Whether it was the troops attacking Mamayev Heights or the troops preparing to launch a counter-assault on the nursery state farm, Boris thought in his heart that there was a possibility of victory.

The reason why he was so sure was that during the defense of Stalingrad, his troops had repeatedly captured the Mamayev Heights, and on this limited area of high ground, at least 30,000 Soviet commanders and fighters gave their lives.

But Paulus forgot that at the moment he was in the encirclement of the Soviet army, not only was the ammunition and supplies of the troops insufficient, but also there was no air supremacy, and it was almost impossible to capture the Mamayev Gang as it did at the beginning of the campaign. In the three-hour battle, Roskyt's 71st Infantry Division suffered more than 3,000 casualties, three-quarters of which were caused by Soviet bombardment.

Seeing that the attack on Mamayev could not be effective, Roskyy had to call Paulus personally to report the failure of the attack. Paulus fell silent and did not speak.

Roskye waited for a while, and when he saw that Paulus did not speak, he asked tentatively: "Your Excellency, Commander, at present my troops have suffered heavy casualties, and there is a serious shortage of ammunition. If we continue to fight, we will be in danger of total annihilation, do you think we will be allowed to withdraw the starting point of the attack? ”

Paulus hesitated for a long time before he spoke, "Alright, General Rosky, since our troops can't capture Mamayev Heights, let's withdraw them first." ”

After Paulus put down the phone, Chief of Staff Schmidt, who was sitting on the side, said with a melancholy expression: "Your Excellency, Commander, since the attack on Mamayev Hill has failed, we can only pin our hopes on the troops who will carry out a counter-assault on the airfield. At this point, he glanced at the cans, bread, sausages, and coffee on the table, and continued, "If we fail, our troops will be running out of ammunition and food." ”

The commander of the 11th Infantry Corps, Strecker, said indistinctly while eating the food on the table: "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, you are too alarmist. Although our food supply is much smaller than before, we still have no problem getting enough to eat every day. Even if the Russians cut off our supplies, we should have no problem holding out for another month. By February, the Supreme Command may have assembled reinforcements, and then we will be able to break the Russian encirclement by cooperating with each other. ”

Hearing what Strecker said, Schmidt's face showed a bitter expression, he knew that the food supply situation in the grassroots troops was terrible, and the soldiers were starving. In order not to starve to death, they even slaughtered the few remaining horses of the Romanian cavalry division.

He did not argue with the general, who had been in the headquarters all day and was unaware of the plight of the officers and men at the grassroots level, but silently prayed in his heart that the two divisions that had counterattacked the airfield would succeed. As long as the airfield is recaptured, then the troops will be in a desperate situation of running out of ammunition and food.

Shortly after Roskey's 71st Infantry Division returned to the defense zone in disgrace, he received a call from Lieutenant General Rensky. The other party said on the phone with a crying voice: "Your Excellency Chief of Staff, my 24th Armored Division is finished. ”

"What? General Lensky, what do you say? Schmidt couldn't believe his ears when he heard the other party's report, and he asked loudly: "What happened to your troops?" ”

Because Schmidt's voice was very loud, it alarmed the generals who were chatting at the conference table, and suddenly everyone's eyes were focused on Schmidt, trying to find out what bad news happened at the first time.

"Your Excellency Chief of Staff," Lensky said on the phone, "our troops were still seven or eight kilometers away from the field airfield, and suddenly they were bombarded indiscriminately by the Russians. After the bombardment lasted more than half an hour, the Russian ground forces also attacked, and our troops were crushed in one fell swoop. ”

"What about the 60th Motorist?" As soon as Schmidt waited for him to finish speaking, he immediately asked impatiently: "What about General Allenstorff and his troops?" ”

"Their troops were also crushed." Lieutenant General Lensky replied loudly: "I have lost contact with General Arenstorff and do not know if something mishapless happened to him." ”

Schmidt put down the phone and turned to see Paulus already getting up from his seat, staring nervously at him, like a prisoner awaiting a verdict. Schmidt hesitated for a moment, and decided to report the real situation to him: "According to General Lensky's report, the 14th Panzer Division and the 60th Motorized Division, which we sent to seize the airfield, were bombed by the Russians on the way, and the troops suffered heavy losses; Then they were attacked by the Russians from the ground. The troops of both divisions were thus crushed, and the whereabouts of the commander of the 60th Motorized Division, General Arenstorf, are unknown. ”

"Two divisions defeated?" Hearing the chief of staff say this, Paulus's strength seemed to be drained all at once, and he sat down in his chair, his eyes looking at the dark ceiling, and he thought disheartenedly, "It's over, it's all over now." With the loss of the field airfield, the supply from the encirclement is equivalent to cutting off most of it, with the limited airdrop materials, and a small amount of materials transported to the Gumkole airport, how can we maintain the consumption of more than 100,000 or 200,000 troops. ”

While the generals in the German command were sighing, Rokossovsky's command was full of laughter. The success of Chuikov's troops in crushing the German assault on Mamayev Hill is certainly worth celebrating; More importantly, Batov's 65th Army, with the cooperation of the Air Force, successfully routed the two visiting German divisions, and in addition to destroying a large number of enemies and technical equipment, it also captured the commander of the German 60th Motorized Division, Major General Arenstorf.

After Rokossovsky and the others quieted down, he opened his mouth and said to the commanders of the many army groups who came and went: "Comrades, judging from the current situation, the progress of our army is very smooth, although the Germans have put up stubborn resistance in some areas, but due to their lack of ammunition and supplies, their resistance will not last long. I hope that everyone will guard against arrogance and rashness, continue to maintain the current offensive momentum, and strive to completely wipe out all the Paulus groups in the encirclement as soon as possible. ”

Considering that today's Mamayev Hill was once attacked by the Germans, it would be difficult for them to block the next German attack if they did not replenish Chuikov as soon as possible. Therefore, Rokossovsky called Chistyakov in front of him and said to him: "General Chistyakov, at present your 21st Army is the most powerful, and I hope that you can intensify your offensive and carry out a surprise attack in the direction of Mamayev Gang, and strive to join General Chuikov's troops as soon as possible." ”

"Comrade Commander, please rest assured." Chistyakov originally thought that Rokossovsky would let the 66th Army, which was closest to Mamayev Gang, go to join Chuikov's 62nd Army, but he did not expect to give himself such a glorious task, and he immediately said with emotion: "My troops will be able to reach Mamayev Post in two days and nights at most and join the 62nd Army that is holding there." ”