Chapter 1150: Two-pronged approach

  Chapter 1150 Two-pronged approach

After the defense area of ​​the Imperial Division was attacked by the Soviet army, Hausser, who got the news, immediately called Colonel Shimon: "Colonel Shimon, the Russians are attacking the defense area of ​​the Imperial Division. I order you to deploy troops immediately." Go and attack the Russian flank, smash their attack, and assist the Imperial Division to hold the line."

"Your Excellency," Colonel Shimon refused Hausser's order in his heart. He waited for the other party to finish speaking, and immediately said: "The Russians in front of us also show signs of making a move. I am worried that in this Time to mobilize troops, the Russians may launch an attack on our defense zone."

"No, Colonel." For Colonel Shimon's statement, Hausser did not take it seriously: "The Russians' tactics are rigid. When they attack in one direction, the other directions will stand still. Even if you are mobilizing They were discovered by the Russians when they entered the army, and they had no time to formulate a battle plan. Maybe when you repel the Russian attack and return to the defense zone, the Russians in front of you will still stand still."

Colonel Shimon didn't agree with Hausser's statement at all, but since the other party had issued an order and his subordinates could not disobey, he could only bite the bullet and agree, and then ordered the armored regiment to move eastward and prepare to go Attack the flank of the 67th Guards Division.

  The enemy's mobilization was discovered by the scouts of the 41st Guards Division, and they quickly reported the situation to the division headquarters. After reading the information, the acting division commander, Colonel Sidolin, immediately called Sokov: "Comrade Commander, we have a new situation here, and we need to report it to you immediately."

   "Speak, Comrade Colonel." Sokov said into the microphone: "What happened?"

   "It's like this. Our scouts found that the Skeleton Division has an armored regiment and is moving towards the Imperial Division. According to my judgment, the enemy is preparing to attack the flank of the friendly army. Tell me, what should we do?"

Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch. There were less than five minutes left before the attack on the Skeleton Division, and he said to Sidolin: "Comrade Colonel, there are still five minutes until the artillery is about to attack the enemy. The positions are bombarded. Even if the enemy wants to turn around, it will be too late, and your division can easily occupy the enemy's positions."

"Comrade Commander," Sidolin is a cautious person. He suggested to Sokov: "I think at least one regiment should be reserved to monitor the transferred German troops. Once they turn back, they can still Immediately block them and prevent them from joining us in the battle with the Skeleton Division."

   "This is a good idea." Even though the 41st Guards Division is Sokov's old unit, he did not cross Sidolin to give orders directly. On the contrary, he also handed over the choice to Sidolin: "Comrade Colonel, as for which regiment to send to meet the enemy, it is up to you to decide."

  The armored regiment of the Skeleton Division had just left the defense zone when the Soviet shelling began. The armored regiment leader quickly asked Simon for instructions: "Your Excellency, the Russians are bombarding your position. Should we turn around?"

"No. I think the Russians discovered our intentions and used shelling to contain us." Simon said stubbornly: "You still follow the original plan and go out to the vicinity of Rockinsick Town to attack the Russians. attack from the flank."

In this way, when the Skeleton Division's defense area was bombarded by the Soviet army, due to Colonel Shimon's misjudgment, the armored regiment sent did not return to the defense in time. Go to Rockinsick Town to reinforce the defeated Imperial Division.

  The ten-minute shelling ended quickly. The soldiers of the Skeleton Division, like the Imperial Division, rushed back to their front-line positions immediately after seeing the extension of the Soviet artillery fire, but were attacked by rockets. The new rockets owned by the Sixth Army are basically equipped with the 41st Guards Division, so the number of rockets they fired is far more than that in the direction of Rockinsick Town.

   The Skeleton Division officers and soldiers who rushed back to deploy their defenses immediately suffered huge casualties. Then the gunpowder smoke on the position had not dissipated, and the attack of the 41st Guards Division began. The commanders and fighters used a sparse formation and charged towards the skeleton division's position.

