"Comrades in Commanders," Sokov asked in confusion when he saw his subordinates' melancholy expressions, "I want to ask, what are you worried about?"
"Comrade Commander, have you not heard that Hitler promoted Paulus to Field Marshal?" Makarenko smiled bitterly: "No marshal in Germany has ever been captured, which means that Paulus's idea of ​​surrender has been completely cut off, and he can only fight to the end with us."
"You can't say that," in order to restore the confidence of his subordinates, Sokov said with a smile: "Germany may not have been captured before, but we can set this precedent. As long as Paulus is captured alive, wouldn't it be a breaking Germany's convention of never being captured by a marshal? Do you think this is the reason?"
It took a few minutes to digest what Sokov said, and then nodded one after another, saying, "Comrade Commander is right. He was indeed not captured by the German marshal before. But as long as we captured Paulus alive, we broke this convention of the German army."
Seeing that everyone's faces had regained confidence, Sokov felt very relieved. He nodded and said, "We should put the matter of Paulus aside first, or continue to discuss how to deal with the German artillery deployed in the department store. That guy poses too much threat to our offensive forces."
As soon as Sokov reminded everyone, they immediately remembered the annoying artillery in the building, and their emotions were depressed. Finally, Cidolin said, "Comrade, you have many ways, so you should tell everyone how to deal with the artillery deployed by the Germans in the building."
"I have been to the department store many times and I am quite familiar with the building structure there." Since Sidolin asked him to give everyone an idea, Sokov was not pretentious and stood up and said: "The entire building of the department store is made of stone, which can withstand the bombardment of 76.2 mm caliber artillery. The second floor is the strongest floor of the entire building. If the Germans deployed artillery on this floor, it would be very difficult for them to use artillery to eliminate them.
Therefore, I have an idea, which is to push our tanks to a position about 300 meters away from the building. At such a distance, the German anti-tank hands cannot get close to the tanks, and the artillery deployed in the building cannot be equipped with many armor-piercing bombs in order to deal with our infantry..."
"I understand." Bai Lei, who sat in the crowd and never spoke, suddenly realized when he heard this: "As long as our tanks are parked at about 300 meters and aim at the cannons in the building to bombard it, it can suppress the enemy's artillery and machine gun fire and cover our infantry to launch an attack."
"Col. Bere is right. That's what I want to express. "Seeing that Berere had already understood his intentions, Sokov continued: "Since the tanks of the Tank Brigade were responsible for dealing with enemy artillery in the building, the task of eliminating the enemy's peripheral fire points must be handed over to the artillery to complete. They saw that as the infantry advanced forward, approach the building as much as possible, destroying the fire points that threaten our army and covering the infantry's attack."
After hearing what Sokov said, Shivakov felt that nothing strange was true and couldn't help but murmur: "This tactic is also very ordinary. Can it break through the enemy's defense line?"
"Col. Sivakov," Major General Makarenko approached Sivakov and asked in a low voice: "You and Sokov are both colonels, but why can he command a combat cluster while you can only command one division?"
Shivakov was asked by this question. He grunted for a long time without saying a word. Makarenko continued, "Since his method is very simple and there is nothing strange about it, why can't you think of it?"
Makarenko's criticism made Shivakov's face flushed with shame, and he wanted to find a crack in the ground to get in immediately.
"Comrades in command," Sokov once again swept his eyes on everyone after he deployed the mission, and asked habitually: "Is there any other problem?"
"Comrade Commander, I have a problem." Hearing Sokov said this, Shivakov quickly stood up from his seat and raised his hand and said, "I want to ask a question."
"Ask, Colonel Shivakov." Sokov said rationally: "If you have any questions, just ask. The Chief of Staff and I will give you a satisfactory answer."
"Our division paid a considerable price in the daytime attack, and its military strength should be the least of the three divisions." Shivakov asked a little embarrassedly: "I wonder if we can add some troops to us."
"Col. Sivakov," said Cidolin before Sokov could speak first: "Now all the troops are used to attack the department store, and there is no extra troops to replenish you."
"But our division has too few troops," Sivakov continued to complain: "If the troops are insufficient, the ability to attack will be greatly reduced. I am worried that the commanders and fighters of other divisions have rushed into the department store, and I'm afraid we haven't gotten close yet."
Sidolin was about to say a few more words, but Sokov raised his hand to stop him: "Col. Sivakov, before the attack tomorrow, I can give you a regiment of troops. But what should I do if you still cannot rush into the department store with other divisions after you get the supplement?"
Sokov's words stopped Sivakov, his face flushed and he didn't know how to answer for a moment. Fortunately, Lieutenant Colonel Yegorov, the political commissar of the division, rescued him in time, and he straightened his body to express his opinion to Sokov: "Don't worry, comrade Commander, if we can't rush into the building at the same time as other division commanders and fighters, you will remove us from our post."
Sokov just smiled faintly at Yegorov's bold words and thought to himself: Even if I want to remove your post, I don't have this right. He quickly changed the subject and asked the other commanders: "Is there any other comrades?"
"No." The commanders sitting below replied in unison.
"Since there is no problem, let's break up."
The other commanders left, only Ivanov and Bere left. Seeing that everyone was almost gone, Bere asked with some concern: "Misha, I am worried that bombarding the building at close range may cause the building to collapse. If Paulus is killed, then will the work we have done in the early stage be in vain?"
"Don't worry, Colonel Bille." Sokov picked up the cigarette box on the table, took out a few cigarettes, and handed them to Ivanov, Belay and Cidolin in turn. As soon as he held the cigarette in his mouth, Cidolin lit a match and lit the cigarette for him. After taking a sip, he said to Belay: "The basement is very solid and solid. Even if the whole building collapses, it will not be a big threat to the people inside."
