In order to get around the large and small craters, ruins, and some damaged tanks or other vehicles, the tanks of the tank brigade had to slow down and slowly approach the department store.
Belly, who was sitting in the tank, originally thought that if his tank brigade advanced at this speed, it would definitely suffer heavy losses under the enemy's artillery fire. However, he soon discovered that the development of things was different from his imagination. The closer he got to the department store, the smaller the threat from enemy artillery to him.
At first, he thought it was an illusion, but after careful observation, he found that it was actually real. According to his analysis, the German artillery deployed in the building did not have enough depression angle. After his tanks approached the department store, they would not be able to hit him. After discovering this problem, he immediately contacted Sokov's command through the car phone.
As soon as the phone call came through, he said excitedly: "Misha, I found that the closer our tanks are to the department store, the smaller the threat to us from the artillery in the building."
"What's going on?" Sokov asked puzzled.
"The depression angle of the German artillery is not enough, so as long as we get closer to the building, it will be difficult for the enemy's artillery to hit us." Bely reported: "But we can bombard the windows where the artillery is deployed."
"You are observing very carefully, Colonel Bely." Sokov was originally worried that the tanks rushing towards the department store would suffer heavy losses under the enemy's artillery fire, but now he knows that the enemy's artillery does not have enough depression angle. As long as our tanks After reaching a certain position, the enemy's artillery can no longer attack the target. "Then you try your best to use artillery fire to suppress the German firepower and cover the infantry charge."
"clear."
After Bely's call, Sokov said to Sidorin: "Chief of Staff, call Colonel Sivakov and say that the enemy's artillery depression angle is not enough. As long as our tanks are closer to the building, the enemy's The artillery could no longer threaten the tanks downstairs. He ordered the tank brigade assigned to his command to immediately charge into the department store."
"Okay, Comrade Division Commander." Sidorin nodded and said, "I will immediately call Colonel Sivakov and ask him to use your tactics and use tank troops to quickly rush to the department store."
Sivakov was worried when he received the call from Sidorin. As the smoke dissipated, his attacking troops were exposed to the sight of the Germans and were immediately intercepted by artillery bombardment and machine gun fire, causing a large number of casualties.
After listening to Sidorin's order, he decided to take a gamble and quickly issued orders to the tank brigade and the vanguard regiment. Let the tanks park close to the building and fire at the fire points in the building, while the infantry, under the cover of tank fire, launches a fierce attack on the building.
The artillery deployed in the building was unable to bombard the Soviet tanks approaching the building; but the Soviet tanks could bombard the firepower points in the building. This information was immediately reported to Schmidt at all levels. After hearing the news, he immediately ran over and reported to Paulus: "Your Excellency, Commander, the situation is not good. The Russian tanks are only two meters away from our building." It’s three hundred meters away.”
"What, we are still two or three hundred meters away?" After listening to Schmidt's report, Paulus turned to look at Hans Wurtz, commander of the 144th Artillery Group, who was sitting aside, and said sternly: "You What are you doing sitting here, not immediately organizing artillery fire to destroy the Russian tanks?"
"Your Excellency, Commander," Hans Wurtz had been sitting at the headquarters, but after listening to Schmidt's report, he still understood what was going on. Seeing Paulus getting angry at this moment, he explained euphemistically: "The artillery we deployed in the building is very effective in bombarding distant targets. But if they enter our blind spot, our artillery will They have no choice. The rest of the battle can only be solved by infantry."
"Where is Sonne?" Paulus heard what Hans Wurtz said and asked Schmidt: "Let him immediately stop the troops from counterattacking and drive the Russians away from the department store. "
"Your Excellency, Commander, there is something I don't know whether to say or not." Hans Wurtz said cautiously.
"Don't say anything you shouldn't say." Paulus slapped his face hard on the table and said to Hans Wurz: "If you try to persuade me to surrender again, I advise you to save it. I will The last person to fight is the one who shoots the last bullet.”
