A street in Stalingrad that was beyond recognition was filled with craters bombed by German artillery fire. The corpses of Soviet soldiers were discarded on the edges of these craters, and various parts of people were scattered in the craters. This scene was everywhere in Stalingrad, like a broken dead land.

Two local civilians in Stalingrad carried a stretcher and numbly picked up the unlucky guy on the ground whose head was broken by a German sniper with his hands wrapped in gauze and threw it onto the stretcher. This is a matter that both troops on both sides agreed, allowing local civilians to clean up the bodies to avoid large-scale infectious diseases.

The distant position had not yet completely calmed down. The clattering sound made by the machine gun when it fired bullets, coupled with the rifle guns, was like a symphony, adding a touch of vitality to this city that had not been much loud.

A German gunman suddenly came out behind a collapsed low wall. Judging from his clothes, he was a serious German grenade, with a tactical vest, a grenade, and a G43 semi-automatic rifle. This outfit proved that he was a standard German. The medal on his chest also showed that he had participated in the Second Battle of Poland.

He bent down carefully and walked quickly across the block. Behind him, the second German soldier followed him out of the low wall, but obviously this was a Ukrainian minion, wearing a SS uniform that had not been cleaned for a long time, without a tactical vest, and carrying a standard Mauser 98k rifle.

About seventeen or eighteen German soldiers flew out from behind the low wall, walked vigilantly through the street in front of them, and passed by two locals carrying bodies, leaning against the exterior wall of the building across the street, taking a short rest. They looked at the two civilians with white armbands on their arms, and watched them throw their opponent's bodies into a deep bullet crater.

These Germans obviously cooperated for a long time. After resting for dozens of seconds, they started to act tacitly. Some people flipped into the buildings behind them, and others surrounded them from both wings. Soon, dense gunshots came from the house. The two civilians on the street shrank their necks, without even obvious avoidance. They were still busy with their work and threw the surrounding bodies into the big pit that was about to be filled.

In an ordinary room battle, the Soviet and German armies fought for every inch of land under their feet. Some even joked that even if they occupied the bedroom, they still had to compete with the enemy for the kitchen.

The gunshots gradually faded, and suddenly a Soviet soldier stumbled out from the gate. He had two holes still scattered in blood on his body. He looked at the two civilians on the street with a look of surprise, then struggled twice, and finally fell to the ground without making any noise.

A German soldier chased after him and leaned against the door to watch the Soviet soldier who was actually struggling to escape from the house. He watched him fall down exhausted and then turned his eyes to the two Soviet civilians. He tilted his head gently and signaled the two Soviet civilians to continue.

So two Soviet civilians responsible for cleaning the bodies walked to the new Soviet corpse. One of them held their crossed legs and grabbed the soldier's collar and lifted the body together. Then they threw it hard and threw it into the pit.

The steel helmet on the head of the just dead Soviet soldier slid down and slammed on the ground with a jingle, shaking back and forth with the force, and still spinning slightly. However, its owner obviously no longer needed it, and he would never need it.

Since the first counterattack was taken by the German army to counterattack, the Soviet army launched a large-scale counterattack yesterday. Unfortunately, this time the Soviet counterattack was blocked by the German army's desperate attempt, and did not advance far enough until the next morning.

In the basement of the Soviet defenders of Stalingrad, several Soviet commanders were outlining on the map. There were not many positions they had taken back, and each one needed to be carefully marked. Then Rokosovsky decided where he had to give up and where he could continue to stick to it.

"The second assault was not going smoothly. The weapons provided by the German army to the Ukrainians were improved, and the Ukrainian troops' combat methods were more mature." A division commander who came back from the front line, wearing a bandage on his hand, reported to Rokosovsky: "Although the German army did not counterattack, our army's casualties were still very huge."

While speaking, the German shelling once again visited the places around the command center. One large-caliber shell after another hit the ground, with the power of destruction, tearing the surrounding buildings and causing the earth to tremble. The dust falling from the ceiling hit the map and documents, making a crisp sound, just like a timer on a clock, hitting everyone's thoughts one after another.

