USSR 1941

Soon, the 11th Army Commander von Schobert received an order from the Army Group Command.

The order was given by Field Marshal Rundstedt, commander of the Army Group.

"There is a Russian armored force breaking out of Kyiv!" Rundstedt told Admiral Schobert. "They have a large army and an unknown number of tanks. They are advancing in the direction of Uman. Hold them off! "

"What?" Admiral Schobert couldn't help being taken aback when he heard the news: "But Marshal, our main force has already advanced to the line of the Dnieper River. What shall we use to stop them?"

Admiral Schobert is right. The strategic goal of the 11th Army has been the Crimea region from the beginning... There is a Soviet airfield in the Crimea region. From here, Soviet bombers can cross the Caspian Sea and bomb oil fields in Romania. The supply of oil was the basis for the German army to attack the Soviet Union.

Therefore, the 11th Army, including the Romanian 3rd and 4th Army, was advancing eastward at full speed. At this time, only a few divisions remained behind.

"That's something you need to consider, General!" Marshal Rundstedt replied: "No matter what method you use, block them!"

"Yes, Your Excellency the Marshal!" Admiral Schobert replied helplessly.

After hanging up the phone, Schobert immediately walked to the map, and then ordered: "Order the 198th Infantry Division to immediately withdraw to the Uman area to garrison, and the 1st Armored Division to advance to Uman to coordinate with the 198th Infantry Division. At the same time... the expeditionary force Withdraw Uman reinforcements!"

"Yes!" The adjutant responded and conveyed the order.

This order sounds like it has a well-thought-out plan: an infantry division will be stationed in place, an armored division will be coordinated, and an army will be used as reinforcement.

With such a force, it should be more than enough to block a mechanized army of the Soviet army.

However, only Admiral Schobert knew the difficulties: Among these units, only the 198th Infantry Division was the German army, the 1st Armored Division was the Romanian army, and the expeditionary force was the Italian army.

Among them, the reason why Romania's 1st Armored Division is suitable for entering the Uman area is because the speed of this armored division is too slow... The so-called "Romania" is an army equipped with a large number of mules and horses. Coupled with the speed of their tanks and poor road conditions, they are far behind the main force.

The Italian Expeditionary Force, because this army is the only mechanized unit of the 11th Army, Schobert judged that it was the only one that could arrive in time and participate in the battle.

"These idiots!" Schobert couldn't help cursing as he looked at the map: "They actually left the Russian armored troops and crossed the river!"

Schobert scolded Kleist, which is indeed a bit unbelievable, but Schobert didn't know that there were many twists and turns in it, even Schobert himself, I'm afraid he couldn't avoid making the same mistakes.

The Soviet Mechanized Ninth Army did not know these arrangements of the German army.

It should be said that the Soviet army could have known it, because this is the territory of the Soviet army, and there are Soviet civilians and guerrillas everywhere. As long as the German army moves, people will see it, such as how many troops pass a certain road and so on.

The problem is that these people and the guerrillas do not have radio stations, and they cannot transmit the news to the Soviet army in a timely manner.

But this is not important, because they are unfolding as planned: the front is reconnaissance with fast mobile forces, and the information is constantly passed to the rear and advanced at full speed.

It's a bit like "crossing the river by feeling the stones", that is, moving forward while scouting, but it's much better than fighting around without knowing what's going on.

Shulka and his men were in the second echelon.

There was silence in the car. Although the soldiers were all in the car, they were in a mess. Because of the previous battle, muddy water and blood made the entire carriage dirty.

If it's any good,

That is, the carriages were not as crowded as before... Seven people in Shulka's platoon were sacrificed, and two others were seriously injured and carried back to Kyiv, which means that there were only 26 people left in the car.

"Avmovich is dead!" said Leonyev. "Alyoshinka, Andreevich, Anisim..."

"We know, Leonyev!" Shulka interrupted him, saying that there was no point in reporting these people, which would only increase the fear in the recruits' hearts.

"No, you don't know, comrade platoon leader!" Leonyev replied excitedly: "Many of them don't even have a soldier certificate!"

The point is that most of these recruits were temporarily recruited from Kyiv, and there were so many that there was a shortage of fighter certificates.

That is, they are more likely to be missing than martyrs.

But Leonyev's tone made the actor angry.

"So!" the actor stared at Leonyev fiercely and said, "Do you think it's Comrade Platoon Leader's fault? Oh, my God... Someone in our platoon died, so Comrade Platoon Leader should be responsible for it! "

"In fact!" the veteran said while bandaging the wound on his arm: "If it wasn't for the command of Comrade Platoon Leader, our platoon probably wouldn't exist anymore!"

"Yes!" The thief continued: "Leonyev, you should be a corpse at this time, not complaining here!"

Leonev was silent for a while, then turned to Shulka and said: "Sorry, Comrade Platoon Commander, I didn't mean to complain about you!"

"I know!" Shulka replied: "It doesn't matter, you will get used to it soon..."

Shulka realized that he had said the wrong thing before he finished speaking.

Sure enough, these words caused a period of silence again.

After a while, the recruit asked timidly, "Where are we? Are we breaking out?"

"No!" The veteran shook his head and replied, "I think we are in Uman and heading south, that is to say... Our destination is probably the Odessa region!"

"That's impossible!" said Leonyev. "The Germans have reached the Dnieper!"

What does this mean? Everyone knows that if the Germans have reached the Dnieper River, it means that this line will be controlled by the enemy, so there will be no breakthrough.

The veteran didn't answer.

A recruit looked out through the back of the car for a while, and then said palely, "God, this is Uman!"

"Did you admit your mistake?" Leonyev asked.

"I'm not mistaken!" the recruit replied, "I've been here a few times!"

The carriage fell silent again, because they knew that the veteran was right, and this meant that there would be many battles to be fought in the future.

The car continued to drive forward staggeringly, and Shulka could faintly hear some weeping in the sound of the "rumbling" motor.