On the afternoon of November 6, the German vanguard rushed into Gubishev, and only a piece of ruins and scorched earth were greeted. The next morning, the second city on the right bank of the Volga River, Toriarty, fell into the hands of the German army, and there was basically a piece of scorched earth.

At this time, the temperature began to drop, and the German troops who could not find the house could only shrink into tents in the wild. Fortunately, the day had not yet been iced, otherwise it would have been a real pain.

The atmosphere in the rear command center was always tense. After the 4th Army rushed over, everyone was closely watching the enemy situation ahead. Once the report was surrounded, rescue would be launched quickly. Even the reinforcements and operation routes were ready. However, the battle report sent back was very simple, but the content caused a shock in the command center: "Our army fully occupied Gubishev and Toriarty, which had become scorched earth..."

"Has the Russians upgraded from a solid wall to a scorched earth war?" Zeitzler quietly breathed a sigh of relief, while sarcastically said, "There is really a way. If you really do it, Stalin should give them a good medal. For example, it would be very good to call the Kutuzov medal..."

"Report that the Kutuzov medal has already been established by the enemy half a year ago. According to the regulations, it is mainly awarded military chiefs and commanders who are good at planning and implementing battles between the front and army groups or cleverly help their troops avoid the enemy's assault and successfully carry out counter-assault..." A young staff member who was confused about the style continued.

Weix waved his hand upset, stopping the young staff member who was a little stupid and continued and asked, "What are you going to do now?"

"The central region is fully promoted, the 4th Army expands the occupied area, and the 3rd Army set out from Ulyanovsk to cross the river to occupy Dimitrovgrad on the right bank; asked Marshal Hot's armored army to cross the river to attack Pugachev; the troops on the two wings of Kazan and Saratov remained unmoved for the time being." Zeitzler glanced at the map and said a series of orders.

"How much distance?"

"First set 150-200 kilometers, each unit will launch a reconnaissance offensive in companies and battalions, and will fight until the fall pulp period. The main force should not move lightly and will remain in the right bank area."

Model thoughtfully faced the map. According to what Zedzler had just thought, the middle lane had to be extended at least 200 kilometers, and this giant protruding general became sharper, slender, and looked very ugly. Generally speaking, the front lines that were not very good on the map were mostly not easy to defend. But it would not be possible to fight like this. The Red Army is not fighting with you at all now. They only have one word to escape! If the enemy does not push over, the enemy will slip faster. The left bank finally killed nearly 100,000 Red Army soldiers, and the right bank is even more amazing, and even ghosts cannot be seen.

After he had thought for a while, he gave up other ideas. Now the Red Army has no idea about the trends and strategies. It would be useless to think about it. The only good news is that there are most likely traps and encirclements.

"Reported, the Air Force found traces of enemy retreat, about 120 kilometers away from our army. Do we need to accelerate the pursuit of the troops?"

Zeitzler shook his head and looked at the other commanders with a consultative gaze. Everyone else shook their heads in agreement to express their consent.

"Let the air force be as slow as possible, destroy the enemy's retreat, and the ground forces continue to advance as planned."

The Eastern Front Military Control Commissioner Schmont seemed worried: "This will not work. After occupying the left bank of the Volga River, our army's transportation line has been extended by nearly 250 kilometers. If the enemy continues to implement the policy of solid walls and clearing the fields and scorched earth in the right bank, our army's supply route will be extended by 400-500 kilometers in total. Winter will be coming soon, I'm afraid..."

Although the German army never expected to seize supplies such as supplies or food from the Soviet army, it would feel powerless to advance 500 kilometers in a short time, especially now that there is a Volga River in the middle, connecting the two sides of the river with pontoon bridges, transporting personnel and equipment, and transporting a large amount of supplies. This route seems too fragile. Now the German army is not short of materials, oil and food. The oil output in the Middle East is rapidly increasing, and the autumn harvest of the Eastern countries is basically over, and all aspects are full of food. Ammunition is basically not consumed because of the rapid retreat of the enemy and there is no war. However, once the transportation route is cut off, there will definitely be major problems in the future. Schmont's concerns are not groundless.

“How was the Volga ice age?”

Another staff officer reported quickly: "There is usually an ice age from the end of November to the end of March of the following year. However, the ice layer in the early stage is relatively thin, and the ice layer can only support personnel and ordinary vehicles after at least mid-December. If tanks or other heavy equipment are required, it will basically only last January to February throughout the year. In addition, the Russian authorities have built a large number of reservoirs in various places. In the past, the flow rate will be adjusted through the reservoir water release to appropriately buffer the impact of the ice age. It is hard to say this year..."

Everyone took a breath of air conditioning. This was a very dangerous information. Assuming that the German army used the ice age to transport materials and personnel, the Red Army might "replace soldiers with water", and suddenly released water and caused major damage. The Volga River was so long that it was impossible to control all reservoirs or tributaries, and it was impossible to search every place closely.

