Chapter 820

From November 7, in the next few days, our troops and the German army were fighting incessantly in the streets, buildings, factories, Volga river bank, mamayev post and other places. The various units of the group army suffered heavy casualties and were forced to shrink their forces and defend many small "islands" in Stalingrad.

Seeing that the situation was getting worse and worse for our army, trikov had to send a telegram to the headquarters of the front army on the East Bank of the Volga River for help. Yelomienko obviously understood the importance of Stalingrad more than all of us. He would not allow the city to fall into the hands of the Germans, so they ordered the 64th army around the city to attack the enemy.

On November 10, the 64th group army launched a counter attack on the flanks of the troops attacking from the south in kupolosnoye and green grassland, forcing the German army to transfer most of its air, artillery and tanks from the troops attacking Stalingrad to resist the attack of the 64th group army.

It is precisely because the resolute counter assault carried out by the 64th group army has alleviated the difficult situation of our group army and once again smashed the enemy's attempt to capture Stalingrad. At the meeting that night, trakov said with emotion: "without the assistance of the 64th group army, our 62nd group army would not be able to support us, and Stalingrad might fall into enemy hands."

While trakov was analyzing the current situation of the enemy and ourselves, I, sitting in the meeting below, began to lose my mind unconsciously. In my memory, in the plan made by Zhukov and vasilevsky, the Soviet southwest front army and the Don front army turned to attack on November 9, while the Stalingrad front army turned to attack on November 10. However, due to the slow assembly of troops and weapons, the southwest front army and the Don front army had to be postponed to November 19, and the Stalingrad front army had to be postponed to November 20.

When I think of the big counter offensive that will start in ten days, I feel excited that I have to endure the bitter days. I have been frightened for several months, and finally I see a glimmer of dawn!

I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I didn't hear what trekov asked me. It was only when crailov, who was sitting next to me, touched me gently that I woke up. Seeing that trakov's brow was locked, he knew that he had a problem with me when I was distracted from the meeting. He asked in shame, "Comrade commander, are you talking to me?"

"Last time I asked you to send someone to explore the ice and look for areas where you can build transportation lines on the ice." Up to now, trakov has not given up building an ice transport line on the Volga River to transport urgently needed soldiers and supplies to the city. Because he is always thinking about this matter, he speaks to me in a heavy tone: "it's nearly half a month since now, haven't he found a suitable area yet?"

It's no use even if you're in a hurry to set up an ice transportation line. If God doesn't cooperate, no one can help. I don't know why trikov is angry with me for this, so I don't know how to deal with it in a hurry.

Seeing my embarrassment, gurov quickly explained to me, "Comrade oshanina, the commander is too anxious. At the latest, the headquarters of the front army sent a company to try to enter the city through the frozen Volga River. As a result, nearly half of the soldiers fell into the water when they reached the center of the river because the ice was too thin. Although most of the soldiers were rescued after rescue, seven of them are still missing. "

Although gurov was very euphemistic, every commander on the scene understood that if he fell into the water in the cold winter, if he could not be rescued in time, the missing person would have no hope of survival. Under such circumstances, I can only harden my head and say to trikov, "Comrade commander, please rest assured that I will continue to send the engineering company to find a suitable place to cross the river."

After he had finished the empty ice transportation line, trakov began to cheer up the division leaders who came to the meeting: "comrades, although the fighting we have recently experienced is very cruel and the casualties of our troops are very large, we should also see that the enemy is exhausted at this time. It is confirmed from the prisoner's confession that the number of enemy troops and regiments is very small. The morale of not only the soldiers but also the officers has dropped sharply. Few people believe that they can live out of this hell where they have been fighting for several months, which is very distressing. "

"Comrade commander," Guriev asked aloud, "do you think the Germans will launch a new attack in the near future?"

After hearing guriyev's question, trakov looked at gurov, the military commissar beside him, and Krylov, the chief of staff beside me. Then he answered with confidence, "Comrade guriyev, you are too worried. I just said that the German army is very tired. They have no ability or enough troops to launch a new attack on us."

Although trakov said confidently, the merciless fact slapped him in the face.

At 6:30 on November 11, after preparing for aerial fire and artillery fire, German troops turned to attack in the defensive zone of our group army. According to the information transmitted from the general command of the group army, there were five infantry divisions (389th, 79th, 305th, 100th and 295th divisions) and two tank divisions (24th and 14th divisions) participating in the attack. They were also strengthened by the 294th Infantry Division's industrial barracks airlifted from rososhi and the 161st Infantry Division's industrial barracks airlifted from milerovo. The attack was launched from the front of volkhofsroyevskaya street to bannegou, about 5 km wide. The German divisions that took part in the attack were all supplemented, and their combat formations were highly concentrated during the fighting.

According to various signs, Paulus attempted to defeat the infantry divisions of lyudnikov, gorishne, Sokolov and guriyev at one stroke, and went out to the Volga River. Throughout the day, fierce battles were fought for every inch of land and every brick, and grenade and white-edged battles continued for several hours. At the same time, the northern group of the group army moved southward from the railway bridge at the mouth of the machetka River to the tractor factory. The city was in full swing, as were the battles at mamayev post and 107.5 highlands. Commander Oleg, who stayed in the secluded Department on the south slope of 107.5 highland, called me several times, saying that the second regiment was not strong enough to withstand the German attack, and asked me to send reinforcements as soon as possible. He exclaimed excitedly on the phone: "Comrade division, there are only less than 300 people left in our regiment, many of them are wounded. The Germans are several times more than us, and they have the support of aircraft and artillery. If there is no more troops, I am afraid that the 107.5 highland will not be able to hold Oleg's words shocked me. You know, two days ago, I just added more than 400 new recruits to a regiment. I didn't expect that all of them would be wiped out so soon. But considering the importance of highland 107.5, I had to bite my teeth and say to him, "commander Oleg, I'll send you reinforcements immediately. I have only one requirement for you, that is, at all costs, you must firmly hold the 107.5 high ground for me, and you are not allowed to step back. " As soon as I put down Oleg's phone call, I immediately told akhromeyev, "chief of staff, call the third regiment and ask commander kosja to send a battalion to reinforce the second regiment." Akhromeyev had just finished calling the third regiment, but Gaidar also called me to ask for help: "Comrade division commander, the German offensive against us is very fierce, and there are many casualties in the army. I hope the artillery battalion can provide us with artillery cover, otherwise it will be very difficult for us to hold our present position. "“ Commander Gaidar, "I said faintly to his alarmist remarks," if the northern highland is lost, I will not send you to the military court. " At this point, I stopped for a moment, and then in the surprised eyes of kirilov and others, I said viciously, "I will shoot you myself!"