1942: Stalingrad. (IC thread)

[Etzopia]

1942: Stalingrad. USSR.

"The smell of the air brims with blood and steel. It is July 16th, 1942. Tomorrow we will attack the Fascist invaders, several of your fellow troops are ready to fight at our city, named after our leader. The Germans have taken ground amazingly quick. Now, your country, your family, your government calls for you to stop the German invaders there, at Stalingrad!" The Commissar barks into the ears of the Soviet troops, each of them shaking with fear. But some are willing to die. Willing to die in Stalingrad. The Germans were equally prepared to fight. This would be a bloodbath. Will you brave out the battle for the Motherland? Or show the Soviets that the Fatherland will always prevail? It is your choice.


Link to the OOC:http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=305553

[Etzopia]

July 16th, 1942. The other side of the Volga river, opposite of Stalingrad.

The Commissars were barking into the ear of the Soviet Soldiers. "DO NOT LET YOUR MOTHERLAND DOWN! NOT ONE STEP BACKWARDS!" was the Commissar's favourite phrase. Vladmir and 2 Privates were in charge of loading supplies on to the barge they were going to use to cross on to the banks to the Stalingrad portion of the Volga river. The Artillery was firing constantly. Truck loads of Soviet Infantry were coming by the moment. The Soviet Bofors 75mm AA guns, as part of the lend lease act started firing at German Stukas. " Okay guys, we're nearly done loading the barge, then after that we've been ordered to direct the horses who are carrying a lot of supplies." Vladmir said over the chaotic noises to the Two Privates.


"The Artillery was constantly firing that day. I was used to war, but not of this scale."-One of the Two Privates interviewed about Stalingrad after the war ended.


Propaganda was everywhere. Each of the posters were brightly coloured and each motivated the soldiers. However, the Soviet forces were also downtrodden by the German artillery blasts. Meanwhile, the Soviet Airbases were flying planes at every moment and the USSR was ready to fight a war. After the loading was finished, Vladmir and the soldiers started directing the supply cavalry to their drop off positions. When they finished that, they started Physical Exercise. It was tough, but they pulled through.




"Soviet horses on parade. I remember seeing this" The Same Private interviewed.




Soviet Propaganda.



Dmitri and the two privates next job was to guide a squad to the barges. Vladmir was sweating, and shouting to the squad: "Get moving, get moving!" he kept barking. Vladmir and the Privates finally got to rest for a while, they set about talking about themselves, and they each ate their rations and their CO , Lieutenant Mezovy shouted to them "STAND UP, IDIOTS!" Vladmir and his fellow comrades quickly stood up, saluting the Lieutenant. Mezovy bellowed at them: "GET TO YOUR POSTS! RIGHT NOW!" the Soldiers quickly dashed to their positions and squad. The soldiers in Stalingrad suffered badly. Hopefully the USSR would prevail. Hopefully.




"They were Buchinki's men. They were killed. Buchinki too."- A Survivor of the war interviewed about his experience in Stalingrad in 1946.

[Alexzanabbgggggg]

Red Air Force base, east side of the Volga

Across the River guns fired, the once modern, upbeat city was now a pile of rubble that thousands of troops from tens of countries would die for. Lt Lev had been in almost all the great battle of the war, Leningrad, Moscow, Rostov and the end of the great offensive at Kharkov at which we narrowly escaped capture. Now he was flying his 3rd or was it forth Il-2 at Stalingrad. He had heard that across the river the Fascists were about to break (he had heard that 2 times in 2 months!). Of cause he had to put on the brave face for the men, he had been in the air fore for 10 years (more than most) and he was the son of a civil war hero. He had to carry on the family legacy.

Lev put on his leather gloves as he walked up to his men, who were sitting down playing card. When they saw him the jumped up and saluted, Lev looked at them and began drawing an outline on his black board "Today, we are going to take out this Fascist fuel dump, west of Mamayev Kurgan where, as we all know our comrades are fighting day and night. If we do this, we will immobilize all enemy armour in the immediate area and gain our men some much needed respite. So GET IN YOUR PLANES!" he shouted. His men stated running as they scrambled in to their Il-2's and Yak-1's as the ground crew's finished their checks and they began to fly off in to the smoke filled sky.

[Vivoe]

Dimitri had been shipped across the Volga river just two days prior to bolster the garrison that was to hold Stalingrad at all costs and it was only now as he crouched in a shelled out apartment on the bottom floor and looked out through the early morning darkness with an SVT-40 rifle clutched in his hands he realized he had enlisted in the wrong arm of the Soviet military. There was a constant booming of both firing and exploding shells throughout the city, he was also cold, damn cold despite it being summer the nights were freezing and at this time in the morning the sun hadn't had nearly enough time to warm it from deathly cold to strangely hot. He felt oddly exposed despite the enemy having no real presence in the immediate area, he and his platoon had been told to hold a building, or what was left of it, as part of a defensive perimeter to stop the fascists taking the entire western side of the city. In the last two months he had proven his ability to be a crack shot, hunting wild animals for nearly ten years had given him that much and shooting Nazis was not so much different from hunting except that when they spotted you they would put 600 rounds per minute in your general direction.

