Chapter 1116 The Mystery of the Attack

  The troops commanded by Sokov were quickly discovered by German scouts during the march.

But fortunately, they were regarded by the German scouts as the 106th Infantry Division who had failed to attack Donetsk and was forced to retreat. Therefore, the scouts sent a telegram to their superiors without verification. They reported sighting the 106th Infantry Division.

After Paul Hauser received the report from his subordinates, he immediately sent a telegram to the commanders of the three divisions: "The 106th Infantry Division, which was retreating from the direction of Donetsk, is moving towards Kharkov. In order to prevent the Misunderstanding, you should open the channel for them after sending people and getting in touch with them."

  Paul Hausser, who issued this order, might never have imagined that it was precisely because of his misjudgment that the three elite SS divisions suffered a devastating blow.

   Coincidentally, in order to confuse the German army, Sokov asked the commanders and fighters who opened the way ahead to say that they belonged to the 106th Infantry Division once they encountered the German army. The Germans received an order from Paul Hauser to open the retreat for the 106th Infantry Division.

   With the help of the cover of night and the help of the wrong order of the German army, the 41st Guards Division successfully passed through several checkpoints set up by the Imperial Division, and quietly approached the station of the German Regiment.

Leading the way was Papchenko's 122nd Regiment. He reported to Sokov by telegram: "Comrade Commander, according to our reconnaissance, the headquarters of the German Regiment of the German Imperial Division and an infantry battalion are located in front of us. Two kilometers away. What should we do, please instruct?"

   Knowing that there was a German garrison ahead, Sokov immediately ordered without hesitation: "Use rockets to attack the German garrison."

  The huge explosion pierced the silence of the winter night.

   Captain Braun, the commander of the Ninth Company, suffered from severe insomnia recently. Although he took four sleeping pills before going to bed, the huge explosion still woke him up.

"Damn it, we've been bombarded by the Russians." Braun turned over and got out of bed, before he could even put on his clothes, he rushed out of the room with his clothes in his arms, and shouted to his orderly: "Hans, Hans, Where are you?"

   "Mr. Captain," the orderly Hans was also awakened by the explosion. He quickly rushed to Braun and asked, "Do you have any instructions?"

   "Bombardment, the Russians are about to bombard us." Braun yelled at Hans as he hurriedly put on his clothes, "Order the troops to take cover immediately."

   "Impossible." Hans said in a skeptical tone: "We are more than 20 kilometers away from the Russian position. Even if they have heavy artillery, they may not be able to hit us."

   "You idiot." Braun yelled at his orderly, "Didn't you hear the explosion just now? That's not what the guerrilla mortars can achieve."

   As soon as he finished speaking, there was another loud noise not far away, and the vibration of the ground almost caused Braun to fall to the ground.

"Damn it, the Russian cannons can really hit us." Hans was completely awakened by the loud noise. He turned his head and ran towards the densely packed tents, shouting incessantly, "Bombardment! The Russians are shelling us, everyone hurry up and find a place to hide."

   At this time, the test firing of the Soviet army had been completed. The artillery observer calibrated the target based on the landing points of the first two rockets, and reported the new parameters to the rocket launcher two kilometers away.

   Soon, countless rockets with flame tails flew towards the German camp.

"Damn Russian..." Although Braun had never seen the new rockets equipped by the guards before, when he saw the flame tail appearing in the sky, he immediately realized that something was wrong. When he was looking for a place to hide, there was already one The rocket exploded more than twenty meters away from him.

The huge shock wave produced by the explosion made him fall to the ground, his ears were so shaken that he couldn't hear any sound, he only saw his orderly Hans running among the tents, shouting loudly. Shout something.

However, it was too late. Those rockets landed one after another on the area where the tents were densely packed, emitting countless dazzling flames and deafening explosions, turning the location of the tents into a sea of ​​flames. Countless soldiers were In his sleep, he was blown to pieces. A small number of soldiers escaped from the tent after hearing Hans' shout, but they still did not escape the impact of the shells. They were either blown to pieces on the spot, or ran around in flames. When they knew they were exhausted, Lie on the ground motionless and continue to burn.

