The decisive battle against the Third Reich

As expected, the Soviet army easily occupied Mamayev Heights.

The situation at this time was quite embarrassing for the Germans. It was neither a charge nor a charge.

charge.

The Soviet troops stationed on Mamayev Hill were all troops from the "punishment battalion". As Stalin said, these troops were "using blood to wash away the crimes they committed against the motherland." So the Soviet army didn't care at all. Their life and death.

As a result, the elite members of the German 1st Infantry Regiment rushed forward and died together with the "cannon fodder" after a burst of artillery fire.

Not charging.

This means that the German army lost the strategic location of Mamayev Heights.

"What's going on?" Colonel Slain called Qinchuan and asked, "Why was the position lost?"

"Colonel!" Qin Chuan replied: "The top is the 'punishment camp'!"

"Isn't the 'Punishment Battalion' easier to repel?" But before he finished speaking, Colonel Sline understood what was going on, because the tone of his subsequent words had weakened.

After a pause, Colonel Slain said to Qin Chuan: "I will report this issue to the general. You can't retreat any longer!"

"Yes, Colonel!" Qin Chuan replied.

Qinchuan was not worried about this, because the German army had built complete field fortifications under Mamayev Hill. The problem could not be solved by the Soviet army using "punishment camps" as cannon fodder and then shelling them. Otherwise, the Soviet army can do whatever they want with the "punishment camps".

Colonel Slain quickly reported the problem to General Strike.

General Strike was helpless when he learned of this information.

"These bastards!" General Strike scolded: "They actually completely ignore the lives of soldiers! This is simply a disgrace to the army!"

In fact, General Strike would scold him like this just because Germany has not yet reached this point.

In the early days of the war between the Soviet Union and Germany, the German army was in the midst of calls for victory, and the quality of its soldiers was quite good, so the number of defectors was not large. In 1941, there were only more than 9,000 people, and in 1942, there were only more than 10,000 people.

There were only more than 10,000 deserters throughout the year, which was a very small number.

Of course, this does not include the fact that some soldiers who deserted were forgiven by their superiors but were not reported or punished. Similar things happened to the 1st Infantry Regiment before.

The German army's punishment for these deserters was either to shoot or hang them on the spot, or to send them to domestic military courts... These people did not have much value to the German army at this time. On the one hand, this is because the number of soldiers is too small, and on the other hand, the German army pays attention to the quality of the army, and incorporating deserters into the army will affect the quality.

but.

When the war situation changed, that is, after the failure of the Battle of Stalingrad and especially the Battle of Kursk, the German army generally lost confidence in winning the war, so the number of deserters increased sharply. By 1943, there were more than 60,000 deserters, and in 1944, there were more than 60,000 deserters. Two hundred thousand.

At the same time, the overall quality of the German army also declined sharply, so the reuse of deserters became valuable. Naturally, the German army also had units similar to "punishment camps"... reform camps (or probation camps),

If the German army has such troops at this time, there is no need to consider it. Sending these reform troops can be regarded as treating others with their own methods.

The problem is that the German army does not have such troops now.

When General Strike was hesitating, the staff gave a suggestion: "General, can we send Romanian troops or Italian troops..."

Before the staff officer could finish speaking, General Strike raised his hand to stop the staff officer.

General Strike also thought about this idea, but he quickly rejected it.

The reason is very simple. The armies of the slave countries have a "temper", especially Italy and Romania.

The former was occupied by the Allied forces in the African colony of Libya and was even in danger of being attacked by the Allied forces. Voices of "choosing sides" were rampant in the country. If the German army used the Italian army as cannon fodder... it would give these people an excuse to Politically it was very unfavorable to Germany.

Similarly, there are Romania, Hungary, etc. These slave countries are not very willing to join this war. They are more motivated by speculation or not wanting to offend Germany. Domestic opposition has always existed. Lake did not want to affect the "friendship" of the "allies" because of the Mamayev Hills.

After thinking for a while, General Strike asked: "Are the 'Dora' troops ready?"

"'Karl' is ready!" the staff officer replied: "But 'Dora' still needs a few days!"

General Strike nodded and said, "Let them wait for a few days!"

The order passed to the 1st Infantry Regiment was not as simple as "wait a few days", but let them use all the tools to build stronger fortifications, especially the communication trenches leading to the second line.

"What are they going to do?" Eberhard couldn't help but asked in confusion after hearing this order: "Build strong fortifications and communication trenches leading to the second line? Isn't this contradictory?"

This seems to be contradictory on the surface. The purpose of building strong fortifications is for on-site defense, while the communication trenches leading to the second line are for retreat.

But Qin Chuan understood the hidden meaning of this order.

"Dora!" Qin Chuan only said two words.

Eberhard couldn't help but say "oh".

It should be said that this strategy is correct. If the "Dora" cannon is used to destroy the buildings of Stalingrad or the tunnels as dense as spider webs, it will not have much effect, then the bombing of Mamayev Heights is obviously more meaningful, regardless of Be it in terms of tactics or strategy.

Of course, the German army would not expose this preparation to the Soviets prematurely. Therefore, from time to time, German artillery would fire a row of artillery shells at Mamayev Hill, or occasionally a few "Stuka" fighter planes would swoop down and drop bombs at Mamayev Hill.

But apparently the Soviet army took advantage of this moment to strengthen the defense of Mamayev Heights.

The defense mentioned here refers not only to the Soviet army building fortifications on Mamayev Hill, but also to the Soviet army increasing air defense firepower nearby.

Most of these anti-aircraft firepower are deployed on the east bank of the Volga River... to be precise, not the east bank but the sandbar on the Volga River.

The Volga River is characterized by its small drop and gentle flow. It is the longest inland river in the world at 3,692 kilometers long, with a total drop of only 190 meters.

The result of the gentle flow is that there are many sandbars and even quite large islands formed by quicksand deposits in the river.

There are several such small islands between Stalingrad and the east coast. The Soviet army deployed a large number of air defense equipment and troops on these small islands to provide air defense cover for their transportation of supplies.