RE Lee put sharpshooter companies behind his attacking infantry brigades, to kill men who would not attack hard enough.
Stalin improved that with machine gun detachments, in “blocking battalions” for the same purpose.
So there were whole machine gun battalions that could have gotten to these guys. But those guys determined that their leaders were not wrong. The responsibility does not only land on the upper echelon leaders, it extends down to the rank & file in Russia, as well as Germany.