In order to avoid the large and small craters, ruins, and some damaged tanks or other vehicles, the tanks of the tank brigade had to slow down and slowly approach the department store.
Belly, who was sitting in the tank, originally thought that if his tank brigade advanced at this speed, it would suffer heavy losses from the enemy's artillery fire. However, he soon discovered that the development of things was different from his imagination.
In a department store, enemy artillery fire poses less of a threat to you.
At first, he thought it was an illusion, but after careful observation, he found that it was actually true. According to his analysis, the German artillery deployed in the building did not have enough depression angle. After his tank approached the department store,
They would be unable to hit themselves. After discovering this problem, he immediately contacted Sokov's headquarters through the car phone.
As soon as the phone call came through, he said excitedly: "Misha, I found that the closer our tanks are to the department store, the smaller the threat to us from the artillery in the building."
"What's going on?" Sokov asked in confusion.
"The depression angle of the German artillery is not enough, so as long as we get closer to the building, it will be difficult for the enemy's artillery to hit us." Bely reported: "But we can bombard the windows where the artillery is deployed."
"You are observing very carefully, Colonel Bely." Sokov was originally worried that the tanks rushing towards the department store would suffer heavy losses under the enemy's artillery fire, but now he knows that the enemy's artillery does not have enough depression angle. As long as our own tanks
After reaching a certain position, the enemy's artillery will be unable to attack the target. "Then you try to use artillery fire to suppress the German firepower points and cover the infantry charge."
"clear."
After the call with Bely, Sokov said to Sidorin: "Chief of Staff, call Colonel Sivakov and say that the enemy's artillery depression angle is not enough. As long as our tanks are closer to the building, the enemy's
The artillery could no longer threaten the tanks downstairs. He ordered the tank brigade under his command to immediately charge into the department store."
"Okay, Comrade Division Commander." Sidorin nodded and said, "I will call Colonel Sivakov immediately and ask him to use your tactics and use tanks to quickly rush to the department store."
Sivakov was worried when he received Sidorin's call. As the smoke dissipated, his offensive troops were exposed to the German army's sight, and were immediately intercepted by artillery bombardment and machine gun fire, causing a large number of casualties.
After listening to Sidorin's order, he decided to take a gamble and quickly issued orders to the tank brigade and the vanguard regiment. Let the tanks park close to the building and fire at the fire points in the building, while the infantry fired at the tanks.
Under the cover of the enemy, they launched a fierce attack on the building.
The artillery deployed in the building was unable to bombard the Soviet tanks approaching the building; but the Soviet tanks were able to bombard the fire points in the building. This information was immediately reported to Schmidt at all levels. After hearing the news, he immediately ran over.
Report to Paulus: "Your Majesty Commander, the situation is not good. The Russian tanks are only two to three hundred meters away from the building where we are."
"What, we are still two or three hundred meters away?" After listening to Schmidt's report, Paulus turned to look at Hans Wurz, commander of the 144th Artillery Group, who was sitting aside, and said sternly: "You
What are you doing sitting here, not immediately organizing artillery fire to destroy the Russian tanks?"
"Your Excellency, Commander," Hans Wurtz had been sitting at the headquarters, but after listening to Schmidt's report, he still understood what was going on. Seeing Paulus getting angry at this moment, he explained euphemistically: "
The artillery we deployed in the building is very effective in bombarding distant targets. But if they enter our shooting blind spot, our artillery will be helpless against them. The rest of the battle can only be fought by infantry.
solved."
"Where is Sonne?" Paulus heard what Hans Wurtz said and asked Schmidt: "Let him immediately stop the troops from counterattacking and drive the Russians away from the department store.
"
"Your Excellency, Commander, there is something I don't know whether to say or not." Hans Wurtz said cautiously.
"Don't say anything you shouldn't say." Paulus slapped his face hard on the table and said to Hans Wurz: "If you try to persuade me to surrender again, I advise you to save it. I will
The last person to fight and the last bullet fired.”
Seeing that Paulus was so stubborn, Hans Wurz understood that nothing he said was of any use. At this moment, he felt a little regretful in his heart. When Kurtzbach came to contact him two days ago to persuade him to hold a military remonstrance, he was
He refused without hesitation. Even while the military remonstrance was going on, he pretended to inspect defense and went to other areas.
