At 8:05 on January 10, the Don River Front deployed 7,000 artillery of various caliber at different locations, and at the same time launched violent shelling on the German positions. The deafening rumbling sound broke the silence of the severe winter breakfast.
After fifteen minutes of continuous shooting of the enemy's positions, the German limited artillery positions were destroyed, the communication lines were interrupted, and countless fire points and covert parts were destroyed by artillery fire. Due to the lack of sufficient defense depth, when the German army was shot, the officers and soldiers could not retreat to the second line of defense to avoid Soviet artillery attacks as before, and could only stay in their artillery sheds or coverts, resulting in a large number of casualties.
Batov's 65th Army was responsible for the assault mission in the main direction. Although the German army carried out tenacious resistance, the Soviet commanders and fighters of the army were still advancing step by step under the cover of artillery and air force. By dark, Batov's troops had already wedged into the German defense line for five kilometers.
The next day, the group army and the 21st Army continued to advance into the German army and successfully advanced to the west bank of the Rososhka River and the Karpovka area. The German army, who were defending this area, were afraid of being divided and surrounded by the Soviet army, gave up their positions and hurriedly retreated to the direction of Stalingrad.
The 57th Army attacking from the south was defeated by Hort's troops some time ago. From the commander of the army to the soldiers below, everyone was filled with anger. Now they finally waited for an attack, so they would naturally not be polite to the German army on the front of the attack, and the enemy was defeated.
The most outstanding performance was the 38th Infantry Division commanded by Colonel Safiulin. During the attack, the regiment commander reported to Safiulin: "Comrade Commander, we have discovered a field airport of the German army ahead. Please instruct us for the next step."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the order is clear." Safiulin learned that he had discovered the German field airport in front of him, and quickly said to the leader of the vanguard regiment: "Immediately concentrate the entire regiment's forces and launch an attack on the airport. If I have any concerns, I will take the other two regiments and rush over to support you as soon as possible."
After receiving the attack order, the commander of the vanguard regiment immediately understood the troops to adjust the direction and took the enemy's field airport as the main attack direction. There was probably a company of German troops guarding the airport. Seeing the sudden appearance of the Soviet army, they immediately resisted tenaciously.
The first attack of the vanguard regiment was repelled by the enemy defending the airport. After the attack failed, the vanguard regiment commander was not discouraged and immediately regrouped the troops and led the team to charge in person.
When the commanders and soldiers of the vanguard regiment saw that the commanders led the team to charge in person, they immediately became very motivated. They braved the enemy's guns and bullets, and went forward one after another. After a fierce battle, they finally rushed into the airport.
When he had just arrived at nearby Safiulin, he saw the plane parked in the airport through a telescope. He immediately ordered the chief of staff to "notify the vanguard regiment immediately and be sure to seize all the enemy planes in the airport."
Since the regiment commander was leading the team to participate in the battle, this order could not be conveyed in time through the radio. In order to prevent the regiment commander from being impulsive, he would blow all the captured enemy planes into scrap iron, Safiulin quickly sent a staff officer to ask him to rush to the airport on a motorcycle and notify the leader of the vanguard regiment that the enemy planes parked in the airport must be seized.
Fortunately, the staff officer acted quickly. When the motorcycle he was riding on rushed into the airport, the battle was over. The commander of the vanguard regiment was arranging the soldiers to tie explosives on the planes and prepare to blow the planes to pieces.
Seeing this, the staff officer quickly shouted loudly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, wait a moment, don't blow up the plane. The division commander ordered that the enemy's plane be seized intact." In this way, the eighteen German transport planes were completely preserved.
Safiulin rushed to the airport and saw that the vanguard regiment had seized eighteen transport planes, and he repeatedly praised the vanguard regiment commander. However, he soon discovered a question: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, have you discovered the enemy pilots during the battle?"
"No." As Safiulin reminded, the leader of the vanguard found that the Germans who were destroyed were all guards guarding the airport, and there was no pilot. He quickly ordered his subordinates: "Search me around immediately. Even if the German pilots hide underground, they must dig them out for me."
The soldiers around him dispersed and went around to look for German pilots. A few minutes later, a captain who was in charge of searching for the wooden house beside the runway hurriedly ran over to report to the regiment commander: "Comrade Commander, we found a hole in the wooden house. It was too dark inside and couldn't see anything clearly."
When Safiulin heard the captain say this, he quickly interrupted and asked, "Did you see clearly? Are there any Germans hidden in the hole?"
"No, comrade of the division commander." The captain quickly replied, "It's too dark inside. We are worried that there is an ambush inside, so no one is sent to check it out for the time being."
"Take me in and have a look."
The group walked into the wooden house next to the runway. Safiulin saw a lifted wooden board in the middle of the house, revealing a rectangular hole. A group of soldiers stood near the hole, with muzzles facing the black hole.
Safiulin pointed his hand at the entrance of the cave and ordered the regiment commander: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, immediately arrange for people to shout into the cave and ask them to put down their weapons and come out to surrender, otherwise we will throw grenades."
The regiment commander nodded and called an officer who knew German, and asked him to shout at the entrance of the cave. The officer squatted two feet away from the entrance of the cave and said loudly in German: "You are surrounded by us, put down your weapons immediately and surrender, otherwise we will throw grenades."
After shouting, the cave was silent. The officer turned his head and looked at Safiulin, waiting for his instructions. Safiulin pursed his mouth and said, "Since the enemy is unwilling to come out to surrender, then we will destroy them. We are ready to throw grenades into the cave."
The soldiers around him agreed, took out the grenade, opened the insurance and prepared to throw it into the hole. At this time, a bad Russian came from the hole: "Don't throw the grenade, surrender, we surrender."
"Top the weapon." The officer in charge of the call couldn't help feeling ecstatic when he heard the sound inside, but he still pretended to shout: "I count to three. If we haven't thrown the weapon out, we will throw grenades."
"No, no, let's surrender." A fearful voice came from the hole, and then a bunch of pistols were thrown out one after another.
Seeing that the enemy threw out the weapon, the officer continued to shout: "One after another, raise your hands and walk out, otherwise we will throw grenades."
After the officer finished shouting, he saw a white handkerchief tied to a small wooden stick slowly rising from the hole. Then a German pilot in a pilot's uniform appeared. He said timidly as he walked: "Don't shoot, we surrender!"
Chapter completed!