Chapter 913 Exhausted

  The two front armies of the Soviet Army joined forces at the Soviet farm in the Don River Basin, successfully cutting off the retreat of the German army, encircling Paulus's Sixth Army and Hoth's Fourth Panzer Army in the Stalingrad area.

After Volsky and Kravchenko met at the Soviet farm, they guessed that the German army would launch a frenzied counterattack in this area in order to open a retreat, so they ordered their respective troops to deploy on the spot and prepare for the German attack. . But until it got dark, the German army did not take any action, and seemed to turn a blind eye to the Soviet army's reunion.

Not only the senior commanders of the Soviet army were puzzled by this, but even the German commanders stationed nearby were equally confused. They did not understand why their superiors did not order a counterattack when the Russians cut off their retreat. Order, let yourself go to re-open the communication lines.

  In fact, the reason for this situation is very simple. For a whole day, Paulus and the members of his headquarters were on the road and had no intention of commanding the troops at all. After staying in the Gumrak area for a short time, Paulus felt that it was not safe here, and when he learned that another headquarters in Nizhny Chirskaya was ready, he ordered his headquarters to be moved to Nizhny Chirskaya. New headquarters on the river.

  After arriving at the new headquarters, Paulus immediately ordered Schmidt to contact his subordinate troops to find out what was going on outside. After making several phone calls, Schmidt reported to Paulus: "Your Excellency, the situation is not good for us today. The Russians have occupied Karachi, taken control of the Don Bridge, captured and destroyed the first The outpost airport of the 8th Air Force cut off the retreat of our army.

  However, in the north of Karachi, General Deboy's 44th Infantry Division still held on to the established position on the west bank of the Don River, resisting the crazy Russian attack. "

  Knowing that Karachi and the Don River Bridge were occupied by the Soviet army, Paulus's heart was half cold. But when he heard that the 44th Infantry Division was still holding its position on the west bank of the Don River, a glimmer of hope was ignited in his heart, and he asked quickly: "Chief of Staff, can the 44th Division stop the Russian attack?" According to his thinking, As long as this division can hold its position on the west bank of the Don River, it can attack back and forth with its own troops and break through the encirclement of the Russians.

Unexpectedly, Schmidt shook his head and said with a bitter face: "Your Excellency, their logistical supply lines have been completely cut off by the Russians, and they were attacked by the 4th and 4th Guards, which belonged to Batov's 65th Army." The 24th Infantry Division, General Deboy's 131st Regiment, has suffered more than half its casualties."

  Paulus quickly walked to the wall and looked up at the map on the wall. After watching for a while, he turned his head and said to Schmidt: "Immediately order the 384th Division to reinforce the 44th Division. Be sure to block the Russian attack."

   "Understood, Your Excellency Commander!" Schmidt nodded, and said respectfully: "I will immediately call the two division commanders and ask them to carry out your orders."

   "Also," just before Schmidt was about to leave the room, Paulus stopped him again: "send another telegram to Berlin, telling them our situation here, and asking for permission to retreat."

Hearing this order, Schmidt couldn't help showing a bit of bitterness on his face. Although he had obtained the withdrawal permission from Weicks, the commander of Army Group B two days ago, Paulus did not get the consent of Berlin. When executing the retreat order, the execution was not straightforward, otherwise the Russians would not have occupied Karachi so easily and cut off the retreat of the Army Group troops. But since Paulus emphasized this matter again at this moment, Schmidt could only agree with a wry smile: "I will send a telegram to Berlin immediately."

Schmidt returned to his room and asked the communications staff to send a report to the Supreme Command in Berlin, requesting permission to withdraw the troops of the Army Group from the Stalingrad area, and then called the commanders of the 44th and 384th divisions to send the security forces back. Luce's order was communicated to them. After finishing all this work, Schmidt sat in his seat with his head thrown back, leaning on the back of the chair and staring at the ceiling in a daze, thinking about how Berlin would respond to him.

  A combat staff officer came in, bowed slightly behind Schmidt, and reported: "Your Excellency Chief of Staff, General Pickett, the commander of the 9th Anti-aircraft Artillery Division, is outside. Do you want to see him?"

