Katukov is a steady attack.

He prepared for more than ten hours, and after Zhankoi had gathered enough strength and supplies, he launched an attack on the Perekop Isthmus.

The attack was also launched at night. This was a correct and helpless choice when the Soviet Air Force was inferior to the German Air Force.

Although in some respects, the Soviet Air Force should be evenly matched with the German Air Force, because the Soviet Army had a numerical advantage.

However, the German army, which had advantages in quality and quality, could always succeed as long as it concentrated its efforts on attacking a certain airspace at any time. The Soviet Air Force had no way to do it.

Therefore, if the 1st Guards Tank Brigade attacked during the day, there would be no doubt that it would be brutally bombed by the German Air Force.

This is one of the reasons why the 1st Guards Tank Brigade's attack on the Perekop Isthmus had to be postponed.

Otherwise, after capturing Chankoy and pursuing the victory, Manstein would have nothing to do.

The offensive of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade went very smoothly. The German army relied on landmines, anti-tank guns and other equipment to fight and move, and managed to hold off for ten hours. Finally, before dawn the next day, they gave up resistance and withdrew across the board into the Perekop Isthmus.

After the German army entered the Perekop Isthmus, it was difficult for the Soviet army to continue the offensive, because the narrowest width here was only 8 kilometers. The German artillery and anti-tank firepower were densely deployed in this area, making it a bottleneck that was easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Besides, it will be dark soon.

However, the Soviet army does not actually need to continue the attack, because they captured the gap, which means that they successfully blocked the German reinforcements and surrounded the German troops in Crimea. In other words, the Soviet army won the battle of Crimea.

victory.

All the officers and soldiers cheered. Katukov immediately reported the good news to the headquarters. Mahlis shouted excitedly: "That's great. You are the heroes of the motherland. What we have to do next is

Annihilate those lackeys who invaded Crimea!"

This is basically not a problem, because the Perekop Isthmus is blocked and the German supply transportation lines are completely cut off. Unless Germany uses air drops, the German troops entering the Crimea will not get a single bullet.

In other words, the destruction of the German army was only a matter of time.

However, the outcome of the battle was beyond everyone's expectations.

After daybreak, Katukov received the report: "Colonel, we have discovered that the Germans are retreating!"

"Retreat? From where did they retreat?" Katukov asked.

"Kalkinit Bay!" the scout reported: "The Germans occupied the Sami region and then used fishing boats to transport soldiers to Yamiansk via the Kalkinit Bay!"

Katukov couldn't help but keep his mouth half open for a long time and couldn't close it. He didn't expect that Manstein had this trick. What was originally a situation where he was catching a turtle in a jar made him escape by sea.

This is mainly because the Soviet army always thought that they had control of the sea, so once the German army's retreat route was cut off from land, they would have nowhere to go. They simply did not expect... When the German army had local air supremacy, the Soviet army also

It only has partial control of the sea.

It was obvious that Manstein had made sufficient preparations beforehand. On the one hand, he asked Spanneck to fight and move to gain time, and on the other hand, he asked the Germans on both sides of the bay to collect fishing boats.

The German army did not even spend much effort collecting fishing boats, because many Ukrainians supported the German army, and many fishermen were even willing to help the German army transport them.

As a result, overnight the German army had hundreds of fishing boats. These fishing boats shuttled back and forth between the Kalkinit Bay, which was only more than 30 kilometers wide, transporting German troops from the Crimean Peninsula to the Isthmus in batches.

On the other side is Yamiansk.

It's a bit like Dunkirk, but the German version of Dunkirk.

"Launch an attack immediately!" When Mahlis received this information, he ordered without thinking: "The navy, the army...and of course the air force, attack them with all their strength. We cannot allow these invaders to escape from Kerry like this."

Don't run away!"

Shulka was at the headquarters of the Crimean Front at the time, and he stopped this obviously unwise move of Maekhlis.

"Comrade Mahlis!" Shulka said: "The entrance to Kalkinit Bay is narrow. If our navy attacks it, it will expose itself to the double attack of the enemy's shore air defense and air force. This will not only cause

If it doesn’t work, we will lose many warships! In addition, if we let the ground troops attack, it is daytime, and our tanks will be exposed to the firepower of the enemy’s air force!”

"Should we just let them escape like this?" Maihelis said: "No, even some losses are worth it. We will never be intimidated by difficulties and casualties!"

"You are right, Comrade Mahlis!" Shulka said, looking around, then walked aside with Mahlis, and whispered: "But, Comrade Mahlis. So far, for this reason, we

The losses and casualties can be said to be negligible... In addition to the more than 2,000 casualties of the Marine Infantry Brigade, the 1st Guards Tank Brigade lost some tanks and more than 1,000 casualties during the attack. In other words, we use the total casualties

At the cost of more than 3,000 men, the entire Crimean Peninsula was recovered. In addition, the Germans were killed and wounded, tens of thousands of Romanian troops were killed, and countless prisoners and equipment were captured!"

Needless to say more about the latter.

Although the main force of the German army returned to the Ukrainian mainland via fishing boats around the isthmus, there were still many scattered soldiers and Romanian troops in the Crimea. If they failed to return in time, they would only surrender or be annihilated.

In addition, the main force of the German army was transported by fishing boats, which meant that all heavy equipment such as tanks, artillery, cars, and even ammunition had to be left in Crimea and could not be taken away.

But of course, the Germans would choose to blow them up.

The Soviet army rarely defeated a large number with a small number and achieved such great results at such a small cost, but it did so in the Battle of Crimea.

"I think this in itself will attract the attention of Moscow!" Shulka said: "I mean defeating more with less and the loss ratio is so disparate. If we launch a full-scale attack again..."

There is no need for Schulka to say more next. The attack during the day will cause the Soviet army's losses to rise sharply. Even the entire 1st Guards Tank Brigade may be annihilated by German fighter planes. If several more are sunk,

warship, the battle loss ratio will be evened out.

Mahlis couldn't help but nodded repeatedly as he listened.

His purpose was not actually to drive the German army out of the Crimea, or to achieve victory or anything else. His purpose was very simple, to gain attention and increase his bargaining chips in his struggle for political power.

In the past, it was because I was motivated to fight, and I thought I could achieve a greater victory by pursuing the victory.

Now according to Shulka's analysis, continuing the attack will not only do no good, but will also lose the victory that has been achieved.
Chapter completed!