The deputy shooter had just chosen the shooting target when a shell fired by a tank flew over and hit directly beside him. After a loud "boom", the deputy shooter carrying the rocket launcher instantly turned into a sky full of blood. fog.
Captain Vasily, who was staying at the command post, saw this scene, his eyes suddenly turned red. He grabbed the phone next to him and gave an order to Paulkovsky: "First company commander, it seems that our anti-tank platoon has become the German The main target of human attack. I now order you to immediately send out soldiers carrying anti-tank grenades or Molotov cocktails to blow up the enemy's tanks."
In fact, even if Vasily did not issue such an order, after Paulkosky discovered that the soldiers of the anti-tank platoon had become targets of enemy tanks and armored vehicles, he was preparing to ask the soldiers to carry anti-tank grenades and blow up the enemy at close range. tank or armored vehicle. At this moment, receiving Vasily's order, he quickly and loudly agreed: "Understood, comrade battalion commander, I will immediately send people to blow up the enemy's tanks."
"Also," Vasily warned before hanging up the phone: "If possible, take back all the rocket launchers. They must not fall into the hands of the Germans."
The battle at the barricade factory entered a fever pitch. However, because Belkin felt that the force in his hands was enough to crush the German attack, he did not report it to the division headquarters. As a result, Sokov and others did not know that the situation in the barricade factory had changed. Extremely critical.
On the contrary, Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko, the commander of the 122nd Guards Regiment stationed in Workers' New Village, called Sokov and nervously reported: "Comrade Division Commander, there are a large number of troops in the northwest of Workers' New Village. The enemy is gathering. It seems that they are preparing to attack the Workers' New Village."
"What, the enemy is gathering in the northwest of Workers' New Village?" Sokov glanced at the map and noticed that the enemy was gathering, possibly preparing to seize Workers' New Village, and asked quickly: "The location where the enemies are gathering is how far away from you? How far away? How many troops do they have?"
Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko was silent for a moment, and then replied: "According to the observation post's report, the enemy gathering place is about two kilometers away from Workers' New Village, and the strength of the troops is about one battalion."
"Are they all infantry?" Sokov asked. "Are there tanks, assault guns or armored vehicles?"
"No." Papuchenko replied simply: "They are all infantry."
"Comrade Commander," Ivanov heard this and couldn't help but interrupt and asked: "What do you think the enemy's purpose is in gathering outside the Workers' New Village?"
"What is the purpose?" Sokov covered the microphone with his hand, looked up at Ivanov in front of him, and said: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, isn't the enemy's purpose obvious? They just want to seize the Workers' New Village and gain an offensive The starting point for the attack on the Red October Factory.”
"But the Workers' New Village has long been turned into ruins by enemy shelling and bombing." After listening to Sokov's explanation, Ivanov asked puzzledly: "Even if they capture this ruins, what can they do?" effect?"
"Although the Workers' New Village has been turned into ruins, as long as the Germans occupy it, they can enter the factory area of the Red October Factory through the underground sewers." Sokov said with a serious expression: "If the enemy is allowed to enter factory area, then the situation in the city will become extremely serious."
Ivanov asked tentatively: "What bad consequences will that have?"
Although Sokov in his heart dismissed such low-level questions raised by Ivanov, he patiently explained: "Once the enemy captures the Red October Factory, then the Barricade Factory and the Dzerzhinsky Factory It becomes even more impossible to hold on. Once these three important factories are lost, the fall of the city will be inevitable."
"Then what should we do?" Now the counterattack of the Stalingrad Front has entered the countdown. No one wants to have problems at this time. Ivanov quickly asked: "We need to send troops to reinforce the 122nd Guards Group?"
"That's not necessary." Sokov waved his hand and said: "The 122nd Guards Regiment has just been supplemented by a full battalion, with a total strength of nearly 3,000 people. It is not a big problem to defend a new workers' village."
"But, Comrade Division Commander, if something unexpected happens, the entire right wing of Mamayev Ridge will be exposed to the enemy." Ivanov reminded Sokov: "I think we can't just sit back and watch, we should find a way Support the 122nd Regiment."
