The German infantry was frightened by the fictitious tank brigade. They had no choice but to give up their plan to attack the assembly workshop and instead attack the workers' villages where the Guards Division was holding on. As for the artillery, because of limited shells, it was used to bombard strong buildings such as workshops and factories.
The buildings were a bit too wasteful, so their artillery fire was concentrated on the first and second workers' villages.
General Seydlitz, commander of the 51st Army, knew that in order to occupy the factory area, he first needed to remove the nail in the assembly workshop. But now that tanks, artillery, and infantry could not be counted on, he could only place his only hope on the air force.
So he called Paulus and asked for air force support.
Unexpectedly, after Paulus heard Seydlitz's voice, he said with extreme dissatisfaction: "Mr. General, you once promised me that you could take down the Russian Red October Tractor Factory within one day.
As a result, the war has been going on until now, and you haven’t even stepped through the factory gate.”
"Your Excellency, Commander," although the weather was already very cold at the end of September, Paulus's reproach still caused layers of cold sweat to break out on Seydlitz's forehead. He wiped it on his forehead with his sleeve.
After a while, he tried his best to defend his defeat: "The troops of the 100th Jäger Division had already rushed into the factory from the north of the factory. Unfortunately, they were driven out by the Russians before they could gain a stable foothold."
"The Russians are like this. Once a position is lost, they will continue to counterattack regardless of casualties until their strength is exhausted." Paulus waited for Seydlitz to finish and said disdainfully: "General
Sir, you should take advantage of this favorable opportunity to establish an offensive starting point within the factory area."
"Your Excellency, Commander, I did think so." Seydlitz said with a grimace: "In order to gain a foothold in the factory, I sent tanks to cooperate with the infantry attack, but they were repelled by the Russians. There were casualties.
Not to mention hundreds of soldiers, even the tanks were destroyed."
"What, all your tanks were destroyed?" Paulus asked tentatively, considering that the tanks assigned to the 51st Army were basically all Panzer IV tanks, but he did not expect them to be destroyed by the Soviet army in the battle.
: "How many anti-tank guns do the Russians have?"
Regarding the weapons used by the Soviet army to destroy the tanks, Seidlitz once learned from the officers who escaped. But those officers only saw that after a burst of shelling by the Soviet army, all the tanks that cooperated with the infantry attack were destroyed, and even
The infantry behind the tanks were blown to pieces. Therefore, when Paulus asked, he could only guess and said: "According to reports from my subordinates, the Russians are equipped with at least fifty anti-tank guns.
Otherwise, they would not have been able to destroy all the tanks covering the infantry attack in such a short period of time."
"Fifty anti-tank guns?" Paulus couldn't help but gasped after hearing this number. "It seems that the Russians really spent a lot of money to defend this factory."
"But the Russians deployed so many anti-tank guns in the factory area, but they still can't save their fate of defeat." After a moment of silence, Paulus continued: "You can bombard those areas and blow up these anti-tank guns.
It’s going to be smashed to pieces.”
"Your Excellency, Commander, our artillery shells are limited, so the first choice target for shelling is the residential area held by the Russian Guards Division, which is what they call the workers' village." Seydlitz explained to Paulus: "
If these Russian Guards divisions are not eliminated and the troops rush into the factory area rashly, they may fall into a situation where they will be attacked from both sides."
Seydlitz paused for a moment, and when Paulus didn't speak, he continued: "The 24th Armored Division, which was originally scheduled to attack the factory, was shelled by the Russians during the march and suffered heavy casualties.
So that it was impossible to participate in the attack on the Red October Tractor Factory within the designated time."
Speaking of the attack on the 24th Armored Division, Paulus was also quite depressed. He never dreamed that the small Soviet force that was being wiped out by two divisions could actually cause such a huge damage to his armored division.
Casualties. Moreover, according to the reports obtained, these Russians used new rockets to attack from a distance. As soon as they completed the attack, they immediately moved and their own troops could not catch up.
Thinking of this, he said to Seydlitz: "Mr. General, I will give you the tanks you need. But now you have to find a way to capture the assembly workshop in the factory and turn it into our attack
Point of departure……"
"I'm afraid it won't be easy." Seydlitz quickly interrupted Paulus and said: "According to the intelligence we have, the Russians who are sticking to the assembly workshop have been reinforced by a tank brigade. If we
If we launch an attack rashly without a sufficient number of tanks to cover us, we may be in danger of annihilating the entire army."
