Chapter 840 Returning in defeat (Part 2)

"The battalion and regiment in my hand are directly under the troops. There are more than 800 people in total." Belkin smiled slightly and replied: "If it is used for offense, this force is obviously not enough. But for defense, then It's more than enough."

After listening to Belkin's answer, Sokov looked at Lyudnikov who was sitting on the side, and said: "Just now the enemy rushed to a place less than 100 meters away from the division headquarters, Colonel Lyudnikov Called the rocket launcher to fire a round of fire here. Although the enemies who rushed over were eliminated, I am afraid that many of our own people were accidentally injured. Now that the troops in front of the division headquarters are empty, you can take over the defense of this area with a battalion. "

  After assigning tasks to Belkin, Sokov looked at Lyudnikov out of politeness and asked, "Comrade Colonel, do you think my arrangement is appropriate?"

"Colonel Sokov," Lyudnikov wanted to intervene several times when Sokov was assigning tasks to Belkin, but he couldn't find a suitable opportunity. At this moment, he heard Sokov asking for his opinion, and said quickly : "I just thought about it, and I think it's really not necessary to change a battalion of infantry into artillery. You know, the enemy not only has air supremacy, but the strength of artillery is far superior to ours. I'm worried about this. The improvised artillery is not the enemy's opponent at all, and I am afraid that it will not last long before it will be wiped out by the enemy's artillery."

"Comrade Colonel, you don't have to worry." In order to dispel Lyudnikov's worries, Sokov said to him: "The weather has been bad recently, and enemy planes cannot be dispatched at all. That is to say, the air supremacy held by the Germans is now does not exist at all.

  As for what you mentioned, the artillery that we improvised can't compare with the enemy's artillery in terms of combat effectiveness. I also admit this. But you may not know that this artillery is now fragmented and scattered in different areas. Even if the enemy's artillery finds their location, it is not easy to destroy them with artillery fire. "

Belgin interjected and said, "Misha, if you disperse the artillery in various areas, what should the commander do?" He has been with Sokov for so long, so he naturally doesn't know what Sokov did. The purpose, the reason for asking this, is to help Sokov speak in a disguised form, so that Lyudnikov can dispel his doubts.

Hearing Belkin's question, Sokov immediately understood the meaning of the other party, and laughed: "Comrade Political Commissar, I have asked Major Savage to lead the telephone lines to several artillery positions, and he can command the artillery through the phone." Attack the target. And each position is allocated its own area, he can let different positions carry out shelling according to the situation of the enemy's concentration."

   "If you do this, the artillery attack will be more efficient." Belkin replied with a smile: "They can save shells when they kill the enemy's technical equipment and soldiers in large numbers."

   "..."

  …

Lyudnikov heard the answer he wanted to know from the conversation between Sokov and Belkin. He nodded and said, "Colonel Sokov, I have heard from the commander that you have You have a wealth of experience in defensive warfare, and you also introduced some of your successful past battles to me. To be honest, I have a bit of confidence in my heart when I hear that you are coming to assist us in defense. Now through your dialogue, I am very grateful to you. It will give you more confidence to hold on to the factory.”

Although Sokov's current military rank is the same as Lyudnikov's, and he has made a lot of outstanding military exploits, but in any case, age is his shortcoming. If you trust him, there will be problems in coordination in the next battle. Seeing that Lyudnikov agreed with his actions now, Sokov felt much more at ease.

Sokov turned his head and said to Belkin: "Comrade Commissar, the Germans may launch an attack soon, you should deploy defenses as soon as possible. Remember, you must use the sewers on the basis of reinforced fortifications. Understand. ?"

   "Don't worry, Misha." Belkin replied with a smile: "Now the first thing our regiment does after entering the position is to look for the entrance of the sewer so that we can use it as soon as possible."

  After Belkin left, Lyudnikov asked Sokov curiously: "Colonel Sokov, I heard what you and Commander Belkin said about the sewer. What is going on?"

"That's right, Comrade Colonel." Seeing that Lyudnikov didn't know about using the sewer to fight, Sokov couldn't help showing a surprised expression on his face, but he still patiently explained to the other party: "Since the enemy entered From the beginning of the city, all our combat areas are covered by enemy artillery fire. In battle, we will inevitably move our troops forward. If our actions are discovered by the enemy, it is very likely that we will be covered by artillery fire. As a result, the reinforcements suffered heavy losses. But if we mobilize our troops through the sewers, no matter how fierce the enemy's artillery fire is, the losses caused to us will be negligible."

