Chapter 684: Giant Cannon Unit

"It is difficult for us to find an effective way to deal with this tactic!" Qin Chuan replied.

Qin Chuan did not lie. He knew that this was the famous urban guerrilla tactic, which made the enemy feel like a punch was hitting mud without any force.

Urban guerrilla warfare is actually not much different from jungle guerrilla warfare. The difference is that the former is in the ruins of the city while the latter is in the jungle.

If there were any tactics that could deal with guerrilla warfare well, then the great powers such as the United States and the Soviet Union in modern times would not be deeply trapped in the quagmire of Vietnam and Afghanistan.

Of course, if the enemy is a guerrilla veteran, it is another matter.

For example, the Chinese army used guerrilla warfare against guerrilla warfare and special operations against special operations in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, and finally beat the Vietnamese devils to the ground and actively seek peace.

However...

Let's not talk about the German army being more suitable for regular warfare rather than guerrilla warfare. Even if the German army adapted to this new tactic with its high quality and fought guerrilla warfare with the Soviet army, it would definitely be a long-term war with heavy casualties.

The German army could not afford to waste time or wait in Stalingrad, because once winter came, or even without winter, as long as the temperature dropped in October, the German army would lose its combat effectiveness due to lack of cold-resistant equipment.

(Note: The average temperature in Stalingrad in October is 4-12 degrees, and the river water begins to freeze when the temperature drops below zero in November)

"Hmm!" Listening to Qin Chuan's words, Major General Wittesheim spread his hands indifferently and said, "Major, you said that last time, but in the end you still found a way to deal with it, even though you called it a 'stupid method'!"

Qin Chuan could only smile bitterly.

What Major General Wittesheim didn't know was that Qin Chuan called the "grid tactics" a stupid method last time, part of the reason was that he knew that this tactic could not solve the problem of Stalingrad, and he also knew that the battle in Stalingrad would turn into this kind of attrition war.

This is a bit like World War I.

In World War I, since there were no tanks, the enemy and us only needed to dig trenches, lay barbed wire and mines in front of the trenches, and then set up machine guns in the trenches and artillery on the second line...

Such a line of defense can almost be said to be invincible. As long as there is enough ammunition, no matter how many people come up, they will become corpses.

So it evolved into a stalemate trench war, with both sides digging trenches and then stalemate and consumption.

The emergence of tanks broke this deadlock, but such a deadlock still exists in special terrains such as highlands and cities where tanks are difficult to maneuver.

In other words, the reason why Stalingrad became a meat grinder was largely due to the stalemate during World War I.

Now, it is not easy to break this deadlock.

"Maybe we can use artillery!" Seeing that Qin Chuan did not speak, Colonel Slain suggested: "If we use artillery fire to blow the enemy-controlled area into ruins, the Soviets will have no place to hide!"

"This may be a way!" Major General Wittesheim nodded.

"Do we have so many shells?" General Strike asked.

"Maybe we do!" Major General Wittesheim replied: "This is also related to you..."

Major General Wittesheim pointed to the Caucasus on the map and said: "You have captured the Caucasus, and Marshal Manstein has restored the production of the arsenal in Transcaucasus, especially artillery and shells, which we can transport by rail. In addition..."

After a pause, Major General Wittesheim continued: "We also have 'Dora'!"

The officers looked at him sideways.

Qin Chuan certainly knew what "Dora" was, it referred to the German army's giant artillery unit.

"That might work!" General Stryker nodded and said, "You know, it can destroy bunkers 100 feet deep, which means they can blow up or collapse Soviet tunnels!"

"Yes!" Colonel Slain said, "If the Soviets don't have tunnels, they can't scurry around us like rats!"

"Major, what do you think?" Seeing Qin Chuan didn't speak, Wittesheim asked, "I want to know your opinion!"

"Excuse me, General!" Qin Chuan replied, "I don't think these cannons are useful, although they do pose a threat to Soviet bunkers and even turn Stalingrad into ruins!"

"Why?" Wittesheim asked puzzledly.

"The problem is..." Qin Chuan did not answer but asked: "After we bombed Stalingrad into ruins, will the Soviets' tactics be impossible to implement? They can still fight us in the ruins, but for us... in front of the big pits and ruins blown by the giant cannons, the tanks can't move forward or maneuver!"

This is not Qin Chuan's alarmist talk, but in history, the German army did use giant cannons when attacking Stalingrad.

It was Manstein who invested in the giant cannon because it won the victory with the giant cannon when attacking the Sevastopol Fortress, so Hitler transferred it to Stalingrad to continue bombarding the Soviet-controlled area.

But the result was not ideal, because, as Qin Chuan said, it was basically impossible to destroy the enemy and all the underground fortifications with artillery fire...especially those giant cannon shells were only a few dozen rounds, and it could only play a very limited role in the dense tunnel fortifications like a spider web. And the side effect it brought was that the large area of ​​ruins and cannons affected the mobility of the German army itself.

After hearing this, Major General Wittesheim and other officers fell silent.

After hesitating for a while, Major General Wittesheim said: "If we have no other way, why not try it?"

Qin Chuan could not refute this. After all, war is unpredictable. More importantly, Wittesheim and others do not know history like Qin Chuan, so it is understandable that they want to try.

So when the Soviet and German sides fought each other in Stalingrad, the plan to assemble the German artillery units was put into action.

But the assembly of the artillery units is not as easy as imagined.

Another name for the "Dora" cannon is "Heavy Gustav". It is the heaviest artillery in World War II with a caliber of 31.5 inches.

For a cannon like this, it takes 60 train carriages just to disassemble and transport it. The operation, protection and maintenance of this kind of artillery requires 4,120 people, and the launch control and operation alone require a major general, a major and 1,500 soldiers.

To make matters worse, it takes a month to install this cannon.

The German officers seemed to be unaware that time was the most important thing to them.

Or it could be said that they were helpless about Chuikov's urban guerrilla warfare.