People make mistakes, so Zhukov makes mistakes too.

In fact, this cannot be said to be Zhukov's mistake, but he, the supreme deputy commander-in-chief, was ordered by Stalin.

Stalin made the biggest mistake by changing his strategic goal to get in touch with Stalingrad.

This mistake decided that the Stalingrad Front had to launch a strong offensive against the Germans.

With this strategic mistake, Zhukov had very little room to maneuver, and he could only order the troops to attack, and not fully prepared.

On the other hand, it was the Germans who adopted a more sophisticated defensive tactic in depth.

The German lines around Kotlubán did not have a clear line of defense, or their line was flexible, and scattered partisan groups were arranged in front of the line.

This was set up by Paulus, commander of the German Sixth Army, in view of the general lack of communication equipment and the confusion of communication and coordination in the Soviet army.

This was a clever maneuver, because it caused a considerable number of Soviet units to not even know where the German lines were, and to suddenly find themselves in the midst of the encirclement of the enemy, or to attack with the thought that the enemy lines were ahead, and there was no enemy at all.

Thus, in this 12-day battle, the Stalingrad Front committed a total of 250,000 soldiers, and the casualties were as high as 80,000.

In addition, the four armies had a total of 400 tanks and lost 300 of them.

In addition, there were countless losses of artillery, vehicles, etc., many of which were destroyed by the Soviet troops without even seeing the enemy.

All of these casualties only pushed the line forward by 11 kilometers, and it was possible that the Germans would be pushed back soon after.

Major Mikhailvich looked at Shulka and asked: "If the Stalingrad Front is unable to keep the offensive, does it mean that we ......"

Shulka nodded silently.

This is certain, the loss of the threat from the north by the Germans meant that they could concentrate all their forces against Stalingrad.

Just then, the Command's phone rang, and Akimovich answered.

Then he came back and said to the crowd in frustration: "The call of the Stalingrad Front, they have stopped the offensive!" ”

As if in response to this, the sound of artillery outside had subsided considerably.

"The Germans seem to have slowed down their offensive?" Major Mikhailvich looked at the crowd with some surprise.

"They did slow down the offensive!" Akimovich replied: "In all directions!" ”

"But...... Shouldn't they have attacked harder? Major Mikhailvich asked suspiciously.

"It's the calm before the storm!" Golikov replied: "The enemy is planning a new offensive, and when that moment comes...... The offensive will be much more fierce than it is now! ”

Command fell silent for a moment.

"What should we do?" Major Mikhailvich asked: "I mean, what can we do to prepare?" ”

"We don't know how the enemy will attack!" Akimovich replied: "So, of course, it is impossible to prepare!" ”

"If there's anything we can prepare, it's supplies!" Golikov answered.

It's obvious.

Because from the very beginning, the battle for Stalingrad revolved around supplies, and the Germans did everything possible to block the supply of Soviet troops, and the Soviets tried their best to lift the blockade.

Even the battle at Mamayev Hill was no exception.

"We have some supplies stored at the tractor plant!" Major Mikhailvich said.

"I know!" Golikov smiled bitterly: "They are already used up!" ”

Shulka had long expected this, an army group of hundreds of thousands of people, and they all needed ammunition.

In addition to this, there are the people trapped in Stalingrad, who need food, medicine, etc.

These are almost astronomical sums, and Shulka's storage of supplies at the tractor factory can only be described as a drop in the bucket.

"We estimate!" Golikov said: "Tomorrow at dawn, the Germans will concentrate their air power to block the Volga River with all their might, and at the same time will speed up the pace of the offensive in order to consume the supplies of our army, and the moment when there is a shortage of supplies, it will be the time when Stalingrad is lost!" ”

Soon Golikov's fears were fulfilled.

In fact, Golikov didn't guess right, because the Germans imposed a blockade on the Volga that night.

"It's a German plane!" Akimovich, who received the call, widened his eyes: "They blew up three of our transport ships!" ”

"But it's night!" Golikov asked: "How can their planes destroy our transport ships?" ”

"I ...... I don't know either, Comrade Golikov! Akimovich was a little panicked: "But they just did it!" ”

This caused quite a bit of panic even in Stalingrad.

Because most of Stalingrad's supplies came from night transports, the Germans were now able to blow up their transport ships at night...... This is almost telling everyone in Stalingrad: "You're finished!" ”

At this time, the 82nd Regiment was still resting at the metallurgical plant.

The metallurgical plant was not far from the transport channel of the Volga, so all night there was the whistling of aircraft, explosions, and the roar of anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns.

However, anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns did not do much during the night, as they usually fought indiscriminately without seeing the target...... This is especially the case with anti-aircraft guns, which need to know the approximate altitude of the enemy aircraft, then adjust the delay fuse of the shell, and then when the shell hits the air, it will explode at a similar height and damage the enemy aircraft with shrapnel.

Therefore, it is almost impossible to hit the target without seeing the enemy aircraft.

At this time, the anti-aircraft machine gun was more reliable, because it could roughly judge the direction of the enemy plane by the sound of whistling and the dark shadows in the air and the feeling of the searchlight swaying through the fuselage, and then fire a shuttle of bullets regardless of the three, seven, twenty-one.

However, it was clear that the German fighters had the advantage.

Because soon, there was another "boom", a fire broke out on the river, and another transport ship was blown up.

"How did they see the transport?" Major Mikhailvich asked.

Shulka didn't answer.

He knew what was going on...... It was supposed to be BF110G4, a night fighter developed by the Germans, which locked onto the target by means of an on-board radar.

However, this kind of night fighter is generally used in night air combat, because air combat has a certain height and is not easy to fall headlong to the ground.

Unexpectedly, the Germans, in order to blockade Stalingrad, actually risked crashing and threw it into the night blockade of the Volga.

Later, Shulka learned that the reason why the Germans dared to do this was because they had set up ground-based radar base stations in the upper and lower reaches of the Volga River, and these ground-based radar base stations were used in conjunction with airborne radars to greatly improve the BF110G4's night combat capabilities.