Chapter 661 Attack

After Qin Chuan said this, the officers basically believed it, because if they followed this line of thought... the problems that would arise before, such as the terrain problem of Yelzhovka and the problem that Renok was vulnerable to attack and the Soviet army was cut off again, would no longer exist. The Soviet army would annihilate several German divisions east of Kotluban, including the 21st Armored Division, and gain a 29-kilometer-long defense depth while getting in touch with Stalingrad.

"Interesting!" Colonel Slain touched his chin and said, "So, the Soviets have become smarter!"

"No!" General Strike seemed to have thought of something and said, "It's not that the Soviets have become smarter, but that we don't know our opponents... I received intelligence yesterday that Zhukov has taken over the command of the two fronts in Stalingrad!"

The German officers raised their heads in shock, then looked at each other, with a cautious look on their faces.

Qin Chuan could understand their expressions. They were originally worried that Stalingrad would be a battle like the Battle of Moscow. Now the Soviets sent Zhukov, the commander of the Battle of Moscow, to command the Battle of Stalingrad, which of course made them feel cold.

"General!" At this moment, the communicator a few meters away said to General Strike with the phone: "General Rommel's call!"

General Strike looked at the officers meaningfully, and then answered the phone.

"Yes, General!" After listening for a while, General Strike replied: "But we have other ideas about this!"

An hour later, the 21st Armored Division began to prepare intensively, and then drove towards the direction of Yerzhovka.

The news soon reached Zhukov's headquarters in Little Ivanovka... Zhukov had contacted Stalingrad before and asked them to cooperate with the Air Force to scout the movements of the 21st Armored Division in the state farm.

It is easy to say but difficult to do this, because the German army cut off the telephone lines of Stalingrad in the process of completing the semi-encirclement of Stalingrad, including the telephone lines across the Volga River to the Southeast Front. The radio station was lost, damaged, or malfunctioned during the battle retreat, and Stalingrad temporarily lost contact with the outside world.

In a desperate situation, Stalingrad could only make two simple contacts with the outside world through the radio station until the Southeast Front sent two radio stations to Stalingrad despite the fierce bombing blockade of German fighter planes.

The lack and backwardness of communication methods have always been one of the reasons for the slow action and poor command of the Soviet army. The result of this battle was that Zhukov could only obtain very limited information and intelligence because it could not complete the entire intelligence chain.

For example, the reconnaissance of the 21st Armored Division should be to detect that the 21st Armored Division left the state farm and was on the way to Yerzhovka, and then to find German tanks participating in the battle in Yerzhovka and even confirm that it was the 21st Armored Division... Only in this way can it be proved that the 21st Armored Division has been fooled.

However, this cannot be done at all with the Soviet communication equipment, especially the reconnaissance in the German-occupied area... The wired telephone was cut off, and there was no radio station at all. Even if someone detected that there were no tanks passing by on the way, the information could not be transmitted.

Originally, Zhukov hoped to ensure the integrity of the intelligence chain by reconnaissance by aerial reconnaissance aircraft, but this hope was soon dashed, because the German army quickly sent fighters to shoot down more than 30 Soviet fighters and regained air superiority.

Therefore, Zhukov could only pace back and forth in front of the radio station, anxiously waiting for news from the front line.

Finally, Yelyomenko raised his head with a happy face and reported to Zhukov: "Comrade Zhukov, Yelzhov's telegram found that a large number of enemy tanks were involved in the battle. It is estimated that it is the enemy's 21st Armored Division!"

"Yes!" Zhukov nodded.

Zhukov was afraid of the German 21st Armored Division. Before this, he carefully checked the information of the 21st Armored Division and knew that this armored division had fought all the way in the North African desert. It was experienced and well-equipped... This means not only that this division was equipped with a large number of "No. 4" tanks, but also that its infantry was equipped with a large number of submachine guns and rocket launchers called MP43 by the Germans.

The former can effectively kill Soviet infantry in a large area, and the latter can penetrate all Soviet tank armor at close range.

As a result, all Soviet troops seemed vulnerable in front of this unit.

This is also one of the reasons why the Soviet 64th Army and the 62nd Army were defeated so badly and so quickly... The 21st Armored Division acted as a sharp spearhead in this battle. After breaking through the 64th Army, it rushed left and right as if it was in an empty space. Even the armored trains that had just been produced could not stop them for even a moment.

And this 21st Armored Division, which made Zhukov grit his teeth, happened to be blocking the key point that Zhukov wanted to break through... the state-owned farm.

So, of course Zhukov had to find a way to transfer it out, delay it in Yelzhovka, and even use artillery fire to block its way back to the rescue.

Was the 21st Armored Division fooled? Zhukov was not sure, because he knew that this division was very flexible on the battlefield, and usually it was the only one who could deceive others, and there was no case of others deceiving it.

"Comrade Zhukov!" Yeremenko reported with another telegram: "Comrade Zimeyev reported that they were stubbornly blocked by the enemy and could not continue the offensive!"

Zimeyev was the commander of the 84th Infantry Division attacking the direction of Yerzhovka, and a tank regiment of the 16th Tank Army attacked with it.

After hesitating for a while, Zhukov realized that his action was "an arrow on the string that had to be shot", because if he ordered the troops to retreat because of suspicion and did nothing, Stalin, who had been urging him to attack, would definitely ask the reason, and he would not be able to explain to Stalin.

Therefore, the saying "Do not doubt people when you employ them, and do not employ people who are suspicious" is correct.

Sometimes it is not even suspicion, like Stalin's previous urging was not suspicion, but worry about the safety of Stalingrad.

But just this would cause great psychological pressure on Zhukov, so he would make the wrong decision at the critical moment.

"Attack!" Zhukov gritted his teeth and ordered: "Target Kotluban!"

"Yes, Comrade Zhukov!" Yelyomenko responded, and then shouted back: "Attack!"

The staff and the communicator immediately got busy, each using the phone to convey the order to attack to the front line.