Everyone makes mistakes, so Zhukov also made mistakes.
In fact, this cannot be said to be Zhukov's fault, but that he, the supreme deputy commander, was ordered by Stalin.
Stalin changed his strategic goal to make contact with Stalingrad. This was his biggest mistake.
This mistake determined that the Stalingrad Front had to launch a strong attack on the German army.
Under this strategic error, Zhukov had very little room for maneuver. He could only order his troops to attack, and he did so without being fully prepared.
On the other hand, the German army adopted a relatively sophisticated defense-in-depth tactic.
The German defense line in the Kotluban area did not have an obvious line of defense, or in other words, their defense line was flexible, and dispersed guerrilla groups were deployed in front of the defense line.
This was set up by Paulus, the commander of the German Sixth Army, based on the Soviet army's general lack of communication equipment and communication, and coordination chaos.
This approach is very clever, because it makes quite a few Soviet troops not even know where the German defense line is, and they suddenly find that they have entered the enemy's encirclement while marching, or they think that the enemy's defense line is ahead and launch an attack, but there are no enemies at all.
As a result, in this 12-day battle, the Stalingrad Front deployed a total of 250,000 soldiers and suffered as many as 80,000 casualties.
In addition, the four armies had a total of 400 tanks, and 300 were lost.
In addition, there were countless losses in artillery, automobiles, etc. Many of the Soviet troops were destroyed without even being seen by the enemy.
All these casualties only pushed the defense line forward 11 kilometers, and they might be pushed back by the Germans soon.
Major Mikhailovich looked at Shulka and asked: "If the Stalingrad Front cannot maintain its offensive, does that mean that we..."
Shulka nodded silently.
This is certain. The German army lost the threat from the north, which meant that they could concentrate all their forces on Stalingrad.
Just then the phone at the headquarters rang, and Akimovich answered the call.
Then he came back and said to everyone in frustration: "A call from the Stalingrad Front. They have stopped attacking!"
As if in response to these words, the sound of gunfire outside weakened a lot.
"The Germans seem to have slowed down their offensive?" Major Mikhailovich looked at everyone with some surprise.
"They have indeed slowed down their offensive!" Akimovich replied: "In all directions!"
"But... shouldn't their attack be more intense?" Major Mikhailovich asked doubtfully.
"This is the calm before the storm!" Golikov replied: "The enemy is planning a new attack. When that moment comes... the offensive will be much more violent than now!"
The headquarters instantly fell into silence.
"What should we do?" Major Mikhailovich asked, "I mean, what preparations can we make?"
"We don't know how the enemy will attack!" Akimovich replied: "So of course we can't prepare!"
"If there is anything we can prepare for, it is supplies!" Golikov continued.
This is very obvious.
Because from the beginning, the battle of Stalingrad revolved around supplies. The German army tried every means to block the Soviet supplies, while the Soviet army tried their best to lift the blockade.
Even the battle at Mamaev Kurgan was no exception.
"We have some supplies stored at the tractor factory!" said Major Mikhailovich.
"I know!" Golikov smiled bitterly: "They have been used up!"
Shulka had expected this a long time ago. There are hundreds of thousands of people in a group army, and they all need ammunition.
In addition, there are people trapped in Stalingrad who need food, medicine, etc.
These are almost astronomical figures, and the materials stored in Shulka's tractor factory can only be said to be a drop in the bucket.
"We estimate!" Golikov said: "At dawn tomorrow, the Germans will concentrate their air power to block the Volga River with all their strength, and at the same time they will speed up the offensive pace to consume our army's supplies. Once there is a shortage of supplies, that is
When Stalingrad fell!"
Soon, Golikov's worries came true.
In fact, Golikov did not guess correctly, because the German army implemented a blockade on the Volga River that night.
"It's a German plane!" Akimovich's eyes widened after receiving the call: "They blew up three of our transport ships!"
"But it's night now!" Golikov asked: "How can their planes destroy our transport ships?"
"I...I don't know either, Comrade Golikov!" Akimovich was a little panicked: "But they did it!"
This even caused quite a bit of panic in Stalingrad.
Because most of the supplies in Stalingrad came from night transportation, but now the Germans can blow up their transport ships at night... This is almost telling everyone in Stalingrad: "You are finished!"
At this time, the 82nd Regiment was still resting at the metallurgical plant.
The metallurgical plant is not far from the transportation channel of the Volga River, so the roar of aircraft, explosions, and the roar of anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns were heard all night long.
However, anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns are of no use at night, because they usually shoot randomly without seeing the target... This is especially the case for anti-aircraft guns, which need to know the approximate height of the enemy aircraft and then shoot the shells.
After adjusting the delay fuze, when the shell hits the air, it will explode at a similar height and damage the enemy aircraft with shrapnel.
Therefore, it is almost impossible to hit the target without seeing the enemy aircraft.
At this time, the anti-aircraft machine gun is more reliable, because it can roughly determine the direction of the enemy aircraft based on the whistling sound, the black shadow in the sky, and the feeling when the searchlight passes over the fuselage, and then fire a bunch of bullets regardless of the situation.
.
However, it was clear that the German fighters had the advantage.
Because not long after, there was another "bang", a ball of fire exploded on the river, and another transport ship was blown up.
"How did they see the transport ship?" Major Mikhailovich asked.
Shulka didn't answer.
He knew what was going on... It should be the BF110G4, a night fighter developed by the Germans. It locked targets through airborne radar.
However, this kind of night fighter is generally used in night air combat, because air combat has a certain height and is not easy to fall to the ground.
Unexpectedly, in order to blockade Stalingrad, the Germans actually risked crashing it and put it into a night blockade of the Volga River.
Later, Shulka learned that the reason why the Germans dared to do this was because they had set up ground radar base stations upstream and downstream of the Volga River. These ground radar base stations were used in conjunction with airborne radars, which greatly improved the night combat capabilities of the BF110G4.