Chapter 679 Defense

The scene of the Soviet female pilot committing suicide has been lingering in Qin Chuan's mind.

Perhaps it was because there were few women on the battlefield, or perhaps it was because the woman's eyes showed deep fear and nostalgia for this world before she died, or perhaps it touched the soft spot in the soldiers' hearts, which made the soldiers speechless and buried their heads in their work.

Qin Chuan could understand their thoughts. The female pilot actually reminded them of their families, such as their mothers, sisters, and fiancees... Because Qin Chuan was no exception, he couldn't help but think of his home in Frankfurt, and those relatives who were waiting for him to return, and Hannah, who didn't know where she was at this time.

In the silence of the soldiers, the sky gradually darkened, and the atmosphere became tense again, because everyone knew that the enemy's counterattack was about to begin.

Taking advantage of the night, the German soldiers withdrew from the three buildings.

Of course, this was communicated with the two troops connected to the left and right, namely the second and third battalions... In fact, the barbed wire built by the German army and the location of the mines must be communicated with the friendly troops on the left and right, because this is the only way for the friendly troops to cover each other and identify the enemy and ourselves by location.

"Order!" Qin Chuan said: "Don't attack at will, don't stand up, and don't move around in the area outside the trench unless necessary!"

Eberhard responded and passed the order down one by one.

This order has been emphasized before, not only in the First Infantry Regiment, but all troops entering Stalingrad must do so.

The reason is very simple... It is difficult to identify the enemy and ourselves in the dark ruins, especially the Soviet army may infiltrate from the tunnel. In this way, the German army can only identify the other side in one way, whether they are moving or standing up.

There was silence all around, with only artillery fire exploding in the distance, and occasionally one or two rounds exploding nearby... That was the Soviet artillery deployed on the other side of the Volga River, which was the only thing that the Soviet army had an advantage in the direction of Stalingrad.

The reason is that the Soviet artillery on the east bank of the Volga River has very free logistics and many artillery that cannot be transported across the river.

In fact, the Soviet army does not need to transport artillery across the river at all, because their artillery can directly hit Stalingrad from the east bank. As mentioned before, Stalingrad is only five kilometers deep in the east and west.

This makes the Soviet army have more artillery and more shells than the German army. In terms of artillery battles, they were suppressed by the Soviet army and could not move. In the end, they could only keep a distance and only target Stalingrad outside the range of Soviet artillery fire... That is, the artillery of both sides is outside the range of each other, but they can hit Stalingrad, and Stalingrad can only suffer.

With a "boom", a burst of sound suddenly sounded in the darkness.

This burst was obviously not a shell but a mine, because then there was a scream... The German army laid an "S"-shaped jumping mine, and as long as one was detonated, it would injure several enemies around.

But the screams soon turned into some inconspicuous whimpers, and then gradually faded away.

That was because the Soviets covered the wounded's mouths and sent them away for fear of exposing their targets.

In fact, they didn't need to do this at all, because the German army was more defensive at night, especially after using the "grid tactics", it was even less likely to attack at night.

"Bang bang!" Several gunshots came from the rear, followed by several grenades exploding.

The soldiers with fast intelligence passed on to Qin Chuan one by one: "The enemy's tunnel entrance was found and it has been blocked!"

Soon another order came, and five tunnel entrances were discovered one after another.

From this, it can be seen that the tunnel entrance is actually difficult to block, because it was not even dug when the German soldiers searched, and there was no sign from the outside, just like what the Germans did in Holm.

However, because the German soldiers defended tightly, and everyone lay in the dark and shot at the targets who were moving and standing up, these Soviet infiltration units failed one after another.

Qin Chuan thought the Soviet attack would start soon, but after waiting for a long time, there was no movement.

After thinking about it, Qin Chuan understood that the Soviet attack was a combination of internal infiltration and external attack. If the German army was not in chaos, it meant that they failed to infiltrate successfully, and the Soviet army would choose to stay put in order to preserve its strength. After all, military force is also a valuable resource for the Soviet army, especially Stalingrad.

Then, Qin Chuan gave an order: "Let some people shoot, shout a few times, and pretend to be in a melee!"

Eberhard was stunned when he heard this, and then he quickly understood what Qin Chuan meant and passed the order down.

A few minutes later, Kuhn was heard shouting from behind: "Enemy, shoot!"

Someone else shouted in the gunfire: "No, we are our own people! Don't shoot!"

"That's the enemy!"

"Bastard, hold on!" Kuhn ordered loudly: "Don't shoot randomly!"

After a few explosions, there was another scream.

If Qin Chuan hadn't given the order himself, he would have been fooled by them... I didn't realize that these usually serious German soldiers really had a talent for acting.

The Soviet army ambushed in the front would certainly not miss this opportunity, so shouts of killing suddenly broke out in the darkness, and mortar shells also hit the German defense line in large numbers... The Soviet army was fooled.

A few flares went up into the air, and groups of Soviet soldiers suddenly emerged from the ruins that were originally empty. They were holding rifles or PPSh submachine guns in their hands. They were only a hundred meters or even a few dozen meters away from the German defense line. They rushed towards the German army in groups like ants under the cover of artillery fire.

It is no wonder that the German army could not resist the Soviet attack. If it were at other times, when there were internal and external troubles, the German army would soon be trapped in hand-to-hand combat and close combat with the Soviet army.

Of course, this does not mean that the Soviet army will definitely win in hand-to-hand combat and close combat.

In fact, since the quality of individual German soldiers is better than that of the Soviet army, they also have advantages in hand-to-hand combat.

The problem is that hand-to-hand combat will weaken the German army's advantages in equipment and quality, so the German army cannot maintain the same disparity in casualties as the northern defense line... When the Soviet army launched an attack on the northern defense line, it was common for the enemy and our casualties to be 10 to 1.

From this perspective, as long as the Soviets could fight a hand-to-hand battle, it was a victory, even if they lost the battle with a casualties ratio of 2 to 1 or even 3 to 1.

Of course, the Soviets would not be so relaxed this time.

One mine after another exploded, causing the entire Soviet army to slow down.

Then Qin Chuan shouted: "Fire!"

The German soldiers lying on the defense line each pulled the trigger at the target they selected.