Eight Hundred and Sixty-Two Battle of Crossing the River

As the first assault boat was sunk by the Soviets on the Don River, the German army's large-scale river-crossing operations also kicked off. The reason why Guderian's troops lagged behind Manstein's attack speed was because Among the troops of the second echelon, they carried a large number of tools for crossing the river. Its fundamental purpose is to deal with the possible emergence of the Soviet Army's Don River defense line.

In order to allow a large number of armored troops under the G Group Army to quickly cross the Don River, the German army prepared a large number of bridging tools. Unfortunately, it is not an easy task for the German Tiger tank or even the Tiger King tank to cross the Don River. , so the German army carried a lot of equipment.

The pontoon bridges being erected by the engineers are mainly for the armored troops to cross the river. They dock the ships side by side and fix them with cables and bolts. Then, the engineering vehicles will drop the steel bridge decks on these pontoons. Quickly build a solid pontoon bridge.

While the engineers and soldiers were building the pontoon bridge, some of the German assault boats had reached the other side of the Don River. The German soldiers rushed up to the embankment on the opposite bank and launched a heroic charge towards the Soviet positions.

Not far away, another pontoon bridge is also being built. This pontoon bridge does not seem to have so many load-bearing requirements. Most of them are using inflatable rubber boats as the load-bearing part of the pontoon bridge. Obviously, this pontoon bridge was prepared for the infantry to cross the river, and it was built faster, and it had already extended to the center of the Don River in a blink of an eye.

More than a dozen German Stuka dive bombers hovered in the sky, pouring their ammunition on the Soviet positions at any time. These planes covered the German landing field and helped the Germans expand their already occupied positions on the opposite shore.

An assault boat rushed onto the river beach on the opposite bank, and a hail of bullets hit the surrounding of the assault boat, but the grenadiers inside jumped out of the assault boat fearlessly. The bullets hit their feet, and the splashed sand even flew into the air. It reached them, but these German soldiers still ran forward with their weapons.

A soldier was hit by a bullet while running and fell to the ground. But more German soldiers still rushed to places where they could hide their bodies, and began to set up their weapons calmly. A mg42 machine gun was placed on the edge of a bomb crater on the river beach, and sprayed out tongues of revenge towards the slightly higher Soviet position.

"Thuk! Thuk!" With the unique sound of the German machine gun, the sound of tearing linen or sawing wood began to sound, and the ammunition chain held in the palm of the German deputy shooter began to jump towards the body of the machine gun due to the pull of the machine gun. . The tracer bullets flew towards the Soviet machine gun position, shooting out a cloud of white smoke.

More assault boats began to land nearby. There were more and more German troops, and they launched an attack on the two wings. The Soviet infantry positions were already understrength due to the German attack. Many places could only rely on the terrain to support them. .

A German grenadier leaned on a rock, replaced a new magazine for his assault rifle, then turned over and jumped into the Soviet trench.

He was the first German soldier to rush so close to the enemy's position. The Soviet soldiers in the trenches were startled by the unexpected German soldiers who jumped in.

There were not many Soviet troops in this trench at all, and more than half of them were killed by the grenade thrown just now. Now there are only two Soviets who can actually fight. When the German soldiers raised their guns, the bullets were dense. The shot hit two enemies who were pulling the bolts of the Mosin Nagant rifles.

Two Soviet soldiers fell to the ground in response, and the second German soldier had also turned into the trench. The two German soldiers occupied this section of the position, and a loophole suddenly appeared in the nearby Soviet defense line. Then more German soldiers followed into this trench, and the Soviet troops were driven out of more positions by the Germans.

A gap was opened by the German grenadiers. This is something the Soviet army cannot tolerate. They are still pinning their hopes on stopping the German attack to ensure that the Don River defense line can hold back the German army. So when the German army's foothold was not stable, the Soviet army launched a counterattack.

A Soviet soldier rushed towards the trenches already occupied by the Germans with his own weapon. Behind him, more Soviet soldiers also carried rifles with bayonets inserted. They passed through the traffic trenches they had dug and took advantage of their familiarity with the terrain to quickly approach the defensive positions occupied by the Germans.

They rushed out from the side of the trench suddenly, trying to catch the Germans by surprise, but the mp-44 assault rifles in the hands of the Germans and the ammunition delivered by the G43 semi-automatic rifles in an instant were much better than the Mosin Nagant in the hands of the Soviets. Therefore, most of the Soviet soldiers who rushed out were knocked over by bullets at the corner of the trench.

