Redemption of WWII

Facing the Russian defense line that was already in full swing, the German army had actually lost its advantage. 【】The German army has always won battles by virtue of its maneuverability and changing tactics.Facing Stalingrad, which was heavily guarded, the German army had to give up its strengths and put those precious experienced soldiers into the brutal battle of the city.

In fact, the top German generals had already realized the seriousness of the problem when the Sixth Army's attack on Stalingrad was blocked.Many senior generals gave Hitler advice to withdraw from the Stalingrad battle.This includes Brauchitsch, commander-in-chief of the German army, and Manstein, who has just been promoted to field marshal.However, Hitler could not listen to the opinions of those high-level military officials at this time.All Hitler could see was the city named after his opponent.

The political significance of the battle at this time is greater than its military significance.Both German and Russian troops were bleeding in the ruins of Stalingrad.

In urban combat, the mobile technical weapons of the German army could not play a role at all.The German army had to use the most basic element of warfare-infantry, to attack Stalingrad.

On September 60, [-], the German Sixth Army cleared the Russian forces north of Stalingrad.The city battle against Stalingrad officially began.The opponent they faced was the Russian No.[-] Fourth Army led by General Cuikov of the Russian Army.At the beginning, the German army broke into the urban area in only one day, and the progress was extremely smooth.But when the German Sixth Army just felt that the future was bright, the real counterattack of the Russian team also began.

General Chuikov never thought about being able to keep the German army out of the city, because he knew that it was completely impossible to do. Compared with the powerful and precise artillery shooting of the German army, the artillery of his No.60 Fourth Army did not It is not an opponent.So Cuikov made a plan to put the Germans into the city, so that the German artillery basically lost its effect.In this way, Cuikov can make his troops go hand in hand with the German army, and deal with the German army in the complex terrain of the city.

Sure enough, the German army had to jump into this trap at Hitler's urging.And it went in and never came out again.The two sides launched a fierce street battle in Stalingrad, and the two sides fought repeatedly for the lives of soldiers from street to building.Almost all the buildings in the city have been turned into ruins, but Chuikov's No.60 Fourth Army is firmly nailed to these ruins like a nail.

The intensity of the battle in the city of Stalingrad has exceeded the imagination of all German commanders.Basically, the loss of every combat unit that is attacking fortifications reaches more than one-tenth a day.Faced with the rising morning numbers and will continue to rise, Paulus, the commander of the Sixth Army, wanted to cry.However, in the face of Hitler's increasingly fierce telegrams every day, he had to throw his precious troops into the bloody sea of ​​corpses in Stalingrad.

The Russian team actually suffered heavy losses, and the casualty rate of Cuikov's No.60 Fourth Army was as high as more than 64%.The number of casualties almost every day is calculated based on the entire regiment and division.However, Cuikov's will is very firm, and he is ready for the sacrifice of the entire [-]th Army.Chuikov directly ordered all political commissars to shoot those weak-willed soldiers and officers who flinched on the battlefield, fled or surrendered.Therefore, those Russian soldiers in Stalingrad had a way to retreat. They were either killed by the oncoming guns of the Germans, or they were killed by the guns of their own people behind them.

Facing the situation where there are deaths on the left and right, the sturdy and rough spirit of disregarding life in the Russian team is revealed.This kind of indifference is not only towards the Germans, but also towards their own lives.Almost all the soldiers guarded their combat positions until they were killed by the Germans.

On this cruel battlefield, the armies of both sides have achieved one thing unanimously, that is, not keeping any prisoners.Therefore, all the names of the troops on both sides were killed in action, and there was no word missing or captured at all.Because they all know that this is almost impossible.

Although Cuikov's No.60 Fourth Army was disabled, the German attacking troops also suffered heavy losses.Unlike the German army, which could only rotate troops to participate in the attack, the Russian army showed no signs of rotation at all.All Russian troops have not received any orders to retreat.The orders sent to each unit every day are all written in a uniform format, that is, stick to it until all are killed.

The political commissars of the various units of the Russian army are also very busy. They are busy executing those Red Army soldiers who retreated to the rear because they lost their positions.In just one month, as many as 1 Russians were shot by political commissars.

