On April 21, the third day when Chu Sinan was on the Stalingrad front, all the Soviet troops stationed in the Stalingrad region, from the commander of the army to the most ordinary soldier, received a letter from the General Command of the Front to all the commanders and fighters.

This is a pre-war mobilization order, and it is also a combat call issued by Chu Sinan as the commander of the Front Army to all the soldiers of the Front Army.

The general content of the letter is as follows:

"All the soldiers of the Stalingrad Front: I am Chu Sinan, Lieutenant General Chu Sinan. From today on, I will be your supreme commander to fight with you and jointly defend our great and sacred Stalingrad.

I believe many of you have received news of my arrival. In the past two days, I have heard many soldiers and generals discussing in private, saying, "Now, our red war god is here, he will surely lead us to another victory."

I personally express my deep gratitude to the comrades who hold this argument, but as the commander of the Front Army, I must hereby declare that I, Chu Sinan, cannot bring victory to everyone. On the contrary, victory is brought to me by you, thousands of Red Army soldiers who are as brave as you. All I can bring to you is the honor I deserve after victory, which truly belongs to our soldiers and is pursued unremittingly throughout our lives.

Soldiers, this battle will be cruel. It goes without saying that in this battle, our troops are at an absolute disadvantage. At present, the German troops are nearly 400,000, and the only ones that compete with this huge German army are you￣￣ you have guns, grenades, and even your flesh and blood.

As the supreme commander of the entire front, I feel sad that I will command this battle, because after this battle, I believe that, including myself, perhaps we will not have many comrades, who can still stand alive on our own positions. The battle I want to command will be destined to be a battle with heavy casualties and heavy costs.

but!

As the supreme commander of the entire front, I am also glorious for the battle where I am commanding. Because the battle we are engaged in today will be remembered by history forever. When the smoke of gunpowder dissipates and the peaceful sunshine returns to the top of the city of Stalingrad, which we once shed our blood and gave our lives. People bathed in the peaceful sunshine will remember our names and pass on our heroic deeds. The battle I am commanding will be destined to be a battle with profound significance and heroes.

Soldiers, people are about to die, but it is just about time and time. In my opinion, the horror of death is not the pain that needs to be experienced in the moment of stopping breathing, but the eternal disappearance of a mark of life. We cannot leave a footprint in this world, come in mediocrely and go quietly. This is the biggest reason why people are full of fear of death.

Today I can tell you responsibly that you can put this fear behind your mind, because your efforts and your deeds will never be forgotten by the world. I order that the military members of all troops of the entire army, from division-level units to regiments, companies, platoons, and even squads, must register the soldiers in their troops. From now on, the main functions of each supervisory team will be transformed from supervising operations to battlefield records. I ask you to record for me the performance of each soldier in every battle of large and large size: how many enemies killed, how brave, even heroic sacrifice, cowardly escaped, or even shameless surrender. I want to use vivid names to tell our successors that in this battle where we once paid passionately, whose name represents heroes, whose name represents cowardice, and whose name represents traitors!

When victory comes and peace returns, the hero will receive rewards, medals, and hero titles. His name and even his deeds will appear on the inscriptions of the monument. We will even use the hero's name to name a force, a street, a square, even a dock, a factory, and even a city in Stalingrad. As for the names of cowards and traitors, we will also remember that their names will appear on a booth in the Soviet War Museum, allowing future generations to laugh at and scold them.

Soldiers and the vast Red Army soldiers, a cruel battle is imminent. In this battle, whether to be a hero or a coward, or even a shameful traitor, the right to decide is in your hands.

As the commander of the Front Army, I hereby send a call to all the officers and soldiers: muster up your courage, hold your weapons tightly, rely on your positions, and fight. Life will never stop, and the battle will never stop, because we are soldiers, soldiers of the Great Soviet Union."

Chu Sinan's letter to the commanders and fighters of the all-round army, regardless of its agitation, was enough to make the three armies and nearly 120,000 soldiers excited.

"Record the name of each soldier." What does this mean? This means that when you fall forever on the battlefield, your family will receive a death notice, and, on the post-war monument, you will not be included in a general rank of numbers with simple "wait" and then pay your respects. Later, you can find your name from that monument, and thus feel a soldier who once gave his life to win.

In addition, perhaps one day in the future, a city named after its own name will appear on the entire Soviet territory. What a glory it will be for a soldier?

