Chapter 976 is within easy reach

   "Comrades, commanders," Sokov asked puzzledly when he saw the melancholy expressions on his subordinates' faces, "I want to ask, what are you worried about?"

"Comrade Commander, didn't you hear just now that Hitler promoted Paulus to Field Marshal?" Makarenko smiled wryly: "Germany has never had a Field Marshal captured, which means that Paulus is completely cut off." Without the idea of ​​surrendering, he can only fight us to the death."

"You can't say that." In order to restore the confidence of his subordinates, Sokov said with a smile: "Germany may not have captured a head of state before, but we can set this precedent. As long as Paulus is captured alive, it will break the German regime." Has there ever been a practice of marshals being captured? Do you think this is the case?"

It took everyone a few minutes to digest what Sokov said, and then they all nodded and said in a hurry: "Comrade Commander is right, the German Marshal was indeed not captured before. But as long as we capture him alive By killing Paulus, we broke this German practice."

Seeing the confidence restored on everyone's faces, Sokov felt very relieved. He nodded and said, "Let's put the matter of Paulus aside and continue discussing how to deal with the German troops deployed in the department store." Artillery. That guy is too much of a threat to our attacking force."

  As soon as Sokov reminded everyone, everyone immediately thought of the annoying artillery in the building, and their emotions inevitably fell down. In the end, it was Sidolin who said: "Comrade commander, you have many ways, and it is up to you to tell everyone how to deal with the artillery deployed by the Germans in the building."

"I have been to the department store many times, and I know the architectural structure there quite well." Since Sidolin asked himself to give advice to everyone, Sokov was not hypocritical, stood up and said: "The whole building of the department store They are all made of stone, which can completely withstand the bombardment of 76.2 mm caliber artillery, and the second floor is the strongest floor of the whole building. If the Germans deploy artillery on this floor, it is very difficult to destroy them with artillery. difficult.

   So, I have an idea, which is to push our tanks to a position about 300 meters away from the building. At such a distance, the German anti-tank fighters cannot get close to the tanks, and the artillery deployed in the building, in order to deal with our infantry, cannot be equipped with many armor-piercing shells..."

"I understand." Bely, who had been sitting in the crowd without speaking, suddenly realized when he heard this: "As long as our tanks stop at a position of about 300 meters and aim at the artillery in the building to bombard, we can suppress the enemy. artillery and machine gun fire to cover our infantry attack."

"Colonel Bely is right, that's what I want to express," Sokov continued seeing that Bely had grasped his intentions: "Since the tanks of the tank brigade are responsible for dealing with the enemy artillery in the building, it is necessary to destroy The task of the enemy's peripheral firepower points must be handed over to the artillery, and they will follow the infantry forward, get as close to the building as possible, destroy the firepower points that threaten our army, and cover the infantry's attack."

  After listening to Sokov's tactic, Sivakov felt that there was nothing unusual about it, so he couldn't help muttering: "This tactic is also very common, can it break through the enemy's defense line?"

"Colonel Sivakov," Major General Makarenko approached Sivakov, and asked in a low voice, "You and Sokov are both colonels, but why can he command a combat group while you can only command one?" Where's the teacher?"

  Sivakov was stopped by this question. He groaned for a long time without saying a word. Makarenko continued: "Since his method is very simple and there is nothing unusual about it, why can't you think of it?"

   Makarenko's criticism made Sivakov flush with shame, and he wanted to find a crack in the ground immediately.

   "Commanders, commanders," Sokov glanced at everyone once again after deploying the mission, and asked habitually, "Are there any questions?"

   "Comrade Commander, I have a question." Hearing what Sokov said, Sivakov quickly stood up from his seat, raised his hand and said, "I want to ask a question."

   "Ask, Colonel Sivakov." Sokov said reasonably, "If you have any questions, just ask, and the Chief of Staff and I will give you a satisfactory answer."

   "Our division paid a high price during the daytime attack, and its strength should be considered the least among the three divisions." Sivakov asked a little embarrassedly: "I wonder if we can add some troops."

