Chapter 1113 Golikov's Dilemma

  The German attack on Donetsk from the front was repelled.

   But after a brief rest, they launched an attack again.

  According to the idea of ​​the German commander, the defenders in the city had lost almost all of their tanks in the counterattack just now, and their own troops were fully capable of destroying the Russian resistance and occupying the city.

  But to his surprise, when the German tanks were three or four hundred meters away from the defenders' trenches, explosions suddenly occurred one after another. When he saw this scene, his first reaction was that the Russians actually deployed a large number of anti-tank guns in the city to deal with their own tanks.

   Just as he was about to order the artillery to bombard the city, the chief of staff beside him suddenly said: "Your Excellency, the shells that destroyed our tanks did not fly out from the city, but from the flanks."

   "What, the shells flew out from the flanks?" The German division commander asked in surprise: "Do they deploy a large number of anti-tank guns on both sides?"

   "It's not an anti-tank gun, but a tank." The chief of staff said with a bitter face, "Your Excellency, take a look at our army's flank."

  The division commander raised his binoculars and looked into the distance. He saw the flanks of the attacking troops. At some point, a Soviet tank unit appeared. Dozens of tanks lined up in battle formation and rushed towards them. Some tanks stopped and fired from time to time while they were moving. Although many shells missed, the tanks under his command were still destroyed one after another.

"Damn, where did these Russian tanks come from?" Seeing the Soviet tanks rushing out from the flanks, the German division commander began to growl: "Immediately order the artillery to fire, and we must destroy all these Russian tanks." wipe out."

  Although the German chief of staff gave the division commander's order to the artillery at the first time, it was still a step late. Half of the Soviet tanks that passed by continued to attack the flanks of the German offensive troops, while the other half rushed directly to the German artillery positions.

  Although guard troops were deployed near the artillery positions of the German army, these troops were still able to deal with the Soviet infantry. Except for a few soldiers still staying in the fortifications, firing machine guns at the moving Soviet tanks in vain, the rest of the officers and soldiers strayed around like headless flies.

  Soviet tanks rushed into the artillery positions, just like wolves rushed into a flock of sheep. In less than a few minutes, the artillery that was still desperately firing at the Soviet positions turned into piles of scrap iron.

   After destroying the German artillery positions, these tanks turned around and headed east to meet their comrades who were attacking the German offensive forces. A tank even passed by more than 20 meters away from the German division headquarters, scaring the officers and soldiers of the German division headquarters so much that they dared not even vent their breath, for fear of exposing their target.

  After the assault of the tank, the infantry of the Soviet army followed closely. Seeing the dense crowd, the German chief of staff said to the division commander: "Your Excellency, the Russians have at least one division attacking us. I suggest retreating immediately, otherwise our entire army is in danger of being wiped out."

  The commander of the German army was frightened away by the Soviet tanks long ago. Hearing the suggestion of the chief of staff, he immediately nodded in agreement: "Retreat, retreat immediately!"

   Half an hour later, Major General Merkulov, who was standing firm in the city of Donetsk, realized that the German troops in front had retreated. By the time he ordered the troops to pursue, it was already a step too late. The retreating German army left a small number of units to act as a stop, while the large forces slipped away in trucks or armored vehicles.

  Merkulov knew very well that his troops had no means of transportation at all, and it was simply impossible to catch up with the enemy with trucks and armored vehicles on foot. Even if you can barely catch up, when the troops are exhausted from running, the enemy will kill their carbine unexpectedly and cause huge losses to themselves. Therefore, he decisively issued an order to the troops to stop the pursuit and strengthen the fortifications in place to prepare for another possible attack by the enemy.

The German army retreated more than 30 kilometers. It was estimated that the Soviet army would not be able to catch up for a while, so the German division commander ordered the troops to stop retreating, and communicated the news of the failure of the attack on Donetsk to Manstein through the radio. reported.

After hearing this, Manstein frowned and asked, "According to the information we have, the Russians only have one infantry division and one tank brigade in Donetsk. Your strength has far exceeded theirs. , why not only failed to take down the city, but were driven away from the vicinity of the city by them?"

"Your Excellency, Marshal," the German division commander replied tremblingly, "our attack was going smoothly, but as the troops were about to rush into the city, a Russian armored force rushed over from the flank and caused serious damage to our attacking troops. Huge losses. In order to prevent being wiped out by the Russians, I can only order the troops to withdraw first."

"Your Excellency, Commander," while Manstein was on the phone with the German division commander, a communications staff officer ran over and handed him a telegram he had just received: "This is a telegram just sent by our latent personnel, saying that Russia A large force of people is moving in the direction of Donetsk."

  Manstein received the telegram and saw that it read: "There are no less than two guard divisions approaching the city from the south of Donetsk. It is estimated that they will be able to reach the south of the city at noon tomorrow at the most."

If he hadn't received this telegram, maybe Manstein would order this defeated unit to attack Donetsk again, but after reading the telegram, he realized that the Soviet army was attacking Donetsk. The increase in troops, if the attack on Donetsk continues, it may turn this offensive into a tug of war.

  Compared with Kharkov and Belgorod, Donetsk is just an insignificant small place, and it is not worth investing so many troops here. Thinking of this, he said into the microphone: "General, immediately take your troops and retreat towards Zaporozhye to prevent the Russians from launching a sneak attack here."

  The commander of the German army was frightened out of his courage during the battle just now, and he was thinking about what reason he should use to get Manstein to agree to withdraw his troops from this damned area. Hearing this order from Manstein, it was like hearing the sound of heaven, and he quickly replied: "Understood, Your Excellency Marshal, I will immediately lead the troops to Zaporozhye."

