Chapter 685 Artillery Battle

However, the artillery battle that Major General Wittelsheim mentioned was not just the "Dora" cannon, but also Soviet artillery and artillery shells transported from the Transcaucasus region.

These can be counted as additional support for the German army.

Needless to say, the reason is that when the German army attacked Stalingrad in history, not only did it not receive assistance from the Transcaucasus, but it also fell into a stalemate between the enemy and ourselves in the Caucasus Mountains while attacking Stalingrad.

As a result, the supplies from Berlin were divided into two, one part was shipped to Stalingrad and the other part was shipped to the Caucasus.

But now, because of Qinchuan's efforts, the German army won the victory in the Caucasus at a very small cost. Therefore, not only did the supplies not be divided into two, but the German army could also use the arsenal captured in the Caucasus to produce equipment and the agricultural support in the Transcaucasus to Stalin. Grad.

Therefore, at least until now, Stalingrad has not experienced supply difficulties.

In other words, Qinchuan's impact on the Battle of Stalingrad was at least twofold: first, to gain a month's time, and second, to secure supplies.

Of course, if there is a third contribution, it is in terms of military strength.

But the contribution in this area is basically negligible... The Caucasus requires a large number of troops to defend, especially Baku.

Baku is located on the Caspian Sea, and the upper reaches of the Caspian Sea connects to the Volga River. The entire Soviet Southeastern Front is on the east bank of the Volga. Once the German defenses in Baku and the Transcaucasus region are lax or their troops are weak, the Soviet Southeastern Front will move along the Volga River. Enter the Caspian Sea to attack the Caucasus.

This resulted in Manstein's 11th Army having to stay in Baku. Even because Baku was very important and the coastlines of the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea were very long, Hitler also added several coastal defense forces and air defense divisions to the 11th Army... Air Defense Divisions It was used to protect the Baku oil fields from Soviet bombing.

On the Stalingrad side, Wittelsheim collected two hundred M1910 howitzers shipped from the Transcaucasus, and collected 800 of this artillery captured from the Soviet army from various troops. Outside Stalingrad.

(Note: The German army captured a large number of M1910 howitzers from the Soviet army, and the German army assigned them the number: LeFH 388)

In fact, what matters is not the number of artillery, but the shells.

The reason is that the German army captured almost countless Soviet artillery while advancing from Kharkov along the Don River to Stalingrad. A considerable number of them were used by the German army because they did not have enough shells. Soldiers discarded them on the roadside like rubbish.

But things are different now. The arsenals in the Transcaucasus can produce artillery shells, so these artillery pieces are picked up again and handed over to the engineers for simple repairs... They can't actually say that they are repairing, but they are repairing those that cannot be used normally. The artillery is disassembled and the available parts are used as spare parts on another artillery. It is almost a kind of integration.

This took two weeks of preparations, during which time a large number of artillery shells were accumulated.

Then, at an order, thousands of artillery pieces, including howitzers in the hands of the Germans, fired at the Soviet-controlled area of ​​Stalingrad.

The shells exploded on the front line like a mountain, hitting the ruins and floors, exploding pieces of stone and dust with a "rumbling" sound.

But this was only the beginning, and the Soviet army did not show weakness. Their artillery immediately launched retaliatory bombings on the German-controlled areas.

And the Soviet artillery fire seems to be more intense, because as mentioned before, the Soviet artillery is more powerful than the German army. They have an extremely terrifying number of artillery... 2,000, and they have more artillery shells than the German army.

As soon as the shells were fired, they hit the German-controlled area of ​​Stalingrad hard, shaking the place instantly.

I don’t know who Stalingrad offended. Whether it was the Soviet army or the German army, they poured artillery shells into the city.

Countless explosions surrounded the surroundings, seeming to engulf all the soldiers stationed on the front line, whether Soviet or German. Shrapnel was flying in the sky, hissing and passing overhead, and shells exploding nearby violently tore up rocks and soil. It was lifted into the air and fell onto the soldiers.

The soldiers were helpless and could only huddle in the trenches and pray, waiting for the storm to end.

Qin Chuan leaned on the ground with his elbows and lay down hard, covering his ears with his hands, closing his eyes tightly, letting the soil and stones fall like raindrops on the helmet, trying in vain to ignore the shocking horror in front of him... ...This is simply not something that human power can stop. Sometimes Qin Chuan feels that human beings are very pathetic, let alone creating such a disaster to embarrass his own kind.

The bombardment lasted for more than an hour. In the end, it was completely unclear which shells were fired from the enemy and which were fired from our own direction, because the entire sky was blackened...in fact, it was gunpowder smoke and dust. Blocking out the sunlight, Stalingrad looked like it was entering darkness.

The 1st Infantry Regiment can be said to be a battle-hardened unit. Every soldier is well-trained and very heroic, but a few soldiers collapsed in such bombings.

No one knew it at first because the gunfire covered up all sounds and the soldier was huddled in the corner of the trench.

It wasn't until the sound of gunfire gradually stopped that he heard his hoarse cry: "I can't stand it anymore, I want to leave here, leave here forever..."

The soldiers originally thought he was injured and called the health worker immediately.

But after the hygienist pushed him to the ground and checked, he found that he had no injuries.

"Alex!" The soldiers who knew him shook him and shouted his name, but it was no use.

The sergeant named Alex was completely out of control, with white foam coming out of his mouth and his eyes wide open with fear. He cried and hit anyone who approached him.

"He's crazy!" the baker shouted.

Then everyone looked at Qin Chuan. They didn't know how to deal with such a soldier.

Qin Chuan didn't know either. For safety reasons, Qin Chuan ordered: "Take away his gun and grenade!"

"Yes!"

The bakers responded, controlled Alex and forcibly removed the equipment from him.

"Let him go!" Qin Chuan ordered: "Let him go!"

The soldiers let go, and Alex jumped up like a possessed man, shouting something indiscriminately while stumbling backwards, and soon disappeared in the smoke and dust.

The soldiers couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable when they saw his back, because they might suddenly collapse like this one day.

Later, I learned that there were many such cases in artillery battles, and many of them broke out of the trenches and rushed into the artillery fire.