Chapter 876 Preparations for war

  Chuikov covered the microphone with his hands, and looked up at Krylov who was standing opposite him: "Chief of Staff, that bazooka that Colonel Sokov gave us two days ago..."

   Seeing that Chuikov couldn't remember the correct name of the rocket launcher, Krylov reminded him: "Bazooka rocket launcher."

   "That's right, that's the bazooka." Chuikov nodded and asked, "Have the guard battalion soldiers learned how to use it?"

   "If you use the steps, you have learned it." Krylov heard Chuikov's question, and replied with some embarrassment: "But none of them have fired live ammunition, and they don't know if they will be useful on the battlefield."

Seeing that Krylov had guessed his intentions, Chuikov stopped explaining, but directly ordered: "Chief of Staff, immediately call Major Gladshev and ask him to draw fifty soldiers from the guard battalion. , carrying the bazooka to the Dzerzhinsky factory to reinforce the 37th Guards Division of General Joludev."

"Comrade Commander," Krylov worried that the soldiers were not familiar with how to use the bazooka, and if they were sent to the battlefield in a hurry, they would not play any role, so he reminded Chuikov again: "They have not been fired with live ammunition, even if they are sent On the battlefield, I'm afraid it won't play much role."

"Aren't there still a few American instructors?" Chuikov said in a stern tone: "Let them rush to the Dzerzhinsky factory with the soldiers of the guard battalion. Time is running out. Let them teach our soldiers on the battlefield. Use this weapon."

   Out of respect for the American instructors, Chuikov sent his adjutant, Captain Klimov, and ordered him to lead the detachment to the Dzerzhinsky factory, and told him to ensure the safety of the American instructors.

After arranging the reinforcement task, Chuikov let go of his hand covering the microphone, and said to Joludev: "General Zolludev, I have sent you a small team, and they carry new individual anti-tank weapons. With their assistance, I believe you will be more confident in holding the existing defensive areas."

   "Great, this is really great." Knowing that the troops who came for reinforcements carried new-style individual anti-tank weapons, Zollujev couldn't help being overjoyed. Long before the military meeting was held, he knew that Sokov's troops were equipped with new anti-tank weapons, and he had called Chuikov once. He wanted to obtain such weapons, but Chuikov refused without hesitation. After a brief moment of excitement, he wondered why Chuikov had become so generous, and asked curiously, "Comrade Commander, did your superiors send this new type of weapon to the city again?"

"No." Chuikov replied very simply: "These anti-tank weapons originally belonged to the 41st Guards Division, but Colonel Sokov, the commander of the division, considered that other units also had anti-tank needs, so he handed over some of the rocket launchers to me. I assign them to troops in need as appropriate."

   Knowing that his anti-tank weapon was actually provided by Sokov, Zoludev was still very moved. He said into the microphone: "Comrade Commander, please convey our thanks to Colonel Sokov..."

"I see, General Zholudev." Chuikov said into the microphone: "You have to remember that you are not fighting alone. If you have difficulties, you can ask Colonel Sokolov's 45th Infantry Division for help. You helped."

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." Zolludev replied solemnly: "Please rest assured, as long as we have one soldier alive, we will definitely be able to hold the position."

  ...

Sidolin, who was staying at Mamayev Post, called his old colleague at the headquarters when it was almost noon. After learning about the fighting in the city, he reported to Sokov: "Comrade commander , Your judgment is very accurate, the enemy really launched an attack on the factory area. Not only did the fighting take place in the barricade factory, but the fighting in the Dzerzhinsky factory was also fierce."

Seeing that everything was within his expectations, Sokov nodded slightly, and said with a smile: "Since the factory area has been attacked by the enemy, it proves that I won the bet between me and the commander. strike back at the enemy."

  Knowing that the troops do not need to launch a counterattack against the enemy today, Ivanov also breathed a sigh of relief. He tentatively asked, "Comrade Commander, when do you plan to launch a counterattack against the enemy?"

