Chapter 1424: Burning City (Part 1)

  Chapter 1424 The Burning City (Part 1)

  Konev's Steppe Front Army and Vatutin's Voronezh Front Army used 2,300 artillery pieces in the early morning to bombard the German frontal defense positions.

  Listening to the sound of rumbling guns in the distance, Sameko asked Sokov for instructions: "Comrade Commander, the main force has already started attacking Kharkov. When will we take assistance?"

"Don't worry, my comrade chief of staff." Seeing Sameko so anxious, Sokov said to him with a smile: "The enemy is still eyeing Compass Town in Kazakhya. As long as they don't retreat, we won't be able to launch an attack for the time being. .Otherwise, if the two sides launch a confrontation, the battle may fall into a stalemate."

   After saying this, Sokov raised his hand to look at his watch and asked, "Is Poluboyarov here?"

Sameko glanced at the entrance of the church, then shook his head and said, "Comrade Commander, I haven't seen him yet." As Sokov's chief of staff, he naturally understood why the other party asked this question. Meaning, quickly added: "When I called to inform him to come, I already understood the situation. The three tank brigades have already entered the attack position, and the mechanized brigade is on the march. It will arrive at the designated position by ten o'clock in the morning at the latest. .”

  Sokov nodded slightly after listening to Sameko's report, "I estimate that we will not be able to launch an attack on the enemy before ten o'clock. Even if the mechanized brigade's action is slower, it will not delay the big event."

   "Comrade Commander, which division do you plan to use as the main offensive task?"

Now the troops of the 27th Army are basically assembled near the town of Compass in Kazakhya. Sokov has never really thought about which division will be the main attack. After all, the German army is still attacking the town. It is a bit unreasonable to think about attacking at this moment. too early. But since Sameko asked about this, Sokov still stared at the troop number on the map for a while, then raised his head and said to Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I see that the task of attacking Jergach , to Colonel Shechtman's 254th Infantry Division."

  Sameko would naturally not object to Sokov's arrangement. He nodded and said, "I think it is very appropriate for the 254th Infantry Division to take on the main task."

   "Since you have no objection, call Colonel Shechtman and get them ready to attack."

   While Sameko was on the phone, Sokov asked Lunev who was sitting next to him: "Comrade Military Commissar, are our political workers ready to take over the city?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Lunev said proudly with a smile on his face: "Don't worry, our political workers have long been ready to take over the city. As soon as the battle is over, the city will be able to In the shortest possible time, the supply of water, electricity and materials will be restored."

  Local work has always been in charge of Lunev. Hearing that he is so confident at this moment, Sokov naturally feels very at ease in his heart. However, on some details, he felt that he still needed to discuss it with Lunev.

   While the two were studying how to resume normal production and life as soon as possible after the occupation of the city, General Poluboyarov appeared at the door of the church. He stood at the door and looked left and right. When he saw Sokov and others staying in the corner, he quickly walked through the hall and came in front of several people.

   "Hello, General Poluboyarov." Sokov held the opponent's hand and said enthusiastically: "We finally expect you to come, please take a seat."

   As soon as Poluboyarov sat down, Lunev poured a cup of hot tea himself and handed it to him. Poluboyarov was a little flattered by Lunev's actions. He quickly stood up from his seat and said nervously, "Thank you, Comrade Military Commissar. I'll do it myself."

   "General Poluboyarov," the battle is imminent, and Sokov feels that many things still need to be implemented by himself before he can truly feel at ease: "I want to ask, where is your army now?"

Poluboyarov, who had just sat down, heard Sokov's question, and quickly stood up from his seat, straightened his back and replied: "Report to Comrade Commander, my three tank brigades are at four o'clock this morning. , have all entered the designated location. And the mechanized brigade is currently on its way to Kazakia Compass Town, and according to the brigade commander’s report, they are now less than eight kilometers away from the town.”

  The mechanized brigades are all mechanized, and the speed of action is far faster than that of infantry on foot. If there is no accident, the remaining eight kilometers can be reached in half an hour at most.

