In the early morning of November 6, the frontline position of the 113th Infantry Division of the German Army.
Before dawn, the German soldiers on the position were sleeping soundly in their shelter. At this moment, the roar of huge aircraft engines suddenly came from the air.
The commander on the position was a major. He lived in a wooden house behind the position. After being woken up by the roar of the engine, he sat up from the bed and looked out the window. Before dawn was dawn, he shouted outside. An orderly soldier immediately ran in and asked respectfully: "Mr. Major, what are your instructions?"
The major pointed his hand outside and said impatiently: "Go out and see where the planes outside flew from? It was not dawn yet, and even if they wanted to bomb the Russians' positions, it wouldn't be so early."
Before the orderlymen could go out, a burst of screams suddenly came from the air, and then the bombs falling from the sky landed on the front line and exploded, causing countless fires and smoke. A bomb fell not far from the wooden house and exploded. The huge air wave overturned a tricycle and shattered all the glass on the window.
The major was stunned by the sudden bombing. After a moment, he suddenly jumped off the bed, grabbed the clothes placed on the chair beside the bed, bent down and lifted his boots, ran out barefoot, cursing repeatedly: "The Air Force, these damn idiots, they made a mistake and dropped the bombs on our own heads."
However, when he ran out of the wooden house in panic, he unexpectedly discovered that the plane was carrying out "missive bombing", not from Germany but from the Soviet army. He immediately understood that this was not a ghostly bombing, but from the Soviet army dispatched bombers to bomb his position.
The major rolled and crawled into the command post more than a hundred meters away, and shouted at the radio operator who was still sitting next to the phone in a daze: "Why are you still dazed? You haven't sent a report to the division headquarters immediately, saying that we were bombed by the Russians." The major understood very well that the Russians suddenly dispatched planes to bomb their positions, indicating that they were ready to take offensive actions. If they did not report to their superiors in time, then once the Russians really launched an attack, the defense line would be at risk of being broken.
After receiving the telegram, the commander of the 113th Division was also confused. He asked his chief of staff: "Chief of staff, has there any movement from the Russians across our defense zone recently?"
"No, Master of the Division." The Chief of Staff shook his head and replied: "The Russian defense zone has always been very calm, and there is nothing abnormal."
"But I just received a telegram from the frontline position," the division commander handed the telegram to the chief of staff of the division and continued: "The battalion commander who was standing there reported to me that they were violently bombed by Russian planes."
After receiving the telegram for a while, the Chief of Staff asked in a suspicious tone: "Secretary Commander, if it has not been fully lit today, will it be a bomber formation that treats the frontier position of our division as the Russians' position, and then the accidental bombing occurred?"
The words of the Chief of Staff made the Chief of Staff hesitate. When he first saw the telegram, he felt that his troops were bombed by the Russians, but at this moment, he felt that what the Chief of Staff said made some sense. Maybe it was really the aircraft of the Fourth Air Force, which put his division's frontier position. He hesitated for a moment and ordered the Chief of Staff: "Immediately call me from the Army Command, and I want to report this matter directly to the commander."
Paulus wakes up on time at 7 o'clock every morning, and his first thing is to sit at the table and drink a cup of coffee and some snacks, which is his first breakfast. When it is nine o'clock, he will drink a glass of wine from Ukrainian Masandra Winery, and then have a second hearty breakfast.
Usually he doesn't work until two breakfasts are finished. His men also know his character and usually don't disturb him at this time. Today, Paulus, as usual, got up, sat at the dining table in the room for his first breakfast. He drank coffee and said to Schmid, who was sitting opposite him: "Chief of Staff, do you know that the wine I drink every day comes from Masandra Winery in Ukraine. This winery is specially used to pay tribute to the summer palace of Tsar Nicholas II. It is the best winery in the Tsar era. If you want to drink, you can enjoy high-end wines like me. Just like me, you can enjoy the former royal family every day..."
Just as Paulus was speaking happily, a sound of a report suddenly came from the door. Before he could make a sound, someone pushed the door and walked in from outside. He saw clearly that the person who came in was his adjutant. Paulus knew that if there was nothing important, the other party would never disturb him at this time. He suppressed the anger in his heart and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Report to the Commander," the adjutant replied respectfully: "The duty room received a call from the commander of the 113th Infantry Division, saying that his frontline position may have been accidentally bombed by our planes."
"Accidental bombing?!" Paulus looked at Schmid in confusion after hearing this and asked, "Chief of Staff, why did our plane go out for mission so early today?"
"No way?!" Schmid, as the chief of staff of the army, was also unsure of what was going on. He replied in confusion: "It's getting late now, so the airlines usually choose to attack around nine o'clock." He raised his hand and looked at the watch on his wrist, adding, "But just now, just 7 o'clock, I called the Fourth Air Force to ask what was going on."
Paulus pointed at the phone on the desk not far away and said, "Chief of Staff, you can use this phone to talk to the commander of the Fourth Air Force."
The phone was quickly connected. After Schmid talked with the commander of the airline team, he put down the microphone and reported to Paulus: "Hiss Commander, I have asked the airline team that they have not sent any planes to dispatch so far today."
"It's not our plane, whose plane would it be?" Paulus frowned and thought for a while, immediately thought of a possibility, and instructed Schmid: "Chief of Staff, call the commander of the 113th Infantry Division directly and ask him what happened?"
With the help of the operator, Schmid quickly connected to the division headquarters of the 113th Infantry Division. After learning that the person who answered the phone was the division commander, he asked straight to the point: "Sir, what happened there? I have asked the air force, and they have not sent any planes so far."
