Chapter 1173 Kharkov Falls

  Konev fed back Sokov's plan to the General Staff as quickly as possible. However, as to whether this plan is feasible, it must be discussed by all members of the headquarters of the Supreme Command. After a consensus is reached, it will be fed back to the troops below. As a result, the precious time of the day is wasted for nothing.

  Since Sokov came up with this idea, he has been in a state of anxiety. He doesn't know whether his superiors will adopt his plan. And even if it is adopted, it cannot be implemented immediately. After all, such an action involves too many troops, and it can be considered fast if it can be implemented within two days.

Seeing Sokov's restless look, Sameko quickly comforted him and said, "Comrade Commander, you have done what you should do. Whether Kharkov can be kept depends on how our friendly forces respond." Yes. Even though the enemy’s imperial division has rushed into the city, our army is still resisting tenaciously. It is not an easy task for the enemy to occupy the city.”

Seeing that Sameko is full of confidence in whether the Soviet army can hold Kharkov, Sokov is not good at pouring cold water on the opponent. Besides, he has already won a month and a half for the Soviet army that is holding on to the city through various positive actions. time. If the defenders in the city can make full use of this time to consolidate their defenses, it is not impossible to defend the city. "Comrade Chief of Staff, you are right. After occupying Kharkov, the friendly forces have had almost two months of rest. They must have built a complete fortification, which is enough to resist the German attack."

When he said this, Sokov thought silently in his heart: "If you want to talk about defensive warfare, no army has as much experience as the 62nd Army. If the base camp deploys Chuikov's troops in Kharkov, it may not be as good as the 62nd Army. It is really possible to defend the city. But the troops defending the city today are almost all new troops that have been formed for a few months, and it is okay to fight with the wind when attacking, but now facing the strong attack of the German army, there is not much chance of winning."

  Sokov's worries soon became a reality.

   The 25th Guards Division, which stood in the south of the city, stubbornly resisted the attacks of the Skeleton Division and the Banner Guard Division. The 53rd Guards Artillery Regiment they deployed in the city is simply bad news for the German army. Many tanks covering the infantry charge were destroyed by artillery fire during the attack. The German infantry who lost their tank cover were in front of the Soviet defensive positions. , were knocked down in pieces by machine gun fire.

  The SS commander Hausser saw that the attack in the south of Kharkov was not going well, so he called Tansen himself: "Mr. Banner Captain, this is Hausser."

  Hearing that the commander personally called him, Tansen hurriedly said respectfully: "Hi, Your Excellency, Commander, do you have any instructions?"

"The Skeleton Division and the Banner Guard Division launched German attacks on the Russian positions in the south of the city, but they all ended in failure because of the opponent's tenacious resistance." Hauser said to Tansen: "I order you now to immediately transfer a regiment of troops, Launch an attack to the south of the city to coerce the Russian forces and cooperate with the other two divisions to capture the south of the city."

"Your Excellency, Commander," Tansen was a little anxious when he heard Hausser's order: "The Russians in the city are under the cover of tanks, and they are constantly counterattacking the area we occupied. If I deploy my troops now to South to attack, I fear my troops will be driven out of the city by the Russians."

"Mr. Banner Captain," Hausser said with a stern face when he saw Tansen resisting his orders, he said with a straight face, "Have you ever thought that if the Skeleton Division and the Banner Guard Division were unable to enter the city for a long time, Then the Russian defenders in the city can concentrate their forces and launch a counterattack against your division. But as long as you can assist the Skeleton Division and Banner Guard Division to break through the Russians' southern position, even if you are temporarily driven out of the city, you will be able to fight again sooner or later. back."

After hearing Hausser's words, Tansen thought for a long time, and felt that Hausser's words were very reasonable. It had been a day since his troops had entered the city, but due to the tenacious resistance and continuous fighting of the Russians It is very difficult to counterattack and continue to expand the results of the battle. But if the Skeleton Division and Banner Guard Division also enter the city, the resistance they face will be greatly weakened.

  After trying to understand this, he quickly said into the microphone: "Your Excellency, I understand. I will immediately order the Head of State Regiment to launch an attack on the south of Kharkov to support the friendly army's attack on the Russian position in the south of the city."

