ps: I wish all readers a happy Valentine's Day...

The full name of the Central Asian Army is the 5th Armored Army. It was adapted from the Middle East Army and later formed an army group with the Turkish troops. Scherner replaced the position of commander of the Rommel Army Group, but since the Turkish troops are currently far apart, Scherner actually commands an army group.

Hoffman was very confident in him, not only stronger than everyone, but in a sense, even better than Scherner himself in history, the commander of the Battle of Courland could lead a group of defeated soldiers until May 1945. How could he not be strong? So he didn't care what tactics Scherner used specifically. This is not a question that the head of state should think about, and he wouldn't.

The main force of the army was originally located in the center of the triangular zone surrounded by three cities of Bishkek, Dushanbe and Tashkent. On the eve of the Red Army's attack in December, strategic contraction continued. In addition to the headquarters, relevant guards, Tiger Heavy Armored Battalion, Heavy Artillery Unit and other directly affiliated units, the army's complete sequence of troops mainly include four divisions: the Great German Division, the 15th Armored Division, Prince Eugen Mountain Infantry Division and the First Mountain Infantry Division (Edelweiss Division), as well as the German First Paratrooper Division and the Italian Paratrooper Brigade (Note: If the paratroopers are not included, it is called the Central Asian Cluster to show the difference). After Scherna took office, the Central Asian Cluster immediately gathered the troops, built fortifications, and hoarded materials to wait for the arrival of the Soviet army. The commanders from top to bottom had full confidence and did not take the upcoming fierce fighting seriously.

In addition to Scherner, Hoffman was very satisfied with the command team of the Central Asian Cluster: the commander of the army was General Hermann Barke, the former commander of the Great German Division, with rich experience in armor warfare, especially assault attacks; the chief of staff of the army group was Gauss, who was familiar with the entire situation of the entire cluster and was meticulous and meticulous. Scherner appreciated it very much after contacting it, and did not have any ideas because he was Rommel's long-term partner.

The commander of the division is also a star. The one who took over as the commander of the Great German Division was Lieutenant General Wink who had outstanding performance in the Battle of Baku. When the Third Reich was destroyed, Hitler asked where Wink was. The 15th Armored Division was Lieutenant General Walster who moved to Africa and made many achievements in military achievements. Otto Coomb, who served as the commander of Prince Eugen, was not an ordinary person. He was originally a member of the Nuremberg trial. This guy actually escaped from Dachao Prison and did not reappear until 1995. The degree of cunning was deeply appreciated by Hoffman. He now increasingly dislikes the old-fashioned and rigid officer Junker, and he often sends them to the reserve army to sit on the bench; only the First Mountain Division is a little troublesome. The original division commander Lieutenant General Herbert Landz was found out by Hoffmann after being found out by Hoffmann. The division commander was Lieutenant General Walter Ritter von Glenberhofen Stetner, and his command ability is slightly inferior to others, but Scherner himself was a mountain infantry, so the last piece of shortcomings was also made up for.

In Hoffman's words, such a command team must have offense, defense, armored assault, mountain war and mountain war, which is perfect! He soon learned from the front line that the Soviet commander was Zhukov himself, and he thought it would be enough to teach the other party a profound lesson. Didn't Zhukov just bump into Model's head in Operation Mars?

Starting from early December, Zhukov launched a fierce offensive with the six newly formed guard tank brigades allocated by Stalin. The goal was to hold or divide the Central Asian cluster into two. Two of the tank brigades were equipped with the I-1 heavy tanks just produced by the Red Army. Each brigade had 58 vehicles, and the other 4 brigades were equipped with the mass-produced model T-43/85, which had never appeared in history. That is, the 85mm artillery was installed on the basis of the enhanced defense of T-43, forming a new model T-43/85, which slightly decreased maneuverability but improved defense.

On December 7, the left wing of the Red Army's clamp-shaped offensive captured Tashkent and quickly sent cavalry troops to detour sideways; on the 9th, the right wing of the Red Army's clamp-shaped offensive appeared in Samarkand, and also tried to detour sideways. Scherna commanded the troops and retreated, and broke into the predetermined defensive position. On December 15, under the command of Balk, the armored troops of the two divisions of the Great German Division and the 15th Armored Division, together with the two Tiger-style heavy armored battalions under the headquarters, turned around and caught the Soviet army off guard with lightning offensive techniques, and simply ate the Red Army's more than 20,000 troops and two guard tank brigades, and their casualties were almost over 2,000.

Originally, the victory of the German army would have been easier, but what surprised the German army was that the newly invested tanks of the Red Army had put a lot of effort into them.

