The 21st Panzer Division then made several attempts to open the passage from the airfield to Mamayev Hill again, but was unsuccessful...... At this time, the Soviet army already knew the importance of the Mamayev Gang, and at the same time they knew that if the German army attacked the Mamayev Gang, it would inevitably be the situation that the central ferry was blocked by the German artillery fire before, so the Soviet army built several defensive lines at the airport and organized a large number of artillery fire to blockade it.

This time the Germans had no choice.

The German army was able to easily hit the airport before, because the Soviet army did not have the defense and the artillery fire was not concentrated here, at this time, the Soviet army built a defensive line in the airfield with buildings, and at the same time concentrated the artillery fire in the direction of the airport...... Then the open terrain of the airfield became an obstacle for the German tanks.

Because Soviet artillery observers could see German tanks from a long distance above the building, the German tanks were covered by Soviet artillery fire before they even entered the airfield.

At the same time, the Soviets used the buildings and ruins of several streets between the school and the airport to launch "close tactics" and "guerrilla tactics" against the 21st Panzer Division.

This should be said to be correct, and Chuikov accurately judged that although an army like the 21st Panzer Division could hardly match it in conventional warfare, this was not the case in unconventional warfare. Although the German army still has the advantage in terms of casualty ratio, it is much better than the previous state of almost 10 to 1, not to mention that most of the two divisions that Chuikov put into the area around the airport are still recruits armed by the common people.

Qin Chuan also did not have a good solution to this situation.

Sometimes Qin Chuan wonders if this battle in history was too cruel and too hard, so fate didn't want Qin Chuan to win this battle so easily.

However, compared to this, Qin Chuan believed that the commander of the Soviet army, that is, Chuikov, was a terrible opponent. For if nothing else, "close tactics" and "urban guerrilla warfare" are two good tactics, and they are even much stronger than the defense of Moscow commanded by Zhukov...... The reason why the Battle of Moscow is so famous is more because of the strategic significance of this victory, and the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad is the embodiment of Chuikov's commanding art.

Of course, Zhukov also has the credit for this.

Qin Chuan sat in the corner of the wall while smoking a cigarette while thinking about these questions, and he believed that if the situation of the war continued as it was now, the German army would still be likely to win.

The reason is as mentioned before, everything Qin Chuan did for the German army, such as buying time, such as taking Baku so that the German army would not have to fight on two fronts, and then burning the artillery factory and the tractor factory, etc., should affect the final outcome of this battle.

After all, in history, the Germans even captured the main city in the end, leaving only a few factories in the northern industrial zone.

The question is how much will the 21st Panzer Division pay for fighting like this, how many casualties will it take, and will there be its own among these casualties?!

More importantly...... Even if the Germans take Stalingrad in the end, will they be able to guarantee that they will not be counter-surrounded by the Soviet army? You must know that as soon as the Don and Volga rivers freeze in winter, the fragile flanks of the German army, defended by client states, will be exposed.

From this point of view, the Germans needed to take Stalingrad faster and then move their forces back to the right and left to defend themselves in order to consolidate their gains.

Qin Chuan didn't dare to think about it, because no one dared to guarantee absolute safety or victory on the battlefield, even himself.

"Frustrating, isn't it?" Colonel Slain stood in front of Qin Chuan.

"Colonel!" Qin Chuan wanted to get up and salute, but was stopped by Colonel Slane.

He patted Qin Chuan on the shoulder, sat beside Qin Chuan and begged him for a cigarette, and after lighting it, he raised his head and spit out a puff of smoke.

"You should get used to this!" Colonel Slane said.

"What?" Qin Chuan didn't understand Colonel Slain's words.

"I mean failure!" Colonel Slane said, "That's how the battlefield should be, that's normal!" Although this failure is not due to your fault! ”

"Yes, Colonel!" Qin Chuan replied: "I know! ”

"You know what?" Colonel Slain continued: "Although I know this, I am a little uncomfortable now! ”

"Oh, why?"

"Because you've barely failed before!" Colonel Slain said, "I don't even know what it's like to fail!" ”

Qin Chuan thought about it and found that it was really like what Colonel Slane said, after he made a certain suggestion, the 1st Infantry Regiment and even the 21st Armored Division would always be victorious.

But then again, I know the development and focus of the battle situation with a lot of anger, and it's normal to always win the battle!

But this normality seems to be abnormal in the eyes of others, so this failure is also a good thing.

"Major!" At this time, the signal soldier stepped forward and saluted Qin Chuan: "The general asked you to go to the headquarters!" ”

Qin Chuan and Colonel Slane glanced at each other, and both of them were a little surprised in their eyes, because this time they were directly looking for Qin Chuan instead of Colonel Slain.

But what surprised the two even more was still to come, they thought that the "general" mentioned by the signal corps was Major General Stryker, but they didn't expect it to be Admiral Paulus.

Paulus's headquarters was on the west bank of the Don, in a town opposite Karachi, more than a hundred kilometers from Stalingrad.

This is not to say that Paulus was timid, but that the Battle of Stalingrad had two fronts, one in the northern line and the other in Stalingrad, and it was wise for Paulus to ensure that his command of these two fronts remained on the west bank of the Don.

However, this made it difficult for Qin Chuan to meet Paulus: he first had to take a car to the airport more than ten kilometers away, and then take a Junkers transport plane to the west bank of the Don River...... This is still in the case of Paulus specially arranging transport planes for Qin Chuan, if you follow the regular route, you have to take a car to Karachi first, then cross the river by boat from Karachi, and then take a car from Karachi to the headquarters.

In this way, although it is only more than 100 kilometers, it is impossible to do it in a few days, including the waiting time in the middle of the journey.

It is also conceivable how bad the logistics of the German army from Berlin to Stalingrad were, especially since there were several large rivers in the Soviet Union, and the bridges were either not there or were blown up by the Soviet Union, so the German transport had to be loaded and unloaded repeatedly.

Of course, these don't need Qin Chuan's concern.

Qin Chuan looked from the window of the plane at the German transport line that was busy like ants moving, and what he thought about was why Paulus wanted to meet him alone at this time.