"Ivanov, get a section together and scout forwards, I want eyes on the cross roads just down there." Lieutenant Vadim Chernoff said to the most senior NCO there, Sergeant Major Boris Ivanov. Vadim was gesturing to the crossroads about two hundred metres down the street, "Dima," Vadim said using the nickname that was often used instead of Dimitri, "you've got a good eye, go with him."
"Sir!" Dimitri said, perhaps a little too enthusiastically, the novelty of being a real soldier with ranks and 'yes sir, no sir' hadn't worn off yet. Just moments later Boris had chosen a selection of low ranks to come with him, there would be five men including the Sergeant and himself to recce the crossroads. Dimitri climbed out of the blown open basement and onto the rubble strewn street with his comrades and began the walk to the buildings at the end of the street. The air was eerily quiet, the only disturbance being the crunch of rocks under foot and the breathing of soldiers as they scanned every window and doorway. A few minutes later they were in a corner building overlooking the crossroads, while the road they came up was only two lanes the road running perpendicular was four lanes wide with room for parking and double tram tracks with room to spare, if the mighty Wehrmacht was going to come marching into town this would be the place.

[Etzopia]

July 17th, 1942.
The commissars woke up Vladmir and his squad early in the morning. It was time. The barges were ready, the soldiers were eager. And the Stukas were raining. Hell that is. Not water. As the bombs fell down on the Soviet soldiers, they were herded on to the barges. Vladmir was in barge no. 21, "Where are our guns? Our ammo? This is crazy!" a soldier in the barge shouted in panic. "When we get to the docks, get your ammo from the quartermaster for OUR barge! That is an order! Understand?" Barked the commissar in reply.


" I was one of the men in the picture. We were being herded on to the barges. We were elite marines, the 92nd naval brigade"-A marine after the war

Vladmir's CO was in a different barge. Barge no. 14. The bombing was not ceasing, and the soldiers were suffering. Meanwhile, radio stations in Soviet controlled outposts in Stalingrad itself, and of that of the Soldiers who breached through the weakest parts of the Volga 2 days ago, the commissar's on the barges through a megaphone, and on the German frequency, whom's encryption was breached and the Aeroplane cockpits,an inspirational speech was broadcast: "Brave soldiers of Soviet descent! Brave Airmen of Soviet descent! The time has come to stop the Germans at Stalingrad! The German positions are crumbling! Hitler cannot sustain a war with us! As the Germans murdered, robbed pillaged and did unspeakable crimes against the state, we formed a resistance under Stalin's rule! We are here to begin the inevitable road to victory for the USSR! The Soviet troops have food, water and plenty of ammunition! What do you Germans suppose you have? NOTHING! Your supply lines are stretched too thin! Tremble German cowards, tremble and surrender to the USSR! She will treat you well! Good luck, comrades! And remember, deserters will be shot! NOT. ONE .STEP. BACKWARDS! Here are your objectives: Meet up with Sergeant Major Ivanov, take the Volga hillside and conquer Mamyeav Kurgan! Never forget this proud moment of your lives, soldiers! NEVER!" the commissars, radiomen and propaganda ministry members barked into the radio. The soldiers all cheered and shouted "URA!". The Soldiers landed on the Volga beach, geared up and fought the German soldiers.




The commissar that gave the propaganda speech on barge No. 21.

[Alexzanabbgggggg]

Lev and his squadron flew above the burning remains of Stalingrad, below he explosions where artillery shells hit. As they neared their target, west of the hill, 4 ME-109's flew out of the clouds above him, firing machine guns on to the cockpits of his planes, immediately his gunner Boris began firing his machine gun at the enemy as they dived towards the enemy fuel dump. Out of his eye he saw an escorting Yak-1 blow up a 109. On the fuel dump people scrambled to ether run away or fire on the Soviet Aircraft one of the Panzer IV's at the dump fired its gun upwards in a vain attempt to stop the attack. However it was to late, Lev fired of his 10 rockets and watched with a smile as the fuel in the dump blew up. Lev flew upwards, away from the inferno to the skies that were now clear of 109's. Below Il-2's continued to attack, firing on tanks and people with their rockets, bombs and machine guns. Once the area was engulfed in flames, Lev and his squadron turned for home.

Lev's squadron attacking the enemy fuel dump

[Vivoe]

July 17th, 1942

It was Dima's third day in Stalingrad and now he was at one of the front most points in the Russian line, by this time the entire platoon had moved up to occupy the eastern side of the cross roads closest to the river Volga. From here they had a clear view across the entire area and could shoot at any German who decided to stick their head out which had happened once or twice this morning, Dima had already taken the helmet off some poor bastard that had the misfortune of lining his skull up with Dima's sights. It wasn't his first kill, his marksmanship was well above just about everyone he had met, most of which hadn't touched a rifle before they joined. The screaming sound of Stukas had intensified in the recent minutes and far behind there was the chatter of machine guns and the cracking of rifle fire, no doubt another set of barges was crossing the river.

