Chapter 682 Close Combat Tactics

But this feeling was very short-lived and illusory.

Ten minutes later, when the shelling suddenly stopped, both sides jumped up and rushed towards the recognizable target.

However, the battle ended quickly because there were far fewer Soviets than Germans, and the Germans still had MP43s, which meant that as long as one German soldier stood on the periphery, he could calmly kill Soviet soldiers one by one with MP43.

"Russians!" Alfredo shouted viciously to the remaining Soviet soldiers in the trench: "Raise your hands!"

The Soviet soldiers dropped their submachine guns and rifles and raised their hands.

While cleaning the battlefield, Qin Chuan finally found the location of the Soviet anti-tank gun... It was hidden behind a broken wall, and the Soviet soldiers in front of it piled up a camouflage with broken cement slabs, leaving only a basin-sized mouth as a firing hole, and it was completely impossible to find its existence on the opposite side.

Of course, it had been blown to one side at this time, and there were several bodies of Soviet gunners nearby. It was unknown whether it was a "masterpiece" of German or Soviet artillery fire.

Werner spat at the tank gun and cursed: "Because of this gun, we lost three tanks!"

This behavior seems normal, but it doesn't make sense... From the Soviet perspective, should they stand there and wait for the Germans to come and deal with them?

Of course, Qin Chuan would not say anything from the perspective of the Germans.

The good news is that when Dominic and a few others were searching the building, they found a Soviet field kitchen in the basement. The cooks surrendered voluntarily, so they seized the millet porridge that had just been cooked in the kitchen.

The Soviet cooks were surprised to find that the German soldiers lined up in front of them with lunch boxes, as if the Germans were their prisoners and were begging for food from them.

But this beautiful bubble soon burst, and the Germans shouted fiercely at the bewildered cooks: "Hurry up, Ivan, serve us porridge!"

The German attack in other directions was somewhat different from the First Infantry Regiment. They still bombed with planes and artillery in a methodical manner, and then charged towards the Soviet defense line under the cover of tanks.

All this was observed by Chuikov's telescope... In order to clearly see the German attack, he risked his life to climb the tallest building on Pushkin Street: the Stalingrad Bank Building.

Chuikov noticed that the German close air support would deteriorate as the infantry advanced or the terrain. Although the German "Stuka" dive bomber was far more accurate and powerful than the high-altitude bomber because of its high-speed dive bombing, the "Stuka" bomber had extremely limited control over the precise landing point of the bomb. Therefore, unless there was a large and clearly visible target, the German bombers were reluctant to drop bombs on targets close to their own troops.

It is needless to say why this happened. The German army was mistakenly bombed by its own bombers during the attack. In addition, if the weather is bad and the visibility is poor, it is difficult for pilots to determine the target in the air at high speed.

So after Chuikov returned to the underground headquarters... Chuikov's headquarters was located on Pushkin Street. It was an underground shelter converted from a basement. There was a 30-foot thick soil layer above it. There were dozens of rooms for the army headquarters. This underground shelter was called "Tsaritsyn Caves" by the Soviets and was originally used as a headquarters for the front.

(Note: Stalingrad was originally called Tsaritsyn)

Chuikov stared at the map under the light for a while, then nodded slightly and said, "I think I have found a tactic to fight them during the day!"

"What?" Krylov was a little unbelievable when he heard it.

"We are scared of the enemy, Comrade Krylov!" Chuikov said, "We always think that the enemy is very powerful during the day, so we have to stay away from them so that we have time and space to stop them!"

"Isn't it?" Krylov asked doubtfully.

"Of course not!" Chuikov shook his head and said, "Because doing so will give the Germans space to attack us... I mean, if our defense line is two hundred meters or even farther away from the Germans, then the Germans can bomb us with planes, artillery and tanks as much as they want! In this way, we will not only fail to defend the defense line, but also suffer a large number of casualties under their bombing, and they are meaningless casualties!"

After a pause, Chuikov continued, "But if we push the defense line forward, push it to a place only 100 meters, 50 meters, or even closer to the Germans..."

Krylov opened his mouth wide when he heard Chuikov's words.

This was unthinkable before, because the German army had an advantage over the Soviet army in terms of equipment and quality. Pushing the defense line in front of the German army was almost the same as seeking death.

But Chuikov didn't think so.

"In this way!" Chuikov continued: "The enemy's Stuka bombers and artillery dare not attack our army, unless they will bomb their own troops together. If they really do this, it will be beneficial to us!"

Chuikov was right. If one life can be exchanged for another, the Soviet army will choose to exchange it without hesitation.

"But even so, the enemy still has tanks, Comrade Chuikov!" Krylov said.

"Yes, tanks!" Chuikov nodded: "That is indeed a headache, but if both the enemy and us are in the same building, or even in the same room, do you think the German tanks know where to shoot?"

Krylov nodded when he heard this.

In other words, the troops should try to push forward, use the cover of buildings and ruins to fight close combat and melee with the Germans, and launch a counterattack against the Germans as before... Whether it is day or night, they should take the lead, unless the threat posed by the enemy is too great for the Soviet army to have no choice.

"At the same time!" Chuikov thought for a while, and then said: "We should conduct dispersed group operations!"

"Group operations?" This once again stunned Krylov.

The previous consensus of the Soviet army was: the quality and firepower of the German army were superior to the Soviet army, so if the Soviet army wanted to defeat the enemy, it had to invest more and more dense troops.

But Chuikov now said "group operations", wouldn't this be defeated by the German army one by one?

"Yes, we will fight in small groups!" Chuikov nodded firmly. "We will no longer fight in battalions or regiments like before, but in small groups of ten to twenty people. We will occupy every corner of every building and even enter their rear through tunnels and sewers!"