"Comrade Deputy Division Commander," Sidorin knew that the 122nd Regiment was Ivanov's old subordinate, and it was inevitable that he would be concerned about the safety of this regiment, so he asked politely: "How do you think we should support them?"
"Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko," Sokov let go of his hand covering the microphone and said to Papuchenko: "Don't you still have a dozen new rockets in your regiment? Aim at the enemy's gathering position and shoot Fight them all out without leaving a trace."
"Comrade Commander," Papuchenko asked cautiously after hearing Sokov's order: "If we use up all the new rockets today, then there will be no new rockets in the next counterattack." Are the bombs ready for use?”
Seeing Papuchenko being so dull, Sokov said with some displeasure: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what's wrong with you? The enemy is about to attack you. The first task of your regiment is to crush the enemy's attack, and But you are telling me that if all the new rockets are used up, there will be no more to use during the attack. Don’t you know that once the workers’ new village is lost, the Red October Factory will become in danger?”
"Understood, comrade division commander." Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko waited for Sokov to finish speaking and quickly expressed his position: "I immediately organized the soldiers to fire rockets at the enemy's gathering position."
"That's right, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Hearing that Papuchenko understood his intention, Sokov smiled and nodded, and said with satisfaction: "As long as the enemy can be destroyed, the new rockets will be used up. Don’t worry. When the counterattack begins, I will supplement it for you as appropriate.”
With Sokov's guarantee, Papuchenko suddenly felt more confident. He expressed his stance to Sokov: "Comrade division commander, please rest assured, I will definitely eliminate these German bandits outside the Workers' New Village. They must not be allowed to enter our defensive zone even half a step."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, it is very good that you have such confidence." Sokov said happily: "I believe that you will be able to repel the enemy's attack. I am waiting for your good news."
As soon as Sokov put down the phone, he asked Sidorin, who was sitting opposite and talking on the phone: "Chief of Staff, is there any movement from the enemies in front of Mamayev Heights?"
"No." Sidorin shook his head and replied: "Maybe the Germans have just completed the change of defense and are still consolidating their defense lines. They don't have the energy to attack us for the time being."
"Since the enemy on the front has no reaction, we don't need to worry about him." Sokov refocused his attention on the map: "Let's consider it. After the Stalingrad Front launches an attack from the south of the city tomorrow, we should When and where should we choose to launch a counterattack against the enemy?”
"Needless to say," Ivanov said confidently: "We were launching a counterattack against the enemies in front of Mamayev Heights. As long as we defeated them, we would have a chance to join forces with the oncoming friendly forces."
"Comrade Deputy Division Commander, your idea is too optimistic." As soon as Ivanov finished speaking, Sidorin retorted: "Even if our Stalingrad Front launches an attack from the south of the city tomorrow, I'm afraid it won't be the same." They will be able to come over and join us in two days. Therefore, when choosing the time and direction to counterattack, we must be cautious, cautious and cautious again."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I am much more optimistic than you on this matter." Ivanov pointed to the map and said to Sidorin: "In the direction of our front counterattack, the Germans are deploying Romanian troops. , I believe it won’t take much time to break through the defense lines of these slave country armies.”
"Comrade Deputy Commander, you underestimate the enemy too much." Sidorin, who had witnessed a bayonet fight between a Marine Corps battalion and the Romanian army, said with a solemn expression: "The Romanian army once fought with Captain Shamrih at the northern post of Mamayev Hill. The Marine Corps battalion under his command fought with bayonet. During the battle, the Romanian army performed extremely tenaciously and caused considerable losses to our army. Therefore, we cannot take the Romanian army lightly just because they are the servants of the Germans, otherwise we will You’ll suffer a big loss.”
After Ivanov led his troops to Mamayev Hill, although he heard Sidorin mention this matter several times, he never took it seriously. According to his idea, even if the Romanian army has combat effectiveness, it is not as good as his own. Compared with our troops, they are far insufficient, and I can't help but feel a little underestimating the enemy. At this moment, hearing Sidorin emphasize again, he had to face up to this army that he looked down upon again.
