Edmund stared at the several tanks on fire in the middle of the road with a pale expression, without saying a word.
"Lieutenant colonel!" the adjutant said, "I'll send a few more tanks up right away!"
"No!" Edmund shook his head: "It won't work. They can hide one group of bazooka shooters in the cemetery, and then another group. Until all our tanks are blown up..."
Lieutenant Colonel Edmond was right. Shulka hid three batches of ten people in each batch.
The reason why three batches are hidden is because it would be a waste to hide too many to be effective.
With less concealment, the Germans will not be able to deal with it if they send tanks up again.
The three batches were neither more nor less. The 29th Motorized Infantry Division only had twenty tanks in total (originally thirty tanks, but ten were lost in the attack on Mamayev Heights).
If three more batches were bombed three times, they would be almost gone.
As for the assault gun... Shulka doesn't worry about that at all.
The turret of the assault gun cannot be rotated. They can attack larger targets in open areas and can also be effective against more obvious targets, such as enemy bunkers, firepower points, trenches, etc.
If they are used in a place like a cemetery where there are tombstones everywhere and soldiers can move quickly, then they are beyond their capabilities... The tank turret can rotate, so it can respond to the target faster, and the assault gun needs to be aimed.
The target must rely on the vehicle body, which is a very difficult and time-consuming process. By the time they finally aim at the target, the Soviet soldiers have already moved elsewhere.
"Then..." The adjutant looked at Edmond with helplessness in his eyes. He had never experienced such a tactic before, and there was nothing he could do at this time.
In fact, not only the adjutant, but also Edmund was helpless.
But Edmund knew that the attack could not stop like this, otherwise the Mamayev Hills, which he had fought so hard for, would fall into the hands of the enemy again.
After thinking about it, Edmond said to the adjutant: "Request reinforcements immediately, we need more troops, infantry!"
"infantry?"
"Yes!" Edmund replied: "Let them send more infantry, no need for tanks!"
Edmund had realized at this time that a battle like this could only be done without aircraft, tanks and even artillery, but instead infantry should be used to fight the enemy's infantry.
This idea is correct.
Because in this special terrain, if you still stick to the usual infantry-tank cooperation, you can only say that you are tying your hands and feet... Tanks cannot play a big role in such terrain, and they may even become infantry.
It is a burden because the infantry has to protect the tank, thus exposing its position.
Although Andreas, the commander of the 29th Motorized Infantry Division, did not know what happened on the front line, he trusted Edmund's judgment.
This is a reflection of the high-quality German commanders, who always give frontline commanders full freedom.
In fact, Hitler did the same in the early stages of the battle, which made the German army very flexible in operations. They would always make the best choice in time according to changes in the situation on the front line.
Until Hitler became less and less convinced of the Wehrmacht's loyalty to him, and at the same time repeatedly blamed frontline commanders for frontline failures...
In fact, this was the reason why Hitler lost the support of the senior commanders of the Wehrmacht.
Almost all commanders understood that the attack on Moscow was due to Hitler's willfulness and refusal to listen to advice.
For example, Hitler's insistence on encircling Kiev caused Army Group Center to lose nearly a month to attack Moscow.
Another example is the attack on Stalingrad. Hitler insisted on splitting Army Group South into two armies to attack the Caucasus and Stalingrad. There was even a completely unnecessary low-level mistake... first allocate Huth's Fourth Armored Army, which belongs to Army Group B.
Army Group A was assigned to attack the Caucasus, and then it was discovered that Army Group B was not strong enough, so the Fourth Armored Army was transferred back to Army Group B.
This caused the entire German armored army to maneuver meaninglessly back and forth between the Caucasus and Stalingrad.
It might not be a big deal at other times, but this was a maneuver made when the German army was in short supply and troop strength. You can imagine how much supplies were wasted and how many fighter opportunities were missed.
The senior German commanders were not fools, and they were well aware of the mistakes Hitler had made.
But Hitler blamed all these mistakes on the frontline commanders.
This made the generals of the National Defense Forces feel insulted and unfairly treated, but they had no choice but to speak out because as long as they resisted, they would be dismissed from their posts or sent to a military court.
Therefore, conflicts inevitably arise.
This was one of the reasons for the subsequent "Assassination of Hitler" incident. If the Wehrmacht generals were not dissatisfied with Hitler, this assassination organization would not have become a thing.
Although Hitler had interfered too much at this time, the German frontline operations still maintained the tradition of giving frontline commanders sufficient freedom and power.
Therefore, Major General Andreas did not think much and immediately sent the 86th Motorized Rifle Regiment to reinforce Lieutenant Colonel Edmond and gave him command... Lieutenant Colonel Edmond was the commander of the 87th Motorized Rifle Regiment.
He originally had no authority to command the 86th Motorized Infantry Regiment.
But because he was familiar with the principles of the battlefield, Major General Andreas temporarily gave him command.
The 86th Motorized Rifle Regiment moved quickly and arrived at the cemetery in just twenty minutes.
The reason why it took twenty minutes was because the hospital and school were almost destroyed by the bombing, and even a three-wheeler could not pass through them, so they simply marched all the way to the cemetery.
"Lieutenant Colonel Ball!" Edmond spread out the map and said to the newly arrived commander of the 86th Motorized Rifle Regiment: "What you see is this area, a cemetery... We must pass through it and reinforce it.
Mamayev Kurgan. You know the fighting situation there is urgent and we must do this as soon as possible!"
"The enemy in the cemetery is very difficult, isn't it?" Lieutenant Colonel Ball asked.
"Yes!" Lieutenant Colonel Edmond replied: "We suffered heavy casualties, but we can't even touch their shadows!"
"This is normal, Lieutenant Colonel Edmond!" Lieutenant Colonel Ball replied: "Because we determined the identities of these enemies not long ago!"
"What is their identity?" Lieutenant Colonel Edmond looked at Lieutenant Colonel Ball in confusion and asked, "Are they an elite force?"
"No, on the contrary!" Lieutenant Colonel Ball replied: "They are a miscellaneous force similar to a punishment battalion. They have only been established for a few months!"
This made Lieutenant Colonel Edmond very embarrassed, because it also meant that he was incompetent.
Lieutenant Colonel An Wei said: "But there is no need to think that this is your fault, because you don't know who is commanding them!"
After a pause, Lieutenant Colonel Ball revealed the answer: "It's a 'Breakout Hero'. Lieutenant Colonel, you are facing a 'Breakout Hero'. Even Marshal Manstein failed to defeat him!"