Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

If you want to change the name of Stalingrad, you have to wait until it is completely occupied.

However, Yannick couldn't help feeling frightened when he thought about the bloody Battle of Stalingrad, which was famous for its brutality.

How tragic was the Battle of Stalingrad?

The entire battle lasted 199 days. Due to the large scale of the battle, the number of casualties could never be accurately counted. Western scholars estimate that the Axis forces suffered a total of 850,000 casualties in this battle (another estimate is that the 6th Army suffered 270,000 casualties during the Battle of Stalingrad), of which 750,000 were killed or wounded, and 10,000 were captured. The Soviet estimate was to eliminate 1.5 million Axis troops. No matter which estimate is used, most people agree that the German army lost a quarter of its southern flank of the Eastern Front in the Battle of Stalingrad. At the same time, the Soviet Union also paid a heavy price. The specific number of Soviet casualties was: 474,871 people died, 650,878 people were injured or captured, and the total casualties were 1,129,619 people.

The street fighting in Stalingrad entered the climax. During the day, the Soviet troops defended house after house, while the German troops fought for each other. At night, the Soviet troops organized death squads to counterattack. The two sides turned around, with the German troops holding on and the Soviet troops attacking fiercely. This is the fighting situation in an ordinary building in Stalingrad, and it is also the fighting situation taking place in all buildings in Stalingrad.

A saying circulated by the Soviet troops guarding Stalingrad at that time: We occupied the kitchen, but the living room is still in the hands of the enemy!

Workers in all the factories are manufacturing weapons with guns on their backs, and the factory garrison is exchanging fire with the enemy more than ten meters away; workers at the tractor farm first install tank guns and then assemble the vehicle body when assembling tanks, because it is convenient to use tank guns when assembling the vehicle body. fight back.

There is no front line, no rear, as long as you are alive, you have to fight with a gun. If you were a Soviet soldier, you would be a squad leader for one day, a platoon leader for two days, and so on, because all your comrades and officers are dead, and you are surrounded by new recruits; but you will not become a regiment leader, because no one can You can survive here for five days.

At first, the German army did not intend to occupy Stalingrad. The initial "Barbarossa" plan did not explicitly propose the occupation of Stalingrad as one of the main strategic goals of the German summer offensive in 1942. It only mentioned that the two German armies The large armored group armies will join forces in the "Stalingrad area" to complete the encirclement of the Soviet field group in the Daya Bay area of ​​the Don River.

Regarding the city of Stalingrad, it is only proposed to "make every effort to reach the city of Stalingrad itself, or at least bring it into the effective range of our army's heavy weapons so that it can no longer function as a military production center or transportation hub."

In the view of the German frontline commanders, it would be best if Stalingrad could be captured in a quick surprise attack at a low cost. If not, then block it on the periphery. As long as the channel of the Volga River and Stalingrad could be blocked, The strategic purpose is completely achieved by destroying the ground communication lines and using heavy artillery to destroy its arsenal, and any costly siege operations are unnecessary.

In other words, in the original German offensive plan, it was not clearly stated that Stalingrad must be occupied and used as the eastern end support point of the German defensive position. These orders were issued only later.

The strategic situation at that time was that the German army had begun to launch a major assault in the direction of the Caucasus. It was originally thought that the Soviet resistance in the direction of Stalingrad had been destroyed and the march to Stalingrad would be relatively easy. For this reason, only the first troops were deployed. The 6th Army advanced towards Stalingrad. Soon the 6th Army encountered strong resistance from the Soviet army and was unable to continue advancing. In view of the fact that the Soviet army assembled a large number of troops in front of the 6th Army and posed a serious threat to the Russian flanks deep in the Caucasus. The German Army Headquarters was determined to shift its strategic focus back to the direction of Stalingrad and annihilate the Soviet forces facing them.

For this reason, the 6th Army received a large number of reinforcements and supplies, and the 4th Armored Army was also transferred back from the Caucasus to join the assault on Stalingrad. From this moment on, Stalingrad became the most important strategic target of the German army. In addition, the German offensive in the Caucasus has temporarily stalled due to lack of troops. If we want to resume the offensive there and eventually capture Baku, we can only transfer troops from the direction of Stalingrad (the German army no longer has any strategic reserves in the rear), and The Soviet army's defense of Stalingrad and its continuous counterattacks near the periphery pinned down the main force of the German Army Group B. The German army could only occupy Stalingrad, thus greatly shortening the frontal defense line and advancing to favorable terrain more suitable for defense ( along the Volga River), freeing up necessary troops and materials to reinforce the Caucasus direction.

For the top leaders of the Soviet Union, Stalingrad was too important. First, once Stalingrad is lost, other Soviet territories in Europe will be undefendable and are likely to quickly fall into the hands of the German army. Secondly, Stalingrad was the transportation hub for the Soviet Union to its Caucasus region, which was an important source of energy and food resources for the Soviet Union. If Stalingrad is lost, the German army will take the initiative on the battlefield. If it goes north, it can capture the isolated city of Moscow, which has lost the resources of the Caucasus. If it goes south, it can obtain the resources of the Caucasus region. After the German army obtains these resources, it will not be a problem to join forces with the Japanese army in India.

Therefore, both the Soviet Union and Germany attached great importance to the control of Stalingrad. As a result, both the Soviet Union and Germany desperately invested a large number of troops in the fight for Stalingrad. In this way, Stalingrad became the most decisive battlefield on the Eastern Front in 1942, and tragic street fighting broke out.

As for the reasons for the failure of the German army in the Battle of Stalingrad, in a simple summary, it is roughly the micro-management of Mustache - insufficient resources - failed to encircle the Soviet army - unable to capture the flank bridgehead on the Don River - splitting troops towards the Caucasus - single-arrow siege - German attack Insufficient firepower (in descending order of importance).

This time, the German army did not have to worry about resources, so there was no need to divide its forces; as for encirclement, the terrain of Stalingrad along the Volga River determined that the city could not be trapped in the traditional two-wing encirclement method. However, the German Army Aviation at this time had several times more air power than the original time and space. Yannick believed that even if it could not completely cut off the Volga River transportation line, it would not be able to play a big role.

The most important issue was the German firepower problem. At that time, the only mobile support firepower equipped by the Germans in street fighting was probably dozens of Type 33 150mm assault infantry guns. As a result, most of them were lost in this battle. After the war, the Germans learned from the pain and developed a series of self-propelled artillery. Among them, the one that best reflects Mustache's paranoia about weapons is undoubtedly the "Assault Tiger" developed from the Tiger tank chassis. However, most individual German soldiers are equipped with K98 rifles, which do not have antifreeze oil in winter and are prone to jamming; MP40 submachine guns often encounter various problems due to the cold.

Today, most individual German soldiers are equipped with semi-automatic and automatic firepower; grenade launchers and Panzerfaust rockets are even equipped to squads; self-propelled assault guns, anti-aircraft guns, and mortars of various calibers are also available; plus attack aircraft and helicopters in the sky , it can be said that it has a considerable advantage in street fighting.

This was also the reason for Yannik's decision to attack Stalingrad.