The decisive battle against the Third Reich

However, this strategy was successful at least before the Don River froze in winter, because it not only used the Don River to cover the flanks of Army Group South's offensive, but also used a large number of slave country troops to disperse the Soviet forces... The Soviet troops are here I had always thought that the German army's target would still be Moscow, so I judged that the German army would cross the Don River and head north at any time.

As a result, the main force of the Soviet Stalingrad Front was dragged along the upper reaches of the Don River, unable to move. So much so that it was difficult for Zhukov to assemble an army to rescue Stalingrad...

As soon as Zhukov arrived at Yeremenko's headquarters in Little Ivanovka, he immediately began to form a counterattack force. The name of this force was the 1st Guards Army.

This group army did not exist before. Zhukov formed it based on the 2nd Army, which was originally a reserve force, and then incorporated it into 5 Guards Infantry Divisions (37th, 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st Infantry Divisions) .

As mentioned before, the Guards Infantry Divisions are elite units of the Soviet army with strong combat effectiveness, good equipment, and even meritorious service and combat experience. From this, it can be seen that Zhukov's intention in this battle is not just to rescue Stalingrad. Simple.

This is indeed the case.

After discussing with Moskalenko, the commander of the 1st Guards Army, Zhukov set the strategic goal: "Kotluban, by capturing this place, we can surround all the German troops that broke into the area east of Kotluban. In it, you can also get in touch with Starlinger! ”

However, difficulties were encountered in actual operations... The troops of the 1st Guards Army were scattered in various places, and they needed time to assemble near the village of Sadki, 25 kilometers north of Kotluban.

This seems to be an easy thing to say, that is, sending all the troops organized into the 1st Guards Army to Sadji Village, but in reality there are many problems.

First of all, a considerable part of these divisions organized into the 1st Guards Army are located on the defense line north of the Don River. Therefore, troops must first take over their defense areas, otherwise the Don River coast will be exposed to the Germans. before.

Secondly, some Guards Infantry Divisions are far away from Sadji Village, and it is basically impossible to reach the destination within a few days with equipment, especially tank mobilization that relies heavily on roads.

At the same time, there is no need for this, because it will cause the western tanks to be transferred eastward, and the eastern tanks to be transferred westward, which is a complete waste of fuel and resources.

So Zhukov ordered the only personnel to arrive and take over each other's heavy equipment.

Therefore, the problem of how to exchange equipment will arise. What is more serious is that the army in the direction of Stalingrad has suffered serious tank losses and cannot provide so many tanks for exchange.

Artillery also had similar problems, so much so that after the 39th Guards Rifle Division arrived at Stalingrad, it could receive only 19 artillery pieces and 12 tanks. The situation in other divisions is similar.

In this case, Zhukov was unable to launch an attack. He could only wait for more equipment and supplies to be transported to the front line.

So Zhukov immediately called Stalin: "Comrade Stalin, the 1st Guards Army is being formed. We are encountering difficulties in supplying and equipping the troops. We need at least two days to prepare. We cannot attack now, otherwise the troops will suffer." A unnecessary loss!”

What Zhukov said was reasonable. Although the people arrived and were still elite, but they had no equipment or ammunition and just let them charge with a gun, it was actually not much different from the cannon fodder of the "punishment camp".

But Stalin ignored this.

"Comrade Zhukov!" Stalin said sarcastically: "Do you think the enemy will wait for you to slowly prepare before attacking Stalingrad? If you don't attack immediately, the enemy may only need a fierce attack to capture Stalingrad. !”

"Comrade Stalin!" Zhukov disagreed with this judgment: "Stalingrad is extremely critical, but it is impossible for the enemy to capture it in one or two days. I request permission to attack on the original date!"

Stalin thought for a while and replied: "Okay, attack as scheduled. At that time, you should drive the Germans to the south of Stalingrad, that is, retake Karachi Port and restore the Don River defense line near it. !”

Zhukov couldn't help but be a little stunned when he heard this. Although he had indeed assembled elite troops, his expectations of driving the powerful German army out of the passage and restoring the previous defense line were too high.

In this regard, Stalin also lacked a correct and objective judgment of the battlefield situation.

While Zhukov was making intensive preparations, the 21st Armored Division finally got a rare break.

The 21st Armored Division advanced seven kilometers south towards Stalingrad and encountered division-level resistance. The 21st Armored Division did not launch a strong attack because their mission had been changed to testing the strong defense line outside Stalingrad...weak The defense is directly pushed down with tanks, and the solid defense line is handed over to the infantry division.

Therefore, the 21st Armored Division turned around and headed to Kotluban, an important node in the middle of the defense line.

Fortunately, we passed the experimental state farm located on the outskirts of Stalingrad on the way... The Soviet Union was implementing a planned economy at this time, and its characteristic was the state farm with such large tracts of land owned by the state.

When the 21st Armored Division arrived here, what they saw was crops and vegetables as far as the eye could see. Inside, a large number of Soviet officers and soldiers were busy harvesting. They obviously knew that the Germans were coming and were harvesting. On the other side, there seemed to be still Someone is using tractors to destroy crops that are too late to be harvested to prevent them from falling into German hands...

When the German soldiers saw this scene, of course they would not let them continue. The tank gun turned towards the tractor on Colonel Slaine's order, made a slight adjustment and then blew a tractor into the sky with a "bang".

As soon as other people saw this posture, they fled the "scene" in panic, including the tractor driver, who abandoned the tractor and fled. Some Soviet soldiers fired back without knowing their own strength, but then After a burst of machine gunfire, they were knocked down to the ground row by row.

"God!" Werner jumped out of the car. After seeing what was happening in front of him, he turned back to Qin Chuan excitedly and shouted, "Major, should we improve the food?"

Qin Chuan's mouth watered when he looked at the crops and a large green vegetable field in front of him... He hadn't had a full meal, especially vegetables, for an unknown amount of time since he came to this world. He had either bread, canned food, or baked potatoes all day long. This vegetable patch was like discovering a treasure mountain to him.

Qin Chuan turned his attention to Colonel Slaine. Colonel Slaine looked at the map and nodded: "We will camp here tonight!"