked the deployment of the troops. After looking at it for a while, he turned around and shook his head at Manstein, and said with regret, "I'm sorry, Marshal, except for the reserve team in the Donbas area, there is really no troops that can be transferred."

"Why is this so?"

"It's all due to that damned Sokov," said the chief of staff through gritted teeth. "Anything that fights with him suffers heavy casualties, or is completely annihilated. As a result, our troops will become very tense." If you want to make Kharkov's defenders roughly equal in strength to the Russians, I'm afraid you can only turn to the Supreme Command in Berlin for help."

Manstein sat in his seat, lit a cigar with a lighter, took a few puffs, put the cigar on the ashtray, and then grabbed the phone on the table: "I will call General Zeitzler, the chief of staff. Give us a call and see if he can do something for us."

  After the call was connected, Zeitzler recognized Manstein's voice, and asked in surprise, "Your Excellency, Marshal, why did you think of calling me?"

   "Your Excellency, Chief of the General Staff," Manstein said politely: "I am in a little trouble now, and I hope to get your help."

   Knowing that Manstein turned to him for help, Zeitzler immediately cheered up and asked: "Your Excellency, Marshal, is the situation in Kharkov not good?"

"That's right, Your Excellency the Chief of the General Staff." Manstein agreed with Zeitzler's statement: "In order to capture Kharkov, the Russians dispatched troops from two front armies. far surpassed our defenses in the Kharkov region."

   "Can't you mobilize your forces to strengthen Kharkov's defenses?"

"We plan to deploy the reserve team in the Donbas area to reinforce Kharkov." Manstein said: "But even with this force, our defense in the Kharkov area is still far inferior Go to the Russians. That's why I'm calling you, hoping to get your help."

"Your Excellency Marshal, if you are calling me to seek more troops," Zeitzler said into the microphone, "then I can only say sorry to you, the war in Italy is tight now, and I don't have any troops at all." It will be transferred to you."

   "Zeitzler!" Before Zeitzler finished speaking, a thin voice came from behind him: "Who are you talking to?"

  Hearing this voice, Zeitzler suddenly jumped up from his seat like an electric shock, turned around and stopped his body while holding the microphone, and replied: "My Führer, I am talking to Marshal Manstein!"

   "It would be great to talk to Marshal Manstein." Mustache walked up to Zeitzler, held out his hand to him, and said, "Give me the phone, I have something to ask Manstein."

   Zeitzler didn't dare to neglect, and quickly handed the microphone in his hand to Mustache.

  Moustache took the microphone, pressed it tightly to his ear and asked, "Hello, Manstein! I am the Führer. What do you need to call Zeitzler for help?"

"My Führer." A mustache's voice came from the receiver, causing Manstein, who was sitting in a chair, to stand up immediately, and said respectfully: "I called the chief of the general staff because we are sticking to the Hall of Fame. There are too few troops in the Corfu area, and I am afraid it will be difficult to stop the Russian attack, so I hope he can send me some reserves to strengthen the defense of the area."

"Marshal Manstein," Mustache heard Manstein say that he needed some reinforcements, thinking that it was because he transferred the opponent's reserve team from the Kursk area that a battle that was in sight of victory ended in failure. And it ended, so he was full of guilt for Manstein. He ran through the disposition of troops in his mind to determine which troops could be drawn to reinforce Kharkov. The mustache with amazing memory can clearly remember the names of the commanders of combat units above the division level, as well as the location of the troops. In less than half a minute, he said into the microphone: "I can transfer you an armored corps from the Central Army Group to strengthen Kharkov's defense."

Hearing that Mustache said that an armored corps could be transferred from the Central Army Group to strengthen the defense of Kharkov, Manstein couldn't help being overjoyed. With this troop stationed in Kharkov, the Russians wanted to rush into the city, at least It costs twice as much.

  He quickly expressed his gratitude to the mustache: "My head of state, thank you for your generosity. I assure you that with the addition of this army, our army will definitely be able to defend Kharkov."

  After chatting with Manstein for a few more words, Mustache and Manstein returned the microphone to Zeitzler, turned and left the office.

Seeing the mustache leave, Zeitzler breathed a sigh of relief, and said into the microphone: "Marshal Manstein, you are lucky, the head of state actually agreed to draw troops from the Central Army Group to strengthen the defense of Kharkov. I believe that when this force reaches Kharkov, the Russians will only dream of taking the city."

  Manstein's goal had been achieved, but he didn't put down the phone immediately. He felt that this was a good opportunity to get in touch with Zeitzler, so he asked casually, "General Zeitzler, how are you doing recently?"