A Soviet soldier risked his life and rushed across the corner, holding the Bobosha submachine gun in his hand, and started shooting crazily at the German army. At such a short distance, the barrage formed by the Bobosha submachine gun had a very good killing effect , The three German soldiers immediately fell to the ground, and blood flowed from their bodies.

"Tutu! Chutu!" A German grenadier did not let his comrades die in vain. He knelt on one knee and leaned against the wall of the trench, holding his assault rifle, and shot fiercely at the corner. bullet.

The Soviet gunman holding a Bobosha submachine gun was hit by a bullet, and fell to the ground on his back with a scream. The two Soviet soldiers who rushed out with him were also hit by bullets, shaking and falling on their comrades. on the corpse.

The rest of the German army had no intention of bayoneting the Soviet army. Under the cover of a few grenadiers with assault rifles, they threw two grenades, killing the Soviet army charging at the German army crowded around the corner. one slice. This charge of the Soviet army also retreated with the explosion of the two grenades.

"The lost position must be regained! We cannot retreat half a step!" Seeing his troops retreating, a Soviet commander shouted angrily: "Organize another attack! All soldiers must not retreat! I will personally Bring people up! If the German army is not driven down the river, everyone will die on the east bank of the Don River!"

It didn't take long for the Soviet army's second counterattack to launch again. Braving the blocking of German artillery fire and the hovering and roaring of the planes overhead, thousands of Soviet soldiers rushed towards the German defensive positions with rifles in hand. A newly deployed mg42 machine gun began to roar, and the bullets flew into the dense crowd of Soviet troops, knocking down many Soviet soldiers.

"Comrade Commander! The enemy's machine gun is on! We have no way to rush over!" A Soviet soldier held his helmet and retreated to the trench when he set off, reporting loudly to his commander. His tone was full of pessimism and despair. After all, they were asked to stick to this position and not take a step back.

"Bah!" The commander didn't talk nonsense with him, raised the pistol in his hand, and pierced the soldier's chest: "I gave the order! Don't retreat! How dare you retreat?"

The soldier stared at his officer in disbelief, then slowly fell down unwillingly, and finally lay upright on the bottom of the muddy trench, closing his eyes in despair, and he didn't say anything from the beginning to the end , because he could feel the life passing away from his body, and no matter what he said, he could no longer change what happened in front of him.

"Rush with me! Don't take back the ground! Never retreat!" The Soviet commander waved the pistol in his hand and shouted frantically. Beside him, there were densely packed Soviet soldiers who followed him forward. They charged forward regardless of life and death, trying to get close to the German positions.

A shell shelled by the German army fell into their crowd, blowing up the surrounding soldiers and the remaining limbs and arms of various soldiers. But the Soviet army still moved forward desperately, facing the German bullets and attacking desperately.

However, on the river beach, more German assault boats arrived, and dozens of German troops joined the defensive positions of the friendly troops in front. The new machine guns brought by these German troops still had sufficient ammunition. They reinforced the defensive positions, and charged towards Su The army opened fire violently.

The Soviet army on the opposite side did not have the idea of ​​retreating. They desperately wanted to compress the German army's position. In some places, these Soviet soldiers who lacked ammunition even fought hand-to-hand with the German army, and won the hand-to-hand battle. They let the German army shoot , Regardless of the loss, rushed into the trench and killed the German soldiers inside with a slender bayonet.

The battle was very bloody. The German troops in many places were wiped out by the Soviet army. The Soviet army recaptured two-thirds of the forward positions crossing the river. However, in the end, the Soviet army was still unable to mobilize its troops to persist, which led to their counterattack. In the end it was a loss.

Although the Soviet army launched a full-scale counterattack in this breached area, the last German army that occupied part of the Soviet trenches desperately resisted the counterattack of the Soviet Red Army relying on simple fortifications. The two sides fought desperately on the ground, and as more German troops rushed to the river bank, this large-scale counterattack was finally repelled.

The Soviet commander finally fell on the way of the charge. He was hit by a howitzer shell and died along with the surrounding infantry on the edge of a trench. A simple pontoon bridge connected the Don River, and the German infantry began to cross the river on a large scale under the cover of the Air Force.

On the river bank, a German division commander reported the result of the battle to Guderian: "General! Although the Soviet army fought tenaciously and wanted to defend the Don River defense line, their strength was insufficient. Our army has already controlled the river crossing area and is carrying out large-scale massacres. Organize troops to cross the river."

"Very good!" Guderian replied: "Order the troops to speed up the attack! I will reach the outskirts of Stalingrad in two days!"