Chapter 78 Nicop has fallen

On Hitler's order, the Sixth Army returned to Army Group A, effective 6 February.He told Chazler the reason for this transfer, which was indeed very strange.Hitler's hope of sending two divisions of the Sixth Army to the Crimea was by then hopeless.He now explained that the reason he had placed Sixth Army in command of Army Group A was because he could not mobilize the two divisions in the hands of Army Group South. In a way, we are very happy to hand over the Sixth Army, because we have enough troubles!However, we have lost a reservoir of troops that would have been available to us had we withdrawn from the eastern Dnieper Bend and the Nikop bridgehead at the right time, which is exactly what Hitler wanted opposing.Now only the enemy can compel him to abandon these areas.

On January 31, the enemy began a new attack on the northern front of Sixth Army east of Kleiferoog and the bridgehead of Nykop.This bridgehead was immediately breached.After two days of fighting, the enemy also made a decisive breakthrough on the northern front of the army!Because the Russian army has almost a two-to-one advantage in terms of strength.Therefore, under the attack of twelve infantry divisions and two tank corps, our 30th Army suffered serious losses.Although it has six infantry divisions on the front line and two armored divisions in the rear, the former is so short of men and equipment that it is actually only equivalent to a battle regiment, while the armored division has only five usable tanks !Even with these brave troops, sooner or later they will be exhausted.

The Sixth Army is no longer under the control of the Southern Army Group, so I cannot elaborate on the details of the fighting in this area.As a matter of fact, once the enemy had broken through the northern front of Sixth Army, the two corps fighting there and the two corps in the Niekop bridgehead would be completely cut off.This development has long been predicted by our army group.By this time, even Hitler had agreed to abandon the eastern Dnieper Bend and the Nikop bridgehead.After a bitter battle, the Sixth Army finally withdrew its armies from the trap, but at the cost of a huge loss of equipment.If this area can be abandoned as soon as possible, not only can the troops be returned by the whole division, but they can also be transferred to the northern flank of the army group. However, the troops of the Sixth Army have been exhausted in the wrong direction in combat. , we also doubt whether they can still withstand the pressure of chasing soldiers in the end.