  Schmidt and Pickett once studied under the tactical expert Oswald at the General Staff Academy in Königsberg. They are both classmates and friends for many years. Now that he heard that his old friend was outside, he quickly sat up straight and ordered the staff: "Hurry up and invite General Pickett in!"

  When Pickett walked into the room, Schmidt stood up, walked around the desk to greet him, and said with a big smile, "Hello, Pickett, nice to meet you here."

   "Hello, Chief of Staff." Pickett reached out and shook Schmidt's hand, and said in a blunt tone: "But I don't want to see you here."

  Pickett's words confused Schmidt, and he asked in bewilderment: "Pickett, my old friend, why do you say that?"

"According to the information I have, the troops of Rokossovsky's Don Front Army are advancing here along the Lower Chir River." Pickett said with a wry smile: "I estimate that in two or three days at most, they will It can reach outside the city of Nizhny Kirskaya. At that time, your headquarters will have to be transferred again."

Pickett's words surprised Schmidt. After all, he and Paulus had just arrived at the new headquarters, and it was too late to understand many things, so that he had no idea about the news that the Soviet army was advancing along the Lower Chir River. Know. He couldn't help but asked in a panic: "Pickett, tell me, what should we do?"

   "If I were you," Pickett said with a serious expression, "I would get out of here quickly."

After thinking for a while, Schmidt nodded and said, "Pickett, you are right. If the Russian army is really advancing here, we should indeed move immediately, otherwise the headquarters will be in danger." middle."

  Seeing that his old friend followed his advice, Pickett nodded, and then asked: "Schmidt, what are your plans after the headquarters is transferred to a new area?"

"Come and see," Schmidt pushed the map on the table to Pickett, and said to him without hesitation, "I plan to build a solid line of defense on the west and south to protect the threatened areas of the group army." The rear. At the same time, we must gather our forces and prepare to break out to the southwest.”

"My old friend, please forgive me, your plan is very difficult." As Schmidt's friend, Pickett said bluntly: "What the troops lack now is fuel. Without fuel, our tanks The artillery and artillery tractors could not move at all, they could only be parked on the ground and became the target of Russian aircraft bombing."

   "You don't have to worry about this." Schmidt replied with some confidence: "We can ask the Air Force to deliver fuel for us. After all, there are many airports in the area under our control that can take off and land a large number of transport planes."

Pickett smiled bitterly again, and said to Schmidt: "My old friend, I have doubts about the capabilities of the Air Force. I don't think they can provide enough fuel supplies. In my opinion, we should organize troops to break through as soon as possible. Taking advantage of the fact that the Russian encirclement is not yet secure, we can rescue as many troops as possible from the Russian encirclement."

  The two were talking, and the communications staff came in from the outside, handed Schmidt a telegram, and said in his mouth: "Your Excellency Chief of Staff, this is a telegram sent by the Berlin Supreme Command through the Army Group Command."

Schmidt took only a few glances at the telegram, and was suddenly shocked. He looked up at Pickett and said, "Pickett, the Berlin side rejected our breakout request and ordered us to stay in the existing area and stick to it. Waiting for further orders. He stood up, held out his hand to Pickett, and said apologetically, "I need to report to His Excellency the Commander immediately, and I won't keep you. Good luck, I hope we can jump out of the Russian encirclement as soon as possible. "

  After sending Pickett away, Schmidt hurried to the room where Paulus was, and handed over the telegram he had just received. Paulus took the telegram and scanned it quickly. When he saw the place where he asked the troops to stay in place, his expression changed drastically; after reading all the content, he even fell down on his seat, as if all the strength in his body had been drained.

   "Your Excellency, Commander!" Schmidt asked cautiously: "The head of state has rejected your request to prepare to break out in the telegram. What should we do next?"

Paulus looked up at Schmidt standing in front of him, and replied with a wry smile: "What else can I do? Send another telegram to the Führer explaining our situation here, and ask for permission to take a breakout operation again. Chief of Staff, You record the telegram."