In Biatrisa's opinion, Chu Sinan's actions are all deceptive. She wrote in her military diary: "Since the post of that letter full of fraud and illusory promises, I can truly feel the amazing changes that have occurred in all the Soviet soldiers in Stalingrad. The sluggish and negative atmosphere when I first came has disappeared overnight. Anyone can feel the strong fighting spirit from the soldiers holding weapons and covered in dust. The eyes that were bloodshot and red due to excitement were clearly shouting: "We want to fight, we want to kill the enemy, we want to make contributions."

In the past two days, General Chu Sinan has arranged an annihilation battle against the German army's offensive areas of Gorodice. Those tasks that seem difficult to complete have been sent by countless troops, including the guard company of the Front Command.

As an American, I cannot understand what kind of psychological state the excited soldiers are. Do they say that those false names are more important than life to a person? Don’t they realize that true glory is only the living is qualified to enjoy. What the dead can enjoy is just the silent loess?

Facing those Soviet soldiers wearing earth-brown military uniforms, I truly felt my ignorance and the psychological barrier between Americans and red Soviets. Perhaps as my colleagues, Ellenberg, said: "From the perspective of an American, or from the perspective of a reporter, you will never understand the center of our Red Army soldiers, and when you truly understand them, you will become one of them.

I don’t know whether I can become one of these warriors, but one thing I know is that on the battlefield, General Chu Sinan is like a devil, who is using the cheapest things to exchange for the most precious lives of countless warriors…”

Of course, Chu Sinan himself could not understand the contents written by Biatrisa in his diary. In fact, even if he understood it, he would probably disdain what the American journalist wrote. What is flashy and unreal? What is false name? Is it said that only money and power are flashy and real names? It is a joke. What's more, for Chu Sinan, everything he has to do now is for one purpose, that is, victory in the battle! Everything for victory, as long as he can win, no means cannot be used. Such means to inspire soldiers' morale and encourage them to fight bravely are just the most basic of all means, and it is also the first problem that every commander needs to solve.

After initially solving the morale problem of soldiers, Chu Sinan devoted his energy to the planning and arrangement of the first small-scale annihilation war. At present, the German army's sudden entry into Stalingrad on the two fronts of the southwest and northwest sides is very suitable for arranging a counter-assault encirclement and annihilation war.

In the southwest direction, an infantry division of the 51st Army of the German Army advanced rapidly to the western urban area of ​​Stalingrad. They took advantage of the convenience of the railway to surpass the wing guards on both sides and directly led the Bingfeng into the suburbs of the Soviet Minina. On both sides were the two guard divisions of the 62nd Army of the Soviet Army. From this point of view, this infantry division of the German army has become a veritable lonely army. If Chu Sinan mobilized troops at this critical moment, it would be enough to cut off the retreat of the German infantry division in a very short time and completely annihilate them.

In the northwest direction, an armored division of the 48th German tank army also formed a lonely and deep-deployed situation. The commander of this armored division was obviously an impatient. After conquering the two defense lines of the 66th Soviet Army, his troops did not take any rest. They advanced southward and successively seized two outposts and test stations and military airports in the Gorodice area. At present, from their offensive line, their ultimate goal was to seize the gateway to the urban area of ​​Stalingrad. In this way, their offensive route was already entangled with the defense lines of the 64th Army. From the military map, the advancement arc of this German armored force was like a mushroom, and the mushroom head was firmly embedded in the Soviet defensive position.

In Chu Sinan's view, against these two offensive protrusions of the German army, a beautiful anti-assault annihilation battle could be fought in either direction, but unfortunately, his current lack of troops is insufficient, and it is impossible for him to launch anti-assault battles in both directions while ensuring defense. Therefore, the only thing that can be considered is to launch combat in one direction.

In this way, the question arises. Which enemy in one direction should be selected as the primary target? Is it the German infantry division that was alone in the southwest, or the Dejun Armored Division that swarmed into the northwest?

If we can destroy an armored division of the German army in advance, it will undoubtedly be more exciting to Chu Sinan, but in terms of difficulty, Chu Sinan has no great confidence in encircling and annihilation of armored troops. You must know that the biggest advantage of tank troops lies in their strong breakthrough and mobility. Chu Sinan must consider whether the encirclement and annihilation battle he deployed can tightly bite the German armored division, and at the same time, reduce losses as much as possible. There is no doubt that if you have to consider these two aspects, the mission will be difficult to achieve.

In contrast, if the German infantry division is targeted, to be honest, the significance of the infantry division and the armored division is completely different. At present, the significance of annihilation of a German infantry division on the battlefield of Stalingrad is not very important. Don’t forget that around Stalingrad, the German army mobilized 35 divisions and nearly 400,000 troops. A mere infantry division is affordable to the German army. But what about Chu Sinan? He only has three armies in his hands, only seventeen divisions and land forces, and after integration, each division is less than ten thousand.