   An hour later, the Skeleton Division and the Banner Guard Division launched an attack on the Soviet army's south position again. Just as the artillerymen of the 53rd Guards Artillery Regiment were bombarding the German tanks and infantry attacking the positions south of the city, several German tanks drove over along the street from the west.

  The commander of the artillery, who was directing the artillery to shoot, saw this, and quickly ordered the artillery to turn the muzzle and open fire on the approaching German tanks. Hearing the commander's order, the artillery immediately stopped shooting outside the city, aimed their muzzles at the streets inside the city, and bombarded the German tanks that were approaching fast.

  The artillery responded very quickly, but it was still one step too late. The enemy tanks quickly rushed to the artillery positions along the street, strafed the artillery on the position with machine guns, bombarded the infantry covering the artillery with tank guns, and destroyed the machine gun fire points they established one by one.

  In less than ten minutes, the artillery position with 24 76mm cannons was destroyed by German tanks. The artillery that was still firing shells not long ago was crushed into piles of scrap iron, and the artillery on the position and the infantry covering the artillery suffered heavy casualties.

  The infantry who have lost the cover of artillery fire, how can they resist the rumbling German tanks. Soon, the first line of defense held by the 73rd Guards Regiment was broken through by the Skeleton Division's tanks. The infantry following behind flooded the first line of defense of the Soviet army like a tide.

  After breaking through the first line of defense of the Soviet army, the officers and soldiers of the Skull Division did not stop, and continued to launch a new attack towards the second line of defense held by the 81st Guards Regiment.

  The headquarters of General Sarko, the commander of the Guards Division, is located on the second line of defense. Seeing that the German army broke through his first line of defense and then launched an attack on the second line of defense, he quickly called his superior, Major General Kryuchenkin, commander of the 69th Army, and asked him for help: "Commander Comrade, I am General Sarko, the commander of the 25th Guards Division, the enemy has broken through the first line of defense in the south of the city and is attacking the second line of defense, I ask for support, ask for support!"

At this time, Kryuchenkin's situation is not much better. He is organizing all the troops he can mobilize to launch a counterattack against the imperial division in the west of the city regardless of casualties. Said patiently: "Comrade General, I order you now to firmly hold your position, not to retreat a single step, and absolutely not to allow the position to be handed over to the enemy."

  In the order issued by Kryuchenkin, he only ordered Sasuke to hold the position. As for how to defend, and whether he would send reinforcements, he did not mention a word. Regarding Kryuchenkin's confused order, Sasuke could only bite the bullet and ask: "Comrade Commander, isn't the Third Tank Army still in the city? With their assistance, we believe that we can completely crush the German army." attack."

"General Sasuke," Kryuchenkin said impatiently: "Due to the lack of fuel and ammunition in the tank third army, most of the tanks are immobilized. The only tanks are covering our infantry. Uninterrupted counterattacks against the German forces west of the city in an attempt to drive the enemy out of the city."

Seeing that Kryuchenkin couldn't get the assistance he wanted here, Sasuke put down the phone in disappointment, and said to his chief of staff: "Chief of staff, call up the 78th Guards Regiment immediately. It seems that we It's time to counterattack the enemy."

"What, launch a counterattack against the enemy?" The chief of staff looked at the German officers and soldiers pouring towards the position through the lookout, and couldn't help but said worriedly: "Comrade commander, you see that there are no less than 20 soldiers in the enemy's attacking troops. A tank, but we are all infantry, if we rashly launch a counterattack, I am afraid that the entire army will be wiped out."

Although he knew that using infantry to fight back against the enemy's tanks would cause huge casualties, Sarko still gritted his teeth and said: "Currently the city cannot provide us with any assistance, and we can only rely on our own strength to hold the position." Yes. Chief of Staff, let’s execute the order, immediately transfer the 78th Guards Regiment and let them counterattack the enemy.”

   The German tanks that rushed into the second line of defense were blown up by the soldiers hiding in the bomb craters with grenades. The remaining tanks turned around and fled when they saw that the situation was not good. Just at this time, the troops of the 78th Guards Regiment arrived and took the opportunity to launch a counterattack, charging behind the enemy, trying to regain the first line of defense occupied by the enemy.

The enemies staying in the position saw their troops retreating like a tide, because they were afraid of accidentally injuring their own people, so they did not dare to shoot easily. Some Soviet commanders and fighters took the opportunity to jump into the trenches and started close combat and hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. .