"Your Excellency, Commander," Schmidt reminded Paulus: "We only have more than 10,000 troops in this area. If we implement a counterattack, I am afraid the effect will not be ideal."
"Aren't there other troops coming here?" Paulus said angrily: "When they arrive, our total strength will reach more than 30,000 people, and we can deal with the same number of Russians.
We still have a good chance of winning.”
"Your Excellency Commander, although from the beginning of the Russian attack, we sent a signal for help to nearby troops." Schmidt sighed and said: "Those directions were also attacked by the Russians. How many troops can they mobilize?
The strength of the troops is still unknown.”
Schmidt's words made Paulus wake up again. How could he, as the commander, not know what the surrounding situation was like? But he always had an illusion in his heart, thinking that Manstein and Holt's troops would still come to rescue him.
, the attacking Russians would soon be defeated by reinforcements.
He sat in his seat and finished a cigarette before speaking: "Chief of Staff, you should immediately formulate a breakout plan. When it is determined that the department store cannot be defended, we will organize troops to break out."
"Breakout?" Schmidt asked with a wry smile: "Your Excellency, Commander, we are surrounded by Russians on all sides, where can we break out? Besides, our supplies are seriously insufficient, and a large number of soldiers are so hungry that they can't even walk."
, even if the Russians make way for us, most of them may not be able to leave the encirclement alive."
"Then what should we do?" Paulus murmured.
"It doesn't make much sense to continue fighting." Hans Wurtz interjected: "It's better to send someone to negotiate with the Russians. The frontal attack force is commanded by Colonel Sokov. I believe he will not challenge us.
Put forward too harsh conditions."
Hearing Hans Wurz's suggestion, Schmidt couldn't help but smile bitterly: "General Hans Wurz, it's not like you don't know that he tried to persuade us to surrender twice, but we rejected them both times. At this moment
If we ask them to negotiate again, I'm afraid they won't pay attention to us."
"What should we do?" Hans Wurz asked: "Should we just sit back and wait for death?"
"Keep fighting." Paulus stood up and said: "As long as the Russians can enter the building, then we will surrender. After all, we have tried our best, and I believe the head of state will not say anything."
"Okay." Seeing that Paulus already had the idea of surrender, Schmidt thought that he could talk to Sonne, who was in charge of the defense of the building, whether he could release the water appropriately so that the Russians could rush into the building, so that he could
He surrendered naturally. "I will pass on your order immediately."
According to Schmidt's idea, since this matter was proposed by Paulus, Sannei, as a subordinate, would definitely implement it without hesitation. Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished explaining the matter, Sannei shook his head and said: "No,
Your Excellency, Chief of Staff. As a soldier, how can I hand over my position to the Russians easily? I will order my men to fight tenaciously and hold this place as long as possible."
Schmidt didn't expect that Paulus even thought of surrendering. As a result, Sannei got into trouble again and wanted to fight the superior Russians to the end. He knew that further persuasion would be of little use, so he returned to the basement and ordered
The security officer closed the door and prevented anyone in the building from entering the basement.
When Hans Wurz saw Schmidt coming back from outside with a lonely look on his face, he knew that the result of his conversation with Sonne was not good, so he quickly pulled him and asked: "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, what did General Sonne say?"
?Is he willing to deliberately let the Russians break into the building as quickly as possible?"
"He said he wanted to fight to the bitter end." Schmidt smiled bitterly, shook his head, and said, "I'm worried that he might take some drastic action, so I have ordered the security forces to close the basement door to prevent outside troops from entering.
"
"Your Excellency, Chief of Staff," Hans Wurtz said cautiously, "I still have some subordinates in the building outside. Why don't I go get in touch with them. If you see that the situation is not right, surrender to the Russians immediately."
"Surrender, how to surrender?" Schmidt asked puzzledly: "There is a lot of fighting on the battlefield. If you go out to surrender, you may be killed by stray bullets. I think it's better to forget it."
"Have you seen the rooftop on the second floor?" Hans Wurz said to Schmidt: "I asked a few soldiers to hide near the rooftop. When they saw that the Russians had the upper hand, they raised a white flag to them. I wanted the Russians to
When people see our white flag, they will definitely stop attacking."
