Chapter 1482: tough choice

  Chapter 1482 Difficult choice

  The 254th Division and the 188th Division, which occupy the machinery processing plant and the surrounding area, have been fighting against the German attack for the past two days. Because Sokov ordered them to only adopt a defensive position, the two division commanders, Shechtman and Keda, were aggrieved.

  When they received a call from Sameko, they thought that the other party had fallen asleep, and they called in the early morning to let the troops go on the offensive. But after the two confirmed repeatedly that it was indeed Sokov's counterattack order, they immediately shouted excitedly to their subordinates: "Call the heads of the regiments and ask them to immediately assemble their troops and launch a counterattack against the enemy."

Sameko considered that after several days of fighting between the two divisions, there must have been a serious attrition in the troops, so he called Colonel Khokhlov, the commander of the 182nd Division, and Major General Fomenko, the commander of the 84th Division, and ordered them to urgently Send troops into the city to assist the friendly army's attack in the city.

Before the right wing troops of the 27th Army joined forces with the tank troops and mechanized troops rushing into the city, Sameko received an unexpected call, and a completely unfamiliar voice came from the receiver: "Hi, it's the 27th Army Command?"

Hearing the other party's question, Sameko immediately realized that the caller was definitely not one of his subordinates, but someone of the same level as himself, so he politely responded: "Yes, this is the commander of the 27th Army Group Ministry. May I ask who are you?"

   "I am General Derevyanko, Chief of Staff of the 53rd Army," the other party asked politely, "Are you General Sokov?"

   "No, Comrade Commander is not here. He went to the front for inspection." Sameko heard that it was a call from a friendly army, and quickly responded: "I am Major General Sameko, Chief of Staff of the 27th Army."

  Derevyanko couldn't help laughing when he heard Sameko say this: "It's such a coincidence that my comrade commander is not in the headquarters either. He went to the front to direct the battle in person."

   "The character of my comrade commander is the same."

   A few short greetings brought the distance between each other closer. Sameko thought that although both sides belonged to the Prairie Front Army, but there seemed to be no intersection, how could the other party suddenly call him? In order to clarify this question, he cautiously raised the question in his heart: "General Derevyanko, I wonder if you are calling me at this time, is there something important?"

   "You are right, General Sameko." Derevyanko asked with a smile: "I want to ask, is the sound of guns and artillery coming from the southwest of the city, is your 27th Army taking combat actions?"

"Yes, General Derevyanko." Sameko replied truthfully: "Commander Sokov felt that the opportunity to seize the city was ripe, so he ordered the troops that had already entered the city to expand their results and attack the areas controlled by the Germans. .”

"I understand." After Derevyanko finished speaking, he continued: "Now the 1st Mechanized Army under our army has also entered the city from the north, but it has encountered stubborn resistance from the German army. You can see Do you want to order your troops to feign to the north of the city to attract the attention of the enemy?"

   "General Derevyanko, I don't think it's necessary?"

   "Why?" After hearing this, Derevyanko suppressed his anger and asked, "Are you unwilling to fight with us?"

Sameko heard his dissatisfaction from the tone of the other party's speech, and quickly explained to him: "General Derevyanko, you misunderstood. It's not that I don't want the troops to cooperate with you in fighting. I just attacked from the northwest. The tank units in the city and the 4th Mechanized Army of the Assault Army are very close to you now, and these units can completely assist you in your offensive."

   "But I don't know those commanders, how can I contact them?"

   "General Derevyanko, you don't have to worry about this. My commander is in that direction. As long as I call him, he can arrange the troops there to cooperate with your actions."

After Sameko explained, Derevyanko understood what was going on, and thanked Sameko repeatedly: "Thank you, thank you, General Sameko. With your support, I believe it will not take long , we can, together with other troops, completely occupy the city."

  As soon as the call with General Derevyanko was over, Sameko connected to Sokov's temporary headquarters and reported to him what happened just now.

