The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Intensive gunfire soon rang out, and the Soviet troops fell one by one on the way to the charge.

Urban combat will be much more difficult and complex than field combat, because there are hiding places everywhere in the city, such as a remaining brick wall, the remains of a tank, or even a pile of cement, Or bricks.

But the Germans clearly had an advantage in this regard, because they had rocket launchers... A rocket fired with a roar blew down a brick wall, burying the Soviet soldiers hiding behind it on the spot.

Another rocket fired, and the exploding steel balls made the Soviet troops hidden behind the ruins scream in agony.

However, the Soviet army continued to charge regardless of casualties. This was the characteristic of the Soviet offensive... This was not entirely because of Order 227. Another reason was that the communication equipment was backward and backward. The Chinese Volunteer Army also had this problem in the Korean battlefield. Defects: The battalion and company levels are not equipped with radio stations. During the charge, the telephone lines cannot be brought forward for a while, so they are often unable to retrieve them even if they are sent out to fight.

Some Soviet troops crossed the ruins and rushed to the German defense line, but a barbed wire fence in front of them quickly plunged them into despair... The German soldiers used a method to lay barbed wire fences, which was to lay them on the ruins. The ground was in a depression, which made it impossible for the Soviet army to detect these barbed wire fences from a distance, so they were not prepared.

Some Soviet troops did not even notice them in the dark, and were immediately pricked to pieces by the barb wire hooks and spikes.

A row of grenades were thrown over, and this part of the Soviet army was quickly eliminated. The Soviet army's charge was also beaten down, leaving only the sound of artillery and the screams of some wounded soldiers on the position.

That night, the Soviet army organized a total of five charges, but each charge was easily beaten back by the Germans. The Soviet army was unable to move forward even after paying huge casualties... To be precise, they advanced a little bit. There were several buildings occupied in the distance, but those were abandoned by the Germans on their own initiative.

Early the next morning, as soon as it became dark, the Germans launched a counterattack.

Perhaps because last night's disastrous defeat had dealt a blow to the strength and morale of the Soviet army, the German counterattack on the second day actually advanced 500 meters in depth towards the Soviet army.

This alerted Chuikov, who was commanding the second line.

"How many people did we lose yesterday?" Chuikov asked.

"More than eleven thousand people!" Krylov answered with a large number.

The reason why he couldn't be sure was because he didn't know whether there were soldiers who escaped or were hiding somewhere... Although the series of politics implemented by Chuikov had improved the morale of the Soviet army to a considerable extent, under such pressure Still unable to prevent some soldiers from deserting.

Chuikov couldn't help but fell silent.

He has organized all the forces in Stalingrad, including a militia composed of 50,000 civilians, 75,000 who have been added to the 62nd Army to fight like soldiers, and a large number of women and elderly people have been mobilized to serve as transportation, Nurses, telephone operators, radio operators, and even children between the ages of thirteen and sixteen were armed to join the combat units.

However, if there are more than 10,000 casualties every day, how many days can these people withstand it?

After thinking about it, Chuikov sent a telegram to Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, member of the Military Commission of the Southeastern Front: "Comrade Khrushchev, if this fighting continues for a few more days, my group army will be defeated." The entire army has been wiped out. Our reserves have been exhausted again. We are in urgent need of 2 to 3 new divisions!"

Khrushchev called back without thinking: "You will get the troops you want, Comrade Chuikov, all you need to consider... is how to hold the defense line!"

Khrushchev did not lie. In the next twenty days, Khrushchev organized six fully equipped new infantry divisions to cross the Volga River to reinforce Stalingrad. These troops were fully rested, including Two are Guards infantry divisions with strong combat effectiveness.

But the arrival of reinforcements did not make Chuikov feel relaxed.

On the contrary, the situation remains very serious.

Chuikov stared at a hand-drawn city plan of Stalingrad in front of him in his headquarters.

The map is ten feet high and six feet wide.

The reason why it was hand-drawn is that before this, the Soviet Union did not have a combat map with a scale of meters... No one would have thought that someone would actually hit Stalingrad, and no one would have thought that the enemy or us would attack Stalingrad. Wage a battle for a street corner, a block, or even a wall.

Therefore, it was not until the German army surrounded Stalingrad and the Soviet army was determined to defend the city that this detailed map showing every building and street in Stalingrad was urgently produced.

However, the city no longer looks like the map, because it has been plunged into a sea of ​​​​fire and is full of ruins.

"Comrade Chuikov!" Krylov served Chuikov a bowl of millet porridge.

Chuikov shook his head in distress, took the millet porridge and put it on the table next to him, saying: "The Germans have thought of a way to deal with the tunnels, Comrade Krylov!"

Krylov nodded.

That's obvious, and last night's fight showed it.

"The Germans are very smart!" Krylov replied: "They are difficult to deal with!"

"Some of them!" Chuikov corrected.

"What?"

"The First Infantry Regiment that participated in the Battle of Holm was also among the troops attacking Stalingrad!" Chuikov said: "If they can think of tunnel defense methods in Holm, of course they can think of ways to deal with the tunnels!"

Krylov couldn't help but say "Oh", he didn't expect this, and couldn't help but secretly admire Chuikov's careful thinking.

"Before this!" Chuikov said: "If the enemy lays down two hundred meters during the day, we can fight back two hundred or even three hundred meters at night. In this way, the battle will be in a stalemate, with both sides pushing and shoving among the ruins. But now …”

Chuikov pointed to the map on the wall and said: "We can't fight back at night, but the Germans can use air power to fight back five hundred meters during the day. If this continues, Stalingrad will be fully occupied by them in a few days. Or even if they don't. If it is occupied, we will also lose the space we need for defense!”

Chuikov was right. The total defense depth was only five kilometers. Even if the German army started from scratch without occupying an inch of ground, it would only take ten days to reach the Volga River at 500 meters per day.

Of course, this was not an occupation, but rather a division of Stalingrad into pieces that were inaccessible to each other.

But this is no longer very different from occupation, because there is only one dock, which means that reinforcements and supplies can only be sent to one of them.