The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The Soviet army then launched two more attacks, but both ended in failure.

By the evening, the sandbank was even filled with debris from wooden boats and corpses of Soviet soldiers who had been soaked in the river and were white and swollen. The entire sandbank seemed to be surrounded by a pile of garbage.

Qin Chuan couldn't help but sigh: "If I had known that I would face this, I might not have chosen to attack the sandbank!"

Eberhard couldn't help laughing when he heard this: "Our legendary sergeant was not defeated by the enemy, but was defeated by these garbage!"

Compared with the German victory, the Soviet command headquarters was shrouded in a dark cloud.

Yeremenko looked at the map blankly. He really didn't expect that a small sandbank would bring them such big trouble. What made him even more unimaginable was that... only two hundred German troops occupied the sandbank.

Two hundred people, if placed in the Soviet army, would be a drop in the ocean, but in the German army, just two hundred people can play such a big role.

However, what Yeremenko thought about was not objective, because these two hundred people were not just two hundred people, but elites selected from the elite First Infantry Regiment. They had various combat skills and equipment. Modern equipment... In fact, it is the Soviets' own anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns that play a more important role.

Khrushchev also noticed this.

"Comrade Yeremenko!" Khrushchev said: "I have investigated and found that the ammunition on the sandbar is at least 300,000 rounds of anti-aircraft machine gun bullets and 50,000 rounds of anti-aircraft artillery shells!"

Yeremenko calculated and frowned: "In other words, if they continue to fight at the same intensity as today, they can last at least seven days!"

"Yes!" Khrushchev replied: "Maybe it will be longer, because they can suppress us with artillery fire and aircraft!"

Yeremenko shook his head. Even seven days was enough for them. At this time, Stalingrad could not survive seven days with basically no supplies.

Therefore, one thing that is certain is that if the sandbank's ammunition is to be consumed, Stalingrad will definitely fall first.

But what can be done?

Yeremenko tried all available tactics. He even divided the offensive force into several parts, that is, he launched an attack on the sandbar from four directions at the same time.

This offensive tactic should be said to be very smart, because Yeremenko knew that the biggest weakness of the Germans was the lack of troops. The two hundred people were divided into several directions, and there were only fifty people in each direction. If the number of casualties was deducted, it would be even worse. There were less than fifty people.

The problem is that amphibious landing operations are too difficult.

Of course, this statement should specifically refer to the "Soviet Army".

Because if it is the British and American troops, they already have dedicated landing ships and even tank landing ships at this time, and then there are a large number of warships and fighter planes to cooperate. That is, landing with full control of the air and sea is difficult. It will decrease in a series.

But the Soviet army, without air or sea control, relied on wooden ships to conduct amphibious landing operations... There was basically only one result, which was that they unfortunately became perfect targets for the enemy's firepower on the open river.

Therefore, even if the German army is seriously short of troops, it can always defeat the Soviet charge with artillery fire and fighter planes.

At the end of the day, the Soviet army had lost more than 2,000 men in the attack.

"We may attack at night!" Khrushchev said, "I mean armed crossing and launching a sneak attack!"

Yeremenko shook his head and said: "The only weapons that can be brought over by armed swimming are light weapons. How can they break through the enemy's bunker fortifications? Moreover, these Germans on the sandbank are well-trained, and it will be difficult for us not to be discovered by them... Once If it is exposed, you will suffer another heavy loss!”

"It's all worth it, isn't it?" Khrushchev replied: "For Stalingrad, take risks, even at the cost of your life!"

Yeremenko thought for a while, nodded heavily and agreed to the plan.

So a night attack was launched under the command of Khrushchev.

It should be said that Khrushchev's suggestion still makes some sense. This is actually taking advantage of the lack of German troops... The lack of troops is not a big problem during the day, because they hiding in the bunker can clearly see the Soviet troops on the river. From which direction to attack and the reasonable deployment of troops.

But in the dark night, and the Soviet army was still swimming across the river armed, it would be difficult for the German army to cover everything unless everyone stared at the river with their eyes wide open.

In fact, it was difficult for German soldiers to do this, because they fought all day during the day and needed to rest at night, otherwise they would be exhausted in a few days.

But luckily, Yereomenko guessed correctly this time... The well-trained elites of the First Infantry Regiment, of course, the defense line they set up would not be so easily penetrated by a sneak attack.

Methods are mines.

The way to prevent enemy sneak attacks has always been to use landmines. This is one of the reasons why troops always lay mines around them at night to block the position after setting up camp, because the loud explosion of mines tells the defenders which direction the enemy is attacking from.

This time was no exception. The First Infantry Regiment's method of preventing Soviet sneak attacks on the sandbar at night was to mine mines.

The problem is...there are wet areas of half water and half sand everywhere around the sandbar. Whether wooden shell mines or ordinary mines are deployed in them, they are likely to lose their effectiveness due to moisture.

On the other hand, laying mines using ordinary methods may not be effective. The enemy only needs to send a few experienced engineers ahead and test them with bayonets while moving forward. It is still possible to penetrate the minefield and penetrate the defense line.

The minelaying method used by German soldiers was certainly not this "ordinary method."

In fact, the mines they laid were not buried in the beach but "buried" in the water. The German soldiers called them "water mines."

The method is very simple, just use a waterproof bag to put the wooden shell mine together with some stones, tie the mouth of the bag tightly, and then sink it into the surrounding waters... There are many waterproof bags in the Soviet army's warehouses. Used to ensure that ammunition stored in underground warehouses does not get wet.

As for putting some stones inside, that is to make it sink to the bottom of the river.

Of course, you must be careful when doing this, because the mines are already activated when you put them into the waterproof bag, and the workmanship of the Soviet wooden shell mines is still very rough. Some of them are too sensitive and will explode in your hands if you are not careful.

Therefore, at this time, soldiers actually prefer iron-shell mines, because they can even save the step of adding stones. If they are directly put in a bag, they will sink. All you have to do is to drain as much of the air wrapped in the bag as possible.