The 11th Army seized 150 cars and a large number of guns and ammunition at the railway station... As mentioned before, the Transcaucasus has a certain industrial capacity to produce guns and ammunition on its own, so it actually provides arms for the Don River defense line and the Kharkiv front line.

With the order, Manstein loaded all the 150 cars with guns and ammunition, and even towed the cannons behind the car and then advanced towards Baku.

The Transcaucasian Front Command obtained relevant information at this time.

"Comrade Qiulenev!" The new political commissar Srinov said to Qiulenev with a telegram in a panic expression: "The Germans have occupied the railway station and are advancing here quickly at this time!"

"Occupy the railway station?" General Chulenev asked in confusion: "We have two reserve teams there, where have they all gone?"

"They were surrounded by the Germans and most of them were captured!" Srinov replied, and the voice behind them was very low because the Soviet army was depressed at this time. If they knew that the reserve team in the rear was captured, they would probably have another blow to them.

General Chulenev looked at the political commissar in disbelief.

The political commissar explained in a low voice: "Comrade Chulenev, we believe that it is not the enemy's small troops that cross the Caucasus Mountains, but the main force of the German 11th Army. In other words, the German attacks on the front and Caspian Sea are fake... We are likely to be fooled! Their real main force is advancing towards us!"

General Qiulenev couldn't help but stand there for a long time when he heard this. This was too different for him. He was already confident and prepared to hit the Germans to the peak of his life, but he didn't expect that the Germans would knock him back to the cruel reality with just one method.

After thinking about it, Qiulenev ordered: "Order the 406th Infantry Division and the 242nd Mountain Division to withdraw immediately to Baku, as well as the 417th Infantry Division and the 52nd Tank Brigade... to withdraw them too!"

Chulenev believed that he still had a chance, and it didn't matter if Baku lost it. Several divisions of troops surrounded Baku and annihilated the Germans and then took Baku back... They could also win.

At this time, a staff officer hurriedly ran in, holding a telegram in his hand and said, "Comrade Chulenev, the Germans occupied the Bakar line and ignited the gasoline in the line of defense!"

General Qiulenev's face suddenly turned bloodless. He knew what this meant... Several divisions from Sylvan's direction could not retreat.

But Qiulenev's order was not changed and was still issued as it was because he knew that at this time he had no choice but to treat the dead horse as a living horse.

"Comrade Qiulenev!" After issuing the order, the political commissar asked again: "Where are us?"

"What?" Chulenev asked.

"Comrade Chulenev!" The political commissar repeated: "The Germans are pushing towards us, and they will reach here in about half an hour!"

Chulenev gritted his teeth and ordered: "Retreat!"

Retreat was a difficult choice for the Soviet command, because it seemed to be a kind of escape in the Soviet army, especially after Stalin issued Order No. 227... The retreat of the command would become an irony.

Therefore, although Order No. 227 can boost the morale of Soviet soldiers to some extent, everything has its own two sides: it will also make the Soviet army lose its flexibility and sometimes even have a counterproductive effect.

For example, now, Chulenev's command is not to retreat, nor is it not to retreat.

Don't withdraw.

It is conceivable that the command center will wait in Baku to be captured alive by the German army. This will not only cause a blow to morale but also cause the Transcaucasian Front to lose command.

withdraw.

Although the command can be preserved, it is another matter in the eyes of the Soviet soldiers... Order No. 227 emphasizes that "Soviet soldiers are not allowed to take a step back, otherwise they will be traitors of the motherland, and the Soviet mother will not take these traitors in it." But why can the commander retreat but the grassroots officers and soldiers not do it?!

Therefore, the decision to retreat would seriously challenge Order No. 227 and affect morale in the army, especially those newly recruited.

This is true. Especially the 242nd Mountain Division, when they retreated to Baku according to the order, they became more and more unbalanced. In addition, most of them were locals familiar with the terrain of the Caucasus, so they retreated and fled, and when they rushed back to Baku, they had almost escaped.

Not to mention the distance, the Soviet army in Baku City was the same.

However, this cannot be said to be affected by the retreat of the command center, because the news of the retreat of Qiulenev and others was not spread at all, and the Soviet army stationed in the city did not know this.

Their situation was that they were not prepared and no one was in command, and many people didn't even know which direction the German army attacked.

What the Soviet army could do was pile some sandbags in the streets to stop the German army's attack.

However, such simple fortifications were obviously useless to the German army.

The reason is that the German army has a rocket launcher, which is also a powerful tool for destroying enemy fortifications...

Artillery can actually destroy enemy fortifications, but they all have obvious disadvantages in this regard:

The mortar ballistic is curved, so it is difficult to hit the fortification directly, and even the fortification is hit from the top.

Anti-tank guns, howitzers, etc. are due to lack of mobility and their own targets are too large. Using it to attack enemy fortifications will instead be covered by enemy artillery fire.

The rocket launcher is different. First of all, it has a direct-firing weapon without a mortar. Secondly, its target is very small, almost a single weapon. The infantry is carrying it close to the enemy fortifications in the bunker, and then blows it up with a "boom".

The biggest advantage is that infantry can carry multiple rockets to attack multiple times: if there is no rocket, two will come.

This has also been greatly exerted in the hands of the US military on the battlefield of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea.

In fact, it was not just the battlefield of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea, but in subsequent wars such as the Vietnam War, Americans often did this, that is, they used rocket launchers or recoilless cannons to bombard the fortifications of the volunteers until the fortifications were broken before attacking.

Therefore, the volunteer army called these things "in front artillery", that is, the cannons that made work in front of the position.

The German army was of course no exception at this moment. They first suppressed and covered the Soviet army with mortars, and then brought rocket launchers to destroy and break through the Soviet army's sandbag fortifications one by one.

Less than an hour later, the German army occupied Baku in full.
Chapter completed!