On the main defensive position of the 25th Infantry Division of the Romanian Third Army outside the city of Tolmosin, Pamfer stood on the top of a trench and carefully searched the vast plain of the Don River area ahead through the telescope in his hand. As the commander of the 25th Infantry Division, he was in a very heavy mood at this time.

I just received a message from the Army Command that a large number of Russian troops were rushing towards the line of defense he commanded from the front, and there were also a large number of cavalry, tanks, and artillery in this Russian army. There was no doubt that this was a complete army, and it was unknown how powerful they were.

Let’s look at the soldiers on their own defense. As an army recruited in response to Prime Minister Antonisku’s call, the 25th Infantry Division soldiers led by Pamfer were mostly from the Serabay area, which was originally a poor place in Romania, and most of them were busy making a living. Because of this, when the war broke out, so many young people joined the army, and for nothing else, just to receive the military pay paid by the state. After joining the army, due to the poor logistics supply and the increasing combat pressure, a large number of soldiers in the army were malnutrition, and coupled with the backward weapons and equipment and other factors, the morale of the army in the army is now quite unstable.

If these internal reasons are in addition to some factors that Pamfer is worried about, then the news from the country and the impact of these news on the troops made him even more restless. According to a letter from his wife in China a few days ago, the Communist guerrillas in China have become a climate. Under the command of Serabet. The two "Romanian National Liberation Army" compiled by the Communist guerrillas were established, under the command of its commander Ceausescudi, they defeated the government troops who went to encircle and suppress the enemy three times in a row. There, the Communist guerrillas implemented land reform and at the same time called on all soldiers participating in the fascist army to return to their country.

Over the past period of time, not only in Pamfer's 25th Division, but also in the entire Third Army, there has been a negative and war-weary mood spreading. If it weren't for the long journey from the country and the fear of the attack of the Russian guerrillas, Pamfer believed that his soldiers would have escaped long ago.

The Russians' aggressive force formed a strong contrast with the sluggish morale of their troops, and Pamfer was very confused. How should this battle be fought? Is there hope for victory? To be honest, he was not sure at all.

Putting down the telescope in his hand, Pamfer began to look at the position in front of him, and the frontier of the general position was at his own position. At this half kilometer distance, the two regiments of his subordinates built a total of three lines of defense, and these three lines of defense were extended to the east and west, and finally connected with the rest of the division and other troops of the army. In Pamfer's view, this line of defense was too fragile in any case. If the Russian offensive troops really had a large number of tanks, they could easily crush the line of defense. In this case, Pamfer also couldn't understand why the general wanted to fight this battle. When he knew that resistance would only bring more unnecessary sacrifices, wasn't surrender an option? After all, this was a war between the Germans and the Russians. There was no need for his own soldiers to fill them with them worthlessly as cannon fodder.

"beep!"

Just as Pamfer was still pondering, a thrilling whistle came from the front of the defense line, which was a signal when an enemy situation appeared. There was no doubt that the Russian vanguard was coming.

He quickly held the telescope in his hand, and Pamfer looked at the intersection of the vast plains. He couldn't help but take a breath of cold air when he saw everything in the telescope. He saw that at the place where the telescope could reach, a fine black spot was flying rapidly in the sky towards this side. It was a Russian plane. In terms of number, it was at least no less than 200 or 300.

Pamfer naturally knew what these Russian planes were here for. He could even imagine that when those planes flew over his position, countless bombs would fall down, and in an instant he would overturn his infantry positions and the artillery positions behind the infantry positions. After that, the Russians would follow.

"Sir, what should we do?" The Chief of Staff, who was following Pamfer, looked a little panicked. His face looked so pale, and there was a hint of trembling in his tone of speaking.

Pamfer naturally knew why his chief of staff was so panicked. You must know that in the division he commanded, there were not many anti-aircraft artillery air defense forces at all. It was a mere anti-aircraft artillery regiment and an ammunition-deficient force. In this case, what would they use to resist the Russian air strikes?

"What should I do, what else can I do?" Pamphel smiled bitterly, and then said weakly, "Go and transfer the anti-aircraft artillery regiments and tell them that the time for the final battle is here, don't be stingy and fire all the shells."

"Bang!"

With the roar of the first anti-aircraft gun, the Tormosin offensive battle started. Compared with the Soviet air attack that covered the sky and the sun, the anti-aircraft gun air defense force of the Third Romanian Army was really too pediatric.

The first batch of people who came up were Soviet dive bombers. In the deafening howling sound, dark green fighter jets dived from the air. High-range anti-aircraft guns were too threatening to them, and they were not as good as flexible anti-aircraft machine guns.

During the dive, the machine guns and machine guns in front of the Soviet fuselage were sang all the way, sowing the seeds of the raging god of death on the Romanian legion without any scruples. ￣ For dive bomber formations, the enemy's anti-aircraft artillery position is their target of attack. Before the real bomber formation enters the combat position, they must destroy the enemy's anti-aircraft artillery air defense force as much as possible.