"Contact front." Boris said gesturing towards the opposite corner building where three German soldiers were eyeing out the crossroads, looking for a safe way to pass.
"I have eyes on them." Dima said as he leveled his rifle with the first, "You got the others?"
"With this?" Boris said handling his submachine gun, "Privates, get over here. Take them on Dima's order." the two young soldiers scurried to the window and pointed their weapons out of the window .
"Three... Two... One... Fire." Dima said, he squeezed the trigger and put a bullet square through the chest of the lead Nazi, a puff of concrete dust exploded off to the side of another soldier and the third was grazed in the arm. "Damn it, what the fu-" submachine gun fire sprayed across the building and rained down concrete dust across the trio. "You both fucking missed!" Dima cursed as he lay flat on the ground with powder showering over him. The two were stunned on the ground and as the torrent of automatic fire finally came to an end Dima jumped back up, rested his rifle on the windowsill and fired two quick shots half a second apart. "There, they're fucking dead... useless shits. Pull that again and you'll end up with a slug between your eyes." Dima yelled, his rage getting away from him.
"Hey son, give them a break. Not everyone has an eye like yours." Boris said putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Lets just hope they don't ever need to shoot something in this war." Dima said, his flash of anger dissipating with his words. He walked out of the room, taking the magazine out and pushing three fresh rounds in. "You know Dima, when we get a day off I could recommend you for the marksman position in the company? You'd get a scope, take the position of our missing marksman and generally stay away from the heavier fighting. Mostly you'd be taking out officers but I bet you could be of real use there." Chernoff said as Dima walked through the doorway he had been watching the scene from.
"Yeah... I think that would be good. Thank you, sir."

[Etzopia]

Vladmir was resting at the top of the hill on the Stalingrad side of the Volga. The Soviet troops rested after beating the German soldiers. Next up was Red Square. The orders were simple. All soldiers in Stalingrad had to link up with each other at Red Square. All of them. The Il-2s and Yak-1s were fighting the German aeroplanes fiercely, and at the same time they were attacking the fuel dump. Street fighting brought upon agonizing death. Death and pain were minor issues. Civillian casualties were high, even for World War 2 standards. The troops' supplies were barely able to hold together. German Blitzkrieg tactics were not working. Soviet mass tank assaults? Not working. The Soviet troops were still motivated. Now was the time to strike the German backstabbers back. It was time to fight!



The Red October Factory.



Soviet soldiers defending the Stalingrad Volga hill.


Meanwhile, Vladmir was leading the two privates as the only surviving soldier
that was actually capable of leadership in the squad. They cleared house to house, room to room. Until they spotted a man with excellent marksman capabilities, a man who had uncannily good aim. They thought he was German at first. But he was Soviet...





Vladmir and the two privates, after being issued a winter uniform in the defence of Moscow in 1941.

[Elepis]

High Command, outside Stalingrad

General Vasily Chuikov, nicknamed the man of Iron Will, looked at large battle map in his office. Around him his commanders told him what was happening. "3rd Battalion destroyed here" said a colonel, pointing at the factory district "They were already low on numbers and were finished off by a Stuka attack". A Major general looked at the map and pointed "An attack by the 7th Regiment broke through here" pointing at a section of the map "At the right of Mamayev Kurgan with the aim of surrounding the enemy on the hill .The Germans stopped the attack and cut off the men. They are trying to destroy the pocket before the break out and are sending in more troops, our men in that pocket are surrounded and WILL die if they do not retreat" Another Colonel pointed at the river "Most of one of my companies were killed crossing the river by Stuka, the rest were killed in the fighting. We need more aircraft" The General murmured in agreement. The commander of the Red Air Force in the area looked up and said "I am doing all I can with my scant amount of planes, the German's have superiority at the moment, we need more fighters then we can take back our skies then our bomber will be able to work fully."

Chuikov was silent then said "I will try and get more planes but that pocket, how many German's are trying to break it?" the Major General looked up "11,000 German's against around 4,000 Red Army" Chuikov closed his eyes for a second and reopened them "We have a number who have not gone in yet. Prepare 3,000 here" pointing at the land opposite the southern end of the city on the eastern bank "Get 2,000 men who are in the city but not fighting to the same point on the west bank ASAP. As soon as they are ready, move the men on the east in to the city and the force will join. That larger force will then attack here" pointing at and area with a Romanian and German flag on it "The Germans must have moved troops form this section to attack the pocket because this is the quietest area. That means it is now garrisoned by only the Romanians, which means it will be easy to break though. Our men will break though the Romanians, killing and capturing as many as possible, they will the hock around, tacking this small hill on which we will place artillery so we can shell deep in to German lines. Now breaking through will be easy, holding it is another matter, that is why, when we have taken that area I want a strong garrison around the small hill to protect it from the inevitable enemy attacks" Chuikov tap the desk and said "It should work, get to it!" the generals left the room to sort the attack out and Chuikov sat at his chair and rubbed his forehead with is hand. Soon troops began being moved for the attack.

