Chapter 968 The attack begins

  After Sokov's intensive deployment, each division entered its attack position.

  The night before the offensive began, Sokov called all the regimental commanders in the combat group to a meeting at the division headquarters on Mamayev Hill.

  All the commanders who saw the notification had arrived. Sidolin stood up and said to everyone: "Commanders, please be quiet, we have a meeting below."

After no one in the room spoke, Sidolin continued: "According to the order of the superior, our combat group will launch an attack on the central area occupied by the German army. The attacking force is divided into two groups, and it is Merku who is responsible for the right attack. The 67th Guards Division under the command of Colonel Love, and an artillery regiment. Their mission is to attack the Central Station. According to our reconnaissance, the German 297th Infantry under the command of Major General Moritz von Drebel is standing at the station division.

   The 23rd Infantry Division, the 321st Infantry Division and the 41st Guards Division are responsible for the left attack. With the cooperation of two tank brigades and an artillery regiment, they will take down the heavily fortified department store of the German army. "

  As soon as Sidolin said this, Colonel Sivakov raised his right hand high. Sidolin pointed at him with his hand, and asked slightly dissatisfied: "Colonel Sivakov, I am assigning tasks, do you have any questions?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sivakov stood up from his seat and asked Sidolin; "I want to ask, the main attack direction we chose was at the Central Railway Station. But now, only Mel Colonel Kurov's Guards Division attacked the station, while the rest of the troops were diverted in other directions."

  Hearing Sivakov's questioning, Sidolin quickly cast a look at Sokov for help. Seeing Sokov nodding slightly at himself, indicating that he can say whatever he wants, he suddenly gained confidence: "Colonel Sivakov, according to our recent reconnaissance, the German headquarters may have been transferred to the department store, so we In terms of troop deployment, corresponding adjustments have been made. Is there anything wrong with doing this?"

  Since Sidolin has said that the enemy's headquarters may be transferred, and his troops are in the main direction of attack, Sivakov will naturally not say anything more, and he just sat down.

"Our offensive method is different from the offensive method that everyone is familiar with." Sidolin felt that the offensive method this time was based on the common method of attack of his own troops, so he vaccinated all the division commanders and regimental leaders: " Before we attack, there will be no artillery preparation, but the infantry will directly attack the area occupied by the enemy."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Colonel Merkulov, who rushed to speak this time, frowned and asked, "Will it cause us to rashly order the infantry to attack the area occupied by the enemy without artillery preparation? A large number of casualties of military commanders and fighters?"

"Don't worry, Comrade Colonel, what you are worried about will not happen." Sokov stood up, raised his right hand and pressed down, motioning Merkulov to sit down, and said in a calm tone: "Our army is here Before the attack, the tactics of artillery preparation have been familiar to the Germans, and they have mastered the corresponding countermeasures. Every time the cannon fired, the cunning Germans withdrew to the second line of defense. When our shelling was over, the infantry began to charge At that time, they returned from the second line of defense in hiding to repel the attack of our army.

  The reason why I don't prepare for artillery fire is that I don't want to waste precious shells. Of course, our artillery does not prepare for artillery fire before attacking, which does not mean that they do not participate in the battle. I think everyone should have noticed that all artillery positions are very close to the front line, and the artillery commander can directly see the target to be attacked.

  The purpose of my doing this is to put bayonets on the cannons, use the method of close-in shooting, destroy the enemy's firepower points with direct-pointing artillery fire, and cover our infantry to attack. "After listening to Sokov's explanation, everyone finally understood his intentions, and a dazed look appeared on their faces.

   "Chief of Staff, go ahead." Sokov said briefly, sat down again, and handed over the next speech to Sidolin.

"To tell you the truth, the terrain of the central railway station that we want to seize first is very complicated." Sidolin walked to the wall, pointed to the map with a explaining stick and introduced to everyone: "In order to seize the station, the enemy and us have fought for a long time. In the tug-of-war, almost all the buildings in the station were turned into ruins. The enemy’s fortifications, so in these ruins, our scouts could not find where there were pure ruins and where there were camouflaged firepower points of the German army.”

