The 21st Armored Division rested for two days on the state-owned farm.

In fact, it cannot be said to be a rest, because they want to build a line of defense here, facing Stalingrad to the south.

This is not a difficult task in state-owned farms, because the soil in this area is still very suitable for building defense lines, and it is also very suitable for armored troops to be mobile, flat and dry. Apart from a few crisscrossing ditches for irrigation, tanks can almost be allowed to travel.

Of course, because of the unwillingness to crush vegetables and wheat, the German army did not let the tank do this.

Paulus even sent an infantry regiment to a state-owned farm to harvest wheat... This is understandable. From the Germans, wheat on the front line was not just a problem with wheat. The Germans needed to transport wheat from Kharkov and even further to the front line. It would cost an average of equal weight or even more gasoline to transport a bag of wheat.

From this perspective, these wheats are wheat and gasoline, which does not count how much ammunition can be transported by the saved capacity, so the value is completely different.

Supplies and ammunition were transported from the 6th Army, and the powerful ammunition in the middle of the artillery, tanks and even the 1st Infantry Regiment were all replenished. Perhaps in one day, after the troops had some ammunition reserves, they could officially launch an attack on Stalingrad... Ammunition reserves are necessary, because once the battle starts, the ammunition loss speed will often be far beyond the replenishment speed. Therefore, in order to avoid the discontinuous attack caused by ammunition exhaustion, the enemy will have a breathing time before the attack, a base ammunition reserve is generally required.

However, what no one expected was that the Soviet army took action first before the German army.

At 5:30 in the morning that day, just as the soldiers came out of the tent and gathered in front of the ditch on the farm to wash, suddenly there were bursts of cannons roaring from afar, and dozens of Soviet-style fighter jets were hovering in the air, and dive bombing to the ground from time to time.

"Rennock direction!" said Dominic.

"Major!" Colonel Slain waved at Qin Chuan, and Qin Chuan realized that an emergency meeting was going to be held.

The meeting was held in General Strek's command. He pointed to the map and said to the officers gathered around the map: "We just got the news that the Soviet Stalingrad Front launched an attack on our defense line along the Volga River with two divisions. At the same time, the Southeast Front and the 62nd Army in Stalingrad also cooperated with them to launch an attack. The troops in the Yerzovka and Reynook areas of our army were attacked on three sides!"

This is an inevitable problem for the German troops stationed along the Volhui River. Their locations are themselves surrounded by the Soviet army on three sides... This is also one of the costs of surrounding Stalingrad.

"It's obvious!" General Strek said: "The Soviets wanted to restore contact with Stalingrad, and they even used the Air Force!"

This situation is rare, and the reason is as mentioned before, the strength of the Soviet Air Force is very different from that of the Luftwaffe.

"We should go and reinforce Reynolds!" said Colonel Albridge: "They are only a dozen kilometers away from us!"

"I think the superiors will do this too!" General Strek replied: "Because there is only one armored division nearby! But... they may send us to reinforce Yerzovka instead of Reynolds, because there are two Soviet divisions in that direction, and it is said that there are many tanks!"

So the situation was very clear. Yerzovka was the place where the 21st Armored Division really needed reinforcements, which was twenty kilometers away from the state-owned farm.

But Qin Chuan was silent. After a while, Qin Chuan said, "General, I don't think we should reinforce Yerzovka!"

"Why?" General Streck asked in confusion.

"I don't think Yerzovka is the main target of the Soviets!" Qin Chuan said: "They seem to be intentional about transferring us there!"

"You mean..."

"We have been to Yerzovka!" Qin Chuan said: "There are many canyons crisscrossing there, as well as dry riverbeds and gullies. Such terrain is not suitable for mechanized troops such as tanks. Why did the Soviets choose to break through here?"

"Maybe they are trying to launch strikes from three sides!" Colonel Slein said: "You must know that the Soviets also have gunboats and fishing boats. Once the 297th Infantry Division stationed there was annihilated, their Southeast Front could be transported from the other side of the Volga River to cooperate with the Stalingrad Front to launch a counterattack against our army. Just like our cooperation with the 6th Army!"

Colonel Slein’s words made sense, because this was the method used by the Germans when attacking the port of Karachi. The 21st armored division attacked from the shore and the 6th Army crossed from the river.

"Maybe it is!" Qin Chuan replied: "But the Soviets used planes in this direction, and there were quite a few... This seems to be telling us that this is the focus of their offensive. This may not explain anything. However, as mentioned before, the terrain in Yerzovka is complex and not suitable for mechanized troops. Did the Soviets never think that they would easily be counterattacked by our army when they landed on the shore?"

Hearing this, several officers were stunned.

Qin Chuan is right. Yerzovka's terrain is complex and difficult to maneuver, but the terrain of the Reynolds is flat, which makes the German armored unit very suitable for launching a counterattack on Reynolds from the flanks. The Soviet tanks located in Yerzovka are even unable to move forward and can only fight with scattered formations.

"Major, are you saying that the Soviets were intentionally transferring us to Yerzovka?" asked Major General Strek.

"Yes, General!" Qin Chuan replied.

"Major!" Colonel Albridge said with a smile: "You think the Soviets too smart. If they were Americans and British, then they might use such deception, but the Soviets..."

The officers also nodded in agreement. Soviet officers, let alone deceive, have always been fooled by German officers.

But... because of this, once the Soviets used some means, it was easy for the German army to be deceived.

General Strek asked again: "Major, if the Soviets' target was not Yerzovka, what would you think it would be?"
Chapter completed!