|||--The German army's command system failed. The troops below could not contact the group army and corps-level command units, and they suddenly fell into a situation where they were at a loss. Not to mention ordinary soldiers, even the division commanders did not know whether their troops should continue to attack the Soviet army, or quickly withdraw from the city and move towards the Don River.
Lensky, the commander of the 24th Armored Division, is a typical example. He first received an order to withdraw his troops from the silicate factory, and then received an order to attack the Workers' New Village. Unexpectedly, before the attack began, he wanted to confirm the attack order, but he was unable to get in touch with the army headquarters. Even General Schlemmer, commander of the 14th Armored Corps, lost contact. In this situation, Lensky didn't know what to do. Should we continue to attack according to the original order, or should we withdraw from the existing area like other troops and rush to the direction of the Don River as soon as possible.
Just when the German army was hesitant and didn't know what to do, Belkin's shrinking regiment had quietly withdrawn from the barricade factory and, in the shortest possible time, stationed itself in a defensive position northwest of Workers' New Village, preparing to stop the German army there. Attack of the 24th Armored Division.
When Belkin came to his regiment command post, the communication line was already in use. He immediately asked the communication soldiers to connect to the division headquarters and spoke to Sokov personally: "Misha, all my troops have entered the new For defensive positions, we are seizing the time to build strong fortifications.”
"Great, this is really great." Knowing that Belkin's troops had entered the position, Sokov suddenly felt confident. Although the strength of the downsized regiment is smaller than that of the other three regiments, when it comes to combat effectiveness, this direct unit of our own is the strongest. With them protecting the right wing of the main force of the division, the possibility of being cut off by the German army is infinite. At zero. "With your regiment on our flank, I can rest easy."
"Misha," Belkin said with some embarrassment after waiting for Sokov to finish: "In the battle to defend the barricade factory, we certainly sacrificed a lot of commanders and soldiers, but the more serious losses were those assigned to them. So far, there are only two rocket launchers left. I think there are only two rocket launchers. If we want to stop the German armored divisions, we can only let the soldiers hold cluster grenades to blow up the enemy tanks and use human lives to fill the gap."
"My comrade political commissar, if it is not necessary, we should not let soldiers hold cluster grenades to blow up enemy tanks. The casualties will be too great." Sokov knew that using this tactic to deal with enemy tanks, his own The troop exchange ratio may be three to one or four to one, while the casualties of other friendly troops are at least ten times that of one's own. After Belkin and the others entered their current position, they might have to hold on there for two or three months. If they exhausted all their troops prematurely, how would they be able to fight the rest of the battle?
It was out of this consideration that Sokov said to Berkin: "My comrade political commissar, new rocket launchers and supporting ammunition have recently been shipped from the other side. I will send someone to send you twenty rocket launchers later. Go over with the matching ammunition."
Belkin was not a selfish person. After hearing Sokov's promise, he did not immediately rejoice. Instead, he cautiously asked: "Sending twenty rocket launchers to our regiment will weaken the anti-tank strength of other regiments." Become weak?"
"My comrade political commissar, don't worry about other defensive areas." Sokov explained to Berkin: "The three regiments deployed in front of Mamayev Heights all have solid defenses. Even if they face the German army They are fully capable of defending against the crazy attack."
"Can it really be defended?" Belkin expressed doubts about Sokov's statement.
"There should be no problem," Sokov explained to Belkin in order to strengthen Belkin's message: "The division chief of staff of the German 71st Division that we defeated was killed by our air force, and the division commander Roski was also seriously injured. The division currently does not have the ability to counterattack. I think in this case, there should be no problem for the three Guards regiments to hold their current positions."
"My comrade political commissar," Sokov figured out something during this time. The movies about Stalingrad he had seen before were all artistically processed. As soon as the counterattack began, the German army was beaten by the Soviet army and was unable to fight back. This was all done through artistic processing. To eliminate these hundreds of thousands of enemies, even if millions of troops attack at the same time, it will not be completed in less than a few months. Therefore, what he can do now is to rely on the existing defensive positions to consume as much of the German army's effective strength as possible. "The mission I give your regiment is very simple, which is to do everything possible to defend the existing defensive position. How about it, are you confident?"
