Bely opened his arms and gave Sokov a warm hug. He patted Sokov's back hard with both hands and said excitedly: "Misha, I never thought that I could still see you alive. . So what, are you planning to launch a counterattack against the enemy?"
Although his back was slapped so hard that Sokov almost burst into tears, he could only grit his teeth and endure it. After all, this kind of hug is the most passionate expression between friends. After finally waiting for Bely to let go, he immediately took a step back, pointed at Golikov who was not far away, and said: "Colonel Bely, let me introduce you. This is the deputy commander of the front army. General Golikov, the member of the Communist Party of China, came to us to direct the counterattack."
Bely knew Golikov, so he quickly stepped forward to salute and prepared to report to the other party in accordance with the regulations. Unexpectedly, Golikov raised his hand and pulled down his hand that was raised to his forehead. While shaking his hand vigorously, he said warmly: "Hello, Colonel Bely, welcome to Mamayev Heights."
After inviting Bieley to sit down at the table, a clever staff officer quickly brought a cup of hot tea and placed it on the table. After nodding his thanks to the staff officer, Sokov said to Bely: "Comrade Colonel, it must be quite cold on the road. Drink some tea to warm yourself up."
After Bely picked up the teapot and took a sip, he looked first at Sokov and then at Golikov, not knowing who to speak to first. Fortunately, Golikov saw his dilemma, pointed at Sokov with his hand, and said: "Colonel Bely, it was Comrade Sokov who asked Chuikov to transfer you here. If you have anything, just ask him. Bar."
Hearing what Golikov said, Bely put down the teapot in his hand, stood up and faced Sokov, and asked respectfully: "Colonel Sokov, I wonder how you plan to have my troops cooperate with you in your counterattack? You know, basically all the tanks in our brigade have been lost, and the few remaining ones are now buried in the Dzerzhinsky factory to serve as fixed firepower points."
"Don't worry, Colonel Bely." Hearing Bely's final question, Sokov replied with a smile: "I still have more than 20 tanks hidden in the ruins of Workers' New Village, and they can all be handed over to me. You use it. There is also a new T-34/85 tank among them."
"A new T-34/85 tank?" Bely heard Sokov mentioning a new tank and couldn't help but asked in surprise: "So, Director Peter gave you all the tanks with 85mm guns that were just produced. ?”
"Yes." Sokov nodded affirmatively, and then asked: "How many troops do you still have?"
"There are still 139 people. Except for a dozen logistics personnel, the rest are combatants." Bere emphasized to Sokov specifically: "By the way, your original tank company commander is still alive. If it weren't for my men There are so few people that when we rebuild the tank brigade, I even want him to be the battalion commander."
"Since we don't have enough troops, let him be the company commander first." Sokov said reasonably: "It won't be too late to let him be the battalion commander after the tank brigade is replenished."
"General Golikov," Bely looked at Golikov and said with some embarrassment: "I have participated in the counterattack in the Mamayev Hills area, and I know that if the number of tanks is too small, it will be difficult to achieve the desired results in the counterattack. The results of the battle. Even if Colonel Sokov hands over all the tanks to me, I will only have more than 20 tanks in my hands. If I want to break through the German defenses, I am afraid..."
Bely stopped mid-sentence, but Golikov already understood what he wanted to express, so he waved his hand and said: "Okay, okay, Colonel Bely, stop complaining in front of me." . The superiors have decided to send two tank battalions to Sokov, and then I will put these two tank battalions under the command of your tank brigade. Is that okay with the headquarters? "
Bely complained in front of Golikov just because he wanted to get some supplements. Unexpectedly, Golikov was so generous and actually gave him two tank battalions. In this way, the tank brigade was reorganized. He quickly saluted Golikov and said gratefully: "Thank you, General Golikov, I assure you..."
"Colonel Bely, don't promise me anything." Golikov interrupted Bely before he finished speaking, "No matter how beautiful the words are in words, if they cannot be put into practice, then They are all empty words. I know that your brigade performed very well in the battle to defend the Dzerzhinsky Factory, and I hope you can continue to do so and achieve more brilliant results in the next counterattack."
