Stalingrad was still hustle and bustle under the night. Since the German vanguard advanced into the suburbs of the city, their artillery had never stopped shelling the Soviet defense line outside the city.

Tonight, it was a moonless night. Standing on a pavilion outside Stalingrad City, Chu Sinan could clearly see countless lightning-like flames flashing from the northwest and southwest directions. Then, he dragged a long arc and rushed towards Stalingrad.

"General, you have contacted Comrade Vasiliev," a correspondent rushed out in the room behind Chu Sinan and said with a salute.

"Oh?" Chu Sinan turned around, glanced at the young communications soldier, and asked, "Where is his troops now?"

"They are still in the area of ​​the No. 1 test station." The correspondent replied.

"Test Station No. 1?!" Chu Sinan's brow frowned immediately. He quickly moved his steps back to the command center's room, and then stopped in front of the Stalingrad area defense map facing the door.

"Test Station No. 1!" Chu Sinan's eyes searched the map and quickly found the target. This test station No. 1 happens to be located at the edge of the Upper Yelishanka area. Calculated from the scale of the map, it is still four kilometers away from the designated location of Vasiliev's troops.

"What is this Vasiliev doing for?!" He threw the pen in his hand on the map. Chu Sinan turned around and cursed at the people in the command center, "He ran for more than ten kilometers in total. He has been running for me for three hours, and there are still four kilometers now?! If they are like him, how can we fight the local war?!"

In the command center, the heads of the three armies were all in mind. Facing the angry Chu Sinan, no one dared to say anything.

"Comrade Tolbuhin!"

No one spoke, which did not prove that Chu Sinan would be relieved. The ignorant lieutenant general quickly walked to the conference table and pounded hard on the table with his fist. While staring at Tolbuxin with a nervous face, he roared: "Tell me, how many fools are there in your army like Vasiliev! Why do you have to hand over this mission to him?!"

The 73rd Soviet infantry division led by Vasiliev was affiliated with the 64th Army of Tolbuhin. This time, Vasiliev's troops were an important part of the encirclement area of ​​the German protruding areas. Now, less than an hour has been left before the launch of the general attack specified by Chu Sinan, but Vasiliev and other troops have not yet reached the designated position. What does this mean? This shows that there was a mistake in this siege operation. The pocket that was supposed to be tightly tidy has now become a broken pot without a cover. How can this battle be fought? How can Chu Sinan not be angry?

Faced with Chu Sinan's roar and scolding, Tolbuxin just lowered his head and said nothing to refute and explain. What to refute? What to explain? This time the mistake was in his own troops. Tolbuxin's annoyance was naturally unexplainable. He never thought that the beloved general whom he always valued would make mistakes at this critical moment. If Vasiliev was in front of him at this moment, I believe he would definitely kill that guy on the spot.

"Cough," Vatujin, who was the chief of staff of the 64th Army, coughed and explained hesitantly, "This time, the incident was due to an accident. Comrade Vasiliev's troops encountered a German army advancing in the area near the No. 1 test station. Their strength was probably a regiment, so..."

"Is this the reason why *** is damn?!" Before Vatujin finished speaking, Chu Sinan cursed, "Our Comrade Vasiliev led a division, and the German army that had been entangled with him for several hours was only one regiment. What did he want to do? Abandon our combat plan and turn to encircle and annihilate the damn German army? I can't see any wise thing about his choice."

"General, in my opinion, let's delay the general attack a little," Petrov came forward to rescue Tolbuhin and Vatukhin. He said, "According to the current situation, Comrade Vasiliev's troops may not be able to arrive at the designated position on time."

"Delayed? No, never delayed!" Chu Sinan slammed the table with his fist, and said loudly, "We are fighting, not holding a banquet. The current initiative in the battlefield has not yet been in our hands. What qualifications do we have to say that it will be postponed?! Tell me Vasiliev that our general attack will still be launched as scheduled. If his troops cannot enter the designated position and if an enemy is released at that time, I will send him to the military court!"

"Yes, the time for the general offensive to be launched cannot change," Tolbuhin stood up and said with a heavy expression. "Don't worry, General. If Vasiliev cannot intercept the retreating German army, then as the commander of the army, I am willing to share the responsibility with him."

Chu Sinan glanced at Tolbuxin, was silent for a long time before waved his hand and said, "It's not your turn to take responsibility! What you need to do is to fight bravely for me according to the combat plan and eliminate the enemy to the greatest extent. As for those responsibilities, they all belong to me!"

"Do you all understand?" Chu Sinan picked up his military cap from the table and put it on his head casually, then continued.

"I understand the general." Several leaders of the army stood up and said in unison.

"If you understand, go back to your post!" Chu Sinan looked around and said loudly.

