Five hundred and twentieth chapters positive slope
Major Mikhailovich waited some more time.
At this time, the artillery fire had turned to the front slope where the German troops were stationed, but they were still carrying out focused bombing.
The so-called focused bombing refers to targeting some military targets observed and recorded during the day, such as trenches, bunkers, machine gun forts, etc.
Some of these key targets are located on both sides of Mamayev Heights. If the 82nd Infantry Regiment launches an attack at this time, it will easily cause accidental damage.
Until a few red signal flares rise in the sky... This is the charge signal reserved by the artillery and infantry. At this time, the artillery will extend the artillery fire from the two wings to the center.
So Major Mikhailovich jumped out of the trench and shouted: "Comrades, move forward for Stalingrad!"
"go ahead!"
…
The soldiers jumped out of the bunker one by one, grabbed their rifles and rushed into the darkness.
Gunfire rang out soon, which was the defense organized by the surviving German soldiers.
This is a characteristic of artillery bombing. It is basically impossible to completely eliminate the enemies in the target area, especially those hiding in the trenches.
The German army is also experienced at this, so of course some people will survive and quickly organize a defense.
However, the terrain on both wings made the German defenders somewhat embarrassed.
As mentioned before, the two wings have a large curvature... The curvature means that the entire ground is curved like a sphere, and machine guns, rifles, etc. fire directly, so it is difficult to hit the target as long as it is a little distance away (the target
will be blocked by raised ground).
Of course, if someone charges forward with their head held high, that's a different matter.
It is not difficult to imagine that the most useful equipment in this kind of terrain is mortars, grenades, and submachine guns.
The mortar trajectory is curved and the curvature is almost negligible.
Similar to grenades, the submachine gun has sufficient close combat firepower.
The main attacking battalion was fully prepared. Each squad was equipped with an extra submachine gun. These submachine guns were transferred from the Guards Infantry Regiment.
Except for the submachine gunner, each person carries two more grenades (four are standard).
In addition, the mortars and ammunition carrying capacity have been strengthened.
After making these preparations, the penetration battle on both wings became simple. Mortars bombarded the enemy machine gun positions indiscriminately. Then the infantry rushed forward and threw a row of grenades, and the submachine gunners took the lead in charging forward...
...It took only ten minutes for the German flank defenses to be breached.
Shulka followed behind, and Soviet soldiers were everywhere around him, stabbing their bayonets into the enemies who were struggling or raising their hands in surrender.
This is clearly a fight that takes no prisoners.
First of all, because the location of Mamayev Heights is so important, it is the lifeblood of Stalingrad.
Of course, its importance is not a reason to take no prisoners.
But from an emotional point of view, the enemy wants to strangle the lifeblood of Stalingrad and kill the Soviet army. Why should the Soviet army be polite to the enemy and keep prisoners?!
Secondly, this night battle involving outflanking from both sides was not suitable for keeping prisoners.
Night battles will exponentially increase the cost of controlling prisoners. This is not only a matter of requiring soldiers to guard the prisoners, but accidentally turning the prisoners against themselves can directly cut off the Soviet supply line and subsequent reinforcements.
Thirdly, as the war progressed, the entire Battle of Stalingrad was actually not suitable for keeping prisoners.
From the beginning, the German army used its air superiority to encircle and blockade Stalingrad, which caused a serious shortage of supplies for the Soviet army. In the end, even the commander of the group army could not drink millet porridge.
Keeping a large number of prisoners under such circumstances is simply causing trouble for yourself.
As a result, the German soldiers were shot one after another in the trenches. Some saw the situation and wanted to run away, but were quickly knocked to the ground by the Soviet soldiers who caught up later.
At this time, Shulka seems to have been accustomed to this. There is no place for mercy in war, especially in a war as cruel as Stalingrad. Another meaning of mercy is the kindness of women.
Then, the 1st Battalion quickly entered the front slope of the German army.
The Soviet soldiers were very familiar with the forward slope, because they had retreated step by step from here to the reverse slope not long ago.
In addition, they also conducted a terrain study: the terrain map was distributed to each class, and the squad leader organized the subordinates to study intensively.
The advantage of being familiar with the terrain is that they are very clear about their missions and attack targets, which can exponentially reduce friendly casualties caused by unclear identification.
But in fact, there is almost no combat pressure after entering the positive slope.
This was mainly determined by the deployment of the German forces. They concentrated their main forces on the captured Soviet first line of defense, which was the reverse slope, and the same was true for both wings.
However, the positive slope became the area where the German army was most at ease.
Because this is a place within reach of German artillery fire and direct fire, and it is also protected by the main force on the front line, which makes it almost a second line, especially since it is a "reverse slope" for the enemy.
So naturally, the German army concentrated a large number of logistics personnel in this area.
There are engineers, officers, headquarters, and even a simple field hospital... I have to admire the courage of the German army in this regard. Setting up the field hospital on the front line can provide better and faster preliminary treatment of the wounded, which can
Double the survival rate of the wounded.
Otherwise, many wounded people will die during the evacuation.
However, the wounded, especially the seriously wounded, have no practical significance to the army, and they cannot even return to the army to fight.
So in the final analysis, the ultimate goal of this is to increase the morale of the troops, but the soldiers know that the country and the army will do everything possible to keep them alive, so the soldiers have a little guarantee in their hearts, or it is a placebo... Although it is a placebo,
But on the battlefield of life and death, taking this placebo is very important.
However, the field hospital was wiped out in a matter of seconds.
It is built in a shell-proof cave built with trees. This shell-proof cave is safer than ordinary trenches. That is, the top is sealed with trees and soil. It can withstand light mortar bombardment.
If there is any difference from other places, it is that an inconspicuous red cross flag is planted along the edge.
The red cross flag has an awkward position on the battlefield.
Because on the one hand, it is very conspicuous and may become the target of the enemy, on the other hand, the Geneva Convention hopes that military hospitals and medical personnel will have a neutral status, that is, they will not be attacked on the battlefield (it has not officially entered into force at this time).
How could the Soviet soldiers know this? When they saw the artillery hole, they threw a few grenades into it without saying a word, and then rushed in and fired a burst of submachine guns.
Originally hoping to kill several officers, they looked in their hands and saw that all the wounded and military doctors lying on the ground in a pool of blood were inside.