861 Don River Defense Line

Germany has made targeted changes to the Soviet Union's style of play, which has not yet reached the ears of Soviet commanders. However, they don't have any good way to deal with the German air-ground advantage, they can only rely on the city to slowly block the German offensive.

Rokossovsky deployed his troops around Stalingrad, and did not even deploy too many troops in the direction of the Don River. He carefully studied the case of the German army raiding France and believed that deploying a defense line along the river is It was impossible to completely stop the German attack, so he put all his treasures on Stalingrad, not the Don River defense line that might be broken through.

"How is the material hoarding work going?" Rokossovsky has been deploying for almost a month in order to stick to Stalingrad. He hoarded as much supplies as possible around Stalingrad, so that when the German army encircled the city, he could hold on to the city for more than a year.

He divided his troops into several assault forces and deployed them on the edge of the city. Once the German army broke through the Soviet defense line from which direction and attempted to develop in depth, these assault troops would launch a counterattack from the German flank and drive the German army out of the city.

In modern warfare, ammunition, equipment, and food are fought. Rokossovsky, who fought with the German army all the way from the front line to Stalingrad, naturally knows the impact of these things on the outcome of the war, so these days he is preparing for these upcoming A large amount of supplies were consumed, just waiting for the arrival of the German army.

"Comrade General! The food reserves are sufficient. Not only in Stalingrad, we have a large amount of food stockpiled. On the other side of the Volga River, I am also building a reserve station in case the food in Stalingrad is consumed. , continue to supplement it." An assistant replied.

Another assistant handed a piece of information in his hand to Rokossovsky, and introduced: "Comrade General, we will manage all the ships on the Volga River in a unified manner. Once the city defense battle kicks off, then we have the ability to Organize transport of troops across the Volga to ensure unimpeded supply to Stalingrad."

Rokossovsky nodded in relief after hearing his subordinate's report. He knew how much less defensive depth he would lose by abandoning the Don River defense line, but in order to concentrate his forces to defend the most needing defense, he still chose this method of killing eight hundred enemies and losing one thousand at the expense of one thousand. So far, this seems to be his best option.

In addition, he also held a trump card that the German army did not know, that is, the 30 main Far East divisions that supported him. He placed this army on the east bank of the Volga River, and if it failed, he would join the battle as a new force. Rokossovsky hoped that these veterans could finally drive the German army out of Stalingrad after joining the battle and complete the final victory of the Battle of the Caucasus.

It is precisely because of the inevitable reinforcements that Rokossovsky gave priority to how to severely damage the German army when formulating tactics. Once the German army is trapped in Stalingrad and cannot escape, then Rokossovsky is sure that the German army can lose more than 300,000 troops.

on the Don,

The seemingly solid defense line is actually just Rokossovsky's blindfold. He used the classic example of the Germans when they built the Zeppelin line of defense. He also designed a defense line along the Don River to scare the Germans. prevent the Germans from crossing the Don River.

Due to time constraints, the Soviet army has obtained a lot of outdated information from the German army before World War II. Although many of the contents have long been known to everyone, front-line commanders like Rokossovsky took it over and studied it systematically. You will be shocked by the unrestrained imagination of the German army many times.

The more I study the tactics used by the German army, the more I feel that the German army is extremely deceitful at certain times. The German army is good at using the false and the real to interfere with the enemy's judgment. For example, using several classic short assaults, it is hard to cut the deep and wide Soviet defense system into several small local battlefields suitable for German operations.

So this time the Soviet army also played tricks. They deployed a small number of defensive troops along the Don River, relying on fortifications to prevent the Germans from crossing the river. Rokossovsky strengthened part of his troops on the part of the Don River where it is easy to cross the river. He only waited for the German army to attack and gave the most violent counterattack. Compared with the previous release of water all the way, the German army was suddenly attacked and misjudged the strength of the Don River defense line. .

As long as the Germans are confused for a few days, then he has won a few more days for Stalingrad. Moreover, he felt that it was impossible for the German army to cross the Don River quickly. After all, the equipment and courage needed to cross the river on a large scale could not be ready in a short while.

So he is confident that he can stop the German army from advancing on the Don River for a few days. With these few days, he can continue to strengthen the defense system around Stalingrad and turn the city into a huge bunker.