Speaking of this, Sidolin pointed at Merkulov with the explaining stick: "Colonel Merkulov, when you attack, you can't just go fast on the map, but fight steadily, and destroy every firepower point you find. If the infantry cannot solve the firepower points, use the radio to contact the artillery deployed in the rear, and use direct shooting to destroy those firepower points one by one."

"The chief of staff talked a lot." Ivanov waited for Sidolin to finish, then stood up and added: "Of course, the sooner the battle starts, the better the enemy's position can be captured, but you can't just blindly map quickly. As a result, our attacking troops suffered too many casualties. If we want to occupy one place, we must consolidate one place and keep it firmly in our hands. Even if the enemy launches a counterattack, they will never want to take it again."

  After assigning the tasks of each division, Sidolin asked habitually, "Do you have any questions?"

   "Comrade Chief of Staff," Sivakov raised his hand again: "I would like to ask, why is the main task of my 23rd Infantry Division standing firm?"

"It's very simple, Comrade Colonel." Sidolin said confidently: "Because none of us can guarantee that the attack we launched will be successful. Once our attack across the board is frustrated and the enemy launches a counterattack, then we will use What kind of troops will stop them?

   Therefore, the task of your division is very difficult. As long as you can ensure the safety of the rear of my attacking troops, you will have a part-time job. do you understand? "

   "Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sivakov replied loudly: "I understand everything this time."

  The meeting ended, and the commanders who participated in the meeting dispersed one after another. Belkin, who stayed behind, asked Sokov curiously: "Misha, why did you announce at the meeting that the enemy's headquarters might have been transferred to the department store?"

"Comrade my political commissar." Since it was a private occasion, Sokov spoke more casually: "At this time, even if the news spreads that Paulus's headquarters is in the department store, it is impossible for other troops to come Joined the battle. And I concentrated three infantry divisions, two tank brigades and an artillery regiment to attack the department store. Before our attack fails, I don’t think the superiors will send troops to replace us.”

  Belkin was also worried about the strong attack of other friendly forces. After listening to Sokov's explanation, he felt more at ease. He nodded repeatedly and said, "Misha, it's because you are thoughtful. We have all deployed. Even if the superiors know the truth, they will be replaced by other troops to attack, and the time will not be able to keep up."

  Before Belkin left, Cuikov called and asked: "Colonel Sokov, I heard that you are holding a military meeting. How is it? What do you think?"

   "No, Comrade Commander, I don't have any opinions." Sokov replied: "Everyone said that they must resolutely obey my orders."

"They are all willing to obey your orders. That's really great." After a compliment, Chuikov emphasized, "Colonel Sukov, the troops you command now are more than I can use. Therefore, , you must not let me down, otherwise your cluster commander will be exhausted."

  ...

   As soon as it was dawn the next day, Merkulov's 67th Guards Division launched an attack.

  Before dawn, many guard soldiers were lurking in the ruins not far from the German positions. As soon as they saw the three red flares rising into the air, they immediately knew that the attack had begun. They came out of their hiding places one after another, held their weapons, bent over, and cautiously moved towards the area occupied by the enemy.

   It may be that there was no artillery preparation before the attack, and they successfully confused the enemy. They never imagined that the Soviet army would suddenly attack their own position without artillery preparation, and they were caught off guard.

   Standing in the observation post, Sokov saw through the binoculars that the soldiers jumped into the trenches blocked by the ruins and engaged in close combat with the enemy with bayonets and grenades. Since most of the enemies were not prepared at all, they suddenly heard gunshots and explosions outside, and hesitated for a while before realizing that it was the Soviet army that had launched an attack.

  A German battalion commander heard his subordinates report to him that the Soviet army had launched an attack on the train station. He also thought that the other party was lying about the military situation, so he couldn't help but scolded the other party. Unexpectedly, as soon as he put down the phone, an officer with a bandage on his head rushed in and reported to the battalion commander: "Battlemaster, the Russians have broken into our position and are engaged in hand-to-hand combat with our officers and soldiers." .”

