Chapter 1154 The End of the Imperial Division (Part 2)

  The company sent by the 122nd regiment to deliver rockets is the first company of Captain Paul Koski. The order he received was to immediately send all the remaining rockets in the regiment to the regiment headquarters of the 124th regiment. Unexpectedly, he was almost there, and he received an order to redirect the rocket to the location of the vanguard battalion of the 124th regiment.

   Having received the order, Palkowski had no choice but to order the company to change direction and move towards the new position provided by the superior. Because of this, without knowing it, precious time was wasted. It took nearly another hour for Bolkowski's company to join Goria's advance battalion.

Seeing the late Bolkowski and his company, Golia's face was very ugly, and he immediately asked the other party: "Comrade Captain, why did you come so late? If it is because of your company, it affects Can you afford the responsibility of the higher-ups' combat intentions?"

  Paulkowski did not refute, but ordered his subordinates to hand over the rockets they brought to the soldiers of the Goliath Battalion. When the platoon leader, Captain Narva, saw that his company commander had been wronged, he defended him and said: "Comrade major, the reason we are late is because the superior temporarily changed our delivery order when we were about to reach the destination." location, thereby delaying our arrival here."

  Golia glanced at Narva's military rank, and asked casually, "Comrade Captain, what is your job?"

   "Report to Comrade Major." Hearing Goria's question about his position, Narva quickly straightened his body and replied, "I am Captain Narva, the company and platoon leader."

   "Platoon Captain, your rank is not low." Golia looked at Narva and continued to ask, "Is it an old man from the Guards Division?"

   "Yes, Comrade Major." Narva understood the purpose of Goria's question, and quickly replied truthfully: "The 73rd Infantry Brigade has just been formed, and I am already in this unit."

  From Narva's words, Goria heard that the other party was also Sokov's old subordinate, and the expression on his face suddenly softened: "So, they are all old comrades in arms."

   "Yes, Comrade Major." Narva quickly replied: "When the troops were transferred to Stalingrad, I stayed in your battalion for a while."

Since the other party was his old subordinate, Golia couldn't get angry anymore, but put on a reasonable look and said: "Forget about this time, if a similar situation happens next time, I will definitely not take it lightly." Forgive you."

  Seeing that the matter had died down, Gelia quickly asked: "Comrade Battalion Commander, since all the rockets have been delivered, can we attack the enemy?"

   "How many rockets are there now?" Before giving the firing order, Goria decided to find out the specific number of rockets, so that he could decide what method to take to attack the German army several kilometers away.

   "There are a total of 247 rockets." After reporting the specific number, Zelia asked back: "Comrade battalion commander, please instruct how to carry out the attack?"

   "First, two groups of 12 bursts will be launched, and the target will be the forest behind the enemy. We must first cut off their retreat, and then use more intensive firepower to wipe out all the assembled enemies."

  But before the Goria Battalion fired rockets, the enemy had already launched another attack on the town of Dobropilia.

   Seeing the German officers and soldiers pouring into the positions outside the town like a tide, Gelia asked Golia for instructions: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the enemy has launched an attack on the friendly positions. What should we do?"

   "According to the original plan, attack the forest first, wait for the forest to explode, and then use dense rockets to attack the enemies exposed on the open ground."

   "Comrade Battalion Commander, if the enemy and friendly troops get mixed up and we fire rockets again, I'm afraid we will accidentally injure our own people."

After hearing Gelia's reminder, Golia explained to him: "If we bombard the enemies who are attacking the town first, they will flee into the forest in the shortest time when they see that the situation is not good. But if we By bombarding the forest first, turning it into a sea of ​​flames, and then bombarding the enemy attacking the friendly positions, we can destroy as many of the enemy's vital forces as possible."

   After the order to launch rockets was given, two twelve-tube rocket launchers fired at the forest behind the enemy. After a series of explosions, the edge of the forest turned into a sea of ​​flames, and countless trees began to burn.

  The German officers and soldiers who were attacking the Soviet positions suddenly heard the rumbling sound of an explosion behind them, and couldn't help but stop and turned their heads to look, only to see that the forest had turned into a sea of ​​flames. Before they could react, countless objects with long white smoke appeared in the sky again, flying towards their position.