"Tank brigade?!" Paulus did not get the report that the factory had received reinforcements from the tank brigade. When Seidlitz said this, he couldn't help but asked in surprise: "When did the Russian tank brigade arrive?"
"Yesterday afternoon." Seidlitz reported: "My scouts carefully observed that there were nearly sixty T-34 tanks. Judging from the number, they are the formation of a tank brigade."
"Strange, this is so strange!" Paulus said in surprise: "How did the Russians transport so many tanks from the other side of the Volga River?"
"I'm not sure about this." Seydlitz replied unconfidently: "Although we continue to bomb and shell the ships that appear on the Volga River, Russian soldiers and various supplies are still flowing in continuously.
It was shipped over from the other side. I think this tank brigade was also shipped over under these circumstances."
Seydlitz's words made Paulus fall into deep thought. There was a Soviet tank company in the factory area, which would pose a threat to the flanks and rear of the troops attacking the workers' village. Thinking of this, he asked into the microphone: "Mr. General, what are you doing?"
What is the solution?"
"Your Excellency, Commander, this is what I think about it." After hearing Paulus's question, Seidlitz quickly replied: "Can you please ask the 4th Air Force to dispatch aircraft to bomb the assembly workshop buildings and destroy the gatherings in the assembly hall?"
The Russian tanks there?”
"Mr. General," Paulus sneered at Seydlitz's proposal: "Have you forgotten that your troops are attacking the workers' village outside the factory area. The smoke rising from the battlefield will interfere with the pilot's flight."
Line of sight. In this case, how can they find the target they want to attack? Also, the Russians are not fools. They will not easily place their tanks in the open and let our air force use them as targets for bombing."
"Then what should we do, Commander?" Seidlitz asked in confusion: "If we let this Russian tank unit go, they will pose a great threat to us."
"Chief of Staff," Paulus was thinking about a solution when he saw his Chief of Staff Schmidt walking in from outside. He quickly covered the phone with his hand and asked, "Let me ask you, if the Russians have someone in the factory,
A tank unit, what can you do to destroy them all?"
"It's very simple, Your Excellency, Commander." Regarding the question raised by Paulus, Schmidt replied easily: "There are two ways. One is to bombard with heavy artillery. Don't see the Russian armor plates blocking our three missiles.
No. 4 tanks attacked, but under our heavy artillery strikes, they would soon be beaten into a pile of scrap metal..."
"Chief of Staff, this method is not advisable." Regarding the first method proposed by Schmidt, Paulus refuted: "We do not know the specific location of the Russian tank brigade, and we do not have enough artillery shells. If we want to use artillery
It is obviously unrealistic to eliminate them. You should talk about your second method."
"Since artillery cannot destroy the Russian tank troops, then use the air force." Although his proposal was rejected, Schmidt was not discouraged and said: "Our air force has defeated the Russian tank troops many times.
I think as long as the air force discovers their assembly point, they can be completely eliminated soon."
"But the thick smoke rising from the battlefield will obscure the pilot's sight." Paulus said worriedly: "I'm worried that they will not be able to find the attack target at all in this situation."
"Your Excellency, Commander, actually this is not a problem." Schmidt said with a smile: "We can wait until tomorrow morning to send planes to attack. The smoke on the battlefield has long been blown away by the cold wind blowing from the Volga River after a night.
.With good visibility, our pilots can easily detect the Russian tanks hidden and then destroy them."
Paulus felt that Schmidt's statement was very reasonable, so he nodded and released his hand covering the microphone: "Hey, General Seydlitz, I just discussed it with the Chief of Staff. His proposal is
Let the air force attack tomorrow morning, when the smoke that permeates the battlefield should have almost dissipated, ensuring that our pilots have a good view so that they can find the Russian tanks on the ground."
Seydlitz thought in his mind that the battle was so fierce now that even if he ordered the troops to stop attacking, the smoke on the battlefield would not dissipate in a short time. Even if he reluctantly dispatched the air force, he might not be able to achieve anything.
Therefore, he felt that the plan proposed by Paulus was the most practical. He nodded and said: "Your Excellency, Commander, it seems that this is the only way to go. Let the air force set off tomorrow morning to attack the enemy."
The Russian tanks are a huge threat to us."
"Mr. General, you'd better send out scouts overnight, sneak into the factory area, and find out where the Russian tanks are parked." Paulus reminded Seydlitz: "This can provide our air force with instructions for attack targets.