"But if the collapsed bricks and rubble blocks the exit, we will not be able to find the location of Paulus Command."
"There will be a solution." Sokov said this and asked Bere: "Col. Bore, how many tanks and self-propelled artillery do you still have?"
"There are 31 tanks and 5 self-propelled artillery." Bie Lei replied with a wry smile: "This is all my belongings. If I lose a little, I will become the commander of the bare body."
"Colonel Blue, don't let the self-propelled artillery participate when you bombard the department store tomorrow," Sokov said. "Their armor protection capabilities are far less than our tanks. Let the self-propelled artillery stay behind, and they may not be able to be used again in a short while."
Regarding Sokov's order, Belei nodded and replied: "I understand. I will leave my self-propelled artillery and let them stay in the ruins to eliminate the firepower points that pose a great threat to our army."
…………
The next day, just dawned, the attack on the department store began again.
In order to prevent the troops from being attacked by German artillery fire as they advance forward, Sivakov ordered the reconnaissance personnel to release smoke on the road ahead. Now, the enemy cannot see it, and the Soviet army cannot see it, and the entire attack fell into chaos.
When Sokov received the report, he hurried to the top of the slope, raised his telescope and looked at the combat area. Fire balls or black smoke rose from time to time in the middle and left wings, while the right wing, which was in charge of the Sivakov division, was shrouded in a gray-white smoke.
"Nonsense, it's simply nonsense." Sokov returned to his command center, immediately called Shivakov, and asked sternly: "Col. Sivakov, what are you doing, why do you release so much smoke on your own position."
"Comrade Commander," said Shivakov with a sad face: "In order to block the sight of the German artillery and machine gunners, I ordered people to release a large amount of smoke on the position. But I did not expect that after the smoke was released, there was no wind at all, and as a result, our entire area was covered by smoke."
"Do you have any ideas?" Sokov asked coldly.
"What else can I do?" Shivakov replied listlessly: "I can only wait until the fog dissipates before letting the infantry attack."
"If the smoke does not dissipate for an hour, will you not attack for an hour; if you do not dissipate for two hours, you will be stupid for two hours?" Faced with Sivakov's negative emotions, Sokov said angrily: "Although the visibility in the smoke is low, as long as you know the approximate direction, you can sneak into the enemy's position. After the smoke dissipates, you will catch the enemy off guard.
In addition, tanks can also be free from smoke. As long as they approach the department store, they can aim at targets set in advance and bombard the enemy."
"Well, Comrade Commander." Seeing Sokov said so confidently, Shivakov could only say helplessly: "I will follow what you said to let the tanks and infantry attack in the smoke."
Seeing Sokov put down the phone, Cidolin asked worriedly: "Comrade Commander, isn't it too risky to attack in the smoke?"
"Yes, the visibility in the smoke is indeed very low," Sokov said. "But we can't see clearly, and the enemy can't see clearly. We must take advantage of the favorable opportunity that they cannot observe and approach the department store. When the smoke dissipates, we will immediately launch an assault."
Malinin called again and said to Sokov: "Col. Sokov, Comrade Commander will return from Moscow tomorrow morning. He will stay in the headquarters to wait for your good news. I hope that your performance will not disappoint his expectations."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, please rest assured." Sokov expressed his determination to Malining, "We must have taken the department store and captured Paulus alive."
As soon as he heard Paulus's name, Malining couldn't help asking again: "Col. Sokov, are you really sure that Paulus is hiding in the basement of the department store?"
"It's totally certain." Sokov said calmly: "And he has no way out, just waiting for us to capture him alive."
"Very good. If you can really capture Paulus alive, I will join forces with the commander to ask for you." Malining said on the phone: "I hope you don't let us have a happy moment."
After receiving Sokov's order, Shivakov asked the vanguard regiment, who was the main attacker, to follow the tank and slowly approach the enemy's position. The German troops gathered in the trenches heard the roar of the tank engine and the slogan of "Ula" from the smoke in front of them. They could not see where the attacking Soviet army was at any time, but they still aimed at the smoke and kept firing. Although such shooting had limited effect, it still caused certain casualties to the Sivakov division.
When Shivakov received a report from the front that the troops had much less casualties than expected. After putting down the phone, he said to Yegorov, who was sitting beside him: "Comrade Political Commissar, it seems that our cluster commander is still quite capable. He knows that we can use the smoke as a cover to quietly approach the enemy's positions and minimize casualties."
The two infantry divisions attacked from the middle and left wings became the focus of the German attack. The shells hit the ground attacking troops like money, causing great casualties with the Soviet army.
The 122nd Regiment of the 41st Division, the 41st Division, attacking from the left wing, saw the enemy's artillery fire fiercely, the regiment commander Lieutenant Colonel Papuchinko ordered the infantry to lie down on the spot, and then called Bilei and said loudly: "Col. Bilei, the enemy's artillery fire is very strong. Hurry up and drive your tanks up."
Bere, who was driving a tank, received a call from Pupchinko and said angrily: "Hey, we are all over the way forward. We can't get up even if we want to, so you can figure it out yourself."
Since the tank could not come for a while, continuing to give way to the infantry to charge would only cause unnecessary casualties. Lieutenant Colonel Papuchinko kept in mind what Sokov said about the principle of steady attack and ordered the commanders and fighters of the regiment to choose hidden places on the spot. After the tanks of the Tank Brigade arrived and used artillery fire to suppress the enemy's firepower points, it would not be too late to launch an attack. Therefore, he specially ordered the battalion commanders of each battalion and told them: "Without my order, everyone would lie in the crater and hide behind the ruins. No one was allowed to act without authorization."
Chapter completed!