On the morning of October 3, at dawn, the defense lines established by the Soviet army along the Red October Factory, Silicate Factory, Barricade Factory and other places came under heavy shelling from the German army.
Chuikov, who was staying on the cliff on the bank of the Volga River, heard the rumble of artillery coming from outside and quickly walked out of his headquarters. He stood outside and listened for a while, then walked back to the headquarters with a livid face.
After entering the door, regardless of Krylov still holding the phone in his hand, he took off the big-brimmed hat on his head, slammed it on the table, and then said: "Chief of Staff, did you hear the sound of artillery outside?
?The Germans used at least thousands of artillery pieces to simultaneously bombard our defensive positions around the Red October Factory, Silicate Factory, and Barricade Factory. It seems that they are planning a large-scale attack!"
Krylov was shocked when he heard what Chuikov said. He quickly put down the microphone in his hand and said in amazement: "Where did the Germans get so many artillery pieces? If this is true, then our defensive positions will have
Danger of breach.”
Chuikov quickly walked to the table, leaned over to look at the map spread out on the table, and asked solemnly: "Chief of Staff, what are our defense forces in this area?"
Although Krylov knew in his heart that Chuikov knew exactly which troops were defending each defensive zone, he just wanted to confirm again by asking, so he quickly replied: "The troops arranged from left to right are, in order
"We have quite a lot of troops." After hearing this, Chuikov said casually: "Since we have six divisions in these areas, it shouldn't be a problem to defend these factories."
"Comrade Commander," Krylov said with a serious expression: "These divisions are only in name. In fact, after successive battles, their troops have been greatly weakened. For example, the 37th Guards and the
The remaining troops of the 39th Division only have one regiment; as for the 308th and 95th Divisions, if it were not for the cover of Sokov's troops yesterday, it is estimated that not many people could be withdrawn."
"The situation is very serious, my Comrade Chief of Staff." After Chuikov said this, he suddenly remembered something important: "By the way, where is Comrade Khrushchev? I don't seem to have seen him today.
"
"When it was still dark, an armored boat came from the other side and picked up Comrade Military Commissar." Krylov saw Chuikov's confused look and quickly added: "You were still resting at that time.
, Comrade Military Commissioner said you worked too hard and asked me not to wake you up."
Chuikov originally thought that Khrushchev left secretly because the counterattack he personally supervised failed, and he had some thoughts about him. Now after listening to Krylov's explanation, he realized that he had thought too much, and he nodded.
Said: "It doesn't matter if we leave, judging from the enemy's shelling posture, today's battle must be cruel. Comrade Khrushchev stays here, and I feel uneasy."
Krylov understood Chuikov's worries. A fierce battle was about to break out here. If the head of the front army stayed at the headquarters, it would indeed be an uneasy thing. He quickly put the matter behind him, and instead
Asked Chuikov for instructions: "Comrade Commander, can we deploy the artillery on the left bank to suppress the German artillery?"
After Chuikov walked back and forth in the headquarters twice with his hands behind his back, he stopped, shook his head and said, "No, the enemy's artillery firepower is too powerful. If our artillery fires, we will probably suffer huge losses."
"Then what should we do?" Krylov said with an embarrassed look on his face: "Are we just going to watch the enemy shelling our positions unscrupulously?"
"We can't count on the artillery," Chuikov said thoughtfully: "We'd better ask the air force for help."
Chuikov's words made Krylov's eyes light up: "Yes, yes, Comrade Commander, you are right, why did I forget about the air force? As long as they are dispatched, they can bomb the German artillery positions. When dealing with enemy artillery,
In terms of combat, the air force has definitely achieved more results than the artillery."
After Krylov finished speaking, he immediately grabbed the telegram in front of him. After hearing the sound, he said into the microphone: "Signal soldier, this is Krylov. Get me to the Air Force Command immediately."
"Please wait a moment, Comrade Chief of Staff." The communications soldier quickly replied: "I will connect you to General Khryugin right now!"
