The anti-aircraft guns were firing frantically into the sky, and these artillerymen were doing their best to defend their homeland. The soldiers desperately shook the wheel that controlled the direction of the anti-aircraft guns, hoping to make the weapons more lethal.

A German bomber dragged a long plume of smoke to the ground, snapping its wide wings in mid-air, and then burst into a huge flame on a hillside, leaving no one on board alive, not even a charred corpse.

But farther away, on the German bomber that had already flown past the anti-aircraft gun position, the bombardier was using his own eyes to aim at the important target that had been marked on the map through the accurate horizontal bombing device, and he calmly pressed the bomb controller, and then the bombs hanging inside the belly of the plane fell one after another by gravity.

Bombshell after bomb, falling in a less precise parabola, wind speed, and small bumps caused the bombs to change their downward trajectory until they landed on their targets. Then there was a huge explosion, the air wave kicked up dust, the vibration destroyed the structure of the building, the shock wave tore everything in the path of dispersion, the flames of the explosion swallowed all life, and a terrible explosion was completed in an instant.

The huge explosion that was completed in an instant caused a seven-storey building in Stalingrad to collapse in an instant, and steel bars and stones flew everywhere, and the civilians who did not have time to hide in the bomb shelter watched in horror what a terrible scene the first bomb fell on the peaceful city.

Soon they knew that this was only the beginning of a catastrophe, because there were not one, not two, but tens of thousands of bombs falling from the sky. More than 500 planes flew over the city, and at least 10,000 bombs were dropped on the city's streets and buildings.

As with other bombings of cities and fortifications, the Germans were accustomed to mixing a small amount of napalm with high-explosive aerial bombs to increase the effectiveness of their bombings, so that the whole city had to deal with not only shock waves and vibrations, but also unquenchable fires and terrible smoke.

However, it is not yet possible to think about the long-term term, and the effect of the incendiary bomb has not been reflected, and the picture that is now presented to all the people of Stalingrad is a suffocating explosion, a powerful explosion that makes people desperate, and an explosion that is terrible enough to collapse.

A building began to shake and collapse under the massive blast wave, and dust began to spread in all directions, pouring out of windows and doorways. Then the tall roof began to fall downward, and the tiles and some of the metal frames on top of it fell onto the surrounding streets, and finally one of the outer walls collapsed, but the inner structure twisted and stubbornly refused to fall.

Everything here was made up in an instant, everything here went from good to death, and now there were only corpses left on the streets that were once flat, leaving only huge craters and spreading panic.

At the other end of the city, as a focus of Soviet heavy industry, it is now a scorched earth, and the factories in another time and space, which the Germans lacked long-range bombers were not capable of destroying, were now easily destroyed, and it may take a long time to return to the previous production.

One butcher bomber after another flew over the city, dropping countless bombs on their target areas, the station was destroyed by the bombs, the railroad that passed through the city was blown into sections of scrap metal, and the locomotive that was parked in the station toppled the rails off the rails due to the huge impact force and toppled on the other side of the station platform.

Next to a burning house, a charred rag doll had its belly cracked, and the blackened cotton inside fluttered in the breeze. A nearby building was still in flames, and not far away the carriage overturned, and its cargo was scattered all over the ground.

No one has the leisure to care about those goods, because their houses have disappeared from the earth, and no one cares about those houses, because their relatives have also disappeared from the earth, and no one has to pay tribute to those relatives, because the next second they themselves have disappeared from the earth.

It may take a hundred years or more to build a huge city, and it seems that it will not take even a month to destroy it. When the Germans bombed London, they turned that beautiful city into ruins, and today, more than a year later, it is still being cleared of ruins and slowly rebuilt. So German pilots have a lot of experience in turning a bustling city into a rubble and graveyard.

In the hidden underground fortifications on the outskirts, Rokossovsky held a telescope and looked at Stalingrad, which had been unrecognizable, he seemed to be able to feel Stalin's anger when he heard the news, and now he could only smile bitterly, and then reluctantly ordered the troops to prepare for the rescue work after the bombing.

