Chapter 1176 Breakthrough (Part 1)

  The Banner Guard Division soon received Hausser's order to move east of the city to catch up the Soviet troops trying to break out from that direction.

   They left, and the German 230th Infantry Division rushed to the hospital. The head of the vanguard saw the wounded lost everywhere in the hospital, and immediately reported the situation to the division commander.

Knowing that a serious massacre of prisoners had occurred in Kharkov, the commander of the 230th Infantry Division felt that the situation was very serious, and quickly reported to Hausser: "Your Excellency, a terrible incident has occurred in the hospital in the city. .”

  Hausser, who was being overwhelmed by the breakout Soviet army, said impatiently after hearing what the commander said: "If you have something to say, just speak up, don't go around in circles."

   "My troops have just entered a hospital in the city center. In the courtyard of the hospital, a large number of corpses were found." The infantry division commander reported to Hausser: "After inspection, it was found that these corpses were all wounded who were massacred."

  Hearing what the infantry commander said, Hausser was silent for a moment, and then asked: "Did these wounded die at the hands of the Russians? You know, it may be very difficult for them to break through with the wounded."

"No, Your Excellency General." The Infantry Division Commander quickly replied: "According to my subordinate's report, troops from the Banner Guard Division have been here before us. And after inspection, these wounded were killed by German weapons. "

Hausser did not refute the statement made by the infantry commander. He knew very well that the bullets used by the Soviet and German armies were of different calibers. It's true. After a brief shock, he asked: "Mr. Commander, which unit do you think this will be done?"

   "Before us, the first to break through the Russian defense was the Banner Guard Division." The infantry division commander said cautiously: "I think this matter has nothing to do with them."

   "I see," Hausser said in a flat tone: "Mr. Sir, I will deal with this matter. Your task is to eliminate the remaining Russians in the city."

"Your Excellency, Commander," his chief of staff immediately asked after seeing Hausser put down the phone, "it seems that the massacre of prisoners should have been ordered by Joseph Dietrich. You see, we should How to deal with him?"

"Chief of Staff, we have no right to criticize a victor. After breaking through the Russian defense line in the south of the city, his army is the fastest advancing army." Hauser said rather helplessly: "As long as they If we can win a battle, even if we do something excessive, we should pretend not to see it. Do you understand?"

The chief of staff knew very well that the three SS divisions had suffered a lot from the Soviet army some time ago, and they would definitely find ways to get back. The massacre of the wounded in the hospital was only the first step, and there might be more in the future. Even more inhumane things. But for all of this, even as the chief of staff of the army, he could not blame the Banner Guard Division. As General Hausser said, the winner does not need to be blamed.

  The battle lasted until 8 o'clock in the evening. Except for some Soviet troops who successfully broke through, the rest of the troops were surrounded by the Germans in the Kharkov Locomotive Factory. Although this factory that first produced T-34 tanks,. As early as the second half of 1936, it was renamed Factory 183, but everyone is still accustomed to using the original name. Since the Soviet army recovered Kharkov, the remaining workers in the factory were organized and formed a militia team. At this moment, they are cooperating with the remaining Soviet troops that retreated into the factory, relying on the strong factory building, to carry out tenacious resistance, and Successfully repelled two German attacks.

Hausser, who had just entered the city, learned that the remaining Soviet troops were trapped at the Kharkov Locomotive Factory, and quickly asked Tansen, who was in charge of besieging the factory: "Mr. Russian?"

   "Your Excellency, Commander," Tansen replied respectfully, "Judging from the positions of the exposed firepower points in the factory, there are probably more than 2,000 Russians."

   "Over 2,000 people." Hausser nodded after repeating the number, and then asked, "Mr. Banner Captain, how long will it take you to eliminate this **** Russian?"

Tansen thought for a while and replied: "Your Excellency, my soldiers have become exhausted after two days of fighting. I plan to let them have a good rest for the night and wait until tomorrow to launch an attack. I trust them After a night's rest, we will definitely be able to take down the entire factory before dark tomorrow."