OOC: Could the Etzopian soldier be involved in the offensive?

[Etzopia]

High Command, outside Stalingrad

General Vasily Chuikov, nicknamed the man of Iron Will, looked at large battle map in his office. Around him his commanders told him what was happening. "3rd Battalion destroyed here" said a colonel, pointing at the factory district "They were already low on numbers and were finished off by a Stuka attack". A Major general looked at the map and pointed "An attack by the 7th Regiment broke through here" pointing at a section of the map "At the right of Mamayev Kurgan with the aim of surrounding the enemy on the hill .The Germans stopped the attack and cut off the men. They are trying to destroy the pocket before the break out and are sending in more troops, our men in that pocket are surrounded and WILL die if they do not retreat" Another Colonel pointed at the river "Most of one of my companies were killed crossing the river by Stuka, the rest were killed in the fighting. We need more aircraft" The General murmured in agreement. The commander of the Red Air Force in the area looked up and said "I am doing all I can with my scant amount of planes, the German's have superiority at the moment, we need more fighters then we can take back our skies then our bomber will be able to work fully."

Chuikov was silent then said "I will try and get more planes but that pocket, how many German's are trying to break it?" the Major General looked up "11,000 German's against around 4,000 Red Army" Chuikov closed his eyes for a second and reopened them "We have a number who have not gone in yet. Prepare 3,000 here" pointing at the land opposite the southern end of the city on the eastern bank "Get 2,000 men who are in the city but not fighting to the same point on the west bank ASAP. As soon as they are ready, move the men on the east in to the city and the force will join. That larger force will then attack here" pointing at and area with a Romanian and German flag on it "The Germans must have moved troops form this section to attack the pocket because this is the quietest area. That means it is now garrisoned by only the Romanians, which means it will be easy to break though. Our men will break though the Romanians, killing and capturing as many as possible, they will the hock around, tacking this small hill on which we will place artillery so we can shell deep in to German lines. Now breaking through will be easy, holding it is another matter, that is why, when we have taken that area I want a strong garrison around the small hill to protect it from the inevitable enemy attacks" Chuikov tap the desk and said "It should work, get to it!" the generals left the room to sort the attack out and Chuikov sat at his chair and rubbed his forehead with is hand. Soon troops began being moved for the attack.

OOC: Could the Etzopian soldier be involved in the offensive?

OOC: Ok.

[Rhinocera]

Western Stalingrad

Derek Wolfe sat inside his Tiger tank, watching his surroundings through the commanders cupola. His Tiger rumbled through the streets in the German held part of Stalingrad, leading an armored column towards his objective. Wolfe was heading a column that consisted of 3 Tigers (including his own). As time passed, Wolfe noted that they were nearing their objective and radioed his forces. "Lock and load men, we're hunting bears today." Wolfe had been with some of his tankers since Poland and he trusted them with his life. However, as their commander, they had no choice but to trust their lives to him. So far, ever since he became a Colonel after the initial actions in Operation Barbossa, he had lived up to their trust. Now, their objective was to push the Soviet forces back away from a crossroads at the front. The soviets had stalled the infantry, exacting a heavy toll on the German forces stationed there. The higher ups decided that since infantry couldn't push past it, tanks would. Wolfe had been told to take elements of his battalion and provide armored support for the attack. His Tigers would open up and pound the entrenched Russians with HE shells and machine gun fire, with any luck it would turn the rubble they were hiding behind into dust and the men into broken bodies.

Eventually the tanks reached the crossroads. As they drove I to sight of the enemy, bullets began to ping off the vehicles armor. Wolfe responded in turn. "Fire at will!" he barked onto the radio. 88 mm high explosive shells tore from the barrels of the powerful KwK 36 cannons and blasted around the Russians. MG 34s riddled their cover, and in a few cases their bodies, with 7.92 mm bullets. The Tigers had taken a position side by side, facing their frontal armor towards the enemy while their flanks were covered by the remains of buildings. Hopefully, this would throw the Russians off balance and allow the infantry in the area to dislodge the defenders.

[Elepis]

To All Red Army troops

At the moment, the German's have superior Air Power and armour, however we are getting more from the east every day. Until we have enough tanks and planes to mount a general offensive I want every one of you to do two things.