Seeing how stubborn Paulus was, Hans Wurz understood that nothing he said would be of any use. At this moment, he felt some regret in his heart. When Kurtzbach came to contact him two days ago and persuaded him to hold a military remonstrance, he refused without hesitation. Even while the military remonstrance was going on, he pretended to inspect defense and went to other areas.
"Your Excellency, Commander," Schmidt reminded Paulus: "We only have more than 10,000 troops in this area. If we implement a counterattack, I am afraid the effect will not be ideal."
"Aren't there other troops coming here?" Paulus said angrily: "When they arrive, our total strength will reach more than 30,000 people, and we can deal with the same number of Russians. We still have a good chance of winning.”
"Your Excellency Commander, although from the beginning of the Russian attack, we sent a signal for help to nearby troops." Schmidt sighed and said: "Those directions were also attacked by the Russians. How many troops can they mobilize? The strength of the troops is still unknown.”
Schmidt's words made Paulus wake up again. As a commander, how could he not be clear about the surrounding situation? But he always had the illusion in his heart that Manstein and Holt's troops would still come to rescue him, and the attacking Russians would soon be defeated by reinforcements.
He sat in his seat and finished smoking a cigarette before speaking: "Chief of Staff, you should immediately formulate a breakout plan. When we are sure that the department store cannot be defended, we will organize troops to break out."
"Breakout?" Schmidt asked with a wry smile: "Your Excellency, Commander, we are surrounded by Russians on all sides, where can we break out? Besides, our supplies are seriously insufficient, and a large number of soldiers are so hungry that they can't even walk." , even if the Russians make way for us, most of them may not be able to leave the encirclement alive."
"Then what shall we do?" Paulus murmured. Ranwen
"It doesn't make much sense to continue fighting." Hans Wurtz interjected: "It's better to send someone to negotiate with the Russians. The frontal attack force is commanded by Colonel Sokov. I believe he will not challenge us. The conditions are too harsh."
Hearing Hans Wurz's suggestion, Schmidt couldn't help but smile bitterly: "General Hans Wurz, it's not like you don't know that he tried to persuade us to surrender twice, but we rejected them both times. At this moment If we ask them to negotiate again, I’m afraid they won’t pay attention to us.”
"What should we do?" Hans Wurz asked: "Should we just sit back and wait for death?"
"Keep fighting." Paulus stood up and said: "As long as the Russians can enter the building, then we will surrender. After all, we have tried our best, and I believe the head of state will not say anything."
"Okay." Seeing that Paulus already had the idea of surrender, Schmidt thought he could talk to Sonne, who was in charge of the building's defense, whether he could release water appropriately so that the Russians could rush into the building, so that he could Surrendered naturally. "I will pass on your order immediately."
According to Schmidt, since this matter was proposed by Paulus, Sannei, as a subordinate, would definitely implement it without hesitation. Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Sannei shook his head and said: "No, Chief of Staff. As a soldier, how can I easily hand over my position to the Russians? I will order my subordinates to be tenacious." Fight and hold this place as long as possible."
Schmidt did not expect that Paulus even thought of surrendering. As a result, Sannei got into trouble again and wanted to fight the superior Russians to the end. He knew that further persuasion would not be of much use, so he returned to the basement and ordered the officers of the security force to close the door and prevent anyone in the building from entering the basement.
When Hans Wurz saw Schmidt coming back from outside with a lonely look on his face, he knew that the result of his conversation with Sonne was not good. He quickly pulled him and asked: "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, what did General Sonne say?" ? Is he willing to deliberately let the water go so that the Russians can break into the building as quickly as possible?"
"He said he wanted to fight to the end." Schmidt smiled bitterly, shook his head, and said, "I'm worried that he might take some drastic action, so I have ordered the security forces to close the basement door to prevent outside troops from entering. "
"Your Excellency, Chief of Staff," Hans Wurtz said cautiously, "I still have some subordinates in the building outside. Why don't I go get in touch with them. If you see something is wrong with the situation, surrender to the Russians immediately."
"Surrender, how to surrender?" Schmidt asked puzzledly: "There is a lot of fighting on the battlefield. If you go out to surrender, I'm afraid you will be killed by stray bullets. I think it's better to forget it."
