The tactics of flat pushing and fan-shaped expansion of the front line are really stupid, but the German army has just finished resting and occupying firepower, maneuvering and personnel advantages. This short assault tactic is very fierce. The German army used 4 armored armies on the Central Front that lasted more than 800 kilometers, including 12 armored divisions, 8 armored grenadier divisions, and 26 infantry divisions. They rumbled forward like a bulldozer, using assault, infiltration, and destruction of the trilogy to break through the effective defense line of the Red Army. The overall battle seemed to be a repetition of the small Barbarossa battle, but it gave people the feeling that it was more rapid than Barbarossa's original advance.

On July 8, the Red Army abandoned Mikhaijovka, and the more than 30,000 troops were either killed or captured by the rear. Nearly 10,000 wounded and sick were unable to be transferred and fell into the hands of the German army.

On July 9, the German army occupied Kalininsk and the two Red Army infantry troops guarding this place collapsed.

On July 10, the German army crossed the Don River from Mikhaijovka and quickly occupied the position on the left bank of the Don River. The entire depth of the area occupied by Bagramiyan led the central army to do its best was occupied by the German army.

On July 11, the German army had already advanced 200-250 kilometers on the more than 800 kilometers of front line. The southernmost end of the southern road occupied Kachalinskaya, which was only 75 kilometers away from Stalingrad; the 3rd Armored Army of the central road reached the outskirts of Sakhatov from the front, and the 2nd Armored Army of the central road occupied the Red Army City and threatened Sakhatov from the south flank; the northern line was fought to Penza, and it was possible to turn south and directly attack Sakhatov from more than 200 kilometers at any time.

The next target of the German army's attack was about to emerge, which was Sakhatov, a hub city located in the middle of the Volga River. From Sakhatov to the south is Stalingrad, from 500 kilometers north is Kazan, and from 400 kilometers east is Gubishev's temporary stationed place. They moved out of Moscow less than two years ago and are now facing moving again.

The occupation of Sakhatov means intercepting the Volga River from the military and half-encircling Stalingrad from the north, west and south. Although it is still a long way from truly encircling the city, the strategic situation of the Red Army deteriorated sharply.

However, the German army also had hidden worries in optimism. While the progress was good, and the frontline news spread frequently, Zeitzler also keenly saw unusual things from the reports of the battle situation reported by various departments. The various troops generally reflected that the Red Army had no resistance and was about to collapse at one touch. The speed of occupying the target area was extremely fast, but the number of enemy troops actually eliminated was not large. The four armored armies fought for nearly a week, and the total number of enemies that had been destroyed was less than 300,000 (of which more than 100,000 were captured). Not only was the number not as good as the Castle Campaign, but the quality also decreased very significantly.

Zeitzler personally went to inspect the annihilated Red Army troops and found that most of them were new units formed at the turn of spring and summer this year, without combat effectiveness, or the old units had poor combat effectiveness, weak will and poor equipment. Looking at a large number of captured wounded and sick people and those prisoners composed of 40 and 50-year-old men, he couldn't help but ask a question mark in his heart.

What made the German army even more troubled was that there were a large number of Russians left in the occupied area, each of which was hungry. Many of them had been hungry for 4-5 days in a row. They even forgot when they had last eaten. If they had changed to the former SS Special Operations Team, they might just pull them out and make trouble. However, after the establishment of the Russian PLA, Hoffman had issued an order to strictly prohibit the National Defense Forces. The SS had contacted the civil affairs of the enemy-occupied areas. The daily affairs of the Russian PLA were all managed by the Russian PLA. The German army should convey relevant civil affairs instructions through Russian PLA officials.

The interrogation soon showed that the group of old, weak, sick and disabled were intentionally left behind by the Red Army when they retreated. On the one hand, they were unable to move and could not keep up with the pace of transfer; on the other hand, except for a few people, most of them lost their ability to work, which was a complete burden, and no useful thing was left for these people.

Such things are not performed in one place or a few places. Similar situations occurred in multiple newly occupied areas. Finally, after urgent consultation, the General Staff decided to allocate a little from the military rations of each department to relieve these civilians.

By July 12, the German army was shocked to find that the total number of troops used by our side for this attack was less than 800,000, but the population of the occupied areas that relied on German rations suddenly increased by more than 200,000. In addition, the 100,000 Red Army prisoners of war captured had increased by more than 300,000 mouths, and the food suddenly became tense.

The situation was quickly reported to Schmont, the military commander of the Eastern Front. He felt that this was very difficult: killing all these people was a complete solution, but on the one hand, it felt that they could not take action, and on the other hand, there would be serious political problems. Raising them was not a big deal. Although they could only give these Russians a very small amount of food, no matter how small they were, there would be 300,000 mouths waiting for relief. As the German army advanced rapidly, it was foreseeable that the population would increase every day.

He was unsure of what to do with this group of people, so he could only send the telegram to Berlin. Vlasov gritted his teeth and sent a telegram saying, "I hope to help the Russian victims without affecting the combat of the troops." He was also transferred to Hoffman by the General Staff.

Hoffman considered it over and over again and finally ordered: to set up refugee camps on site to maintain their barely starvation, and then gradually use the train capacity to transport supplies to turn backwards. The refugee camps are maintained by the Russian People's Liberation Army and the German army is responsible for supervising them.

Schmont determined the refugee relief standards with the unique Germans: 4 Russian civilians or 3 Red Army prisoners distributed 1 piece of food equivalent to ordinary soldiers of the combat troops, but not meat, and maintained that they would barely starve to death. The statistics show that it is almost equivalent to increasing the food demand of 80,000 to 90,000 troops, just using up the potential for the battle transportation and storage.

Unexpectedly, refugee camps were just set up in various places, and they began to distribute food and rescue every day. I don’t know where a large number of Russian civilians and hiding Russian scattered soldiers rushed towards the refugee camp. Their eyes were green and they rushed forward when they saw the food. They didn’t let go of the Russian People’s Liberation Army, and they were satisfied that they could eat a bite.

By July 15, the number of refugees had exceeded 700,000. The train could use the return capacity of only 30,000 to 40,000 per day. It would take as soon as 20 days for all the remaining personnel in the refugee camp to complete. This is based on the premise that no new population is added, no one is optimistic about this.

At this time, the daily food consumption of the refugees was equivalent to the rations of 200,000 German troops. After reporting them layer by layer, Hoffman made a decision that, given that the ammunition consumption was not large in the battle, he approved the compressed ammunition supply and replaced with food transportation, and required strengthening supervision to prevent illegal activities. (To be continued.)

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