Chapter 1239： Eat in one bite (1/2)

Almost at the same time, opposite him, the senior commander of the German Southern Army Corps was also conducting a combat discussion.

Unlike in history, the current Army Group of the South is commanded by Marshal Erich von Manstein. At the beginning, he proposed the tactics of breaking through the Ardennes forest during the French campaign. The head of state affirmed and finally succeeded.

Although the armored units of the German army are very advanced, they are also related to tactics. If France could not be easily defeated, it would not establish a good situation for the future. If it becomes a war of attrition, it will become a terrible war. s consequence.

Now, Manstein has been promoted by the head of Cyrek and directly leads the entire army group.

The Southern Army Group is huge, including the 6th, 11th, and 17th Army Groups, as well as the 1st Armored Group Army, as well as independent Viking divisions, with a total of 63 divisions.

The total strength is similar to the army in the middle, but the area they are going to attack is even larger. Along the way, Manstein has felt that his strength is indeed too scattered.

Every time, he could defeat the Soviet army, but he did not have enough power to encircle and annihilate the enemy. When the Central Route Army created the brilliance of the encirclement battles again and again, their Southern Route Army was really not addicted. .

”The Soviets deployed defenses on the Dnieper River. Every bridge has heavy handles. There are still positions outside the bridge head. This battle will not go particularly smoothly.” The commander of the 1st Panzer Army Paul Ludwig-Eye Wald von Kleist said.

After all, the impact of tanks still takes time. In the vast Ukrainian plains, German armored forces are constantly advancing, but not as fast as in Belarus.

It's all because of logistical supply problems.

In Belarus, Germany built a wide-gauge railway directly connected to the German railway line, which greatly facilitated the supply. Although the Soviets destroyed some railway lines, they were quickly repaired, relying on that railway artery. , The Central Route Army hardly has to worry about logistical supplies.

But it is different in Ukraine. Due to the different railway tracks, the trains have to change wheels when crossing the border. The efficiency is quite low. The railway and road transport supplies together, which has only been supported until now.

Compared with the history, the proportion of tanks in the German offensive sequence has greatly increased. Not to mention the tanks in the ordinary infantry division, only the 1st Armored Army is equipped with 3,900 tanks.

At the same time, there are a large number of infantry fighting vehicles and various wheeled transport vehicles that consume a lot of fuel. This puts forward new requirements for Germany's logistics supply. As the front advances, the supply line is getting wider and wider. long.

These all slowed down their offensive. As a advocate of blitzkrieg, Manstein was not satisfied with the current speed of his troops. At the same time, he knew that he had another problem.

”We find the right place, seize the bridge, and cross the Dnieper River. There are not too many problems. Now it seems that there are several places that are very suitable.” Manstein said: ”However, we now lack enough. Forces, to encircle the Soviet army in the entire Kiev region, like Belarus, stretch out its huge arms to enclose the entire region.”

The Soviet Southwest Front in Ukraine has more troops than Belarus in the center.

After a series of battles in the border area and the defeat of the Dubno-Lutsk-Rovno tanks, the Supreme Command of the Soviet Red Army believed that the southwest direction was the main direction of the German offensive, and therefore deployed most of the Soviet Red Army in Ukraine.

So far, Ukraine has the 5th, 6th, 26th, and 12th Army of the Southwest Front Army, the 18th and 9th Army of the South Front Army, consisting of 6 army groups, 69 infantry divisions, 11 cavalry divisions and 28 armored units. trip.