  The commander of the German battalion immediately yelled after hearing this: "Hold it, hold it up firmly, I will call the regiment commander right away, and ask him to send troops to reinforce us immediately."

  The commander of the German battalion called the head of the regiment and reported to him the fighting that took place outside the station. But the regiment was being attacked by Soviet troops from several directions, and there was no way to deploy troops for reinforcements. Therefore, the regiment leader could only shout into the microphone in vain: "Hold on, I order you to keep an eye on me. As long as If you firmly hold your position, there will be a solution.”

  The head of the group is very clear that this kind of unnutritious order is useless even if it is passed down. Therefore, after he issued the order, he immediately ordered the transfer of the regiment command. He wanted to hide in a safe place and continue to command the battle.

  According to Sokov's thinking, since the railway station was the focus of contention between the two sides, today's attack is bound to meet with tenacious resistance from the German army. However, within a quarter of an hour of the battle, the assault troops successfully broke through the outer positions of the German army and rushed into the ruined ticket and waiting halls. The artillery deployed behind did not even have a chance to fire.

   "Comrade Commander," Merkulov said excitedly after seeing this scene, "I really didn't expect the enemy to be so vulnerable."

  Seeing the troops rushing into the station hall so quickly, Sokov's first reaction was to think to himself: "Could it be that the defenders guarding the station are not the Germans, but the Romanian army or the Italian army who cheated their teammates?"

  He put down the binoculars, turned to Merkulov and said: "Comrade Colonel, get in touch with the commander in front and ask the enemy who is fighting with them, are they Germans, Romanians or Italians?"

   "Understood." Merkulov agreed, walked to the middle and picked up the phone on the table, ordered the communication to connect to the front-line commander, and repeated Sokov's question.

   Soon, the answer came back. Merkulov was stunned when he heard this answer. He came to Sokov's side and replied with some embarrassment: "Comrade Commander, I have verified. The enemy standing outside the station is indeed the German army and a small number of Hungarian troops."

   "Strange, why did the enemy's combat power suddenly become so weak?" Sokov said to himself, "Could it be that the enemy no longer wants to continue fighting?"

   "I don't think so." Merkulov shook his head and said, "I think there may be other reasons."

   "Any other reason?" Ivanov, who was watching the excitement, retorted when he heard Merkulov say this: "Comrade Colonel, tell me, what is the other reason?"

   "I'm sorry, I couldn't think of it for a while." Merkulov said with some embarrassment: "Anyway, judging from the performance of the Germans just now, it is indeed a big failure."

"You don't need to guess, I have already guessed the answer." Sokov said confidently: "Due to the fact that the supply of the German army has become more and more difficult during this period, it is estimated that many soldiers simply cannot eat enough, so they will not have the strength to fight. On one side are our well-fed and high-moralized soldiers; on the other side are the Germans who are demoralized, resisting, and have no food or clothing. Such a one-sided battle is nothing more than normal.”

"It makes sense, it makes sense." After listening to Sokov's analysis, Merkulov thought about it for a while, and found it very reasonable, and quickly echoed: "I think we can solve the problem at the station in less than an hour." fighting."

"Comrade Colonel, don't underestimate the enemy." Seeing that Merkulov was getting carried away, Sokov quickly reminded him: "The enemy today is like a wounded beast, but the more wounded the beast, the more powerful it is at biting people. "

  Before Sokov finished speaking, everyone heard a series of explosions from the ruins of the ticket hall in the distance, and black smoke billowed up in groups.

"Oops." Merkulov was a little dumbfounded when he saw the rising gunpowder smoke and heard the constant loud explosions: "Comrade Commander, it seems that the enemy has set up some kind of ambush in the hall, so that we Soldiers rushing in will suffer."

   "In my opinion, the enemy may have planted mines and explosives in the hall and saw our soldiers rushing into the hall, so they detonated the mines and explosives, causing us huge casualties."

   "Comrade Colonel," Sokov said to Merkulov: "Let the troops withdraw first and regroup before launching a new attack on the station."

  (end of this chapter)