Dense gunfire soon rang out, and the Soviets fell one by one on the way to the charge.

Urban warfare is much more difficult and complicated than field warfare, because there are places to hide everywhere in the city, such as a remnant brick wall, or the wreckage of a tank, or even a pile of cement or bricks.

But the Germans clearly had an advantage in this regard, since they had bazookas...... A whistling rocket blew up a brick wall and buried the Soviet soldiers hiding behind it on the spot.

Another rocket flew past, and the exploding steel balls hit the Soviet troops hiding behind the ruins with a scream.

However, the Soviets continued to charge despite casualties, which was characteristic of the Soviet offensive...... This is not entirely because of Order No. 227, but also because of the backwardness of communication equipment, and the Chinese volunteers also have such defects in the Korean battlefield: the battalion and company levels are not equipped with radios, and the telephone lines cannot be drawn to the front for a while when they charge, so they often can't get it back when they are released to fight.

A part of the Soviets rushed over the rubble to the German lines, but a barbed wire fence in front of them soon led them to despair...... The German soldiers laid the barbed wire in a way that they were placed in the depressions of the ruins, which made it impossible for the Soviets to find the barbed wire from a distance, so they were not prepared.

Some of the Soviets did not even notice them in the dark, only to be immediately pricked by barbed wire barbs and spikes.

A volley of grenades was thrown, and this part of the Soviet army was quickly dealt with, and the Soviet charge was also defeated, leaving only the sound of artillery and the screams of some wounded on the position.

That night, the Soviets organized a total of five charges, but each charge was easily beaten back by the Germans, and the Soviets could not move forward after paying heavy casualties...... To be exact, they advanced some distance and occupied a few buildings, but those were abandoned by the Germans on their own initiative.

Early the next morning, as soon as it was dark, the Germans launched a counteroffensive.

Perhaps because last night's crushing defeat dealt a blow to the strength and morale of the Soviet army, the German counteroffensive the next day actually advanced 500 meters into the depth of the Soviet army.

This alarmed Chuikov, who was commanding in the second line.

"How many people did we lose yesterday?" Chuikov asked.

"More than 11,000 people!" Krylov replied with a large number.

He couldn't be sure because he didn't know if there were any soldiers who had escaped or were hiding somewhere...... Although a series of political policies implemented by Chuikov had boosted the morale of the Soviet army to a considerable extent, it was still impossible to prevent some soldiers from deserting under such pressure.

Chuikov couldn't help but be silent.

He had already organized all his forces in Stalingrad, including a militia of 50,000 civilians, 75,000 men who had been recruited into the 62nd Army to fight like soldiers, and a large number of women, elderly people had been mobilized to serve as transporters, nurses, telephone operators or radio operators, and even children between the ages of thirteen and sixteen had been armed to join the fighting forces.

But if more than 10,000 people are killed and wounded every day, how many days will these people be able to withstand for a few days?

After thinking about it, Chuikov gave Nikita, a member of the Military Committee of the South-Eastern Front. Sergeyevich. Khrushchev sent a telegram: "Comrade Khrushchev, if such a battle continues for a few more days, my army group will be annihilated. Our reserves have been depleted again. There is an urgent need for 2 or 3 new divisions here! ”

Khrushchev called back without thinking about it: "You will get the troops you want, Comrade Chuikov, you need to think about it...... Just how to hold the line! ”

Khrushchev did not lie, and in the next twenty days Khrushchev organized six well-equipped infantry divisions to cross the Volga to reinforce Stalingrad, and these troops were well rested, two of which were quite combat-ready Guards Infantry Divisions.

But the arrival of reinforcements did not make Chuikov feel easy.

On the contrary, the situation remains dire.

In his headquarters, Chuikov stared at a hand-drawn map of the city of Stalingrad in front of him.

The map is ten feet tall and six feet wide.

It is hand-drawn because before that the USSR did not have a single operational map in meters at all...... No one would have thought that someone would actually hit Stalingrad, and no one would have thought that the enemy would fight a street corner, a block or even a wall in Stalingrad.

Thus, it was not until the Germans surrounded Stalingrad and the Soviets were determined to defend the city that this detailed map of every building and street in Stalingrad was urgently produced.

It's just that the city doesn't look like a map at all, because it's on fire and in ruins.

"Comrade Chuikov!" Krylov served a pot of millet porridge to Chuikov.

Chuikov shook his head in annoyance, took the millet porridge and put it on the table next to him, and said: "The Germans have thought of a way to deal with the authentic, Comrade Krylov!" ”

Krylov nodded.

This is obvious, and last night's battle illustrates it.

"The Germans are smart!" Krylov replied: "It's not easy to deal with!" ”

"It's some of them!" Chuikov corrected.

"What?"

"The first corps that participated in the Battle of Holm was also in the ranks of the assault on Stalingrad!" "They can think of a way to defend the tunnels in Holm, and of course they can think of ways to deal with the tunnels!" ”

Krylov couldn't help but let out an "oh", which he didn't expect, and couldn't help but secretly admire Chuikov's thoughtfulness.

"Before that!" "If the enemy lays 200 meters during the day, we can fight back 200 meters or even 300 meters at night, so that the battle will be stalemate, and both sides will push around in the ruins," Chuikov said. But now ......"

Pointing to the map on the wall, Chuikov said: "We can't fight back at night, but the Germans can use air power to cut down 500 meters during the day, so it won't take a few days for Stalingrad to be completely occupied by them." Or even if we don't get occupied, we lose the space we need to defend! ”

Chuikov was right, the total depth of defense was only five kilometers, and even if the German army started from scratch without occupying an inch of land, it would only take ten days to reach the Volga River with 500 meters a day.

Of course, this was not an occupation, but a division of Stalingrad into several pieces that could not be connected with each other.

But this is no longer very different from the occupation, because there is only one pier, which means that reinforcements and supplies can only be sent to one of them.