Chapter 860: The Battle of the River Crossing

With the first assault boat sunk on the Don by the Soviets, the German army’s large-scale river crossing operation began. The reason Guderian’s forces had fallen behind Manstein in their speed of advance was because they had carried a large amount of river-crossing equipment in their second echelon. The fundamental purpose was to deal with a possible Soviet defense line on the Don.

To allow the large number of armored units under G Army Group to cross the Don quickly, the German army had prepared a large amount of bridging equipment. Unfortunately, to get Germany’s Tiger tanks, and even the King Tigers, across the Don was no easy matter, so the German army had brought a great deal of equipment.

The pontoon bridge that the sappers were building was mainly to provide a bridge for the armored units to cross the river. They parked the boats side by side, secured them with cables and bolts, and then engineering vehicles laid the steel bridge deck on top of these pontoon boats, quickly building a solid pontoon bridge.

While the sappers were building the pontoon bridge, some of the German assault boats had already reached the other side of the Don. The German soldiers charged up the riverbank and launched a heroic assault on the Soviet-held positions.

Not far away, another pontoon bridge was also being built. This bridge did not seem to have as many weight requirements. Most of it used inflatable rubber boats as the load-bearing part. This bridge was clearly for the infantry to cross the river. The construction speed was also faster, and in the blink of an eye, it had already extended to the center of the Don.

A dozen or so German Stuka II dive bombers were circling in the sky, ready to pour their ammunition on the Soviet positions at any moment. These planes were covering the German landing zone, helping the German army to expand the positions they had already captured on the other side.

An assault boat charged onto the beach on the other side. A hail of bullets struck around it, but the grenadiers inside still leaped out fearlessly. The bullets struck the ground at their feet, and the sand that was kicked up even flew onto their bodies, but these German soldiers still ran forward, holding their weapons.

One soldier was hit by a bullet while running and fell to the ground. But more German soldiers still managed to charge to a place where they could hide their bodies and began to set up their weapons with composure. An MG42 machine gun was placed on the edge of a crater on the beach, and it spat a vengeful tongue of fire towards the slightly higher Soviet positions.

Rat-tat! Rat-tat-tat! As the German machine gun’s unique sound, like ripping linen or sawing wood, began to ring out, the ammunition belt, held in the hand of the German assistant gunner, began to jump towards the body of the machine gun as it was pulled. Tracer rounds flew towards the Soviet machine gun nest, kicking up a cloud of white smoke there.

More assault boats began to land nearby. The number of German troops was increasing, and they launched an attack on both flanks. On the Soviet infantry positions, they were already beginning to be short of troops due to the German attack. In many places, they could only hold on with difficulty, relying on the terrain.

A German grenadier, leaning against a rock, changed the magazine of his assault rifle. He then rolled over and jumped into a Soviet trench. He was the first German soldier to get so close to the enemy position. The Soviet soldiers in the trench were startled by the German who had jumped in out of nowhere.

There were not many Soviet soldiers in this section of the trench. More than half of them had already been killed by the hand grenades that had been thrown. Now, there were only two Soviets who could actually fight. The German soldier raised the gun in his hand, and bullets flew densely towards the two enemies who were working the bolts of their Mosin-Nagant rifles.

The two Soviet soldiers fell with the sound of the shots. The second German soldier had also jumped into the trench. The two German soldiers had captured this section of the position, and a gap immediately appeared in the Soviet defense line nearby. Then more German soldiers followed into this trench, and the Soviet troops were driven out of more of their positions.

A gap had been opened by the German grenadiers. This was something the Soviet army could not tolerate. They were still hoping to stop the German offensive and to ensure that the Don defense line could hold them up. So, while the German army had not yet established a foothold, the Soviet troops launched a counter-attack.

A Soviet soldier, holding his weapon, charged towards the trench that had already been captured by the Germans. Behind him, more Soviet soldiers, also holding their rifles with fixed bayonets, followed. They used the communication trenches they had dug and, taking advantage of their familiarity with the terrain, quickly approached the defensive position that the Germans had captured.

They suddenly charged out from the side of the trench, attempting to catch the Germans off guard. But the ammunition that the MP-44 assault rifles and G43 semi-automatic rifles in the hands of the Germans could deliver in an instant was much stronger than the Mosin-Nagants in the hands of the Soviets. So most of the charging Soviet soldiers were cut down by bullets at the corners of the trenches.