"General Golikov, I want to ask a question." Bely waited for Golikov to finish and asked tentatively: "Is it okay?"
"If you have any questions, just ask." Golikov waved his hand and said carelessly: "As long as I can answer it, I will definitely give you a satisfactory answer."
"According to the deployment some time ago, the troops on the periphery of our army should have launched a counterattack against the enemy." Bely asked cautiously: "I would like to ask, what was their result?"
"Shortly after launching the counterattack, the Southwest Front Army and the Don River Front Army successfully broke through the enemy's defense line in the Don River Basin and defeated the Romanian troops deployed there." Golikov guessed that Bely may not be aware of the results of the battle outside. , and said carelessly: "Our front army launched a counterattack from the south side of the city yesterday. Although the counterattack time was repeatedly delayed due to the weather. But after the battle started. Major General Volsky's Mechanized 4th Army launched at 13 noon At 16:00, Colonel Tanahishin's 13th Tank Corps rapidly advanced towards the depth of the enemy's defenses in its own area. At 22:00, Lieutenant General Shapkin's 4th Cavalry Corps, followed closely Advance with the 4th Mechanized Army and develop the offensive westward..."
"Great, this is really great." Hearing the series of good news from Golikov, Beley was so excited that he cheered: "Since our army has dealt heavy blows to the enemy in the west and south, , then the counterattack after dawn, I believe we will be able to successfully break through the frontal defense of Mamayev Heights."
"Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army," Sokov asked Golikov again after waiting for Bely to finish: "I would like to ask, when can the two tank battalions given to us by our superiors enter their designated positions?"
If Sokov had asked this question yesterday or the day before yesterday, Golikov would have made fun of him. But at this moment Golikov could no longer laugh. The time for the two tank battalions to cross the river was delayed again and again. Even whether they could reach Mamayev Hill before the counterattack began was also a question. Golikov was silent for a long time, and finally said: "I think we should be able to arrive before your counterattack begins."
Bely sensed something bad in Golikov's tone, and quickly interrupted: "General Golikov, tanks are prone to malfunctions when marching in such cold weather. Even if they arrive before the counterattack, It also needs dedicated personnel to maintain it before it can be put into battle.”
"What, the tank needs to be maintained before it can be put into battle?" Golikov asked in surprise.
"That's right." Bely nodded and said in a positive tone: "According to the regulations, the tank should be inspected and maintained after traveling for fifty kilometers to avoid malfunctions and breakdown. If it is summer, we can After a hundred kilometers, they will be maintained, but the weather is too cold now, and the chance of tank failure is greatly increased, so after the tank battalion crosses the river, it must be inspected and maintained."
"So that's it." Golikov raised his hand to look at his watch and said thoughtfully: "If I let the tank battalion cross the river now, we should be able to reach Mamayev Hill by seven o'clock in the morning. If you spend another hour or two doing inspections and maintenance, I think it’s still time.”
"It will take at least five hours for two tank battalions to cross the wide river." Bely continued: "Even if we order them to cross the river now, it will probably be around nine o'clock when they arrive at Mamayev Hill. Then we will conduct an inspection. In terms of maintenance and maintenance, it will take at least eleven o'clock before they can all be put into battle."
"You can't go into battle until eleven o'clock?" Not only Golikov was dissatisfied with the time Bely said, but even Sokov was dissatisfied. Although he had barely cobbled together a tank battalion, it would be used to break through the German army. The position is probably not enough. So he shook his head and said: "In that case, the action would be too slow. We cannot let the tank troops enter the battle so late."
When Golikov heard what Sokov said, he nodded first, and then asked: "Colonel Sokov, do you have any ideas to shorten the attack time of the tank troops?"
"There is a way." Sokov had just thought about a way in his mind. Now when he heard Golikov ask, he said it directly: "Let the tank troops cross the river one after another in company units. Once a company comes over, they will Let the maintenance workers inspect and maintain the tanks of this company. I think that by the time the counterattack begins, all the tanks should be ready to attack."
