When it comes to the airborne troops, the entire German army became nervous because in the eyes of the German army, the airborne troops were all elite troops with extremely strong combat power, at least that was the case with the German airborne troops.

Moreover, Manstein and Qin Chuan both knew one thing: if the Soviet Union carried out airborne operations against Baku, it would be possible to take Baku back or even wipe out the two German troops in Baku.

The reason is that the German army's strength is too weak compared to the Soviet army. One must guard one line of defense here and another line of defense. Once the airborne troops are airborne to the rear, it may lead to the collapse of the German army's entire line.

On the other hand, the airborne troops have strong initiative, that is, before it has airborne, no one knows where these airborne troops will land or where they attack.

In this regard, Manstein immediately took action and did some work.

The first thing is to drive the Baku people out of their houses and gather them into the refinery.

This is not to use the people as a shield for the refinery, but once the airborne division lands directly in Baku and gets help from the people, the German army will probably find it difficult to win the war.

Then, Manstein drew a regiment from the 1st Mountain Division to station in Baku City. Only by occupying the commanding heights and important areas in the city can the Soviet airborne troops have no chance to take advantage of.

Finally, Manstein withdrew the First Infantry Regiment from the defense line as a mobile force.

It is well known that it is very important to deal with airborne mobile units.

The reason is that they do not know in advance where the enemy will airborne. A fast mobile unit can reach the enemy's airborne location in the shortest time and then annihilate them before they are ready.

Of course, this mobile unit must be the First Infantry Division.

So the First Infantry Division became busy immediately.

The mobile troops are not as easy as they imagined, just need to equip a few more cars or three-wheelers.

There are many other problems, such as ammunition replenishment, where the enemy will land, what combat plans will be made for possible and several landing sites, etc.

The most prominent problem among them is the supply issue... The 1st Infantry Regiment's MP43 ammunition is almost used up.

But it was not difficult to solve this problem. Manstein sent a telegram to the commander of the army, Von Bock.

Of course, Feng Boke also knew the importance of defending the Baku oil field. Without saying a word, he transferred a cross Junker 52 transport plane to Baku overnight to deliver ammunition.

As mentioned before, the thick landing gear of the Juncker 52 transport aircraft gave it the ability to take off and land roughly in the field. At this time, there was no need to worry about being intercepted by Soviet fighter jets at night... So the supplies were quickly sent to the 1st Infantry Regiment.

Then Colonel Slein sent people to organize the Soviet people to repair the road leading to Baku in several directions, which was the basis for the mobile troops to maneuver quickly.

In addition, it is divided into three groups based on the camp and is familiar with three directions.

In short, no one dared to be careless from top to bottom, for fear of accidentally throwing away the fat meat that came to his mouth... In fact, this is secondary. If Baku cannot defend it, the German troops fighting deep behind enemy lines would have no place to escape.

In other words, this is a life-and-death issue for the German army.

But in fact, these concerns of the German army were actually completely redundant.

Just as the German army was making all kinds of preparations, the 4th Army, which received the order, was actually in chaos.

This is caused by two aspects.

On the one hand, the airborne troops lack capable and qualified officers.

This should be said that not only airborne troops, but also the entire Soviet army, because for a long time, those who could take office in the Soviet army were politically correct rather than capable officers.

So Lieutenant General Peterkov, the commander of the 4th Army of Guards, did not formulate a complete and unified combat plan when he received the emergency airborne battle in Baku. He simply convened the generals to hold a meeting, stipulating that he had to arrive in Baku before dawn and carry out airborne, and then let go and prepare.

It makes sense to rush to Baku before dawn and carry out airborne, because once dawn comes, the German BF and FW fighters would be like entering an unmanned land to massacre Soviet transport aircraft... As mentioned earlier, Soviet fighters lag behind Germans in the Caucasus region, and they could only deal with German fighters with the complex terrain of the Caucasus. If they wanted to cover up Soviet transport aircraft, they would be watching from the side and staring at the protection object being massacred.

On the other hand, it is the problem of transport aircraft.

At this time, the Soviet army used the Li2 transport aircraft. (Note: This transport aircraft was exported to China in 1949, which is the transport aircraft pattern on the two cents RMB)

This transport aircraft is actually not a military transport aircraft. Its production and positioning are both civil transport aircraft (imitation of DC3 transport aircraft imported from the United States).

However, because the Soviet Union did not have suitable transport aircraft in the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, the Soviet Union urgently requisitioned a large number of such civilian transport aircraft for transportation and parachute aircraft.

In this regard, the Soviet Union did not deserve it.

Because the Soviet Union was the first country in the world to have paratroopers and parachute tactics...

In 1933, the Soviet Union held an air performance in Moscow. 10,000 spectators silently watched 46 paratroopers jumped out of two large bombers - a world record at the time. The Soviets also used a large parachute to hit a small combat tank. Although the tank could not be started after landing and had to be dragged out of the exercise field, it left a deep impression on the foreign observers who watched the scene. Inspired by this, European and American countries established their own airborne troops.

However, now, the Soviet airborne troops are far behind other countries, and even parachute transport aircraft use civilian transport aircraft.

The biggest disadvantage of the Li2 transport aircraft is that it is slow speed... the cruise speed is only 240 kilometers per hour.

Stalin's plan was feasible.

The 4th Army Airborne Guards had three brigades with a total of 10,000 people. Stalin planned to gather 250 2 transport aircraft... Each 2 transport aircraft could carry 20 paratroopers, so that 250 transport aircraft could deliver all of these 10,000 people to Baku in two times.

Then the airborne troops and the Transcaucasian Front cooperated with each other, and recapturing Baku was not a big problem.

But war never depends on imagination.

The reality is that Stalin did not consider the problem of the speed of Li2 being only 240 kilometers, and the required Li2 is not all in Stalingrad... Stalingrad has only 50 aircraft, and the other 250 aircraft need to be transferred from other airports.

Then, once the calculation was made, there were only 30 aircraft that could arrive in Stalingrad within the specified time.
Chapter completed!