Chapter 689 Retreat

The time for Malashenko to catch his breath did not last long.

Too much time and precious manpower had been wasted on this seemingly indestructible train station. The German commander, who was repeatedly urged by his superiors, made up his mind to completely take down this damn train station before dark.

The German Air Force, which was busy bombing the main strategic points in the city, drew out some troops to support the battle at the train station. 12 Junkers 88 bombers carrying full bombs came to bomb the long-defended Stalingrad No. 1 train station. Although the number was limited and far from the total number requested by the German ground commander, it was the limit of what the German Fourth Air Force, which was responsible for the sky over Stalingrad, could draw out.

When the train station was first deployed, there were air defense positions surrounding the train station in the open space of several blocks around it to protect this vital strategic point.

However, with the fierce attack of the German army, several surrounding blocks around the train station had basically fallen. The Soviet anti-aircraft artillery positions deployed in these blocks were either destroyed or directly captured by the Germans. Malashenko, who was like a lone commander, now had no friendly anti-aircraft firepower to rely on.

Even though the anti-aircraft positions in the blocks around Stalingrad No. 1 Railway Station had been completely removed, the German Air Force pilots, who were a little nervous because of the ubiquitous Soviet anti-aircraft artillery in the city, still did not dare to use the risky low-altitude bombing method to attack the sturdy railway station that the army had not been able to take down for a whole morning.

The German pilots driving these Junkers 88s were vaguely. I always felt that there were a few Russian anti-aircraft guns hidden in the railway station, lurking and camouflaged, waiting for them to take the bait before approaching and firing.

The German Air Force, which was dropping bombs at a safe altitude of 3,000 meters, seemed to be perfunctory and perfunctory.

The German ground commander's request for targeted bombing against the already discovered tactical targets was not met by the Junkers 88 pilots.

The aerial bombs dropped by high-altitude horizontal bombing fell densely towards the train station on the ground, and in a straight line of fire, most of the waiting hall was completely blown down in the violent explosion, and two armored train cars parked on the platform were also destroyed.

It was expected that the waiting hall would definitely be the focus of the German Air Force's bombing. Malashenko, who had caused the German ground forces to suffer a great loss in this building this morning, did not believe that the German Air Force would turn a blind eye to it.

Although the air defense alarm was sounded early, the troops stationed in the waiting hall were evacuated in time, but when the smoke and dust of the explosion dissipated, a very thorny problem was placed in front of Malashenko.

The ceiling of the entire waiting hall was blown to pieces and collapsed completely. Some of the bombs that fell into the waiting hall and exploded on the ground completely destroyed the load-bearing structure of the entire building. It was inevitable that the walls and houses would collapse in the smoke and dust.

At present, all that was left for Malashenko was a mottled ruin with green smoke, and a large number of broken stones and bricks were blown away by the shock wave and scattered everywhere under his feet.

At most, less than 20% of the area was barely holding up, but it was already a dangerous building. It was obviously impossible to let the troops continue to stay there and wait for the German army to collapse and bury them alive.

Seeing that the most difficult bone to chew had been completely solved, the German army, taking the opportunity to add insult to injury, immediately launched another wave of ground offensives without leaving Malashenko too much time to think about countermeasures.

Seeing that it was impossible to go back and continue to defend the waiting hall, Malashenko directly led the team to use the collapsed ruins as a shelter to start defending on the spot and fighting the German army. The several circular positions and traffic trenches originally surrounding the door of the waiting hall were also used together to temporarily put together a poor defensive position to resist the German offensive.

The already exasperated German commander almost put all the available troops at hand into this attack. Malashenko, who had no defense, immediately felt the strong offensive pressure and was almost breathless.

The shabby defensive positions consisting of a pile of ruins and several trenches were not enough to resist the German offensive. The swarming German troops rushed to the ruins in less than 20 minutes under the cover of tanks and assault guns, and began to fight the Soviet army face to face with the broken bricks and stones.

The sound of gunfire and even fierce fighting was getting closer and closer to the ears. Political Commissar Petrov, who was lying on the ruins next to Malashenko's car and looking through a telescope, saw that there were still more support troops coming out of the street corner in the rear of the German attack direction.

Feeling that if the situation continued like this, the German army would definitely be completely defeated and eliminated here. After a little hesitation, Political Commissar Petrov made a decision immediately and crouched next to Malashenko's car, reached out and picked up half a brick from the ground, and knocked on the side armor of Malashenko's car in a three-long and two-short manner in the rhythm of the code agreed in advance.

Although the method is rather crude, it is indeed effective in this special situation.

Malashenko, who heard the secret signal from outside the vehicle in the turret, opened the turret cover, seized the opportunity to flip out of the turret and came to the side of Political Commissar Petrov who was using the tank as a cover at the rear of the vehicle.

Before Malashenko could ask, Political Commissar Petrov, who seemed a little anxious, spoke first.

"Retreat, Malashenko! The waiting hall and the entire front of the train station are definitely undefendable now. There are four warehouses on the other side of the railway that can be used for defense. The armored train cars on the platform will block the Germans for a while to buy time for the main force. If we stay here any longer, everyone will die, including you and me!"

After hearing the loud words of Political Commissar Petrov, Malashenko showed an expression of "I think so too". Relying on the ruins to continue to fight the Germans to death is not a solution after all. If the situation continues, it is only a matter of time before the German army, which has an absolute advantage in manpower, piles them to death.

"Okay, you and Nikolayev will lead the main force to retreat first, leaving Lieutenant Igor and his people to help me, and Lavri and I will take the tanks to hold off the pursuit of the Germans!"

Compared to the attack that can be won by rushing in a swarm when the wind is favorable, retreat is often the ultimate test of whether an army can be called an ace force.

Throughout history, countless elite armies have fallen on the road of retreat. Knowing that retreat must not be chaotic, Malashenko decided to stay and command the battle himself.

Petrov, who had worked with Malashenko for a long time, did not refuse after hearing this. He nodded in agreement and immediately started to act separately with Malashenko.