After listening to Sokov's proposal, Golikov couldn't help but smile. He nodded and said: "Colonel Sokov, you really have many ways. In this way, we can solve the problem of tanks. After completing the crossing of the river, It’s a problem of not being able to fight for a long time. So let’s do this, I immediately called Commander Yereomenko and asked him to order the tank battalion to cross the river.”
While Golikov was on the phone to the front army headquarters, Sokov said to Bely: "Colonel Bely, I will send someone to take you to Workers' New Village to receive the tanks later. Now, I will tell you to attack first route." Seeing Bely nod, he continued, "There are two attack routes: one is to attack from Workers' New Village and break through to the west; the other is to attack from the north and south of Mamayev Hill. Attack in the canyon in the middle of the hill, try to advance to the southwest, cooperate with the troops in the central city, and encircle the enemies in the city..."
…………
On the evening of the 20th, Paulus received news that the Romanian army and German reserves in the Don River Basin had been completely annihilated by the Soviet Southwest Front Army and the Don River Front Army. When he first heard the news, Paulus did not believe it. According to his thinking, the attack launched by the Russians was nothing more than a diversionary action to prevent him from concentrating his forces to capture the city.
But after repeated verification by Chief of Staff Schmidt, Paulus seemed a little flustered when he finally discovered that this was not a rumor but a fact. He quickly ordered someone to take over the call from von Weikes, commander of Army Group B, and said in a panic: "Mr. General, the situation here seems not to be good. The Romanian troops deployed in the Don River Basin and our The reserve force has been annihilated by the Russians."
When Weeks answered the call from Paulus, he thought the other party was reporting to him on the execution of the order, but unexpectedly he heard such bad news. He asked in surprise: "General Paulus, didn't you see the order I gave you on the night of the 19th? I asked you to stop all offensive operations against Stalingrad and deploy troops to protect your flanks. Did you Haven’t they been implemented yet?”
"No, Mr. General." Paulus replied in panic: "My officers reported to me that the Russians' strength was almost exhausted, so I felt that we should continue the offensive so that we could defeat the enemy in the shortest possible time. Take this damn city.”
"Stop the attack immediately and withdraw the troops from the city." Weeks said in a stern tone: "And use these troops to counterattack in the direction of the Don River. Be sure to drive away those damn Russians, so as to protect your army. Security of the flanks. Do you understand, my General Paulus?"
"Understood, Mr. General." At this time, Paulus still dared to defend himself, and he quickly said obediently: "I immediately issued a retreat order to the troops and asked them to withdraw from the city overnight."
Paulus immediately issued an order through Schmidt to the troops responsible for attacking the factory area, asking them to withdraw from the city overnight and ensure that the retreat was not discovered by the Russians.
However, the plan could not keep up with the changes. The 305th Infantry Division and four engineer battalions stationed in the barricade factory exchanged fire with the Soviet troops in the factory shortly after they began to retreat. The news soon reached Paulus's headquarters. Paulus grabbed Schmidt's arm and said in panic: "Chief of Staff, it seems that the Russians had expected that we would retreat overnight, and then ordered the people in the factory. The defenders launched a counterattack at this point."
"What should we do?" Schmidt asked.
"Order the troops to stop retreating and organize resistance on the spot." Paulus raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead and told Schmidt: "Also, those areas that have not been attacked for the time being must also be vigilant to prevent possible attacks by the Russians. attack."
"Understood, I will immediately convey your order to the division commanders." After Schmidt said this, he reminded Paulus: "Now the troops in the Don River Basin are basically finished, and our location is actually The Russians are no more than ten kilometers away, and once they launch an attack, they will probably reach the army headquarters in less than two hours."
Paulus, who had fallen into panic, didn't know what to do for a moment, so he could only ask Schmidt for help: "Chief of Staff, tell me, what should we do next?"
