Chapter 761 Transportation
It is no wonder that Trufanov and Zolotarev were puzzled. How could they know the enemy's plan and still follow the original plan and wait for the enemy to attack.
But Shulka's "original plan" is not all the original plan.
It at least appears to be "the original plan".
Manstein spent a lot of thought in order to allow the armored division to quickly rush to the designated position to intercept the enemy.
It is well known that the German armored divisions move quickly. This is not only because of the good maneuverability and high security of their tanks, but also because the German army usually has air supremacy on the battlefield, so they can always get accurate information and know where the enemy's defense line is. weak point.
But this time the march was different. Manstein calculated on the map that even if the 23rd Armored Division he sent set off overnight to Miloway without stopping, it would only arrive on the second night... It is still an ideal speed, during which the tank driver needs time to rest, the tank unit may be intercepted by enemy air power, or the tank may malfunction.
Among them, the heavy tank battalion transferred back by Manstein is the "Tiger" tank. If it is allowed to travel more than one hundred kilometers, the "Tiger" of the entire tank battalion may be None of them started.
In fact, the problem is not only the maneuverability and safety of the "Tiger" tank. Since the "Tiger" tank is too heavy, whether the roads and bridges along the way can bear its weight needs to be considered.
All of this will slow down the marching speed of the armored division exponentially.
So, Manstein didn't think much, and immediately decided to use railway transportation.
"Is railway transportation too risky, Your Excellency the Marshal?" the adjutant asked: "The tank is packaged on a flatbed car and has no combat effectiveness. Once attacked by the enemy, it will suffer heavy losses and have no power to fight back!"
This is common sense, so rail tanks are usually not used near the war zone or on the front line... As the adjutant said, once the train schedule and route are known by the enemy, or in case of being ambushed by the enemy, the enemy only needs a few tanks It can capture all the tanks of a whole train.
"We can only do this!" Manstein replied: "Of course, we must do a good job of keeping it secret!"
Manstein’s secrecy measures were well done. He even ordered the troops to evacuate all the Soviet civilians in the nearby villages and towns... They were just needed to build a line of defense, so no matter men, women or children, they were all taken to the flanks as hard labor.
On the other hand, more than a dozen fighter planes patrolled the sky to keep enemy reconnaissance planes from approaching.
So, the 23rd Armored Division withdrew and loaded the vehicles. Although it was daytime, it can be said that no outsider saw it.
Then the Germans camouflaged these trains full of tanks... a frame was nailed on the outside with wooden boards, and it was impossible to know from the surface that the tanks were inside.
In the end, the train departed after dark and was escorted by night fighters.
In this way, the train carried the armored division smoothly for the critical 80 kilometers that night... If the tanks were used to drive these 80 kilometers, I don’t know how much fuel would be consumed and how much time would be spent.
In the remaining 30 kilometers, even the adventurous Manstein dared not continue to advance by train.
On the one hand, this is because the front is a high-incidence area for bombing by Soviet fighter planes.
On the other hand, the railway has been bombed section by section, and the train must stop and go, which will increase the risk in series.
The most important thing is that the sky is already bright, and the train on the rails is the best target for the enemy's air force.
So Manstein ordered to unload the truck on the spot.
The "Tiger" tank is more troublesome, because the track needs to be replaced... This may take hours, so the other tanks rushed to the destination first.
While the 23rd Armored Division was advancing, Manstein had been paying attention to the enemy's movements.
This is necessary, because what he hopes is for the 23rd Armored Division to stop the enemy from rushing to Milloway to join the Southwest Front Army.
However, it is not difficult for the German army to achieve this, because they have an air force, and the reconnaissance plane follows the Soviet army's leading tank group in the air, and then reports its position to the command headquarters in due course.
So Manstein can even be accurate to "li" in the movement of the Soviet tank troops.
Sometimes, Manstein believed that the speed of the Soviet tank troops was too fast, and he would artificially force the Air Force to "slow down".
Needless to say how to force it, the fighter planes drove away the enemy fighter planes, and then the bombers and attack planes bombarded the enemy tanks indiscriminately.
Everything is going smoothly, and Manstein estimates that the 23rd Armored Division will meet the enemy's vanguard an hour earlier.
But at this time Manstein was a little confused.
"Is there something wrong, Your Excellency the Marshal?" Seeing that Manstein's expression was not right, the adjutant asked suspiciously.
"Everything went so smoothly!" Manstein replied: "Does the enemy really know nothing?"
"Of course they don't know anything!" replied the adjutant. "It's all done in secret! Besides, the Russian tanks have already suffered heavy losses in the bombing of our air force... If they knew something, it would not be as it is now." Such a reckless advance towards Miloway without hesitating any casualties!"
"This is exactly what I find strange!" Manstein replied: "If they didn't know it before, then it was already daylight, and our tanks were unloaded from the train and deployed, and headed towards their vanguard. Moving forward, why are they still not responding and still moving in the same direction?"
This is indeed a bit strange, after all, the German army is an armored division.
An armored division advances along the road and forms a long snake-like formation. Tanks, cars, artillery, etc., can be seen from a long distance by enemy reconnaissance planes. This cannot be easily stopped by fighter planes.
So, if the Russians already know that a German armored division is advancing towards them and will meet in an hour, they should stop immediately to organize defenses or wait for the follow-up troops to accumulate strength and prepare for battle.
But the Soviet army did nothing, and continued to advance in the original direction. The forward pointed directly at Milove, where the Southwest Front Army was located.
Manstein guessed correctly, Shulka and others did know that an armored division of the German army appeared on the flank.
Trufanov even praised Shulka fiercely: "Good guy, I made you guess right again!"
But the tank units of the 51st Army are still moving in the same direction, because their purpose is to attract the enemy's armored division...if they can be called "tanks".
Although Manstein had doubts, he had no choice but to let the 23rd Armored Division move on and fight another battle.
(end of this chapter)