  Countless rockets fell from the sky and exploded in the chaotic and crowded team! Every rocket splashed out was dazzling blood. Thousands of German officers and soldiers seemed to be sitting in the crater of an eruption, wrapped tightly by the rising black smoke. Explosions in the black smoke were one after another, one after another, and there were explosions and flames everywhere. Nowhere to escape, nowhere to hide!

  Although the Soviet rocket attack lasted only a few minutes, it seemed as long as a century to the German officers and soldiers who were bombed. The officers and soldiers who have been bombed for a long time are like headless chickens, scurrying in the gunpowder smoke, wherever there are many people, they will run there, as if only the place with many people is the safest for them place.

   The 199th Regiment, which stood firm in the town, saw that the enemy suffered heavy losses from the sudden artillery fire. He quickly ordered two companies to stay in the town, and the rest of the troops attacked at the same time, launching a counterattack against the retreating German army.

Seeing the Soviet army rushing out of the town, the German officers and soldiers who had been bombarded for a long time became even more confused. The officers lost their ability to judge and did not know how to command their subordinates to deal with them; I just want to escape from this land of death as soon as possible, so I don't have the guts to continue fighting.

  After Goria and other troops fired the rockets, they immediately ordered the entire battalion to launch an attack. As for the two companies that came to deliver ammunition, he was also forcibly incorporated into the second battalion to participate in the counterattack against the Imperial Division.

   Neither company commander raised any objections to the move of forcibly incorporating their own company into the second battalion. They all had eyes, and saw that the enemy in the distance was bombed by dense rocket bombs, and faced with the counterattack of the friendly army, they had no power to fight back. Since there is such a good opportunity to beat the German as a laggard, who would give up such a good opportunity? Therefore, the two company commanders readily accepted Golia's command and led their companies to participate in the counterattack.

The counterattack launched by the commanders and fighters of the 199th Regiment and the Goria Battalion made the German army, which suffered heavy casualties, even more flustered. Facing the Soviet commanders and fighters rushing from all directions, the resistance organized by the Germans would soon be defeated by the counterattack troops. submerged.

  At the same time, the 196th and 201st Guards Regiments of the 67th Guards Division, and the 122nd Guards Regiment of the 41st Guards Division also appeared nearby. Several troops formed a huge encirclement circle, enclosing the remaining troops of the Imperial Division.

  If it was another German army, in such a situation, I am afraid that many officers and soldiers have already begun to put down their weapons and surrender. But the Imperial Division is not an ordinary German army, but a so-called elite SS division. The officers and soldiers in the division are all fanatical NC elements. They know that if they continue to fight, their chances of escape are not great, but they still continue to resist, preparing to fight to the last man and hit the last bullet.

  After an hour of fierce fighting, the remaining more than 1,000 officers and soldiers of the Imperial Division were surrounded in the forest, occupying a narrow area that was no more than 500 meters long and 300 meters wide.

   Knowing that the remnants of the Imperial Division had fallen into the encirclement of his own troops, Sokov couldn't help but be overjoyed. In today's battle, Colonel Shimon, the acting commander of the Skeleton Division, has been captured. If he can capture Major General Val, the commander of the Imperial Division alive, his name will definitely be recorded in the annals of history.

General Merkulov, who commanded the troops to besiege the remnants of the Imperial Division, reported to Sokov on the phone: "Comrade Commander, the division headquarters and the remaining troops of the Imperial Division are trapped in the forest by us. .What do we do next?"

   "It's very simple, first send people to persuade them to surrender, and if the enemy does not surrender, we will resolutely destroy them."

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." Merkulov replied: "I will immediately send someone to the forest to persuade him to surrender."

"Wait a minute, Comrade General." Just as Merkulov was about to hang up the phone, Sokov stopped him: "I'll handle the matter of persuading the surrender myself. You immediately send someone to shout into the forest , Let them send someone out to negotiate, otherwise they will face the end of being annihilated by us. If the enemy sends a negotiator, let him wait a while, and I will rush over immediately.”

Lunev heard the conversation between Sokov and Merkulov, and quickly reminded him: "Comrade Commander, you must know that the members of the Imperial Division are all fanatical NC elements. Even if they know they are in a desperate situation, They will never lay down their arms and surrender to us."