Don't look at the remnants of the Tank Army and the 4th Mechanized Army following the Germans and rushing into Kharkov; the troops on the right-wing landing field also took active actions, but Sukov still felt uneasy in his heart. The power is still too weak.

   And Sameko's report was a surprise to Sokov. He hurriedly asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, was General Derevyanko, Chief of Staff of the 53rd Army, the one who contacted you?"

"Yeah, he called me first." Sameko was afraid that Sokov would not agree to support the friendly army, and he specifically emphasized: "I think we can order the troops to move north of the city to attract the attention of the German army. , so that the troops of the 53rd Army can enter the city smoothly."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, you don't need to worry about this matter." What Sokov thinks most now is whether the attack of his right-wing troops can achieve the desired results. You must know that most of his property has been thrown into it. If it fails, it will be completely discontinued. Therefore, instead of asking Sameko about the left-wing landing field, he told him: "Your task is to keep track of the movement of the troops west of the city and report to me at any time, understand?"

Putting down the phone, Sokov said to Tsvetaev: "Comrade General, there is good news that the 1st Mechanized Army under the 53rd Army has successfully entered the city and is developing in depth to the German defense. We should rush over to join them as soon as possible and gather several forces so that we can smash the German defenses in the city more quickly."

Tsvetayev felt that what Sokov said was very reasonable, so he personally sent a telegram to the commander of the 4th Mechanized Army, ordering his troops to immediately advance to the north of the city to receive the 1st Mechanized Army that broke into the city from that direction. .

Following Tsvetayev's order, the troops that were moving around in the northwest of the city immediately divided into two groups, one of which was transferred to defense on the spot, while the other route, in accordance with the order, carried out an assault to the north of the city to cover Allies can gain a firm foothold in the city.

  The battle continued until dawn. Except for the large-scale occupation of the southwest by Sokov's troops, the German troops in the west and northwest of the city basically stopped resisting. They were either killed or captured.

  William Stemmermann, Commander of the 11th Army of the German Army, and General von Spenneck, Commander of the 42nd Army, both realized the seriousness of the problem and hurriedly reported to the Army Commander, General Weller.

  Unexpectedly, after hearing the report, Weller only gave a brief order: "Counterattack, gentlemen, in order to block the Russian attack, you must immediately launch a counterattack and drive the Russians out of the city."

   Giving an order is quite simple, just one sentence is enough, but the people who execute the order below feel devastated. Stemmelmann asked Spenneck privately: "Mr. General, do you think we can drive the Russians out of the city?"

The latter shook his head after hearing this, and said with a bitter smile: "If the Russians just broke through our direction and rushed into the city, we concentrated our forces to counterattack, and maybe we could drive them out. But now..." Speaking of this, he I couldn't help shaking my head, "What we can do now is to find a way to hold on for a longer time."

"I think the commander doesn't seem to care about this matter," Stemmelmann reminded Spenneck: "I think we might as well report the situation here to Marshal Manstein and see how he reacts." .”

  Speenecker immediately agreed with Stemmelman's proposal: "I agree."

Half an hour later, Manstein, who was staring at the map in his headquarters in a daze, received a call from Stemmelman: "Your Excellency, Marshal, I am William Stemmelmann, and I have important information to report to you." You report."

   After hearing that the caller was the commander of the 11th Army, Manstein asked with some displeasure: "Mr. General, why are you calling instead of your commander, General Weller?"

   "Your Excellency Marshal, I have already reported what happened here to Commander Wheeler..."

   "Oh, it has already been reported?" Stemmelmann's answer surprised Manstein, and he asked cautiously: "Then how did he reply to you?"

   "He just ordered us to continue to counterattack, but he didn't say a word about what kind of troops and tactics to use."

"Since you have received the order, follow the order of General Wheeler." Manstein said to Stemmerman: "Only by continuously counterattacking the Russians can we prevent them from entering the city of Kharkov." .”

