Red Moscow

  Chapter 366 Attack begins

Poskrebyshev heard that the planned attack had been postponed, so he didn't dare to neglect, and quickly said into the microphone: "Comrade General, please wait a moment, I will ask Comrade Stalin to answer the phone." After speaking, he put down the phone. Microphone, pushed open the office door and walked in.

  He walked into the empty office, walked quickly to a closed door, hesitated for a moment, pushed the door lightly and walked in. Although his movement was very light, he still woke up Stalin who was sleeping on the sofa.

  Stalin knew that there was nothing important, and Poskrebyshev would not bother him at such a time, so he closed his eyes and asked, "What is it?"

   "Master Zhukov is calling," Poskrebyshev quickly replied in a low voice, "I have something important to report to you."

  Stalin opened his eyes and stared at Poskrebyshev for a moment, trying to judge the importance of the matter from the expression on his face. But the other party was still the same as usual, with a look of honor and disgrace, he sat up straight, picked up the phone on the coffee table, put the receiver to his ear, and said, "I am Stalin!"

   "Hello, Comrade Stalin." After Zhukov heard Stalin's voice coming from the receiver, he hurriedly said: "I want to report to you about the preparations for the counterattack against the German army in the north of Stalingrad."

  Boskrebyshev saw that Stalin had started talking to Zhukov, so he hurriedly left the room and closed the door behind him. Stalin asked: "Comrade Zhukov, according to the counter-offensive plan formulated in advance, the battle will start in a few hours. Why, has something changed?"

"Yes," Zhukov replied with some embarrassment: "Because the 1st Guards Army, which was the first to attack, has not reached the starting point of the attack so far due to insufficient fuel and delays along the way. Therefore, I have canceled the attack. The attack that was scheduled to be launched today."

   Stalin asked angrily: "Didn't you consider these issues when you deployed?"

   "Comrade Stalin," Zhukov replied: "It takes a lot of time to assemble and mobilize troops, to send weapons, ammunition and supplies forward, and the preparation time left for us by the headquarters is too short, so some delays are inevitable."

   "Comrade Zhukov," Stalin raised his voice, "then when do you plan to launch an offensive?"

   "Tomorrow, I plan to postpone the attack time for 24 hours, and wait for the same time tomorrow before launching an attack on the enemy."

"Comrade Zhukov, let me remind you that your transfer must have been noticed by the Germans." Stalin said very quickly: "If you delay the attack by one day, it is equivalent to giving the enemy an extra day to prepare. Add a lot of unnecessary casualties to our counterattack."

Regarding Stalin's concerns, Zhukov had long thought of a countermeasure: "Comrade Stalin, due to the active actions of the 62nd Army a few days ago, the German 16th Armored Division has caused great casualties. According to the situation we have , they are realigning their forces, and even if our attack is postponed until tomorrow, we can attack before they complete their new deployment."

   "What, the troops of the 62nd Army, caused heavy damage to the German 16th Armored Division?" Stalin heard Zhukov's report, and asked a little surprised: "When did this happen, why don't I know?"

"As far as I know, General Chuikov was ordered to launch a counterattack against the frontal enemy on August 29 in order to save the main force of the group army whose retreat was cut off." Zhukov guessed that the General Staff might be concentrating on the counterattack organized by itself. Thus ignoring the victories achieved by the 62nd Army. He quickly explained to Stalin: "The northern group composed of the 124th and 149th Infantry Brigades, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, launched a counterattack against the German 16th Armored Division and defeated the 2nd Armored Division and the 16th Armored Division. The Artillery Regiment and the 79th Infantry Regiment succeeded in opening a gap in the German encirclement, allowing most of the besieged troops to retreat smoothly into the city."

   "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov performed really well." After praising Sokov, Stalin asked, "Which unit was he originally the commander of?"