"Reporting with the head of state, reporting on the problems we face, the specific solutions proposed are as follows: I hope to transfer the main team of transport aircraft supporting Marshal Rommel back to the central battlefield as an emergency material transportation reserve, but it may not be put into operation now, this is one; I require an emergency allocation of a batch of S-boats and landing craft from the country and the south to facilitate the transportation of materials on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and if the pontoon bridge is destroyed, this is the second; the engineering troops are stepping up the repair of bridges, especially those railway bridges, which is the top priority, this is the third." Zeitzler paused, "The situation in the right bank is unknown. Before the end of the pulp-turning period, it is planned to deploy only troops with no more than 250,000 people at most to be prepared to deal with all emergencies."

"Are you worried that the enemy will eat us?" Hort asked curiously.

"No, I'm worried that they won't come." Zeitzler smiled, "If I pressed 500,000 in one breath, the enemy would definitely not have such a good appetite. I'm afraid it would shrink faster, but 250,000 is not necessarily the case. This bright bait might make the enemy bravely pounce, so that we can fight the enemy in early winter."

"What if I don't come?"

"Then we will drag it until the pulp-turning period before taking action. As for the rest, only God knows..."

Weix, Moder and Hort exchanged views, believing that the Chief of Staff’s approach is still positive and steady, and first consider luring the Red Army out and fighting. The north and south wings are OK, and the right bank protruding part of the middle road is also OK. It is better than being able to stare at the moment and cannot find anyone.

On October 8, the second army crossed the river one after another. By October 15, the German army had passed through three floating bridge areas with a total of nearly 250,000 troops. The command center waited for the Red Army to rush up with hope, but to the disappointment of everyone, the investigation showed that the enemy was still retreating quickly and had no intention of rushing over to fight. Except for occasionally catching guerrillas and fighting, there was basically no battle at the battalion or above. In the eyes, except for scorched earth and scorched earth, the once vibrant banks of the Volga River seemed to have become an unmanned land overnight.

One situation attracted the attention of the command center. The Volga River Basin was originally a relatively developed industrial zone in the Soviet Union, but when the experts inspected the industrial wreckage, they found that many industrial equipment had been removed in advance, and those that could not be removed were organized. They carried out arson or explosion step by step, and the destruction was quite thorough, unlike temporary actions. Judging from the traces on the scene, many actions were implemented half a month or even a month ago. Even the plan for the Battle of Dawn had not yet been discussed.

"What a terrible opponent. Emperor Napoleon lost at all. The Russians had almost infinite depth..." Weix sighed on the plane patrolling the battlefield. Although the 500 kilometers of territory on both sides of the Volga River was a huge piece of land, it was just a very small piece of land on the huge territory of the Soviet Union.

The top leaders of the Russian People's Liberation Army cursed the Red Army's sabotage, believing it was a prodigal act, but they could only curse. Anyway, Stalin couldn't hear it.

"Is it Stalin or the General Staff of the Red Army who is commanding this battle?"

"Is there any difference? Can there be a purely military route that is not at the mercy of Stalin?"

"One thing is certain, at least we have occupied the crucial banks of the Volga River, and we can deal with it calmly no matter where the center of gravity of the front line is shifting."

"There is another point that is more certain. We entered the unmanned land. At the beginning, the 600,000 army had to defend the small front line in the middle, but now suddenly the Russians forced you to 400,000 square kilometers. In a place as big as Poland, the density of troops suddenly decreased."

"Some second-tier troops can be properly deployed, such as adding another 200,000."

"Of course, the premise is that you have a way to provide another transportation capacity of 200,000 people, otherwise everyone will definitely go hungry and freeze..."

At the combat situation analysis meeting in the command center, a group of staff expressed their opinions and opinions on the next combat strategy. Although they "successfully" and even exceeded the combat goals of the second phase of the Dawn Battle, it only refers to the area occupied by the map. The German army was determined to catch the main force of the Red Army, which was fighting, disappeared completely. The number of people who destroyed the enemy troops increased to less than 120,000, and the number of civilians encountered was less than 300,000.

This number is lower than the Red Army's own statistics, because during the transfer and retreat of troops, those troops with low morale and mainly recruits often collapse or mutiny. Many middle-aged uncles and young soldiers immediately took off their military uniforms after fleeing the troops, and turned back to civilians in the eyes of the Germans. Then they flocked to ask for food. They had heard all kinds of rumors that the Germans now basically do not kill civilians. Not only do they not kill them, they also moved to various Eastern countries or New Russia for settlement. People with a sporty mind were even considering going to the troops in St. Petersburg to make a living.

"The latest order of the head of state: the army suspends its attack during the slurry period and strives to transport Russian civilians to the rear. Stalin wants the no-man's land so much, so we will fulfill his wishes. The two banks of the Volga River are completely cleaned up and 500 kilometers of quarantine brings it!"
Chapter completed!