Chapter 1340: hold and feint

  Chapter 1340 Persistence and feint

  The Infantry Brigade was in the south of Yakovlevo, stubbornly blocking and pinning down the 255th Infantry Division of the German Army. As time passed, the German Army, eager to get out of the predicament, launched more and more fierce offensives every time.

  After Sokov learned of this situation, he asked Sameko: "Chief of Staff, how long will it take for the troops that detour from the two wings to reach the designated location?"

"Comrade Commander, if you calculate the distance from the map, they should have arrived at the attack position." Sameko said to Sokov: "But because they are marching in forests and swamps, their speed will inevitably be delayed. It's slow, I estimate that it will take an hour at the earliest to arrive at the designated location."

   "Wait another hour?" Sokov was a little anxious: "Then when they arrive at the designated location, it will be dawn, and then attack the enemy, and the surprise effect will not be achieved."

   "And the enemy's strength far exceeds that of the infantry brigade. If the enemy launches a strong attack recklessly, I worry that Uzakov and the others will not be able to withstand it at all."

  As Sokov's chief of staff, Sameko knew very well that Sokov's worries were completely justified. The strength of the 255th Infantry Division of the German Army far exceeds that of Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov's 46th Infantry Brigade. Kovlevo town.

  If the enemy occupies the town of Yakovlevo, it may not be an easy task to eat them. Naturally, Sameko would not let this happen. After staring at the map for a while, he suggested to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the troops in the north of Yakovlevo town are now too scattered, and it is difficult to Within a certain period of time, the infantry brigade will be transferred into an organized unit. Do you think it is possible to transfer two marine brigades?"

"Marine brigade?" If Sameko didn't say it, Sokov would have almost forgotten about these two units. The combat effectiveness of the sailor unit is certainly strong, but after such a long period of fighting, their personnel reduction is also very serious, so the attack When Huot's Panzer Army, he placed them in Kochetovka: "The two marine brigades are now only half of their strength. It may not be enough to use them to reinforce the infantry brigade."

   "Comrade Commander, most of the rescued commanders and fighters are stationed in the Kochetovka area." Sameko reminded Sokov: "We can replenish them nearby."

One word awakened the dreamer, and Sameko’s words reminded Sokov that although he put the two marine brigades on the third supply list at the beginning, judging from the current situation, it is necessary to send these brigades as soon as possible. Two brigades went into battle to hold off the enemy's attack.

   "Director of the Communication Corps," Sokov turned and shouted to the other side of the room: "Get me through the phone of Comrade Military Commissioner immediately."

  Hearing Sokov's order, the director of the communications corps did not dare to neglect in the slightest, and connected Lunev's call as quickly as possible: "Comrade Commander, the call has been connected."

   Lunev, who woke up from sleep, did not mean to blame Sokov at all, but asked politely, "Comrade Commander, is something wrong?"

   "Comrade Military Commissar, the situation is like this. We are preparing to encircle and annihilate the 255th Infantry Division of the German Army, but due to insufficient troops, I plan to use the two marine brigades deployed in Kochetovka."

   "Are you going to use two marine brigades?" Lunev said with some surprise, "However, they had suffered a very serious reduction in the number of people in the early battles. With their current strength, they can only play a limited role."

   "Those rescued commanders and fighters are now stationed near them." Sokov said on the phone: "Comrade Military Commissioner, you should replenish them now so that they can go into battle as soon as possible."

   "Replenish them now?" Lunev said in surprise: "Didn't we take the two marine brigades as the third batch of supplementary targets? What's more, we haven't completed the screening of the rescued officers and fighters."

"It's too late, my Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov said anxiously: "Now the infantry brigade sticking to the town of Yakovlevo is fighting fiercely with the 255th Division of the German Army in the south of the town. Their strength is limited. If they don't Reinforce as soon as possible, once the enemy breaks through their line of defense and occupies the town, we will be passive in the next battle."

   "But the screening work has not been completed. If these commanders and fighters are added to the army rashly, if something happens, who will bear the responsibility?"