"Have you seen the rooftop on the second floor?" Hans Wurz said to Schmidt: "I asked a few soldiers to hide near the rooftop. When they saw that the Russians had the advantage, they raised a white flag to them. I wanted the Russians to When people see our white flag, they will definitely stop attacking."
"Isn't it too risky to do this?" Schmidt reminded Hans Wurz: "I'm worried that your people are waving white flags, while Sannei's soldiers are still shooting at the Russians. The Russians attacking the building If we don’t understand the situation clearly, we won’t accept your surrender at all, so how are you going to end it then?”
"Time is running out." Even though the door to the basement was closed, Hans Wurz could still hear the gunshots becoming more and more intensive, proving that the Russian troops were about to rush into the building, so he quickly said to Schmidt : "I will handle this matter myself, don't worry."
Hans Wurtz heard it right. Under the cover of tank fire, a company of the 122nd Regiment had already rushed to the door of the building and was about to step up the steps and rush into the building. The defenders in the building had to lean out and shoot downward in order to hit the target below. As a result, many people were shot by Soviet snipers from a distance and fell downstairs screaming.
"Okay." Seeing that Paulus already had the idea of surrender, Schmidt thought he could talk to Sonne, who was in charge of the building's defense, whether he could release water appropriately so that the Russians could rush into the building, so that he could Surrendered naturally. "I will pass on your order immediately."
According to Schmidt, since this matter was proposed by Paulus, Sannei, as a subordinate, would definitely implement it without hesitation. Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Sannei shook his head and said: "No, Chief of Staff. As a soldier, how can I easily hand over my position to the Russians? I will order my subordinates to be tenacious." Fight and hold this place as long as possible."
Schmidt did not expect that Paulus even thought of surrendering. As a result, Sannei got into trouble again and wanted to fight the superior Russians to the end. He knew that further persuasion would not be of much use, so he returned to the basement and ordered the officers of the security force to close the door and prevent anyone in the building from entering the basement.
When Hans Wurz saw Schmidt coming back from outside with a lonely look on his face, he knew that the result of his conversation with Sonne was not good. He quickly pulled him and asked: "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, what did General Sonne say?" ? Is he willing to deliberately let the water go so that the Russians can break into the building as quickly as possible?"
"He said he wanted to fight to the bitter end." Schmidt smiled bitterly, shook his head, and said, "I'm worried that he might take some drastic action, so I have ordered the security forces to close the basement door to prevent outside troops from entering. "
"Your Excellency, Chief of Staff," Hans Wurtz said cautiously, "I still have some subordinates in the building outside. Why don't I go get in touch with them. If you see that the situation is not right, surrender to the Russians immediately."
"Surrender, how to surrender?" Schmidt asked puzzledly: "There is a lot of fighting on the battlefield. If you go out to surrender, I'm afraid you will be killed by stray bullets. I think it's better to forget it."
"Have you seen the rooftop on the second floor?" Hans Wurz said to Schmidt: "I asked a few soldiers to hide near the rooftop. When they saw that the Russians had the advantage, they raised a white flag to them. I wanted the Russians to When people see our white flag, they will definitely stop attacking."
"Isn't it too risky to do this?" Schmidt reminded Hans Wurz: "I'm worried that your people are waving white flags, while Sannei's soldiers are still shooting at the Russians. The Russians attacking the building If we don’t understand the situation clearly, we won’t accept your surrender at all, so how are you going to end it then?”
"Time is running out." Even though the door to the basement was closed, Hans Wurz could still hear the gunshots becoming more and more intensive, proving that the Russian troops were about to rush into the building, so he quickly said to Schmidt : "I will handle this matter myself, so don't worry."
Hans Wurtz heard it right. Under the cover of tank fire, a company of the 122nd Regiment had already rushed to the door of the building and was about to step up the steps and rush into the building. The defenders in the building had to lean out and shoot downward in order to hit the target below. As a result, many people were shot by Soviet snipers from a distance and fell downstairs with screams.
