I asked you to escape, but you became a soldier in World War II

Chapter 25 The prelude to the counterattack begins

When Lin Chen returned to the building, Jingke was drinking alone with his commander Hartman.

Although Jingke's rank was promoted to a higher level, and a gold star unique to a lieutenant colonel was added to the twisted shoulder straps woven with silver thread, with a white background representing their status as infantrymen, he did not feel excited at all.

Division Commander Hartmann didn't say much, but just kept asking Jingke to drink with him.

It seemed that only the anesthesia of alcohol could prevent them from being troubled by the terrible situation in front of them.

"Division Commander, is it true that we can't capture this city?" Jingke was still unwilling to give up. His regiment was exhausted and had used all the means available. Just yesterday, their regiment even used the poison gas bombs issued by the army group, but was still forced back by the tenacious Soviet army with bayonets. This was really despairing.

Hartmann was still a little conscious. After hearing Jingke's words, he glanced back vigilantly and found that the guard closest to him was also ten meters away. Then he answered in a low voice,

"There is no hope. So many elite Marine divisions have been defeated here, so many battle-hardened Imperial soldiers have sacrificed their lives here, but we are still unable to advance an inch. What does this prove?"

Seeing Jingke's confused face, Hartmann, a veteran who had been through many battles, couldn't help but feel sad.
"This shows that the enemy's resistance far exceeded the High Command's expectations. It's ridiculous that those idiots in the High Command thought that our Sixth Army alone could take the city and even transferred Hoth's Fourth Panzer Army to the south."

"Didn't Hoth's troops turn back later?" Jingke was still a little confused.

"It's too late! The best opportunity has been missed. Look, is the offensive still there after Hoth's troops turned back?" Hartmann was very experienced in looking at the problem and saw the failure of the German High Command at a glance.

He drank the wine in the glass, then leaned over to Jingke's ear with a mouth full of alcohol.

"Those idiots are desperately trying to transfer our flank troops over here. Now the Volga River has begun to freeze. As time goes by, the Soviet reinforcements will increase and the Soviet army will become stronger and stronger. We are still wasting precious reserve forces. Once the Soviet army launches a surprise attack on our two flanks, Stalingrad will become the Russians' 'Kiev Encirclement and Annihilation War' against our German army."

Jingke was horrified after hearing this. He had also participated in the Battle of Kiev, where he had defeated hundreds of thousands of Soviet main forces with overwhelming force. But now...
"Not really? Why didn't you report this problem to the headquarters?"

Hartmann looked at the young Lieutenant Colonel Gink in front of him, and suddenly he felt a surge of admiration for his talent.
"I've reported this to Admiral Paulus. Guess what he said?" Hartmann sneered. "He said this was the Supreme Leader's instruction and he had no right to change it. If the Leader said we can take Stalingrad, then we can! As for our flanks, the Supreme Command will make arrangements!"

"Hahaha~"

Hartmann laughed very loudly, but Gink knew it was a bitter smile because the veteran's eyes were full of tears.

Coming out of the division headquarters, Jingke tightened the military coat he was wearing. In fact, this coat could not protect against the extreme cold in Russia, but he was lucky. Many soldiers had not yet been allocated these coats and were now stripping clothes off the dead to keep warm. Under such circumstances, how could they talk about attacking?
Attack ass!

Of course, what chilled Jingke the most was the last words of the division commander. He told himself that now even Hoth’s tanks were all frozen and unable to provide armored support, so he estimated that the Soviet counterattack would come soon, and by then they would definitely not be able to withstand it and might even be surrounded.

He also gave himself a terrible suggestion: find a way to get injured in the battle, and then get on a transport plane back home for treatment as soon as possible. This is the only way to survive!
In the past, Jingke would have sneered at such words from his commander, or even thought he was crazy!
He is an elite member of the National Defense Forces, how could he do such a shameless thing?

But now the bloody facts are in front of him. His troops have been replaced several times, and he himself does not know the exact number of casualties. Despite this, he will still launch an attack tomorrow! This time there is not even artillery support!

"Squeak!" Suddenly, the motorcycle stopped suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Jingke was a little impatient when his thoughts were interrupted, and asked his orderly.

"Captain, maybe the weather is too cold and the motorcycle won't start. Let me try again."

"Forget it, we're not far from here, let's walk back!" Jingke understood that even the tanks were frozen, let alone a motorcycle like this?

When he returned to the base (train station), he found that the few remaining soldiers were sitting together and warming themselves by the fire in the waiting hall. In order to resist the severe cold, everyone wore everything they could wear. Some of them were even women's underwear they had found in Soviet civilians' homes. The morale of the troops was truly terrible.

When everyone saw the captain coming back, they all stood at attention and saluted.

Jing Ke was extremely dissatisfied. How could this be the elite 71st Division? But he couldn't really reprimand them, because the winter clothing for the troops had not been issued yet. He couldn't let them freeze to death, could he?
He just took a look and then went into his regimental command post (a small storage room).

After entering the house, he found that it was even colder than the hall outside. It turned out that there was no fire. He was about to call the orderly, but suddenly he remembered that the orderly had just died and the current one was temporarily transferred from the front line and didn't understand anything.

After a bitter smile, he quickly got some dry firewood to make a fire, and boiled some hot water on it, and the room became a little warmer.

Spreading out the map, he also had to plan tomorrow's offensive. Looking at this map that was almost torn apart by himself, he really had a headache. It was such a small area, but he just couldn't capture it.

Division Commander Hartmann said that the division's heavy artillery will not provide support tomorrow due to insufficient shells, and priority must be given to the attack in the direction of Mamayev Kurgan. Alas, I wonder how many of those guys in the hall can survive?

After thinking for a long time, the water in the kettle was almost boiled dry, and he couldn't think of any good solution. He could only drink some water and curl up to sleep.

Let’s talk about tomorrow’s matters tomorrow.

The next day, at daybreak, Jingke planned to get up and call everyone to launch the attack.

Unexpectedly, there was a rumbling sound of artillery fire from the north.
Didn’t they say there were not enough ammunition?
Jingke looked confused, but he still planned to organize people to carry out the commander's orders.

"Be careful, commander!" Although the newly transferred orderly did not know how to serve his superiors, he was very familiar with the sound of flying shells. He stepped forward and pushed Jingke away. The shells that flew in from the hole above the waiting hall directly tore him into pieces.

Although Jingke escaped the disaster, his mind was still a little dazed by the explosion.

"Commander, it's bad, the Soviet army is counterattacking!" A sentry outside rushed in and shouted in despair.

The counterattack in Stalingrad has begun, and a wonderful story is about to unfold. Please give us some support!
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(End of this chapter)