  Because the Skeleton Division had just dispatched an armored regiment before the battle started, the strength of the entire defense zone was greatly reduced. Facing the flood of Soviet troops, they couldn't resist at all, and the first line of defense was quickly broken through. After clearing out the enemies in the first line of defense, the commanders charged into the second line of defense.

When Colonel Shimon saw that the Soviet army easily broke through his defense line and rushed towards the division headquarters, he was frightened out of his wits and immediately ordered someone to send a telegram to the head of the armored regiment, ordering him to lead his troops back to support immediately. .

  The armored regiment of the Skeleton Division is now only three kilometers away from the town of Rockinsick. After receiving an urgent order from Colonel Shimon, the armored regiment leader could only order the troops to abandon their plan to attack the Soviet flank and return to their original station.

However, on their way back, they encountered Colonel Papchenko's 122nd Regiment. The bazookas ambushing on the side of the road destroyed the enemy tanks one after another like shooting targets; The rocket bombs blew up the German infantry who gathered together and tried to launch an attack, making ghosts howl.

  According to the original battle plan, the 67th Guards Division, which attacked the Imperial Division from the north, should quickly implement a detour after breaking through the enemy's defense line, cutting off the Skeleton Division's retreat to Barvinkovo. However, due to Hausser's wrong decision, the speed of the German army's defeat was accelerated.

  After the 41st Guards Division broke through the enemy's line of defense, Colonel Sivakov's 71st Guards Division entered the battlefield from the breakthrough. Using detour tactics, they detoured to the rear of the Imperial Division, completely cutting off their retreat. The German officers and soldiers who found themselves trapped in the encirclement became even more confused. Facing the strong attack of the Soviet army, the German army, which had long been short of ammunition and supplies, could not organize a decent resistance at all.

  After Sokov learned that the attack was going well, he immediately issued an order to the 74th and 88th Guards Divisions, asking them to go out to the front line immediately to take over the defense area vacated by the three divisions of the first echelon.

After Vitkov delivered the order, he looked at Sokov and asked: "Comrade Commander, it seems that even if we can't completely wipe out the Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division today, we can still seriously injure them, and in a short time Unable to regain combat effectiveness."

   "Comrade Commander," Lunev also asked enthusiastically: "If we make these two SS divisions of the German army lose their combat effectiveness, what should we do next? Attack Barvinkovo?"

"The enemy is in the city of Barvinkovo, and there are also the Banner Guard Division and two armored divisions." Regarding Lunev's optimistic thoughts, Sokov shook his head and said: "Under the current situation, it is impossible to use it on a large scale." Tank troops. Allowing infantry without tank cover to attack the enemy's well-defended city is tantamount to letting soldiers die, and I can't do this kind of thing."

"But, Comrade Commander, what a great opportunity this is." Although Sokov had made it clear that he would not launch an attack on Barvinkovo, Lunev said unwillingly: "We now have eight divisions. With the strength of the army and the cover of the air force, it is not impossible to capture Barvenkovo."

Seeing that Lunev was dazzled by the victory in front of him, Sokov reminded him: "Comrade Military Commissar, don't forget that there are two German armored corps and some infantry divisions in the direction of Izyum. If we If we really launch an attack on Barvinkovo ​​and fail to capture the city in a short period of time, the enemies of Igyum can only go south and encircle our attacking troops. At that time, some of the results we have achieved so far will be It will all be wiped out, and a lot of vitality will be lost."

After hearing what Sokov said, Witkov echoed: "Comrade Commander is right. The reason why we have achieved such a victory today is entirely because the enemy's communication lines were blocked in the early stage, so that this The two SS divisions lost their combat effectiveness because of the division of supplies. But if we go to attack Barvenkovo, where the enemy has sufficient supplies and is waiting for work, and there are a lot of tanks and artillery, and we only have infantry, if we attack rashly , It is tantamount to letting the commanders and fighters die."