The call was quickly connected, and when he heard Khryukin's voice coming from the receiver, Krylov immediately said impatiently: "General Khryukin? I'm Krylov."
"Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff." Khryugin heard that the person calling him was Krylov and asked politely: "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"That's it, General Khryugin." Krylov quickly told Khryukin in detail that the enemy was shelling the defensive positions on a large scale, and finally said: "If the enemy's shelling continues, there will definitely be
Cause greater casualties to the defenders, I request you to dispatch bombers to bomb the enemy's artillery positions to reduce our army's casualties."
According to Krylov's idea, General Khryugin, who has several aviation divisions, will immediately agree to send one or two aviation divisions to bomb the enemy's artillery positions without hesitation after hearing his request.
This reduces the damage caused by enemy artillery to the defensive positions in the factory area.
Unexpectedly, after waiting for a long time, Khryukin did not speak. Krylov became a little anxious. He thought that the other party had hung up the phone, so he shouted loudly into the phone: "Hello, hello, General Khryukin."
, are you still there? Hello, hey, are you still there?"
Soon, Khryukin's impatient voice came from the receiver: "I can hear you, you don't need to be so loud."
Hearing Khryugin's voice, Krylov quickly said with a smile: "General Khryugin, you haven't spoken a word. I thought you hung up the phone. I want to ask when will your fighter plane be available?"
Lift off?"
"I'm sorry, General Krylov." Unexpectedly, Khryugin said coldly: "I can't help you!"
"What, I can't help you?" Khryukin's reply shocked Krylov, and he asked confusedly: "General Khryugin, please explain to me, what does it mean that I can't help you?"
"Chief of Staff, give me the phone and I will speak to him personally." After Chuikov took the phone from Krylov's hand, he said into the phone: "Hello, General Khryugin, this is Chuikov."
"Hello, General Chuikov." Hearing that it was Chuikov, who was his equal, on the phone, Khryugin quickly said in a friendly manner: "Do you have any instructions?"
"That's right, General Khryugin." Chuikov said with some embarrassment: "In the area that is being bombarded by the enemy, since we have only been building fortifications for a short time, there are no decent or solid fortifications. In such a situation where the enemy is
Under the bombardment of artillery fire, it will soon collapse, causing huge casualties to the troops. Therefore, I beg you to dispatch the air force to bomb the enemy's artillery."
After Khryukin patiently listened to Chuikov, he said apologetically: "General Chuikov, I just told General Krylov that although I sympathize with your situation, I can't help you."
"I can't help you?!" Chuikov's face suddenly turned livid. He suppressed the anger in his heart and asked, "General Khryugin, can you tell me why this is happening?"
"General Chuikov!" Khryukin heard that Chuikov said this with anger. In order to avoid the other party having any bad associations, he quickly explained: "All our airports are closely guarded by enemy aircraft.
Within the surveillance range. As soon as a plane takes off, it will be attacked by enemy planes or ground artillery fire."
"You heard it, Comrade Chief of Staff." After Chuikov put down the phone, he looked at Krylov and said: "Neither our artillery deployed on the left bank nor General Khryugin's air force can provide us with any help.
If we want to defend the city, we can only rely on ourselves."
Seeing that no one could count on him now, Krylov immediately understood what Chuikov was thinking, and took the initiative to say: "I will call the commanders of each division and let them find a way to hold their positions."
"Wait a minute, Comrade Chief of Staff." Chuikov stopped Krylov and said to him: "There are still thousands of troops on Mamayev Ridge. I think if necessary, we can use this troops to attack from the enemy's flank.
Launch an attack to contain the enemy's strength."
Hearing that Chuikov planned to use Sokov's troops again, the muscles on Krylov's face twitched violently a few times, and he said with some embarrassment: "Comrade Commander, don't you think we have used Sokov too many times recently?
?"
Before Chuikov could speak, he continued: "Defend the Red October Factory, go forward to Orlovka to meet friendly forces, participate in the frontal counterattack on Mamayev Hill, and send troops to cover the two flanks on the right wing.
