Chapter 806: Chaotic Battlefield

In the morning, the frontline defensive positions of the Soviet Red Army were subjected to a fierce artillery attack by the German army. Self-propelled 150mm howitzers, towed 105mm howitzers, and a large number of 75mm field guns rained shells down on a portion of the Soviet defensive positions.

“Hello? Hello! This is the commander of the 166th Division on the front line. Yes, Comrade Rokossovsky, the German army is shelling my defense sector. What I don’t understand is why they are only hitting me here, while the 160th Division not far away hasn’t heard a thing.” In a concealed shelter, the commander of the 166th Division was on the phone with Rokossovsky. His position had been practically turned upside down by the German army, while the friendly positions next to him hadn’t been touched by a single shell. Anyone would have felt a sense of injustice.

“I am investigating this matter. I’ve had a strange feeling about the German shelling last night… I order you to hold back the enemy’s attack! You have fuel reserves and enough tanks. Hold your ground! A train of replacement soldiers has already set off and will be arriving at the front soon!” On the other end of the line, Rokossovsky ordered loudly.

It would have been better not to mention it. As soon as he did, the commander of the 166th Division’s heart was filled with rage. The replacement soldiers and grain that were supposed to arrive at this time had not even sent a single message. He had called the garrison at the railway bridge to inquire, and the reply was that the train had already passed. As for what happened after that, they knew nothing.

Generally speaking, it was not a strange thing for frontline units to compete for some replacement soldiers or even supplies. But generally, it was a case of one unit taking the lion’s share, while at least letting the other units have some scraps. But this battle was strange everywhere, which made the commander of the 166th Division a little unsure of what was wrong.

“Wooo!… Wooo!…” Just as his mind was filled with question marks, not knowing what kind of crisis was hidden behind all these strange problems, the shrill sound of the air-raid siren, as if joining in the fun, began to wail. He was taken aback for a moment, then pushed the door open and walked out of his shelter. He saw in the sky above him, a dense mass of German planes flying over his defense line.

“Those are not bombers! The German bombers have four engines, these planes should have three!” an officer who had followed him out said, looking up at the sky and muttering. “Are the Germans airdropping paratroopers? In broad daylight?”

“It’s not just an airdrop of paratroopers! They have other intentions!” The commander of the 166th Division saw in the low sky, one after another of those “planes” without wings, or rather, with propellers on top, also following these transport planes, crossing the entire defense line. At the same time as these planes were flying over the Soviet lines, dozens of German Stuka II attack planes were fiercely launching repeated assaults on the Soviet ground anti-aircraft gun positions.

“Where are the large-caliber anti-aircraft gun positions? Why aren’t they firing! What about the anti-aircraft gun position behind the 160th Division? Why aren’t they firing? They’re shirking battle! This is disloyalty to the motherland!” The commander of the 166th Division clenched his fists and cursed his neighboring friendly forces loudly.

As he was cursing, a deafening roar came, and the earth trembled with this heart-rending explosion. The commander of the 166th Division stumbled and sat down on the bottom of the trench with a thud. He leaned against the wall in terror, letting the small stones that had been dislodged fall onto his steel helmet.

“What on earth happened? What exploded?” The Soviet officer who had fallen with the commander of the 166th Division seemed even more panicked. He looked in terror at the huge cloud of black smoke rising from a patch of woods outside the trench and asked, his words incoherent.

“Damn it! That’s our ammunition depot! Someone has blown up our ammunition reserves!” The commander of the 166th Division was so angry that his voice was trembling. If his unit had no replacement troops, they could still hold on for a few hours. If his unit ran out of ammunition, then everything would be over.

Thinking of this, the commander of the 166th Division quickly got up from the ground, returned to his shelter, and got through to the phone of the divisional field hospital, which was closest to the ammunition depot. When a voice came from the other end of the line, he immediately asked, “The ammunition depot has exploded? What on earth happened? Speak quickly!”

“Report! Comrade Division Commander! We saw the troops of the 160th firing around the ammunition depot. They were firing in the direction of the ammunition depot!” The person who answered the phone was the head of the field hospital, and what he said only confused the commander of the 166th Division even more. He had to hang up the phone again, and then skillfully picked it up again and got through to the headquarters of the 160th Division.

“Hello? Is this the 160th Division headquarters? I…” Before he could finish, a busy signal came from the other end of the line. For some unknown reason, the telephone line between the two divisions had been cut without any warning.