"I will take this responsibility." Sokov said carelessly: "You tell those commanders and fighters that now there is an opportunity to avenge their hatred and wash away their shame. Take up arms and meet the Germans face to face."

   "I understand, Comrade Commander." Lunev understood what Sokov meant, and quickly replied: "I will start this matter immediately, and I must complete all the supply tasks before noon today."

"What, you have to wait until noon?" Sokov became impatient when he heard Lunev's reply: "No, it's too late. By then, the battle may be over. I'll give you a deadline in the morning. How about eight o'clock?"

   "Eight in the morning?" Lunev looked at his watch and said with a bitter face, "Comrade Commander, that is to say, there are less than three hours left. Can we make it in time?"

"It is your responsibility whether you can make it in time." Whether the two marine brigades can enter the battle in time is related to the outcome of the battle, so Sukov said very bluntly: "At eight o'clock, I will Hearing that two brigades of Marines have departed."

Seeing that Sokov had already given himself a deadline, Lunev realized that what he said was useless, so he could only bite the bullet and say: "Understood, Comrade Commander, I will do what you wish. "

Sameko waited for Sokov to finish the call, and immediately said to him: "Comrade Commander, if the Marine Brigade finishes replenishing at eight o'clock, by the time they arrive at the town of Yakovlevo, I'm afraid the town has been destroyed. The enemy has taken over."

"It seems that our plan needs to be adjusted appropriately." Sokov said to Sameko: "The enemy's offensive is very fierce. Even if the infantry brigade resists desperately, when the number is not dominant and there is no strong fortification, It was very difficult to hold the position. The artillery, which I had intended to use in the final assault on the enemy after the encirclement was completed, now seemed obliged to provide artillery cover for the infantry brigade."

   "Will the two artillery divisions bombard at the same time, or only one of them?"

   "Even if only one artillery division is used, it is a bit wasteful." Sokov replied: "I think it is enough to use one artillery regiment and use heavy artillery to intercept the enemy attacking the position."

   "Okay," Sameko nodded and said, "I will immediately contact Colonel Terenga, the commander of the First Artillery Division, and ask him to use a heavy artillery regiment to intercept and shoot the enemy's attacking troops."

"Also," before Sameko left, Sokov ordered him again: "Also, you need to contact a group of transport vehicles as soon as possible, and pull them to Yako immediately after the Marine Brigade finishes replenishing. The town of Vlevo. After all, Kochetovka is more than ten kilometers away from the town. If we simply marched on foot, our commanders and fighters would have to walk for at least two hours."

   Sameko called the artillery division, and Sokov received a call from Zhukov: "Misha, how is the situation there?"

"The two infantry divisions are turning around to the left and right flanks of the German army, and they will complete the encirclement of the enemy in about an hour." Sokov did not dare to neglect, and quickly replied with a solemn expression: "In addition, I have ordered emergency supplies to The two marine brigades in Kochetovka are going to transfer all of them to the town of Yakovlevo after completing their supplies, to crush the enemy's attempt to seize the town."

   "Misha, your deployment is very comprehensive." After Zhukov praised Sokov, he continued: "Now Vatutin has ordered three artillery divisions to bombard the enemy's positions north of Belgorod in turn.

   This has two purposes: one is to give the enemy an illusion that we are preparing to attack Belgorod at this moment, so that they dare not easily mobilize troops to reinforce the 255th Division;

Second, when the enemy mistakenly believes that Belgorod will be attacked by our army, he will definitely order the 255th Infantry Division to speed up the attack in order to capture the town of Yakovlevo as a wedge into our defense line . "

   After listening to Zhukov's words, Sokov felt more at ease. You must know that if you want to annihilate the German infantry division, it is far from enough to rely on your own troops. The 255th Infantry Division, which is attacking the town of Yakovlevo, once it finds itself in danger of being encircled, may turn around and flee, and flee back to Belgorod before the encirclement is formed.

  Another situation, even if the encirclement of the 255th Infantry Division was successfully completed, if the German army in Belgorod dispatched reinforcements, the 84th and 254th Infantry Divisions that detoured to the rear of the enemy's side would be in danger of being attacked by the enemy.

