Rokossovsky was right, Manstein did want to surround Karachi.

This sounds a bit unbelievable. Six German divisions surrounded nine Soviet divisions, and there were Soviet troops everywhere. For example, the 57th Army was flanked by the 51st Army, and the 51st Army could also provide reinforcements if necessary.

However, Manstein just dared to take the risk.

This is not only because Karachi is backed by the Don River, but also because on the other side of the Don River is the German 6th Army.

This gave Manstein's troops an inherent advantage. Their attack could be assisted by the artillery from the 6th Army... Although the German 6th Army was short of supplies due to being surrounded, these artillery shells were for the Soviet army.

Reverse bombing, that is, flying from the rear across the Don River, will greatly affect the morale of the troops.

On the other hand, the German army has air superiority, plus the advantage of tanks... The German "Tiger" heavy tank battalions are almost invincible, as long as they can still drive.

Therefore, it is not impossible for two German tanks to cut off Karachi's supplies from the left and right flanks.

Once this situation is formed, that is, the German army reoccupies Karachi, then Manstein will successfully rescue the German 6th Army from the encirclement... To be precise, it is not to rescue the encirclement, but to break the Soviet encirclement into pieces.

You can even continue to attack Stalingrad in the counter-encirclement situation.

This is also the importance of Karachi. Whoever captures it means whoever has the initiative to encircle it.

"Their weakness is the front!" Rokossovsky immediately judged: "If they concentrate their elites on the two wings, the front will inevitably be weak. This is why they want to build fortifications on the front!"

Tolbukhin agrees.

Because it is obvious that if tank troops are sent to fight against German tanks, it will almost be like hitting a stone with an egg... At this time, although Tolbukhin did not know that the German army had a "Tiger" heavy tank battalion, the German army had air superiority, and their "Stuka"

"And the "Henschel" will destroy the Soviet tanks one by one like targets.

Therefore, what the Soviet tanks had to face was not German tanks, but German bombers and attack aircraft.

If the Soviet tanks were lucky enough to escape the bombings of these aircraft, they would then have to face the German tanks.

"We can't wait any longer!" Rokossovsky said: "Time is not on our side, and continuing to wait will only make the enemy's defenses more complete! You must organize a counterattack immediately!"

"Yes, Comrade Rokossovsky!"

Tolbukhin acted quickly and organized a frontal counterattack in more than half an hour.

From this aspect, Manstein had already won a step because he allowed the German army to turn around... Originally, the German army needed to attack the Soviet defense line and the cities it defended, but now it was the Soviet army that attacked the German army.

The Soviet attack was launched under the cover of two tank regiments.

In order to prevent the tanks from being bombed by enemy fighter planes, Tolbukhin ordered the infantry to burn tires and release a large number of smoke bombs. Then hundreds of light and heavy tanks covered the two infantry divisions and charged towards the German defense lines.

It should be said that Rokossovsky’s strategic direction is correct.

As long as the front of the German army is breached, the elite troops on both wings of the German army will be divided, and the German supply lines will also be hit.

The problem is that Manstein was prepared for this...

The tank divisions moved to the two wings were deliberately distracting the Soviet army's sight, making the Soviet army think that the German army had transferred all its elite troops.

In fact, Manstein secretly deployed two heavy tank battalions to the frontal defense line.

So, when the Soviet tanks launched an attack on the German defense line... the "Tiger" tanks "rolled roll" one by one at the Soviet tanks that rushed to the muzzle.

Suddenly, the battlefield was full of Soviet tanks that were turned into fireballs, and the Soviet army thought it was caused by German anti-tank guns, until the German "Tiger" tanks got excited and drove out of the bunker...

On the other side, Shulka was still working hard with the German army in Surovino. Shulka enjoyed this time very much, because the troops seemed to only need to confront the enemy, and then occasionally launch a few feint attacks.

If there is any result, it is the deployment of snipers on the battlefield to "communicate" with the enemy.

"Have you heard?" While Shulka was eating American compressed biscuits, Trufanov called: "There is a situation with the 57th Army!"

Shulka said a vague "hmm" and continued to deal with the food.

American compressed biscuits are only enjoyed by regimental officers like Shulka. Of course Shulka will not keep them to himself. He usually distributes them to the staff and guards of the headquarters... This is good for them.

It's simply delicious food.

These compressed biscuits were all good, but they were so dry that Shulka was almost speechless after filling her mouth.

I raised my head and drank some water, and then I felt better.

"Should we do something?" Trufanov asked: "I mean, if this continues, the enemy is likely to reoccupy Karachi!"

"Now is not the time!" Shulka replied.

"When is the time?" Trufanov asked.

"The Southwest Front is still far away from us!" Shulka replied while looking at the map: "More than two hundred kilometers..."

Trufanov suddenly understood what Shulka wanted to do.

Shulka never gave up the large encirclement, even when the main force of the large encirclement had been transferred to the small encirclement by Stalin.

Current facts may have proven that Stalin's approach was wrong.

Stalin was too impatient, anxious to eat Stalingrad and then have the final say.

In fact, if the main force is placed in a large encirclement, then the Soviet army does not need to worry about Manstein's reinforcements at all... Insufficient troops are the weakness of the German army.

Therefore, if the battle was carried out according to the original plan, Stalingrad might be liberated later, but the possibility of victory would be greater because the Soviet army had a larger operational space and a wider logistical supply line.

Unfortunately, Stalin's set of operations disrupted the overall plan and made the counter-encirclement plan confusing.

Shulka believes that there is only one way to resolve this chaos... and that is to launch a sudden attack to join forces with the Southwest Front when the Southwest Front is close enough to him.

Of course, this requires the Southwest Front Army to be up to par.

Shurka estimated that by concentrating the energy of the 51st Army, it might be possible to break through about 100 kilometers forward. If it goes further, Manstein might react and turn around to attack the 51st Army.
Chapter completed!