A: Fight for this city like it was you own home, kill every Fascist who dare desecrates it

B: Hung the enemy, I cannot stress this enough, when defending or attacking stay as close to the enemy as possible so he cannot use his bombers against us. By doing this we will help limit the effectiveness enemy air power. HUNG THE ENEMY

Deserters will be tried and probably shot, do not leave this city. The Volga is a sea, the western bank is a cliff, if you step off it you will fall to your death's.

General Vasily Chuikov

[Vivoe]

"This is our reinforcements?" Boris asked rhetorically, "How many of you actually crossed that damned river?"
"Not enough, not nearly enough." Dima said under his breath.
"I'm Sergeant Vladimir by the way and these two are," he looked around but the two privates had disappeared into a back room, "well never mind about them. We have orders to take red square and then move up to take a hill defended by the Romanians but that probably won't be for a day or two, we certainly can't do that until the square-" the man was cut off by the rumbling of tracks and crunching of rubble under sixty tons of steel.
"Tanks!" Dima said crouch running over to the window, "Tigers!" he said, the colour draining from his face. The building across to the right on the same side of the massive six lane road contained the other half of the platoon and the undisciplined soldiers began firing, their bolt action mosin-nagant rifles pinging harmlessly off the hulls. It only took a few seconds for the Tigers to bring their main guns to bear on the enemy positions, their 88mm flak guns blowing a hole clean through the building while the MG-34s sprayed it down with intense fire. "Get down!" the second Tiger in line decided to preemptively target the house they were hiding in and bullets ripped through every wooden part of the building with incredible ferocity. "Out, out now!" Vadim Chernoff yelled and he grabbed a man by the arm and almost threw him down the stairs in the back room.

Dima, Boris and Vadim had crawled out the back of the building as another earth shattering explosion shook the very foundations of the apartment block, "We can't fall back, the commissars will shoot us!" a private said, his voice panicked and his skin pale. "Dima, do you think you can take the shot?" Vadim asked, it really was their only chance. From thin alleyway behind the apartment block Dima lifted his rifle, just sixty metres ahead the lead Tiger was spraying down the building to his right with the turret cannon, MG and the coaxial. Dima lined up the sights of his SVT-40 with the thin slit window and fired. The bullet flew true but unfortunately for him there was a glass block designed specifically to stop incoming bullets so instead of killing the driver it shattered the block and made it impossible for him to see out of. Not quite as effective as hoped.

[Rhinocera]

Wolfe was pleased with how this engagement seemed to be going. The Soviet scum had presented little resistance, apart from small arms fire that was virtually useless against his Tigers. However, as he thought about how to proceed, a heard the sound of cracking glass and a shout from his driver. "Shit, I can't fucking see, the commie bastards broke my damn window." That statement was alarming, and Wolfe peered down to see what the hell was going on down there. He looked down and saw the driver squinting, in a vain attempt to get a better look through the horribly cracked, but still intact bullet proof glass block that covered his view port. Wolfe immediately decided that he would have to give the man directions. "Halt advance" he barked into the radio. On the order, all 3 Tigers lurched to a sudden halt, but continued spraying the area with their armaments. He looked the battlefield over, through his cupola, and decided that now was the best time to strike, while the communist insects were still reeling from the armored attack. "Infantry, attack now!" he yelled. On the order, German soldiers began to peer over the rubble, sending bullets, grenades, and mortar shells down range, throwing their 2 cents into the equation. After the initial shots, soldiers began to sprint towards buildings which were further up, under the cover of automatic machine gun fire, rifle fire, and 88 fire. This was the plan Wolfe had been issued by his superiors, although he would have much preferred that aerial units assist in the attack. However, this would have to do.

[Vivoe]

Mortar shells exploded in the street around them raining down shrapnel and blowing holes in the asphalt. Sporadic gunfire cracked through the air over the buzzing of MG-34s, the rest of the company and possibly the whole battalion was being hit by an infantry push along the line. A molotov cocktail went flying from the building down onto the street below, narrowly missing the lead tank while a second struck the turret before another earth shattering shot blew into the building and sent splinters of concrete and wood showering the street. Dima scanned the tank, looking for another port to fire into as submachine gun fire from MP-40s showered his position, "We need to fall back!" the private yelled, his hands were visibly shaking with fear.
"Not one step backwards!" Boris yelled over the constant chattering of machine guns.
"There are molotovs in the building and reinforcements will be here soon to respond." Vadim said as the remaining soldiers in the platoon returned the German advance with rifle or submachine gun fire and threw the occasional molotov down onto the street. Dima and the others ran into the building, the rear rooms on the ground level were not exposed to small arms fire and they safely retrieved several of the glass bottles each. "We will ambush them here as they try to push through our lines!" Vadim said brandishing two bottles filled with petrol and thickening agent. The street perpendicular to the main road was where the German tanks would have to drive through should they want to enter Russian held territory and the alleyways between each building made it a death trap for tanks should they decide to advance. If the tanks didn't advance then their infantry would be bogged down in combat for at least long enough to get reinforcements up to the front, maybe some tanks.

