Chapter 818 Russian Intentions

  In the early morning of November 6, the forward position of the German 113th Infantry Division.

  It was still dark, and the German soldiers on the ground were all asleep in their shelters. At this moment, the roar of a huge aircraft engine suddenly came from the sky.

The commander on the ground was a major. He lived in a wooden house behind the position. After being woken up by the roar of the engine, he sat up from the bed and looked out the window. There was a shout outside. An orderly immediately ran in and asked respectfully, "Mr. Major, what are your orders?"

The major pointed to the outside with his hand and said impatiently: "Go out and see, from which direction are the planes coming from outside? It's not yet dawn. Even if you want to bomb the Russian positions, it doesn't have to be so early. .”

   Before the orderly could go out, there were bursts of screams in the air, and then the bombs that fell from the sky landed on the forward position and exploded, raising countless flames and thick smoke. A bomb exploded not far from the wooden house. A huge air wave overturned a three-wheeled motorcycle and shattered all the glass on the windows.

The major was stunned by the sudden bombing. A moment later, he jumped off the bed, grabbed the clothes on the chair beside the bed, stooped to pick up his boots, and ran out barefoot, cursing repeatedly. He said: "Fucking idiots in the Air Force, they made a mistake and dropped bombs on our own people."

  However, when he ran out of the wooden house in a panic, he unexpectedly discovered that the plane that was carrying out the "mistaken bombing" was not from Germany but from the Soviet army. He immediately understood that this was not some **** accidental bombing, but that the Soviet army dispatched bombers to bomb his position.

The major scrambled and rushed into the command post more than a hundred meters away, and shouted at the radio operator who was still sitting beside the radio in a daze: "Why are you still in a daze, why don't you send a report to the division headquarters immediately, saying We were bombed by the Russians." The major knew very well that the Russians suddenly dispatched planes to bomb their positions, indicating that they were ready to take offensive actions. If he did not report to his superiors in time, then once the Russians really launched Offensive, the defensive line is in danger of being breached.

  After receiving the telegram, the commander of the 113th Division was also in a dazed state. He asked his chief of staff: "Chief of staff, is there any movement from the Russians on the opposite side of our defense area recently?"

   "No, sir." The chief of staff shook his head and replied, "The Russian defense zone has been very calm, and there is nothing abnormal."

"But I just received a telegram from the forward position," the division commander handed the telegram to the division chief of staff, and continued: "The battalion commander standing there reported to me that they were violently attacked by Russian planes." bombing."

After receiving the telegram and reading it for a while, the chief of staff asked in a skeptical tone: "Your Excellency, if it is not fully lit today, could it be that the bomber formation took our division's forward position as the Russian position and then appeared?" bombed by mistake?"

  The words of the division chief of staff made the division commander hesitate. When he first saw the telegram, he still felt that his troops had been bombed by the Russians, but at this moment, he felt that what the chief of staff said had some truth, maybe it was really the planes of the Fourth Air Force that sent the forward positions of his division , He hesitated for a moment, and told the chief of staff: "Get me through the phone number of the Army Group Command immediately, and I will report this matter directly to the commander."

  Paulus got up on time at seven every morning, and the first thing he did was to sit at the table, drink a cup of coffee and eat some snacks, which was his first breakfast. At nine o'clock, he will drink a glass of wine from Massandra Winery in Ukraine, and then have a second hearty breakfast.

  He usually doesn't work until two breakfasts have been eaten. His subordinates also understood his character and usually would not bother him at such times. Today, as usual, Paulus got up and sat at the dining table in the room to eat his first breakfast. While drinking coffee, he said to Schmid who was sitting opposite: "Chief of Staff, do you know that the wine I drink every day is It is Massandra Winery from Ukraine. This winery is dedicated to the tribute wine for the summer palace of Tsar Nicholas II. It is the best winery in the Tsarist era. If you want to drink, you can be like me , enjoy the fine wines every day with former royals…”

  While Paulus was talking happily, there was a voice calling for a report at the door. Before he could make a sound, someone pushed the door and walked in from the outside. Seeing clearly that the person who came in was his adjutant, Paulus knew that if there was nothing important, the other party would never bother him at this time. He suppressed the anger in his heart and asked, "What's the matter?"