   "Colonel Sivakov," Sidolin said before Sokov could speak: "Now all the troops are used to attack the department store, so there is no extra troops for you."

"But our division has too few troops," Sivakov continued to complain, "Insufficient troops will greatly reduce the ability to attack fortifications. I'm afraid that the commanders and fighters of other divisions have already rushed into the department store. I'm afraid we haven't gotten close yet." .”

Sidolin was about to say a few more words, but Sokov raised his hand to stop him: "Colonel Sivakov, before the attack tomorrow, I can give you a regiment of troops. But if you still can't fight with me after you get the supplement What if the other divisions rushed into the department store at the same time?"

  Sokov's words stopped Sivakov, his face was flushed red, and he didn't know how to answer for a while. Fortunately, Lieutenant Colonel Yegorov, the political commissar of his division, rescued him in time. He straightened his body and said to Sokov: "Don't worry, Comrade Commander, if we can't rush into the building at the same time as the commanders and fighters of other divisions, you Just remove us from our posts."

   Regarding Yegorov's rhetoric, Sokov just smiled faintly, thinking to himself: Even if I want to dismiss you, I don't have the right. He quickly changed the subject and asked the rest of the commanders: "Do the other comrades have any questions?"

   "No." The commanders sitting below replied in unison.

   "Since there is no problem, let's adjourn the meeting."

  The other commanders left, only Ivanov and Bely stayed. Seeing that everyone had almost left, Bely asked with some concern: "Misha, I am worried that bombarding the building at close range may cause the building to collapse. If Paulus is killed, then the work we have done in the early stage , isn’t it all for nothing?”

   "Don't worry, Colonel Bely." Sokov picked up the cigarette case on the table, took out a few cigarettes, and handed them to Ivanov, Bely, and Sidolin in turn. As soon as he had the cigarette in his mouth, Sidolin struck a match and lit it for him. After taking a breath, he said to Bely: "The basement is very strong and strong. Even if the whole building collapses, it will not pose much threat to the people inside."

   "But if the exit is blocked by the collapsed masonry, we won't be able to find the location of Paulus's headquarters."

   "There will be a way." Sokov said this, and then asked Bely: "Colonel Bely, how many tanks and self-propelled artillery do you have?"

   "There are 31 tanks and 5 self-propelled artillery." Bely replied with a wry smile, "This is all my belongings. If I lose some, I will become a poor commander."

"Colonel Bely, when you bombard the department store tomorrow, don't let the self-propelled artillery participate." Sokov said: "Their armor protection capabilities are far inferior to our tanks. Let the self-propelled artillery stay behind. Maybe it won't be long before they'll come in handy again."

   Regarding Sokov's order, Bely nodded and replied: "Understood, I will leave the self-propelled artillery, let them stop in the ruins, and destroy those firepower points that pose a great threat to our army."

  ...

  The next day was just dawn, and the attack on the department store began again.

  The Sivakov division, which was in charge of the right-wing attack, ordered the reconnaissance personnel to release smoke on the way forward in order to prevent the troops from being precisely hit by German artillery fire as they advanced forward. It's better now, the enemy can't see it, and the Soviet army can't see it either, and the whole offensive is in chaos.

After receiving the report, Sokov hurried to the top of the slope, raised his binoculars and looked towards the battle area. From time to time, fireballs or black smoke rose from the middle and left wings, while the right wing in charge of the Sivakov division was shrouded in the In a gray-white smoke.

"Nonsense, it's nonsense." Sokov returned to his command post, immediately called Sivakov, and asked sharply: "Colonel Sivakov, what are you doing, why are you in your position?" up, releasing so much smoke."

"Comrade Commander," Sivakov said with a sad face, "in order to block the sight of the German artillery and machine gunners, I ordered people to release a lot of smoke on the position. But I didn't expect that after the smoke was released, there would be a little wind. None, and our entire region, as a result, is blanketed in smoke."

   "Do you have any ideas?" Sokov asked coldly.