"Don't worry, Comrade Deputy Division Commander." Sokov stood up, pointed to the map on the table, and said to everyone: "According to my judgment, after our Stalingrad Front goes into counter-offensive tomorrow, the forces of the three major fronts will The troops will join forces as quickly as possible and encircle Paulus' 6th Army in the Stalingrad area."

"Siege the Germans in the Stalingrad area?" Hearing Sokov's words, Ivanov shook his head with a wry smile: "Comrade Commander, you are too optimistic. Even if we dispatch three front troops However, they are distributed in such a vast area, and the combat troops in each area are still very limited. With the mobility of the Germans, they can completely rush out of the gaps in our defense lines."

  Sidolin didn't speak, but stared at the map for a while, then raised his head and asked Sokov: "Comrade commander, where do you think the meeting place of our three front armies might be?"

"Here, Karachi!" Sokov pointed to that important location with his finger, and said to the three of them: "There is a bridge over the Don River here. As long as our troops occupy this place, it will cut off the enemy's retreat route. Ten thousand enemies will be surrounded by our army in the Stalingrad area."

"Karachi, Karachi!" After repeating the place name twice, Ivanov asked Sokov with a frown: "Comrade Commander, since we can all think that after the troops join forces here, we can cut off the enemy's retreat. People should also think about this problem. If they send heavy troops to this area, it may not be easy for our army to break through their defenses."

  Sokov knew that Karachi was a key position to encircle the German army. If it wasn’t too far away from Mamayev Post, and there were several German lines of defense blocking the way, he would have personally led an army to capture it and make great achievements. He sighed softly and said: "Judging from the reaction of the German army in the city today, they didn't realize that our army's counterattack was a well-prepared attack. They thought it was just to contain their strength so that they could not concentrate their forces to attack. A local offensive in the city. Under such circumstances, they don't even realize that their retreat may be cut off by our army."

"The enemy is entrenched on both sides of the Don River, and our army's attack area is on the left bank of the Don River." Anisimov said with a solemn expression: "Even if the river is frozen, we will seize the enemy's position on the right bank." , I am afraid it is also very difficult. The enemy standing on the cliff will cause huge casualties to our attacking troops."

"The political commissar is right." Ivanov once led troops to fight in the Don River Basin, and he is familiar with the terrain there: "The right bank is full of cliffs. In such bad weather, even if there are no enemy defenses on it, our soldiers It’s also difficult to climb up.”

"The only way is to send someone to dig holes in the cliff, and then plant explosives to blow up a passage." Sidolin said thoughtfully: "In this way, not only our infantry can go up, but even tanks can go up in some flat areas." They can all go up."

Sokov thought to himself that if he wanted to quickly break through the frontal German defense line, he might need the cooperation of tank troops, but now there are only a few T-34s provided to him by the factory manager Peter in the workers' new village. For tanks, it may be enough to be a turret for defense, but it is far from enough for offense.

Thinking of this, Sokov asked Sidolin: "Chief of Staff, if we want to counterattack, I am afraid we will need a large number of tanks. Now we only have a few T-34s in our hands to cover the troops' attack, and the number may still be too large." Less."

   "Then what should we do?" Sidolin knew the order from his superiors and would not replenish troops and technical equipment to the troops in the city before the big counteroffensive began. In other words, everything could only be done by himself. As for the infantry of the four battalions, it was an accident. It was completely given by Yeremenko and Khrushchev for the sake of Sokov. . So after hearing the difficulties Sokov raised, he tentatively asked, "Ask for help from the Army Command or the Front Army Command?"

  Sokov wanted to call Yeremenko or Khrushchev directly and ask them to send him one or two tank battalions to help him launch a counterattack against the enemy in front. However, considering that this method of passing Chuikov and directly submitting a request to the higher-level command organization would cause unnecessary trouble for himself, he decided to follow the procedure: "In my opinion, it is better to ask for help from the Army Command and ask for help. We send tanks. If Army Group cannot provide us with tanks, it may be more appropriate for Commander Chuikov to make a request to the Front Command."

   "I agree with you, Comrade Commander." Sidolin waited for Sokov to finish speaking, then nodded vigorously, and continued: "I will call the commander later and convey our request to him."