   "Report to Your Excellency, Commander," the adjutant replied respectfully: "The duty room received a call from the commander of the 113th Infantry Division, saying that his forward position may have been accidentally bombed by our aircraft."

   "Accidental bombing?!" Paulus looked at Schmid with a confused face after hearing this, and asked, "Chief of Staff, why did our plane go out to perform missions so early today?"

"No way?!" Schmid, the chief of staff of the Army Group, also couldn't figure out what happened at the moment. He replied in a daze: "The day is getting later and later, so the aircraft of the air force The attack time is usually chosen around nine o’clock.” He raised his hand to look at his wrist watch, and added, “But it’s just a quarter past seven, and I called the Fourth Air Force to find out what’s going on. "

  Paulus pointed to the phone on the desk not far away, and said, "Chief of Staff, you can use this phone to talk to the commander of the Fourth Air Force."

The phone was quickly connected. After talking with the commander of the air force, Schmid put down the receiver and reported to Paulus: "Your Excellency, I have asked the air force. No aircraft were dispatched."

"It's not our plane, whose plane would it be?" Paulus frowned and thought for a while, then immediately thought of a possibility, and then ordered Schmid: "Chief of Staff, you can directly report to the commander of the 113th Infantry Division. Call and ask him what happened?"

With the help of the operator, Schmid quickly got through to the division headquarters of the 113th Infantry Division. After learning that the person who answered the call was the division commander, he asked straight to the point: "Mr. division commander, what happened to you? The Air Force has been consulted and they have not dispatched any aircraft at all so far."

  After listening to Schmid's words, the division commander immediately realized that he had been misled by the division chief of staff, and wishfully regarded the plane bombing the forward position as his own plane. He quickly replied: "General Schmid, in the telegram sent to me by my forward commander, it was indeed mentioned that Russian planes were bombing their positions. But I considered that it was still dark outside, and our The defense zone has never been attacked by the Russians, so I judge that the forward commander may have made a mistake..."

"Why don't you report the real situation, but report the wrong information you speculated, won't you mislead the commander's judgment?" Schmid fired a few words at the other party, covered the microphone with his hand, and asked Paulus, who was sitting at the dining table waiting for news, reported: "Your Excellency, I have already asked the commander of the 113th Infantry Division. He said that the telegram from the front said that he was bombed by Russian planes, and he was worried The sky is too dark, and the officers and soldiers at the front may have misread it, so they sent us wrong information."

   "This kind of person should be sent to a military court." Knowing that the commander of the 113th Infantry Division had given him wrong information, Paulus couldn't help being furious. If it was in normal times, he might directly announce the dismissal of the opponent, but now the front of the division is being bombed by Russian planes, which proves that the Russians may take major military actions. He walked to the wall and looked up at the map on it. After looking at it for a while, he turned and asked Schmid, "Chief of Staff, what do you think the Russians intend?"

"Needless to say," Schmid pouted and said with disdain, "The intention of the Russians is obvious. It must be that Stalin felt that our army's attack in the factory area would lead to the loss of the entire city. In order to resolve the Under the pressure of the defenders, Rokossovsky in the north gave us an offensive order, hoping that through this sudden offensive, we could contain our strength and prevent us from concentrating superior forces to continue our offensive against the factory area. "

Regarding Schmid's analysis, Paulus immediately agreed: "Yes, the 113th Infantry Division has never been attacked by the Russians since it entered the defensive position. If Rokossovsky really Choose their defense zone as a breakthrough point, maybe you can really break through their defense line. Chief of Staff, look at our precious railway transportation line in the defense zone of the 113th Infantry Division. Once the Russians are allowed to carry out a limited breakthrough, our transportation The main artery will be cut off, and then the ammunition and supplies cannot be transported, and the wounded and supplies cannot be transported..."