The is-1 tank is the best Russian heavy tank they have ever encountered. The defense and attack power are not as good as the Tiger, but the maneuverability is beyond that, and the No. 4 cannot chew at all. And the Red Army's more T-43/85 also caused great trouble to the German army. Not only was the No. 4 completely suppressed, the chance of Tiger being destroyed also increased a lot. Even with the elite tank soldiers, they could no longer fight a 1:6 or 1:8 exchange ratio, and the advantage of short assault was between 1:3-1:4. Fortunately, the 1943-type armored division was majestic, and the Tiger Heavy Armored Battalion was famous, so the German army simply killed two elite guard tank brigades, one equipped with is-1 and the other equipped with t43/85 Zhukov lost one-third of the Guards given to him by Stalin.

The result of the fight also scared Zhukov. He did not expect that the troops formed by the new tanks were still vulnerable, and he did not expect that the German armored division, composed of Type 1943, was so tough. The 100,000 troops and 400 tanks could not cover the two armored divisions, but the more than 20,000 troops were killed by someone's teeth. It seemed that he had been slapped heavily on the face, and it hurt bitterly.

On December 23, the German army retreated after the Khujang blocking battle. The Red Army lost more than 30,000 troops and more than 200 tanks, of which nearly 100 were destroyed by the 88mm anti-aircraft guns that were ambushed by the German army. At the same time, the assault tank destroyer equipped with 88mm tank guns also played a huge role. The German army suffered nearly 5,000 casualties and more than 50 tanks were reduced. Now Germany is much more prosperous than in history. Not only does it have the support of the tungsten mines from the Eastern Province, but it also got a large amount of tungsten from Japan (mainly the supplies provided by China to purchase arms from Japan). The tungsten core armor-piercing bombs were open for supply. Knowing that the Red Army invested in the new heavy tanks, all the vehicles' first reaction was to increase the proportion of tungsten core armor-piercing bombs.

On December 31, the two sides fought fiercely in Konibodom. Prince Eugen's Mountain Infantry Division and the First Mountain Infantry Division used the special terrain and barriers of the Sir River, Tianshan Mountain, and Gisar-Alay Mountain to put a vivid moment on the Red Army. Four cavalry brigades who were eager to pursue fell into the ambush circle prepared by the German army, and lost all in front of dense machine guns and artillery. The blood of people and horses dyed the Sir River red, and then poured into Kerakum Lake. After a few days, it freezes due to the sudden drop in temperature, and looks strange red light shining.

The Red Army thus ended the mobile warfare, hitting the first line of defense that the German army was ready for, and intercepting the solid defense line at the entrance of the basin. Looking at this huge basin, Zhukov began to get into trouble. Because the final battle site chosen by the German army was the Kokan Basin, or the fergana-valley, which was a mountain basin between the Tianshan Mountains and the Gizar-Alay Mountains, located in the border area of ​​Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The basin is a conical mouth, which is wider the more it goes inside, but the bottle mouth is less than 70 kilometers wide, and the widest part in the middle is only 170 kilometers. Both sides are full of mountains, and heavy equipment and tanks cannot get along at all. Originally, there was a chance for light infantry soldiers, but now it is the season when heavy snow and cold winds are blowing. He has less than one brigade of ski troops under his command. It is okay to do some sneak attacks, but it is really hard to fight seriously.

What’s even more troublesome is that the entire basin is blocked by the mountains on both sides of the basin, and the climate is completely different from the outside: the temperature is relatively high, and even in the coldest season, the lowest temperature is only minus 5-8 degrees Celsius. Usually the average temperature is above zero. When there is ice and snow outside, the Fergana Basin is still full of vitality and green.

"This matter is troublesome. No wonder the Germans stayed in Central Asia so fearlessly. It turned out that they had found such a place to hide."

"Can our people penetrate in?"

"Of course there is no problem with the team, but the large team cannot."

"Then send a small team to destroy it and cooperate with the main force to launch the battle."

I thought it was very good, but when I asked, I realized that it was not that simple. There were nearly 3 million people living in the entire basin, all of which were Central Asian and almost no Russians. The local independent forces had long been destroyed by grassroots party organizations and administrative agencies, and they had transformed into independent elements. In other words, the Bolshevik squad will soon face a vast ocean of 3 million people when they enter! It is difficult to even keep confidential and save lives. How can we talk about cooperating with the large corps and strengthening the effectiveness of our side?

Now there are only two choices before Zhukov: first, force the attack, exchange life for life, and force the German army to retreat and advance step by step; second, monitor and continue to wait, so that the German heavy army will collapse without fighting after being consumed due to food and other military supplies.

No matter which one is easy to choose, but Stalin's telegram to urge the promotion army to report on the follow-up handling of materials aid to the Soviet Union, requiring him to eat up the 100,000 German troops and hundreds of thousands of split and rebel forces as soon as possible!
Chapter completed!