Chapter 859: The scramble for airdrops

  Chapter 859 Competition for Airdropped Materials

"Your Excellency, please listen to my explanation!" Heim heard the anger in Paulus's voice, and hurriedly explained: "According to the report of Colonel Oberon, the commander of the 204th Armored Regiment, in order to better To conceal our tanks and prevent them from being targeted by Russian aircraft, these tanks are usually parked in dug earthen pits and covered with straw.

Unexpectedly, when these tanks were just started, a large number of mice were found nesting in the straw. When they got into the tanks to look for food, they bit off the rubber insulation layer of the wires, causing electrical failures in the tanks, resulting in ignition, Neither the turret nor the main gun can be used.

   What is even more troublesome is that the tank lacks anti-skid tracks in winter, and the roads on which it depends are icy again. Many tanks were on the move, slipping from one side of the road to the other, and even one tank overturned..."

"That's enough, stop talking." Paulus interrupted him angrily without waiting for the other party to finish: "In addition to the 22nd Armored Division, your army also has the Romanian 1st Armored Division. How are they doing? So, can we go out immediately?"

  Heim is not only the commander of the 48th Armored Army, but also the commander of the 22nd Armored Division. He heard from Paulus's words that the local government planned to replace his troops with Romanian armored divisions, which he did not want to see.

After hesitating for a moment, he said: "Your Excellency, the Romanian 1st Armored Division has 108 tanks, but there are only ten Panzer III tanks, and the rest are captured Czech 38-T tanks. In terms of firepower, it is far inferior to the Russian T-34, even if the division is transferred to a new defensive zone, it will not play a big role."

   "So what are you going to do?" Paulus asked.

"I think we should wait for the 204th Armored Regiment to arrive at the designated location, and mix the tanks that can still be used with armored vehicles, motorcycles, and motorized infantry companies to form a battle group." Heim said without thinking: "It's called 'Battlegroup Oberon'."

   "Okay, General Heim, I agree with your plan to form an 'Oberon Battlegroup' in the new combat area." Paulus said helplessly: "I wish you good luck!"

  As soon as Paulus put down the phone, he saw Schmidt hastily pushed the door and walked in. He couldn't help asking curiously, "Chief of Staff, you're in such a hurry, what happened?"

  Schmidt quickly walked in front of Paulus and said anxiously: "Your Excellency, I just received a report from the lurking post deployed on the bank that the Russian communication line on the Volga River has resumed."

   "What, the line of communication on the Volga River has been restored?" Paulus had an unbelievable expression on his face: "How did they do it?"

"It is said that a few small gunboats forcibly broke through the ice on the river and opened up a channel." Schmidt reported: "However, small gunboats are not icebreakers after all. The channel they opened up is very narrow. For the passage of two or three transport ships."

"Get in touch with the Air Force immediately." Paulus absolutely could not easily restore the Soviet army's transportation lines. As soon as Schmidt finished speaking, he immediately ordered him: "Let the Air Force send out planes, and we must destroy the Russian transportation lines and cut off the Soviet Union's transportation lines." Their connection to the other side."

   "We can't dispatch the air force." Schmidt pointed his hand into the air, and said in embarrassment: "It's snowing outside, and the air force's planes can't take off to fight at all..."

   Before he finished speaking, the phone on the table rang suddenly. Paulus went to pick up the phone and said into the receiver: "This is Paulus!"

The call was made by Kurzbach, the commander of the 51st Army. He reported to Paulus in a panic: "Your Excellency, according to the report from the forward troops, a large number of Russian transport planes flew over from the east bank of the Volga River, and they were on the way. The defenders in the factory area are airdropped!"

"What, the Russians are airdropping?!" Paulus glanced out the window, the snow outside was falling rapidly, and the snowflakes were falling from the sky one after another. He said in surprise: "The Russians are crazy!" Is it? With such heavy snow, they actually dispatched transport planes to airdrop the defenders in the factory area?"

   "Yes, Your Excellency, Commander." Kurzbach said helplessly, "I also think the Russians are crazy. I estimate that in such weather, few of the transport planes participating in the airdrop will be able to land safely."

