After the German attack was repelled, Captain Wittmann, the battalion commander in charge of commanding the battle, hurried to the headquarters of the 577th Regiment and reported to the regiment leader, Lieutenant Colonel Brandt: "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, our attack has been blocked. The Russians fought back.”
"What, your attack was repelled?" Brandt frowned and asked, "Didn't they send five assault guns to assist you in the attack? Why were they repelled by the Russians so quickly?"
"The assault guns covering the infantry attack were all wiped out by a mysterious Russian weapon."
"Mysterious weapon?!" Hearing what Wittmann said, Brandt remembered that he didn't seem to hear any fierce gunfire outside, and asked in surprise: "What kind of secret weapon do the Russians have? They can actually do it without anything." If there is any movement, take out all our assault guns?”
"The snow was too heavy, so I didn't see clearly." Wittmann said with a bitter look on his face: "But according to a surviving soldier, he saw several flaming tails flying out of the crater in front of the Russian position. object, which directly hit and destroyed our assault gun."
"How far is it?"
"About eighty meters."
"Eighty meters." After Brandt repeated the data, he asked: "Captain, are your soldiers sure that the Russians are not using anti-tank guns?"
"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, I can confirm that the Russians are definitely not using anti-tank guns." Wittmann replied in a positive tone: "Except for hiding people, there is no way to place anti-tank guns in that kind of crater."
After Brandt waited for Wittmann to finish speaking, he walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, wondering what new weapons the Russians used to kill the assault guns covering their infantry attack. But after thinking for a long time, he couldn't figure out what kind of weapon destroyed the assault gun. He quickly walked to the table, picked up the phone on the table, and reported to the division commander Steinmetz: "Your Excellency, division commander, I have an important situation to report to you."
"What's going on?" Steinmetz asked casually.
"My third battalion launched an attack on the Russians not long ago. However, shortly after the battle began, the five assault guns serving as cover were destroyed by a mysterious Russian weapon." Brandt said respectfully Reporting to Steinmetz: "I would like to ask if the division headquarters has any information about the Russians' mysterious weapons."
"This is the first time I've heard of a mysterious weapon." Steinmetz said angrily: "Lieutenant Colonel Brandt, if you feel that you are not sure of breaking through the Russian position, just tell me. There is no need to find such lame excuses to cover up your failure."
"No, Your Excellency, Commander." Seeing that Steinmetz did not believe him, and even suspected that he had deliberately made up lies in order to cover up the fact of failure, Brandt became a little anxious, and he quickly explained: "What I said is true. It's true. The commander of the third battalion just reported to me that some surviving soldiers saw several smoke-laden objects flying out of the bomb crater where the Russians were hiding, and they prepared to hit and destroy the bombs covering the infantry attack. Assault gun. He is by my side now. If you don't believe it, I can ask him to report the situation to you again."
After listening to Brandt's words of swearing, Steinmetz realized the seriousness of the problem. He held the microphone and thought for a moment, and then said: "Lieutenant Colonel Brandt, take your battalion commander with you." , come to my place immediately, I want to find out what happened."
Seeing Steinmetz put down the microphone, his chief of staff immediately reminded him cautiously: "Your Excellency, division commander, this matter is unusual. Do you think it is necessary to report it to General Kurtzbach immediately?"
"Wait a minute." Steinmetz waved his hand and said, "It's better to wait until Lieutenant Colonel Brandt and his men arrive. After I ask what's going on, it won't be too late to report to the commander."
After waiting for about twenty minutes, Brandt and Wittmann arrived at the division headquarters by car.
As soon as he saw the two people entering the door, Steinmetz pointed at Wittmann and asked Brandt: "Lieutenant Colonel, is this your battalion commander?"
"Yes, Your Excellency, Division Commander." Brandt nodded quickly and said in a positive tone: "He is Captain Wittmann, the commander of the third battalion."
Steinmetz walked up to Wittmann, looked him up and down, and said coldly: "Captain, please report to me what you saw on the battlefield now."