The Romanian anti-aircraft gun flag bearers became the first to suffer the blow. They were at the forefront of the anti-aircraft gun position and lacked cover. At the same time, as the artillery commander, the opponent's plane had no reason to let them go.

After several flag bearers fell to the ground in the rise of blood mist, the last remaining survivor seemed to be timid. He threw away the two-color flag in his hand and ran towards the tunnel bunker behind the position. Behind him, two five-star dive bombers painted on the nose followed, and the bullets fired by the machine gun almost flew over the heels of the flag bearers. The straight line of strike was dusty.

"ah……"

With a heart-wrenching cry, the flag bearer was finally hit. The impact force generated by the bullet body nailed him to the ground. One of his right leg was torn off and flew away from a distance.

"Boom boom boom..."

The bombs thrown under the dive bomber's body finally exploded on the Romanian anti-aircraft artillery position. Amid the rising light of fire and the bursting roar, the already old anti-aircraft artillery was blown to the sky one by one. The scattered parts were accompanied by the more scattered residual limbs, broken arms and flew through the air.

This is a hell on earth. Every Romanian artillery that can move is doing everything he can to escape. A young soldier who was overturned by the bomb shock wave and his abdomen was cut open by shrapnel shot. While covering his left hand with his left hand, he also scratched his body on the ground desperately with his right hand. His light blue eyes full of despair stared at the air defense bunker more than ten meters away. There was his target.

With just twenty minutes of bombing and strafing, the entire Romanian anti-aircraft artillery position turned into a mess, with broken gun barrels, overturned gun mounts, scattered corpses, and smoke-filled positions. All of this marks this reality. This Romanian army completely lost its air defense capabilities. What they have to face will be a more tragic fate.

With the destruction of the anti-aircraft artillery position, what followed was the cross-strike of the rumbling Soviet bombers and the dense long-range artillery fire, rockets, high-explosive bombs, incendiary bombs, etc., pouring on the positions of Romanian soldiers like heavy rain. The bomb fragments fired everywhere and the burning fire in an instant ruthlessly devoured every life they could touch. Countless Romanian soldiers either flew into the sky in a powerful explosion, or struggled and rolled in the trenches that ignited the fire. For them, what was being carried out now was no longer a battle, but a unilateral massacre.

Using the air force's rapid air raid, he destroyed the enemy's air defense and long-range artillery strike capabilities at the first time. Then, he used the dense artillery fire of artillery to destroy the enemy's front positions, and finally used the coordinated combat of tanks and infantry to break through the enemy's defense depth, and finally encircle and annihilate it. This is Zhukov's tactic, a bloody but highly practical tactic. However, if this tactic really wants to be used, it must first be guaranteed, that is, the strength of the army he possesses must be far beyond the enemy and has an overwhelming advantage, otherwise, his tactics will not be used.

It is precisely based on this that Zhukov admired Chu Sinan, who was struggling in Stalingrad at this time. In his memoirs, he recorded in detail the main activities of him and various senior generals of the Soviet military during the Battle of Stalingrad. When it was recorded, he described this friend in a paragraph. "Chu was a general who could and was good at creating miracles. In the early stage of the Battle of Stalingrad, he commanded the defensive battle under the weak conditions.

The victory of the entire Soviet Union and even the entire anti-fascist war won extremely precious time. For this reason, after this battle, Comrade Tukhachevsky claimed that Chu was the most commended general in this battle. This sentence is an absolute reality in my opinion, Comrade Meletskov, and all the generals who participated and directly commanded the battle. Chu's achievements cannot be matched with his title of Marshal in the War, and I have never questioned this."

The "grinding disc" large-scale corps advancement tactics promoted by Zhukov were fully reflected in the battle against the Romanian Third Army. At the same time, the end of this battle also confirmed that his tactics were indeed effective.

From 10:35 am on May 23, the Don Front Air Force launched the first wave of offensive against the Romanian Third Army position, and to the end of the battle at 9:40 am that night. In just twelve hours, the main force of the Don Front defeated all the troops commanded by Dumitrisku in one fell swoop, and captured the army's full defense of Tolmosin.

During the entire battle, the Soviet army killed more than 40,000 officers and soldiers below major general of the Romanian Legion, and captured more than 29,000 officers and soldiers, including Lieutenant General Dumitrisku, commander of the army.

This was a very brilliant phased victory for the entire Stalingrad battle. Its significance does not lie in capturing or killing many enemies, but in the victory of this battle and the capture of Tolmosin, which marked a large hole in the left rear wing defense line of the entire German Sixth Army was torn apart by the Soviet army, and what was exposed inside was the logistics transportation artery of the front-line troops of the entire army. Once this artery was cut off by the Soviet army, then the German Sixth Army, which was heading to Stalingrad, would become whales leaping onto the beach, and finally wait for them. They could only be completely destroyed.