"Yes!" With a response, several people secretly felt sweaty and retreated from the Front Command with their front heels and back.

"Comrade Vatukin," outside the Front Command, Tolbuhin said without looking back, "Go and contact me immediately that bastard Vasilyev and tell him that I don't care what he uses. Be sure to get to the reserved position before the general offensive begins, otherwise, let him come to see me with his head!"

"Well," as the chief of staff, Vatukin was also very angry at this time. Vasilyev was usually very smart and decisive, but he just came out of shame at this critical moment and threw the person directly at the Front Command. What a fucking thing!

At this moment, where was Vasiliev, who was criticized by thousands of people? What was his troops doing? The answer was simple. He was commanding his troops to fight.

In fact, fundamentally speaking, Vasiliev's mentality at this time was more anxious than anyone else. This time he was able to receive a combat mission was an unexpected surprise for him and the troops he led. You should know that during this assignment, among the six divisions under the group army, except for the two divisions organized defense operations on the front line and the 75th Division, which had combat missions earlier, the remaining three divisions submitted letters of request. Moreover, each division's attitude was very firm. Everyone was very determined and wanted to win military merits in this battle. The reason why the 73rd Division of Vasiliev's territory was able to get this opportunity was entirely because Chief of Staff Bestov was very lucky and he won the lottery.

In the past two days, in order to allow the troops to enter the battle in the best condition, Vasiliev has mobilized several times in the entire division. The combat sentiment of the entire army has generally increased. He originally thought that everything could be safe, but who knew that there was a mistake in the end.

Just three hours ago, Vasiliev led his troops to the northern station of Upper Yelishanka. It was a pre-designated combat site by the Front Army. The mission of the 73rd Division was to seize the station in the shortest time after the general attack was launched, thereby blocking the German army's road to the north.

However, God obviously intended to oppose Vasiliev. One hour after setting off from the military base, the vanguard of the 73rd Division made a mistake. In the outer area of ​​the No. 1 test station, they encountered a small German reconnaissance unit that was groping forward.

Judging from the war zone map currently under Vasiliev, the No. 1 test station should still be under the control of the Soviet army. At this position, there should have been two Soviet outposts in this area to be responsible for the alert task, but now it seems that they have obviously been knocked out by the German reconnaissance forces.

At the beginning, Vasilyev did not take this small German army seriously. He just ordered his vanguard to annihilate the German army as soon as possible to ensure the follow-up of the subsequent troops. However, in the subsequent period, especially after entering the No. 1 test station area, Vasilyev noticed an abnormal situation, that is, the German army is not small in scale, and from the perspective of resistance, its strength has at least one regiment. What is particularly important is that this German army has strong combat effectiveness and excellent weapons and equipment. Judging from previous experience, Vasilyev can be sure of one thing, that is, this German army is definitely not an ordinary team, they should be troops similar to guard regiments. What does this mean? In the words of Chief of Staff Bestov, it means there is a "big fish" here!

In this way, a difficult choice fell on Vasiliev's head: encircle and annihilate this German army and capture the big fish? Turn a blind eye to the German army and bypass them to the predetermined location. None of these two roads can be done. As for leaving some troops to continue fighting, he led another part to the predetermined location, this road obviously cannot be done either. Leave one regiment to make up for the big fish's insufficient troops; leave two regiments to insufficient troops to carry out missions. Finally, after consultation with Bestov, Vasiliev decided to concentrate all his efforts first, resolve the battle at the No. 1 test station as soon as possible, fish out the "big fish" here, and then go on a journey.

In this way, a battle that lasted for two hours and had not ended began in the No. 1 test station.

Test Station No. 1 was originally an armored vehicle test site in Stalingrad. It is also the largest test site in this area. In order to test the performance of armored vehicles and tanks produced, the test station not only covers a considerable area, but also has a very complex terrain. Hills, forests, buildings, mud bays, etc., all kinds of things.

Here, the German army relied on the complex terrain to carry out stubborn resistance. Although they occupied an absolute weakness in their military strength during the two-hour battle, the battle was still very exciting.

Vasiliev stood in a broken wall, looking into the lane not far away through the telescope in his hand. There was the most intense place for the German troops to resist. After two hours of fighting, Vasiliev's troops had driven all the remaining German troops into this abandoned building complex, and this was the beginning of the arduous street fighting.

Through the telescope, Vasiliev was condescending, and with the help of the rising flares, he could blur the battles in some blocks. Teams of scattered Soviet soldiers searched and advanced along the corners and walls of the buildings, and in front of them, or on the wing floors, inside the houses. From time to time, cold guns were shot over, putting one or two unlucky Soviet soldiers to the ground.