After Wittmann respectfully reported everything that happened on the battlefield to Steinmetz in detail, the latter's face turned livid. He turned to his division chief of staff and said: "Chief of Staff, it seems that the situation is worse than we imagined. I think it is necessary to report this situation to the army commander, General Kurtzbach, immediately."
Hearing what Steinmetz said, the muscles on the division chief of staff's face twitched violently twice. He said to himself: I just suggested that you report to the corps commander, but you rejected it. Unexpectedly, as soon as I heard the report, I couldn't wait to report to the commander. However, no matter how dissatisfied he was with Steinmetz, he could only hide this emotion in his heart instead of showing it on his face. He nodded slightly and said: "Yes, Mr. Commander, I will call you immediately." The commander of the army reported the matter."
After receiving a call from the division chief of staff, Kurtzbach said unhappily: "Nonsense, if the Russians had such a weapon to deal with our army's technical equipment, they would have used it long ago, and they would never have delayed it until now. . I want to ask you, who on earth provided you with such ridiculous information?"
The division chief of staff, who had been reprimanded, glanced at Brandt and Wittmann, who were standing upright in the room, and replied with some embarrassment: "General Kurtzbach, Lieutenant Colonel Brandt, commander of the 577th Regiment." and his battalion commander, Captain Wittmann, have just finished reporting to the division commander, do you want to speak to them personally?"
As a military commander, Kurtzbach was originally unwilling to talk to unfamiliar subordinates, but in order to find out what happened in the barricade factory, he thought for a while and then ordered: "Let General Steinmetz Take his two subordinates and come to my headquarters immediately."
After the division chief of staff put down the microphone, he said to Steinmetz: "Your Excellency, division commander, General Kurtzbach ordered you to take the two of them to the army headquarters immediately." As he said this, he turned to Brand, who was standing aside. Te and Wittmann pursed their lips.
In this way, Steinmetz brought Brandt and Wittmann to the military headquarters and reported to Kurtzbach in detail the mysterious weapons that appeared in the barricade factory and could easily destroy assault guns.
After Kurtzbach listened, he asked Wittmann a few more details, then frowned and looked at Steinmetz: "General Steinmetz, what do you think of this matter?"
"Your Excellency, Army Commander!" Steinmetz replied respectfully: "As far as I know, the Americans have been continuously providing military aid to the Russians. I think they may have provided some kind of military aid to the Russians. anti-tank weapon."
Steinmetz's words reminded Kurtzbach, who nodded and said: "You are right, the Russians may have just obtained new anti-tank weapons from the Americans and used them in the barricade factory. I'm going to call General Schmidt and see if he knows anything."
After saying that, Kurtzbach walked to the phone, picked up the phone and put it to his ear. After dialing a number, he said into the phone: "I am General Kurtzbach. Please call the Army Headquarters for the staff officer." General Schmidt."
After waiting for more than a minute, Schmidt's voice came from the receiver: "I am Schmidt, General Kurtzbach, what can I do for you?"
"Your Excellency, Chief of Staff." Kurtzbach asked with a smile: "I would like to ask if you know whether the Americans have equipped with any new anti-tank weapons in the near future?"
"New anti-tank weapons?!" After Schmidt repeated Kurtzbach's words, he immediately remembered a piece of information he had just read, and nodded and said: "Yes, according to reports from other battlefields , Americans have newly invented a personal weapon against tanks, which poses a great threat to our armored forces."
After hearing Schmidt reveal the information he was interested in, Kurtzbach slammed the table excitedly and said proudly: "My guess was indeed correct. The Americans really have a new anti-tank weapon."
Kurtzbach's words confused Schmidt, and he asked in confusion: "General Kurtzbach, we are dealing with the Russians now, and we can't even see the shadow of the Americans. Why do you suddenly ask Where is the new equipment of the US military?”
