After daybreak, the German army couldn't wait to launch an attack on Mamayev Hill.
In fact, the German army had already begun artillery preparations before it was dark.
Lieutenant Colonel Edmund was so anxious because he believed that the daytime belonged to the Germans, and they should make full use of every minute and second of the daytime.
"Last time we almost occupied the entire Mamayev Hills!" Lieutenant Colonel Edmond said: "We were just a little bit short of the last line of defense. This time, as long as we seize the time, we can completely occupy it. Only in this way will we not
As for keeping our weaknesses exposed to the enemy!"
The weakness that Lieutenant Colonel Edmond mentioned was the two wings of Mamayev Kurgan.
After the Soviet raid last night, Lieutenant Colonel Edmond became aware of the problem with the two flanks of defense.
But sometimes knowing the problem is one thing, and being able to solve it is another.
For example, the problem on the two wings of Mamayev Kurgan cannot be solved.
To be precise, if the enemy still occupies part of the Mamayev Hills on the reverse slope, the weak points on both wings of the German army will always be weak points.
The reason is very simple. Just as the front slope of the Soviet army is always exposed to German artillery fire and direct firepower, because the "Red October" New Village and urban areas on both sides of Mamayev Hill are under the control of the Soviet army, its two wings
Even the front slope will be under the muzzle of Soviet artillery at night.
This is a bit like "the wind and water change". The advantages and disadvantages of the Soviet and German armies on Mamayev Hill changed with the changes of day and night.
The advantages and disadvantages can be said to be half and half. To be precise, the German army has the advantage... As the time enters April, the daylight hours extend to 13 hours.
(Note: The longest daytime near Moscow is in July, which is 17 hours and 26 minutes long, which means there are only six and a half hours of night)
But it is still very difficult for the German army to capture the entire Mamayev Hills during these times.
What makes Lieutenant Colonel Edmond helpless is that once they fail to seize control of the entire Mamayev Heights, the fiasco last night will happen again, that is, Mamayev Heights will repeat itself again and again.
What happened... During the day, the German army had the advantage and invaded the reverse slope. At night, the Soviet army had the advantage and was taken back by them.
So Lieutenant Colonel Edmond decided to race against time.
He made all preparations for the attack at dawn. The artillery prepared three bases of ammunition. A tank battalion and an assault artillery battalion were reinforced from the rear, and five infantry companies were added. Even the air force was ready to take off.
.
Then the fighting started with a burst of artillery fire on the slope, and then a fierce attack by the infantry under the cover of tanks and assault guns.
This time, the German army's attack on the front slope was surprisingly easy.
The obstacles in front of them were mostly barbed wire and landmines, in addition to a few snipers on the top of the mountain.
"This is a good sign!" Lieutenant Colonel Edmond said: "We have more time to attack the reverse slope. The end of the Russians has come!"
What followed was a brutal battle for position on the top of the mountain. Everything seemed to be repeating yesterday's steps... Sometimes the battle is so boring, fighting for the same position over and over again. Although this position may only be a few hundred square meters, every inch of the land is
It has been plowed deeply by shells, and every step has a corpse or is sprinkled with blood.
However, in the end, the Germans managed to take down the hilltop position under the cover of air power and smoke bombs.
The German officers and soldiers, including Edmund, thought the next battle would be easy.
The Germans certainly didn't think that the Soviets would keep those tank wrecks for their charge, but they could still use tanks and assault guns to build new bunkers.
But the reality is not what they thought.
The Soviet army kept the remains of the tanks, but they had become part of the Soviet defense line in front of them.
At that moment, the German frontline commander was even frightened. Instead of ordering a charge, he immediately called Lieutenant Colonel Edmund to report.
"Lieutenant Colonel, they have reinforced their defenses!"
"Is there any problem?" Lieutenant Colonel Edmond was confused for a while. Isn't it natural to reinforce the defense line? Could the enemy do nothing and wait for him to attack?!
"No, no, Lieutenant Colonel!" Major Erich replied: "They used the remains of tanks to strengthen the defense line. They are standing in front of us! I mean a steel defense line..."
Hearing this, Lieutenant Colonel Edmond couldn't help but be stunned.
A steel line of defense, a line of defense built from the remains of tanks, and it was also the remains of their tanks.
Lieutenant Colonel Edmond knew what this meant, because not long ago the German army used the remains of tanks as bunkers.
For example, tanks or assault guns, using tank wreckage as a bunker is more advantageous in some aspects.
The German army lacked anti-tank equipment.
They don't have the Soviet rocket launchers... which are individual anti-tank and anti-armor weapons, especially on mountainous terrain with complex terrain.
Therefore, the German army had only a few options for dealing with these tank wrecks:
Anti-tank grenade, air force, anti-tank gun.
But neither option is suitable.
Anti-tank grenades require close range, which will definitely result in heavy casualties.
The Air Force's vision was unclear because the enemy kept burning scrap tires, otherwise the reconnaissance planes would have sent out an alarm long ago.
Anti-tank gun, which meant that the Germans were going to push it up Mamayev Hill.
Not to mention that this is difficult to do, even if it is done, even if the anti-tank is set up on the top of a mountain, it will easily become an enemy's target.
on the other hand.
Tanks or assault guns often burn or even explode when hit due to shells, fuel, etc. Therefore, anti-tank guns are more effective against tanks and assault guns.
But the remains of the tank...it's actually just a pile of scrap metal, and the people hiding inside are infantrymen instead of tankers.
Therefore, even if the anti-tank gun penetrates the tank wreckage, it will only kill a few infantrymen and add a firing hole or observation hole for the opponent.
From this perspective, the survivability of fortifications built with tank wreckage is even much better than that of tanks, unless they can be targeted with assault guns at close range and bombed, or bombed with explosives.
But the Germans seemed to have no choice but to attack.
So Edmund no longer hesitated. He ordered Major Erich: "Attack, Major! Those are just tank wrecks. You have much more than they do, and they can still move!"
Major Erich looked towards the direction of the slope, where several assault guns were waiting for the order to attack.
They are indeed tank wrecks, moving tank wrecks.
However, Major Erich did not think that these moving tank wrecks would be of much use in this situation.