In this annihilation battle, Chu Sinan decided to use the forces of three divisions. That is to say, using the absolute advantage of the troops to eat the German infantry division. The biggest advantage of using the superior forces to annihilate the enemy is that it can win the greatest results while paying the smallest price. However, it must be noted that the minimum price does not mean that there is no price. Chu Sinan roughly calculates that after this annihilation battle, his troops may have to pay the price of thousands of people. If the target of the attack is the German armored division, the price will probably be even greater.

What to do? Will this battle be fought? Which one should I fight? After many considerations, especially the situation he is currently facing, Chu Sinan finally made up his mind to set his goal on the German infantry division that broke into the suburbs of Minina.

Chu Sinan had his own opinion on the reason for making this decision. First, the Soviet army had to pay a relatively small price to annihilate the German infantry division and a greater chance of victory. Secondly, the purpose of this battle was not to annihilate the number of enemies, but to the final victory or defeat of the battle. He wanted to use this battle to further increase the morale of the troops and at the same time to attack the German army's spirit. Most importantly, Chu Sinan never considered blocking the German army as much as possible outside the city of Stalingrad. As the war progressed, the final battlefield would inevitably be transferred to the urban area of ​​Stalingrad. In urban street fighting, the combat effectiveness of the armored troops could not be exerted. On the contrary, at that time, infantry was the most important combat unit.

In short, Chu Sinan wanted to use this battle to survive the early stage of the Battle of Stalingrad, and to bring out the momentum of the Soviet Red Army, so that the Germans would never dare to go straight and unscrupulously like they are now.

Since we have made a decision, the next question is the arrangement of the entire battlefield.

Looking at this local anti-assault annihilation battle, if we want to achieve the goal of annihilation of the German outskirts, then Soviet troops in two directions must undertake quite heavy tasks. The troops in these two directions are two units that attack the left and right rear wings of the German infantry division in the Minina area.

At the beginning of the battle, these two troops must launch as soon as possible before the German outskirts react, and cut off the connection between the German military advisor and its subsequent troops in one fell swoop. At the same time, in the second stage, that is, the encirclement and annihilation stage, these two troops will also bear battles in both directions. ￣￣ the German army breaks through the encirclement and the German army's support operations outside the encirclement.

Given the heavy responsibilities of these two troops, Chu Sinan decided to arrange the forces of five regiments on this "pocket-breaking" front. Their mission is to cut off the German military advisor's return in four hours in the assault battle launched at midnight on the 24th, and at the same time, to hold their respective positions within at least forty-eight hours in the next future.

Although this task is very arduous, and after this battle, it is estimated that the casualties of these five regiments will be close to 60%, after the combat mission is issued, letters of request submitted by the subordinate regiment-level combat units of the 64th and 62nd Group Army still came frequently. Just for the allocation of this combat mission, there was even a dispute between Petrov and Tolbuxin. The emergence of this situation made Chu Sinan feel very comforted. No matter what, the combat sentiment of the troops is still very high.

After some consultation, the Front Command finally finalized that the interception tasks of this battle would be handed over to the 129th Regiment, 132nd Regiment, 134th Regiment, and 278th Regiment, 280th Regiment, under the 62nd Army, under the 64th Army.

Chu Sinan issued a death order for the mission of these five regiments, that is, the blocking mission must be completed within four hours after the battle begins. In Chu Sinan's own words, it is, "No matter how serious your casualties are, no matter how strong the German army opposite you are, at 3 a.m. on the 25th, every unit that was put into battle must move to a designated position and must complete the convergence of Upper Yelishanka. Whoever has a problem with the troops will come to see me with his head."

After the periphery combat mission was arranged properly, Chu Sinan became much more relaxed. The annihilation battle on the inside was easy to arrange. The suburbs of Minina happened to be at the intersection of the 62nd and 64th armies defense zones. Chu Sinan's opinion was to draw a reserve division from two armies to join the encirclement and annihilation battle. In order to avoid the German aerial reconnaissance, Chu Sinan asked the division to start mobilizing on the 24th day and night, and as of midnight, that is, before the battle officially started, it would enter the designated ambush position.

"This is a battle that is like a tiger's teeth pulling out. You, your troops, must cooperate well. There must be no gap between the time of the march, the time of the battle, or even the time of completing the combat mission." At the Battle Arrangement Meeting of the Front Army, Chu Sinan said, "Time, our victory is based on this!"
Chapter completed!