"Wouldn't it be too risky to do this?" Schmidt reminded Hans Wurz: "I'm worried that your people are waving white flags, while Sannei's soldiers are still shooting at the Russians. The Russians attacking the building
If you don’t understand the situation clearly, I won’t accept your surrender at all, so how are you going to end it then?”
"Time is running out." Even though the door to the basement was closed, Hans Wurz could still hear the gunshots becoming more and more intensive, proving that the Russian troops were about to rush into the building, so he quickly said to Schmidt
: "I will handle this matter myself, so don't worry."
Hans Wurz heard it right. Under the cover of tank fire, a company of the 122nd Regiment had rushed to the door of the building and was about to climb the steps and rush into the building. The defenders in the building were trying to hit the enemy below.
Targets had to lean out and shoot downwards. As a result, many people were hit by Soviet snipers in the distance and fell downstairs with screams.
The remaining soldiers saw their comrades being shot and fell, and knowing that there were Soviet snipers in the distance, they quickly retracted their bodies. Since the guns could not hit the charging soldiers below, they pulled the strings one by one.
The grenade was thrown downstairs. The grenade landed on the steps and exploded, sending up countless dazzling fireballs and dazzling lights. The soldiers shrouded in gunpowder smoke were either cut down by flying shrapnel, or were hidden in the building after rushing into the building.
The enemies in the hall were shot down randomly.
Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko saw that the troops he rushed up were covered by grenades thrown down by the enemy. He immediately became anxious. He quickly issued new orders, suppressing the enemy with firepower and sending more soldiers to rush up.
The firepower composed of tank artillery fire and machine gun fire successfully suppressed the enemies in the building, allowing more soldiers to rush into the building. However, just as a smile appeared on Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko's face, Sannei organized the troops
A counterattack was launched against the Soviet commanders and fighters who rushed into the building. In less than ten minutes, more than 200 soldiers who rushed into the building were either killed or driven out.
Ivanov, who was watching the battle from behind, saw that the 122nd Regiment's attack was frustrated, and quickly ordered the 125th Regiment to attack to assist the 122nd Regiment in continuing the attack.
"Comrade Deputy Division Commander," Ivanov had just finished giving the order when he heard someone talking at the door: "Can you come in?"
Ivanov turned around and saw that it was Belkin. He nodded quickly and said, "Come in, Lieutenant Colonel Belkin."
"Comrade Deputy Division Commander," Belkin walked up to Ivanov, straightened his body and asked, "I would like to ask, when will our reduced regiment be allowed to go up?"
"Draw down the regiment?" When Ivanov heard Belkin's question, his pupils couldn't help but shrink violently: "What, your regiment didn't participate in the battle?" He asked this because he remembered Sokov's distinction between the drawdown regiment and
The 122nd Regiment merged.
"No." Belkin shook his head and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko said that his regiment was sufficient to handle such an attack, so he asked the commanders and fighters of our reduced regiment to stay as a reserve force."
"Nonsense, this is simply nonsense." When Ivanov heard this, he immediately understood what was going on. During the entire defense battle, the regiment with the most outstanding military achievements in the division was none other than Belkin's reduced regiment, Papp
Chinco might be worried that the regiment would take the credit for capturing Paulus alive, so he asked them to stand still. At this moment, since the 122nd regiment's attack was frustrated, he had to use a reduced regiment. Thinking of this, he said to Belkin: "
Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I order you to immediately lead the shrinking regiment to attack the department store, and be sure to rush into the building in the shortest possible time."
As the order was given, the drawdown regiment launched an attack on the building. They adopted Sokov's three-and-three tactics, working in groups of three, taking alternate cover and rushing towards the building. The machine gunners hiding in the building saw this
The battle formation can't help but be a little dumbfounded. If the offensive formation is dense, they can immediately move their positions after shooting wildly. But with such a loose formation, the time it takes for them to shoot will increase invisibly, and the time will increase.
The probability of being destroyed by tank fire from outside is increased.
In less than five minutes, the first and second battalions of the reduced regiment successively entered the building and started a close battle with the enemy on the first floor. Hearing the intensive gunfire coming from downstairs, Hans Wurz knew that the situation was over, so he ordered
The confidants around me: "Show the white flag."
Upon hearing this, his confidants quickly agreed, stretched out the white flag that had been tied to the wooden stick, and swung it wildly toward the outside.