A Soviet soldier, at the risk of his life, charged past a corner, holding a PPSh submachine gun in his hands, and began to spray frantically at the Germans. At such a close range, the curtain of fire formed by the PPSh had a very good killing effect. Three German soldiers immediately fell to the ground, blood pouring from their bodies.

Rat-tat! Rat-tat! A German grenadier did not let his comrades die in vain. He knelt on one knee, leaned against the wall of the trench, held his assault rifle, and fired fiercely at the corner.

The Soviet gunner with the PPSh was hit by a bullet and fell backward with a miserable scream. The two Soviet soldiers who had charged out with him were also hit by bullets and fell, swaying, onto the body of their comrade.

The other German soldiers had no intention of fighting a bayonet duel with the Soviets. Under the cover of several grenadiers with assault rifles, they threw two hand grenades, blowing to pieces a group of Soviets who were crowded at the corner and launching a charge at the Germans. The Soviet army’s charge also retreated with the explosion of these two hand grenades.

“We must retake the lost position! We cannot retreat a single step!” a Soviet commander shouted, seeing his troops retreat. He was furious. “Organize another attack! All soldiers are forbidden to retreat! I will personally lead the men up! If we don’t drive the Germans back into the river, then everyone will die in battle on the east bank of the Don!”

The second Soviet counter-attack was launched not long after. Braving the German artillery barrage and the circling and whistling of the planes overhead, a thousand Soviet soldiers, holding their rifles, charged towards the German defensive positions. A newly set up MG42 machine gun began to roar, and bullets flew into the dense crowd of Soviets, cutting down many of them.

“Comrade Commander! The enemy’s machine gun is up! We can’t get through!” a Soviet soldier shouted to his superior, holding his helmet and retreating to the trench where he had started. His voice was filled with pessimism and despair. After all, they had been ordered to defend this position to the death and not to retreat a single step.

Crack! The commander did not waste any words with him. He raised the pistol in his hand and shot the soldier through the chest. “I gave the order! No retreat! How dare you retreat?”

The soldier stared at his superior with disbelief, then fell unwillingly, finally lying straight on the bottom of the muddy trench, his eyes closing in despair. From beginning to end, he had not said another word, because he could feel the life draining from his body. No matter what was said, it could not change what had just happened.

“Charge with me! Do not retreat until we have retaken the position!” the Soviet commander shouted, waving the pistol in his hand. Beside him, a dense mass of Soviet soldiers followed him forward. They charged forward without a care for their own lives, trying to get close to the German positions.

A German covering shell landed in their midst, blowing away the surrounding soldiers and their various severed limbs. But the Soviet army still desperately pushed forward, charging into the German bullets in a life-or-death attack.

But on the riverbank, more German assault boats had arrived. Dozens of German soldiers joined the defensive positions of their comrades in front. These German soldiers brought new machine guns and ample ammunition. They strengthened the defensive positions and opened fire fiercely on the charging Soviets.

And the Soviet army opposite them had no intention of retreating either. They were desperately trying to compress the German positions. In some places, these Soviet soldiers, who were short on ammunition, actually engaged the Germans in a bayonet fight and even won. They let the Germans shoot, and regardless of the losses, they charged into the trenches and killed the German soldiers inside with their long, thin bayonets.

The fighting was very bloody. In many places, the Germans were wiped out by the Soviets. The forward positions on the river crossing were once two-thirds retaken by the Soviets, but in the end, the Soviet army was still unable to detach any more troops to hold on, and their counter-attack ultimately came to nothing.

Although the Soviet army had launched a full-scale counter-attack in this breakthrough area, the last German unit that had captured a portion of the Soviet trenches had, relying on their simple fortifications, desperately resisted the Red Army’s counter-attack. The two sides fought to the death on the positions. As more German troops charged onto the riverbank, this large-scale counter-attack was finally repulsed.

The Soviet commander finally fell on the path of the charge. He was hit by a shell fired from a howitzer and, along with the surrounding infantry, was killed in action by the side of a trench. A simple pontoon bridge connected the Don, and the German infantry began to cross the river on a large scale under the cover of the air force.

On the riverbank, a German division commander reported the results of the battle to Guderian. “General! Although the Soviet army fought tenaciously and wanted to hold the Don defense line, their forces were insufficient. Our army has already taken control of the river crossing area and is organizing a large-scale river crossing.”

“Very good!” Guderian replied. “Order the troops to speed up their attack! I want to be on the outskirts of Stalingrad in two days!”

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