Although the German army launched an attack on the factory area with great momentum, it was actually thunder and rain. After fighting for several hours, it did not achieve any results. Finally, a unit rushed into the Red October Tractor Factory, but failed to stabilize its foothold and was driven out by the Soviet army.
After dark, the German offensive stopped, and the progress of the combat of each division was sent to the Army Command as soon as possible. Schmid summarized all the reports and walked into Paulus's office with a folder.
After reading the report, Schmid and Paulus said carefully: "Commander, judging from the situation of today's attack, the Russians' strength has become exhausted. If we make another move, they should not be able to withstand it."
After hearing Schmid's words, Paulus did not immediately express his opinion, but walked to the wall and looked up at the map hanging on the wall to think. After a long time, he turned around and looked at Schmid and said, "Chief of Staff, what do you think? Let's hear it."
"Hisser Commander," Schmid replied respectfully: "Most areas of the southern city of Stalingrad have been occupied by our army. Due to the intertwined fronts of both sides, our tanks and cannons have lost their place to use. In the factory area to the north, the terrain here is very conducive to our large-scale use of armored troops, but so far, our army has only one of the 16th Armored Divisions deployed in this area. Their main task is to prevent the Russians from heading south and joining the defenders in the city, so they cannot concentrate all their forces to attack the Russian troops in the factory."
Speaking of this, Schmid walked to Paulus and continued to point at the map, "I suggest that General Rensky's 24th Armored Division be assigned to the 51st Army command, so that they can also participate in the attack on the factory area."
Paulus pondered for a moment about Schmid's proposal, then nodded and said, "Well, Chief of Staff, you call General Seidlitz, the commander of the 51st Army, and ask him to come to the headquarters immediately." Just as Schmid turned and left, he added in the back, "Call General Rensky too."
Although the German troops were distributed on the front tens of kilometers, their division-level and army-level command were near the Army Command. Therefore, after receiving the call from Schmid, Seidlitz and Rensky rushed to Paulus's headquarters in less than five minutes.
Seeing that the two of them came so quickly, Paulus couldn't help but sneer and said, "I heard that the Russian division-level commands are usually about 300 meters away from the front, and our division-level commands are thirty kilometers away from the front. I want to ask you, can you understand the specific situation of the troops in a timely manner so far away from the front?"
Paulus's words made Seidlitz and Rensky blush because their command was fifty kilometers away from the frontier forces. After a long time, Seidlitz gritted the bullet and asked, "Your Excellency Commander, I wonder if you asked us to come here, is there anything?"
Seidlitz asked this because he knew in his heart that Paulus asked Chief of Staff Schmid to call him over to come, not just to say a few sarcastic words. If he wanted to do this, he could just say it directly on the phone. Why bother to call himself to the headquarters?
"I read today's battle report," Paulus said with a stern face: "General Seidlitz, your 51st Army is responsible for attacking the north direction of the city, but judging from the situation of today's battle, you performed very badly."
"Hiss Commander," Seidlitz raised his hand and wiped his forehead, and then said, "In the face of our attack, the Russians fought very tenaciously, and we lacked enough technical equipment, so we did not achieve any decent results in today's battle."
"Is there no result in this day?" Paulus sneered: "Think about it yourself, how long have you been attacking the factory area? Why hasn't you made any progress yet? Not to mention that you haven't taken down those factories that are crucial to the Russians, even the residential areas outside the factory can't be taken down."
Lensky listened to the conversation between Paulus and Seedlitz, thinking in confusion: "My division is responsible for the city south of the city and is not under the jurisdiction of the 51st Army. The commander called me here. What's wrong?"
Paulus saw Rensky's absent-minded look from the corner of his eyes, and turned to him and said, "And you, General Rensky, the attack on the Central Railway Station by the 24th Armored Division is very disappointing. In order to seize the Russian train station, you even lost a colonel and a major..."
"Mr. Commander," replied Lensky with a sad face, "the losses of the two officers have nothing to do with me. I had not served as the commander of the 24th Armored Division at that time."
After Rensky reminded him, Paulus immediately remembered that the commander of the 24th Armored Division was Silde, who took over the position of division commander after Schilde was removed from office. Shortly after taking office, Rensky organized troops to occupy the Central Railway Station and severely damaged the Russian army in that area.
Paulus returned to the back of his desk and sat down, and said, "Chief of Staff, give General Seidlitz and General Rensky tasks."
Schmid nodded, walked to the map, pointed at it with an explanation stick and said, "General Seidlitz, your 51st Army's mission tomorrow is to concentrate superior forces to attack the Red October Tractor Factory. Even if it cannot be occupied, it must at least occupy most of the areas. As long as you can gain a foothold here, you will cut off the connection between the factory area and the outside world. As long as the Russians who are stuck in this area lose supplies, they will not support us for long in the face of our attack."
"His Excellency Chief of Staff," General Seidlitz said in embarrassment: "There are limited tanks in our army, and it is probably difficult to complete this task by relying solely on infantry attacks."
"Don't worry, Mr. General." Schmid turned his head and looked at Rensky, and then said, "After my discussion with the commander, I decided to draw the 24th Armored Division to head north and cooperate with you to launch an attack on the Red October Tractor Factory."
When Rensky heard Schmid say this, he realized the reason why he was called here today. He quickly stood up and said to Schmid: "Chief of Staff, if I have to transfer my troops north tomorrow, it will probably be too late. It will take at least one day to gather the troops."
When Schmid heard Rensky say this, he did not express his opinion, but turned his eyes to Paulus and waited for him to make a decision. Paulus stood up, walked to the wall, looked up at a map, and spoke, "General Rensky, every minute on the battlefield is precious. If I give you a day to prepare, it means that the Russians will have more one day to prepare. When you launch an attack, the losses will be greater. Therefore, you must advance to the factory area north at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning to assist the troops of the 51st Army in capturing the Red October Tractor Factory."
Seeing Paulus giving orders to himself in such a stern tone, Rensky could not refute, so he could only reply, "Okay, Commander, since you have given such an order, I can only execute it unconditionally. I want to return to the troops immediately and gather the regiments as soon as possible."
After Rensky left, Paulus said to General Seidlitz: "Mr. General, I have given you the armored division you need. I hope you will not disappoint me in the next battle."
Chapter completed!