   "Colonel Sokov, when did you sum up this experience?" Lyudnikov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and asked in surprise, "Why didn't you promote it within the group army?"

"I once wrote a detailed report on how to use the sewers to organically combine various defensive positions and handed it over to the Army Command." Sokov said with a wry smile, "I thought it would take so long , I am afraid that all the divisions know how to use the sewers to deal with the enemy, but I didn't expect that you didn't know."

   "I don't know." Lyudnikov shook his head and said, "It's the first time I heard today that troops can be mobilized through the sewers to reduce casualties during the movement."

  Sokov didn't know who was responsible for the failure of the plan he proposed to be promoted among friendly forces. He could only say bitterly: "Comrade Colonel, although it is a bit late now, it is better than nothing. Although I have no right to order you, I still strongly suggest to you to promote this tactic in the army as soon as possible." , in order to reduce unnecessary casualties. You know, the sewer is no different from a solid fortification for us."

In order to reduce the casualties of the troops in the ensuing battle, Lyudnikov immediately called several regimental commanders, repeated Sokov's words to them, and ordered them to use the sewers in the defense area as soon as possible to rebuild the defense line , to resist the next German attack.

  ...

   While Lyudnikov was calling the heads of the regiments, Paulus was in his headquarters and learned that the attack on the factory by the 297th Infantry Division ended in failure.

After receiving a call from the division commander, Major General von Drebel, he asked specifically: "What are you talking about? Your troops have rushed near the Russian command post, but they were attacked by Russian rockets. As a result, one of the troops who rushed up The entire battalion was wiped out? Is this news reliable? You must know that rockets have poor accuracy and a large area of ​​damage. If the two armies fire at such a close distance, it is easy to cause accidental injury."

"That's right, Your Excellency Commander, what I said is true." Hearing Paulus's questioning, von Drebel replied quickly: "The Russians are simply crazy. I saw through the telescope that my soldiers were approaching After reaching the factory building where the Russian command headquarters was located, they could rush in after a few more seconds, or even a few seconds, but they were attacked by Russian rockets, and the entire army was wiped out under the attack of artillery fire. "

"These Russians are crazy, crazy." Paulus is also absolutely unbelievable. The Soviet army dared to fire at its division headquarters when the two armies were so close. made things. He thought that the officers and soldiers of the 297th Infantry Division were exhausted after this round of attacks; and seeing with his own eyes that his companions were completely lost in the Soviet artillery fire, many people must have been scared out of their wits. Let them continue to attack at this moment, I am afraid the effect will be greatly reduced.

Thinking of this, Paulus said into the microphone: "General von Drebel, your troops must be tired after fighting for such a long time. How about this, you withdraw the troops to rest first, and I will let other troops take over for you attack."

  Von Drebel was overjoyed when he heard that his troops were ordered to suspend their offensive. He quickly replied, "Understood, Commander, I will immediately order the troops to withdraw to the second line of defense."

As soon as Paulus put down the phone, Schmid came over and asked: "Your Excellency, you ordered the 297th Infantry Division to stop attacking, isn't it tantamount to giving the Russians a breathing space. If they use this time to reinforce the fortifications , When we relaunch the offensive, we will pay a greater price."

"Chief of Staff." Paulus looked at Schmid and said with a serious expression: "Although I ordered the 297th Infantry Division to withdraw from the battle, it does not mean that I will stop the attack on the barricade factory. Replacement for the demoralized 297th Infantry Division."

Knowing that Paulus planned to send other troops to take over the attack of the 297th Infantry Division, Schmid quickly recalled the distribution of troops in his mind, and then tentatively asked: "Your Excellency, are you planning to let Shi Major General Teinmetz's 305th Infantry Division, going to continue the attack on the barricade?"

   "That's right." Paulus nodded slightly, and replied: "Let the 245th Assault Artillery Battalion dispatch assault artillery to cooperate with the attack of the 305th Infantry Division. We must take down the barricade factory in the shortest possible time."

