Chapter 869: Verdun

In the ruins, two German soldiers lay prone, one aiming the muzzle of his MG42 machine gun towards the end of the street. The assistant gunner held the ammunition belt in his palm, his eyes fixed on the distant street corner.

At their feet was a spare ammunition box, filled with a neatly coiled belt, ensuring they could fire wildly without worrying about running out of ammunition. As soon as the enemy charged from the direction they were aiming, they would be met with a storm of fire.

Both of them were wearing gray-green military uniforms, the standard German spring and autumn attire. Having crawled and fought in the city’s ruins, their bodies were covered in dust, making them blend in with their surroundings.

One of the German soldiers had a steel helmet with netting on it, while the other’s helmet only had a white army group insignia on the side. The assistant gunner also had a Mauser 98k rifle slung over his back. The tactical vests on both of them indicated they were the backbone of this unit, authentic German infantry.

Beside them were several other soldiers in German uniforms, but without equipment like the tactical vests. They were clearly Ukrainians and Belarusians. Hand grenades were haphazardly hung from their belts and in their pockets. They were gathered in a crater, observing the movements in all directions.

The infantry in the crater were responsible for covering the German machine gun position on the high ground of the ruins. As long as this machine gun position was there, they could calmly repulse the Soviet soldiers attacking from the front. They had expended a great deal of effort to capture this place. It was only after the crater at their feet had been blown out by a shell that they had managed to storm these ruins.

“I feel someone coming,” the assistant gunner said to the gunner beside him, while watching the street in front. “The Soviets will definitely not give up so easily. They will counter-attack and try to drive us out.”

“You’re right, because I can already see them coming,” the machine gunner said, working the action on his weapon. A bullet was chambered with a click. His eye was aligned with the machine gun’s sights, and he naturally pressed the crosshairs onto a Soviet who had just charged out of a corner.

He did not open fire, but calmly placed his finger on the trigger, his cheek pressed against the cold body of the machine gun. The cool sensation spread to every corner of his body, making him completely focused.

There was no reason to easily expose a machine gun position, especially one with such a wide field of view and an ideal location. What they had to do was to wait until the number of Soviets had reached a certain level, and then to show them the world-destroying power of the MG42.

A second Soviet soldier charged out of the corner, but he was hit in the chest by a bullet fired from a German rifle and fell backward. It was clear that the German infantry in the crater by the side of these ruins had also spotted their enemies and were firing desperately.

These German troops did not have many automatic weapons. Compared to the elite German units, they had almost no high-end equipment like the MP-44 assault rifle, and even the G43 was pitifully scarce. Most of these cannon fodder from Ukraine and Belarus were only equipped with the Mauser 98k rifle, and the performance of this rifle was not much different from the Mosin-Nagant.

A dense sound of gunfire rang out. A Soviet machine gun team at the street corner began to open fire on the German position. They aimed at the Germans near the crater and sent a dense hail of bullets in that direction. A cloud of smoke rose from the side of the crater. The German new recruits there were so scared they huddled together, not daring to show themselves and open fire again.

With the cover of fire, the Soviet action naturally became bolder. They ran forward, crouched low, hoping to quickly close the distance between the two sides. On the other side of the street where the Germans were stationed, a dazzling tongue of fire suddenly spewed from a window. It was clear that there were not only German troops stationed in the crater.

The German on the other side of the window, with a G43 rifle, fired with a crisp sound every time, which was very different from the sound of a Mauser. Coupled with the scattered sound of Mauser rifles, the Soviet offensive was once again suppressed. A dozen or so bodies of Soviet soldiers lay on the street. For a moment, everyone was trying their best to shoot at each other, to take out the other’s gunmen.

The Soviet machine gun at the street corner, due to its angle, could not fire into the window on the same side of the street where the German soldiers were stationed. Therefore, the Soviet casualties were very heavy, and for a time they could not break through the street, which was locked down by the German crossfire.

“Rat-tat! Rat-tat-tat! Rat-tat-tat-tat!” The German machine gun position on the ruins finally opened fire after the Soviets had committed a large number of troops. The machine gunner had long since aimed the muzzle of his machine gun at the Soviet machine gun team over there. He had just been waiting quietly, waiting for his chance to join the battle. Now the opportunity had come, and he pulled the trigger he had been pressing with his finger without hesitation.

