The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Thus, the Battle of Stalingrad ended with bursts of cheers from German soldiers.

The Soviet army took the initiative to withdraw from Stalingrad. Everyone, including Chuikov's headquarters, arrived at the east coast on armored boats that night under Stalin's order.

This battle lasted for more than three months, which was shorter than the historical Battle of Stalingrad and of course the casualties were much smaller, including the battle in the direction of the Don River, that is, the casualties on the northern defense line. The German casualties were about 200,000, and the Soviet Union suffered about 200,000 casualties. The casualties of the army were much higher, roughly estimated at half a million people. On the one hand, the casualties were caused by the suicidal charge launched on the northern defense line to buy time for Stalingrad, and on the other hand, they were in the early defense of Stalingrad. The result was the failure to use correct tactics during the Battle of Grad.

The Soviet army entered the retreat process that night, including the Soviet 64th Army, which was confronting the German 4th Armored Army downstream.

Fishing boats crossed the Volga River one after another, going back and forth to take Soviet soldiers across the river, or give them a life jacket and let them swim across the river on their own.

The German army seemed to be exhausted. They knew that the Soviet army was retreating but did not pursue it. Or it could be said that they were afraid that preventing them from crossing the river would cause these soldiers to fight to defend Stalingrad again... They would rather the battlefield be elsewhere. Places like Stalingrad engaged in urban guerrilla warfare to which they were not adapted.

Of course, the central ferry is still blocked by German artillery fire.

But this actually doesn't make much sense... The Central Ferry was a dock used by the Soviet army to load and unload large quantities of military supplies. Blocking it prevented Stalin from quickly obtaining large quantities of supplies. If the Soviet soldiers wanted to evacuate from Stalingrad, they actually did not need a ferry at all. Any temporary ferry could easily do so.

At three o'clock in the morning, Alexander called Qinchuan excitedly: "We did it, we captured the Central Ferry, we won!"

Cheers suddenly broke out around Qinchuan, and the cheers quickly spread throughout the sandbank.

After the German army occupied the central ferry, they immediately sent a team to Shazhou to change defenses with Qinchuan and others, so the commando team returned to Stalingrad an hour later.

What awaited Qin Chuan and others there was a pair of tired but admiring and grateful eyes... Under the propaganda of Paulus and Alexander, all German troops knew that the commandos' occupation of the sandbank was the key to this victory.

So along the way, German soldiers shook hands and hugged the commandos, and at the same time kept saying:

"Thank you! We couldn't have won without you!"

"You saved our lives!"

"Yes, I always thought this battle would go on like this until we all die here. You have saved us from death!"

…

Then the German army gave the commandos the highest treatment. They put the commandos in cars and ordered them to clear a road and ensure their safety. They even sent a company to follow the convoy to escort them until the commandos were sent out of Stalinger. Le entered the base of the 21st Army.

General Strike and Colonel Slaine personally welcomed Qin Chuan and others at the entrance of the base.

Colonel Slaine shook hands with Qin Chuan and laughed: "Major, you don't know how many times I have protested to them. The First Infantry Regiment cannot live without you, but they always rejected my rebuke on the grounds of secret missions. , at one point I even wondered if they had kidnapped you!”

General Strike also nodded and said: "Obviously General Rommel knew about it, because he once told me that this was a military secret... General Rommel also said, 'God, the 21st Armored Division will not fight without the legendary sergeant.' , I have to admit that this is indeed the case. The morale of you seemed to have been greatly affected in the past few months, until I heard that you suddenly descended from the sky and occupied the sandbank and turned the entire war situation around! "

"So, is that thing called a helicopter?" Colonel Slaine asked with interest.

"Yes, Colonel!"

"If possible, we will talk about this helicopter in detail another day!" Colonel Slain said, "Now, I think you need to rest!"

Qin Chuan and others really need to rest. Days and nights of continuous high-intensity fighting will wear people down. Even elite soldiers like Qin Chuan are no exception. They can survive only because of one thing... they want to live.

In fact, it's okay on the battlefield. My nerves are so tight that my focus is entirely on finding the enemy and saving myself, and sometimes I don't even feel tired. But now that I relax, I feel like I have no strength left in my body and I can't even lift the gun.

Colonel Slaine has prepared clean quilts and beds for Qin Chuan and others, as well as some food. Although the food for these people is only canned food and black bread, everyone knows that these are very rare on the battlefield. , especially Stalingrad.

This is what the winner deserves. If you want to gain respect from others, there is only one way: defeat the enemy.

Qinchuan did not touch the food, because they actually did not lack food on the sandbank. The Soviets stored a lot of black bread in the warehouse... As mentioned before, these black bread were added with fine mineral powder. It makes people less hungry and may even cause constipation, so that now they have no appetite for food.

So he put the rifle aside, took off his helmet, fell on the bed and relaxed, feeling the long-lost feeling of being able to rest assured, even though there would be bursts of gunfire in the distance from time to time.

If the Battle of Stalingrad is won, what impact will it have on the Eastern Front battlefield?

Qin Chuan doesn't know.

For the German army, capturing Stalingrad did not actually mean blocking its main transportation routes, because the Soviet Union's Baku oil fields had been captured before. If there is any significance, it is the completion of the two lines of defense of the German Southern Front facing the Soviet Union, namely the Don River defense line and the Volga River defense line... Stalingrad is the intersection of these two lines of defense, and it is also in the gap. important cities.

From this perspective, the occupation of Stalingrad still makes sense.

But similarly, the Soviets also completed their defense lines against the Germans on the Don and Volga rivers.

Going forward, how should the German army attack?

From Kotluban to this gap more than a hundred kilometers wide? Or fight across the Don and Volga rivers?

Obviously neither is suitable.

Because Qinchuan knew that the Soviet army would focus on defending the Kotluban gap. At the same time, crossing the river was a difficult problem. What's more... Qinchuan believed that the Soviet army was still planning a counterattack because the German army had too many places where it was blocked by The vassal army defended.

Not long after, Qin Chuan fell into sleep.