"What, your brigade commander died?" Cui Kefu was shocked when he heard the news and asked quickly: "Where is his body?"
"No more," the soldier said in a crying voice: "At that time, a group of enemies rushed to the vicinity of the building. He personally led people to fight back. Unexpectedly, he was hit directly by a shell, and we couldn't even find his body."
Cui Kev took off the big-brimmed hat from his head and looked at the rows of bodies in the open space with a sad expression. But Krimov, who was standing beside him, saw that his temples were full of veins.
Although the warrior did not know Cui Kefu, he knew from the three Venus stars on his diamond-shaped collar seal that was standing in front of him was a lieutenant general. He asked tentatively: "Comrade General, we only have 25 people and a tank left. The ammunition is almost consumed, and the tank's shells are exhausted. If the enemy launches another attack, we may not be able to stop them. Can you send us some reinforcements?"
"Comrade Soldier," said Cui Kefu, looking at the unknown soldier, "the enemy must be blocked. Once they occupy the station, the defense line of our army will be broken. I will send people to send you the ammunition you need as soon as possible; as for reinforcements, I will try my best to find you."
"Comrade Commander," Krimov turned his head and looked at Mamayev's hill in the distance, and leaned close to Cuikov's ear and whispered: "How about transfer part of Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops over?"
Cuikov looked at Mamayev's hill and thought for a long time before shook his head and said, "No, we cannot move the troops on Mamayev's hill. You must know that there is also the focus of the German attack. As long as the enemy occupy Mamayev's hill, we can use artillery fire to block the entire city and control the river transportation lines on the Volga River. We cannot take this risk."
Seeing that Cuikov had denied his proposal, Krimov said unwillingly: "But, Comrade Commander, look, there are only 25 defenders left in the station, and there is a serious lack of ammunition. If the Germans launch another attack, they will not be able to stop it."
"Adminton, I understand what you said." No matter what Krimov said, Cuikov was unwilling to use Sokov's troops easily. He looked at Krimov and said, "Or what if fifty people were drawn from the guard battalion of the Army Command to strengthen the defense here?"
"Comrade Commander, fifty people are too few." Krimov originally wanted to ask Cuikov to give him more people, but as soon as he said that, he immediately realized that if the troops were drawn from the guard battalion, the defense power in the command would become weak. Therefore, he quickly changed his words and said: "If the personnel were drawn from the guard battalion, the forces responsible for the guard work in the command would become weak. Comrade Commander, should you think about it again?"
"Get fifty people here first to strengthen the defense here!" Cui Kefu said in an unquestionable tone: "The troops should enter the city this afternoon, and then let them take over the defense of the station, and then transfer our soldiers back."
…………
In a small town more than ten kilometers west of the central railway station, Major General Sild, the commander of the 24th Armored Division of the German Army, was stationed in a small town more than ten kilometers west of the central railway station. The commander of the 24th Armored Division, wearing the Iron Cross on his chest, looked at Colonel Lungek, the commander of the 21st Grenadier Regiment standing in front of him.
After a long time, he spoke, "Sir Colonel, please introduce me to you. Why did your regiment attack the Central Railway Station in Stalingrad for a day and night, but failed to fly, but instead lost more than 300 brave imperial soldiers and fifteen precious tanks?"
"Sir, please listen to my explanation." Although the weather in Russia was a little chilly in September, there was still a dense sweat on Lungek's forehead. He took out his handkerchief and wiped the cold sweat, and explained in a panic: "We have concentrated our strength and launched our attack with all our might. Unexpectedly, the resistance of the Russians was too tenacious. My soldiers had rushed into the station building several times, but they were driven out."
Silde felt that the failure to attack the Central Railway Station was a shame for him. You must know that the 24th Armored Division had never been defeated in the past few months of battle. On the contrary, it often defeated a brigade or even a division of the Soviet army with its troops. This time, a regiment was used to attack the Central Railway Station, which had only a few hundred people defending, and Silde wanted to immediately remove Lungek's position on the grounds of unfavorable combat.
Silde said furiously: "According to the information I have obtained, the defenders in the station have only three T-34 tanks and three or four hundred soldiers, and the equipment they use is not as good as us. Why can't they get the station? What's going on?"
After wiping the sweat from his forehead again, Rengek said to Silde: "Sir, I promise you that if we can get more tank support, we can definitely take the station down."
When Silde heard Rengek say this, he did not immediately express his opinion, but instead turned his eyes to a colonel sitting at the conference table: "Col. Ribel, I want to ask, how many tanks do you have to go into battle immediately."
The colonel named Ribel is the leader of the 26th Armored Regiment. After hearing Silde's question, he quickly stood up from his seat, shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said helplessly: "I'm sorry, Master Division. In a week, I don't think my Armored Regiment can't be able to enter the battle?"
Before Silde could speak, Lungek asked first: "Why?"
"What else can it be?!" Ribel said with a wry smile: "Our tanks are out of fuel, and the high-explosive shells are all exhausted. Colonel Lungek, you can't let me attack the Russian infantry, right?"
"Col. Heim." Silde felt that the failure of the 21st Grenadiers' attack on the Central Railway Station would somewhat affect the morale and morale of the troops. So he looked at Heim, the leader of the 26th Grenadiers' regiment and asked: "I plan to hand over the task of attacking the Central Railway Station to your regiment to complete. How about it, is there any problem?"
"Master, Master!" Heim quickly stood up and replied: "Our regiment is currently too far from the Central Railway Station. If we exchange defense zones at this time, it may cause unnecessary chaos."
