Sure enough, the Soviets easily occupied the Mamayev Heights.

The situation at this time was quite awkward for the Germans, they were not charging, nor were they not charging.

Charge.

The Soviets were guarding the Mamayev Posts with units of the "Punishment Battalion", which, as Stalin said, were "washed away with blood for crimes committed against the Motherland", so the Soviets did not care whether they lived or died at all.

As a result, the elite of the German 1st Infantry Regiment rushed forward, and a burst of artillery fire came and died along with those "cannon fodder".

Do not charge.

This meant that the Germans had lost the strategic location of Mamayev Heights.

"What's going on?" Colonel Slane made a phone call to Qin Chuan and asked, "Why did you lose your position?" ”

"Colonel!" Qin Chuan replied: "It's the 'punishment camp' above!" ”

"Isn't the 'Punishment Battalion' easier to repel?" But before he could finish speaking, Colonel Slain understood what was going on, for the tone of his voice had weakened after that.

After a pause, Colonel Slane said to Qin Chuan: "I will report this problem to the general, you can't retreat anymore!" ”

"Yes, Colonel!" Qin Chuan replied.

Qin Chuan was not worried about this, because the German army had already built complete field fortifications under the Mamayev Gang, and it was not possible for the Soviet army to use the "punishment battalion" as cannon fodder and then use artillery bombardment to solve the problem. Otherwise, the Soviet military "punishment battalions" will be able to do whatever they want.

Colonel Slein quickly reported the problem to General Stryker.

General Stryk was also helpless when he learned of this information.

"These bastards!" General Stryk scolded: "They have completely disregard for the lives of their soldiers! This is simply a disgrace to the army! ”

In fact, General Stryker would scold like this, but Germany has not yet reached this time.

At the beginning of the Soviet-German war, the German army was in a cry for victory, and the quality of the army soldiers was quite good, so the number of defectors was not large, only more than 9,000 in 41 years, and only more than 10,000 in 42 years.

There are only more than 10,000 deserters in a whole year, which is quite a small number.

Of course, this does not include some soldiers who deserted and were forgiven by their commanders and did not report or punish them, as similar things had happened in the 1st Infantry Regiment before.

The Germans punished the deserters by shooting them on the spot or by hanging, or by sending them to a military court in Canada...... These people were not of much use to the German army at this time. On the one hand, this was due to the small number of soldiers, and on the other hand, the German army focused on the quality of the army, and the integration of deserters into the army would have an impact on the quality.

But.

When the tide of the war changed, that is, after the defeat of the Battle of Stalingrad and especially the Battle of Kursk, the German army generally lost confidence in winning the war, so the number of deserters surged, by 43 there were more than 60,000, and in 44 more than 200,000.

At the same time, the overall quality of the German army also declined sharply, so there was value in the reuse of deserters. Naturally, the Germans also had units similar to "punishment battalions...... Reformatory camps (or probation camps),

If the German army had such troops at this time, then there would be no need to think about it, and sending these probationary troops up could also be regarded as treating them in the same way as others.

The problem is that now the Germans do not have such troops.

When General Stryk hesitated, the staff officer gave a suggestion: "General, can we send Romanian troops or Italian troops......

Before the staff officer could finish speaking, General Stryk raised his hand to stop the staff officer's words.

This idea was also thought about by General Stryker, but he quickly dismissed it.

The reason is simple, the armies of the client states have a "temper", especially Italy and Romania

Because the former colony Libya in Africa was occupied by the Allies and even the mainland was in danger of being attacked by the Allies, the voice of "choosing sides" in the country was very loud, and if the German army used the Italian army as cannon fodder...... They found an excuse for being politically disadvantageous to Germany.

Similarly, Romania, Hungary, etc., these client states are not very willing to join this war, but more with a kind of speculative or do not want to offend Germany, domestic opposition has always existed, and Stryk does not want to affect the "friendship" of the "allies" because of Mamayev Gang.

After thinking about it, General Stryk asked, "Are the 'Dora' troops ready?" ”

"Carl is ready!" The staff officer replied: "But 'Dora' will take a few more days!" ”

General Stryk nodded and said, "Let them wait a few days!" ”

The order that came to the 1st Infantry Regiment was not as simple as "wait a few days", but told them to use all their tools to build stronger fortifications, especially the communication trenches leading to the second line.

"What are they going to do?" Hearing this order, Eberhard couldn't help but ask in confusion: "Build strong fortifications, and a communication trench to the second line?" Isn't that contradictory? ”

On the surface, this does seem contradictory, with strong fortifications for local defense, and communication trenches leading to the second line for retreat.

But Qin Chuan understood the implicit meaning of this order.

"Dora!" Qin Chuan only said two words.

Eberhard couldn't help but let out an "oh".

It should be said that this strategy was correct, and if the use of the "Dora" cannon to destroy the buildings of Stalingrad or the dense tunnels like cobwebs did not do much, then the bombing of the Mamayev Hill was obviously more meaningful, both in terms of tactics and strategy.

Of course, the Germans would not have exposed this preparation to the Soviets too soon. Therefore, from time to time, German artillery would fire a volley of shells at the Mamayev post, or occasionally a few "Stuka" fighters would dive down and drop bombs on the Mamayev post.

But apparently the Soviets took advantage of this time to strengthen the defense of Mamayev Heights.

The defense here refers not only to the Soviet army's fortifications on the Mamayev post, but also to the Soviet army's increased anti-aircraft fire in the vicinity.

Most of these anti-aircraft fires were deployed on the eastern bank of the Volga...... Not the east bank, to be exact, but a sandbar located on the Volga.

The Volga River is characterized by a small drop and a gentle current, a 3,692-kilometer-long river that can be called the longest inland river in the world, with a total drop of only 190 meters.

As a result of the gentle current, there are many sandbars in the river formed by quicksand deposits, and even islands of considerable size.

There were several such islands between Stalingrad and the east coast, and the Soviets had deployed large quantities of anti-aircraft equipment and troops on these small islands to provide anti-aircraft cover for their transportation of supplies.