"Dora" is just one of the cannons, along with three "Karls" and six "Gamma...... These cannons, which were originally intended to attack the fortress of Sevastopol, did not work there, but they showed their might in Stalingrad.

Shells slammed into the Mamayev post, each striking causing a shaking like an earthquake.

Although ground-penetrating shells such as "Leshilin" were mainly used against underground fortifications, while the Soviet fortifications on the Mamayev post were ground fortifications, this did not prevent the shells from killing and injuring Soviet troops.

The reason is that these ground-penetrating bombs penetrate into the ground and explode, although they cannot produce a large amount of shrapnel to kill and injure personnel located on the surface, their energy is almost absorbed by the ground, and the vibration they produce is enough to shock the surrounding Soviet troops to death.

Therefore, when the Germans occupied the Mamayev Gang again, most of the Soviet corpses they saw were not wounded, but bled to death.

Of course, the Germans sent to occupy Mamayev Gang did not have many troops, only two platoons...... In fact, the Germans were hesitant at first, they did not know how many Soviet garrisons still survived, and they were worried that two platoons would not be enough to occupy the hill, but soon found that this worry was unnecessary, and the Soviet troops stationed on it were stunned and powerless to resist, even if they were not killed.

In this way, control of the Mamayev Gang was once again returned to the Germans.

This was by no means good news for the Soviets, because twenty minutes later the German artillery roared again, and several huge shells exploded at the central crossing...... This time, the cannons were grenades, and even Khrushchev, who was commanding the Southeastern Front on the east bank of the Volga, was shocked.

In this respect, these cannons still played a certain role, for example, in damaging the morale of the Soviet army...... Soviet soldiers can't help but wonder what would happen to Stalingrad if such a cannon was allowed to fire one after another at Stalingrad? Can it be kept?

After shaking the Soviet army's belief in victory and its determination to hold on, the next battle was easier.

But in fact, there was no need for Soviet soldiers to think like this.

The reason for this was that there were not many shells for these giant cannons...... 35 rounds for "Dora", 75 rounds for "Karl" and 102 rounds for "Gamma".

This was determined by the difficulty of transporting shells from giant artillery and the logistical difficulties of Berlin to Stalingrad.

Among them, the life of the barrel of the "Dora" cannon can barely reach 150 rounds...... In fact, there is a danger of exploding the chamber after 100 rounds, but since the "Dora" is very expensive and it is basically impossible to replace the barrel at the front line, it is considered worthwhile and appropriate to use maintenance means and risk another 50 shells.

But the Soviets didn't know about this, so it was inevitable that they would panic.

Rodimtsev is one of them.

He later organized a "punishment battalion" to launch two more attacks on Mamayev Hills.

Similar to before, it was not difficult to capture Mamayev Hill, and it can even be said that the Germans took the initiative to cede their positions.

However, it was impossible to garrison the Mamayev Heights, because the Germans could "empty" the Mamayev Posts with huge artillery at any time.

Among them, Rodimtsev also thought of various tactics, hoping to avoid the threat of German artillery.

For example, only a small number of troops were sent to attack Mamayev Heights.

This tactic seemed to be correct, because if the Germans used giant artillery bombardment, they would waste ammunition for the small number of Soviet troops.

But Rodimtsev was completely wrong in this regard...... You must know that the German troops guarding the Mamayev post are the soldiers of the First Infantry Corps, they are equipped with MP43s, even if there are only one squad or two squads, but their firepower is much stronger than that of a company of the Soviet army.

As a result, the small troops sent by Rodimtsev did not pose a threat to the German army at all, and the Germans easily beat them back in three or two strokes.

For example, Rodimtsev hoped to drive the Germans from Mamayev with the same artillery method......

The idea itself was correct, the Germans could control Mamayev with artillery and a small infantry garrison, and so could the Soviets.

The problem is that the power of the German artillery at a certain moment is far from being comparable to the field artillery of the Soviet army. At the same time, the quality of the Soviet soldiers and individual equipment were far inferior to those of the German army, so they failed again and again in the retribution.

In desperation, Rodimtsev could only report the situation to Chuikov.

"I don't think the plan for the direct occupation of Mamayev Gang is feasible, Comrade Chuikov!" "The main reason is that the Mamayev Gang has been locked by German artillery fire, and any operation to occupy the Mamayev Gang is meaningless!" Rodimtsev said! ”

Chuikov had been following the fighting at Mamayev Gang for a long time, so he knew very well that Rodimtsev was telling the truth...... Rodimtsev is certainly not a coward, but that doesn't mean he can make senseless sacrifices with his troops.

However, it's one thing to understand, it's another to give up.

"Comrade Rodimtsev!" After thinking about it, Chuikov replied: "I don't think you know the importance of the Mamayev Gang without me, we have no other choice, and we must regain control of it in our hands at all costs!" Do you understand? ”

"Yes, Comrade Chuikov!" Rodimtsev reluctantly put down the phone.

In fact, he knew this result, because it was related to the supply problem of Stalingrad, and the battle of losing Mamayev Post could almost be said to be unfought.

Thinking of this, Rodimtsev could only grit his teeth and said: "Then there is only one way!" ”

Rodimtsev's method is also a stupid method, but on the battlefield it is often a stupid method that works, and this method is to fight the Germans in a real way, fighting positional warfare.

In this case, if we want to fight a positional war, the first thing to rule out is that we can no longer let the "punishment battalion" go up, and if we continue to let the "punishment camp" go up, we will still fall into the previous pit, and we will either be repulsed by a small number of German troops or killed in batches...... In fact, after several charges, there was not much left of the "punishment battalion" of 1,000 people, and it was impossible to fight with the "punishment battalion" if they wanted to.

Rodimtsev thought of the ...... Let the 13th Guards Infantry Division go head-to-head with the Germans, that is, gun-to-gun, bayonet against bayonet.

Rodimtsev is confident that the 13th Guards Infantry Division is also elite and is not completely out of chance against the Germans.

Of course, in order to avoid being bombed by the Germans with too many troops at once, Rodimtsev decided to use "refueling tactics" at Mamayev Posts.