"Alice, Tank No. 113, when you return to the assembly area, write a letter of inspection and hand it to the battalion headquarters! The 1st Company cooperates with the grenadiers to control the woods! The trailer of the maintenance team will give priority to getting back the captured new Soviet tank. "Inside the headset, the battalion commander made a little light of this violation of war discipline, and it was not once or twice that the 113 car crew did this kind of occasional violation of discipline.

But just as teachers dote on the students in their classes, commanders don't want to blame their brave soldiers too much. Some soldiers who have personality and can fight tough battles and can bring back victories are something that all commanders are willing to tolerate. At least for the battalion headquarters of the 502nd battalion, everyone liked the No. 113 car group.

The truth in the world is almost universal, so don't wonder why teachers are extremely easy to get along with for the top students in school, and don't wonder why for the backbone of the business, the strict boss is kind to his own father...... Sometimes I have to regret to admit that the world is extraordinarily tolerant of those who can afford it.

The first advantage is that it can provide a good reason for a ceasefire when no one wants to fight, and the second is that it can also provide cover for a dark moon and high winds when some people want to do something.

Just as Alice was writing about her inspection in a huff, the German position suddenly began a somewhat hasty artillery attack, and 15 self-propelled 150 mm howitzers that followed the advance of the armored unit let out a deadly roar in the night that should have been silent.

The shells smashed on the positions of the Soviet Red Army, setting off a dazzling burst of fire, but at night, this light did not last long, and in just a few tens of seconds, everything returned to darkness. The artillery fire was not measured in any way, and seemed to be just to vent the pent-up anger in the heart.

"Boom!" An explosion occurred on the edge of the Soviet position, and a huge wave of air poured into the trench not far away, making it impossible for everyone to open their eyes. The shell had little accuracy and had little effect other than leaving a huge crater in front of the position.

In the trenches, a Soviet veteran held a steel helmet in one hand and did not forget to protect the cigarette in his mouth with the other. In order to promote their firepower and reduce casualties, the Germans almost never attacked at night, so the Soviet veteran did not panic at all, just shook his head, shook off the gravel and dust on his body, and cursed while smoking: "These damn Germans, I don't know what went crazy today." ”

Next to him, another Soviet soldier was holding a gun. It seemed that he heard some strange sounds, poked his head out and looked at it a few times, but he didn't find anything suspicious worth noting, he shrank back again, shook his head and said, "I don't know why they opened fire, there is no accurate ...... at all"

German artillery was not their strong point, at least not compared to the rest of the army. However, this is only compared with the other branches of the powerful German army, the strength is not strong, at least in the horizontal comparison of the countries that mainly participated in the war, the German artillery is in fact quite powerful.

It turned out that the German army had fewer artillery and average firing range, which has always been the two stubborn problems that plagued the German artillery support. At present, the German army has made up for the dilemma of a small number of artillery by using captured British 140 mm guns and 203 mm heavy guns, and allowing France, Belgium and other occupation areas to join in artillery production.

As for the firing range, it has not always been the main criterion for the Germans to measure the performance of artillery, they prefer lightweight towed guns, or assault guns and self-propelled guns simply modified from tank chassis. To put it bluntly, the Germans like artillery that can keep up with their advancing speed, and as for other performance, they can only be ranked behind.

As a result, the tactics used by the German artillery were different from those of other countries, as they were good at moving very close to the front line, using accurate burst fire or short salvos to support the front-line infantry or armoured troops, but they did not like to perform suppressive fire, which made them feel inferior.

Until now, the 105-mm self-propelled howitzers of the German Army have been suppressed by the 122-mm howitzers equipped by the Soviet Union, and the German 150-mm howitzers have nothing to do with the 152-mm guns of the Soviet Union. But these German artillerymen had their own pride, and they used mules, horses, and cars to accomplish the feat of transporting thousands of artillery pieces along with tanks in the world.

Looking at the horizon that kept exploding in the distance, Wren held the lunch box in his hand, and for the first time, he felt that at that moment, Alice, who suddenly opened fire, had a smell that fascinated him, and a certain wonderful feeling appeared in his heart, indescribable, inexplicable.

