Although Paulus ordered Schmidt to assign tasks to the three engineer battalion commanders on the phone, after Schmidt returned to his office, he felt that he could not explain clearly on the phone, so he ordered someone to notify the three battalion commanders immediately.
Come and see yourself at the headquarters.
Half an hour later, three young officers appeared in Schmidt's office. After Schmidt's eyes swept over the three of them one by one, he said: "Gentlemen, tell me your names.
, and the unit number." He pointed to the captain on the far left with his hand, "Captain, you come first!"
The captain whose name was called took a step forward, straightened his body and said loudly: "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, I am Captain Erwin Gast, commander of the 50th Armored Engineer Battalion!"
After Captain Gast reported his identity, the officer on his right immediately stepped forward, followed his example, and said loudly: "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, I am Major Otto Krüger, commander of the 162nd Engineer Battalion!"
The third officer said: "I am Major William Weiman, commander of the 294th Engineer Battalion!"
After hearing the three officers explain their identities, Schmidt walked up to Captain Gast, looked him up and down, nodded with a smile, and said: "Captain Gast, you are the leader of the group army."
The youngest battalion commander in the engineering battalion. Let me ask you now, do you want to prove your ability to everyone on the battlefield?"
"Yes!" Gast replied resoundingly: "I am willing to shed the last drop of my blood for Germany."
"Captain, what you want to do is to make your enemy shed the last drop of blood, do you understand?" After hearing Gast's resounding reply, Schmidt nodded with satisfaction and turned to Krüger:
"Mr. Major, as far as I know, your battalion has been helping our Italian allies build fortifications in the past few months. I heard that in addition to completing the work of felling trees, digging trenches and constructing anti-tank obstacles, you also provided soldiers with
We have arranged non-stop training and exercises. I want to ask, why do you do this?"
Hearing Schmidt's question, Kruger showed a look of surprise on his face. He then replied: "Your Majesty, Chief of Staff, although we are engineers, we have been completing our job since the attack on France."
In addition, like the infantry, we are engaged in continuous battles with our enemies. Although we have been helping the Italians build fortifications in the past few months, I thought that we might be sent to the front line to fight at any time, so we
Soldiers are ordered to conduct training every day and conduct some exercises based on the training situation."
"You are very thoughtful, Major Krüger." Regarding Krüger's answer, Schmidt nodded with satisfaction, and then said: "I know that your battalion cooperated with the officers and soldiers of the 62nd Infantry Division half a month ago.
, carried out a combat mission and performed quite well."
"Your Excellency, Chief of Staff," Krüger replied calmly after hearing Schmidt's praise: "What we eliminated was only a guerrilla group with extremely poor combat effectiveness and equipment. I hope to have the opportunity to fight with the Russian regular army."
Let’s have a good fight.”
"Major, your wish will come true soon." Schmidt smiled and said to him: "I called you here today to assign you combat missions."
Schmidt finally came to Major Weiman. After sizing him up as usual, he said: "Major Weiman, your battalion has been stationed by the Don River in the past few months, helping our allies.
Build firepower points, lay minefields, erect barbed wire fences and cut down trees to clear the firing range. How about it, are you tired of this kind of work?"
"Yes, Your Excellency, Chief of Staff." Weiman waited for Schmidt to finish speaking and said impatiently: "All our officers and soldiers in the battalion are tired of today's life and hope to fight the Russians face to face."
"Don't worry, Major Weiman, your wish will come true soon." Schmidt said with a smile: "I called you here just for this matter."
After chatting with the three engineer battalion commanders, Schmidt walked to the wall, picked up the explanation stick, pointed to the map hanging on the wall, and said to the three officers: "Gentlemen, I called you here today.
, is to assign you an important combat mission. You may have heard of the Barricade Factory. Well, it is right here. Now most of the area in the factory area has been occupied by our army. Now only one area to the east is left.
This small piece of land is still in the hands of the Russians. The task of your three battalions is to assist the 305th Infantry Division in the factory area to completely eliminate this group of Russians." At this point, he held the explanatory stick in both hands.
He faced the three officers and asked, "Do you have any questions?"
"Chief of Staff, I would like to ask." As soon as Schmidt finished speaking, Captain Gast asked first: "How many troops and what kind of weapons do the Russians have who are holding on to this narrow area now?"
"As of yesterday morning, there are probably more than a thousand Russian infantry divisions left in this area. Except for a few machine guns, they don't have any heavy weapons. But..." The three battalion commanders just started to listen.
They said that the defenders only had a thousand men, and they were still very calm. But when they heard Schmidt say "but", they couldn't help but tremble in their hearts, and they realized that something unexpected must have happened. Sure enough, they heard Shi Mitt say "but".
Mitt said angrily: "Just when we were preparing for another fierce attack to completely capture the barricade factory, the Russians sent reinforcements to the factory area..."
"Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, the Russians only have such a small area left in the factory. Even if they send reinforcements, they will not be able to save them from imminent destruction." Major Weiman said carelessly: "Our battalion is confident that at noon
Previously, the Russians entrenched in this narrow area were completely eliminated."
"Major Weimann, Brandt, the commander of the 577th Regiment, underestimated the enemy like you did yesterday." Schmidt said with a straight face: "Under the cover of assault guns, his battalion rushed towards the Russian-held territory.
"Unexpectedly, before we even got close to the area, we were hit by sudden artillery fire, and the entire army was almost wiped out."
"But, Chief of Staff, didn't you just say that the Russians holding on to this area do not have any heavy weapons except a few machine guns." When Weiman heard this, he asked puzzledly: "What about their artillery?
Where did it come from?"
"Major, didn't you hear clearly what I just said?" Seeing that Weiman kept interrupting him, Schmidt said with some displeasure: "I was talking about the strength of the Russians as of yesterday morning, and they later gained
Reinforcements came. The 41st Guards Division commanded by Sokov came. I don’t know where they got the artillery, but they caught us by surprise.”
Although the three engineer battalion commanders had not participated in the fighting in the city in the past few months, they still knew the name Sokov very well. They couldn't help but gasped when they learned that Sokov's troops were also sticking to the factory area.
Schmidt saw their timidity and secretly smiled bitterly. After assigning their respective combat areas to the three battalion commanders, he waved to them and said: "Okay, the mission has been assigned. If you don't have any questions,
, just go back to your respective troops. The troops must be stationed at the barricade factory before ten o'clock in the morning."
"Chief of Staff, I have a question." Major Krüger, who had never spoken, knew that if he didn't ask, he might not have a chance to ask again, so he quickly asked: "Who will command us? Also, during the attack,
, can we get support from artillery fire or tanks?”
"Your Majesty the Commander has already given instructions. In order not to affect your combat effectiveness, after entering the barricade factory, you will fight alone as a battalion without anyone's control. As for artillery cover," Schmidt said
He paused for a moment and thought before continuing: "The 245th Assault Artillery Battalion will assist you in launching the attack."
This chapter has been completed!