The strategically important Stalingrad No. 1 Railway Station has not yet completely fallen, but if the situation continues to develop unchanged, it will not be far away.
The morale of the German forward troops who entered the city was high and they were unstoppable all the way. Very few Soviet troops blocking the German army could effectively block the German offensive.
The organized German army led the way with tanks and Type III assault guns, followed closely by infantry, which quickly followed through the streets and alleys.
The German troops, who did not know how to fight street fighting, were still advancing tenaciously into the city in the form of field assaults. The Soviet troops, who were also not experienced in street fighting, were not able to adapt to the fierce offensive of the concentrated German forces for a while, even facing the buildings on the streets.
The utilization rate of this natural bunker is not high.
In most cases, positions were set up directly at street intersections to deploy firepower and the Germans launched direct attacks, trying to block the Germans' infantry-tank coordinated offensive at key intersections on the main urban traffic roads.
However, the city defense Soviet army, which already lacked anti-tank weapons on hand, was undoubtedly using its own shortcomings to attack the other's strengths.
Street intersections and main traffic roads lacking effective bunker cover could not stop the ferocious German offensive, and the crossfire network constructed by buildings on both sides of the street with limited utilization could only play a minimal blocking role.
Relying on the abundant troops at hand, the German army used unreasonable frontal assaults to tear through the Soviet defense assembly points. After the German army directly penetrated the frontal defense line, the Soviet army's block troops faced the risk of being divided and surrounded.
There is simply no way to reorganize a more effective defense.
The German army, which was marching at an astonishing speed, took only half a day to reach the neighborhoods surrounding the No. 1 train station at the foot of the Mamayev Hills. Malashenko, who had just driven the tank onto the main road, could not stop him even in the tank.
I heard the sound of fierce fighting coming from a block away, and the fierce fighting was already very close to the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment!
The tank column of the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment continued to advance along the main street leading to the No. 1 Railway Station, leaning half of its body out of the turret to observe the surrounding situation at all times. It was worried that a group of short-term troops might come out at any time.
Malashenko, who was watching the German army, was really startled by a group of people who suddenly jumped out of the alley in front of him.
Click——
"who!?"
Subconsciously, he suddenly raised the Somi submachine gun in his hand, and Malashenko almost pulled the trigger at the group of people who suddenly ran out in front of him.
With their expressions highly concentrated and tense, they looked at each other carefully, and after they recognized each other's identity, they breathed a sigh of relief, took down their weapons, and disarmed themselves.
"Which part are you from? Where did you come from and where are you going?"
Malashenko recognized the rank of the Red Army second lieutenant leading the team in front of him, and then unceremoniously spoke first from a condescending perspective on the turret.
The Red Army second lieutenant, who was standing at the front of the team and leading the soldiers behind him, also put down the Bobosha submachine gun subconsciously raised in his hand at the same time as Malashenko.
Although Malashenko was wearing a thick layer of tank fire-proof combat uniform and did not reveal his obvious military rank, he could roughly guess that the other party's second lieutenant, who must have a higher military rank and position than himself, replied without thinking.
"The 312th Infantry Division has just crossed the river from the trestle and is preparing to support the blocks ahead. Do you have any orders or need help? Comrade Commander."
The face of the Red Army second lieutenant who answered Malashenko was covered with black and scorched marks left by the war. Judging from the situation he reported, it was obvious that he had just been transferred from another direction to support the battle near the train station.
Malashenko didn't have time to ask the second lieutenant which war zone he led the team from. Malashenko, who was eager to know what the fighting situation was like nearby, immediately asked.
"You said you just crossed the river from the trestle, so you must have passed by Railway Station No. 1. Tell me what the situation is like there now?"
According to the distance marked on the map, the neighborhood where Malashenko is currently located is nearly two kilometers away from the No. 1 Railway Station in a straight line.
Considering that the city was full of devastated ruins and rubble after being bombed by Luftwaffe fighter planes, and it would take at least half an hour to go around several streets, Malashenko simply asked the second lieutenant directly about the train station.
What is the situation over there now? If the German army has not reached anywhere yet, Malashenko will have another tactic to use.
Faced with Malashenko's question, the second lieutenant who was leading the team who had just arrived from the train station did not hesitate and immediately told the truth about what he had witnessed to all of Malashenko's bamboo tubes.
"The situation at the train station is not urgent yet, Comrade Commander. The German troops closest to the train station should still be three blocks away. This is what the comrades stationed there told me when I passed by. They are
The walls and bunkers were fortified and prepared to deal with the Germans who might attack at any time."
"..."
After hearing the second lieutenant's answer, Malashenko thought silently for a while.
If the German army is really three blocks away from the train station, then judging from the time it is approaching evening, the German army may not be able to capture the train station before dark.
No matter how weak the troops guarding the train station are, they can hold off the German troops for two or three hours. As soon as the sun sets and the sky turns dark, today's battle will end no matter how smooth the German offensive is.
Street fighting in the middle of the night, apart from last year's group of German soldiers who were surrounded in the city of Yelniya, did it once in order to survive, and succeeded when the Soviet army was unexpected and unprepared, Mara
Shenke has never heard of a German army that dared to show off in the city in the middle of the night.
After considering all the situations at hand and thinking quickly in his mind, Malashenko, who felt that it was impossible for the Germans to capture the train station before nightfall, immediately made an extremely important decision: to support the fighting in the nearest neighborhood.
Hold back the German troops attacking the train station.
In principle, Chuikov's order to him was only to defend the train station without specifying how to defend it. This left Malashenko with a lot of room for improvement in the execution and application of specific tactics.
Regardless of whether Chuikov did this intentionally or unintentionally, after making up his mind, Malashenko immediately did what he said and spoke to the Red Army second lieutenant in front of him.
"Get in the car, comrade! Lead us, we will crush those fascists now!"
He took the initiative to reach out and pulled up the second lieutenant who had climbed onto the armor on the front of the car. Suddenly he remembered that Malashenko, who still didn't know his name, asked the question in a soft voice.