However, Tolmosin's fall was not the worst news for the German army. As the highest commander of the B Army Group, even worse news came only on the 24th.

On the second day after Tolmosin's fall, another Soviet army ￣￣ The Volga Region Front led by Meletskov, who had just been promoted to general, suddenly launched an offensive attack on the German army along the river defense line with the cooperation of the Volga fleet. Although the German troops stationed in this area stubbornly blocked and caused the Soviet crossing forces to pay a heavy price, their defense line was eventually lost.

The Soviet troops crossing the river did not do any rest and advanced non-stop to Koternikovo, which was the right-wing defense line of the German Sixth Army, and at the same time, it was also a weak point. The troops stationed there were only one Romanian Fourth Cavalry Army.

The entire battle began at midnight on the 24th. At 6 a.m. on the 25th, facing the Soviet army with armored troops and ground infantry, the Romanian cavalry almost collapsed at once. They could not organize effective defense at all.

Faced with these two attacks by the Soviet army, even fools could see what their intentions were. After receiving the news of Koternikovo's fall, Weix immediately understood where the Soviet army's next attack target would be.

From the combat map, from Tolmosin to Koternikovo, the two cities are less than 150 kilometers apart. On this short distance, there is another city, that is, the logistics transportation transit station of the Sixth Army. If two Soviet troops attack Karach from east to west and eventually occupy this area, then the entire Sixth Army will become their own army, without logistics supplies, no personnel replenishment, and enemies on all sides. The demise of the Sixth Army will only be a matter of time.

After realizing the intention of the Soviet army to encircle, Weix immediately thought of it was to send reinforcements to defend the only channel for the Sixth Army to contact the rear troops. But he also understood that this approach might not have any effect. After fighting with the Soviet army for so long, how did he even get into a state of the army under the Bolsheviks? In the words of the Soviet soldiers, that is, when the commander's fingers reach, you must fight wherever you go, either destroy the enemy there or be destroyed by the enemy there. In short, there is no second choice. Now, the Soviet army has a clear advantage in this area, so they must win against Karach.

In addition to this path, Weix believed that there were two other paths to choose from. One was to mobilize the Group A group led by Manstein, so that they temporarily gave up their attempt to seize the Southern Caucasus, and turned back to the army, launching attacks on the Soviet army outside Stalingrad from the southern line, thereby breaking through the encirclement they had just built. The second was to withdraw the troops, and take advantage of the fact that the Soviet army's encirclement had not yet been formed, and ordered General Paulus to command his troops and withdraw from the battlefield of Stalingrad.

Based on the actual situation in all aspects, Weix believes that the last plan is obviously the safest and most realistic. It is undeniable that since the launch of the entire Stalingrad Battle, the German army has advanced quite quickly on this line, and the results have naturally been quite fruitful. However, in such a vast and deep condition, logistics transportation has become increasingly difficult. Weix believes that if it were not for the problem of logistics support, the Romanian army would not have destroyed a whole army in just one day. The fighting spirit of the soldiers can be encouraged, and the implementation of strategies and tactics can be planned. However, without food, even if the strong soldiers are still strong, and even the new tanks cannot be activated. Now, the German troops on the front line are facing this embarrassing situation.

The war in Stalingrad is no longer possible, and this is Weix's current view.

After some thoughts and thoughts, Weix ordered his correspondent to draft a telegram in which he hadtily explained his views, hoping that the General Staff could consider his views and would evacuate the Stalingrad front as soon as possible.

In order to ensure that his views can be accepted by the General Staff, Weix was very clever to contact General Halder, who was the Chief of Staff of the Army, and explained his concerns and the current situation of the Stalingrad battlefield to him in detail. Weix sincerely hoped that General Halder could convince the head of state and finally accept his opinions.

However, Weix obviously overestimated Halder's position in the head of state, or rather, overestimated Hitler's sanity.

On May 27, news came from Berlin that the former Chief of Staff General Halder was dismissed and his position was replaced by General Zeitzler. The head of state delivered a public speech in front of the Capitol. He was enthusiastic about the German people, who were not aware of the status quo, claimed that their troops would capture Stalingrad and the South Caucasus oilfields in a very short time.

At this point, Weix completely lost confidence in the war.

On May 28, Weix, the highest commander of the B Army Group, submitted a letter of resignation to the General Staff on the grounds of health issues.

On May 29, the Soviet Don River Front and Volga District Front launched an offensive from the east and west sides at the same time, and the troops pointed directly at the last retreat of the German Sixth Army ￣Karach.

On June 2, two Soviet troops gathered in the city of Karah. Before that, the 24th German Armored Army stationed in the area was destroyed. Commander Lieutenant General Ellenkamp died in battle, and Deputy Commander Lieutenant General Wang Dell committed suicide by drinking a gun.

At this point, the Soviet army completed a comprehensive encirclement of the German Sixth Army, and the counterattack stage of the Battle of Stalingrad officially arrived.
Chapter completed!