USSR 1941

Chapter 581: reconnaissance

??Chapter 581 Reconnaissance

??The plan of deceit is much more tragic during the day than at night.

??Because it really needs fishing boats to rush across, otherwise if there are no fishing boats driving on the Volga River, the German pilots will know something is wrong at a glance.

??The problem is that there are not many military supplies in these fishing boats.

??The reason why I say "not much" is because the fishing boats also carry some unimportant supplies, such as military uniforms. Then I drove up the river with the idea that I would risk my life to cross anyway, and I could transport a little bit.

The anti-aircraft firepower on the sandbar is very different from before. Many anti-aircraft bunkers and firepower points were built overnight, but most of them are fake, and only a small part is real...some of them must be real , otherwise there are no shells and bullets fired into the sky, which can be easily seen by the enemy.

??Finally, waste tires were burned on sandbars and rivers, causing black smoke everywhere, and all deployments were completed.

?? Needless to say what happened next, the German fighter planes swooped down from the air one by one, and the shells exploded on the river in rows. Then one after another fishing boats and firepower points were blown up by the German army.

??However, it is conceivable that the results achieved by the German army are much smaller than imagined, and it can even be said that the results are far smaller than the ammunition and fuel consumed by the German army.

??In addition to the competition between people in war, equipment and supplies cannot be ignored.

??If you can reduce the enemy's supplies and waste more, it means that the balance of victory will be tilted more towards you.

??This is the situation at this time, but the German army has not realized it yet.

?? But at this time Paulus was skeptical.

??Although everything seemed normal on the surface: there seemed to be nothing wrong with the interrogation of prisoners by the intelligence agencies, the supply of the Russians had been decreasing, and the German army was advancing steadily, but Paulus still felt that something was wrong.

?? "General!" The adjutant saw that Paulus was frowning at the information, and asked in doubt: "Is there any problem?"

?? "The problem is that there are no problems!" Paulus replied: "Everything is calm!"

?? "What do you mean?" The adjutant couldn't understand.

"If..." Paulus said: "If the Russian transportation lines have been completely blocked by us, Stalingrad will be completely occupied by our army as we imagined, and the Russian 62nd Army will be surrounded by us...you How do you think the Russians should react?"

??Hearing the words, the adjutant couldn't help but suddenly realized: "They should be nervous, or have some reactions!"

"Yes!" Paulus nodded: "So I have been worried that the enemy's Stalingrad Front Army will take action. Just like before, they launched a large-scale counterattack in order to prevent our army from attacking Stalingrad, or There was an emergency mobilization to reinforce Stalingrad... and they did nothing!"

?? "This means that they are confident?" The adjutant laughed immediately: "No, it's impossible, General!"

"Nothing is impossible!" Paulus replied: "This is war. If the enemy has no other reasons, they should do something. On the other hand, if our blockade is really as successful as imagined, the situation of the war should not be so!"

?? This point is indeed that although the German army is still advancing steadily, another meaning of "steady" is "slow", that is, the speed is not faster than before.

??If Shulka had heard these words, he would have admired Paulus' thoughtfulness.

?? This is indeed Shulka's negligence. He should at least make the Soviet army on the east bank nervous, and loudly publicize the emergency mobilization on the loudspeaker to make a show.

?? "So, what went wrong?" the adjutant asked.

?? "I don't know!" Paulus replied: "But I'm sure something is wrong!"

?? After thinking for a while, Paulus pointed to the map and said: "Our army surrounds Stalingrad on three sides, only the Volga River in the east cannot surround it. So, if there is any problem, it must be on the sandbar!"

??This conclusion is not difficult to draw, using the method of exclusion: there will definitely be no problems in places on land surrounded by German troops. There will be no problem with the transportation channel in front of Mamayev Post, because that is the focus of the German blockade, and fighter planes and artillery bombard it almost non-stop, even at night. So, only the sandbar remained.

?? "They can't transport across the sandbar!" said the adjutant.

?? "At least we need to do some reconnaissance!" Paulus looked into the adjutant's eyes and said in an unquestionable tone: "Tonight!"

??Paulus' order was carried out.

??The adjutant arranged for six reconnaissance planes to carry out reconnaissance missions... He did not send night fighters, because the adjutant did not think that there would be any danger in such reconnaissance, and at the same time, the night fighters should stay in the Mamayev area and continue to block the river.

??The blockade of the transportation line must be like this, and it should not be relaxed at any time, otherwise, as long as one opening is released, all previous efforts may be wasted.

??The adjutant originally thought it was a very simple task, because the reconnaissance plane only needed to fly over the sandbar, fire a few flares along the way and take a few photos.

?? But soon the adjutant felt something was wrong.

"Colonel, we are under fire from the enemy's anti-aircraft fire!" Captain Detrich, who was on a reconnaissance mission, reported to the adjutant: "Their firepower is very strong, which is very strange...they actually deployed such dense anti-aircraft firepower in the depth of the sandbar , and searchlights..."

?? "That may be because their anti-aircraft firepower near the transportation channel has been destroyed by us!" The adjutant replied disapprovingly.

"I don't think so, Colonel!" Captain Detrich replied. "I mean, if they have so much anti-aircraft fire, why don't they move them in the direction of the transport corridor? It's a complete waste here, no ?"

?? "Continue your reconnaissance mission, Captain!" The adjutant said: "Never mind those anti-aircraft fires..."

Before he finished speaking, Captain Detrich yelled: "No. 3 has been hit! No. 3 has been hit... Colonel, it's dark now, and we have to fly low to face those anti-aircraft fires if we want to reconnaissance! Their firepower is so intense that we will be shot down if we lower our altitude a little bit..."

??The adjutant was a little speechless. If the anti-aircraft firepower was so intensive, it would be a little abnormal.

?? In other words, this is what the enemy is hiding, that is, there is something they don't want them to see!

??Thinking of this, the adjutant ordered: "Continue to reconnaissance, I will send night fighters to reinforce you!"

?? "Yes, Colonel!" Detrich replied.

??The next second, Detrich reported nervously on the walkie-talkie: "Wait, I seem to see something, is that a boat?"

??(end of this chapter)