The unique, saw-like roar of the German machine gun rang out. The tracer rounds, while exposing the machine gun position, also helped the machine gunner to correct his aim. It didn’t take many bullets for the rain of fire from the German machine gun to sweep across the Soviet machine gun team, kicking up a cloud of white dust and smoke around them.

It was the gravel and other things kicked up by the bullets after they had passed through the human bodies and had hit the road around them. Accompanied by the splashing blood and the screams of the Soviets, it formed a very magnificent picture. In the picture, the Soviet soldiers were in a complete mess, sparks and contorted faces everywhere.

With the familiar and terrifying sound of ripping linen, the bullets from the German machine gun pressed down on the Soviet position. Everywhere were the hit Soviet soldiers, everywhere were the overturned corpses. The Soviet machine gun team was instantly turned into a sieve, and even the machine gun itself was pitted with bullet holes.

The Soviet infantry, who had been suppressed on one side of the street by the German fire, saw a concealed German machine gun position on top of the ruins suddenly open fire. They watched in terror as the tracer rounds flew towards the machine gun position that was covering them, and then turned that place into a hell of flying flesh and blood.

These Soviet soldiers already knew that their attack this time had failed. For them, the problem now became how to retreat safely. No one knew if they would be lucky enough to get back to the corner where they had started.

Generally speaking, when faced with jackals in front and tigers and leopards behind, one needs to rely on intuition to react. Because in such a situation, there is often no time to carefully analyze and plan; one can only rely on an instantaneous reaction. And the Soviet troops who were pinned down in front of the German position at this moment also made their choice. These men immediately turned around and ran back in the direction they had come from.

To charge was to die, to retreat was also to die. For these Soviets, their fate was no longer in their own hands. They had to rely on their only remaining luck, and the mercy of their enemies and their own people.

The Germans would have no mercy. They fired frantically at the retreating Soviet infantry, as if venting the suffocating pain of being suppressed just now. The bullets struck the backs of these retreating Soviets, cutting them down like wheat.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the Soviets also had no mercy for their own comrades today. They did not cover the retreating soldiers but let the Germans slaughter their comrades without stopping. Many of the Soviet political commissars had proposed that the retreating soldiers should be shot. This proposal was ultimately rejected by Rokossovsky. But he could not stop his subordinates from executing the soldiers who had retreated in the heat of battle in a disguised form, such as not providing cover for the retreating troops like today.

This had led to the high casualty rate on the outskirts of Stalingrad on the second day of the official street fighting. The relatively open firing environment here had allowed the German firepower to be used to its full extent. The Soviet casualties were therefore frighteningly high. In one day, nearly ten thousand men had been killed in action.

Such huge losses were on the one hand due to the Soviets’ own obstruction of their retreat, and on the other hand because the Soviets had insisted on launching a counter-attack and had repeatedly fought with the Germans for their positions. Stalingrad was only so big. If they were to just retreat and defend, the area of the city was not enough to hold out for half a year.

In short, for one reason or another, the Soviet army, after receiving three divisions of reserves into Stalingrad, had launched a frantic counter-attack against the Germans. Although most of the counter-attacks had been repulsed by the Germans, a portion of the Soviet army had indeed pushed back the attacking Germans and had at one point pushed the battlefield to the outskirts of Stalingrad.

On this day, the German army had lost two of the city blocks it had controlled, and had almost given back the part of the city it had held to the Soviets. After both sides had paid a price of over 50,000 killed in action, they found that the positions they controlled were almost no different from two days ago.

The high-ranking German generals who had been through the First World War, looking at the data before them, all had the damned place name “Verdun” appear in their minds. There, the German and French armies had lost over 700,000 men on the positions, but neither had been able to advance a single step. And that battle, because of such heavy casualties, had been called the “Verdun Meat Grinder” by historians.

Now they seemed to be seeing that scene from back then again. It was a pain that the entire German army was unwilling to remember. Now this kind of thing was showing signs of happening again. The German army, for the first time since the beginning of the war, had suffered more than ten thousand killed in action without being able to advance a single step.

But even with such huge losses, the German army still had not changed the offensive plan they had made a month ago. On the last day of March, the German army and the counter-attacking Soviet army launched an offensive against each other. The Battle of Stalingrad thus continued in the dry form of casualty figures.

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