Although Paulus ordered Schmidt to assign tasks to the three engineer battalion commanders on the phone. But after Schmidt returned to his office, he felt that he could not explain clearly on the phone, so he ordered someone to notify the three battalion commanders to come to the headquarters to see him immediately.
Half an hour later, three young officers appeared in Schmidt's office. After Schmidt's eyes swept over the three of them one by one, he said: "Gentlemen, tell me your names and unit numbers." He pointed to the captain on the far left with his hand. "Captain, you come first!"
The captain whose name was called took a step forward, straightened his body and said loudly: "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, I am Captain Erwin Gast, commander of the 50th Armored Engineer Battalion!"
After Captain Gast reported his identity, the officer on his right immediately stepped forward, followed his example, and said loudly: "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, I am Major Otto Krüger, commander of the 162nd Engineer Battalion. !”
The third officer said: "I am Major William Weiman, commander of the 294th Engineer Battalion!"
After listening to the three officers describing their identities, Schmidt walked up to Captain Gast, looked him up and down, nodded with a smile, and said: "Captain Gast, you are the leader of the group army." The youngest battalion commander in the engineer battalion. Let me ask you now, do you want to prove your ability to everyone on the battlefield? "
"Yes!" Gast replied resoundingly: "I am willing to shed the last drop of my blood for Germany."
"Captain, what you have to do is to make your enemy shed the last drop of blood, do you understand?" After hearing Gast's resounding reply, Schmidt nodded with satisfaction and turned to Krüger: "Mr. Major, as far as I know, your battalion has been helping our Italian allies build fortifications for the past few months. I heard that in addition to completing the work of felling trees, digging trenches and constructing anti-tank obstacles, you also provided soldiers with We have arranged non-stop training and exercises. I want to ask, why do you do this?"
Hearing Schmidt's question, Kruger showed a look of surprise on his face. He then replied: "Your Majesty, Chief of Staff, although we are engineers, we have been completing our job since the attack on France." In addition, like the infantry, we are engaged in continuous battles with our enemies. Although we have been helping the Italians build fortifications in the past few months, I thought that we might be sent to the front line to fight at any time, so we Soldiers are ordered to conduct training every day and conduct some exercises based on the training situation."
"You are very thoughtful, Major Krüger." Schmidt nodded with satisfaction at Krüger's answer, and then said: "I know that your battalion cooperated with the officers and soldiers of the 62nd Infantry Division half a month ago. , carried out a combat mission and performed quite well.”
"Your Excellency, Chief of Staff," Kruger replied calmly after hearing Schmidt's praise: "What we eliminated was only a guerrilla group with extremely poor combat effectiveness and equipment. I hope to have the opportunity to fight with the Russian regular army." Let’s have a good fight.”
"Major, your wish will come true soon." Schmidt smiled and said to him: "I called you here today to assign you combat missions."
Schmidt finally came to Major Weiman. After sizing him up as usual, he said: "Major Weiman, your battalion has been stationed by the Don River in the past few months, helping our allies. Building firepower points, laying minefields, erecting barbed wire and cutting down trees to clear the firing range. So, are you tired of this kind of work?"
"Yes, Your Excellency, Chief of Staff." Weiman waited for Schmidt to finish and said impatiently: "Our entire battalion officers and soldiers are tired of today's life and hope to fight the Russians face to face."
"Don't worry, Major Weiman, your wish will come true soon." Schmidt said with a smile: "I called you here just for this matter."
After chatting with the three engineer battalion commanders, Schmidt walked to the wall, picked up the explanation stick, pointed to the map hanging on the wall, and said to the three officers: "Gentlemen, I called you here today. , is to assign you an important combat mission. You may have heard of the Barricade Factory. Well, it is right here. Now most of the factory area has been occupied by our army. Now only one area to the east is left. This small piece of land is still in the hands of the Russians. The task of your three battalions is to assist the 305th Infantry Division in the factory area to completely eliminate this group of Russians." At this point, he held the explanatory stick in both hands. He faced the three officers and asked, "Do you have any questions?"
"Chief of Staff, I would like to ask." As soon as Schmidt finished speaking, Captain Gast asked first: "How many troops and what kind of weapons do the Russians have in this narrow area now?"
"As of yesterday morning, there are probably more than a thousand Russian infantry divisions left in this area, and they don't have any heavy weapons except a few machine guns. But..." The three battalion commanders just started to listen. They said that the defenders only had a thousand men, and they were still very calm. But when they heard Schmidt say "but", they couldn't help but tremble in their hearts, and they realized that something unexpected must have happened. Sure enough, they heard Schmidt say angrily: "Just when we were preparing to launch another fierce attack and completely capture the barricade factory, the Russians sent reinforcements to the factory..."
"Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, the Russians only have such a small piece of land left in the factory. Even if reinforcements are sent, they cannot save their imminent destruction." Major Weiman said carelessly: "Our battalion is confident that we will win the battle at noon. Previously, the Russians entrenched in this narrow area were completely eliminated.”
"Major Weimann, Brandt, the commander of the 577th Regiment, underestimated the enemy like you did yesterday." Schmidt said with a straight face: "Under the cover of assault guns, his battalion rushed towards the Russian-held territory. "Unexpectedly, before we even got close to the area, we were hit by sudden artillery fire, and the entire army was almost wiped out."
"But, Chief of Staff, didn't you just say that the Russians holding on to this area do not have any heavy weapons except a few machine guns." When Weiman heard this, he asked puzzledly: "Then their artillery is Where did it come from?"
"Major, didn't you hear clearly what I just said?" Seeing that Weiman kept interrupting him, Schmidt said with some displeasure: "I was talking about the strength of the Russians as of yesterday morning. They later gained Reinforcements came. The 41st Guards Division commanded by Sokov came. I don’t know where they got the artillery, but they caught us by surprise.”
Although the three engineer battalion commanders have not participated in the battles in the city in the past few months, they still know the name Sokov very well. They all gasped when they learned that Sokov's troops were also holding on to the factory.
Schmidt saw their timidity and secretly smiled bitterly. After assigning their respective combat areas to the three battalion commanders, he waved to them and said, "Okay, the mission has been assigned. If you don't have any questions, , just go back to your respective troops. The troops must be stationed at the barricade factory before ten o'clock in the morning."
"Chief of Staff, I have a question." Major Krueger, who had never spoken, knew that if he didn't ask, he might not have a chance to ask again, so he quickly asked: "Who will command us? Also, during the attack, , can we get support from artillery fire or tanks?"
"Your Majesty the Commander has already given instructions. In order not to affect your combat effectiveness, after entering the barricade factory, you will fight alone as a battalion without anyone's control. As for artillery cover," Schmidt said He paused for a moment, thought for a moment, and then continued: "The 245th Assault Artillery Battalion will assist you in launching the attack."
