Then Chuikov began several tasks in Stalingrad:

The first is the mobilization of the army.

This work was given to Chuikov, a member of the Military Committee of the 62nd Army, that is, political commissar Gurov.

Chuikov and Gurov discussed a whole set of plans for doing ideological work, such as what would happen if they fell into the hands of the Germans or surrendered to the Germans, what would happen to his family, and if he resisted heroically, even if he died, there would be all kinds of benefits, and so on. In short, it is a combination of encouragement, intimidation, and ruthless punishment to motivate those who have lost faith.

Secondly, it is to cut off the retreat of the 62nd Army and even the people.

It was not difficult to do this, Stalingrad was already surrounded by German troops on three sides, and the only way out was the port in the middle of the city of Stalingrad.

Chuikov sent a team of guards to strictly block the port, basically only entering and not leaving, that is, it was okay to enter Stalingrad from the east coast, but not to think about going out from Stalingrad.

The reason why "basic" is used here is that there are still wounded in Stalingrad who have lost their combat effectiveness and need to be sent out, and sometimes there are correspondents who send documents and intelligence back and forth...... The Soviet army's communications equipment was very backward, and the method of sending messages by signal soldiers and even carrier pigeons still existed.

But even if these people want to pass, they have to go through strict scrutiny.

Thirdly, it is to organize the people.

This was done crudely during Lopatin's command, where he simply distributed some of his weapons and equipment to the workers, and then assigned a few junior officers to lead them.

Lopatin is understandable because he doesn't believe he can hold Stalingrad at all, so it doesn't make much difference between doing it and not doing it, it's just a formality.

Chuikov is different.

He knew very well that although the common people were not trained, because Stalingrad was their home, and because the common people had not experienced war, and certainly not experienced helpless defeats again and again like the 62nd Army, they tended to have a very naïve heroic plot.

To put it simply, their morale and spirit will be much better than the remnants of the 62nd Army, which has been battered again and again.

Of course, the main force of the battle will not be these people.

But if these civilians were organized and co-organized with the soldiers of the 62nd Army, their spirit and morale would in turn stimulate the Soviet soldiers of the 62nd Army......

It is easy to understand if the soldiers who are despondent see those civilians who have no military training in their eyes and want to fight the Germans with their fists in their eyes, or see these civilians bravely fighting the enemy with guns, or see civilians die heroically on the battlefield...... These military-trained soldiers were too embarrassed to think about flinching and running away.

On the other hand, Chuikov also classified the common people.

For example, those who can fight are issued rifles to fight like soldiers, and those who cannot fight are responsible for various tasks such as caring for the wounded, transporting supplies, cooking, and communicating on the second line.

The aim was to make use of everyone in Stalingrad and to make the best use of it.

It can also be seen from this that Chuikov is a very capable commander.

If other people are faced with this situation, that is, the mess left by Lopatin, I am afraid that they will be at a loss and don't know how to solve it, or they will be pale and complaining.

However, it took Chuikov a few days to improve the morale of the entire Stalingrad, and even because Chuikov successfully organized this mechanism of mutual encouragement between the army and the people, the 62nd Army and the people held out more and more bravely in the defensive battle until the last moment...... According to Soviet data, at the beginning Chuikov led 130,000 people, and when the Soviets began to counterattack at the end, only 239 of these 130,000 people survived.

In the process, there was another incident that happened:

After Chuikov gave the order to blockade the port and only enter and exit, a regimental commander and his subordinates tried to force their way through the port and escape back to the east coast.

Of course, this is absolutely inadmissible for Chuikov, and if the regimental commander is allowed to succeed, the whole system that Chuikov has established in Stalingrad will collapse, and the newly restored confidence and morale of the army and the people will be dealt another blow, and there will be a complete collapse.

Therefore, the angry Chuikov drove to the port in a jeep, went up and punched the regiment commander.

Since Chuikov did not wear a medal shortly after taking office, the regiment commander did not recognize the unsightly officer in front of him as the commander of the group army, so he fought back angrily.

Chuikov did not identify himself and did not call the guards, but chose to fight fist-to-fist with the regimental commander.

A regimental commander and the commander of a group army fought hand-to-hand, and I am afraid that I will not find a second case of this kind of thing even if I go through the entire history of the war.

In the end, Chuikov won and knocked the regiment commander unconscious.

According to the Soviet military order, especially Order No. 227, it is a capital crime to be a deserter, and it is also a capital crime to offend a commander, and at the same time, Chuikov also needs to stand up at this time, so many people think that this regiment commander is dead.

But Chuikov patted the dust on his body, then took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handed it to the soldiers beside him, saying: "When the regiment commander wakes up, give him the cigarette when he wakes up, and let him return to his post to continue commanding the battle." ”

Later, the regiment commander returned to his post, and never thought of running away again.

It wasn't until all of this was done that Chuikov began to focus on defense and enemy intelligence.

The Germans, including the 21st Panzer Division, were already preparing for a full-scale assault on Stalingrad.

The 21st Panzer Division was deployed west of Stalingrad as a reserve.

As mentioned earlier, Paulus's 6th Army was in some kind of competition with Hort's 4th Panzer Army, and Paulus did not want the 21st Panzer Division to be in the limelight in the Battle of Stalingrad again.

The reason is simple, Paulus thought that the next battle for Stalingrad would go well, as he said in the meeting where he flew to Hitler's bunker, the "Werewolf": "We have thwarted the offensive of the Soviets on the northern line, then the fall of Stalingrad is only a matter of time!" ”

In this case, Paulus, of course, did not want to take the lead in the capture of Stalingrad, and the first credit would fall to the 4th Panzer Army.

Paulus's excuse to General Stryk was: "You've done enough, now it's time for us to behave!" ”

But Qin Chuan knew that the result was likely to surprise Paulus.