Chapter 775: Day of Death (Revised)

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Colonel Adam went back to his country for vacation. After returning to the headquarters, Paulus always felt that something was missing in his heart, as if an old item that he had kept at home for a long time had suddenly disappeared. He felt empty and uncomfortable.

"Adam, why is the coffee empty?"

""

Paulus, who had just returned to his office, was stunned for a long time holding an empty coffee cup without even a drop of coffee left in his hand.

Since entering Stalingrad and starting the most brutal battle, Paulus' daily life was almost taken care of by Colonel Adam, who was closest to him. In addition to being busy with his own work to organize reports and materials, Colonel Adam also had to inspect the troops and visit the hospital on behalf of Paulus who was in a bad mental state, and he also had to remember to deliver meals and coffee to Paulus. He was simply an all-round caring little cotton jacket.

Colonel Adam left so suddenly, and it was Paulus himself who found it difficult to adapt to all this for a while.

""

Paulus put down his coffee cup and didn't know what to say.

Paulus wanted to scold himself for being a waste. It's not enough that he was not good at commanding the battle, but he also became so dependent on others in his daily life. But after thinking about it, Paulus gave up and felt that he was tired enough. Scolding himself would at most make him drink two more glasses of water to quench his thirst, which would have no effect at all.

Sitting quietly behind his desk and thinking for a while, Paulus finally felt that what he had to do now was to get back to his state as soon as possible, cheer up and command the troops to continue fighting with the Russians and defeat the enemy.

The initiative of the strategic offensive was still in his hands, and the casualties of the Sixth Army were acceptable and still maintained a strong combat strength. How could the Russians, whose casualties were several times that of the Sixth Army, beat him?

Paulus, who thought more and more rationally with self-comfort, opened the drawer with some excitement and turned out a telegram. He spread it in front of him with both hands and read it again.

This telegram was sent from Berlin last night. It was a command telegram sent by the Führer himself to the Sixth Army. Paulus kept it carefully as if it were a treasure.

In the telegram, Hitler boasted that he would slow down the German offensive on other fronts at this time and strengthen the offensive in the direction of Stalingrad. He ordered Paulus to continue to seize the time to launch a fierce attack on the remaining Soviet troops trapped in Stalingrad and clear all resistance in the city before the first snow of this year fell.

This crucial telegram had some misunderstandings in terms of unclear content.

In the telegram, Hitler emphasized "slowing down the German offensive on other fronts at this time and strengthening the offensive in the direction of Stalingrad". According to Hitler's own idea, he urged Paulus' Sixth Army to strengthen the offensive and use all the strength of the Sixth Army without reservation, implying that Paulus had reached the time to get serious and must seize the time.

The Fuhrer who was not on the front line did not know that Paulus had already started to fight for real at this time, and was about to lose the capital of the entire Sixth Army. He also did not know that Paulus, his fanatical fan, had a huge deviation in his understanding of the hints in the telegram.

Paulus mistakenly understood Hitler's words as "the Fuhrer is ready to dispatch more reinforcements to Stalingrad", which rekindled Paulus' confidence and hope for victory, who was once desperate!

As long as he could get reinforcements, even if it was not 10 divisions, but the support of 5 fully equipped divisions, Paulus had the confidence to end everything before the first snow fell according to the Fuhrer's order!

Paulus understood the fleeting opportunity and the principle of speed, and felt that since the Fuhrer had promised support, he should let go and fight the Soviet army! Open up the situation before the reinforcements arrive, and then take advantage of the good opportunity when the reinforcements arrive to deploy the new troops, and knock down all the exhausted Russians who have been fighting continuously!

Is there anything wrong with this battle plan? No problem, it can definitely kill those Russians.

Is it possible for such a battle plan to fail? Paulus was confident that there was no possibility of failure at all.

So when will this battle plan be implemented? Paulus decided to do it without much thought, and there must be no delay!

So, after misunderstanding the Führer's order telegram and mistaking it for a "promise", Paulus immediately convened a battle meeting of military chiefs above the division level, and personally went to the battlefield to poke the war zone map with a pointer to assign combat tasks, as if he had taken out the momentum of the year and transformed himself into a staff officer again.

Paulus made it clear at the combat meeting that the northern heavy industrial area of ​​Stalingrad was the priority target. This area still had high-value strategic targets such as the "Barricade" factory and the "Red October" steel plant that the Soviet army was defending. The Stalingrad tractor factory, which was almost destroyed by the German army, was also in the northern heavy industrial area.

One of the important reasons why Paulus wanted to take this place first was that no matter how the air force bombed or how the artillery bombarded these Soviet heavy industrial factories, those Russians were like rats jumping out of the farmland and could not be killed at all. They could always maintain the heavy weapons production line for you in various ways, even if they had to fight with their hands, they had to fight to make tanks.

If Paulus did not solve this heavy industrial area that still had the ability to produce tanks, it would always be a big worry sooner or later, and he must not ignore it.

So, in the north-south main urban area of ​​Stalingrad, Paulus deployed a powerful force in the direction of the heavy industrial zone guarded by the Soviet army in the north: up to 5 infantry divisions and 2 armored divisions to capture such a narrow and long heavy industrial zone with a depth of only 5 kilometers. The density of troops deployed has never been seen since the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad!

In order to ensure the victory of the attack, Paulus also communicated with Baron Richthofen separately. The latter finally compromised with Paulus and promised to provide air support to the northern heavy industrial zone with the maximum strength of the existing strength in the upcoming attack.

Even though the German Air Force has suffered casualties and losses in recent times because of those damn new Soviet fighters joining the battle, it has soared to a terrifying level.

The early morning of October 14 is destined to be an unforgettable morning for Malashenko.

The German Stuka dive bombers, which were more punctual than the crowing of a rooster, came early in the morning with black iron bombs to remind Malashenko, who was lying on the bed, that it was time to get up. The violent explosion of the bombs almost frightened Malashenko, who had just urinated and was about to take a nap, and he peed two more times in his crotch.