The German infantry was frightened by the fictitious tank brigade, so they had to give up their plan to attack the assembly workshop and instead attack the workers' villages that the Guard Division defended. The artillery, because the artillery was limited, was a bit wasteful to bombard the sturdy buildings such as the workshop and factory buildings, so their artillery fire focused on bombarding the first and second workers' villages.
General Seidlitz, the commander of the 51st Army, knew that to occupy the factory, he needed to first remove the nail in the assembly workshop, but now tanks, cannons, and infantry cannot count on him. He could only place his only hope on the Air Force. Therefore, he called Paulus and wanted to ask for support from the Air Force.
Unexpectedly, after hearing Seidlitz's voice, Paulus said with great dissatisfaction: "Mr. General, you once promised me that you could take down the Russian Red October Tractor Factory within one day. As a result, the war has not even stepped in to the factory gate."
"Mr. Commander," Although the weather was already very cold at the end of September, Paulus's reproach still caused layers of cold sweat to appear on Seidlitz's forehead. He wiped his sleeves on his forehead and tried his best to defend his failure: "The troops of the 100th Hunter Division had already rushed into the factory from the north of the factory, but unfortunately they had not yet established a stable foothold and were driven out by the Russians."
"This is how the Russians are. Once a position is lost, they will continue to fight back regardless of casualties until their strength is exhausted." Paulus and Seidlitz finished speaking and said disdainfully: "Mr. General, you should take advantage of this favorable opportunity to establish an offensive starting point in the factory."
"Mr. Commander, I do think so." Seidlitz said with a bitter face: "In order to gain a foothold in the factory, I sent tanks to cooperate with the infantry's attack, but were repelled by the Russians. Hundreds of soldiers were killed and killed, even the tanks were destroyed."
"What, your tanks have been destroyed?" Paulus considered that the tanks equipped for the 51st Army were basically all No. 4 tanks, but he did not expect to be destroyed by the Soviet army during the battle. He asked tentatively: "How many anti-tank guns did the Russians have?"
Seidlitz had learned about the Soviet army's weapons to destroy tanks. However, the officers only saw that after a round of shelling of the Soviet army, all the tanks that cooperated with the infantry's attack were destroyed, and even the infantry following the tanks were blown into pieces. Therefore, in the face of Paulus' inquiry, he could only say with an estimate: "According to the report of my subordinates, the anti-tank guns equipped by the Russians were at least fifty, otherwise they would not have destroyed all the tanks covering the infantry's attack in such a short time."
"Fifty anti-tank guns?" After hearing this number, Paulus couldn't help but gasp, "It seems that the Russians have really invested a lot in order to defend this factory."
"But the Russians deployed so many anti-tank guns in the factory area, but they still couldn't save their fate of failure." Paulus continued after a moment of silence: "You can bombard those areas and blow these anti-tank guns to pieces."
"Mr. Commander, our shells are limited, so the preferred target for shelling is the residential area that was held by the Russian Guard Division, which is what they call the workers' village." Seidlitz explained to Paulus: "If the Guard Division of these Russians is not eliminated, the troops will rush into the factory area rashly, and they may fall into a situation of being attacked from both sides."
Seidlitz paused for a moment, and saw that Paulus did not speak, he continued to say: "The 24th Armored Division, which was originally intended to attack the factory, was bombarded by the Russians during the march and suffered heavy casualties, so that it was impossible to participate in the attack on the Red October Tractor Factory within the designated time."
Speaking of the attack of the 24th Armored Division, Paulus was also quite depressed. He never dreamed that the small Soviet troops, which were now being wiped out by two divisions, could cause such great casualties to his armored division. Moreover, according to reports, these Russians were attacking with new rockets in a distance. Once the attack was completed, they immediately moved, and their troops could not catch up even if they wanted to.
Thinking of this, he said to Seidlitz: "Mr. General, I will give you the tank you need. But now you have to find a way to seize the assembly workshop in the factory first and turn it into our starting point for offensive..."
