This approach of the German army is indeed a good one.
The reason is that the railway bridge is not wide and can only accommodate one train at a time. It can be said that if a tank or car drives onto the railway bridge and is blown up, it will cause a blockage.
Because of this, the German army's use of railway bridges until now has been limited to infantry and manual transportation of supplies...Compared to cars, tanks will block the entire bridge after being blown up, so human transportation is much safer.
After all, the Soviet army was still attacking the railway bridge at this time, and mortars were hitting the railway bridge from time to time, so the German army did not dare to take risks.
Its disadvantage is that the transportation volume is too small, especially supplies... In this case, it is not difficult to transport troops, only people need to go there.
The problem is that the more troops there are, the more supplies they consume. More importantly, the ammunition consumed under the Soviet attack will also rise linearly. Therefore, it is often useless to transport more troops across the river. Instead, the troops should be maintained and maintained.
Supply balance.
In this case, the Germans naturally thought of trains.
Railway bridges are originally used to allow trains to pass through. Trains can transport a large number of soldiers and supplies, and they can transport soldiers and supplies at the same time. At the same time, such transportation is also very fast. It only takes a few minutes to fully suppress the enemy's firepower, and then the train "booms"
They all crossed the river in one fell swoop.
"How many trains do they have?" Batrakov asked.
"We don't know, Comrade General!" the staff officer replied.
"It doesn't matter how many trains there are!" Shulka said: "What matters is how many carriages there are!"
Shulka hit the nail on the head, the German army actually only needed one locomotive and a dozen carriages were enough.
If one carriage can transport 60 tons of cargo...the Soviet Union used wide gauge, and the carriages were wider, so the cargo that could be loaded was actually more than 60 tons.
So a dozen carriages mean that about 700 tons of cargo can be transported at one time.
It only takes one or two trips like this, and the amount of ammunition transported is enough for the German army to occupy the station.
Batrakov's expression changed after hearing this, and he replied: "Although there are not many facilities left on the south bank of the Tsarica River..."
This is normal. The Soviet army was defenseless outside Stalingrad and was counterattacked by the German army all the way from Kharkov to nearby areas.
However, outside the city of Stalingrad, the Soviet army built a defensive line to block and retreat step by step. With an orderly retreat, the Soviet army certainly would not leave much behind for the German army.
"But..." Batrakov searched on the map, pointed to a point and said: "This is the Makosimovsky Railway Station, where there are many abandoned train carriages!"
There is no need to say more about what follows.
Abandoned train cars, no one takes them seriously.
In other words, it can be said that even if the Soviet army took them seriously when they retreated, it would be difficult to deal with them... The train carriage is a pile of iron sheets and wood, who can do anything with them?
Blowing it up wastes explosives, burning it consumes gasoline.
Who would have thought that they might be used by the Germans and play a big role on the battlefield.
It can be imagined that German engineers are dismantling, repairing or assembling train carriages in Maksimovsky at this time. It won't be long before a train will hit the track...
Batrakov anxiously walked back and forth in front of the table a few times, and then said: "No, I should report to the headquarters and request the air force to bomb the Maksimovsky Railway Station!"
"It won't work, Comrade General!" Shulka said: "Because of the protection of the railway bridge, the surrounding airspace has long been blocked by German aircraft, and our air force cannot enter at all!"
Maksimovsky Railway Station is only a few kilometers away from the railway bridge. The German Air Force protects the railway bridge and protects Maksimovsky Railway Station.
"But what else can we do?" Batrakov said: "When they put together a train and transport supplies and troops, we will be finished! At that time, the Germans will have an absolute advantage over us, whether it is
Troops, equipment, or supplies..."
Shulka did not answer. He was silent for a while and then said: "Why is this not an opportunity for us?"
"Opportunity? What opportunity?"
"Do we have any information about the enemy on the south bank of the Tsaritsa River?" Shulka asked.
"We don't know much!" Batrakov replied: "We are mainly focusing on the west!"
Shulka was not surprised by this.
To the west was the main direction of the German attack, and to the south was the Charitsa River chasm. The Soviet army believed that the German army would not fight across the river, so they did not even conduct reconnaissance.
"So!" Shulka said: "If we didn't even reconnoiter the south bank, does it mean that the German troop deployment on the south bank is also very weak?"
"Of course, Comrade Shulka!" Batrakov replied: "Because of the Tsaritsa River, they can't fight over, and we can't fight over either. So, most of the Germans in this area are artillerymen, you know
...The artillery formed a pincer attack on our flank!"
Shulka nodded, then looked at Batrakov without saying a word.
Batrakov didn't understand what was going on at first. After thinking about it, his eyes widened and he said in disbelief: "You don't want to cross the river!"
"why not?"
"This is impossible, Comrade Shulka!" Batrakov almost screamed and retorted: "You are crazy, this is impossible!"
"We have no other choice, Comrade General!" Shulka said: "The only way to solve the crisis is to blow up the bridge, and it is impossible to blow up the bridge on our side of the north bank, because the German army is heavily fortified with the bridgehead as the center.
No matter how we attack, we will be blocked by them outside the defensive circle and cannot approach the bridgehead at all! But the bridgehead on the south bank is different!"
This is common sense. The bridgehead on the south bank is within the German army's sphere of influence. In addition, the bridgehead on the other side was captured by the German army, so the German army even transferred the defenders to the north bank to fight the Soviet army.
"I know this!" Batrakov said: "The problem is that we can't get across at all. You don't know how difficult it is to fight across the river, especially the Germans have air superiority and artillery. Their artillery fire will blow us all over."
In the river! We have no chance at all..."
"We can choose to cross the river at night!"
"They have a defense line along the coast!" Batrakov retorted: "Their machine guns will not let us pass!"
"I believe that the German troops on the south bank will be very weak by then!" Shulka said: "Because... their soldiers are likely to be on the train!"
Batrakov couldn't help but be startled when he heard this. It seemed that what Shulka said was indeed the case, so the train was an opportunity for the Soviet army.
"What's more!" Shulka said: "Comrade General, we have an amphibious landing ship, which is not just a transport ship!" (To be continued)