Chapter 671 Eye of the Storm

The strategically important Stalingrad No. 1 railway station has not yet been completely captured, but if the situation continues to develop unchanged, it will soon be captured.

The morale of the German vanguard troops who entered the city was high and they were unstoppable. Few Soviet troops in front of the Germans could effectively stop the German offensive.

The organized German army used tanks and assault guns as pioneers, and the infantry followed closely and quickly followed in the streets and alleys.

The German army, which was not good at street fighting, was still advancing tenaciously into the depths of the city in the form of field assaults. The Soviet army, which was also not as experienced in street fighting, was not used to the fierce offensive of the German army's concentrated forces for a while, and even the utilization rate of natural shelters such as street buildings was not high.

In most cases, positions were set up directly at the street corners to arrange firepower and directly fight the German army, trying to block the German infantry-tank coordinated offensive at the key intersections of the city's main traffic arteries.

However, the city defense Soviet army, which lacked anti-tank weapons, was undoubtedly using its own weaknesses to attack the enemy's strengths.

The street corners and main traffic arteries without effective cover could not stop the fierce offensive of the German army, and the crossfire network built by the buildings on both sides of the street with limited utilization could only play a negligible blocking role.

Relying on the strong manpower at hand, the German army used unreasonable frontal assaults to tear through the Soviet army's various defensive assembly points. After the German army directly pierced through the front line of defense, the Soviet army's various block troops faced the risk of being divided and surrounded, and were unable to reorganize a more effective defense.

The German army, which was advancing at an amazing speed, took only half a day to reach the streets around the No. 1 Railway Station at the foot of Mamayev Kurgan. Malashenko, who had just driven the tank into the main road, could hear the fierce exchange of fire from a block away even in the tank. The fierce fighting was already close to the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment!

The tank column of the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment continued to advance along the main street of the block leading to the No. 1 railway station, half of their bodies were leaning out of the turret to observe the surrounding situation at all times. Malashenko, who was worried that a group of blind German soldiers might rush out at any time, was really startled by a group of people who suddenly rushed out of the alley in front of him.

Click——

"Who!?"

Subconsciously raising the Suomi submachine gun in his hand, Malashenko almost pulled the trigger at the group of people who suddenly ran out in front of him.

With a highly concentrated and tense expression, they looked closely and recognized each other's identities before they breathed a sigh of relief and removed their weapons and disarmed.

"Which unit are you from? Where are you from and where are you going?"

Malashenko recognized the rank of second lieutenant of the Red Army leading the team in front of him, and then he spoke first from a high-level perspective on the turret without hesitation.

The second lieutenant of the Red Army, who was standing at the front of the team and leading the soldiers behind him, also put down the PPSh submachine gun that he subconsciously raised at the same time as Malashenko.

Although Malashenko was wearing a thick layer of tank soldier's fireproof combat uniform and his rank was not obviously exposed, he could roughly guess that the other party's rank and position must be higher than his own, so he answered without thinking.

"312 Infantry Division, just crossed the river from the trestle and prepared to support the block in front. Do you have any orders or help? Commander comrade."

The face of the second lieutenant of the Red Army who answered Malashenko was full of black burn marks left by the war. Combined with the situation he reported, it was obvious that he had just been transferred from other directions to support the battle near the railway station.

Malashenko didn't have time to ask the second lieutenant which war zone he led the team from. Malashenko, who was eager to know the situation of the nearby battle, immediately asked.

"You said you just crossed the river from the trestle, so you must have passed by Train Station No. 1. Tell me what the situation is like there now?"

According to the distance marked on the map, the block where Malashenko is now is nearly two kilometers away from Train Station No. 1.

Considering that the city was devastated by the bombing of German Air Force fighter planes and the ruins and rubble were everywhere, it would take at least half an hour to go around several streets. Malashenko simply asked the second lieutenant directly about the situation at the train station. If the German army had not yet reached there, Malashenko would have another tactic to use.

Faced with Malashenko's question, the second lieutenant who had just come from the direction of the train station did not hesitate, and immediately told Malashenko all the real situation he had seen with his own eyes.

"The situation at the train station is not urgent yet, comrade commander. The German troops closest to the train station should be three blocks away. This is what the comrades stationed there told me when I passed by. They are setting up defenses and reinforcing walls and bunkers there, ready to deal with the Germans who may attack at any time."

""

After hearing the second lieutenant's answer, Malashenko thought silently for a while.

If the German army is really three blocks away from the train station, then according to the time point that it is almost evening now, the German army may not be able to take the train station before dark.

The troops guarding the train station can hold off the German army for two or three hours at the least. As long as the sun sets and it gets dark, today's battle will end here no matter how successful the German offensive is.

As for street fighting in the middle of the night, Malashenko had never heard of any German army daring to show off in the city at night, except for the German army that was surrounded in Yelnya last year and succeeded when the Soviet army was caught off guard and unprepared.

Considering all the current situations and thinking quickly in his mind, Malashenko immediately made an extremely important decision: to support the battle in the nearest block and block the German army coming towards the train station.

In principle, Chuikov's order to him was just to defend the train station without saying how to defend it, leaving Malashenko a lot of room for specific tactical execution and application.

Regardless of whether Chuikov did this intentionally or unintentionally, Malashenko immediately did what he said after making up his mind, and spoke to the Red Army lieutenant in front of him.

"Get in the car! Comrade! Lead the way, we're going to crush those fascists now!"

Malashenko took the initiative to reach out and pull up the second lieutenant who had climbed onto the armored front of the car. Suddenly remembering that he still didn't know the other person's name, Malashenko asked in a low voice.

"What's your name? Comrade Second Lieutenant."