Rokossovsky had a vague feeling that something was wrong with the sudden German attack at Mamayev Hill, but for a moment he couldn't figure out what the problem was.

When he was talking to Chuikov on the phone, he told the other party: "Comrade Chuikov, since we are unable to send ground troops to you now, we can only rely on your own strength to hold the Mamayev post. But don't worry, you're not alone, and I'll send the air force to support you. ”

Immediately after the end of the call with Chuikov, Rokossovsky called Malinin over and asked: "Chief of Staff, what is the current progress of our army in all directions?" ”

Malinin was also a smart man, and he immediately guessed that Rokossovsky was trying to understand why the Germans were attacking at Mamayev Hill by understanding the situation on the battlefield. For Paulus, Mamayev Hill is a chicken rib, it is a pity to discard it if it is tasteless, there is no need to make such a big move, there must be some conspiracy behind it. So he immediately reported to Rokossovsky the results of today's battles in the ministries.

After listening to this, Rokossovsky fixed his eyes on the location of the nursery state farm on the map, and asked Malinin tentatively: "Chief of Staff, do you think that the reason why the Germans attacked Mamayev Hill was to divert our attention, and their main purpose was to recapture the airfield occupied by Batov and them?" ”

Hearing Rokossovsky say this, not only Malinin tilted his head to look at the map, but even Voronov and Novikov, who were still whispering next to him just now, also leaned their heads over to see where Rokossovsky thought there was a problem.

After looking at the specific location on the map, Novikov first spoke: "I think Comrade Rokossovsky's analysis is very probable. You must know that the nursery state farm, which had just been occupied by the 65th Army, had the largest field airfield of the besieged German army, and the transport planes flying from the periphery of the encirclement basically landed in this area and then unloaded the supplies needed by Paulus. ”

But Voronov did not agree with Novikov's analysis, he said disappretently: "My comrade commander-in-chief of the Air Force, I think you are too sensitive. Yes, the nursery state farm did have the largest field airfield for the besieged Germans, but it was not the only one. Even if this airfield is lost, the airborne supplies from outside the encirclement can still be transferred to the Gumkole Field Airfield. ”

Novikov's words made Rokossovsky even more sure that his guess was completely correct. As soon as he waited for Voronov to finish speaking, he immediately explained to him: "General Voronov, you don't know that the field airfield in the Gumkole region is too small to take off and land large transport aircraft. If the Germans allowed our troops to occupy the field airfield of the nursery state farm, then in the coming days they would only be able to get the supplies they needed by airdrop. ”

After saying this, Rokossovsky turned his gaze to Novikov and said politely to him: "Comrade General, to the east of the airfield there is a mountainous area in which there is enough space for the gathering of armored forces. I ask you to immediately send a reconnaissance plane to reconnoiter this area, so that we can be informed of the movements of the German troops in a timely manner. ”

"Comrade Rokossovsky, what you think is exactly the same as mine." Novikov nodded in agreement, and then said: "I'll call Rudenko and ask him to send a few more reconnaissance planes to the eastern mountains of the nursery state farm to carry out reconnaissance." ”

After Novikov left, Rokossovsky picked up the phone again, dialed Batov's command, and asked straight to the point: "Hey, Batov, I'm Rokossovsky." I would like to ask, what is the situation on the side of the nursery state farm? ”

"Report to Comrade Commander," Batov immediately and respectfully reported, hearing Rokossovsky's voice, "the Germans, having been driven out of the airfield by our troops, have retreated to the west. In order to prevent a German counterattack, I have ordered the troops occupying the airfield to move to the defense on the spot. ”

Seeing that Batov had already prepared, Rokossovsky felt a little more steady, but for the sake of safety, he still gave Batov a new order: "Comrade Batov, you immediately transfer the 5th Guards Independent Tank Regiment, the 381st and 391st Artillery Regiments, and the 93rd Guards Rocket Artillery Regiment to the nursery state farm to strengthen the defense there, in case of a possible counter-assault by the Germans. ”

"Comrade Commander," Batov hesitated for a moment in response to Rokossovsky's order, and then expressed his considerations, "the troops you are talking about are taking part in the fighting in the rest of the sector, and if they are withdrawn at such a time, I am afraid ......"

