After the German offense was repelled, Captain Weitman, the battalion commander who was in charge of the battle, rushed to the command of the 577th Regiment and reported to the regiment commander Lieutenant Colonel Brandt: "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, our offense was repelled by the Russians."
"What, your attack was repelled?" Brandt frowned and asked, "Didn't you send five assault guns to assist you in the attack? Why was it repelled by the Russians so quickly?"
"The assault guns that cover infantry attacks were all destroyed by a mysterious weapon of the Russians."
"Mysterious weapon?!" Hearing Weitman say this, Brandt remembered that he didn't seem to hear any intense gunfire sounds outside, and asked in surprise: "What secret weapon is the Russian? Can we kill all our assault guns without any movement?"
"The snow is too heavy, I don't see clearly." Weitman said with a bitter face: "But according to a surviving soldier, he saw several flame-tailed objects flying out of the crater in front of the Russians' positions, hitting and destroying our assault guns."
“How far is the distance?”
“It’s about eighty meters.”
"Eighty meters." Brandt repeated the data and asked back, "Captain, your soldiers are sure that the Russians are not using anti-tank guns?"
"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, I can be sure that the Russians are definitely not using anti-tank guns." Weitman replied in a positive tone: "There are no anti-tank guns in that kind of crater except for Tibetans."
After Weitman finished speaking, Brandt walked back and forth indoors with his hands behind his back, thinking about what new weapons the Russians used to kill the assault guns that covered their infantry attacks. But after thinking for a long time, he still didn't think about what weapon to destroy the assault guns. He quickly walked to the table, picked up the phone on the table, and reported to the division commander Steinmetz: "Sir, I have an important situation, I want to report to you."
"What's the situation?" Steinmetz asked casually.
"My third battalion launched an attack on the Russians not long ago. But shortly after the battle began, the five assault guns that served as cover were destroyed by a mysterious weapon of the Russians." Brandt respectfully reported to Steinmetz, saying: "I want to ask if the division headquarters has any information about the mysterious weapons of the Russians."
"This is the first time I heard of what mysterious weapon." Steinmetz said angrily: "Lt. Colonel Brandt, if you feel that you are not sure to break through the Russians' positions, just tell me directly, and don't find such a bad reason to cover up your failure."
"No, Master Commander." Seeing that Steinmetz did not believe him and even suspected that he deliberately made up lies in order to cover up the fact of failure, Brandt was a little anxious. He quickly explained: "What I said is true. The Third Battalion Commander had just reported to me that there were surviving soldiers. He saw several objects dragging smoke flying out of the crater where the Russians were hiding, ready to hit and destroy the assault guns that covered the infantry's attack. He is now by my side. If you don't believe it, I can let him report the situation to you again."
After hearing what Brandt swears, Steinmetz realized the seriousness of the problem. He held the microphone and thought about it, then said: "Lt. Col. Brandt, take your battalion commander to come to me immediately. I want to figure out what happened."
Seeing Steinmetz put down the microphone, his chief of staff immediately reminded him carefully: "Sir, this matter is extraordinary. Do you think you need to report to General Kurtzbach immediately?"
"Wait a minute." Steinmetz waved his hand and said, "It's not too late to report to the commander after Lieutenant Colonel Brandt and his subordinates arrive."
After waiting for about twenty minutes, Brandt and Weitmann arrived at the division command center by car.
As soon as they saw the two people entering the door, Steinmetz pointed at Weitman and asked Brandt: "Lieutenant Colonel, is this your battalion commander?"
"Yes, Master of the Division." Brandt nodded quickly and said in a positive tone: "He is Captain Weitman, the commander of the third battalion."
Steinmetz walked to Weitmann, looked him up and down, and said coldly: "Captain, please report to me again what you saw on the battlefield."
After Weitmann respectfully reported to Steinmetz in detail what happened on the battlefield, his face turned pale. He turned his head and said to his division chief: "Chief of Staff, it seems that the situation is worse than we imagined. I feel it is necessary to report this situation to General Kurtzbach immediately."
Hearing Steinmetz say this, the muscles on the Chief of Staff's face twitched violently twice. He thought to himself that I just suggested you report to the Commander, but you rejected it. Unexpectedly, I can't wait to report to the Commander after listening to the report. However, even if he is dissatisfied with Steinmetz, he can only hide this emotion in his heart and cannot express it on his face. He nodded slightly and said, "Yes, Master Commander, I will call the Commander to report this matter immediately."
After receiving a call from the Chief of Staff of the Division, Kurtzbach said unhappily: "Nostalgia, if the Russians had such weapons to deal with our army's technical equipment, they would have used them long ago and would never be delayed until now. I would like to ask you, who provided you with such absurd intelligence?"
The trained chief of staff of the division looked at Brandt and Weitmann who stood straight in the room and replied awkwardly: "General Kurtzbach, Lieutenant Colonel Brandt, the commander of the 577th Regiment, and his battalion commander Captain Weitmann, have just finished reporting to the division commander. Do you want to call them in person?"
As a commander, Kurtzbach was unwilling to talk to his unfamiliar subordinates, but in order to figure out what was going on in the barricade factory, he thought for a while, and then ordered: "Let General Steinmetz bring his two subordinates to my command immediately."
After the Chief of Staff put down the microphone, he said to Steinmetz: "Gen. Commander, General Kurtzbach, orders you to take them both to the army command immediately." As he said that, he nodded to Brandt and Weitmanu, who were standing aside.
In this way, Steinmetz brought Brandt and Weitmann to the military command and reported to Kurtzbach in detail the mysterious weapon that could easily destroy assault guns that appeared in the barricade factory.
