The decisive battle against the Third Reich

However, Yeremenko's other two methods are not so useful, or it can be said that the next battle will not be as easy as they imagined.

One is to use artillery regiments to bomb the sandbar.

The bombing itself is not a problem. The sandbar is very close to the Volga River, only more than 300 meters away. It can be said that the sandbar can be hit with mortars on the east coast, let alone howitzers with a range of several kilometers. (Note: The Soviet army equipped a large number of M1910 howitzers with a range of 7.7 kilometers)

But the problem is that the overall shape of the sandbar is elongated, like a willow leaf.

A sandbar of this shape is naturally designed to dodge artillery shells, because the shells will fall into the river regardless of whether they are fired far or near. Only a small number of cannonballs will fall on the sandbar, and even worse, these will fall on the sandbar. The shells on the sandbar may not explode normally. There are many reefs on the sandbar... This is one of the reasons why the sandbar can be formed in a large area. Because the reefs block the flow of water, the sand in the river slowly deposits in this area. Over time, it becomes A large sandbank.

Because these reefs have been washed by river water and rain for a long time, the surface is very smooth. Artillery shells fired from the direction of the Soviet army will ricochet, that is, they will jump and fall into the river water on the other side and explode.

Therefore, the Soviet artillery seemed to be firing very powerfully. Pieces of artillery shells exploded near the sandbar and stirred up streams of water mist. However, in fact, there were not many artillery shells that could actually hit the sandbar, especially when the German troops were already hiding behind the steel bars. In the cement fortification, we just watched the violent storm outside as amusement.

The other is the assembly of Soviet troops attacking the sandbank.

The Southeastern Front Army in Yeremenko's hands does not lack soldiers or equipment, but it just lacks ships...

At this time, the Battle of Stalingrad had been going on for more than two months. During this period, the Southeastern Front Army had never interrupted its reinforcements to Stalingrad. There was a Volga River between the Southeastern Front Army and Stalingrad, so regardless of the strength of the troops All reinforcements or supplies require ships.

This can actually be said to be a weakness of the Soviet defense.

As mentioned before, the Caspian Sea is an inland sea that is not connected to the outside world. The Soviet Caspian Sea Fleet is called a "fleet in a fish tank" because it has no strategic needs. The Volga River leads to the Caspian Sea and is connected to the Caspian Sea. This makes the Soviet Union The armies in other directions, such as the Black Sea Fleet, Northern Fleet, Baltic Fleet, etc., have armed and armored ships but cannot reinforce the Volga River.

During this period, the Southeastern Front could only collect fishing boats along the Volga River for transportation of reinforcements to Stalingrad. Even so, these fishing boats were almost destroyed and there were not many left.

It was not a problem for the Soviet army to gather troops. Two Guards infantry regiments were assembled in less than half an hour, but it was not possible to gather ships that could transport the troops to the sandbank in a short time.

In desperation, Yeremenko ordered the Soviet soldiers to build logging on their own, and at the same time mobilized Soviet soldiers who could swim to form a commando team for armed swimming... Later, it was discovered that the effect of armed swimming was actually better than using logging to attack. , because at least the target won't be that big.

But even so, the first attack organized by the Soviet army was only two hours later.

At this time, Qin Chuan and others had made a series of preparations on the sandbank.

The M1910 howitzer is of little value to the commando team... This is not only because of its short range, but also because of its low accuracy. It is used to cover a large area, and the commando team only has a total of 165 people (there were casualties during the occupation operation) Thirty-five people), even if all of these people are used, they cannot form an artillery battalion.

On the other hand, the purpose that can be achieved with the M1910 howitzer can be easily achieved by the commando simply by contacting the rear. For example, the Le. FH 18 105MM caliber howitzer commonly used by the German army has a range of 10 kilometers. As long as it approaches Stalin The outskirts of Grad can reach the east bank of the Volga River to provide cover for the commandos. For example, the commandos can also contact fighter jets and bombers.

Therefore there is absolutely no need for the commandos to use these artillery pieces.

So following Qin Chuan's order, all these howitzers were dragged into a crater and piled up so as not to get in the way. Not to mention the howitzers in the bunker fortifications, they were all dragged out to make room.

What they replaced were anti-aircraft machine guns and small-caliber anti-aircraft guns captured by the German army from the Soviet anti-aircraft artillery troops... These things may not be useful for fighting airplanes, but for fighting infantry, they are the life harvesters.

What surprised Qinchuan and others was that they found several underground warehouses under the bunker fortifications. The warehouses stored too many anti-aircraft artillery shells and anti-aircraft machine gun bullets to count.

This seems to be expected, because the Soviet position on the sandbank is mainly used for air defense, or it can be said to provide some necessary cover for ships traveling on the Volga River. To complete this task, a large amount of ammunition is required and These ammunition must also be stored properly, otherwise they will be blown up by enemy bombers in a few hits.

After getting ready, Qin Chuan and others still had some time to rest.

The baker took out the chocolate iron box hidden in the chest bag, opened it and took out the chocolate, opened the plastic seal and carefully broke off a little and put it in his mouth, then closed his eyes and slowly enjoyed it.

This is chocolate produced on the French supply front. It is produced into the size of a biscuit, with eight small pieces in a circle. It also has a special iron box for storage, so that the chocolate will not be affected by body temperature during the battle. Melted or entered sewage, etc.

Although this kind of chocolate is specially supplied to the front line, it is still rarely seen on the front line... This is mainly because there are too many soldiers on the front line. When transportation is difficult, even if the production in the rear is enough to give one piece to the soldiers in the front, the logistics department But they won't be brought up.

The reason is simple. Transporting a cart of chocolate cannot feed anyone, but transporting a cart of grain is not the same.

Therefore, the logistics troops mostly replaced them with ammunition or food, especially in the direction of Stalingrad where the war situation was tense. This once made chocolate a luxury item that only senior officers were entitled to enjoy on the front line.

But in this operation, Alexander specially gave each member of the commando a piece of chocolate.

In Alexander's words: "Gentlemen, you are likely to be without reinforcements for a considerable period of time on the sandbar. I hope it can give you a little help when you are tired!"

However……

Werner rolled his eyes and said, "God, I ate it all on the flight!"

"You should save some!" said the baker: "Now...you will regret it!"

"Why?" Werner asked: "We don't know if we will still have the chance to enjoy it!"