Shulka was sitting in the trench while the medical staff bandaged the wound on his left rib... which was scratched by the enemy's bayonet during hand-to-hand combat.
This was the result of Shulka's timely avoidance, otherwise Shulka would have had a hole in his stomach.
And one more hole almost means death on this battlefield.
This is not only because it is difficult to come back alive from such a battlefield after being injured, but also because the medical level of the Soviet Union at this time was backward and the conditions were poor. It was not easy to get out alive after treatment in the rear hospitals.
Therefore, sometimes life is so strange, just a few minutes of distance can determine life or death.
Only then did Shulka have time to look at the Volga River behind him.
It was also not peaceful there. One after another, fishing boats and cargo ships were transporting people and supplies from the east coast to Stalingrad. Many supplies and personnel were even transferred to the direction of Mamayev Heights as soon as they got off the ship.
The German fighter jets and bombers swooped down from the sky in waves, occasionally blowing up several ships into fireballs.
Of course, the Soviet anti-aircraft artillery and anti-aircraft machine guns were also roaring constantly, and occasionally a few planes emitted black smoke and fell from the sky with a strange roar.
After looking through the telescope, Shulka further understood why Mamayev Hill is so important.
The Volga River in Stalingrad is quite special. There are two long strip-shaped islands in the middle of the river upstream and downstream... The Volga River flows slowly, and a lot of sand is deposited in the middle of the river. The more sand and soil accumulate, the more it will accumulate in the middle of the river.
A small island forms in the center.
These two long islands almost blocked the river transportation between Stalingrad and the east coast.
To be precise, there is no shielding, but it will cause a lot of trouble for river transportation.
If the east coast wants to transport supplies or personnel to Stalingrad via the island, it must go through a transfer process on the island.
That is, the process of river transportation from the east bank to the island, maneuvering the island to the other side, and then river transportation to Stalingrad.
This will obviously consume a lot of manpower and material resources, because it will increase the process of shipping and unloading several times.
More importantly, fishing boats and cargo ships will be forced to concentrate in narrow rivers, making them vulnerable to bombing by enemy planes.
Only in the middle of Stalingrad, between the two long strip islands, is there a gap of about 25 kilometers. Through this gap, materials from the east coast can be transported to Stalingrad by river at one time.
Mamaev Hill is located in the middle of this gap, facing this important river channel from a high position.
Therefore, once Mamayev Heights is occupied by the German army, it will not only be a matter of blocking the port, but also blocking the entire transportation of Stalingrad... At that time, the German army will not even need to use aircraft to bomb, they will only need to block Mamayev
If Fu Gang sets up a few cannons, he can blow up the transport ships one by one and sink them to the bottom of the river.
"Okay, Comrade Captain!" the hygienist said after bandaging: "I think you should not go to the battlefield again, at least not for the next few days, otherwise the wound is likely to burst. You know, it is easy to get infected in the current weather!"
Shulka nodded.
But he thought in his heart that this was not something he could decide. No one would worry about "infection" on Mamayev Heights.
"How is the situation?" Major Mikhailovich ran to Shulka and asked.
"It's no big problem!" Shulka answered while struggling to put on his military uniform.
At this moment, Shulka noticed a "rumbling" motor sound coming from above. The sound was low, like a rolling thunder.
Shulka couldn't help but be surprised, and then he understood what was going on.
"Tanks, the enemy has brought tanks up!" Shulka said.
"Tank?" Major Mikhailovich couldn't help being surprised. He listened carefully, then his expression changed drastically, and he immediately ordered: "Tank, prepare the rocket launcher!"
"Bazooka!"
"Bring up the bazooka!"
…
While the soldiers were busy, the sound of the tank motor became more obvious, and soon the tank appeared above everyone's heads.
First, a gun barrel emerged from the position on the top of the mountain, getting longer and longer. Then came the tank track, which popped out of the front half, making a "clack-clack" sound, as if it was heading towards the sky.
Then it fell heavily with a "soaring" sound, and instantly the entire tank body was exposed to everyone.
To be precise, it is not a tank, but an assault gun, the "No. 3" assault gun. This can be seen from the fact that it does not have a rotating turret.
But of course, the Soviet army at this time would uniformly define it as a tank.
The Germans were right to choose to use assault guns instead of tanks here.
Because the tank's combat effectiveness will be greatly restricted on uneven highlands... If the tank body is high on one side and low on the other, the rotation of the turret and the target will not be on the same plane, which will cause great difficulty in aiming.
Therefore, what tanks can use on high ground are basically machine guns, and they are also directional machine guns. If the artillery hits the target, it basically depends on luck or purely to scare the enemy.
Since this is the case, there is not much difference in using the cheaper "No. 3" assault gun. Anyway, you can only use machine guns.
The German army did exactly this. After the assault gun moved forward for a certain distance, its heading machine gun spit out tongues of flame outwards. At the same time, it fired while moving, and with a "boom" the shells were fired to two kilometers away.
somewhere outside.
"Prepare the rocket launcher!" Major Mikhailovich shouted.
After waiting for a while, Major Mikhailovich loudly ordered: "Let go!"
With a scream of "swish", several rockets flew towards the assault gun... Two of them hit the target, and the assault gun immediately emitted a cloud of black smoke, but it continued to move forward due to inertia.
The distance approached to about 70 meters.
The German army did not stop the assault gun attack because of this, and then another one, and another one... One after another appeared from the other side of the hilltop position.
"What are they doing?" Akimovich asked in confusion: "They should know that we have rocket launchers!"
"Of course they know!" Shulka said: "But they don't care!"
"Why don't they care?" Akimovich asked in confusion: "Those are tanks, and they are driving those tanks up to die!"
"Do you think they drove those tanks up to die?" Shulka shook his head and replied: "No, Comrade Akimovich. I can't remember which lesson this is..."
"Lesson 9!" Akimovich reminded.
"Okay, lesson nine!" Shulka said: "You have to grasp the enemy's psychology, or understand the enemy's intentions. This is very important, otherwise you won't know the key point at all!"