The decisive battle against the Third Reich

When Zhukov was in danger, the German army had captured Vergach, 50 kilometers north of Karachi, overnight as planned.

The reason why it is Vergach is because the Don River from the port city of Karachi to Verdach makes a big bend. The Soviets called this place the Great Bay. The two divisions of the 62nd Group Army followed the curved Don River. The river banks were fortified.

If Lieutenant General Lopatin, commander of the 62nd Army at this time, had made a decisive decision, he should have immediately ordered these two divisions to withdraw to Stalingrad, so that they could still play a role in the defense of Stalingrad.

But it was also because of Stalin's Order 227... Although everyone in the Soviet army from top to bottom knew that the Soviet troops stationed in the Greater Bay Area should retreat, Lieutenant General Lopatin was hesitant. The soldiers on the front line were worried about being sent to punishment. They camped but did not dare to retreat, so no one moved.

Just when the Soviet army was still unsure, the German 21st Armored Division rushed along the road non-stop to the city of Weldach and captured Weldach with lightning speed... Weldach did not Armored trains, the Soviet army, which lacked anti-tank equipment, even hoped to use homemade Molotov cocktails to stop the advance of German tanks.

The Soviets called the Molotov Cocktail the "Molotov Cocktail", but ironically it was the Finns who gave the name...

During the Soviet-Finnish War, most countries were condemning the Soviet Union's naked invasion, especially European and American countries.

In this regard, the Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs (Foreign Minister) Motolov explained to these countries: "Soviet planes did not drop bombs on the Finnish people, we were just airdropping bread to the hungry Finnish people!"

This word spread to Finland. At that time, Finnish soldiers and civilians generally used simple and effective homemade Molotov cocktails to block Soviet tanks. So the Finnish people joked: "The Soviets airdropped bread to us, we should entertain them with cocktails!"

So the "Motoroff Cocktail" was born.

Qin Chuan would not be surprised at all if the "Motorov Cocktail" was effective against Soviet tanks.

This is not because of the tank. In fact, from a tank perspective, this homemade incendiary bottle should be more effective against German tanks.

On the one hand, this is because German-made tanks use gasoline engines that are more likely to be ignited. On the other hand, many German-made tanks have front-mounted engines.

The key to the problem lies in the synergy between Bu and Tan.

The Soviet army's infantry-tank coordination ability was very poor, which was particularly obvious in the Soviet-Finnish War... The Soviets had just entered the war at that time, and they entered the battlefield as a complete layman.

As a result, Finnish soldiers and civilians often went around to the rear of Soviet tanks and threw incendiary bottles at the tank's engine, causing it to overheat and malfunction.

But for the German army, this was almost impossible to happen under their strict infantry-tank coordination. Even those holding Molotov cocktails could not get within a hundred meters of the tank.

The ones who are more threatened are actually the infantry...

When the Soviets found that their Molotov cocktails could not be thrown on tanks, they would turn their targets to German infantry. For them, any one they could kill was one.

As a result, the advancing German soldiers were unexpectedly attacked by a wine bottle, and then screamed with their whole bodies on fire.

It was miserable like that, but what was even worse was that some people still survived with the help of their comrades...

One of Qin Chuan's subordinates was in this situation. Large areas of his body were burned, and the burnt black body was still stained with blood streaks when the skin was torn apart. The soldier cried out and stretched out his equally blackened hand to touch his sore spot, but as soon as he touched it, a layer of skin fell off, revealing the still steaming flesh and blood inside.

Although the casualties caused by this were not large, it caused a certain intimidation to the German army. The reason is that this thing is too simple to make. You only need to fill a bottle with a little gasoline and kerosene, then stuff it with a cloth strip, and light it before throwing it. Fire will do.

The result of the simple production is that this thing is hard to detect everywhere, and suddenly a Molotov cocktail is thrown from the roof of the building while walking.

"Damn Soviets!" Werner couldn't help but cursed: "They should fight us in a more honorable way!"

This is not what Werner said alone, many German soldiers and even German officers said this.

This may be a cultural difference. They retain something similar to chivalry, or it can be said to be a duel culture... Although the purpose is very cruel and is to kill the opponent, they will find a notary and even prepare a doctor. Then face to face in a "decent" life and death battle with both parties fully prepared.

But war is not like that. It has only cruelty, reality and naked interests. In other words, Germany has realized this, but German soldiers have not kept up with this ideological progress.

In any case, Molotov cocktails could not stop the German advance.

The result of occupying Vergach, the turning point of the Great Bay, was that the two divisions of the 62nd Army were surrounded in the Great Bay. They had only two choices: surrender with their hands up, or jump into the Don River.

Most Soviet soldiers chose the former, but some still chose the latter... These soldiers may have chosen to end their lives in this way because they did not want to involve their families and make them live in humiliation.

The 21st Armored Division rested here for two hours... The tanks needed maintenance after marching more than 100 kilometers. At the same time, the 21st Armored Division's fuel and ammunition were almost consumed, especially the ammunition of the 1st Infantry Regiment... Intermediate power ammunition has not yet become popular in the German army, so the ammunition of the 1st Infantry Regiment is always a problem.

However, this point was quickly resolved, because at this time, several divisions in Army Group B also replaced their submachine guns with MP43, so these infantry divisions also had MP43 ammunition.

Paulus gave the order and asked these divisions to gather the MP43 ammunition and send it to Vergach.

Some officers and soldiers of Army Group B protested to Paulus: "If we give the bullets to others, what will happen to our MP43?"

Paulus replied simply: "Is there any difference? They will put bullets into the chests of the Soviets for you. You only need to move forward to occupy the enemy's land. What else can you complain about?"

Paulus was right. The 6th Army almost followed the 21st Armored Division and occupied cities and strongholds one after another.

But that's not entirely the case. The 6th Army also has an armored corps... the 14th Armored Corps. This armored corps is composed of one armored division and two motorized infantry divisions.

Just as the 21st Armored Division captured Verdach, the 14th Armored Corps was already advancing steadily towards the west of Stalingrad.