  As soon as Sidolin finished speaking, the phone on the desk rang. He picked up the microphone and heard Chuikov's voice from inside: "I'm Chuikov, is Colonel Sokov here?"

   "Comrade Commander, this is Sokov." Sokov heard that Chuikov was looking for him, and quickly took the microphone in Sidolin's hand. He knew that Chuikov had already lost the bet with him, and the call at this time was definitely not to urge him to send troops, but for other things, so he asked respectfully, "What instructions do you have?"

"Colonel Sokov, you guessed right." Chuikov said with difficulty: "The enemy has indeed launched an attack on the Barricade Factory and the Dzerzhinsky Factory, and the attack is not weak. An attitude of not giving up."

Hearing what Chuikov said, Sokov felt uneasy. He was afraid that Chuikov would order him to mobilize troops to reinforce the barricade factory or the Dzerzhinsky factory, which would completely disrupt his counterattack. Therefore, he hesitated and said: "Comrade commander, our division will choose the right time to launch a counterattack against the enemy. If you transfer my troops away at this time, I am afraid that the counterattack plan will have to be postponed or run aground. .”

"Don't worry, Colonel Sokov." Chuikov knew what Sokov was worried about, so he comforted him and said, "I'm calling you, not to draw troops from you, but to tell you something else. thing."

  As long as the troops are not drawn from himself, other things are indifferent to Sokov. After he breathed a sigh of relief, he asked carelessly, "Comrade Commander, what's the matter?"

"The bazookas you handed over to the army headquarters, I have all equipped them with the 37th Guards Division of General Joludev." Chuikov said on the other end of the phone: "In the battle that just ended, our commanders and fighters With this bazooka, six enemy tanks and one assault gun were eliminated."

   "The result is not bad." Sokov only handed over five bazooka rocket launchers to Chuikov at that time, but he did not expect to achieve such a result when they were used for the first time in the Dzerzhinsky factory. Thinking that his subordinates had been training for a long time before they mastered the use of this weapon, and the commanders and fighters of the Guards under Ruolujev were able to learn how to use the bazooka so quickly, which is really amazing: "Also, if The Guards soldiers under General Lujev are really amazing, they have learned how to use the bazooka in such a short period of time."

"You are mistaken, Colonel Sokov." Chuikov interrupted Sokov and said to him, "The people who use these weapons are not General Zholudev's subordinates, but I have drawn them from the guard battalion. Personnel. Since you handed over the bazooka, I have let them learn how to use this anti-tank weapon. When I went to reinforce the Dzerzhinsky factory today, I was still worried that these soldiers were not proficient in using it, so I specially ordered Klimov to bring it Those American instructors. Our soldiers, under the guidance of these American instructors, successfully wiped out the enemy's tanks and assault guns."

Sokov heard Chuikov emphatically mentioning the bazooka, and the ominous premonition in his heart became more and more obvious. He said with some anxiety: "Comrade commander, I know the power of the bazooka very well. I want to ask, please call me , what's the matter?"

"That's right. Since this bazooka is so effective against tanks, I want to discuss it with you." Cuikov said here, his tone became a little hesitant: "Can you send a few more bazookas and send someone to support the infantry? 45th Division, assist them in anti-tank operations?"

   "..."

After Chuikov finished speaking, he heard Sokov's silence and realized that the other party might be reluctant, and added: "Colonel Sokov, you know, the 45th Infantry Division is now in charge of most of the Dzerzhinsky factory. But because they lack enough anti-tank weapons, in order to destroy the enemy’s tanks, the soldiers strapped cluster grenades on their bodies, rushed to the enemy’s tanks, ignited the grenades, and died together with the enemy’s tanks.”

Speaking of this, Chuikov's tone became serious: "Because no tank is followed by German infantry, we sometimes have to sacrifice the lives of more than a dozen soldiers to blow up an enemy tank or assault gun. If there is With long-range anti-tank weapons like bazookas, we can minimize casualties."

  (end of this chapter)