"Comrade Stalin, the Lieutenant Colonel Sokov I'm talking about is Misha's son Misha." Seeing that Stalin didn't remember who Sokov was, Zhukov reminded him: "The 73rd Infantry Brigade under his command is now entrusted By order of the Supreme Command, be stationed at Mamayev Post."

After Zhukov stopped, Stalin finally remembered that there was such a thing, and at the same time he remembered more content: "Comrade Zhukov, I remember that Misha mentioned more than once that the German army might rush into Stalin. Geller. At the time I thought he was an alarmist, but now it seems that his judgment is completely correct."

  Zhukov and Stalin chatted for a while, and finally reached a fortification on the postponement of the offensive. Stalin finally said: "At five o'clock in the morning on September 3, launching an attack on the German army is the deadline I set, and it must not be postponed any longer. Do you understand?"

   "Understood, Comrade Stalin." Seeing that Stalin did not get angry, Zhukov secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "Tomorrow at 5:10, even if only one soldier arrives at the starting position for the attack, we will launch the attack on time."

  ...

  In the early morning of the 3rd, half an hour before the attack, the slow-moving troops of the 1st Guards Army finally arrived at the designated position. Seeing that the commanders and fighters were all exhausted, and the accompanying tanks and armored vehicles also needed maintenance after a long march, Moskalenko nodded to Zhukov again and asked in a deliberative tone: "Comrade General , my troops have reached the starting position of the attack. However, the soldiers are already very tired after a long march, I hope to delay the attack for a few more hours?"

   "General Moskalenko," Zhukov asked calmly about Moskalenko's request, "how long do you plan to delay?"

"Four hours." Moskalenko said resolutely: "This is already the shortest time limit. If the soldiers are not allowed to take a good rest, their combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced in the next battle. .”

"No, General Moskalenko." Zhukov said in an unquestionable tone: "Your attack has been postponed by one day from the original time. If you postpone it again, the enemy's preparations will be more adequate, and you will be given the opportunity by then." Your attack has caused great hindrance."

   Seeing that he could not match Zhukov, Moskalenko could only bite the bullet and agree. Although he didn't say anything more, he was full of complaints about Zhukov in his heart.

  As soon as five o'clock arrived, the Soviet artillery opened fire on the enemy's position.

   But the bombardment was interrupted by the German bombing after only ten minutes, but Moskalenko decisively ordered the troops to launch an offensive.

  The soldiers knew very well that if they wanted to avoid being bombed by enemy planes, they had to rush up and mix with the enemy, so that the enemy planes would not dare to drop bombs easily.

  Although the German army noticed that the Soviet army was mobilizing troops, they did not expect that they would take the initiative to attack themselves less than an hour after entering the starting position. The enemies who escaped the shelling of the Soviet army hid in the second trench 500 meters away. When they found that the Soviet army was attacking, they rushed along the traffic trench to the first trench, but it was too late. After occupying the first trench and clearing out the remnants of the enemy, the Soviet commanders rushed towards the enemy's second line of defense.

  In less than an hour, the troops of the 1st Guards Army advanced three kilometers forward. However, their good luck seemed to come to an abrupt end here and there, as the enemy planes, having completed their bombardment of the artillery positions, turned around to bombard the attacking units. The frontal enemy was also covering tanks and infantry with artillery fire, and launched a counterattack to the Soviet army.

  Moskalenko stomped his feet in the headquarters angrily when he learned that his troops' offensive was frustrated. He immediately called Zhukov and said with a bitter face: "Comrade General, our offensive troops were not only bombed by enemy planes, but their tanks and infantry were also supported by artillery, and carried out a counter-charge towards us." .I request air force support, request air force support."

"Comrade Moskalenko," Zhukov did not dare to neglect Moskalenko's request, because he knew that if the attacking troops were not provided with air support, they might be defeated by the three-dimensional defense of the German army. , So he said decisively: "I will immediately call the commander of the Air Force and ask him to send a plane to the battlefield to provide you with the necessary air support."