"General Kurzbach, we must not let the Russians get airdrops, so that they can hold out longer in the city." Paulus said through gritted teeth, "Use anti-aircraft fire immediately to shoot down the Russian planes .Also, order the forward troops to attack to **** the airdrops, and absolutely not let them fall into the hands of the Russians."

   "Understood, Your Excellency Commander." Kurzbach quickly replied: "I will immediately execute your order and shoot down all the Russian transport planes that are being air-dropped."

   Paulus and Kurzbach's conversation, Schmidt also heard. After Paulus put down the phone, he said with a bitter face, "Your Excellency, the Russians are really crazy. In such bad weather, they dared to dispatch transport planes to drop air to the defenders in the city."

  Paulus nodded and said: "I didn't know until today that the Russians are all lunatics. We have been fighting against a group of lunatics. It is no wonder that we can win."

As to why the Soviet army dispatched transport planes to airdrop the defenders in the factory area on a snowy day, Schmidt asked in puzzlement: "Your Excellency, I don't understand why the Russians would do so in such a bad situation." Aren't they afraid of losing all the transport planes if the weather implements airdrops?"

"Chief of Staff, have you forgotten that the air supremacy over Stalingrad has always been in our hands." Hearing Schmidt's question, Paulus said somewhat proudly: "The Russians have no choice. I just chose this kind of weather where our air force can't be dispatched, and airdropped the defenders in the city. But I won't let them do what they want. I have already ordered Kurzbach to use anti-aircraft fire to shoot down all these transport planes. As for the Drop supplies, and our soldiers will grab them from the Russians."

  ...

   Sokov returned to the barricade factory and asked Lyudnikov about the situation in the factory. Knowing that the enemy was quiet, he found a place to sleep peacefully.

   While sleeping soundly, Samoilov woke him up. He opened his eyes, stared at Samoilov in front of him, and asked impatiently, "Comrade Lieutenant, what happened?"

"Comrade Commander," Samoilov said a little excitedly: "Colonel Lyudnikov just received a call from the headquarters, saying that our transport plane will be airdropped over the factory soon, ordering us to pay attention. Collect airdrops."

"Airdrop?!" Sokov turned his head and looked out from the gap in the wall. Seeing that it was snowing heavily outside, he couldn't help saying in amazement: "My God, is the person who gave the order crazy? Don’t you worry about the plane crash if you are dispatched in such bad weather?”

  Sokov was sleeping in his clothes, but when he learned that a plane was coming to drop him, he quickly got out of bed, put on his boots and headed towards Lyudnikov's headquarters.

Seeing Sokov's appearance, Lyudnikov showed a smile on his face: "Colonel Sokov, you are here. Presumably Lieutenant Samoilov has told you that our air force is about to conduct airdrops over the factory area , the superior ordered us to pay attention to collecting airdrop materials. As long as we have enough ammunition and materials, we will be able to hold out until the day when the enemy is wiped out."

   Sokov disagrees with the airdrop on a snowy day. In such bad weather, pilots can't see the targets on the ground at all, and they can only perform airdrops based on approximate positions. Most of the factory area is now under the control of the Germans, and most of the materials dropped will probably fall into the hands of the Germans.

It was based on this concern that after Lyudnikov finished speaking, he said with a straight face: "Comrade Colonel, you have stayed at the barricade factory longer than me, and you are more familiar with the terrain of the factory than I am. Now the factory area is absolutely Most of them are occupied by the enemy, and our air force conducts airdrops without seeing the target clearly, how much material do you think can fall into the area under our control?"

  Sokov’s words reminded Lyudnikov. The smile on his face gradually disappeared. After a while, he said with a serious expression: “You should report this situation to your superiors immediately and ask them to stop the airdrop…”

Hearing what Lyudnikov said, Sokov shook his head and said with a wry smile: "It's too late, Comrade Colonel. Didn't you hear the roar of the engines in the sky? In a few minutes at most, the plane will fly to Over the Barricades. Even if you call the Commander now, he won't be able to turn the plane back."

  Lyudnikov put down the microphone in his hand, and asked anxiously: "Colonel Sokov, what should we do? Are we really watching the enemy **** all our airdropped supplies?"