   "Comrade Commander," Poluboyarov asked Sokov cautiously after answering the question: "When can our army launch an attack on the enemy?"

  Sokov smiled slightly, "What do you think?"

Poluboyarov replied in a panic: "Comrade commander, I know you have an overall plan for how to launch an attack on the enemy. But one of my tank brigades is in the forest outside the town of Compass in Kazakhia. , have been hiding for several days, and the soldiers were a little bit impatient when they heard the sound of guns and artillery from the south of the town."

"Don't worry, General Poluboyarov." Sukov raised his hand and patted Poluboyarov's shoulder lightly twice, and said to him: "The main force of our army is about to launch a full-scale attack on the enemy. Listen to the attack, how dense the cannons are from a distance, I believe that the artillery used will not be less than a thousand."

"I don't think so." Unexpectedly, Poluboyarov shook his head after hearing this, and said confidently: "I heard the sound of artillery from a distance on the way here. The artillery used will definitely not be less than two thousand."

Sokov knew that he could not compare with Poluboyarov in distinguishing the size of the artillery from the sound of the guns, so he did not get entangled in this matter, but changed the subject in time: "General Poluboyarov, Your tanks have been maintained, can they be used normally?"

"It doesn't matter, Comrade Commander." Poluboyarov said with a smile: "According to the regulations, tanks must undergo maintenance and overhaul after a long-distance march. Although two tank brigades arrived The location has not been designated for a long time, and the maintenance and overhaul work has not been completed yet. But even if it is put into combat at this moment, we can still have a full tank brigade available."

   If you want to break through the enemy's defenses, tanks will play a pivotal role, so Sokov is particularly concerned about this matter. After Poluboyarov finished speaking, he continued to ask: "Then tell me, how many tanks are there in a full tank brigade that can be put into battle immediately?"

"Seventy-eight vehicles, Comrade Commander." After answering Sokov's question, Poluboyarov realized that his answer was not comprehensive enough, so he quickly added: "There are fifty-one T-34 vehicles among them. tanks, eleven captured German Panzer IVs, and sixteen old tanks."

  Sameko, who just came over from the phone, happened to hear what Poluboyarov said behind him, and asked in surprise, "General Poluboyarov, why do you have so many tank models?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff," hearing Sameko's question, Poluboyarov turned to him and said with a wry smile, "Our brigade's tanks were originally all T-34s, but we lost a lot of them in the ongoing battle. I have no choice but to use captured German tanks and old-fashioned tanks in the warehouse that no one cares about to replenish the troops.”

He may be worried that Sameko will not believe what he said, and he specifically emphasized: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you should remember that my tank army has a special tank battalion that is not full of personnel. The battalion is equipped with 12 of the latest tanks. T-34/85 tanks, but they were all lost in the battle to capture the town of Compass in Kazakhia a few days ago..."

Seeing Poluboyarov's sad face, Sokov quickly comforted him and said, "General Poluboyarov, don't be sad. After this battle is over, I will personally find a way to give you Add more new T-34 tanks."

Sokov originally wanted to tell Poluboyarov that he could get the latest tank from the Armament Department, but when the words came to his lips, he was worried that doing so would bring unnecessary trouble to Yakov , swallowed back the words in time, and comforted Poluboyarov with other words.

  The Soviet bombardment of the German Kharkov defense line stopped abruptly after one hour and thirty-five minutes. Before the German army could recover from the long bombardment, with the launch of three red signal bombs, tens of thousands of Soviet commanders and fighters who had already been ready to go out jumped out of their hiding places and followed behind with weapons in their hands. Behind the tank, it rushed towards the German positions shrouded in gunpowder.

  Although the German army knew that the Soviet army would launch an attack from the beginning of the shelling, they did not expect the first wave of offensive launched by the Soviet army to be so violent, and the number of tanks leading the infantry charge exceeded 400. Facing the torrent of steel from the Soviet army, the limited anti-tank weapons of the German army seemed insignificant.

