163 - Stalingrad Thunderdome: Paulus vs. Chuikov! - WW2 - October 9, 1942

by Panzer
So who's watching the flanks when they attack?
[The Romanians are!]
They are, huh?
Are they as good as the opposition?
[Not really...]
Not really?
Well, they better get it over quick then, huh?
[Huh-huh!]
Alright!
[Bye!]
See ya!
October 9, 1942
You did not want to do this offensive, you said so many times; your war games showed
that the whole thing was risky, and all summer long you've been plagued by shortages of men
and machines, and now, now the offensive is at its peak in terms of blood and carnage-
how do you feel now?
Does it matter that you've been promised great things in future when you win?
It sure does, and this week you're singing a different tune.
I'm Indy Neidell; this is World War Two.
Last week the Axis offensive in the Caucasus stalled, needing reinforcements and supplies
to continue.
The fighting in Stalingrad grew ever more intense, though, as the focus turned to the
factory district and the Mamayev Kurgan.
Vasily Chuikov's Soviet 62nd Army is in a pretty bad position.
"At the beginning of October, Chuikov's 62nd held a 12 mile front in Stalingrad with a
depth varying from 250m to 2,500m; all movement in this dangerously comprised area was confined
to the hours of darkness, regrouping was a hazardous affair now that the ferry traffic
was so constricted, since the German seizure of parts of Stalingrad to the south from Tsaritsa
to Kuporosnoe and northwards to Mamayev Kurgan enabled them to look out over large stretches
of the city and direct their guns against the ferries.
One thousand yards of water, the Volga crossing, was raked by German gunfire and became the
daily hunting ground for German aircraft.
Considerable sections of the northern and central parts of Stalingrad were in German
hands."
The Volga is actually on fire as the week begins, and yet, this actually turns out to
be a good thing for the Soviet defenders.
The streams of blazing oil from the bombed-out oil tanks bypass Chuikov's command post, leaving
huge clouds of black smoke.
The smoke also clings to the riverbanks, enormous clouds of clinging smoke that give the Soviets