The decisive battle against the Third Reich

"Dora" is just one of the cannons. In addition, there are three "Karls" and six "Gammas"...these cannons that were originally used to attack the Sevastopol Fortress were not used there. But it showed its power in Stalingrad.

Shells hit Mamayev Hill hard one after another, and each impact caused a shaking like an earthquake.

Although ground-penetrating bombs like "Lechlin" are mainly used to deal with underground fortifications, while the Soviet fortifications on Mamayev Hill are above-ground fortifications, this does not prevent the artillery shells from damaging the Soviet army.

The reason is that although these earth-penetrating bombs penetrated into the ground and exploded, they could not produce a large amount of shrapnel to kill people on the surface, but almost all of their energy was absorbed by the ground, and the vibrations they produced were enough to kill the surrounding Soviet troops.

Therefore, when the German army occupied Mamayev Heights again, most of the Soviet corpses they saw had no external injuries, but died of bleeding from the orifices.

Of course, the German army sent not many troops to occupy Mamayev Heights, only two platoons... In fact, the German army was still hesitant at first. They did not know how many people in the Soviet garrison survived, and they were worried about the two platoons. The platoon was not strong enough to occupy the hill, but it soon became clear that this worry was unnecessary. The Soviet troops stationed on it were stunned, even if they were not killed by the shock, and were unable to resist.

In this way, control of the Mamayev Hills returned to the Germans again.

This was by no means good news for the Soviet army, because twenty minutes later the German cannons roared again, and several huge shells exploded at the central ferry... This time, these cannons used grenades, and their explosive Even Khrushchev, who was commanding the Southeast Front on the east bank of the Volga River, was shocked by the way it opened.

From this aspect, these giant cannons still play a certain role, such as in damaging the morale of the Soviet army... The Soviet soldiers can't help but think, if such giant cannons are fired at Stalin one after another Grad was bombarded, but what would happen to Stalingrad? Can you hold it?

After the Soviet army's belief in victory and determination to persevere were shaken, the next battle became easier.

But in fact, Soviet soldiers had no need to think this way.

The reason is that these giant guns don't have many shells... "Dora" has 35 shells, "Karl" has 75 shells, and "Gamma" has 102 shells.

This was determined by the difficulty in transporting the cannon shells and the logistical difficulties from Berlin to Stalingrad.

Among them, the life of the barrel of the "Dora" giant cannon can only barely reach 150 rounds... In fact, there is a danger of exploding the barrel after 100 rounds. However, because the "Dora" is very expensive and it is basically difficult to replace the barrel on the front line. Possibly, so using maintenance means and risking another 50 shells is considered worthwhile and should be done.

But the Soviets didn't know this, so it was inevitable that they would panic.

Rodimtsev is one of them.

He later organized a "punishment battalion" and launched two attacks on Mamayev Heights.

Similar to before, it was not difficult to capture Mamayev Hill. It can even be said that the German army took the initiative to give up its position.

However, it was impossible to garrison Mamayev Hill because the German army could use huge artillery to "empty" Mamayev Hill at any time.

Among them, Rodimtsev also thought of various tactics in the hope of avoiding the threat of German artillery.

For example, only a small number of troops were sent to attack Mamayev Heights.

This tactic seemed to be correct, because if the Germans used heavy artillery bombardment, they would waste ammunition for the small number of Soviet troops.

But Rodimtsev was completely wrong in this regard... You must know that the German troops guarding Mamayev Hill are soldiers of the 1st Infantry Regiment. They are equipped with MP43, even if there is only one squad and two squad, but their firepower is much stronger than that of a Soviet company.

Therefore, the small force sent by Rodimtsev posed no threat to the German army at all, and the German army easily beat it back in three or two blows.

For another example, Rodimtsev hoped to use artillery to drive the Germans away from Mamayev...

The idea itself is correct. The Germans can control Mamayev Heights with artillery and a small amount of infantry garrison, and so can the Soviets.

The problem is that the power of German artillery bursting out at a certain moment is far from comparable to that of Soviet field artillery. At the same time, the quality of Soviet soldiers and individual equipment were far inferior to those of the German army, so they tried again and again and failed again and again.

In desperation, Rodimtsev could only report the situation to Chuikov.

"I think the plan to directly occupy Mamayev Hill is not feasible, Comrade Chuikov!" Rodimtsev said: "The main reason is that Mamayev Hill has been locked by German artillery fire. Any occupation of Mamayev Hill will Gang’s actions are meaningless!”

Chuikov has been paying attention to the fighting at Mamayev Heights, so he knows very well that Rodimtsev is telling the truth... Rodimtsev is certainly not a coward, but this does not mean that he can be allowed to lead his troops Make unnecessary sacrifices.

However, understanding is one thing, being able to give up is another.

"Comrade Rodimtsev!" After thinking for a while, Chuikov replied: "I don't think I need to tell you the importance of Mamayev Heights. We have no other choice and must regain control of it at all costs." In our hands! Do you understand?”

"Yes, Comrade Chuikov!" Rodimtsev put down the phone helplessly.

In fact, he knew this result, because it was related to the supply problem of Stalingrad. If the battle of Mamayev Ridge was lost, it would be almost unnecessary to fight.

Thinking of this, Rodimtsev could only grit his teeth and said, "Then there is only one way!"

Rodimtsev's method is also a stupid method, but stupid methods are often useful on the battlefield. This method is to fight the Germans in a real way and fight a positional war.

In this case, to fight a positional war, the first thing to be ruled out is that the "punishment battalion" can no longer be sent up. If the "punishment battalion" is continued to be sent up, it will fall into the previous pit, either being repelled by a small number of German troops or being killed in batches... In fact, after several charges, the "punishment battalion" of 1,000 people is already very few, and it is impossible to use the "punishment battalion" to fight.

Rodimtsev's idea is... Let the 13th Guards Infantry Division fight the Germans head-on, that is, gun to gun, bayonet to bayonet.

Rodimtsev believes that the 13th Guards Infantry Division is also elite, and it is not completely without a chance against the Germans.

Of course, in order to avoid too many troops at once and being bombed by the Germans, Rodimtsev decided to adopt the "refueling tactics" in Mamayev Kurgan.