"Comrade Military Commissar, according to the report, the number of enemies in the forest is still quite large. If we want to wipe them all out, I am afraid that we will pay a lot of casualties." Sokov said to Lunev: "If we can negotiate, let If the remaining enemies lay down their arms and surrender, then we will reduce unnecessary sacrifices."

   "Comrade Commander," seeing that Sokov had made up his mind, Lunev didn't persuade him anymore, but recommended himself: "Since you want to negotiate with the enemy in person, then I will go there together."

  …

   At the same time, in the depths of the forest, the officers and soldiers of the Imperial Division, who were once invincible, are now slumped on the ground in groups, covered in mud, in extreme embarrassment. And Major General Wahl was staying with several officers in a hastily built wooden shed, calling Hausser over the radio, begging him to send troops for reinforcements.

   Facing Major General Wahl's call for help, Hausser was in distress. The Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division were defeated by the Soviet Army in such a short period of time, and even faced the end of the entire army's annihilation. The German division commanders who stayed in Barvinkovo ​​knew very well that even if they pulled out their troops, Rescuing the remnants of the Imperial Division is simply an impossible task.

   Therefore, in the face of the order issued by Hausser, the division commanders tried every means to evade, finding various reasons to refuse to send troops. In desperation, Hausser had no choice but to call Manstein and report the situation to him, hoping that he could find a way to rescue the remnants of the Imperial Division.

  Manstein sent a large number of planes to rescue the Imperial Division when the Air Force was seriously short of fuel and ammunition. However, it was hit head-on by the Soviet Air Force and lost a lot of planes. Now that there is not enough fuel and ammunition to support the air force dispatch, he can only say to Hausser: "General Hausser, our air force has run out of ammunition and fuel and can no longer launch into the air. I see you It is better to dispatch ground troops to reinforce it."

"Your Excellency the Marshal," Hausser said bitterly, "Since our enemy is Sokov, and the Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division were destroyed too quickly, the rest of the division commanders were frightened. They are trying every means to evade the order I gave to attack, but they just don’t want to send troops, and they are deeply afraid that they will suffer the same fate.”

"Since sending reinforcements is already impossible." Manstein could only say helplessly after hearing Hausser's words: "Then you immediately give Major General Wahl an order so that he no longer has to stand by and wait for reinforcements, but We must find a way to break out of the siege as soon as possible. Due to the Russian air blockade, they have hardly received any funds since they entered the forward position. I am worried that they will not be able to support them for two days in the Russian encirclement.”

"Breakthrough?" Hearing what Manstein said, Hausser couldn't help but wryly smiled again and again: "Your Excellency, if the Imperial Division is surrounded by other Russian troops, even if they are surrounded by an infantry army, I firmly believe that Major General Wahl and the others can persist until The arrival of reinforcements. But now, what they are facing is Sokov's troops, whether they are standing still and waiting for reinforcements, or concentrating their forces to break through, I am not optimistic about them."

   "Perseverance is death, and breaking through is also death." Manstein said: "Anyway, they are all dead, and there is still a chance of breaking through. It is better to let them try to break through."

  The order to break out was quickly conveyed to Major General Val by telegram. After reading Hausser's telegram, he couldn't help but look up to the sky and sigh deeply. Judging from the battle situation just now, he knew that it would be impossible for his troops to break out of the encirclement. But if we continue to stand firm, the ammunition of the officers and soldiers is basically exhausted, and there is not much food left. Even if the Soviet army does not attack, as long as they surround it for a few days, many soldiers may not even be able to hold weapons.

Just when he was feeling desperate, an officer came over and reported to him: "Your Excellency, just now the Russians shouted to the opposite side, let us send people to negotiate. If our negotiators do not show up within half an hour, they will Launch the final attack."

  As soon as he heard the word "general attack", Major General Val couldn't help but shiver. One or two hours ago, the overwhelming rocket bombs blew up the position where the attacking troops were located into a sea of ​​flames. That scene scared him. He was worried that the Soviet army would launch rockets again before the general attack, and his thousands of people would be wiped out in the explosion.

  (end of this chapter)