"Are the defense lines that are easy to cross the river focused on strengthening the troops?" Rokossovsky asked the men in charge of the Don River defense line again, and a general quickly reported the latest situation to his superior: "Report to Comrade General , The line of defense has been strengthened, and we have laid mines in most places. When the German army crosses the river, it will definitely be hit head-on by our army."

"Very good! Now! We can only wait and wait for the Germans to make a tentative attack on the Don River defense line!" Rokossovsky was very satisfied with his deceitful tactics, and walked out proudly with his hands behind his back own office.

His pride is not without reason. After all, since he went to the front line and fought against the German army in the border area between Belarus and northern Ukraine, until now he has taken the initiative to shrink his troops, he has never suffered a loss in the hands of the German army.

When he was in the central theater, he escaped from the huge encirclement of the German Army Group A and ascended to heaven. When he was flanked by German special forces and paratroopers in the southern theater, he was not hurt. Now that the German army is advancing into the Caucasus, he used a trick to shrink his troops For a Soviet general, there were Voroshilov and Khrushchev in the front, and Timoshenko in the back. He has the capital to be proud.

...

Just when Rokossovsky was secretly complacent, on the west bank of the Don River, Guderian was looking at the surging river and issuing his offensive order. Although he didn't know whether the Soviet army was so eager to shrink its troops for the Don River defense line or the Stalingrad defense line behind him, he knew that if the Soviet army really started a battle with him on the Don River defense line, the situation would be dire. beneficial to the Germans.

"As long as the Soviets don't put their troops in Stalingrad and fight us in endless street battles, then even across the Don River, we have a way to annihilate them in the wild." Guderian said to the assistant behind him Said: "Order the troops and start a tentative attack!"

Two German tanks were in a temporary bunker, pointing their tank guns at the opposite river bank. German engineers began to erect pontoon bridges on the river bank, several armored engineering vehicles placed some equipment by the river, and engineers at the trench began to inflate rubber rafts.

Farther away, several German assault boats had been thrown into the water of the Don River by the infantry. The soldiers jumped into the boats in the icy water, and the motors began to roar. Rush to the other side.

The German soldiers on board lowered their heads, and there was a cover machine gun on the bow. Behind them, the comrades on the river bank are setting up mortars and several machine guns to cover positions. Everyone is watching the situation on the opposite bank. As long as there is any trouble, they will use intensive firepower to cover their comrades. forward position.

"Tudu!" On the Soviet position on the opposite bank, a machine gun fired a row of bullets. These bullets hit the river next to the assault boat, splashing a column of water, and the river splashed on the faces of the German soldiers on the assault boat. However, behind these German troops, the weapons supporting them also roared immediately. Two German machine guns fired frantically, and the tracer bullets flew in a straight line towards the Soviet position.

The firepower of the two sides gradually escalated, and a shell fell into the water of the Don River. Although it was a little far away from the German assault boat, Guderian, who was still watching the battle on the river bank, frowned. He felt that the other party seemed to want to stop the advance of the German army, but for some reason, this was still far from the firepower density he expected for the Don River defense line.

"This is not the firepower that a division should have. When we forced our way across France, the opponent's firepower was at least three times that." Guderian said to his deputy with some disappointment: "It seems that we still have to notify Küchler. Get him ready for a tough street fight."

"General, there is no way to do this. The enemy is more difficult than we imagined. According to the news from General Manstein, the Soviet army is also using urban street fighting to block the attack. The fighting is very difficult." Behind him The deputy looked at the firepower coming from the other side, and said. While he was saying these words, an assault boat was sunk, and the entire German army on it was wiped out.

Guderian also saw this scene. He packed up his binoculars, then turned and left the river bank, and walked to his armored command vehicle: "Start shelling and cover the crossing of the river! The Soviets did not invest any decent troops in the Don River at all. , don’t waste time here! Break through this line of defense directly and push towards Stalingrad!”

"Yes! General! Break through the Don River defense line! Pushing towards Stalingrad!" The assistant answered at attention, then walked to the armored command vehicle, and wanted to call the commanders of several divisions on the front line: "The command of the Army Group Command, within an hour, break through The Don River defense line! The general offensive begins!"