This is hell, a hell that no one can escape. The average lifespan of new Soviet soldiers is only one day, which means that the supplementary soldiers can only live less than twenty hours on the battlefield in most cases. They are either broken by shells or buried under collapsed houses, either driven into sieve by German bullets or by friendly bullets.

The Soviet army mobilized a total of 30 divisions from the eastern front and strengthened them to the Caucasus region. Ten of them were handed over to Rokosovsky, and the remaining 20 divisions were to be deployed in the direction of the Baku oil field. Now, three divisions of these newly arrived in Stalingrad have been completely eliminated by the German army.

Yes, it was completely eliminated. Although the reserve team in Rokosovsky's hands was still huge, the consumption speed of this reserve team was several times or even dozens of times that the Soviets expected. According to this speed, in less than half a year, in another two or three months, the German army could move north and south from Stalingrad in a casual manner.

Rokosovsky smiled helplessly. He had just sent his helping telegram to Moscow a few days ago, asking Zhukov to formulate a plan to fight south to save hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops trapped in the southern theater. He hoped that the main force of the Soviet army would hit Guderian's armored troops, even if the results of annihilation of the G Army were not achieved, it would be enough to make the German N Army afraid and dare not attack Stalingrad with all his strength.

As a commander on the front line, Rokosovsky certainly knew the importance of the Caucasus to the German army and the Soviet Union. He made a judgment as the most supreme commander in the Caucasus region, and felt that the direction of the German attack must be the Caucasus.

So he was very sure that the German Army A and F Army basically remained unmoved because the German army lacked oil support. It was precisely because of this that he encouraged Zhukov, hoping that the Soviet commander-in-chief could convince Stalin and boldly give up the initiative in Moscow to fight for the war.

Although both the senior Soviet army and the US experts have great confidence in guerrilla warfare in the Caucasus mountainous areas, Rokosovsky, who knew the Soviet army, knew that aside from technical issues, at least the German army was not as afraid of street fighting or guerrilla warfare as it seemed.

It is possible to follow the transportation lines along the Georgia and Caspian Sea coasts, not sweep the mountainous areas, only control the transportation lines, and fight all the way to Baku. The key is whether the logistics supply and personnel strength are superior, and how strong the enemy's will to resist. In addition to Baku, the oil-producing area near Grozny is definitely a big cake that makes the Germans salivate.

"The reinforcements will arrive soon, what are you afraid of?" Rokosovsky signaled the wounded officer to leave his command, then stood up by himself, walked around a square wooden pillar supporting the roof, and walked to the wall built by sandbags, reaching out to touch the dusty Stalingrad map.

He did not believe that with the talent of his old boss Zhukov, he would really abandon Stalingrad, and guard Moscow where existence was far less meaningful than Stalingrad. So he knew that reinforcements would come sooner or later, and he would crush them with a thunderous force.

Because of this, all he thought about was how to use the limited troops in his hands when the Soviet troops began to move south, entangle the German N Army in the front, and prevent it from going north to support Guderian's G Army. As long as the G Army was defeated alone, the N Army would be forced to retreat, and the M Army would also reverse the situation on the Soviet-German battlefield because the rear did not guarantee the contraction line, and the German army would be forced to move from strategic offensive to strategic defense.

"Comrade General! Comrade General! The highest-level top-secret telegram!" A combat staff member held a telegram and walked into Rokosovsky's command center. He stood at attention and saluted him before handing over the thin telegram to Rokosovsky.

"Did Zhukov's main force go south?" Rokosovsky grabbed the telegram, but the content made him desperate. The telegram was indeed written by Zhukov, but the content was completely opposite to what Rokosovsky thought: "In view of the lack of fuel and lack of relevant evidence, the plan for the main force to go south to fight the decisive battle was temporarily suspended. During this period, Rokosovsky's combat cluster must defend Stalingrad to fight favorable conditions for the next Soviet counterattack."

Below the order, there is another paragraph that Zhukov told Rokosovsky privately: "Comrade Rokosovsky, Moscow was bombed on a large scale last night. Comrade Stalin and I both doubt whether the news of the German oil shortage is correct. Therefore, the offensive plan is temporarily suspended, please forgive me."
Chapter completed!