"Misha, don't worry." Regarding Sokov's question, Belkin replied confidently: "As long as we have enough anti-tank weapons, there is no big problem in holding the position."
"Comrade Comrade Political Commissar, I want to remind you of something." Seeing the other party's careless answer, Sokov was afraid that he would underestimate the enemy, so he quickly reminded him: "Our army cannot destroy Paulus's troops overnight. , you have to be prepared to fight for several months. Also, I estimate that during this period, the superiors may not give us any additional troops, so during the battle, you have to find ways to reduce the casualties of the troops. Do you understand?"
"I understand." Belkin heard Sokov say this to himself in such a solemn tone, and immediately realized that he was too optimistic about the situation. He was sitting with Sokov's former partner, and he had no doubts about Sokov's judgment. Since the other party said that this battle would last for several months, it would definitely take several more months. If he really All the troops in hand were exhausted. Then when the final counterattack begins, I can only act as a bystander: "I will use the troops in my hands rationally and resolutely block the enemy's attack."
As soon as Sokov put down the phone, a communications staff officer hurried over and said to Sidorin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I just received a telegram from the Front Army Headquarters."
"Bring it to me and have a look." When Sidorin learned that it was a telegram from the front army, he couldn't help being shocked. He quickly reached out to the other party and asked for the telegram he had just received.
"Comrade Division Commander, good news!" Sidorin had just read a few lines before an expression of ecstasy appeared on his face: "The Front Army Headquarters reported that the 36th Mechanized Brigade, which belongs to General Volsky's 4th Mechanized Corps, and The 45th Brigade of the 4th Tank Corps of the Southwestern Front has successfully joined forces at the Soviet farm in the Don River Basin!"
As soon as Sidorin finished speaking, everyone in the command center cheered in unison. Everyone knew in their hearts that as the two front armies met at the Soviet farm, the German army's retreat was completely cut off. Paulus's Sixth Army and Hoth's Fourth Armored Army were both trapped in the Soviet encirclement.
"Comrade Division Commander," Ivanov asked Sokov tentatively after waiting for the cheers in the headquarters to subside, "How many enemies in the encirclement do you think we can eliminate?"
"Comrade Deputy Division Commander," Sokov did not answer the question immediately, but asked Ivanov: "How many do you think we can destroy?"
"I estimate that there are at least 100,000 German troops surrounded by our troops this time." Ivanov heard Sokov's question, pinched his chin with his hand, and said thoughtfully: "I estimate At least 50,000 to 60,000 of them can be wiped out."
Sokov did not comment on Ivanov's speculation. He knew very well that after Paulus and Hott's troops were encircled, even the Soviet high command had never figured out how many enemies there were in the encirclement. They always believed that there were at best more than 100,000 enemies in the encirclement, so when formulating encirclement and annihilation plans, they always followed the standard of annihilating 100,000 people. As a result, some troops suffered unnecessary losses due to misestimation of the enemy's strength when attacking.
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov thought about the fact that the staff officer just told Sidorin that the telegram was an order from the front army. It must not only convey the news of the rendezvous, but there should be more important content behind it. He looked at the good news in Sidorin's hand. Several telegrams asked: "What else did the telegram say?"
"Comrade division commander, the order is very long. I will read it to you slowly." After Sidorin finished speaking, he picked up the telegram and started reading: "Red Army soldiers, commanders and political workers!
The time has come to punish harshly, but justly, the despicable enemies of the German Jessian occupiers.
The German *** bandits treacherously attacked our peaceful homeland, destroyed it and insulted our great people.
