USSR 1941

Paulus saw that Manstein did not agree with his plan. As a general, he certainly had no right to order Manstein, the marshal.

But Paulus didn't want to let it go.

Instead of arguing with Manstein, he immediately sent a telegram to Hitler's Wolfsburg.

"Your Excellency the Fuhrer!" Paulus said, "Maybe you already know that the Russians have issued an amnesty! This has shaken the morale of the Sixth Army. Let them surrender! Otherwise all that awaits them is death...they are brave warriors, I always believe this, as long as there is a little hope, they are willing to fight to the end for the empire. But if we are powerless to change the situation , then please allow them to live with dignity!"

These words are not so much the aspirations of the officers and soldiers of the army as Paulus himself, and even these words of Paulus are a bit coercive: If there is no hope of breaking through, we will surrender.

Whoever Hitler was, of course he could see the hidden meaning in this telegram.

Although Hitler who read this telegram was angry, he did not dare to say anything... At least so far, there are very few things that Hitler dared not say or do, but on the issue of Paulus, he could only put Swallow this breath.

The reason is very simple. Paulus's words obviously smack of surrender.

So Hitler didn't have the capital to get angry with Paulus at all. If Hitler ordered and criticized in the telegram... Paulus only needs to throw away the telegram, reply "bye you", and then take the 6th Army All surrendered to the Soviet army, Hitler became a joke.

In particular, what Paulus said is still reasonable. Europeans do not think it is a shame to surrender when they are unable to change the situation. Therefore, the actions of Paulus and the officers and soldiers of the 6th Army can even win some Europeans. people's understanding and recognition.

The reason why "partial" is said here is because Paulus was not recognized by the Germans after he returned to Germany in his later years (1952). Thousands of people cursed him and asked Paulus why he failed to keep the sixth place. The lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the group army.

This is actually a bit pointless.

No commander can have the obligation and responsibility to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of his subordinates under such circumstances, because he can't even save his own life, which is completely beyond Paulus' ability.

The "thousands" of people who cursed Paulus asked such questions because they couldn't ask "Why did you surrender?", "Why didn't you commit suicide and apologize?"... These are not in line with European values,

So they could only find a seemingly tall and irrefutable reason: "You killed hundreds of thousands of men of the 6th Army!"

However, did Paulus really kill these hundreds of thousands of men? !

In fact, everyone knows the answer to this question, but they pretend not to know.

You can never wake up a person who pretends to be asleep, so Paulus' son has been trying to restore Paulus's reputation all his life, but he can't do so, and finally chooses to commit suicide by drawing a gun to end his life.

These are all things for later, and Hitler at this time can only confess and coax Paulus to treat him carefully.

"My general!" Hitler replied: "I don't doubt the courage of you and all the officers and men of the 6th Army, but you have to believe that the situation in the war is developing in our favor. All we need is time, time! And, The Don River Army is already organizing your rescue, and you will soon hear the sound of the Dora Cannon exploding in Karachi, that is the most powerful evidence!"

Then, Hitler didn't say anything more, and immediately called Manstein: "The Don Army should launch an attack on Karachi immediately!"

"But Your Excellency..."

"No but!" Hitler interrupted Manstein: "You only have five hours to prepare, and you will attack as soon as it is light!"

"Yes, Your Excellency the Führer!" Manstein replied helplessly.

Putting down the phone and being silent for a while, Hitler said to the staff around him again: "Promote Paulus to Field Marshal immediately, immediately!"

"Yes, Your Excellency the Head of State!"

Therefore, the result of this contest was that Paulus won, and he successfully forced Manstein to attack.

But it was Shulka who actually won, because the Germans had to attack with insufficient preparation.

Although the German army could not rescue the 6th Army if it launched an attack with sufficient preparation, it must not be able to rescue it if it was not fully prepared... This is just a dying struggle of the German army.

Then the next day, when the sky was just getting brighter, there was a burst of shells roaring in the sky above the Miloway defense line. At the same time, German fighter planes and bombers also swooped down from the sky to bomb and straf the Soviet defense line.

Occasionally, a loud "boom" like thunder was heard in the artillery fire.

It doesn't sound so obvious in the sound of guns, and only those on the front line can appreciate its difference...that is the cannonball fired by the Dora Cannon.

You must know that the aerial bombs carried by the German "Stuka" bombers are only half a ton, while the shells fired by the Dora cannon weigh 8 to 10 tons, that is, nearly 20 "Stuka" aerial bombs.

If it's just the weight, it's the next thing, because at worst, if a dozen "Stukas" drop 20 bombs at a certain place at the same time, the total weight can reach the weight of a cannon shell.

The problem is that the shells of the Dora cannon are not dropped from the air, but fired from tens of kilometers away. Such a large shell flies at high speed in the air, then plunges into the ground and explodes below the ground ... Just this momentum can set off a tidal wave of mud, not to mention its power after the explosion.

Shulka did not experience this power firsthand, because he and his 82nd Infantry Regiment were deployed on the second line.

This is mainly because the Soviet army knew that the German army would launch an offensive soon, and the initial stage of the offensive was a large-scale bombing.

Therefore, the elite troops are usually not placed on the front line to be bombed in the early stage of the battle... There is not much difference between recruits and veterans in front of batches of shells. If there is any difference, recruits will be scared away and veterans No, so veterans have a slightly higher chance of survival.

But the Soviet army obviously would not put veterans on the front line for this survival rate.

Whether it is to avoid the enemy's edge, or to let the recruits get exercise, most of the troops deployed on the front line to face the German artillery are newly added troops.