   Just when the two sides were at a stalemate, the German long-range artillery fired, and the dense shells fell between the first and second lines of defense, like erecting a wall of fire, cutting off the retreat of the counterattack troops. At the same time, the troops of the Banner Guard Division began a large-scale offensive. As this enemy entered the battlefield, the 78th Guards Regiment, which was responsible for the counterattack mission, immediately fell into the encirclement of the German army.

Seeing that his troops were encircled by the German army, Sarko, who was staying in the headquarters, stomped his feet anxiously. He was about to order the 81st Guards Regiment to attack to rescue the 78th Regiment, but was stopped by the chief of staff. : "Comrade commander, the enemy's strength is stronger than ours, and there are tanks. We can't use the remaining troops to take risks. Once all the troops are wiped out, if the enemy attacks again, what kind of troops should we use to stop them? ?”

Hearing the chief of staff's persuasion, Sarakko only hesitated for a moment, but still made his own decision: "Leave a battalion on the second line of defense, and the rest of the troops will attack immediately. Be sure to take out the trapped first battalion." The 81st Regiment was rescued, we cannot just watch our soldiers being wiped out by the enemy."

After Sarko's order was issued, the 78th Regiment, which stood firm on the second line of defense, left one battalion standing firm, and the commanders and fighters of the other two battalions decisively launched a charge. They wanted to send the 81st and 73rd Regiment The remnants of the regiment were rescued from the enemy's siege.

   But when passing through the area blocked by enemy artillery fire, one-third of the commanders and fighters fell under the artillery fire. The remaining troops charged into the first line of defense, engaged the enemy here, and tried to draw closer to the friendly forces.

  The remnants of the 81st and 73rd regiments joined them, trying to retake their positions from the Germans. But after half an hour of fierce fighting, they had to choose to retreat because of the disparity in strength and the inferior equipment. But during their retreat, they were bombarded and machine gunned by the enemy, and many soldiers fell on the way to retreat.

  Seeing the troops withdrawing to the second line of defense, together with the defenders on the ground, the total strength of the troops was unknown to a thousand, and Sasuke couldn't help feeling as if a knife was piercing his heart. After the previous battle, there were less than 5,000 people left in his army. Unexpectedly, he suffered huge casualties today, and there were only less than 1,000 people left. It is very difficult to hold the position with the existing troops alone.

In desperation, Sasuke could only ask Kryuchenkin for help again: "Comrade commander, after the fierce battle between our division and the German army, the total strength of our division is less than 1,000. If you don't send reinforcements, I am worried that the position will be defended." Can't live."

It stands to reason that the 25th Guards Division suffered such heavy casualties that Kryuchenkin should have sent reinforcements, but after hearing the report, he thought it was Sasuke who had falsely reported the battle situation to himself in order to get reinforcements, so he said impatiently: "Comrade commander, I still say the same thing. Without my order, you are not allowed to retreat a single step, and you must never give up your position to the enemy."

Seeing that Kryuchenkin still refused to send reinforcements to him, Sasuke could only smile wryly and said to his chief of staff: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the commander still refuses to send reinforcements to us. You go tell the commanders and fighters that we must Do everything in your power to hold your ground until the last bullet is fired and you fight to the last man."

In the evening, the headquarters where Sarko was located was destroyed by German artillery fire, and most of the people in the headquarters died on the spot. Fortunately, several commanders and fighters saw that the headquarters was hit by enemy artillery fire, so they ran to rescue and rescued the dead. Seriously injured Sa***ko. Facing the fierce German offensive, the 25th Guards Division was originally at the end of its battle, but at this moment it lost its unified command, and it was even more unable to stop the enemy's attack.

Ten minutes later, the troops of the Banner Guard Division crossed the defense line of the 25th Guards Division, rushed into Kharkov from the south of the city, and soon joined the head of state regiment of the Imperial Division, and continued to control the city. area launched an attack.

Seeing the German army approaching his headquarters step by step, Kryuchenkin panicked. He hurriedly called General Golikov and said in a crying voice: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, the enemy's three Two SS divisions have rushed into the city, and our army has suffered huge casualties, please send troops to support immediately."

  (end of this chapter)