"There is nothing to worry about, Comrade Batov." Rokossovsky didn't wait for him to finish, then interrupted his next words and said decisively: "The airfield you occupy is the largest field airfield for the besieged German army, and most of the supplies they have obtained are transported from there. The Germans may not be willing to lose this airfield, I judge that they will definitely carry out a frantic counterattack, and in order to prevent the Germans from taking the airport back, you must do everything possible to strengthen the defenses there and make sure that the airport is not lost. ”

After Voronov waited for Rokossovsky to put down the phone, he asked curiously: "Comrade Rokossovsky, do you really think that the German attack on Mamayev Hill was just to divert our attention, and its purpose was to cover the build-up of troops attacking the counter-attack airfield?" ”

Rokossovsky replied with a smile: "That's right, General Voronov, I am convinced that the German offensive in the direction of Mamayev Gang is a feint, and the real target of their attack is the field airfield of the nursery state farm. ”

…………

In order to completely attract the attention of the Soviet army to the Mamayev Gang, the Germans also made a bloody investment, although the artillery ammunition was a little tight, Paulus still used nearly 100 guns of various calibers to bombard the Mamayev Gang. In less than ten minutes, 2,000 shells landed on the Mamayev Heights, craters scattered everywhere the fire passed, and mutilated and blurred torsos, charred corpses, stumps and broken arms and broken weapon parts were everywhere in the loose soil.

As soon as the shelling was over, the German infantry launched an assault on the hillside. They did this for two purposes: first, to attract the attention of the Soviet army, to cover the armored forces of the counter-attack airfield to assemble in the mountains; The second is to try to seize this height, if it can really be captured, it can further threaten the port of Mamayev and cut off the supply of the 62nd Army. It is because of these two factors that the battle was extremely fierce from the very beginning.

Taking advantage of the fact that the defenders on the hill were blown up, the Germans rushed to the high ground on the north side and engaged the defenders in hand-to-hand combat in the trenches that were blown up. After paying a lot of casualties, they finally succeeded in capturing the hill, but before they could gain a foothold, Colonel Ye Lin personally rushed up with his troops......

After the Soviets reoccupied their positions on the hill, a bomber formation sent by General Rudenko appeared over the hill. The bomber formation swooped down from a high altitude and bombarded the German troops who were assembling at the foot of the hill, blowing them up to the point of a wolf.

At the height of the fighting at Mamayev Heights, the Air Force conducted reconnaissance of the mountains east of the nursery state farm. The pilot, Second Lieutenant Bokolini, saw that there were armored units on the ground moving in the direction of the farm, and in order to find out whether it was himself or the German troops, he deliberately lowered the high ground and swept over the marching column.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he lowered his height, he was strafed by machine-gun fire from the ground. It stands to reason that in this case, he could directly pull the plane up, quickly get out of the area, and then return to report to his superiors that German armored units had been found here.

But Second Lieutenant Bockolini did not do this, and after passing the armoured column on the march, he spun around in the air and turned again towards the unit. This time he was lucky not to come under fire from the ground again, and at the same time he could clearly see the white cross mark on the tank body. After confirming that the armored column, which was rushing to the state farm, belonged to the Germans, he climbed the high ground and turned in the air and flew in the direction of the airfield.

After receiving the reconnaissance report from the Air Force, Voronov's eyes widened in surprise, looked at Rokossovsky and said: "It seems that your analysis is correct, the Germans attacked Mamayev Hill just to divert our attention, and then send armored forces to recapture the airfield occupied by our troops." Comrade Rokossovsky, what are your plans next? ”

As soon as Voronov finished speaking, Rokossovsky immediately said to Novikov: "Comrade Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, now it is your turn to come out of the Air Force." Immediately send a formation of bombers to bomb the German armored column that was rushing to the nursery state forest farm. ”

When Novikov called the Air Force to give the order to attack, Rokossovsky again dialed Batov's command, and he said loudly into the microphone: "Comrade Batov, according to the reconnaissance of our Air Force, an armored unit of the German army is moving in the direction of the state farm. How's it going, are you guys ready for battle? ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Batov replied resoundingly: "The urgently transferred units are arriving at the state farms one after another, and we are ready for all battles." ”

"Very well," Rokossovsky continued, "I have asked the air force to bomb the German panzer columns, and as soon as the bombing is over, you will immediately attack and destroy this invading enemy." ”