  As for Tansen’s deadline, Hausser didn’t make any sense. He just told the other party: “Mr. Banner Captain, remember to tie the hole tightly, and don’t let the Russians slip out in the dark.”

   "Don't worry, Your Excellency Commander." Tansen replied, "I have deployed tanks in all directions of the factory's exits, and the Russians will never even try to break out."

  Besieged in the factory at this moment are the remnants of the 19th Infantry Brigade and the 179th Tank Brigade. The highest-ranking commander is Lieutenant Colonel Bronnikov, Chief of Staff of the Infantry Brigade, followed by Captain Qiwin of the Tank Brigade.

After repelling the enemy's attack, Bronnikov called all the commanders together and said: "Comrades, although the buildings in the factory are strong, we don't have much ammunition and supplies left. , it is unrealistic to continue to hold on, and we must find a way to break through."

"Break out, how to break out?" The militia captain said with a sad face: "The factory is surrounded by the Germans, and there are tanks at the main intersections. We are all infantry. If we force the way out, I am afraid the whole army will be wiped out." .”

   "Captain Qiwin." After Bronnikov and the militia captain finished speaking, he turned to look at Captain Qiwin and asked, "I remember that your tank company still has four tanks. I wonder if they can cover us to break through."

Hearing what Bronnikov said, Captain Qiwin couldn't help complaining: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, it's not that I don't want to cover the infantry to break through. It's because the ammunition and fuel of our tanks have been exhausted long ago. When repelling the enemy's attack, we will not stand by and watch the fun."

   "Yes, the tank has no ammunition and fuel, it's just a pile of scrap metal." Bronnikov said thoughtfully: "It seems that we need to ask our superiors for help to see if they can provide us with some help."

   "Help, what help?" A second lieutenant of the 17th Infantry Brigade asked back: "Now that our main force has broken through, we have only a few troops left in the city. Do you think the superior will provide us with help?"

"That's right, the main force has broken through, but the superior doesn't necessarily want to give up on us." Bronnikov said to the second lieutenant: "Fortunately, we still have a radio station here, so we can keep in touch with the superior and see if they can do anything about it." Help us." After speaking, he ordered the radio operator sitting in front of the radio, "Send a report to the front army headquarters immediately, that is, we are now facing a situation where we are running out of ammunition and food, and hope they can provide us with ammunition and supplies."

Hearing that Bronnikov ordered himself to send a report to the Front Army Command, the operator hesitated and said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, is this appropriate? You know, if we send a report by leapfrogging in this way, the superior may think that our radio station has been blocked. The Germans have captured it, and then maybe they won't talk to us at all."

   "Under the current circumstances, we can only try our luck." Bronnikov said to the operator: "Send the report immediately."

   A few minutes later, the operator received a call back: "Please indicate your identity!"

   "Call back: This is Lieutenant Colonel Bronnikov, Chief of Staff of the 19th Infantry Brigade."

   Soon, the operator received another telegram: "Please report your identification code!"

  After receiving Bronnikov's identification code, the other party sent another telegram: "Is there anything I can do for you?"

   "More than 2,000 of us were trapped by the Germans at the Kharkov Locomotive Factory, facing the point where we ran out of ammunition and food. I hope that the superiors can find a way to replenish ammunition and supplies for us, so that we can have the ability to break through."

After a long wait, Bronnikov finally got the telegram he wanted: "The Air Force will airdrop supplies to your area at one o'clock in the morning. At that time, you can light the fire and indicate the airdrop target for the Air Force. "

  At one o'clock in the morning, when the roar of the aircraft engine came from the night sky, Bronnikov immediately ordered his subordinates: "Immediately light the fire and indicate the empty target for the Air Force."