  After Manstein finished the call with Stemmelman, he felt that it became more and more difficult to keep Kharkov. He pondered for a long time, then picked up the phone on the table, dialed a number, heard a voice from inside, and immediately said: "I'm Manstein, pick me up General Holt from Kharkov."

   It took the operator a minute or two to successfully connect Manstein to Holt's headquarters.

  As soon as the phone call was made, Manstein asked straight to the point: "General Holt, how is the situation there?"

"Not too good, Your Excellency the Marshal." Several troops deployed by Holt at the front were being attacked by the Voronezh Front Army, so he said with a sad face: "I am worried that if the fight continues like this, the Russians may not be able to survive for long. Can rush into the city."

   "Then have you considered abandoning the city, taking your troops out of Kharkov, and choosing a new location to build a new defensive position?"

   "What, give up Kharkov?" Manstein's words startled Holt, and he asked in surprise: "Your Excellency, Marshal, don't you worry about the punishment of the Führer?"

"I still remember that at the beginning of the year, the Russian Voronezh Front Army defeated the 'Landz Battle Group' commanded by General Lanz with three armies and captured Kharkov." Manstein did not answer Huo Instead, he replied self-containedly: "After the fall of the city, General Lanz was dismissed from his post and was replaced by General Kenff.

At that time, the head of state ordered me to recover Kharkov, but I rejected the head of state's plan and put forward a more daring plan; temporarily ignore the Voronezh Front Army in Kharkov, and concentrate on eating up the surging Soviet Southwest Front Army , then turned around, routed the Russians in the direction of Kharkov, and recaptured the city. "

Hearing what Manstein said, Huot immediately understood that the other party already had the idea of ​​​​giving up on Kharkov, so he tentatively asked: "If we give up Kharkov now, once the head of state is tracked down, how should we deal with it?" Woolen cloth?"

"You don't have to worry about this." Although Manstein said it lightly, he made such a difficult decision after repeated ideological struggles: "If the head of state blames it, I will naturally bear all the responsibility. And what you have to do is to preserve as much vitality as possible, so that after the Panzer Army retreats to a new location, it can quickly form a new line of defense."

When the battle situation is not good, it is a wise move to take the initiative to choose to retreat, regardless of the fact that in order to prevent being stopped by the mustache, Manstein intends to use a little trick to deceive the opponent: "General Holt, I mean let you Resist for a while first, and if you find that you really can't resist, you can choose to retreat and push to the defense line of the Dnieper River."

"Resist for a while." After this period of fighting, Huot has keenly realized that the strength of the Soviet army has far exceeded his imagination. Even if he can block them for a while, it is impossible to block them for a lifetime. In his heart I have long thought of retreating. But since this attention was brought up by Manstein, it is natural for him to solve any problems: "Your Excellency Marshal, I would like to ask, the period of time you mentioned, specifically how many days?"

   "Five days!"

"No, if I hold out for five days, my troops will be completely surrounded by the Russians." Huot shook his head and said, "I'm worried about what will happen to Paulus' Sixth Army once our supplies are cut off. This is our ultimate destiny."

   "Those three days."

"Three days is still a bit too long." Huot said thoughtfully: "You know, Sokov's troops are just west of the city. Three days is enough for them to build a solid direction to make us Had to pay a terrible price when breaking out."

"Two days." After giving this time limit, Manstein said a little angrily: "General Hoth, if your troops cannot hold out for 48 hours under the siege of the Russians, then I will consider whether to send them Dismantled and reorganized into other units."

Manstein's words frightened Holt. He didn't want his Panzer Army to be dismantled, so he said quickly: "Okay, okay, Marshal, then I will order the troops to resist for another 48 hours. Now, even without your order, I will order the troops to retreat."

   "General Huot, don't worry, as long as your troops stick to Kharkov for another 48 hours, I will personally give you a retreat order."

After Manstein put down the phone, he sat in his seat and thought for a long time, and finally ordered the chief of staff standing aside: "Chief of staff, call the General Staff and report to the head of state that we are going to abandon Kharkov. report."

  (end of this chapter)