  The news of the retreat of the German army quickly reached Sokov's ears.

  Vitkov looked at him and asked: "Comrade Commander, although the enemy's attack has been repelled, they may still attack the city again. Look, shall we send reinforcements to Donetsk?"

"No need," Sokov said, waving his hands, "We have already transferred all the forces we can use to Donetsk. If we send more troops, the defense of the Red Army Village will become weak. You know , Once the war begins, we will bear the crazy attack of the German army here."

   "But if Donetsk loses, our retreat will be cut off."

"Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov said to Vitkov: "The two divisions sent by General Krylov are now approaching Donetsk. On the contrary, all the troops there can be transferred to the Red Army Village to fight to the death with the main force of the German army going south.”

When Sokov reported to Rokossovsky that the enemy attacking Donetsk had been repulsed, Rokossovsky asked cautiously: "Misha, do you think the Germans will attack Donetsk again?" Is it possible to attack?"

"Comrade Front Army Commander, according to my judgment." Sokov said on the phone: "Even if the enemy wants to attack Donetsk again, I am afraid they will have to wait until they wipe out our troops in Kharkov, Bel Only after the strength in the Gorod area can we mobilize enough troops to lay siege to us."

"Oh, so the enemy will not attack Donetsk again in a short time." After getting the news he wanted to know, Rokossovsky continued to ask: "But if the enemy concentrates on attacking the Red Army Village? , do you have the confidence to keep it?"

   "I will do my best, Comrade Front Army Commander." Sokov did not give the other party an affirmative answer, but said directly: "I am sure that the enemy's main force will be contained in this area for a long time."

   "Well, if we can keep the enemy in check for one more day, our friendly forces will have one more day to prepare." Rokossovsky said to Sokov: "Whether the Voronezh Front Army can be kept or not depends entirely on you."

   After Rokossovsky finished the call with Sokov, he decided to contact Golikov himself to find out the real situation there. After the call was connected, he hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Comrade Golikov? I'm Rokossovsky. I want to ask, do you have the ability to resist the German attack?"

"I'm afraid it will be very difficult, Comrade Rokossovsky." Since it was a call from his acquaintance, Golikov did not hide the difficulties that the Voronezh Front Army is currently facing: "Not only are we seriously short of supplies, but our troops are also reduced. Seriously. So far, the infantry divisions standing in Kharkov and Belgorod have no more than 2,000 soldiers. Tell me, how can I stop the enemy with such strength and equipment? attack?"

"Sokov's combat group has tried everything possible to help you contain enough troops." Rokossovsky said on the phone: "Could it be that in this situation, you can't hurry up and get the troops from other troops." Send troops to strengthen the defense?"

"Comrade Rokossovsky, I am already doing this." Golikov said helplessly: "But my troops are too scattered, and it is a big problem to gather them together. In addition, the transportation The line has been destroyed again, and it will take a long time to send these assembled troops to critical areas."

   "Didn't you ask for help from the base camp?" Rokossovsky asked with some surprise: "Without the help from the base camp, I'm afraid it would be difficult for you to get enough supplies and supplies."

"As far as I know," Golikov said, "Now the base camp is worried that the Southwest Front Army will be wiped out by the Germans again, so the latest supplements have been given to Vatutin. The supplies to me are very small and come very slowly. If not Sokov's troops have contained the main force of the German army, and I am afraid that our entire army has been wiped out by now."

"General Golikov, you can't do this." Rokossovsky said anxiously: "Since your troops are already facing such danger, why don't you raise the difficulties to the headquarters? You know, it is because of you The delay in raising difficulties made the base camp misjudge your strength, thinking that you still have enough troops to block the enemy's attack, so the supplies that should have been given to you were given priority to Vatutin's Southwest Front Army."

"Then what should I do now?" Golikov, who has always been cautious, couldn't help but panic when he heard Rokossovsky say this, "If we raise our difficulties to the headquarters at this moment, the higher authorities will not blame me Bar?"

"General Golikov, don't think about whether the headquarters will blame you." Rokossovsky saw that at this moment, Golikov was still thinking about personal gains and losses, so he reminded him: "If your troops are killed The enemy is gone, I am afraid that the fate of General Pavlov, the former commander of the Western Front, is a lesson for you."

Rokossovsky's words were like enlightenment, and Golikov was completely awakened. He thought that he was worried that Stalin thought he was incapable, so he always considered using his own power to fight against the shortage of supplies and troops. overcome these difficulties. But now it seems that he was very wrong: "Comrade Rokossovsky, you are right. My previous practice was indeed inappropriate. I will immediately report the actual situation here to the headquarters. Provide us with supplies."

Antonov, acting as chief of the general staff, received the call from Golikov, held the phone for a long time, and then asked in surprise: "General Golikov, your troops really ordered soldiers and Out of ammo?"

   "Yes, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff." Golikov replied with some embarrassment.

"However, you have never reported to me the situation of your front army. I thought you were strong enough to compete with the German army." Antonov explained to Golikov: "It is precisely because of this situation that the logistics department and the When I negotiated the order of supplies, I put Vatutin's Southwestern Front at the top of the list."

Golikov panicked when he heard this, and he quickly asked: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, can you adjust the order of supplies? To tell you the truth, if we don't get supplies again, our tanks and artillery will be destroyed." Because of lack of ammunition, it became a heap of scrap metal. It was either blown up or fell into the hands of the Germans."

"Unfortunately, General Golikov." Antonov said with great regret: "You also know the efficiency of the logistics department. Even if I propose to change the supply order at this moment, it will take at least a month before the adjustment can be completed. "

  (end of this chapter)