  After receiving the offensive order from Schmid, the commander of the 305th Infantry Division, Major General Steinmetz, immediately summoned commanders above the battalion level to his headquarters to study how to capture the barricade factory. He had just taken over the command of the 305th Infantry Division from Lieutenant General Auburn Rand, and he hoped to establish his absolute authority in the division by capturing the battle of the barricade factory.

  A large group of German officers soon gathered in Steinmetz's headquarters, quietly listening to the new division commander's combat orders. Seeing that everyone was here, Steinmetz said to everyone: "Gentlemen, I just received a call from the chief of staff, General Schmid, who asked us to immediately organize forces to attack the barricade factory, and in the shortest time Take this factory from the Russians within a short time."

"Your Excellency, Division Commander." As soon as Steinmetz finished speaking, Colonel Wenzel, the commander of the 578th Infantry Regiment, spoke first: "Leave this task to our regiment, I assure you, we will take it before dark." The whole factory."

The reason why Wenzel is so confident is that the area controlled by Lyudnikov's division is no more than 500 meters wide from north to south, and only 400 meters deep from east to west, and it is surrounded by enemies on three sides. Can't live.

Seeing that Wenzel was the first to speak to grab the task, Lieutenant Colonel Brandt, the commander of the 577th Infantry Regiment, was dissatisfied. He completely disregarded that the opponent's military rank was higher than his own, so he got into a fight with the opponent: "Colonel Wenzel, I think the capture of the barricade factory Let’s hand over the task to our 577th Regiment. In case a regiment’s strength was held up by a battalion of the Russians for three hours like the last time on the banks of the Don River, the plan to completely annihilate the Russians would come to naught..."

"What did you say?!" Hearing Brandt's cynicism to him, Wenzel became anxious. When the troops were crossing the Don River, their troops were blocked by the Soviets, and they arrived three hours later than the scheduled time. As a result, the Soviet troops that should have been encircled escaped a lot. This matter has always been a concern for him. Now that Brandt mentioned it, he was naturally furious: "You only know about me, what about you? Who sent a battalion to attack the barricade factory, and it ended up being fought for two days, even one building Didn’t even get the factory building?”

   Steinmetz had only been the division commander for less than a week, and he didn't understand the personal grievances between the two regiment commanders. Seeing that the two had actually quarreled at such an important military meeting, he couldn't help being furious. He slapped the table hard, and shouted: "Enough, gentlemen, we are holding a military meeting. If you want to quarrel, it will not be too late after the meeting is over."

  Hearing the teacher's words, although the two were still not convinced by the new teacher, they still didn't dare to sing against Steinmetz in such a formal occasion, so they could only keep their mouths shut obediently.

   "Chief of Staff." Seeing that the two regimental commanders were silent, Steinmetz turned to ask the division chief of staff beside him: "Which unit do you think should be sent to capture the barricade factory?"

The chief of staff of the division stood up, looked at Wenzel, then at Brandt, and finally turned his gaze to Steinmetz again, and said, "Your Excellency, I think Lieutenant Colonel Brandt's 577th Regiment, to complete this glorious and arduous task."

  The quarrel between Wenzel and Brandt left Steinmetz with a bad impression of the two, and he even planned to let the 576th Infantry Regiment perform this task. At this moment, when the chief of staff of the division recommended Brandt's 577th Infantry Regiment, he frowned and asked, "Why?"

"Your Excellency, please look at the map." The chief of staff of the division came to the wall, pointed to the map hanging on the wall, and said to Steinmetz: "The 577th Infantry Regiment of Lieutenant Colonel Brandt is at the Barricade Factory." To the west of the factory, they can enter the factory area to take over the defense of the 295th Infantry Division in the shortest possible time. The 576th and 578th Infantry Regiments are a bit far away from the factory. If they are transferred far away, it may cause unnecessary trouble. confusion."

After listening to the reasons of the division chief of staff, Steinmetz immediately made a final decision: "Since this is the case, the task of attacking the barricade factory will be handed over to Lieutenant Colonel Brandt's 577th Infantry Regiment. He said to Brandt, "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, I hope you will not disappoint me."

"Don't worry, sir." Seeing that Steinmetz handed over the honor of winning the barricade factory to himself, Brandt couldn't help being overjoyed. He straightened his body and assured Steinmetz: "I will definitely be there Take down the barricades before dark."

  (end of this chapter)