Not long ago we celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the great October Revolution. The October Socialist Revolution transferred power from landlords and capitalists to workers and peasants. It brought equality and freedom to the oppressed people of Russia and carried out unprecedented transformation of our country.
We live in a peaceful environment, and we have built factories, collective farms, and state-owned farms with tenacious labor, and built schools and universities.
All of us have received the fruits of our great labors. The enemies have destroyed our peaceful working life. They want to conquer our country and turn our people into slaves of the German nobles and landowners.
Hitler and his followers deceived the German people, frantically plundered the property of the people of various European countries, and launched an attack on our country. The enemy was able to advance to the city walls of Stalingrad. We held the enemy at bay within the walls of this fortified castle beside the Volga. Due to the heroic fighting of our army, the enemy suffered heavy losses in the battle under Stalingrad.
The officers and soldiers of the Stalingrad Front became an example of bravery, tenacity and selfless fighting. Now the glorious mission of launching a powerful attack on the enemy falls on our shoulders.
In order to repay the blood debt of the *** thugs who killed our wives and children, and to repay the blood debt of the officers and soldiers who shed their blood and sacrificed their lives, we should mercilessly eliminate the enemy.
Comrades, attack bravely!
Every one of us who went to fight knew that we wanted to liberate our sacred territory, our cities and our people, from the German villains who had invaded our country and oppressed the freedom-loving Soviet people.
…
How rejoicing our people are every time they hear the news that we are on the offensive, that we are advancing, that we are liberating their own country.
We will definitely be able to defend Stalingrad, the fortress of the Volga River. We will definitely be able to destroy the enemy and drive countless enemy troops away from the Volga River.
I order: The Stalingrad Front troops will launch a resolute attack on the sworn enemy the German *** invaders, destroy them, and gloriously complete the tasks assigned by the motherland.
Comrades! March towards victory! Destroy the German invaders!
Signature: Commander of the Front Army Yeremenko, Military Commissar of the Front Army Khrushchev. "
Sokov waited for Sidorin to finish reading this verbose order, and then quickly read it again, and handed the telegram to Anisimov: "Comrade Political Commissar, please send this message from the Front Army Headquarters through the radio. Give the order and tell every commander and fighter in the entire division."
"What about the Belkin regiment?" Anisimov took the telegram and reminded Sokov: "They have just entered a new defensive position and have not installed a broadcast yet."
"This is easy to handle." Sokov said without hesitation: "After you finish the broadcast, find someone to make a copy and send someone to send it to Captain Belkin."
"Understood, I'll take care of it right away." Anisimov nodded, stood up and walked out of the headquarters.
…………
Early the next morning, Lensky gathered twenty tanks, an infantry battalion and a company of infantry, and launched an attack on the Belkin regiment. Lenski thought that the people responsible for the defense in this area were militia troops, so he rushed in without making any artillery preparations.
The offensive troops made good progress at first. The Soviet position was quiet. Not to mention the sound of gunfire, even the figures of people could not be seen. The chief of staff of the division proudly said to Lensky: "Your Excellency, division commander, maybe the militiamen who were holding on to their positions would have been frightened and fled long ago when they saw our tanks driving past. According to my estimation, our troops may It's easy to break through the Russian defenses."
Lensky, who was holding a telescope, saw that there was no movement at all on the Soviet positions in the distance. He agreed with his chief of staff's judgment: "Chief of Staff, you are right. Seeing so many of our tanks and The infantry rushed forward, and those militiamen who held their positions might have fled without a trace..."
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw several objects with long white smoke ribbons flying out of the crater, flying straight towards the tank that was moving forward. If it directly hits the tank, a ball of fire will immediately rise, and then the tank will be enveloped in raging fire and smoke; even if it misses the target, the object will explode when it falls on the ground, sending up pillars with black soil and white snow powder. .
"What the hell, what is this?" Lensky was dumbfounded when he saw three tanks destroyed: "Chief of Staff, come quickly and take a look. Is that an anti-tank gun hidden in the crater by the Russians?"