  In less than 20 minutes, the troops of the Steppe Front Army and the Voronezh Front Army broke through the first German line of defense one after another. After a short pause, they rushed towards the second German line of defense.

  After learning that his first line of defense had been breached by the Soviet army, Huot immediately ordered the artillery deployed in the rear to intercept the attacking Soviet troops with artillery fire. As the order was issued, hundreds of German artillery of different calibers sounded, and the dense shells erected a wall of fire on the way forward of the Soviet army.

  The Soviet commanders and fighters who were caught off guard suffered heavy casualties under the German artillery fire. Some heroic commanders and fighters followed the tanks and broke through the enemy's artillery coverage area. When they continued to rush towards the enemy's position, they unfortunately strayed into the minefield. For a while, there were explosions one after another, and the smoke produced by the explosion knocked out the Soviet tanks and infantry are enveloped in it.

  Seeing that the enemy's artillery was firing, the Soviet artillery observers quickly locked the position of the enemy's artillery position, and directed their own artillery to suppress the enemy's artillery. At the same time, the air forces under the two front armies also dispatched urgently. After countless attack planes and bombers took off, they quickly completed their formation and flew towards the enemy's artillery positions.

The front and right flank of the Kharkiv line of defense were under heavy attack from the Soviet army. General Kenf on the left was worried that the Soviet army would take the opportunity to launch an attack, so he ordered the two infantry divisions that had been unable to capture the Kazakh compass to withdraw to Djerga Qi, prepared to rely on the terrain there, to carry out a tenacious resistance, to prevent Sokov's troops from advancing to the western suburbs of Kharkov.

Knowing that the German army was retreating, Sokov smiled on his face. He turned his head and said to Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, since the enemy has retreated, it is our turn to attack. Order the 84th and 188th He and the 254th Division switched from defense to offense, and while the enemy was retreating, the infantry, under the cover of tanks, quickly rushed along the road to Jergachi, striving to capture Jergachi in the shortest possible time."

  After recording Sokov's order, Sameko asked casually, "Comrade Commander, how long do you think it will take our troops to capture Jergach?"

   "One day at most, three days at most." Sokov said confidently: "I believe in the combat effectiveness of my troops. No matter how stubborn the enemy is, our commanders and fighters may destroy or drive them away."

"Comrade Commander," Sameko heard Sokov say this, and quickly reminded him: "If we just drive the enemy out of Jergachi, it will be nothing but a rout. As we occupy more and more places If there are too many places, more and more troops will be used to defend these places, which will seriously weaken our attacking power. As for the enemy, on the contrary, after they have abandoned many places, their troops will become more and more powerful. Concentration. If we continue to develop like this, the balance of forces between us and the enemy will be reversed.”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I understand what you mean." Sokov heard what Sameko meant, and replied: "At the beginning of the year, our army's attack on Kharkov and Belgorod was aimed at defeating the enemy. Even though we occupied so many places, we actually eliminated very limited enemies. When the enemy's forces are all concentrated in one place and counterattack us, our army will become vulnerable due to the dispersion of forces.

  Don't worry, I will never make such a mistake. Even if the enemy were to withdraw from Djergach, our commanders would make them pay dearly. "

  The retreating German army never imagined in their dreams that they retreated less than two kilometers before the Soviet troops who had been huddled in the town launched a counterattack. The German commander ordered the tank units to stay, trying to stop the Soviet pursuit. But what I never dreamed of was that a large number of Soviet tanks appeared on the road, and they fired from seven to eight hundred meters away, easily destroying the No. 3 and No. 4 tanks that were left behind.

  The German infantry who had lost the cover of their tanks immediately blew up their nests. They scrambled to flee in the direction of Jergach, and no one wanted to stay to stop the Soviet army. Because they were all running for their lives, the originally wide road became extremely congested. Seeing that the road ahead was impassable, some German soldiers left the road and fled into the nearby forest, trying to return to Jergach through the forest.

  (end of this chapter)