[Zachatopia]

Western Stalingrad

Captain Siegfried Fuller crouched in the rubble of a what use to be hotel...at least he thought.. he couldn't really tell anymore due to the degree of the destruction, 150 meters behind the roaring Tiger tanks that lay still at the Russian intersection laying down heavy fire. He watched as the first wave of German infantry became precariously bogged down by Russian small arms fire. He took pride in the fact that the German High Command thought it necessary to call up his Elite SS infantry company of 179 men to aid in the attack on Stalingrad, and he knew that he would soon receive the order from the higher ups to commence an assault on the intersection to aid the Tiger tanks and ever slowing German infantry. In the meanwhile he took the time to brief the entirety of his company on the perils they would be facing when they approached that intersection:

"Gentleman, I've been through both Poland and France with some of you men and we have forged an indestructible brotherhood and trust with each other that will surely carry us through this battle, and although this is the first time I stand before you as your commanding officer, just know that I will still be right beside you fighting when the bullets start fighting- I REFUSE to be like these other officers who merely watch their men fight and die from afar and take all the glory in the end. I am not promising you this is going to be a easy fight by any means, in fact it will probably be the toughest we've ever fought, but if theres one thing I can promise you its that by no means will those Russian scumbags push us back one inch- they will never know the true meaning of honor nor the feeling of victory! These communists will know the wrath of the Schutzstaffel by the end of this battle!" shouted the Captain as his men stood up and cheered. Although on the outside Siegfried seem undeniably confident, he knew inside he would be lucky to leave Stalingrad with half these means or to even leave Stalingrad at all...

[Rhinocera]

West Stalingrad, during the Push for the Crossroads

Wolfe watched over the battle through the commanders cupola, shouting orders as the need arose. The Russians had taken a good beating and had not yet brought up any defenses capable of taking down the Tiger tanks. However, the infantry assault had not progressed as well. They had become bogged down by the overly zealous Russian defenders. The damn reds were dug in the buildings, to heavily entrenched to be dislodged with ease. Fortunately, Derek had just the tool to remove the Russians from their entrenched positions within their buildings. Wolfe transmitted his orders over the radio, to his Tigers. "All Tigers, concentrate your firepower on the base of those buildings, bring the damn things down, make em crumble." he ordered. With that, the turrets of all 3 Tiger tanks adjusted their aim, and fired at the buildings, the rounds being placed in areas that would make the buildings collapse down upon themselves and hopefully crush all of the occupants.

[Zachatopia]

Western Stalingrad-Assault on the Crossroads

"Sir, we have just received the order from HQ to move up this road and assault the intersection along with the Tigers and the infantry that are already there" said an out of breath Corporal to Captain Siegfried.

"GEAR UP! And get your platoons ready to move out!" shouted Siegfried at the top of his lungs at his 4 Lieutenants who would be leading their own platoons into the battle under the Captains orders. Siegfried quickly jumped up from the chair he was relaxing in and slapped a magazine into his MP-40 and sheathed his beloved knife on his belt.

2 hours later

The men split up into their platoons under their respective CO with one platoon under direct command of Captain Siegfried himself, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd platoon started moving through the rubble covered streets towards the intersection, looks of terror overcame many of the many as they witnessed blood covered, mangled bodies of German and Russian soldiers in the streets, but they were quick to overcome this- they were SS they knew they must not be overcome by fear as they themselves are supposed to be fear itself. The massive 88's of the Tigers could be clearly heard pounding away at the Russians by the Captain whom was with the lead (1st) platoon, just as the walk started to seem like it was never ending, stray Russian bullets hit the ground around Siegfrieds feet.

"GET TO THE BUILDINGS!" shouted the Captain to his men, and with that they all quickly dashed to the buildings to the right and left of the street. Surprisingly, the inside of the buildings had not been devastated like the rest of the city and provided more than adequate cover for the 3 platoons. "One of those fucking rounds grazed my leg!" said a seemingly furious Sergeant. "Calm down Sergeant, you'll get your shot at them" said Siegfried.

Siegfried slowly peeked up above one of the windows to observe the Russian positions that were right across the street, he could see the Russians were getting pounded by the Tigers but were strangely still putting out an shocking amount of fire down on the German infantry that were advancing across the intersection. Seeing that no fire was being put down on their position, he figured the Russians had not noticed them moving up yet and decided it was the perfect opportunity to lay some surprise suppressing fire on the Communists.
"Corporal get our MG-42 up here and set it up in one of those second floor windows, we're going to give those commi' bastards a taste of their own medicine!" shouted the Captain. "On my queue everyone fires! Don't hold back!" he said as he pointed his MP-40 out the window in the Russians general direction. "NOW!" he shouted as he squeezed out 7 rounds in the Russians direction; the whole inside of the building came alive with the sound of his men firing, Kar-98's, MP-40's, and every so noticeable MG-42 which was laying spraying rounds out at a phenomenal rate.

