Chapter 576 Target

"Captain, Captain?"

When Qin Chuan hesitated between the Stalin Campaign and the Caucasus Campaign, Manstein asked Qin Chuan: "What do you think about the attack on Kerch?"

Before Qin Chuan could speak, Manstein introduced to the officers in the conference room: "This is Sergeant Frick of the First Infantry Regiment, the 'legendary sergeant' you often call. It was under his advice that we won the victory in Sevastopol!"

With a "wow", there was a loud applause in the conference room.

In fact, there was no need for Manstein to introduce, the officers knew who the only captain in Qin Chuan's conference room was.

After the applause died down, Manstein pointed to the map and said, "The total length is 75 kilometers. The Soviets set up four lines of defense in the narrow area. The first line of defense is the Palpachi Line. The Soviets deployed two armies here, the 47th Army and the 51st Army. The second line of defense is the Nasser Line, where the 44th Army is stationed. The last two lines of defense are the Sultanovka Line and the Kerch Line, which are garrisoned by the 46th Army!"

"There are more troops on the front line and fewer troops in the rear!" Qin Chuan said.

"Yes!" Manstein said, "Because it is obvious that if we launch an attack, we must first defeat the first line of defense, then the second, the third... and the defeated Soviet soldiers will retreat and defend at the same time, so there will be no need for so many troops in the rear!"

"Of course!" Qin Chuan said, "In this way, every time we attack, we will encounter a lot of enemy troops and we have to defeat them all!"

"Yes!" Manstein nodded in agreement, "This is where we are in trouble!"

At this time, an officer made a suggestion: "Why don't we take a boat to bypass their defense line like the captain did when he attacked Sevastopol? Attack?"

"This method obviously won't work on the Kerch Peninsula!" Manstein rejected the plan without even thinking: "The reason for attacking Sevastopol is that the enemy has only one line of defense, and the target of the attack is very clear, and the distance by sea is also very short! But if we use the Kerch Peninsula... we will be trapped between the two lines of defense of the enemy if we land at any point, not to mention what will happen if we are discovered by the enemy at sea!"

Manstein was right. Sevastopol bypassed the enemy's defense line from the sea, which was a sneak attack. He was not too worried about the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, because air supremacy had always been in the hands of the German army. It's just that amphibious warfare was still a new thing in this era. Even the Americans fought with the Japanese in the Pacific while thinking about it. What's more, the German army now only had fishing boats. It was hard to imagine that the German army could use these fishing boats to land on the beach...

Qin Chuan was stunned when he thought of this, and then his eyes followed the coastline of the Black Sea all the way down, and then his expression relaxed. He seemed to have thought of a way to solve the problem of the Caucasus Campaign.

"Captain!" Noticing Qin Chuan's expression, Manstein asked, "Have you thought of a way to attack Kerch?"

"No, General!" Qin Chuan replied, "In fact, I've never been worried about the Kerch Peninsula!"

"What do you mean?" Manstein asked in confusion.

"General!" Qin Chuan pointed to the map and said, "As you said just now, if we attack the enemy's first line of defense, we will drive the enemy's remnants to the second line of defense, and then attack the second line of defense and chase the enemy to the third line of defense... By analogy, when we occupy the Kerch Peninsula, where will we drive the enemy?"

An officer replied, "We will drive them to hell, right?"

The officers laughed at the same time.

Manstein glared at the officer, and everyone stopped laughing immediately.

In this respect, Manstein was different from Rommel. He didn't like to discuss irrelevant things in serious meetings, even if it was just a joke to ease the tense atmosphere.

This may be related to their different births... Rommel was born in a grassroots family, while Manstein was born in an aristocratic family. His father, grandfather, and even uncle were all generals. The famous Field Marshal and German President von Hindenburg was his uncle.

"Of course they will suffer heavy losses!" Manstein looked at the map again, and then answered Qin Chuan's question: "In addition to casualties and surrender, they will cross the Kerch Strait and retreat to the Taman Peninsula!"

The Taman Peninsula belongs to the North Caucasus. It is separated from the Kerch Peninsula by the Kerch Strait. The narrowest part is only 4 kilometers, so it is not difficult to cross the Kerch Strait and escape to the Taman Peninsula.

In fact, in the history of the Kerch Battle, many defeated soldiers swam across the Kerch Strait to escape to the Taman Peninsula.

"Then what?" Qin Chuan asked: "If we attack the Taman Peninsula..."

"Will they flee to the Caucasus Mountains?" Hearing this, Manstein's eyes flashed with surprise, and he seemed to know what Qin Chuan was thinking about.

Qin Chuan nodded slightly and said, "So I am not worried about the Kerch Peninsula, the Taman Peninsula, or other places, because the enemy at least needs to build fortifications in these places, and our tanks can also attack. But we know that the Caucasus Mountains have complex terrain and steep mountains. There are only a few mountain passes for entry and exit, which is a natural barrier. What we are doing now seems to be winning one battle after another, but in fact we are driving the enemy to the Caucasus... I just want to know, are we ready to fight the enemy in the Caucasus?"

Manstein's face changed when he heard this, but he quickly regained his composure and cleared his throat and said, "Captain, you seem to be thinking too far ahead. No matter what, we must win the battle now, right? Otherwise, we can't even stand in front of the Caucasus Mountains, let alone attack?"

"Yes, General!" Qin Chuan understood the meaning of Manstein's expression. He seemed to have exposed a German offensive target just now... Qin Chuan, who knew history, took it for granted that the war would inevitably develop in the direction of the Caucasus, but he didn't expect that it was still a military secret at this time, and so was Stalingrad.

Sure enough, Manstein called Qin Chuan to his office alone shortly after the meeting.

Seeing Qin Chuan come in, Manstein stopped reviewing the documents in his hand, motioned Qin Chuan to sit down on the chair in front of him, and then asked, "Captain, you seem to have guessed our strategic goal?"

"I don't know if it's convenient to say!" Qin Chuan replied.

"If you have already guessed it but you are not allowed to say it, it would be a very stupid thing, isn't it?"

"Yes!" Qin Chuan replied: "I think our target is the Baku oil field in the Caucasus region!"