I was delayed by something today, so I will make up a chapter tomorrow!
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Lieutenant Colonel Ball and Lieutenant Colonel Edmond did not launch an attack immediately. They had some communication and planning first.
This approach is very smart, although the war situation is very urgent at this time, Mamayev Heights will fall into the hands of the Soviet army at any time, and by then it will be too late for the German army to occupy the cemetery.
But both Edmund and Bauer knew that it was impossible to rush the situation. Even if the German army had the upper hand, if they went up hastily, they would undoubtedly be blown back by a grenade.
"Their main means of defense are grenades!" Edmond said, "plus submachine guns for close combat. This is smart, because cemeteries are suitable for such attacks!"
Lieutenant Colonel Ball nodded: "So, do you think we should fight like this?"
"Yes!" Lieutenant Colonel Edmond replied: "If we can't find a good tactic, we will use the same tactics as the enemy!"
This is obvious. If you use the same tactics as the enemy, you will at least not suffer a loss. To be precise, you will not suffer a big loss, because there are still differences between the attacker and the defender. Some details cannot be exactly the same. For example, the Soviet army can arrange
The submachine gunners lurked and the Germans couldn't.
After thinking about it, Lieutenant Colonel Ball said: "Or, we can slightly change this tactic!"
Lieutenant Colonel Ball indeed did this. He did not copy Shulka's tactics, but divided each platoon into three groups:
The first group is at the front and is mainly composed of submachine gunners. This group is of course charging at the front.
The second group is the grenadiers, who even carry rifles on their backs and carry a large number of grenades.
The third group is the snipers and mortars, who are responsible for firing flares forward, observing and coordinating command.
After more than ten minutes of intense preparation, the German army launched its first round of offensive.
This kind of offensive is very effective.
Their main body was the snipers and mortars of the third group...
The sniper took a favorable position and prepared, the mortar crew fired flares forward, and then the first group moved forward to launch a tentative attack.
Once the first group is attacked by the enemy, the sniper can usually find or roughly determine the enemy's position... Snipers usually have this ability. They are used to estimating the distance of the target, so they can quickly get more accurate data.
Needless to say, the grenades thrown by the Soviet army, under the light of the illumination bomb, the sniper could even see where they were thrown.
As for the submachine gunners hiding in low places and dark places, snipers can judge the large distance and direction through the sparks and gunfire from the muzzle.
Therefore, the sniper immediately informed the second group of grenadiers about the enemy's general information.
The notification method is simple and clear: "One o'clock direction, 30 meters!"
Then the grenadier lit the grenade and threw it in the general direction. After a chaotic "boom" sound, the obstacle was almost lifted.
This put a lot of pressure on Shulka and others.
"Captain!" Andrianka reported to Shulka: "The enemy changed their tactics, and we suffered dozens of casualties!"
Shulka nodded, he had already seen these problems.
But this was what he expected...The quality of the German infantry was quite good, especially in the early days of the Soviet-German War. (In the middle and later stages, the quality of the infantry became increasingly worse due to heavy casualties among veterans and the recruitment of a large number of new recruits)
In this regard, the quality of the Soviet army was somewhat inferior. Although the 82nd Infantry Regiment had undergone specialized urban street fighting training, they still lacked actual combat experience, and overall there was still a gap compared with the German army.
In this case, once the German army uses correct tactics and has much more troops than the Soviet army, there is no reason for the Soviet army to gain the upper hand.
Shulka turned his attention to Mikhailovich.
Mikhailovich took out his pocket watch and took a look at it, then nodded and said: "There are still thirty minutes, almost there!"
"Deploy mines!" Shulka ordered: "One battalion will cover, and other units will retreat!"
"Yes!" Andrianka responded and passed on the order.
In fact, from the beginning, Shulka had no intention of staying at the cemetery.
The cemetery has never been the target of the Soviet army, their target has always been Mamayev Hill.
At this time, Mamayev Hill is the weak point. The German troops there only have more than 300 troops. There may not be many left after the battle. Moreover, a Soviet Guards Infantry Regiment is still attacking wave after wave.
Launch a fierce attack on it.
Therefore, only fools would stay in the cemetery and fight with the Germans.
In fact, a battalion is wasted by the Germans in the cemetery, and a regiment is also wasted. The German army using new tactics can almost say that their attack is to use grenades to blast forward in waves, so a battalion is wasted here.
It won't take much less time.
This is what Shulka wants.
Therefore, without the knowledge of the German army, two battalions of Soviet troops secretly withdrew from their positions on the other side of the cemetery... It was difficult for the German army to discover this because the tombstones standing everywhere blocked their view.
This cannot actually be said to be a "retreat", but an attack in another direction, a veritable attack.
Mamayev Hill is two miles away from the cemetery, and it only took the soldiers ten minutes to retreat to its reverse slope.
At this time, the sound of artillery rumbling at Mamayev Hill was loud and the sound of killing was loud. The firelights hit the top of the mountain and emitted bursts of fire like lightning. You could also faintly see the figures of German soldiers transporting ammunition in the traffic trenches.
He was busy with reinforcements and waiting.
Shulka ordered the soldiers to lurk down, looked at the time, and then ordered: "Fix bayonets!"
"Fire the bayonet!"
"Fire the bayonet!"
…
The orders were passed down one after another.
Then, suddenly there was a whistle of artillery shells in the air, and the artillery shells crossed Mamayev Hill one by one and hit the anti-slope position hard.
This is an agreement between the 82nd Regiment and the Army Headquarters.
At this time, the 82nd Infantry Regiment was short of ammunition and was not strong enough to prepare for artillery fire against the Germans.
This is done by the 62nd Army... Most of these shells are fired from mortars, mortars of various calibers.
The characteristic of the mortar is that its trajectory is curved, and it can hit the reverse slope around the top of the Mamaev Hill.
If there is any disadvantage, it is that the mortar shooter cannot see the target and fire blindly.
However, because Mamayev Hill belonged to the Soviet army, their familiarity with the terrain made up for this shortcoming to a certain extent, so those artillery shells still hit the wire posts in rows in front of the German positions.
The mines exploded into a mess.
Ten minutes later, artillery fire began to extend to the top of the mountain.
Major Mikhailovich stood up and shouted: "Comrades, for the sake of Stalingrad and for the great motherland, charge!"