[Etzopia]

July 17th, 1942


A HUGE battery of artillery opened fire on the area in and around the Tiger tanks. The infantry were suffering losses heavily and needed the support. Vladimir was held up in a building across the road from Dima's squad, and was being pummelled by Tiger tank armour. The Artillery shells finally reached the Tiger Tank convoy with a whistle of death. Soviet aeroplanes who were not bombing the fuel dump or resting started opening fire and firing rockets at the Tiger tanks.

[Alexzanabbgggggg]

Lev flew above the ruins of the city, behind him flew 3 other IL-2s. They had received an order to destroy a tiger column heading in to the city. Then they saw the enemy currently bogged down in street fighting, lev and his squdron whent into attack position and dived onto the enemy. When the moment came lev fired his rockets into the weak turret of the lead tank, the rockets passed through the turret and exploded inside the body of the lead tank, blowing it apart. Lev flew down the street, firing his machine guns on the enemy as he pulled up and flew back to base.

Ooc I am afk for a week.

[Rhinocera]

Derek heard the shells before he felt them. "Brace" he yelled to his crew. Then, they hit. Most of the shells struck the buildings or ground, most. However, a single shell struck his Tiger. Rubble was thrown into the air, showering the mighty tanks, and as the shell struck, his Tigers left track was torn asunder, leaving the vehicle immobile. "Get out, now" he bellowed to his crew, as he exited through the hatch, firing his Luger with one hand and helping his men out with the other. Wolfe, his loader, and his gunner were lucky. The driver, was not. As Wolfe pulled the man out, a Russian marksmen took the shot, and the drivers head burst apart into a red mist. Wolfe led his men to the cover of the rubble, and as soon as they reached it, Russian planes swooped down and blasted the tank they had, moments ago, been operating into pieces. Wolfe knew that his tanks, their advance blocked by the burning husk of the lead vehicle, were finished in this fight. He sprinted behind the destroyed tank, and signaled the remaining vehicles to retreat. As he moved to return to the rubble, a bullet struck his nicked his left shoulder, but he didn't even falter. He ordered his crew to make their way back to base, the moved to find a man with a radio. Soon enough, he came across a captain shouting into a radio, requesting reinforcements of every kind. Derek snatched the radio out of his hands, and when the captain moved to protest he was silenced upon seeing the Colonels insignia. Wolfe then tuned the radio to the proper frequency, and spoke. "This is Colonel Derek Wolfe, commander of the 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion. Our attack has faced stiff resistance. We have come under heavy aerial and artillery assault. I am requesting immediate fighter cover to get their air strikes off of us, artillery support against the enemy positions and counter battery fire against the enemy gun emplacements." Wolfe then gave the man on the other line the proper coordinates, then cut the transmission. He then began to make his way back to his battalion HQ, about 4 miles away.

[Zachatopia]

Western Stalingrad

Captain Fuller heard the ever noticeable screech of incoming artillery shells and rockets and without hesitation screamed to his men- "TAKE COVER!" as artillery slammed into the ground outside and some even managed to blow decent size holes in the building the Captains platoon was in, fortunately no one was wounded with the exception of some privates with bruises and temporary deafness. "God damn! Was not expecting that" said the Captain as he cleaned the dust off him and peered out of the window to get a sit rep; he saw the lead Tiger tank of the assault in flames and a crew struggling to escape the steel deathtrap- "Give those men some covering fire men!" shouted Siegfried as he emptied his MP-40's magazine in the Russians direction, with the entire platoon following the Captains actions and emptying as many as rounds as they could towards the Russians whom were just across the street.

"3rd Squad, get over here!" bellowed the Captain in no particular direction; no longer than 5 minutes later a squad of 12 men were crouched behind the Captain in silence. "Sergeant Hans, take yourself and your squad here and immediately move outside onto the street and meet up with that crew that escaped. I'm assuming they will be making their way back to our lines, I want you to provide protection during their trip back and immediately afterwards make your way back here with a radio." said the Captain. Without hesitation and after a quick salute, the Sergeant and his squad exited the building and sprinted down the street after the Tiger crew.

Minutes later the Squad reached the Tiger crew who was slowly stumbling down the street, clearly disorientated by the ordeal they had been to. Sergeant Hans jogged up to the CO of the crew, a colonel, and after a salute said "My name is Sergeant Hans Meyer from the 7th SS infantry Company of the 134th SS Battalion, I have been directing ordered by my Captain to aid you in the return to our lines."