After hearing Heim's answer, Silder couldn't help but snorted coldly, and then said to Rengek: "Sir Colonel, I will give you another chance. If your regiment cannot seize the Central Railway Station before dark today, you will lose your colonel's epaulette."
…………
Sokov saw the battle at the Central Railway Station last night in the observation center at the top of the hill. Hearing the sound of gunfire from the station, he couldn't help but want to pick up the phone and ask Cui Kov several times whether he could send troops to support the defenders in the station. But in the end, reason defeated the impulse. He understood that the next battle at Mamayevgang would be even more cruel. Although he now has more than 5,000 troops, it is still unknown whether he can support the end of the Stalingrad defense war.
At dawn, he returned to the tunnel from the observation center and ordered the observation post to not only pay attention to monitoring the movements in the direction of the Central Railway Station, but also closely monitor the movements on the Volga River. Once he saw a large army crossing the river, he would immediately notify him.
Sokov, who had been staying up all night, returned to the command center in the tunnel, and felt his eyes getting heavier and heavier, so he said to Cydolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I'm sleepy, so sleep for a while. If there is anything important, wake me up."
I don't know how long I slept, but Sokov suddenly felt someone shaking his shoulders hard. He opened his eyes in a daze and asked sleepily: "What's the matter?"
Sidolin's voice came from his ears: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the observation center on the top of the hill called and said that there were a large number of troops on the river, and it seemed that a large army was crossing the river!"
When he heard that there were troops crossing the river, Sokov immediately woke up. He suddenly sat up straight, put on his boots and said to Sidolin: "It seems that the troops that the superiors have supplemented the army. I'll go to the observation center above to take a look, and this will be left to you."
When Sokov came to the observation center at the top of the hill, the observation post where he was staying immediately reported to him: "Comrade Brigade Commander, there is an army crossing the river." After that, he handed over the telescope in his hand.
Sokov took the telescope from his observation post and looked towards the Volga River. Sure enough, he saw several ferries on the river, crowded with Soviet commanders and soldiers. From a distance, he could only see a dense piece of steel helmets.
"Comrade Brigade Commander," said the observation post: "There are too many people on the ferry. If a bomb falls from the German army, at least dozens of people will be killed or injured."
Sokov agreed with the statement of observation posts. The Germans were not blind. It would be strange if the Soviet troops crossed the river so blatantly in broad daylight and did not attract German bombing. "Yes, if German planes bombed them, they would definitely cause huge casualties. However, there is no way. The situation in Stalingrad City is so critical that the superiors can only take the risk and send the troops into the city in broad daylight."
As soon as Sokov finished speaking, two enemy planes appeared in the air. After passing over Mamayevgang, they headed straight for the Volga River. Seeing this, Sokov secretly said that the enemy plane must have bombed the troop transport ship. He was determined to help, but there was no anti-aircraft artillery fire here in Mamayevgang, and the MG34 used to masturbate a few days ago was not enough range, so he could only watch the enemy planes bomb the ships in the river.
The enemy planes dived towards the ferry in the river, dropped bombs and strafing. A ferry was hit by a bomb. In a dazzling ball of fire, countless soldiers standing near the explosion site were blown away. The soldiers who were not blown away were not much better. Many people were hit by flying shrapnel, some died on the spot, while others howled and rolled on the deck.
Although some ships were not hit by bombs, many soldiers fell to the ground after plowing the bullets fired by the planes. Many new soldiers were frightened when they saw this situation. In order not to sit on the narrow deck and wait for death, they jumped into the river one after another. They had good water properties and could swim desperately in the direction of the city. They had poor water properties, so they sank into the bottom of the river after a few swells in the water or were washed downstream by the turbulent river water.
When Sokov saw the fleet that was bombed on the river, he couldn't help but think of the scene in "The War to the City". When the ferry Vasily was crossing the river, he was also bombarded and fired by German planes. Many soldiers were afraid and dived to escape, but were shot and killed by political workers on the ship. At this moment, Sokov also saw many soldiers diving to escape, but did not see anyone standing by the boat and shooting into the water.
Two of the twelve ferries transporting troops were sunk, and together with hundreds of commanders and fighters above, they sank into the bottom of the cold Volga River. Three more were injured, and more than half of the commanders and fighters on the ship were injured and killed. Although they suffered such severe damage, all the ships still rushed towards the ferry in Stalingrad City without hesitation.
After the ship landed, the commanders and soldiers on the ship immediately disembarked and walked towards the city where the battle was in full swing along the bumpy road. Sokov returned the telescope to the observation post and turned around and returned to the tunnel without saying a word.
About ten minutes later, a tall and strange general, led by Selyosha, came to Sokov's command center. Before Sokov could speak, the general had already spoken: "Hello, lieutenant colonel, I am Major General Rodimtev, the commander of the 13th Guard Infantry Division. I want to ask, where is the headquarters of the Group Army?"
Sokov remembers that in the movie about the Battle of Stalingrad, after Rodimtev appeared, he reported to Cuikov at the first time that the reason he appeared in his command was entirely because he occupied the Mamayev hill first and squeezed Cuikov into the underground command of the Charica River.
Sokov hurriedly stepped forward and saluted Rodimtev and said, "Hello, Comrade General, I am Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade. The task of my brigade is to stick to the Mamayev. As for the commander's command, it is in the Chalijin cave between Pushkin Square and the Chalicha River. If you want to see him, I can send someone to you as a guide."
Chapter completed!