USSR 1941

Major General Fadeyevich reported the situation to Golikov truthfully.

After hearing this, Golikov couldn't help laughing, and said to Krylov: "Just now we were worried about what would happen to Shulka on the front line because of the issue of command authority. You should be worried!"

Krylov nodded and said: "We really don't need to worry too much, because it is very realistic, if the consequences of not handing over the command to Shulka, it is very likely that no one will survive!"

Krylov is right.

Therefore, rather than saying that Pavelkov took the initiative to delegate the command, or that the command was won by Shulka, it is better to say that all of these were forced out by the battlefield.

Failure to heed Shulka's advice means death and failure.

Listening to Shulka's advice often means staying alive to win.

Then, even a fool would know how to choose.

At this time, Shulka was commanding the 82nd regiment lurking on the two wings of Mamayev Gang.

To be precise, the right wing is the first battalion and the second battalion: the first battalion is the main attack, and the second battalion is the reserve team.

There were only three battalions on the left.

Therefore, the left wing is also a feint attack, and the real main attack direction is the right wing.

The reason for this arrangement is to take into account several factors.

First of all, the right wing of Mamayev Gang faced the "Red October" metallurgical plant, and even the "Red October" new village opposite it was still behind the front slope of the German army. (Note: The "Red October" new village is the residence of workers in the metallurgical plant. The Soviet Union was a planned economy, and the urban planning was relatively regular and tidy.)

This brought great convenience to the 82nd Infantry Regiment.

For example, Shulka can arrange a part of the artillery to be at the "Red October" metallurgical plant. As long as the artillery has calculated the distance and height, they can shoot the shells to the flanks of Mamayev Hill to provide fire cover for the attacking troops.

The artillery of the "Red October" Xincun could even hit the front slope where the German troops were stationed.

But of course, these were not arranged by Shulka... The 82nd Infantry Regiment did not have that many artillery, and the mortars in their hands were even small-caliber.

Those artillerymen were arranged by Pavelkov,

He transferred a mortar battalion directly from the rear, and then deployed them to the metallurgical plant and Xincun, and established an artillery headquarters in the metallurgical plant.

It is necessary to establish an artillery command, which is to unify the command of these artillery and coordinate with the 82nd Infantry Regiment, otherwise these shells are likely to hit the 82nd Infantry Regiment.

The minutes passed, and Shulka felt that the time was about right, as Major Mikhailvich nodded.

Major Mikhailevich shouted into the microphone: "Fire!"

As soon as the words fell, the shells roared from the air, and then precisely hit the minefields and roadblocks laid by the German army.

This is of course not luck, but the artillery observers are ready during the day, and the artillery at this time only needs to adjust the elements according to the calculated data and then shoot out the shells.

Dense shells exploded on Mamayev Hill, one row after another, going back and forth like a comb to the German positions. After a while, all the mines and barbed wire were blown up into the sky.

If there is anything left, it is the bomb craters that have been covered one by one on the ground.

The bombing lasted for 20 minutes... The Soviet artillery seemed to be letting out a sigh of relief. During the day, they were suppressed by the enemy's air force and dared not breathe out. At night, it was time for them to feel proud.

But of course, the German artillery also began to suppress the Soviet army.

The battle between the enemy and our artillery is not at all easier than the battle between the infantry. The infantry fights face to face, while the artillery usually does not see people. They use calculations, speed, and artillery. In short, they shoot out the shells in the shortest time. , but also to be able to hit the target, sometimes they don't even know if they hit the target.

Especially at night, artillery observers see the flames of enemy artillery fire, calculate the position and then guide the artillery to suppress it. Whether the hit can only be based on feeling, or can be guessed from whether the enemy artillery stops firing.

However, this time the German artillery was in a state of confusion.

Because they can see the flames and smoke from the enemy artillery... these are so obvious in the night that they can't hide it.

The German artillery observers immediately calculated the position of the target and directed the artillery fire into the target area accurately.

However, no matter how the German artillery bombarded the area, the Soviet artillery fire seemed to be completely unaffected, and they continued to bombard Mamayev Post row after row.

Among them, Shulka actually played a trick.

"The goal of our artillery is Mamayev Gang!" Shulka pointed to the map and said, "If we deploy artillery at the metallurgical plant to bomb Mamayev Gang..."

Saying that, Shulka drew a line between the two points to represent the trajectory.

"This way we have an advantage!" Shulka said. "We can hide the artillery on the east side of the building, while most of the enemy artillery is deployed on the west side. That is to say..."

"That is to say, our artillery is in the blind spot of the enemy's artillery?" Pavelkov cast a shocked look at Shulka. He couldn't believe that Shulka still had research on artillery warfare.

"Yes!" Shulka replied: "But this does not prevent us from bombing Mamayev Kurgan!"

Colonel Pavelkov turned his attention to Captain Kovalenko, commander of the artillery battalion, who had just been reinforced to Stalingrad from the east bank of the Volga.

"What Comrade Captain said makes sense!" Captain Kovalenko nodded and said, "Moreover, there are a large number of buildings that can be used in the metallurgical plant and the new village of 'Red October', that is, the shells fired by the enemy will be blocked by the buildings. Unless the shell penetrates the building, it will not pose a threat to our artillery. But we can shoot the shell to Mamayev Post without hindrance!"

"Then what are you waiting for?" Colonel Pavelkov ordered: "Get ready now!"

"Yes, Comrade Colonel!"

Then Colonel Pavelkov breathed a sigh of relief.

As the head of the Guards Infantry Regiment, he certainly has some combat experience, and he knows that the smooth progress of battles, especially night battles, largely depends on artillery.

The reason is that the attacking force has to blow through minefields and barbed wire...these are a big obstacle for infantry to charge quickly and engage the enemy in close quarters.

However, Stalingrad was blocked by the German army because of the supply, and the artillery positions were often bombed by the enemy's air power, so the artillery was often at a disadvantage even at night.

Now, Shulka's proposal was actually to make the Soviet artillery invincible.

Then, this plan to counterattack Mamayev Gang can be said to be half successful.