[Vivoe]

105mm howitzer shells exploded in the midst of the German infantry and armour, throwing tracks, killing soldiers and suppressing the advance. Dima leaned out from behind the apartment building to see the crew of the lead Tiger abandoning their vehicle and took aim at the driver which he had failed to kill just moments earlier. Dima squeezed the trigger and fired, the bullet shot straight and blew half the skull of the driver open as the officer trying to pull him out went diving for cover. The private with Dima pushed Dima aside as he was lining up another shot at the retreating officer, "I got this one!" he yelled lifting his Mosin-Nagant to his shoulder before hastily firing. Dima watched as the officer stumbled and clutched his arm, the bullet only zipping his arm.
"You moron, you piece of shit. Idiot!" Dima screamed over the automatic fire, his anger flaring up worse than before and took real effort to stop the urge to punch the poor marksman out himself.
"Dima, cool it. Now!" Vadim yelled, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back behind the building as a burst of MP-40 fire riddled the side of the building. "The tanks are falling back, we need you up in the third floor putting accurate fire onto those fascist pigs, understand?"
"Sir." Dima said shaking his shoulder free and running up the stairs onto the top floor of the apartment block as the rest of the infantry section followed behind, taking positions all across the building. Dima took his SVT-40 in hand and began firing, with almost every shot lining up perfectly with the incoming wave of infantry that either got pinned behind the artillery and couldn't see the Russians through the smoke, got smashed into the ground by shells or managed to make it across and get shot as they found themselves isolated and surrounded. There was no way the assault could continue much longer.

[Rhinocera]

Western Stalingrad, En Route to HQ of 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion

Wolfe's head turned to acknowledge the Sargent, then responded. "Keep moving" he shouted to his crew and the SS forces. "Sargent, I am Colonel Derek Wolfe, commander of the 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion. As you saw, my Tiger was destroyed in the middle of the street, leaving the other tigers incapable of further advance, and relegating them to a position of uselessness in this engagement. Once I get back to my HQ, I'm sending Panzer III tanks to provide further support for the assault. We don't have time for further discussion, lets move." All of this was said maintaining a quick jog, but now Derek broke out into a run. Time was of the essence, and if he couldn't get tanks back to the street, all those who died would have done so in vain.

The run took 32 minutes flat, which was impressive for an injured man and a shell shocked crew. It was a pretty average run for the SS officers. Upon reaching the HQ, the first thing Wolfe did was run up to a company commander, Captain Drake Reacher. "Reacher, take 4 Panzer IIIs about 4 miles up that street" he said, pointing towards the street that led to the battle. "Sir, the tigers returned min..." began Reacher, before being cut off by Wolfe. "The streets are blocked to heavily for them, but the IIIs should be able to go through. Now go." He then turned back to the Sargent. "Sargent, take this radio and use it to contact your commander. Tell him that armor is en route and not to abandon the attack. I'm placing him in command o f the assault, in all respects. I'll contact command and get them to drop some lead on those son's of bitches, if they didn't listen on my first request." Almost as if on queue, the sound of nearby German gun batteries boomed across the landscape, sending their shells streaking towards the Russian buildings. Overhead, fighters could be seen hurtling forwards, to keep the damn Yaks off of the German forces. "Sargent, hitch a ride on the Panzers, you'll get there faster, just get off before you get to close, unless you want to get swissed."

[Zachatopia]

Western Stalingrad-Fight for the intersection

Captain Fuller could see the first wave of infantry that was crossing the street was getting butchered by highly accurate sniper fire, clearing coming from the large building across the street from his men. "Does anyone have an eye on what floor that sniper fire is coming from?!" shouted the Captain to his platoon, "Those guys are getting devastated down there!". Then, as the smoke cleared away a little more, Siegfried could just make out the distinctive flashes of rifles from the 3rd floor of the building the Russians were held up in. The Captain rushed upstairs to the MG-42 squad that was at the moment reloading the machine gun, "As soon as you get a new belt on there, I want you to direct all your fire at the 3rd floor of that building right over there" Siegfried ordered as he pointed out the window to a old, shell devastated building of which flashes of rifles could still be seen coming out of. Fuller then ran back downstairs where the rest of his men were still laying sporadic fire on various Russian positions- "1st squad maintain fire on your current target, 2nd and 3rd squad help our guys upstairs out and put everything you have on the 3rd floor of that building!" he demanded.

No sooner than he finished giving his orders, Sergeant Hans Meyer and his squad rushed through the door of building, almost getting shot by Siegfried in the process. "Sir" the Sergeant said with a salute, "We escorted the Tiger crew back to HQ with no issues, the Colonel requested that we keep on with the attack as he will be back soon with more armor, in the meantime he did send a squad of panzer III"s in hopes it would advance the assault further." Captain Fuller acknowledged him with a nod of the head and quickly rushed out of the doorway to where a couple of Panzer III's were patiently waiting, the commander of the lead tank popped out of his hatch in order to hear what the Captain had to say; "I want you and your fine looking squad of tanks here to move past the destroyed tiger that's up the road here 75 meters and place immediate fire on the Russian positions across the street, they currently have the first wave of infantry that was sent in pinned down. Meanwhile my men are hold up in these two buildings here placing fire on the enemy positions." said the Captain and before any further could be said the Commander was already back inside his tank and moving towards the fighting.