After Schmidt had pens and paper ready, Paulus began dictating the telegram to Hitler: "My Fuhrer, the situation here has deteriorated dramatically. The troops are running out of ammunition and fuel due to the inability to obtain adequate supplies. Many artillery and anti-tank weapons have run out of ammunition. The army group is in danger of being destroyed unless it can hit all the forces currently available and decisively defeat the Russians attacking from the south and west. This will require an immediate attack from Stalingrad. Withdraw all the troops, as well as the strong forces on the northern defense line, and then break out to the southwest....It is true that a large number of soldiers and equipment will be lost in doing so, but more valuable combat personnel and technical equipment can be preserved... Given the current situation, I reiterate my request for freedom of movement."

  After Schmidt recorded Paulus' telegram, he reported to him what Pickett had just said, and finally asked for instructions: "Your Excellency, Commander, what should we do?"

Knowing that Nizhny Kirskaya, where he was, might be attacked by the Soviet army, Paulus seemed a little flustered, but he still forced himself to say calmly: "Chief of staff, as soon as the message to the head of state is sent, the headquarters will Immediately carry out the transfer. In order to prevent the troops from losing a unified command and falling into chaos, we have no right to put the headquarters in danger."

  Heard Paulus said that the headquarters would be transferred, Schmidt breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked cautiously, "Where should we transfer?"

   "Gumrak area." Paulus said hastily: "Transfer our headquarters to the Gumrak area immediately."

"However, Your Excellency Commander." When Schmidt learned that Paulus was going to transfer the headquarters back to the Gumrak area that he had just left this morning, he couldn't help being taken aback, and quickly reminded Paulus kindly: "We just left there this morning. what?"

"I know." Paulus nodded and said, "But there is a ready-made headquarters there, as soon as we move there, it can be put into use immediately. All right, don't dawdle, send a telegram to the head of state immediately, and by the way Arrange for someone to prepare for the transfer."

Considering that when Paulus moved from Glubinskaya to the Gumrak area last time, in order to prevent the Soviet scouts from discovering his whereabouts, Paulus had used suspicious tactics to confuse the Soviet scouts. Then he asked tentatively: "Do you need to send suspicious soldiers again to divert the attention of the Russians?"

"No need," Paulus waved his hand, denying Schmidt's proposal: "Even if we set up a fake headquarters to attract the attention of the Russians, as long as the real headquarters communicates with the outside world, Russia will The human telecommunications interception department can still accurately determine the exact location of our headquarters based on the density of radio signals."

   As soon as the telegram to Berlin was sent, the German army headquarters in Nizhny Chirskaya began to move. Because all the communication equipment was dismantled, Paulus did not get the information that the two Soviet fronts were meeting at the Soviet farm in the first place. As the commander of the group army, if he doesn't understand the changes in the battlefield situation, he will naturally not give any orders to his troops, so that the German troops stationed near the Soviet farm can only watch helplessly. A region calmly builds defenses.

  By the time Paulus reached the Gumrak area, it was already dark. As soon as he turned on the communication, he learned the bad news about the reunion of the two front armies of the Soviet army. Before he could give any order, the radio station received a telegram from Berlin. Hitler ordered in a strong tone in the message: stay in the Stalingrad area, establish an encirclement line of defense, and at the same time, immediately withdraw all troops thrown on the west bank of the Don River into the encirclement area, and hold the existing area at all costs. Supplies for the troops will be provided by airlift from the Air Force.

   Seeing Hitler's telegram, Paulus was dumbfounded. He knew very well in his heart that the troops remaining on the west bank of the Don River could still somewhat restrain the Russians, preventing them from concentrating all their forces on their own siege. But once these troops are withdrawn into the encirclement, they will be attacked by the Russians from all directions, and their own troops will be in danger.

   "Your Excellency, Commander," seeing Paulus holding the telegram in a daze, Schmidt quickly asked for instructions: "What should we do next?"

Paulus looked up at Schmidt and said with a wry smile: "Since the order was issued by the head of state, we can only carry it out unconditionally. You immediately notify all the troops to stop the transfer and return to the original defensive area. At the same time, Then order all the troops on the west bank of the Don River to withdraw across the Don River, rush over to join the headquarters, and build a solid line of defense in the Stalingrad area."

Knowing that this was an order to send him to death, but seeing that Paulus had succumbed, Schmidt knew that it was useless to say anything else, so he could only slightly nodded and said with a wry smile: "Yes, Your Excellency, Commander. I will send you to the hospital immediately." The order was communicated to the troops."

  (end of this chapter)