  After receiving Zhukov's order, the air force commander immediately ordered all the aircraft of the aviation division to take off and rush to the battle site to support the 1st Guards Army, which was fighting the enemy. After reaching the battlefield, the fighter planes chased the enemy planes in the air, while the bombers strafed the German tanks and infantry on the ground.

  For a while, hundreds of Soviet and German fighter planes fought fiercely in the sky north of Stalingrad. From time to time, planes were hit, falling obliquely with long black smoke trails, and even exploded in the air.

  German tanks and infantry, after being bombed and strafed by Soviet bombers, had to stop their attack on the 1st Guards Army, but turned around and retreated. The commanders and fighters who had been suppressed by the German planes, artillery and tanks for a long time, how could they easily give up such a good opportunity? They got up from the ground one after another and started chasing the enemy.

After the counter-assault to the north of Stalingrad began, Sokov came to the observation post on the top of the Mamayev Hill, raised his binoculars and looked into the distance, thinking to himself: Because the German 2nd Armored Regiment and 16th Artillery Corps The regiment and the 79th Infantry Regiment were severely damaged by themselves. The strength of the 16th Armored Division should not be as strong as in history. Maybe Moskalenko's offensive can achieve better results.

   Then because Mamayev Gang was too far away from the battle site, Sokov's telescope could only see billowing black smoke rising in the distance. In order to find out the situation in the battle area, Sokov returned to his headquarters and asked Chuikov about the situation through a wired phone: "Comrade commander, you should have seen the counterattack launched by the north, right?"

Chuikov, who was staying on the chimney of the cement factory at the moment, heard Sokov's question and replied: "Yes, I can see the battle field from here, and our army is currently storming the defenses of the 3rd Motorized Infantry Division. area."

   "Comrade Commander," Sokov quickly asked after learning that Cuikov was able to see the battlefield clearly, "Then do you think our counterattack can achieve the goal of the campaign?"

"It's hard to say." Chuikov said with some embarrassment: "There are German planes in the sky, tanks and artillery on the ground, but our army does not have any heavy weapons. Such a counterattack may not achieve much results. Sokov Colonel, why do you ask this, do you also think that our army cannot win?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." To Chuikov's question, Sokov answered simply: "Our army did not have the support of the air force and artillery when we attacked. If we want to break through the three-dimensional defense of the German army, we will inevitably pay a heavy price. The price. When our troops are depleted to a certain extent, their offensive will come to a complete standstill, and then the German army may launch a counterattack and completely defeat our offensive troops."

After finishing the call with Chuikov, Sokov realized a serious problem. Seeing that the series of victories he had achieved had not had much impact on the current situation in Stalingrad, the 16th Armored Division and the 3rd, 3rd, The corridor area established by the 60th Motorized Infantry Division directly to the Volga River, Moskalenko's troops are still unable to break through.

Although the counterattack to the north of Stalingrad ended in failure, in any case, it attracted a large number of German troops and gave Chuikov a precious respite, giving him enough time to attack the city. The disorganized units were reorganized and deployed in their respective combat positions.

"Comrade Brigadier," Sidolin waited for Sokov to put down the phone, and asked curiously, "I heard that our counter-assault troops in the north of Stalingrad consisted of three armies, and they were commanded by General Zhukov himself. Why do you still think that this counterattack will not succeed?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, the reason is very simple." Seeing that Sidolin was full of doubts about his judgment, Sokov said expressionlessly: "Although there will be as many as three armies in the counterattack this time, due to the The preparation time for the battle was too hasty, not enough troops were assembled, and the necessary heavy equipment was not assembled, especially the number of artillery was very limited, so it was difficult to break through the corridors established by the German army."

   "So, this counterattack organized by our army is completely unnecessary?" Sidolin asked.

"You can't say that," Sokov continued: "If our army does not launch an offensive from the north of the city, the enemy can occupy Stalingrad with just one storm. But with this counterattack, it can delay the German army's attack. The speed of the attack on the urban area buys precious time for the subsequent defense and counter-offensive operations."

  (end of this chapter)