Chapter 850 Engineer Battalion (2)

  Although Paulus ordered Schmidt to assign tasks to the three engineer battalion commanders on the phone. But after Schmidt returned to his office, he felt that he could not speak clearly on the phone, so he ordered someone to notify the three battalion commanders to come to the headquarters immediately to see him.

   After half an hour, three young officers appeared in Schmidt's office. After scanning the three of them one by one, Schmidt said, "Gentlemen, tell me your names and unit numbers." He pointed to the leftmost captain with his hand, "Captain, you come first!"

  The captain who was named took a step forward, straightened his body and said loudly: "Your Excellency Chief of Staff, I am Captain Erwin Gast, Commander of the 50th Armored Engineer Battalion!"

  After Captain Gast reported his identity, the officer on his right immediately stepped forward, imitating his example, and said loudly: "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, I am Major Otto Krüger, Commander of the 162nd Engineer Battalion!"

  The third officer said: "I am Major William Weiman, commander of the 294th Engineer Battalion!"

After listening to the three officers talking about their identities, Schmidt walked up to Captain Gast, looked him up and down, nodded with a smile, and said, "Captain Gast, you are so many in the army group." The youngest battalion commander in the engineer battalion. Let me ask you now, do you want to prove your ability to everyone on the battlefield?"

   "Yes!" Gast replied loudly: "I am willing to shed the last drop of blood for Germany."

"Captain, what you want to do is to let your enemy shed the last drop of blood, understand?" After hearing Gast's loud reply, Schmidt nodded in satisfaction, and turned to face Krüger again: "Mr. Major, as far as I know, your battalion has been helping our Italian allies build fortifications for the past few months. I heard that in addition to felling trees, digging trenches and building anti-tank barriers, you are also helping soldiers. We have non-stop training and drills. I want to ask, why are you doing this?"

Hearing this question from Schmidt, Klüger showed a look of surprise on his face, and then he replied: "Mr. In addition, like the infantry, we are engaged in continuous battles with our enemies. Although we have been helping the Italians build fortifications for the past few months, I think that we may be sent to the front to fight at any time, so we will Order the soldiers to train every day and carry out some exercises according to the training situation."

"You are very thoughtful, Major Kruger." Regarding Kruger's reply, Schmidt nodded with satisfaction, and then said: "I know, your battalion cooperated with the officers and soldiers of the 62nd Infantry Division half a month ago. , implemented a combat mission, and performed quite well.”

"Your Excellency Chief of Staff," Krüger replied calmly after hearing Schmidt's praise: "What we have wiped out is only a guerrilla unit with extremely poor combat effectiveness and equipment. Have a good fight."

   "Major, your wish will come true soon." Schmidt smiled and said to him, "I called you here today to assign you combat missions."

Schmidt finally came to Major Weimann, looked him up as usual, and said, "Major Weimann, your battalion has been stationed by the Don River for the past few months, helping our allies Building firing points, laying minefields, erecting barbed wire and cutting down trees to clear the field of fire. Well, are you tired of such work?"

   "Yes, Your Excellency Chief of Staff." Weiman waited for Schmidt to finish speaking, and said impatiently: "Our entire battalion officers and soldiers are tired of the current life, and hope to fight the Russians face to face."

   "Don't worry, Major Weiman, your wishes will come true soon." Schmidt said with a smile, "I called you here just for this."

After chatting with the three engineer battalion commanders, Schmidt walked to the wall, picked up the explaining stick, pointed to the map hanging on the wall, and said to the three officers: "Gentlemen, I called you here today. , is to assign you an important combat mission. You may have heard of the Barricade Factory, here, right here, most of the factory area has been occupied by our army. Now there is only a part of the east The small piece of land is still in the hands of the Russians, and the task of the three battalions of you is to assist the 305th Infantry Division in the factory area to completely eliminate this group of Russians." At this point, he held the explaining stick in both hands, Facing the three officers, he asked, "Do you have any questions?"

   "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, I would like to ask." As soon as Schmidt finished speaking, Captain Gast asked first: "How many troops and what kind of weapons are the Russians standing in this narrow area now?"

"As of yesterday morning, the 138th Russian Infantry Division, which is standing firm in this area, has about a thousand people left. Except for a few machine guns, there are no heavy weapons. But..." the three battalion commanders just started to hear There were only a thousand defenders, and they were still very calm, but when they heard Schmidt say "but", they couldn't help trembling, and they realized that something unexpected must have happened. Sure enough, they heard Schmidt say indignantly: "Just when we were about to launch another onslaught and completely take down the barricade factory, the Russians sent reinforcements to the factory area..."

"Your Excellency Chief of Staff, the Russians only have such a small piece of land in the factory. Even if they send reinforcements, they will not be able to save their fate." Major Weiman said carelessly: "Our battalion is confident that at noon Previously, the Russians entrenched in this narrow area were completely wiped out."

"Major Weimann, Brandt, the commander of the 577th Regiment, looked down on the enemy as much as you did yesterday." Schmidt said with a straight face: "Under the cover of assault guns, a battalion of his troops rushed towards the Russian-occupied area." Before they approached the area, they were hit by sudden artillery fire, and the entire army was almost wiped out."

"But, Chief of Staff, didn't you just say that the Russians standing guard in this area don't have any heavy weapons at all except a few machine guns." Hearing this, Weiman asked puzzledly: "Then what is their artillery?" Where did it come from?"

"Major, didn't you hear what I just said?" Seeing that Weiman kept interrupting himself, Schmidt said with some displeasure: "I'm talking about the strength of the Russians as of yesterday morning. The reinforcements came. It was the 41st Guards Division commanded by Sokov. I don’t know where they got the artillery, but they caught us by surprise.”

  Although the three engineer battalion commanders have not participated in the battles in the city in the past few months, they still know the name of Sokov very well. Knowing that Sokov's troops were also sticking to the factory area, they couldn't help but gasped.

Seeing their timidity, Schmidt smiled wryly to himself, and after assigning their respective combat areas to the three battalion commanders, he waved at them and said, "Okay, the task has been assigned, if you have no questions , let’s go back to our respective troops. The troops must be stationed at the barricade factory before ten o’clock in the morning.”

"Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, I have a question." Major Krüger, who had not spoken all this time, knew that if he did not ask, he might not have a chance to ask again, so he quickly asked, "Who is in command of us? Also, during the attack , Can you get support from artillery fire or tanks?"

"Your Excellency the Commander has already ordered that in order not to affect your combat effectiveness, after entering the barricade factory, you will fight alone as a battalion and will not be controlled by anyone. As for the artillery cover," Schmidt said here He paused for a moment, thought for a while, and then continued: "The 245th Assault Gun Battalion will assist you in launching an attack."

  (end of this chapter)