Stalingrad's central railway station was located on the banks of the Volga River, and the train line ran along both sides of the river, along which the whole city radiated along the river and the railway. If the topography of the city of Stalingrad resembles a giant dumbbell, then Mamayev Hill is the handle in the middle. Either the Soviets or the Germans could divide the city into two separate areas, north and south, as long as they occupied it.

While the battle for Mamayev Hill was still going on, Rokossovsky sat at his table, staring at the location of Mamayev Hill on the map, thinking to himself that as long as Zadov's 66th Army could join forces with Chuikov's troops here, then the German army in Stalingrad could be divided into two separate parts.

When Chuikov reported that the enemy had been driven away from the hill north of Mamayev Hill, Rokossovsky's heart suddenly became much more relaxed, because he understood that as long as his troops could firmly control this hill, then the enemy in the south and north of the city would have to fight on their own, so that they could be defeated one by one.

Now that the troops have successfully captured the Mamayev Heights, Rokossovsky will not be stingy with the commanders and fighters who participated in the battle, and he said to Terekin: "Comrade Military Commissar, please record my order: to award Lieutenant Colonel Bosanskaya and Colonel Yelin the Order of the Red Banner in recognition of the bravery and dauntlessness shown by both of them in the battle for the recapture of the Mamayev Heights, as well as the great victories they have achieved. ”

After recording Rokossovsky's commendation order, Terekin raised his head and said: "Comrade commander, in order to defend the commanding heights of the city of Mamayev Heights, our troops paid great sacrifices here. It was precisely because our commanders and fighters did not fight to the death that the Germans did not completely occupy the Mamayev Heights and could not advance to the ferry, which maintained contact with the east coast. I suggest that honorary titles should be awarded to these tenacious fighting units. ”

Rokossovsky thought about Terekin's proposal, then nodded in agreement: "Comrade Military Commissar, your opinion is very correct. Then add to the order the 588th Women's Night Bomber Aviation Regiment and the Order of the Red Banner of the 39th Guards Division, and at the same time award the honorary title of 'Mamayev Gang Regiment' of the 39th Guards Regiment of Colonel Yelin. ”

Terekin smiled and said: "Great, comrade commander, I believe that after this commendation order is issued, it will definitely play a role in boosting morale." With that, he handed the recorded commendation order to Rokossovsky and asked him to sign it.

……

Early the next morning, the artillery of the 65th, 21st, 24th and 57th armies carried out a heavy artillery attack on the Marinovsky salient entrenched by the Germans. In addition to the defensive positions of the German troops, the artillery bombardment targets also took the buildings in the defense area as the main targets.

This plan was put forward by Kazakov, the commander of the artillery of the Front, who said that as long as the German army's concealment and houses for sheltering from the cold and heating were destroyed, then the severe cold could cause a large number of non-combat attrition of the German army, which lacked winter clothing, and when the German army could not bear it, it would take the initiative to lay down its arms and surrender.

As soon as the shelling was over, more than a dozen Soviet infantry divisions launched a charge from all sides to the German positions in the salient. Although the weather was cold and they would freeze and ache for half an hour outside, the commanders and fighters were stimulated by the commendation order jointly issued by Rokossovsky and Terekin, and bravely rushed to the German position in the bitter cold of minus 30 degrees.

Compared to yesterday, the resistance of the German defensive positions was much weaker. Of course, the weather is too cold and many weapons cannot be used normally, but more importantly, the German soldiers trapped in the salient ran out of ammunition, and the German soldiers who stuck to the trenches had only two choices after running out of bullets in their hands: first, they continued to stay in the trenches and waited for the Soviets to rush up, and then fight with the other side with bayonets; The second is to retreat along the communication trenches to the next line of defense, where ammunition will be replenished, and then continue to resist the Soviet offensive.

The Soviet army's stabbing skills made the German soldiers feel inexplicable fear, but being in a desperate situation aroused their blood. Although the number was not as large as that of the Soviet army, and the level of bayonet fighting was not as high as that of the Soviet army, the German troops who remained in the trenches and did not retreat burst out with an earth-shattering cry and greeted them with rifles loaded with bayonets.

Soviet and German officers and soldiers slammed into each other, their bayonets against bayonets, chest to chest, fighting and scuffling, and the battlefield of tens of thousands of people was like a cold weapon duel in the Middle Ages. The Soviet army relied on its skillful stabbing skills to fight left and right in the German army, and the German officers and soldiers swore an oath for their soldiers, and carried out the final battle, the soldiers on both sides howled, with the bayonets in their hands fiercely stabbed and stabbed, there was no fancy frame on both sides, and no one could help anyone for a while.