This was a small-scale street battle. But it was also the first street battle commanded by Vasiliev. In his opinion, such a battle was not only difficult, but also time-consuming. If there was enough artillery force, he would rather lose a large amount of shells and blow the building complex upside down.

However, this small-scale street battle also gave Vasiliev some useful experience. He summarized something from this small-scale battle. That is, street battle is extremely unfavorable for the offensive troops. First, the offensive troops have the advantageous forces, which are in this house and the narrow streets, cannot be fully utilized. On the contrary, the defensive troops can use street corners, panes, corridors and other hidden places to strike the enemy in the offensive. In this case, a cluster of attacks in a row is impossible, and it can only be to let the soldiers die and act as a living target. The second.

The ground defense forces must have an advantage in the terrain. They either have to be condescending or guard narrow passages. For example, in the defense of a building, the defense only needs to send a dozen people, or even a few people, which is enough to solve the problem. Stairs, corridors, and independent rooms are all strongholds that can be used as a barrier and cannot be opened by ten thousand men. For the offensive troops, if they want to take this building, they often have to mobilize soldiers with absolute advantage and spend a lot of time on it. Just like in this battle, a mere ruined German army dragged Vasiliev's entire division for more than two hours, which can already illustrate the problem.

Although the slow progress of the battle made Vasiliev anxious and the casualties of the troops also made him feel distressed, he still felt that this battle had gained. Not to mention whether there would be any big fish in this German army, just talking about the experience he gained from this battle was enough to make up for everything.

From this small-scale battle, thinking of the upcoming urban defense battle in Stalingrad, Vasiliev gradually had a vague outline in his mind. The urban street battle in Stalingrad is not as wider than this small-scale street battle. There are more areas, more buildings and more complex structures, so, fundamentally speaking, it is easier to defend and difficult to attack. For the Soviet army aiming to defend, it is tantamount to a series of solid and hidden positions. If they are all used, it should not be a problem to hold on to Stalingrad for two or three months. During this period, if you organize more scattered and good marksmanship, it is best to sneak out with a group of three or five people, kill German officers, individual targets, etc., to cooperate with the front battlefield, I believe that the defense effect will be better.

The more Vasiliev thought about it, the more excited he felt that his eyes seemed to be brighter. He thought he needed to find an opportunity to report all of this to the Front Command and General Chu Sinan.

"Comrade Vasiliev, Comrade Vasiliev!" Just as Vasiliev was about to take out his notebook and record his experience in the memorandum, the voice of Chief of Staff Bestov came from behind him.

"No, our left wing was attacked by German troops!" Bestov ran over and said panting.

"What, left wing?!" Vasiliev was stunned. He subconsciously looked at the direction Bestov said. He would not forget where the left wing was. It should be westward, and at the same time, it happened to be the direction his troops were about to move forward. Looking into that direction from afar, no, flashes of light were beating frequently in that direction. I believe that if the battle here was not too fierce, Vasiliev would have heard the sound of gunfires there long ago.

"How is the situation?" Vasiliev asked immediately.

"It's not clear," said Bestov, shaking his head, "the fire has just been exchanged, but this part of the German army has artillery cover, and a small number of tanks and armored vehicles. According to conventional conditions, their strength will not be less than one regiment."

"Is it because the general attack of other troops started in advance?" Vasiliev took out his pocket watch from his arms and took a look with the light and shadow of the sky's flashing light. It was nearly an hour before the reservation time for the general attack was launched.

"Is there any news from the command center? Is the general attack time ahead of schedule?" Vasiliev glanced at his friend and asked.

"The command was urging us to move forward quickly just now, but they did not mention that they wanted to advance the general attack." Bestov shook his head and said.

"Where do these Germans come from?" Vasiliev seemed a little furious. He waved the telescope in his hand and roared, "Do they have the ability to predict the future?"

Vasiliev's anger is not unreasonable. The information is clearly shown. In the Upper Yelishanka area, the German army had only one division's assault force, so the only one that appeared in front of the 73rd Division was the German troops affiliated with this division. Now, the encirclement and annihilation battle on his own side had not yet begun, and at least two regiments of troops appeared in front of him. How could Vasiliev not be depressed?

"Did it..." Bestrov seemed to think of something in Vasilyev's roar. His body shook suddenly, and then he grabbed Vasilyev's arm and said loudly.

"Is it something?" Vasiliev asked without thinking.

"Our big fish!" Bestov shouted out almost excitedly.

"Big Fish!" Vasiliev suddenly woke up. He glanced at the community of the building, then suddenly turned around and said to Bestov, "Comrade Bestov, it seems that our combat plan is about to change. You can send a report to the Army Command immediately..."
Chapter completed!