  But now as Vatutin ordered the artillery to bombard the defensive positions of the northern line of defense, the enemy made a miscalculation. They would think that the Soviet army was about to launch an attack north of the city, and even if they saw the 255th Infantry Division besieged, they would not dare to send troops to reinforce it casually. At the same time, as Zhukov analyzed, Manstein would even order the 255th Infantry Division to continue to assault the town of Yakovlev, in order to obtain a salient to contain the Soviet troops west of the city.

   After Zhukov finished speaking, he waited for a while, but he didn't hear Sokov finish, and asked a little strangely: "Misha, did you hear what I said clearly?"

   "Listen clearly!"

   "Since you can hear clearly, why don't you speak?"

   "Comrade Marshal," Sokov said with a smile, jokingly, "I'm considering what request I should ask you?"

   "A request?" Zhukov heard Sukov say this, and asked a little puzzled: "What request do you have?"

"Comrade Marshal, in this battle, we only have two infantry divisions, one infantry brigade, and two marine brigades." Sokov complained on the phone: "There is a lack of sufficient tanks and artillery, so I hope the superiors can give us some help."

   "What you said, I can't meet your conditions in a short time." After listening to Sokov's request, Zhukov said with some embarrassment: "You can only find a way to overcome it yourself."

Zhukov's answer was already expected by Sokov. After the other party finished speaking, he said with a playful smile: "Comrade Marshal, since you can't provide us with tank and artillery support, what about air cover? According to my knowledge As you know, the air supremacy over the Kursk area is firmly in the hands of our army. If my troops can get cover from the air when they attack, then the next battle will be much smoother. "

Zhukov did not realize that he had fallen into the "trap" set by Sokov. It would be unreasonable to think that he could not provide tanks and artillery to Sokov, and now he could not even provide basic air cover. Therefore, Zhukov did not hesitate Said, "Don't worry, Misha, you'll get the air cover you want."

   Having received Zhukov's promise, Sokov became more confident in annihilating the 255th Infantry Division of the German Army.

   After finishing the call with Zhukov, he tried to get through to Uzakov's command post.

  Hearing the sound of gunshots and explosions coming from the receiver, Sokov couldn't help but frowned slightly, and then asked loudly: "Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov, how is it? Can you stop the enemy's attack?"

   "Yes, Comrade Commander." Uzakov replied in a firm tone: "As long as we have one soldier alive, we will never let the enemy pass through our position."

   For this general and meaningless answer, Sokov is not interested at all. He asked straight to the point: "Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov, tell me about your plan. How do you plan to hold your position?"

"Report to Comrade Commander," Uzakov reported on the phone: "After the main force of the brigade arrived at the outpost, they not only reinforced the original position, but also seized the time to dig a lot of trenches and traffic trenches in the village, and arranged Some firepower points. Even if the Germans break through the positions outside the village, we can use the fortifications in the village to continue to deal with them."

"What about the town?" What Sokov is worried about now is that once the enemy breaks through the outpost to the south of the town and takes Yakovlevo town in one go, the next situation will be very unfavorable to him: "You stay Which troop will stick to it?"

"Fourth Battalion." Uzakov replied without hesitation: "Comrade Commander, I will leave the Fourth Battalion to stand firm. Although their strength is a little smaller, there are only more than two hundred people, but they have to stand firm for two or three hours." , shouldn’t be a big problem.”

After listening to Uzakov's words, Sokov made some calculations in his heart again, thinking that the infantry brigade should be able to last until noon today, and the two marine brigades can completely survive the worst situation before the worst situation arises. Arrived in the town of Yakovlevo.

"Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov, don't worry, you are not fighting alone." In order to appease Uzakov, Sokov said to him: "In order for you to better hold your position, I will arrange artillery to You provide artillery cover. And when fate comes, the Air Force will provide you with air cover."

   Sokov's words made Uzakov secretly happy. He was worried that Sokov would ignore them and let them fend for themselves. But when he heard it at this moment, he realized that Sokov seemed to be playing a big game of chess. His troops stood firm here, maybe it was the bait Sokov put on the enemy to attract the enemy firmly here.

  (end of this chapter)