Colonel Adam returned to China for a vacation. After returning to the headquarters, Paulus always felt as if something was missing in his heart. It was as if an old object that he had kept at home for a long time that had been with him for a long time suddenly disappeared, and he felt empty and uncomfortable.
"Adam, why is the coffee empty..."
"...."
Paulus, who had just returned to his office, was stunned for a long time with an empty coffee cup in his hand.
After entering Stalingrad and starting the most brutal battle, Paulus's daily life was almost entirely taken care of by Colonel Adam, who was closest to him. In addition to being busy with his own work, Colonel Adam was busy organizing reports and information, and his mental state was not good.
The good Paulus went to inspect the troops, visited the hospital, and even had to bring meals and coffee to Paulus. He was simply an all-around caring little cotton-padded jacket.
When Colonel Adam left so suddenly, it was Paulus himself who found it difficult to adapt to all this.
"...."
Paulus put down his coffee cup and didn't know what to say.
Paulus wanted to scold himself for being a loser. He didn't have a good command in battle, but he had become so dependent on others for daily life. But after thinking about it, Paulus felt that he was tired enough, and the best he could do was scold himself.
In other words, drinking two more glasses of water to quench your thirst will have absolutely no effect at all.
After sitting quietly behind his desk and thinking for a while, Paulus finally felt that what he had to do now was to regain his condition as soon as possible, cheer up and command the troops to draw up their posture and continue fighting with the Russians and defeat the enemy.
The initiative of the strategic offensive is still in our own hands. The Sixth Army's casualties are acceptable and it still maintains strong combat strength. How can those Russians, whose casualties are several times that of the Sixth Army, be able to defeat us?
The more he thought about it, the more he thought about it. Paulus excitedly opened the drawer and pulled out a message. He spread it out in front of him and read it again.
This telegram was sent from Berlin just last night. It was an order message sent by the Führer himself to the Sixth Army. Paulus kept it as carefully as a treasure.
Hitler boasted in the telegram that he would slow down the German offensive on other fronts at this time and intensify the attack in the direction of Stalingrad. He ordered Paulus to continue to seize the time to attack the remaining Soviet troops trapped in Stalingrad.
The troops launched a fierce attack to eliminate all resistance in the city before the first snow fell this year.
This crucial telegram contained some misunderstandings in terms of unclear content.
Hitler emphasized in the telegram "slow down the German offensive on other fronts at this time and strengthen the attack intensity in the direction of Stalingrad." According to Hitler's own idea, he urged Paulus's Sixth Army to strengthen its attack intensity and move the 3rd
All the strength of the Sixth Army was used without reservation, implying that Paulus had now come to take action and must seize the time.
The head of state who was not on the front line would not know that Paulus was not only serious at this time, but also almost lost the entire Sixth Army's capital, let alone Paulus, his ardent fan.
There was a huge deviation in understanding the implicit content in the telegram.
Paulus mistakenly interpreted Hitler's words as "the Führer is preparing to dispatch more reinforcements to Stalingrad." This rekindled Paulus's confidence and hope in victory, who had once felt desperate!
As long as he can get reinforcements, even 10 divisions... no, 5 fully equipped divisions, Paulus is confident that he will follow the orders of the Führer and end everything before the first snow falls!
Paulus understood the fleeting nature of fighter planes and the rapidity of troops. He felt that since the head of state had promised support, he should let go and fight the Soviet army! Open up the situation before reinforcements arrived.
Then, taking advantage of the good opportunity when reinforcements arrived, they threw in the newly arrived troops and laid them down in one breath all those exhausted Russians who had been fighting continuously!
Is there any problem with such a combat plan? No problem, it can definitely kill those Russians.
Is it possible for such a combat plan to fail? Paulus was confident that there was no possibility of failure at all.
So when will this combat plan be implemented? Paulus decided to do it without much thought, and there must be no delay!
Therefore, after misunderstanding the order message from the head of state and mistaking it as a "commitment", Paulus immediately convened a combat meeting of military chiefs above the division level and personally went into battle using a pointer to poke the battle zone map and send troops to fight.
Task, it seems that he has shown the momentum of the past, and he has suddenly returned to his old job as a staff officer.
Paulus made it clear at the operational meeting that the northern heavy industrial area of Stalingrad was the priority target that must be captured now. This area still houses high-value plants such as the "Barricade" factory and the "Red October" steel plant that the Soviet army defended.
The strategic target, the Stalingrad Tractor Factory, which was almost destroyed by the German army, is also in the northern heavy industrial zone.
One of the important reasons why Paulus wanted to capture this place first was because no matter how the air force bombed these Soviet heavy industry factories or how the artillery blasted them, the Russians were like rats jumping out of the farmland and they could not stop them.
It can always maintain the heavy weapons production line in various ways for you, even if you use your hands to build a tank, you have to forcefully build it.
If this heavy industrial area, which still has the capacity to produce tanks, is not solved, Paulus feels that this will always be a serious problem sooner or later, and he must not let it go.
As a result, in the main urban area of Stalingrad that ran north to south, Paulus invested a new force with extremely strong combat power in the direction of the heavy industrial area guarded by the Soviet army in the north: as many as 5 infantry divisions and 2 armored units.
The division's troops were used to capture such a narrow heavy industrial zone with a depth of only 5 kilometers. The density of troops invested was unprecedented since the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad!
In order to ensure the victory of the attack, Paulus also had a separate communication with Baron Richthofen. The latter finally compromised with Paulus and promised to use the maximum strength of his existing strength in the upcoming attack.
Provide air support to the northern heavy industrial area.
Even though the German Air Force has recently joined the battle due to those damn new Soviet fighter jets, the casualties and losses have skyrocketed to a level that can be said to be quite terrifying.
The morning of October 14 was destined to be an unforgettable morning for Malashenko.
The German Stuka dive bombers, which were more punctual than the crowing of a rooster, came early in the morning with black iron bombs to remind Malashenko in the hospital bed that it was time to get up. The violent explosions of the aerial bombs were so loud that he was almost thrown away.
Malashenko, who was about to take a nap after soaking in urine, was so frightened that two more drops came out in his crotch.