"Comrade Military Commissar," Sokov saw that when Witkov agreed with him, Lunev's face was particularly ugly. In order not to make the other party unable to step down, he also explained to the other party specifically: "If you want to capture Barvenkovo, The enemy in the city of Iyum must be eliminated, and with the strength of our army group, this cannot be done. If you need to ask the friendly army for help, I am afraid that it will take half a month or even longer to prepare in advance. We can't wait that long.

   Therefore, our attack this time is only aimed at destroying or severely injuring the German Skeleton Division and Imperial Division. As for the enemies in Balvencorvo, we don't have to worry about it. "

   Lunev was silent for a long time after Sokov finished speaking, trying hard to think about what the other party said. After some deliberation, Lunev felt that what Sokov said was very reasonable, so he nodded and said, "Comrade Commander, you are the chief military officer. If you want to fight, you have the final say. If there is something wrong, please forgive me."

Seeing that Lunev was so reasonable, Sokov smiled slightly, and then said to him: "Comrade Military Commissar, your statement is correct. If in the immediate battle, our army can use tanks on a large scale to attack Barvinkovo ​​like that, It's not impossible, and I'm even 60% sure that I can take that city back from the Germans."

  The battle continued until the afternoon, and the troops of the 67th Guards Division on the right wing completely occupied the entire town of Rockinsick and were attacking other defense areas of the Imperial Division. The 41st and 71st Guards Divisions on the left captured the headquarters of the Skull Division and captured the acting division commander, Colonel Shimon alive.

  After reading the battle report, Sokov showed a bright smile on his face, and he quickly sent a telegram to the Front Army Command. It was Malinin who answered the phone. Hearing Sokov's voice, he hurriedly asked, "General Sokov, how is the battle going on there?"

"Report to Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov said excitedly: "After fierce fighting, the 41st and 71st Guards Divisions on the left have defeated the German Skeleton Division and captured the division commander Shimon alive. Colonel. The 67th Guards Division on the right has also occupied the town of Rockinsick and is fighting fiercely with the enemy, but the retreat route of the Imperial Division has been cut off by the 41st Guards Division, and they cannot escape."

"General Sokov, this is really exciting news." Malinin said excitedly after hearing Sokov's report, "I will immediately report this good news to Commander Rokossovsky. of."

  Sokov heard what Malinin said, and couldn't help asking: "Why, the commander of the front army is not at the headquarters, where did he go?"

"General Sokov, there is no need to keep this matter secret from you. Comrade Commander received a call from the headquarters at noon and has already flown back to Moscow. But don't worry, I will report to him immediately the results you have achieved. "

  At this moment, in Stalin's office in the Moscow Kremlin, members of the Supreme Command are meeting to discuss how to ease the severe situation on the Kharkov-Belgorod line. As an attendee, Rokossovsky had no right to speak and could only quietly listen to everyone expressing their opinions.

   Halfway through the meeting, Boskrebyshev suddenly opened the door and walked in from the outside.

   Seeing Poskrebyshev who suddenly appeared, Stalin asked a little displeased: "Don't you know that we are having a meeting? What's the matter?"

Poskrebyshev took a quick look at Rokossovsky, then stopped physically and reported to Stalin: "Comrade Stalin, General Malinin has called and said that there is something important and needs to be reported to Rokossovsky immediately. Comrade Ki reports."

   "Is there anything more important than our meeting?" Marshal Timoshenko, who was speaking, saw that his speech was interrupted, and said with some displeasure, "You can't wait until the meeting is over before calling."

  Stalin heard Timoshenko's complaints and glanced at him. The latter caught Stalin's gaze and lowered his head a little guilty.

"Comrade Poskrebyshev, put the phone in." After Stalin finished speaking, he looked at Rokossovsky and said, "Comrade Konstantin Konstantinovich, you will Just answer the phone right here."

Rokossovsky didn't know why Malinin called himself at this time, so he got up and walked to Stalin's desk, picked up the phone on it, and said into the microphone: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff? I'm Rokossovsky, what's important that you need to call me at this time?"

  (end of this chapter)