"What kind of nerves are the artillery of the 1st Panzer Army. André also looked at the horizon, where the occasional explosion appeared, and then drowned in the darkness of the night as the explosion vanished.

"There is no attack for no reason, if it seems that the other party has made some strange moves, then you have to think carefully about what terrible tricks the other party is hiding under these chaotic surface covers. Wren glanced at Andre, then pointed to a distant place: "I bet the sound of such a fight, if it's not covering up something, then it's really hell." ”

......

"If it's not covering up something, then it's really hell!" Rokossovsky, who was in the hidden command headquarters on the outskirts of Stalingrad, heard the news of the rumbling of artillery on the front-line positions, walked to the map with his clothes on, frowned and said to his deputy: "The Germans have never wasted ammunition so indiscriminately, and it is absolutely ...... for such a thing to suddenly appear."

Suddenly, he was stunned, and then looked at his deputy: "Let the air defense forces be on alert! There may be planes on the other side crossing the border!" He thought of the attack methods that the Germans might arrange, possibly a large-scale night bombardment, in order to hide people's eyes, indiscriminately firing artillery on the front line, and covering up the sound of engines that were obvious in the silent night sky.

Then he asked another officer beside him, "By the way, the radar from the United States...... It's the kind of equipment that can detect the opponent's plane, how is the assembly?"

"Your Excellency, the operators from the United States are training our soldiers in the use of the service, and they cannot be put into actual ......combat at this time," the officer replied with some humility. After all, for the Soviet Union, this kind of high-tech gadget is still a very rare device, and there are not many people who can understand and use it. First of all, the instruments were written in English, which limited the use of such equipment by many Soviet soldiers.

"Don't be in a hurry! Now we should operate according to our night air defense plan! Don't mess up with yourself!" Rokossovsky is obviously not in the mood to pursue the progress of using American equipment at this time. He also knew that a total of 10 sets of this equipment had been sent, two of which were secretly dismantled and analyzed, and most of the rest were deployed in the direction of Moscow, and he was able to get one set, mostly because the city behind him was called Stalingrad.

"Sound the air defense sirens in the city! The Germans have been making such a fuss for more than two hours, and we need to be prepared to prevent German planes from suddenly appearing over the city!" the officer of the air defense department advised.

"Do you plan to bombard the front line once by the Germans, and you will sound the air defense alarm and mobilize once?" Rokossovsky frowned and asked. The officer, too, knew that his actions were a little reckless, and lowered his head and stopped talking.

"The size of the aircraft that can be dispatched at night is limited, and the bomb delivery accuracy is very low, so there is no need to be too nervous. Rokossovsky always felt that there was something strange about the German bombers taking off at night, but in fact, the results of the bombers that could be covered with such fanfare were limited.

His keen intuition made him feel that the Germans were not covering for the night attack of the bombers, but for what exactly, he really had no clue: airborne paratroopers were his concern, but the airborne paratroopers on the front line with such a density of troops were undoubtedly a way of killing the enemy by killing a thousand and losing one thousand and five by one, and how desperate must the German commander be to come up with such a way of looking for his own death?

When the German bombers entered the skies over Stalingrad, the air defense alarm was sounded, but the German planes did not seem to be many, maybe only ten or twenty, and these bombers hastily dropped their bombs, blew up some inconsequential things, and then flew away in a hurry.

It was only at this time that all Soviet alerts were lifted, and most people breathed a sigh of relief - it was clear that the Germans had only used artillery to harass the front line in order to cover this unsuccessful night bombardment. At least that's what most of the commanders in the Soviet Red Army thought.

However, Rokossovsky was still not sure, because he felt that his intuition would not deceive him, so he felt that the Germans still had some more terrible purpose behind this attack, and only in this way could they explain why the Germans were so aggressive and trying to cover up something.

On the German position, Wren listened to the roar of the engines of the returning German bombers after deliberately lowering the altitude, and showed a strange smile. He was more sure than anyone else that this time the German surprise attack was not ordinary, but a real and treacherous blow that had been prepared for a long time.