While Sidorin and Ivanov were bickering, Sokov kept staring at the department store on the map, thinking that Paulus later moved his headquarters here, and in the basement of the mall, he became Soviet prisoners. If he could know when Paulus' headquarters was stationed in the department store, he could send a force to carry out a sneak attack and implement decapitation tactics. As long as the German commander is killed, the remaining troops will definitely fall into chaos due to the loss of unified command, making the next battle easier to fight.
After Sidorin and Ivanov argued for a while, they stopped on their own initiative when they saw that Sokov did not come out to smooth things over. Sidorin looked at Sokov who had been leaning over the map and asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, what are you looking at?"
"I'm wondering where the German headquarters is." Sokov replied casually: "If we know the exact location of Paulus' headquarters, we can send a force to go over and take them out."
Regarding Sokov's idea, Sidorin immediately poured cold water on him: "Comrade division commander, your idea is unrealistic. Think about it, the German commanders are all afraid of death, and ours The division-level headquarters is only two to three hundred meters away from the front line, while their regiment-level headquarters is ten kilometers away from the front line, the division-level headquarters is thirty kilometers away from the front line, and the group army headquarters is even further away from the front line. Even if we know No matter where it is located, it may not be easy to send troops to attack it."
Sokov knew that Paulus's current headquarters was located in Grubinskaya, which was still extremely far away from his own Mamayev Heights. Unless the commandos were airdropped near the enemy's headquarters, they would have to pass through the enemy. It is simply a fantasy to attack Paulus's headquarters with numerous defense lines. It seemed that he had to wait until Paulus was desperate and moved his headquarters to the department store in the south of the city before he considered sending troops to capture Paulus.
At this moment, Chuikov called again. In addition to asking whether the anti-tank platoon to reinforce the Dzerzhinsky factory was leaving, he also told Sokov: "Comrade Sokov, I just received a call from Lyudnik. Colonel Husband’s phone call, he said that there was a fierce battle in the barricade factory, and the enemy was launching a fierce attack on him. He and Commander Belkin’s troops were fighting tenaciously with the enemy.”
After learning that a fierce battle was going on in the barricade factory, Sokov immediately called Belgin as soon as he ended the call with Chuikov and asked straight to the point: "My comrade political commissar, there is a fierce battle taking place there, why don't you report it to me immediately?" Report?"
"Misha," Belkin glanced at the retreating enemy troops outside and replied confidently: "We have just repelled an attack by the German army. I believe that we have the ability to crush all offensives launched by them. Regarding the enemy's attack, I think we are fully capable of handling it, so I didn't call you to cause trouble."
Regarding Sokov's idea, Sidorin immediately poured cold water on him: "Comrade division commander, your idea is unrealistic. Think about it, the German commanders are all afraid of death, and ours The division-level headquarters is only two to three hundred meters away from the front line, while their regiment-level headquarters is ten kilometers away from the front line, the division-level headquarters is thirty kilometers away from the front line, and the group army headquarters is even further away from the front line. Even if we know No matter where it is located, it may not be easy to send troops to attack it."
Sokov knew that Paulus's current headquarters was located in Grubinskaya, which was still extremely far away from his own Mamayev Heights. Unless the commandos were airdropped near the enemy's headquarters, they would have to pass through the enemy's headquarters. It is simply a fantasy to attack Paulus's headquarters with numerous defense lines. It seemed that he could only consider sending troops to capture Paulus when he was desperate and moved his headquarters to the department store in the south of the city.
At this moment, Chuikov called again. In addition to asking whether the anti-tank platoon to reinforce the Dzerzhinsky factory was leaving, he also told Sokov: "Comrade Sokov, I just received a call from Lyudnik. Colonel Husband’s phone call, he said that there was a fierce battle in the barricade factory, and the enemy was launching a fierce attack on him. He and Commander Belkin’s troops were fighting tenaciously against the enemy.”
After learning that a fierce battle was going on in the barricade factory, Sokov immediately called Belgin as soon as he ended the call with Chuikov and asked straight to the point: "My comrade political commissar, there is a fierce battle taking place there, why don't you report it to me immediately?" Report?"
"Misha," Belkin glanced at the retreating enemy troops outside and replied confidently: "We have just repelled an attack by the German army. I believe that we have the ability to crush all offensives launched by them. Regarding the enemy's attack, I think we are fully capable of handling it, so I didn't call you to cause trouble."