  Schmid realized the seriousness of the problem from Paulus' words, and quickly asked him for instructions: "Your Excellency, what should we do to avoid this worst situation?"

"Immediately order the 113th Infantry Division to dispatch troops to the forward position. It is necessary to consolidate the defense to avoid being broken by the Russians." Paulus stared at the map and said without looking back: "Not only the main force of the 113th Infantry Division is going north for reinforcements. , even their friendly neighbor, the 60th Motorized Division, should be transferred north immediately, preparing to attack from the Russian flank in time after the direction of the 113th Infantry Division is broken through..."

   When Paulus assigned the task, Schmid immediately remembered what he said word by word. As soon as Paulus finished speaking, he immediately let go of the hand covering the microphone, and said into the microphone: "Your Excellency Commander ordered that the main force of your division be transferred northward immediately, and the Russians must be prevented from breaking through your division's defense line. Do you understand?" ?”

After finishing the call with the commander of the 113th Infantry Division, Schmid called the commander of the 60th Motorized Division and the commander of the Fourth Air Force successively, ordering the motorized division to transfer to the north and the air force's fighter formations to attack immediately. The Japanese bomber group drove away from the forward positions of the 113th Infantry Division.

  Paulus went back to the dining table and sat down, continued to drink the cold coffee, but kept staring at Schmid, who was on the phone, thinking about the real intention of the Soviet attack.

After Schmid finished making the phone call, he put the empty coffee cup on the table, looked up at Schmid who was coming and asked, "Chief of Staff, why do you think the Russians suddenly attacked our army?" The defense line is bombing, are they really planning to launch a new offensive?"

"I think it's entirely possible, Commander." Schmid thought for a moment, nodded and said, "Tomorrow is the October Revolution Day for the Russians. According to their tradition, a series of offensives before the festival is the right thing to do." It's entirely possible."

"Chief of Staff, hearing you say that, I think of one thing." Paulus waited for Schmid to finish speaking, and said thoughtfully: "When our army approached the city of Moscow last year, the Russians were still in Red Square. A military parade was held to boost the low morale. As soon as the troops participating in the parade left Red Square, they got into trucks and drove to various battlefields. I won’t tell you what happened later. Driven from Moscow."

"Your Excellency Commander," Paulus said, made Schmid aware of the seriousness of the problem, and he quickly reminded Paulus: "I think the commanders of all troops should be alerted to raise their vigilance. Prevent possible Russian counterattacks. Today’s attack on the factory area, I think, can be suspended for a while, so that the troops can prepare for deployment on the spot, so as not to be caught off guard by the Russians’ sudden counterattack.”

"Yes, yes, let the troops attacking the factory area temporarily turn to defense on the spot." The scene where the Soviet army launched a night counterattack in the Dzerzhinsky factory a few days ago and drove out all the troops occupying the factory area, Reappearing in Paulus's mind, he specifically emphasized to Schmid: "For the past two months, our troops have only focused on offense and completely neglected defense. If the Russians really launched a strong counterattack, we I'm afraid I really can't stop him."

"Your Excellency, there is one more thing I want to remind you." Before leaving Paulus's room, Schmid reminded him again: "If the Russians want to launch a counterattack, I am afraid they will stick to the Mamayev Post." The troops will also make moves. Now they are confronting the Romanian army, do you think it is necessary to send troops to strengthen this direction?"

Regarding the question reminded by Schmid, Paulus thought for a long time, and finally shook his head and said: "The Romanian 1st Division and 13th Division that attacked Mamayev Hill are both troops with relatively strong combat effectiveness. There is no need for reinforcements. You call their army commanders and prepare them to resist the Russian attack. If they really can't hold on, we can consider sending out the air force to support them."

  (end of this chapter)