"That's right, Your Excellency Chief of Staff." Since Schmidt has said that the US military has an anti-tank individual weapon, it is very likely that the weapons that destroyed the assault guns in the barricade factory were provided by the Americans to the Russians. "While attacking the barricade factory, the 577th Regiment of the 305th Infantry Division encountered a mysterious weapon from the Russians. All five assault guns covering the infantry attack were destroyed. I think with the current level of Russian military industry, Since we couldn't produce such a weapon, we thought it might come from the Americans, so I called you to check."
After Kurtzbach chatted with Schmidt for a few words, he put down the phone. He came to Steinmetz and others and said to them: "Everything is clear. According to the news from other battlefields, the Americans invented a personal weapon to deal with tanks, destroying assault rifles in the barricade factory. The cannon weapons may be the weapons provided by the United States."
After listening to Kurtzbach's words, Steinmetz turned to look at Brandt and Wittmann, then looked at Kurtzbach again and asked: "Your Majesty, Army Commander, I would like to ask if there is any way. To deal with this kind of anti-tank weapon?"
"There is no effective way at the moment." Kurtzbach shook his head and said: "Since it is only an individual weapon, the infantry using it can hide anywhere and fire at our moving tanks. Even if we put the possibility Even if every inch of land where the Russians are hiding is plowed with artillery fire, it may not be possible to eliminate them."
"Your Excellency, Army Commander, if we cannot eliminate this kind of Russian anti-tank weapons, then we will not be able to use tanks and assault guns in battle." Steinmetz said with a grimace: "You also know that due to the bad Due to the weather and severely insufficient supplies, we were no longer able to provide artillery and air support for our troops when they attacked. Without the support of tanks and assault guns, it would become impossible to capture the Russian positions. "
In response to Steinmetz's defeatist argument, when Kurtzbach was about to criticize him, the phone on the table suddenly rang. He picked up the phone and put it to his ear, and when he heard the voice coming from it was Paulus, he straightened up quickly and said, "Hello, Commander, what are your instructions?"
"General Kurtzbach, I just heard from Schmidt that American anti-tank individual weapons were found in the barricade factory." Paulus asked briefly on the phone: "Is this happening?"
"Yes, Your Excellency Commander, this is indeed the case."
"How do you plan to deal with this weapon that the Russians have?" Paulus asked.
"Your Excellency Commander, since this is our first time coming into contact with this kind of weapon, we can't find a suitable way to deal with it yet." As soon as Kurtzbach said this, he heard Paulus snort on the phone, He hurriedly explained: "But we are studying ways, and I believe there will always be a way to deal with this kind of anti-tank weapon of the Russians."
Paulus was silent on the other end of the phone for a long time before he said: "General Kurtzbach, bring that junior officer who has participated in the battle to my headquarters. I want to ask him personally."
After Kurtzbach put down the phone, he said to Wittmann: "Captain, the Commander wants to see you. Come with me to Grubinskaya immediately."
"What about us?" Seeing that Kurtzbach was only going to take Wittmann alone, Steinmetz stepped forward and asked, "What should Lieutenant Colonel Brandt and I do?"
"General Steinmetz!" Kurtzbach looked at Steinmetz and said: "The Commander only ordered me to take Captain Wittmann to see him. As for you, he didn't mention it at all. I think you Let’s go back to our respective headquarters first.”
Glubinskaya, where Paulus's headquarters is located, is about twenty kilometers away from Kurtzbach's army headquarters. If the weather is clear, it can take up to half an hour to reach your destination. But now it was snowing heavily and there was thick snow on the road. It took Kurtzbach's car a full hour and a half to reach Grubinskaya.
After entering the city, Wittmann saw many civilians shoveling snow on the roadside, and SS troops with loaded weapons standing nearby, monitoring them as they shoveled snow. He couldn't help but curiously asked Kurtzbach: "Your Excellency, Army Commander, why are there so many civilians in the city? Aren't you worried that there are Russian intelligence agents among them?"
"Captain, these are all Jews." Kurtzbach said coldly: "After they shovel the snow, they will be escorted back to the place of detention by the SS. Even if there are Russian intelligence agents hidden among them, they cannot Pass the information here to the Russian troops currently fighting our army."