  The tanks, armored vehicles and trucks parked nearby were also bombed beyond recognition by Soviet rockets. Braun sat on the ground blankly, and it took him a long time to realize that he couldn't hear any sound at all, and his ears had been deafened by the explosion just now. He had a hot stream flowing from his ears, flowing down his cheeks, and he stretched out his hand to wipe it, only to find that it was blood flowing from his ears. Before Braun got up from the ground, a rocket landed directly on the seat where he was sitting. By the time the gunpowder smoke cleared, Braun had long since disappeared, leaving only one still smoking, pitch-black pit.

  The area that was attacked by rockets was not only the location of the Ninth Company, but also the headquarters of the regiment and other nearby companies. After the five-minute bombardment, there was no one who could breathe in the entire camp. Instead, there were scorched earth turned up on the ground and the wreckage of tanks, armored vehicles and trucks that were constantly burning.

Through a telescope, Papchenko confirmed that the German camp had been destroyed, and immediately reported the good news to Sokov by telegram: "Comrade commander, our regiment has successfully destroyed the German camp with new rockets. From my observations, there are almost no survivors."

   Sokov was naturally very happy that the 122nd regiment could achieve such a result, but he was worried that Papchenko consumed too much of the new rockets he carried in order to achieve the goal of destroying the enemy. Therefore, when he asked Sidolin to call back, in addition to verbally praising the 122nd regiment, he also specifically asked about the consumption of rockets.

This is not the first time for Papchenko to use a new type of rocket. Naturally, he knew the power and importance of this weapon. He quickly replied: "In the battle that ended not long ago, we consumed a total of 63 rockets, destroying the German army's A regimental headquarters and an infantry battalion have achieved great results."

  Going deep into the enemy's rear this time, Sokov carried a total of 500 rockets. Knowing that the Papchenko regiment had consumed 63 rockets during the battle, Sokov still felt a little disturbed. After all, what he met now was only the Imperial Division, and behind him, there were also the Skeleton Division and the Banner Guard Division, and those were not easy to deal with.

   But considering that the 122nd regiment has just achieved such a major victory, if I criticize the regiment leader, saying that they used too many rockets in battle, it may affect the morale and morale of the troops. So he had no problem with new rockets, but ordered Papchenko: "Go ahead and push deep into the enemy's defenses."

  The attack on the headquarters of the "German Regiment" of the Imperial Division quickly reached the ears of Major General Wahl. Major General Val, who had just been awakened from his sleep, after learning of the attack, his first reaction was that the person who reported him must have made a mistake. This place is more than 20 kilometers away from the place where the Soviet army is stationed. How could the defenders in the city bombard their own camp from such a far away position. So he said to the adjutant who came to report the situation: "Go and verify whether this report is true or not. Our German regiment is far away from the Russian defense zone. How could it be attacked?"

   "Your Excellency," the adjutant said cautiously, "could it be a guerrilla?"

   "It's impossible." Regarding the adjutant's guess, Major General Val immediately denied it: "With the equipment of the Russian guerrillas, even our platoon can't deal with it. Can they still attack a regiment headquarters and a battalion?"

   After finishing speaking, he communicated with the staff: "Continue to call the German regiment and find out what happened to them."

  Although Major General Wahl expressed doubts about the attack on the German Regiment, Paul Hauser learned about the attack on the German Regiment through his own channels. He stared at the map in front of him, and couldn't believe his eyes. It was impossible. It was night. How did the Russians know the location of the German Regiment?

  He called his chief of staff and asked, "Tell me, how did the Russians know the location of the German regiment and carry out precise strikes?"