   "How can the enemy **** our airdropped supplies." Sokov said with a strong attitude: "We should stop the troops immediately and go to the factory area to compete with the enemy for supplies."

   "I'll call the heads of the regiments immediately." Lyudnikov picked up the phone again, ready to call his subordinates: "Let them prepare to rob supplies."

This time Sokov did not stop Lyudnikov from calling, but reminded him: "Comrade Colonel, although I have no right to give orders to your troops, I still suggest that you let snipers and mortars follow these Group operations. In order to reduce the casualties of soldiers when carrying supplies."

   "Colonel Sokov, you are right." Lyudnikov nodded and said, "You will explain what you mean to the soldiers below."

   A few minutes later, a group of Soviet transport planes appeared over the barricade factory. Because the ground target could not be seen clearly, the plane lowered its altitude one after another, but unexpectedly it was attacked by ground anti-aircraft machine gun fire. A plane was unfortunately shot, dragging a long smoke tail, and fell headlong into a ruined wall. After a ball of dazzling flames rose, there was another earth-shattering explosion. The crew members and the plane All supplies were reduced to ashes in the fire.

   Seeing that the plane of the comrade-in-arms was shot down, the rest of the planes could only pull up to avoid the anti-aircraft fire on the ground. The pilots knew that they had reached the sky above the barricade factory. Although they didn't know the specific location of the friendly forces, they still opened the hatch and started the airdrop. They hoped that some of these dropped materials would reach the hands of friendly troops, and they would consider themselves to have completed the mission.

  Seeing the white parachutes blooming in the sky, both Soviet commanders and German officers and soldiers rushed towards the direction where the parachutes landed, trying to move the airdropped materials away before the opponent.

  A small unit of the Soviet Army was the first to find a few parachutes. Just as they started to move supplies, intensive gunshots sounded from the ruins not far away. It turned out that a group of German soldiers who had just arrived were shooting at them. Several unprepared soldiers were shot and fell down immediately, blood staining the snow. The remaining soldiers quickly lay down on the spot and fired back at the enemy.

  The battle that took place here was just the beginning. A few minutes later, gunshots and explosions rang out in all directions. It was the exchange of fire between Soviet commanders and German officers and soldiers in order to compete for airdropped supplies.

  Although Lyudnikov assigned tasks to the heads of the regiments, he told them to send snipers and mortarmen to pass. However, the strength of these regiments was inherently limited, and there were no snipers and mortars to be found, so they could not gain any upper hand in the battle with the Germans for supplies.

   Lyudnikov stomped his feet anxiously after learning that his troops had exchanged fire with the German troops who had come to **** the supplies during the process of collecting airdropped supplies, which caused a lot of casualties. However, he also knows that this situation is inevitable. After all, he now has limited troops and a shortage of snipers and mortars, so he can only say to Sokov cheekily: "Colonel Sokov, You also heard that my troops were attacked by the Germans during the process of snatching the air-dropped supplies, and the commanders and fighters suffered a lot of casualties. I wonder if you can send someone to support them?"

"Don't worry, Comrade Colonel, you and I are friendly troops. If you have difficulties, I will definitely send someone to support you." Sokov finished speaking, picked up the phone in front of him that could directly contact Belkin, and said into the microphone: "Commander Belkin, did you hear the gunshots in the factory area? ... I heard it, then I order you now, immediately send snipers and mortars to the areas where the supplies are scrambling to support the 138th Division Comrade."

Belgin, who answered the phone, heard that Sokov did not call himself "comrade political commissar" as usual, but called himself the head of the regiment in an official manner. He realized the seriousness of the problem and quickly replied: "Understood, Comrade Commander, I will immediately send someone to support the comrades of the 138th Division."

After saying this, he paused for a moment, and added: "However, the number of snipers and mortars in my hand is limited. I'm afraid I can't support so many battle sites at the same time. I can only separate the snipers and mortars. Let them rush to different locations at the same time to support..."

It was the first time that Sokov noticed Belkin being so verbose, and before he finished speaking, he interrupted him: "Okay, my Comrade Political Commissar, send people out quickly, or it will be too late. "

   "Understood!" Belkin quickly and loudly replied: "I will let the soldiers set off immediately to support the comrades of the friendly army!"

  (end of this chapter)