   "Is there any other way." Sivakov replied listlessly: "We can only wait for the fog to clear before letting the infantry attack."

"If the smoke doesn't disperse for an hour, do you not attack for an hour; if it doesn't disperse for two hours, you just wait for two hours?" Facing Sivakov's negative emotions, Sokov was very angry Said: "Although the visibility in the smoke is low, as long as you know the general direction, you can sneak into the enemy's position. After the smoke clears, you can catch the enemy by surprise.

  In addition, tanks are not affected by smoke. As long as they are close to the department store, they can aim at the pre-set target and bombard the enemy. "

   "Okay, Comrade Commander." Seeing Sokov speaking so confidently, Sivakov could only say helplessly: "I will follow the method you said and let the tanks and infantry attack in the smoke."

   Seeing Sokov put down the phone, Sidolin asked worriedly: "Comrade commander, is it too risky to attack in the smoke?"

"Yes, the visibility in the smoke is indeed very low." Sokov said: "But we can't see clearly, and the enemy can't see clearly either. We have to take advantage of the opportunity when they can't observe, and approach the department store in a sneaky way." , As soon as the smoke clears, the assault will be carried out immediately."

Malinin called again and said to Sokov: "Colonel Sokov, Comrade Commander will return from Moscow tomorrow morning. He will stay at the headquarters and wait for your good news. I hope that your performance will not disappoint you." his expectations."

   "Comrade Chief of Staff, please rest assured." Sokov expressed his determination to Malinin and said, "We will definitely take down the department store and capture Paulus alive."

  As soon as he heard Paulus's name, Malinin couldn't help asking again: "Colonel Sokov, are you really sure that Paulus is hiding in the basement of the department store?"

   "It's absolutely certain." Sokov said calmly: "And he has nowhere to go, just waiting for us to capture him alive."

   "Very well, if you can really capture Paulus alive, I will join hands with Comrade Commander to claim credit for you." Ma Linin said on the phone: "I hope you don't make us happy for nothing."

  After receiving Sokov's order, Sivakov asked the vanguard, which was the main attacker, to follow the tank and slowly approach the enemy's position. The German troops gathered in the trenches heard the roar of tank engines and the slogan "Ulla" coming from the smoke ahead. They couldn't see where the attacking Soviet army was at any time, but they still aimed at the smoke and kept shooting. Although such shooting has limited effect, it still caused certain casualties to Sivakov's division.

  When Sivakov received a report from the front, saying that the casualties of the troops were much less than expected. After he put down the phone, he said to Yegorov who was sitting by the side: "Comrade Political Commissar, it seems that our group commander has some real skills. He knows how to let us use the smoke as a cover to approach the enemy quietly." position and minimize casualties."

  The two infantry divisions attacking from the center and left flank became the focus of the German attack. The shells hit the ground attacking troops without money, causing great casualties to the Soviet army.

The 122nd Regiment of the 41st Guards Division, which attacked from the left, saw the enemy's artillery fire fiercely. The regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko, ordered the infantry to lie down on the spot, then called Bely and said loudly: "Colonel Bely, the enemy The artillery fire is fierce, hurry up and bring your tanks up."

Bely, who was driving a tank, received a call from Papchenko and said angrily: "Damn it, there are large and small bomb craters everywhere on our way forward. Bar."

  Since the tanks won't be able to get through for a while, continuing to let the infantry charge will only cause unnecessary casualties. Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko kept in mind the principle of steady and steady fighting that Sokov said, and ordered the commanders and fighters of the whole regiment to choose a concealed location on the spot, wait for the tank brigade's tanks to arrive, suppress the enemy's firepower with artillery fire, and then launch an attack. not too late. Therefore, he specially issued an order to the battalion commanders, telling them: "Without my order, everyone will lie obediently in the bomb crater and hide behind the ruins. No one is allowed to act without authorization."

  Although the infantry's attack stopped, Papchenko was not idle. He ordered the chief of staff to dispatch more than a dozen sharpshooters to the forefront, using his marksmanship advantages to kill those threatening firepower points.

  (end of this chapter)