After hearing this, the chief of staff said with a look of embarrassment: "Your Excellency, this matter is hard to say. It stands to reason that only the guerrillas can carry out such precise strikes. But the broken guns of the Russian guerrillas are not suitable for us. Even the platoon-level units of the army are very difficult, how dare you provoke a regiment headquarters of our army. I think this matter must not be done by guerrillas."

   "If not guerrillas, then who?"

   "Your Excellency, General," the chief of staff said cautiously, "could it be that the Russians who were defeated by our army regrouped in this area and carried out a surprise attack on us at night?"

The chief of staff's explanation is reasonable, but Paul Hauser thought for a moment, then shook his head and denied: "This is even more impossible. The Russian troops defeated by our army have already run out of ammunition and food, even if they want to launch The attack also uses night raids to enter our camp, and engage in melee and hand-to-hand combat with our soldiers, how could it be possible to bombard them with artillery?"

"Could it be that the Russians dispatched by Kharkov approached the defense zone of the Imperial Division?" The chief of staff continued to analyze for Paul Hauser: "Analysed from all the signs, this possibility is the greatest. of."

"I don't think it is possible." Paul Hauser once again denied the inference of the chief of staff: "The Russians stationed in Kharkov would have to pass through the layers of our army if they wanted to appear at the position where the German regiment was attacked. Layer direction, which is even more impossible."

   Speaking of this, he pointed to the chief of staff: "Call Major General Val and ask him why he didn't report the attack on the German regiment to us in time."

   "Yes, Your Excellency General, I will call him immediately." The call was connected quickly, and the Chief of Staff immediately handed the receiver to Paul Hauser after hearing Major General Wahl's voice coming from the receiver.

  Paul Hauser took the microphone and asked loudly: "Major General Val, why didn't you report to me in time for such a major event as the German regiment being attacked by the Russians."

Knowing that Paul Hausser already knew about the attack on the German Regiment, Major General Wahl was taken aback for a moment, but then he realized that there is a special intelligence system in the army, and he could report to Paul Hausser over himself, so he quickly argued: " Your Excellency, General, I think this is a bit too unbelievable, so I am sending someone to check it. I plan to report to you after I have accurate results, but I didn’t expect you to know it first.”

"Regardless of whether this matter is true or false, you should report to me as soon as possible the attack on the German Regiment." Paul Hauser reprimanded Major General Wahl on the phone: "In this way we can also pass our own The intelligence system will verify the authenticity of this news."

"Your Excellency, General," Major General Wahl heard Paul Hausser say this, as if grasping at a life-saving straw, he said hastily: "I have sent someone to check, and I am afraid it will take a few hours to get the news. I don't know where you are Is there any way to find out what happened in the shortest possible time."

  Paul Hauser did not speak, but looked at the chief of staff aside, wanting to hear what he had to say. Seeing that Paul Hausser's eyes fell on him, the chief of staff quickly replied: "Your Excellency, our telecommunications interception department, before and after the attack, found unknown radio waves near the site of the attack. They Tell me with certainty that it is definitely not the radio wave used by our army."

   "So, there are really Russian troops that have penetrated into our rear?" Paul Hauser frowned and said, "Then why didn't our forward troops notice it at all?"

  How could the chief of staff know the answer, so he could only say with a wry smile: "Your Excellency, I will contact the front immediately to find out whether there is a small Russian army sneaking in."

"The army that can make such a big commotion is definitely not a small army. I estimate that there are at least one regiment's strength." Paul Hauser frowned, and said into the microphone: "Major General Val, I order you, immediately Send troops to search that area, and you must find out how many Russian troops have penetrated into my rear."

   "Your Excellency, my other troops are a bit too far away from the attack site." Major General Val said awkwardly: "Even if we start to gather at this moment, I'm afraid we won't be able to get there until noon."

   "Then why are you dawdling, why don't you hurry up and call the troops into action." Paul Hauser said a little angrily, "Otherwise, you won't be able to reach your destination until the afternoon."

  (end of this chapter)