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Hello, and thank you for listening to the history of World War II podcast,

Episode 504, demanding miracles, ignoring reality.

As General Kronetsov prepared his men to be attacked again this time at Hishun, he desperately put his men along the three fingers of land, approaching the town, as he did not know which way

General Eric von Manstein and his 11th Army would come.

No problem. Axis troops would come down all three.

And it only took one to succeed, to give

Manstein what he needed, access to his chune. And once that was taken, the peninsula was open.

Not that it would be that simple, that direct. No, Manstein would put his first emphasis on the eastern

most finger, led by Major General

Ludwig Wolf's 22nd Infantry Division. These men were relatively fresh and should give a good

account of themselves. Still, Manstein didn't expect this attacking force to actually break through,

so then he would switch his emphasis

to the westernmost finger, to be conducted by General Bruno Beeler's 73rd Infantry Division.

This should instigate some confusion on the Russians part, but for added insurance in the

middle finger between the two lakes, Major General Kurt Himmer's

46th Infantry Division would surge ahead and conduct fixing attacks. The idea here was for

...