In fact, the Soviet Union was very well prepared for this air attack, and from the moment these terrible bombers crossed the line of actual control of the two armies, the Soviet side began to prepare for this air attack, but if they did not see this situation with their own eyes, no one could imagine how prohibitive this destruction was.

"In terms of firefighting, how many people can be dispatched to help, try to draw as many as possible, especially over at the factory, I heard that there are still a lot of unfinished T-34 tanks in it?" Rokossovsky asked, turning from the direction of the observation port, to the original officer of Stalingrad.

"There are still about 30 unpainted T-34 tanks in the factory, but it's hard to say how many are left now. An officer in the field of war equipment replied: "There are also some cannons, not many of them, but ...... Howitzers of caliber 122 with good performance. ”

"When it is reported, it is all treated as a wreck. Rokossovsky commanded softly: "Withhold all the remaining weapons, report them as destroyed, and equip them with the two recruit divisions mobilized locally in Stalingrad, and I will arm two more armored divisions before the Germans arrive, is there any problem?"

"Comrade General, this ...... We're ......," retorted an aging general.

However, his words were immediately interrupted by Rokossovsky, and very harshly: "Pull it out and deal with it according to the military law of treason...... When it was reported, it was said that he heroically rescued the factory materials when the enemy plane attacked, and was finally killed by the bomb. ”

"This ...... You ......!" Before the old general could speak, he was dragged out of cover by two expressionless Soviet soldiers.

Rokossovsky watched the man being dragged out, and then said slowly: "The Germans are approaching here, and I, as the commander-in-chief of the southern front who succeeded Timoshenko, don't have time to spend with you people, and now I have the final say here, understand?"

"Yes, Comrade General!" everyone stood up and saluted, making their position clear.

When Rokossovsky saw the bombing on an unprecedented scale, he really realized how heavy the burden was on his shoulders. When he attacked Liszt in the central region, he did not face the huge air superiority of the German army head-on, and took advantage of the snowfall that his troops were almost fighting in a plane to achieve a fairly reluctant record.

Now the weather is improving little by little, the snow is not continuous, and the ground forces he is facing have changed from the infantry-based Liszt E Army to the most elite German Army G, and the combat effectiveness is obviously not on the same level. So he felt the danger in front of him, and had to use tough means to strengthen the strength in his hands.

Not to mention a tank, a cannon, even if it is a shell or even a bullet, you must try your best to fight for it. Relying on the 400,000 troops in the Caucasus under his control, plus the 100,000 elite infantry who retreated from Kharkov, and the still vigorous 2nd Guards Panzer Front, he wanted to hold on to the oil resources that the entire Soviet Union could not afford to lose.

"Send the news back to Moscow and report that Stalingrad ...... Bombed by German bombers. Rokossovsky took another look at the burning and ruined city in the distance, and said: "And swear to Comrade Stalin that I, Rokossovsky, will live and die with Stalingrad!"

Moscow, inside the Kremlin, Stalin was frowning at the urgent message that had just been sent. He had already read the contents once, and now he was irritated and was reading the text that annoyed him a second time. Eventually, he crumpled the message and slammed it the soft carpet.

"That's Stalingrad! That's the city named after me! The Germans are challenging my dignity! They're teasing me!" he roared loudly, sweeping the papers and pens on his desk to the ground: "Damn Accardo, Rudolph! I'll fight you to the death! If I don't raze Berlin to the ground, the war will never end! Forever!"

"Great leader, Comrade Stalin!" a staff member softly reminded the enraged Stalin: "The bombing of Stalingrad has certainly angered the entire Soviets, but now is not the time to be angry, what needs to be done is to strengthen the air defense ...... of Moscow and Leningrad and other important political centers."

Stalin stopped his ranting, and the question was indeed the first thing that had to be dealt with now. Once the Germans occupy it, Moscow and Leningrad and other important political, cultural and economic centers will be within the range of German long-range bombers, even medium-range bombers.

5 And even more, O soldiers of the Empire, the Empire is great because of you!