After hearing this, Kurtzbach asked Weitmann for a few details, then frowned and looked at Steinmetz: "General Steinmetz, how do you think about this?"
"Mr. Commander!" Steinmetz replied respectfully: "As far as I know, the Americans have been providing military aid to the Russians continuously. I think it may be that they provided some kind of anti-tank weapon to the Russians."
Steinmetz reminded Kurtzbach, and he nodded and said, "You make sense. The Russians may have just obtained new anti-tank weapons from the Americans and used them in the barricade factory. I called General Schmidt to see if he knew something."
After saying that, Kurtzbach walked to the phone, picked up the microphone and put it in his ear, dialed a number, and said to the microphone: "I am General Kurtzbach, please transfer it to the Army Command and find General Schmitt, the Chief of Staff."
After more than a minute of waiting, Schmidt's voice came from the receiver: "I'm Schmidt, General Kurtzbach, are you doing anything?"
"His Excellency Chief of Staff." Kurtzbach asked with a smile: "I want to ask, do you know whether the Americans have equipped some new anti-tank weapons in the near future?"
"New anti-tank weapon?!" Schmidt repeated Kurtzbach's words and immediately remembered a piece of information he had just read, and nodded and said: "Yes, according to reports from other battlefields, the Americans have invented a new single weapon to deal with tanks, which poses a great threat to our armored forces."
Hearing Schmidt speak out the information he was interested in, Kurtzbach slapped the table excitedly and said proudly: "I guessed it right. The Americans really have a new type of anti-tank weapon."
Kurtzbach's words confused Schmidt. He asked in confusion: "General Kurtzbach, we are dealing with Russians now, and we can't even see the shadow of Americans. Why do you suddenly ask about the new equipment of the US military?"
"That's right, Chief of Staff." Since Schmidt has said that the US military has an anti-tank individual weapon, the weapon to destroy assault guns in the barricade factory is likely to be provided to the Russians by the Americans. "When the 577th Regiment of the 305th Infantry Division attacked the barricade factory, the 577th Regiment of the 305th Infantry Division encountered a mysterious weapon attack from the Russians. All five assault guns that covered the infantry's attack were destroyed. I think with the current military level of the Russians, they could not produce such weapons, so I thought that it might come from the Americans, so I called you to verify it."
After chatting with Schmidt for a few seconds, Kurtzbach put down his microphone. He came to Steinmetz and others and said to them: "We have figured it out. According to the news from other battlefields, the Americans invented a single weapon to deal with tanks. The weapon to destroy assault guns in the barricade factory may be the weapon that was aided by the United States."
After hearing Kurtzbach's words, Steinmetz turned his head to look at Brandt and Weitmann, and looked at Kurtzbach again and asked: "Mr. Commander, I want to ask, is there any way to deal with this anti-tank weapon?"
"There is no effective way for the time being." Kurtzbach shook his head and said, "Since it is just a single weapon, infantry using it can hide anywhere and open fire on our moving tanks. Even if we plow every inch of land that may contain the Russians with artillery fire, they may not be able to be wiped out."
"Your Excellency the Commander, if we cannot eliminate the anti-tank weapon of the Russians, then we cannot use tanks and assault guns in combat." Steinmetz said with a bitter face: "You also know that due to the bad weather and severe insufficient supplies, we can no longer provide artillery and air support for the troops when they attack. If there is no support from tanks and assault guns, it will become impossible to seize the Russians' positions."
When Kurtzbach was about to criticize Steinmetz's defeatist argument, the phone ringing on the table suddenly rang. He picked up the microphone and put it in his ear, and heard Paulus's voice coming from it. He quickly straightened his body and said, "Hello, Commander, what instructions do you have!"
"General Kurtzbach, I just heard Schmidt say that the American anti-tank individual weapons were found in the barricade factory." Paulus asked briefly on the phone: "Is this true?"
"Yes, Master Commander, that's true."
"How do you plan to deal with such weapons that the Russians have?" Paulus asked.
"Mr. Commander, since it is our first time to come into contact with this weapon, we can't find a suitable solution for the time being." Kurtzbach just said this when he heard Paulus snorting on the phone and explained hurriedly: "But we are studying the method, and I believe there will always be a way to deal with the Russians' anti-tank weapon."
Paulus was silent on the other end of the phone for a while before speaking: "General Kurtzbach, bring that grassroots officer who has participated in the battle to my headquarters. I want to ask him personally."
After Kurtzbach put down the phone, he said to Weitman: "Captain, the commander wants to see you, please follow me to Glubinskaya immediately."
"What about us?" Steinmetz saw that Kurtzbach was only going to take Weitmann alone, so he quickly stepped forward and asked, "What should Lieutenant Colonel Brandt and me do?"
"General Steinmetz!" Kurtzbach looked at Steinmetz and said, "The Commander only ordered me to take Captain Weitmann to see him. As for you, he had never mentioned it at all. I think you should go back to your respective command centers first."
Glubinskaya, where Paulus Command is located, is about twenty kilometers away from the military command of Kurzbach. If the weather is clear, you can reach the destination in a maximum of half an hour by car. Now it is snowing heavily and there is thick snow on the road. It took Kurtzbach's car an hour and a half before it arrived at Glubinskaya.
After entering the city, Weitman saw many civilians shoveling snow on the roadside, and the SS with live ammunition standing nearby, monitoring them to shovel snow. He couldn't help but ask Kurtzbach curiously: "Sir Commander, why are there so many civilians in the city? Are you not worried about Russian intelligence personnel among them?"
Chapter completed!