Batov, who was staying at the observation post, couldn't help but tremble when he saw this scene, his hand holding the telescope couldn't help but tremble, such a tragic white-knuckle battle, even if he was as tough as him, his heart that thought he had been numbed by too much blood was dripping blood. In this era when cold weapons were basically eliminated, such a large-scale hand-to-hand combat caused soldiers on both sides to suffer huge casualties in a very short period of time.

However, the Soviet army was much more numerous than the German army, and they soon occupied the initiative on the battlefield, and the German soldiers who were still fighting became fewer and fewer, and the rest had either fallen under the bayonets of the Soviet commanders and fighters, or took the initiative to raise their hands and surrender.

Seeing that the general situation had gone, the soldiers who were unable to resist any longer and did not want to surrender to the Soviet army turned around and ran towards the rear defense line. The commanders and fighters of the Soviet army chased and beat the German army behind the ass of the rout.

The defeated German soldiers ran in a panic and rushed into their forward positions in a panic, crashing into sandbag fortifications, overturning erected machine guns, stepping on their own bodies and carrying the defenders for their lives. The soldiers who had been holding on to this place saw that the general situation was gone, and they could only curse in their hearts the routs who had fled, while throwing away all the things that hindered their escape, including weapons and ammunition, and fled towards the farther defensive positions in a hurry.

The battle continued into the evening, and the four Soviet armies, cooperating with the operation, annihilated the 376th and 384th infantry divisions, the 3rd and 29th motorized rifle divisions, as well as the remnants of several Romanian divisions.

As soon as the battle was over, the four commanders of the army group immediately met with the commander of the front army to personally report the good news to Rokossovsky. After listening to how the divisions destroyed the enemy in the Marinovsky salient, Rokossovsky casually asked: "Did you catch a senior commander of the German army?" ”

"No, Comrade Commander." Hearing this, Batov hurriedly replied: "We only captured a dozen colonels, and according to their confessions, the headquarters of German divisional officers were all located in the city of Stalingrad. ”

"These cowards, our divisional headquarters are all located only 300 meters from the front line, while the Germans have set up their divisional headquarters 20 kilometers away from the battlefield." After scolding the timid commander of the German army, Rokossovsky then said to the four commanders standing in front of him: "Comrade commanders, as the enemy in the salient is destroyed by us, then the center of gravity of our next main assault direction will be shifted to the offensive zone of the 21st Army. In order to ensure the smooth progress of Chistyakov's troops, at the beginning of the campaign, we had to immediately transfer the reinforcement of the forces and technical equipment to Batov's troops to the 21st Army. ”

Rokossovsky looked at Chistyakov and said to him: "Comrade Chistyakov, the task of your army group is to carry out the main assault on the left flank in the direction of the Dubovaya valley site, the Voropanovo station; With the right flank, the 65th Army carried out a surprise attack in the general direction of Pitomnik. Speaking of this, he shifted his gaze to General Kalanin, "Comrade Kalanin, the task of your 24th Army is to continue the offensive with the forces of the right flank and ensure the assault of the 65th Army from the north. ”

Seeing that Rokossovsky had given orders to the other three armies, but had only missed himself, Tolbukhin asked with some anxiety: "Comrade commander, what about me?" What is the next task of our army group? ”

Hearing what Tolbukhin said, Rokossovsky turned his head to look at Malinin, who was standing next to him, and then said with a smile: "It seems that our Comrade Tolbukhin is unable to hold his breath. Chief of Staff, tell him about the mission. ”

Pointing to the map, Malinin introduced to Tolbukhin: "Comrade General, the next task of your army group is to launch an attack on the Pischanka quarry and destroy the German 371st Infantry Division entrenched there. When this task was completed, the forces were concentrated to capture the city of Bischanka from the Germans. ”

After the four army commanders had left, Rokossovsky said to Novikov, who had just arrived: "Comrade General, judging from the situation of the German army's fighting in the past two days, there is already a shortage of ammunition for them, and I hope that you can get the air force to strengthen the air blockade and prevent German transport planes from supplying these encircled troops." ”

"Our fighter formations, patrolling during the day, can effectively intercept German transport fleets." Novikov said with some embarrassment: "Now that the German transport planes are flying at night, it is difficult for us to intercept them. ”

Rokossovsky understood very well in his heart that in this era, the Soviet army did not yet have fighters capable of night patrol missions, so after listening to Novikov, he nodded, and then made a request to the other side: "Comrade Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, according to my estimates, there are still field airfields in the defensive zone of the German army. Please send more reconnaissance planes to conduct reconnaissance during the day and find out the location of the German field airfield. He threw a heavy punch on the map with his hand and said categorically, "As long as we occupy these field airfields, we can accelerate the destruction of the German army." ”