The division withdrew to the Red October Factory. It can be said that every mission we gave him was a narrow escape."
"Chief of Staff, if you don't tell me, I haven't paid attention yet." Chuikov said with a wry smile: "If these tasks were given to any unit in the group army, I'm afraid that unit would have already lost its organizational structure and been withdrawn to the rear for reorganization.
They have been replaced. But Sokov's troops are still like a nail nailed to the Mamayev Hill, preventing the enemy from occupying it."
"You said that I used them too often, which is quite true." Chuikov looked at Krylov and said: "But the elite are trained in one difficult battle after another. Sokov is a
A commander who knows how to fight will save us a lot of unnecessary losses by dispatching his troops under the current circumstances."
While Chuikov and Krylov were discussing Sokov, Sokov was in his headquarters, studying the next battle with Ivanov and others. He pointed at the map and said to Ivanov and others
: "The enemy's violent shelling of Mamayev Heights proves that they will make big moves next, and we must take preventive measures as soon as possible."
"Comrade Division Commander, since the defensive position has been relocated to the top of the hillside, although the enemy's shelling was fierce, it did not cause much damage to the position." Sidorin waited for Sokov to finish and asked with a smile: "Are we
Send the troops to the position early?"
"Nonsense, simply nonsense." When Sokov heard what Sidorin said, he immediately glared at the much older commander and said: "Even if the enemy's shelling does little damage to the position on the top of the mountain, we
We cannot allow soldiers to enter the position at this time."
Sokov slapped the map with his hand and said loudly: "Mamayev Heights is the commanding heights of Stalingrad. Standing here, you can clearly see the movement within dozens of kilometers. Pass my order,
Even after the enemy's shelling stops, the troops should not rush into the position, they only need to leave a few observation posts for surveillance."
"What, just send a few observation posts?" Ivanov, who had never fought a defensive battle on Mamayev Heights, heard Sokov say this and couldn't help asking in surprise: "Then if the enemy suddenly rushes over, what will happen to our troops?"
How did the troops get into position in time?"
"Don't worry, my comrade deputy division commander." Sokov put a hand on Ivanov's shoulder and comforted him: "The enemy is still more than ten kilometers away, and our observation posts can detect them.
When the enemy is still two or three kilometers away from Mamayev Heights, it will be completely late for us to send troops into the position."
Although everyone was staying in the tunnel, they could still feel the fierce artillery fire outside, and the dust from the roof floated down from time to time. If you were not careful, you would be blinded by the dust. After Ivanov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, he carefully
After pondering for a while, he finally nodded and said: "Comrade division commander, you are right. Although the shelled area of the mountaintop position is not large, the shock wave caused by such a fierce enemy shelling will still cause extreme damage to our soldiers.
Huge damage. Then we will wait until the enemy approaches Mamayev Heights before sending soldiers into the position."
"Comrade division commander, you said that the enemy's artillery fire was so fierce, why didn't the artillery on the left bank fire back?" Anisimov, the division political commissar, suddenly interjected and asked: "Even if you fire a few random shots, you can still suppress some of the enemy's firepower."
"Comrade Political Commissar, you don't understand." As the chief of staff, Sidorin naturally guessed the approximate number of artillery used by the enemy from the intelligence he obtained, and explained: "The enemy's shelling today used at least
Thousands of artillery pieces. And how many artillery pieces do we have on the left bank of the Volga River? I’m afraid it’s less than one-third of the enemy’s number. We might encounter crazy counterattacks as soon as we fire. Once these artillery pieces are lost, I’m afraid we’ll have to wait for more artillery pieces.
In the coming battle, artillery support will not be available."
"So that's it." Anisimov was not a fool. Hearing Sidorin's explanation, he immediately understood what was going on. He sighed and said, "We have tunnel fortifications here, and the enemy's artillery fire will give us
The damage caused is not huge. But the defenders in the factory area only have rudimentary fortifications. Faced with such fierce enemy shelling, we don’t know how many casualties there will be.”