After hearing Schmid's words, the division commander immediately realized that he had been misled by the Chief of Staff, and wished to regard the planes that bombed the frontier positions as their own planes. He quickly replied: "General Schmid, my frontier commander's telegram to me did mention that it was Russian planes bombing their positions. But I considered that it was not dawn outside and that our defense zone had never been attacked by Russians, so I judged that the frontier commander might have made a mistake..."
"Why don't you report the real situation but report the wrong information you speculated? Wouldn't you mislead the commander's judgment?" Schmid fired a few words at the other party, covered the microphone with his hand and reported to Paulus, who was sitting at the dining table waiting for news: "Master Commander, I have asked the commander of the 113th Infantry Division. He said that the telegram sent back from the frontier said it was bombed by Russian planes, and he was worried that the sky was too dark and the officers and soldiers on the frontier might have read it wrong, so he sent us the wrong information."
"This kind of person should be sent to the military court." Paulus was furious when he learned that the commander of the 113th Infantry Division gave him wrong information. If it were normal, he might have announced the removal of his position directly, but now the front of the division is being bombed by Russian aircraft, proving that the Russians may take major military actions. He walked to the wall, looked up at the map above, and after looking for a while, he turned his head to ask Schmid: "Chief of Staff, what do you think the Russians' intentions are?"
"Is this more necessary," Schmid curled his lips and said with disdain: "The Russians' intentions are very obvious. Stalin must have thought that our army's attack in the factory area would lead to the fall of the entire city. In order to resolve the pressure from the defenders, he issued an offensive order to Rokosovsky in the north, hoping that through this sudden offensive, we can achieve the goal of restraining our forces and prevent us from concentrating our superior forces to continue to maintain the offensive against the factory area."
Paulus immediately agreed with Schmid's analysis: "Yes, the 113th Infantry Division has never been attacked by the Russians since it entered the defensive position. If Rokosovsky really chose their defense zone as a breakthrough, it might be able to break through their defense line. Chief of Staff, look at the defense zone of the 113th Infantry Division, our precious railway transportation line. Once the Russians implement a limited breakthrough, our transportation artery will be cut off. At that time, the ammunition and supplies cannot be transported, the wounded and the materials cannot be transported..."
Schmid realized the seriousness of the problem from Paulus's words and quickly asked him for instructions: "Master Commander, what should we do to avoid this worst situation?"
"Immediately order the 113th Infantry Division to dispatch troops to the frontline positions, and be sure to consolidate its defense and avoid being broken by the Russians." Paulus stared at the map and said without looking back: "Not only the main force of the 113th Infantry Division should go north to reinforce, but even the 60th Motorized Division, which is close to their neighbors, should be immediately transferred to the north and prepare to attack from the Russians in a timely manner after the direction of the 113th Infantry Division is broken through..."
When Paulus was assigning the mission, Schmid immediately wrote down what he said word in his mind. As soon as Paulus finished speaking, he immediately let go of his hand covering the microphone and said to the microphone: "The commander commander orders that your division's main force will be transferred north immediately, and it is necessary to prevent the Russians from breaking through the defense line of your division. Do you understand?"
After finishing his phone call with the commander of the 113th Infantry Division, Schmid called the commander of the 60th Motorized Division and the commander of the Fourth Air Force, ordered the motorized division to be transferred north, and asked the air force fighter formation to attack immediately, driving the Russian bomber group from the frontier positions of the 113th Infantry Division.
Paulus walked back to the dining table and sat down, continuing to drink the already cold coffee, but his eyes were staring at Schmid, who was on the phone, thinking about what the Soviet army's true intention was for this attack.
After Schmid finished calling, he put the empty coffee cup on the table, looked up at Schmid who was walking over and asked, "Chief of Staff, why do you think the Russians suddenly bombed our defense line? Are they really ready to launch a new offensive?"
"I think it's entirely possible, Commander." Schmidt thought for a moment, nodded and said, "Tomorrow is the October Revolution Festival for the Russians. According to their tradition, it is entirely possible to carry out a series of attacks before the festival."
"Chief of Staff, after hearing what you said, I remember something." Paulus and Schmid finished speaking, and said thoughtfully: "Last year when our army approached the city of Moscow, the Russians held a military parade on Red Square to boost their low morale. As soon as the troops participating in the military parade left Red Square, they took a truck to go to various battlefields. I don't tell you what happened later, and you know what happened. Our army was driven away by them from the city of Moscow."
"Hisser Commander," Paulus's words made Schmid realize the seriousness of the problem. He quickly reminded Paulus: "I think we should give an alarm to all the commanders of the troops to raise their vigilance and prevent the Russians from possible counterattacks. Today's attack on the factory area, I think we can pause the troops and prepare for the deployment on the spot, so that the Russians will not be caught off guard by the sudden counterattack."
"Yes, yes, let the troops attacking the factory area temporarily move into defense." The scene of the Soviet army's night counterattack in the Derrensky factory a few days ago drove all the troops occupying the factory area out again, and he emphasized to Schmid: "In the past two months, our troops have only been focusing on attacks and have completely neglected their defense. If the Russians really launched a strong counterattack, we might not be able to stop him."
"Mr. Commander, there is one more thing I want to remind you." Before leaving Paulus' room, Schmid reminded him again: "If the Russians were to launch a counterattack, the troops that were standing on Mamayev's hill would also take action. Now the Romanian army is confronting them. Do you think we need to send troops to strengthen this direction?"
Chapter completed!