At seven o'clock in the morning, as three red signal flares rose into the sky, the Soviet counterattack began.
In an instant, thousands of cannons fired into the sky.
Rocket launchers, howitzers, mortars...shells of various calibers poured towards the other side of the Don River with different trajectories and different whistling sounds.
At this time, Shulka could no longer tell whether those "rumbling" sounds were the sound of artillery ejecting or the explosion of artillery shells hitting the enemy's position. He only knew that the entire ground was shaking, and there were unbearable loud noises everywhere.
, unable to hide or avoid.
If it can be avoided, it is to plug the ears with something, but in fact this does not have much effect, because the sound has exceeded the scope of sound isolation.
Soon, you will feel dizzy and nauseous.
At that time, I thought that even if these shells were aimed at the enemy, it would be best if they could stop.
But the sound of artillery fire never stopped, and the bombardment lasted for 90 minutes.
From this point of view, the Soviet army was still very well prepared, and it was actually able to last 90 minutes in the first round of artillery bombardment. This was not easy when the Soviet army's industrial retreat was in short supply and the Battle of Stalingrad was still in full swing.
.
However, this is more because the Soviet commanders believed that crossing the river was very important. If they were blocked on the Don River, it would cause a lot of trouble in the follow-up. It would even be difficult to move forward if they were blocked here, so they were willing to spend so much money on this step.
Lots of shells.
As for being fully prepared...it's really hard to say.
Because Shurka soon learned that it was only the 51st Army that launched the attack.
To be precise, only the 51st Group Army launched the attack on time... The commander of the Stalingrad Front Yereomenko considered the weather reasons, which were what Shulka considered, and the Soviet army's landing operation in this case may be difficult.
Difficulties.
Therefore, Yereomenko temporarily decided to postpone the attack plan for two hours, that is, to 9 o'clock in the morning.
If it was at 9 o'clock in the morning, there wouldn't be much of a problem. An hour and a half of artillery preparation would arrive at 10:30. By then, even if there was light rain, it would be bright enough to provide better visibility for the attacking troops.
The problem is that this temporary postponement of the attack plan was not notified to the 51st Army.
Later investigation revealed that the staff officer had sent the wrong telegram. He sent two telegrams to the 57th Group Army regarding planned delays, but he thought one of them was sent to the 51st Group Army.
When Shulka knew this, he couldn't help but lamented the nerves of the Soviets again: This is an entire army group, and such an important telegram was not confirmed.
Then, when artillery fire suddenly rang out from the 51st Army, Yereomenko was taken aback and immediately called the Army Commander Major General Trufanov.
"What's going on?" Yeremenko asked angrily: "Who asked you to open fire?"
Yeremenko thought this was the lurking of the 51st Army being exposed, so he did not calm down.
Major General Trufanov was dumbfounded by the training.
"Shouldn't we attack now?" Major General Trufanov replied: "We have received the order to attack on time at seven o'clock!"
"Seven o'clock? You didn't receive the order to delay the plan?" Yeremenko seemed to realize what the problem was.
"No, we have not received a delay order, Comrade Yereomenko!" Major General Trufanov's face changed drastically. He knew what this meant to the 51st Group Army, which meant that the 51st Group Army might have to face it independently.
To the enemy on the other side of the river.
Yeremenko also knew the seriousness of the situation, but he had nothing to do at this point.
"So..." Trufanov asked again after a while: "The new attack time is... should we stop the artillery fire? We are still preparing artillery fire and have not launched an attack!"
"No!" Yeremenko rejected this option without thinking: "You continue to attack. According to the original plan, we will launch the attack in two hours!"
"Yes, Comrade Yereomenko!" After hearing this, Major General Trufanov couldn't help but let go of his heart, because two hours was still within the acceptable range.
Yeremenko's decision was correct, because at this time the Soviet offensive plan had actually been exposed... A group army-sized artillery bombardment, even a fool knew it was a full-scale attack.
If the bombardment is stopped at this time, the entire battle will become a lame joke, and the enemy can prepare for defense for two hours without any pressure.
At the same time, with the current communication level of the Soviet army, it is also difficult to notify units that have been dispersed to the front line and some even maintain radio silence to stop and delay the attack.
If this is done, it is inevitable that some units in the 51st Group Army will receive orders and some units will not receive orders. Those who receive orders will be fine, but those who do not receive orders will rush to the Don River alone without any coordination.
The other side.
Therefore, Yeremenko could only make mistakes and let the 51st Army continue to fight like this.
In this way, the German army will think that the Soviet army only hopes to open a breakthrough from the direction of Prodovitoye, and the scale of the counterattack is only a group army, so it can play another role in deceiving the enemy.
The problem is that the 51st Group Army was immediately put on the forefront... If other troops attacked at the same time, the German army's entire defense line of hundreds of kilometers, including Stalingrad, would be under great pressure, so even if the German army had
The quick reaction force didn't know where to send it because rescue was needed everywhere.
On the other hand, if the Soviet army attacked at the same time, the air force would also bomb its communication lines simultaneously, so the German army's transportation would be paralyzed, and of course its quick reaction forces would not be able to maneuver to Prodovitoye, the farthest point from Stalingrad.
But it's different now.
Dumilescu, commander of the Romanian 4th Army, asked Paulus for help as soon as he came under shelling.
"Your Excellency General!" Dumilescu reported: "We have been attacked by a large-scale enemy. I mean... although they have not attacked yet, they have carried out unprecedented artillery preparations! We need reinforcements! Just like me before
As I said, we are extremely short of anti-tank equipment. I can’t imagine what would happen if an enemy tank appeared in front of us!”
"Don't worry, general!" Paulus said: "I will send reinforcements to you immediately. They will arrive in an hour!"
Paulus was very straightforward in this regard, because he knew that he was not only rescuing friendly troops but also rescuing himself... Once the flank was broken through by the Soviet army, the consequences would be disastrous.
As a result, the quick reaction force that Paulus had prepared came in handy, and an elite armored grenadier division immediately took a train and rushed to the direction of Prodovitoye. (To be continued)