"It's probably not easy." Seidlitz quickly interrupted Paulus and said: "Based on the information we have, the Russians who were stuck in the assembly workshop have been strengthened by a tank brigade. If we do not have enough tank cover, we will launch a rash attack, and there may be a danger of the entire army being destroyed."
"Tank Brigade?!" Paulus did not receive a report from the factory that the Tank Brigade was reinforced. Hearing Seidlitz said this, he couldn't help but ask in surprise: "When did the Russian Tank Brigade arrive?"
"Yesterday afternoon," Seidlitz reported: "My scouts carefully observed that there were nearly sixty T-34 tanks, which were built in a tank brigade in terms of quantity."
"Strange, this is so weird!" Paulus said in surprise: "How did the Russians transport so many tanks from across the Volga?"
"I don't know much about this." Seidlitz replied with confidence: "Although we kept bombing and shelling ships on the Volga River, the Russian soldiers and various supplies were still transported from the other side. I think this tank brigade was also transported under this situation."
Seidlitz's words made Paulus think that there was a Soviet tank company in the factory area, which would pose a threat to the rear of the troops attacking the Workers' Village. Thinking of this, he asked to the microphone: "Mr. General, do you have any solutions?"
"Sir, this is how I think about it." Hearing Paulus's question, Seidlitz quickly replied: "Can the 4th Air Force dispatch aircraft and bomb the factory in the assembly workshop to destroy the Russian tanks gathered there?"
"Mr. General," Paulus sneered at Seidlitz's proposal, "Did you forget that your troops are attacking the workers' village outside the factory, and the smoke rising on the battlefield will interfere with the pilot's sight. In this case, how do they find the target they are going to attack? Also, the Russians are not fools. They will not easily place tanks in the open space and let our air force bombard them."
"What should we do, Commander?" Seidlitz asked in confusion: "If this Russian tank unit is let go, they will pose a great threat to us."
"Chief of Staff," Paulus was thinking about a solution when he saw his chief of staff, Schmidt, walked in from outside, and quickly covered the microphone with his hand and asked, "I'll ask you, if the Russians had a tank unit in the factory, what would you do to destroy them all?"
"It's very simple, Commander." Schmidt replied easily to the question raised by Paulus: "There are two ways, one is to bombard the heavy artillery. Don't see the Russian armor plates blocking our tanks No. 3 and No. 4, but under the attack of our heavy artillery, they will soon be beaten into a pile of scrap iron..."
"Chief of Staff, this method is not advisable." Paulus refuted the first method proposed by Schmidt: "We do not know the specific location of the Russian tank brigade and do not have enough shells. It is obviously unrealistic to use artillery to eliminate them. You should talk about your second method."
"Since artillery cannot destroy the Russian tank troops, use the air force." Although his proposal was rejected, Schmidt said undisdainfully: "Our air force has defeated the Russian tank troops many times. I think as long as the air force discovers their assembly points, they will be completely eliminated soon."
"But the thick smoke rising on the battlefield will block the pilot's view." Paulus said worriedly: "I am worried that they will not be able to detect the target in this situation."
"Your Excellency Commander, this is not a problem," Schmidt said with a smile: "We can wait until we send planes to attack tomorrow morning. The smoke on the battlefield has been blown away by the cold wind blowing from the Volga River for a night. Our pilots can easily find the tanks hidden by the Russians and then destroy them with good vision."
Paulus felt that Schmidt's statement was very reasonable, so he nodded and let go of his hand covering the microphone: "Hey, General Seidlitz, I just discussed with the Chief of Staff. His proposal was to let the Air Force attack tomorrow morning, when the smoke that filled the battlefield should have dissipated almost, which would ensure that our pilots had a good vision so that they could find the Russian tanks on the ground."
Seidlitz thought in his mind that the battle is so fierce now that even if he ordered the troops to stop attacking, the smoke of gunpowder on the battlefield will not be able to dissipate for a while. Even if the air force is barely dispatched, he may not achieve any results. Therefore, he felt that the plan proposed by Paulus was the most realistic. He nodded and said, "Your Excellency the Commander, it seems that this is the only way to let the air force set out tomorrow morning to attack the Russian tanks that pose a great threat to us."
Chapter completed!