The only reason why Chuikov was able to face the well-trained German army head-on in the Stalingrad area is that there is another very important factor, that is, Chuikov's supply line has always been under the control of the Russian army.Behind Stalingrad is the ancient and vicissitudes of the Volga River. Although German planes bombed all the ships traveling on this river all the time, they could not stop the Russian army from continuing to supply Stalingrad.

Chuikov was supplemented with a unit with a division.During the three months of the fierce battle in Stalingrad, a total of fifteen divisions of various units were assigned to Chuikov's No.60 Fourth Army.These troops were pushed by Chuikov to the areas where the German army attacked the most intensely like moths to the flame, and the battle situation can be said to be extremely fierce.Those Russian recruits who have not been on the battlefield generally cannot survive 24 hours in the huge meat grinder of Stalingrad.But no one cares, human life has become the most worthless thing here.

In this way, the two armies launched the most tragic battle in human history in Stalingrad.The German Sixth Army exhausted various methods and finally failed to completely occupy Stalingrad.Although the Germans have occupied more than half of the entire city.But the city in Cuikov's hands is still firmly in his hands.After several months of fierce fighting, the German Sixth Army was exhausted by the war and no longer had the strength to take down the entire Stalingrad.

Hitler never imagined that a city with only tens of 10 people would be attacked by his most elite Sixth Army for three months without the dawn of victory.Hitler wanted to increase his troops to Stalingrad, but he couldn't transfer troops at all. All three army groups were fighting hard against the opposite Russian team. Each division was charged with extremely important tasks. Not a single regiment could be drawn out.

In desperation, Hitler had no choice but to use the troops of his vassal state to take over the positions of the German army, thus mobilizing some troops to join the battle to capture the city of Stalingrad.Unexpectedly, Hitler's approach just fell into Stalin's hands.

What Stalin was waiting for was the opportunity for a gap in Hitler's defense.In fact, in the battle of Stalingrad's city defense, Stalin did not do his best.Except for Chuikov's No.60 Fourth Army, which is a relatively high-quality force, the troops defending Stalingrad are all second-line troops. Even the troops supplementing Chuikov are mostly composed of a large number of recruits. reserve force.And those troops with strong combat effectiveness and relatively advanced weapons and equipment were arranged by Stalin on the defensive positions around Stalingrad.This is the truth of Tian Ji's horse racing.

Stalin was forbearing, gambling with the lives of those soldiers who lost their lives on the battlefield.He wanted to wait for the German soldiers' fronts to be completely rubbed off and turned into a toothless lion.Of course, Stalin has to wait for another important weapon, and that is Russia's harsh winter.

Sure enough, this opportunity was waited for by Stalin.In the ten days of November [-], fluttering snowflakes had already begun to fly over Stalingrad, and the air temperature suddenly dropped to more than ten degrees below zero.To put it bluntly, the lowest temperature in Stalingrad in previous years was around minus a few degrees, and from the beginning of the winter of [-], Stalingrad was already in one of the few severe winters in history.

On November [-], three fully armed Russian armies launched an attack on positions defended by the Romanian Third Army.Although the Romanians put up a desperate resistance, due to their numerical disadvantage and lack of weapons and equipment, the Russians broke through the line of defense within a day.

The Russian army inserted directly into the rear of the entire German attack group like a sharp sword.The situation at this time was already quite unfavorable to the German army.The German High Command on the Western Front was also aware of the danger at this time, so the senior German generals sent telegrams to Hitler, asking the head of state to consider withdrawing the already disadvantaged Sixth Army from Stalingrad.

But these requests were completely rejected by Hitler, and Hitler would never tolerate his painstakingly formulated offensive plan being destroyed again.Hitler severely criticized those senior German generals who had sent him telegrams.And desperately sent a telegram to the Sixth Army Command, which was still fighting fiercely in Stalingrad, asking the Sixth Army to take Stalingrad as soon as possible, and the tone was very tough.

But Hitler was stumped by the call back from the Sixth Army.The sudden attack of the Russian army completely cut off the supply line of the German Sixth Army.The Sixth Army asked Hitler what to do about the supply problem.Although Hitler was a lunatic, he still understood the truth that the emperor did not send hungry soldiers.Without supplies, let alone fighting, how to survive is a problem.