What on earth was going on with the 160th Division? What was the problem? Why were they attacking the ammunition storage point? What did all of this have to do with the German army? Why, from the very beginning, had the German army been shelling the 166th Division, but had not fired a single shot or a single shell at the 160th Division next to them?

BOOM! The sound of this explosion was different from the others. The commander of the 166th Division, who was familiar with his own weapons, immediately recognized that this was not a cannon used by the Germans, but a standard Soviet 122mm howitzer. This one shell was like a sharp knife, stabbing into the heart of the 166th Division’s commander.

Had the 160th defected? At such a critical juncture, had they gone over to the Germans? Impossible, right? The commander of the 160th Division was an old comrade. How could such a ridiculous thing happen at a time like this? The mind of the 166th Division’s commander was in a complete mess. He no longer had much thought for holding his position, because he was beginning to worry about his flank, a flank that had once been considered impregnable.

Mixed in with the German artillery shells of various calibers, for a time it was impossible to tell from which direction the 122mm shells landing on his position were coming. But the commander of the 166th Division decided to contact the headquarters of the 160th Division again, to confirm just what was wrong.

“You! Take some men! Personally go to the headquarters of the 160th Division! Explain the situation we’ve encountered to the people over there, and then find out why they are attacking our ammunition storage point!” Calling over a trusted officer, the commander of the 166th Division ordered with a frown. He had wanted to confirm by telegram, but there was no reply from the 160th Division’s radio.

“Yes! Comrade Division Commander!” The officer also knew the seriousness of the situation. He quickly led a dozen or so soldiers from the division’s guard company and ran through the trenches towards the junction of the two divisions. They advanced cautiously, crouching low, and soon arrived at the area adjacent to the 160th Division.

However, when he saw the situation on the position clearly, this officer could hardly believe his eyes. Some Soviet soldiers with white cloths tied around their arms were firing fiercely, shouting “Surrender and you will not be killed” in fluent Russian while inching closer to the 166th Division’s position.

Without having time to think, this officer found the nearest telephone and reported everything he saw to his division commander. “The troops of the 160th Division are attacking us! The troops of the 160th Division are attacking us!”

In fact, he didn’t need to be the bearer of bad news. The commander of the 166th Division already knew what was happening over there. Not long after he had sent out the liaison unit, a report had come in that fighting had broken out at the junction of the two armies. Now he had to believe one fact: that some of the frontline troops had defected in the heat of battle.

Chaos filled the entire Soviet front. The commander of the 166th Division finally gave an order of last resort. “Concentrate our fire! Attack the position of the 160th Division! Hit them hard! Send a telegram to the other units! Just say that the troops of the 160th Division have mutinied! They are accomplices of the Germans!”

Then this commander, who had just given the order to attack, picked up the phone again, wanting to contact General Rokossovsky at the general headquarters, only to find that the telephone line from the front to the general headquarters had also been cut.

“Damn it! Damn it! What on earth is wrong today? Why is everything so damn strange?” the commander of the 166th Division cursed, slamming the receiver down on the table. As he was cursing, a volley of 122mm shells landed around his command post, kicking up a cloud of black earth. If he hadn’t been sure before, he was really sure now of the direction from which these 122mm shells were coming—it was the 160th Division’s artillery position.

…

Near Stalingrad, in Rokossovsky’s general headquarters, he was listening with a shocked expression to the reports of some officers. This intelligence made this battle-hardened general find it hard to believe.

He heard that some of the frontline generals had defected and had already begun to shell each other. He heard that some anti-aircraft gun positions had stopped returning fire, allowing a large number of German paratroopers to land safely. He heard that a special train carrying reinforcements to the front had been blown up, and that the ones who had attacked this train were the Soviet Union’s own troops.

Rumors were flying everywhere. The headquarters of a corps at the front had lost contact. Some units had even begun to attack their own men. The entire front was in chaos, and there was simply no way to take effective measures to end this strange turmoil.

What made Rokossovsky not know whether to laugh or cry was that rumors began to spread in many places that the Soviet general Rokossovsky had already been killed, and that the German army was about to surround Stalingrad. In some places, the shadow of the German army had actually appeared. These German “vanguard units” had attacked villages, killed and burned, and told people everywhere that they were marching on Stalingrad.

“How did they do it?” If he still couldn’t guess that this was all a German plot, then Rokossovsky himself could just find a crooked tree and hang himself. He looked up, stared at the map, and muttered to himself.

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