   "Not too good, Your Excellency Marshal." Zeitzler, who was holding the microphone, glanced at the door with some guilt, and said in a low voice: "I just had a dispute with the Führer yesterday."

   "Can you tell me, what is the dispute over?"

"I suggested to the head of state to reduce the existing defense line by one-third to ensure that our army has enough reserves, but it was rejected by the head of state." Zeitzler said with a wry smile: "He forbids any form of retreat. , requiring the soldiers to die on their own positions even if they die.”

   "Then did you convince him?"

   "No." Zeitzler said a little bit dumbfounded: "Marshal, you should know that the Führer is a very stubborn person, and it is very difficult to persuade him."

   "General Zeitzler, I'm a little worried about you."

   "Worried about me?" Zeitzler asked in surprise: "What are you worried about me?"

   "You always contradict the head of state like this, maybe one day he will directly fire you, you have to be more careful."

"No way, Your Excellency Marshal." Zeitzler said: "As the chief of staff, I must point it out to the head of state when he sees that he has made military mistakes. If he really dismissed me because of this kind of thing, Then I have nothing to do."

  While the two were chatting, Manstein suddenly remembered an important matter, and quickly asked, "General Zeitzler, what is the situation in Italy today?"

"Not too good, Your Excellency the Marshal." Zeitzler said cautiously: "According to the information we have, Mussolini was dismissed and imprisoned at the top of the Great Sasso in the Abruzzi Mountains. And the Italians and the British and American troops A consensus has been reached, and it will be published in written form soon."

Knowing that Mussolini was imprisoned and the Italians surrendered to the British and American troops, it was already a certainty, so Manstein took the initiative to ask about the Italian prisoners of war: "General Zeitzler, there are 80,000 soldiers in my defense zone. There are many Italian troops, and I ordered them to disarm them two days ago and put them in a prisoner-of-war camp. Now that Italy is about to surrender soon, how should we deal with these Italian soldiers?"

After hearing what Manstein said, Zeitzler also said in a difficult way: "Your Excellency Marshal, the Italians used to be our allies. Although they negotiated peace with the British and American troops in private, things are not without improvement. The head of state is studying these two days. As for sending people to rescue Mussolini, as long as Mussolini escapes safely, the Italians will stand by our side again."

   "So, we can't just deal with those disarmed Italian soldiers?"

   "That's almost what it means." Zeitzler reminded Manstein, "The head of state is currently preparing to send people to rescue Mussolini. How to deal with the Italian army depends on the final negotiation results between the two parties."

  Although Zeitzler did not say the best way to deal with it, Manstein knew in his heart that those Italian prisoners of war who were being held were now hot potatoes. They could neither be killed nor released, so they could only be locked up temporarily.

  As soon as Manstein put down the phone, the chief of staff came over and asked, "Your Excellency, Marshal, I wonder if the chief of staff has said how to deal with those detained Italian soldiers?"

Manstein sighed softly, took a sip of the cigar on the ashtray, and said to the chief of staff: "Chief of staff, this is not easy. General Zeitzler just said that the head of state is preparing to rescue Mo Regarding the matter of Sorini, how to deal with the Italian troops detained by us, we still need to wait for the final negotiation results between the two parties.”

"Your Excellency Marshal, the number of Italian soldiers imprisoned in our defense zone alone has reached 80,000." Seeing that Manstein had no way to deal with it, the chief of staff couldn't help but feel a little anxious: "Although their weapons were confiscated, how can they Many people are held in prisoner-of-war camps, and the soldiers in charge of guarding them don’t dare to be too strict with them. If this continues, I’m worried that something will go wrong.”

   "Let's maintain the status quo now," Manstein also said helplessly: "After Mussolini is rescued, we will discuss how to arrange these Italian soldiers."

  The two were talking when the phone on the table rang without warning.

  The chief of staff picked up the microphone and listened for a while, then immediately covered the topic with his hands, and said to Manstein in a panic: "Your Excellency, Marshal, something serious has happened."

"whats the matter?"

"The call was made by General Keff. He said that our army's prisoner-of-war camp in the forest outside Jergach was attacked by the Russians. The troops guarding the prisoner-of-war camp were wiped out, and some Italian soldiers were detained. More than two thousand people left with the Russians."

When Manstein heard this, he immediately threw the cigar in his hand to the ground and asked sharply, "What's going on? Why did the Russians suddenly appear outside the city of Jergach and occupy the prison?" Italian POW camp?"

  The chief of staff shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he didn't know either.

Manstein went over to take the microphone and asked sharply: "General Keff, tell me, aren't your troops attacking the compass town of Kazakhia? Why did the Russian troops appear in Jergachi and occupy it? A POW camp there?"

  (end of this chapter)