  As the fire ignited, Bronnikov was full of hope. He thought that as long as the transport plane circling in the sky could drop a few barrels of fuel and ammunition needed by the troops, the breakout could be prevented immediately. But what he didn't expect was that when the height of the transport plane was lowered, the place where the airdropped materials landed was not the place where the fire was ignited, but the German defense zone outside the factory.

   Seeing this scene, Bronnikov couldn't help being dumbfounded. He looked at the umbrella flowers blooming in the sky, carrying boxes of supplies, and when they were falling towards the German position, he murmured: "Damn, what the **** is going on? Why are you throwing everything in the German defense zone?" gone?"

Captain Qiwin who was standing next to him was stunned for a while, and then realized the problem: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the superior asked us to use the fire to guide the air force to carry out the airdrop. But we all forgot that before dark, we used to There was a firefight with the Germans inside and outside the factory, and there were a lot of buildings burning in the firefight area, and our air force probably used those as drop sites."

   "Then what should we do?" After figuring out what was going on, Bronnikov stomped his feet anxiously, "In this way, aren't our supplies cheaper than the Germans?"

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, we can take advantage of the darkness to rush to the place where the supplies landed, and find a way to grab some of them back." Captain Qi Wen suggested to Bronnikov: "With such supplies, we can get an extra supply." It's been a while."

   "Second Lieutenant," Bronnikov called the second lieutenant of the 17th Brigade, and said to him, "I'll give you fifty men, and you should rush to the landing site immediately, and get some of them back at all costs."

  The second lieutenant understood that these materials were related to the life and death of the troops in the factory area, so he quickly replied with a solemn expression: "Don't worry, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I will definitely find a way to get more materials back."

  The Soviet army's transport plane dropped supplies, which also alarmed the enemies who besieged the factory. Seeing that the supplies falling from the sky fell into his defense zone one after another, Tansen immediately issued an order to his officers and soldiers to collect as many Soviet airdropped supplies as possible. Just as the German officers and soldiers were collecting airdropped supplies, they encountered the Soviet army who came to **** the supplies, and the two sides immediately launched a fierce exchange of fire.

  Whether it was Bronnikov or Tansen, when they heard fierce gunfire and explosions outside, they immediately realized that their troops had exchanged fire with the enemy, and quickly sent reinforcements to reinforce them. As a result, what turned out to be an exchange of fire between seventy or eighty people quickly turned into a battle involving three or four hundred people.

When the fight was in full swing outside, the militia captain said to Bronnikov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, take advantage of the attention of the Germans being attracted by the second lieutenant, why don't you give me a team, and I will take them to other directions to **** the enemy." Airdrop supplies."

The proposal of the militia captain made Bronnikov’s eyes shine. That’s right, the fight outside is fierce now, and the attention of both sides has been attracted to that direction. If they send people to other directions to grab supplies, they might really succeed. . Thinking of this, he nodded, and drew out a company and handed it over to the militia captain for him to take with him to rob supplies.

   A few hours later, after the Soviet army suffered more than 100 casualties, the second lieutenant had to take the rest of the troops back to the temporary headquarters. He said to Bronnikov with a face of shame: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I'm sorry, I failed your expectations. The enemy's defense is too tight, and we can't grab supplies at all."

   "Comrade Second Lieutenant, don't feel guilty." Bronnikov raised his hand and patted the opponent's shoulder, comforting him and said, "Although your operation to **** supplies failed, we now have sufficient supplies."

Hearing what Bronnikov said, the second lieutenant couldn't help asking in surprise: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I don't understand what you mean. Didn't I tell you that our operation to **** supplies failed? Where did you come from?" Did you get enough supplies?"

"When you exchanged fire with the enemy, I took advantage of the enemy's attention being drawn to your side, so I sent militiamen to collect airdrops in the opposite direction." Bronnikov looked at the militia leader wearing a peaked cap , said with a smile on his face: "They successfully completed the task and brought us back a dozen barrels of fuel and a large amount of ammunition. In this way, whether we continue to stay in the factory or carry out a breakout, we don't have to worry about appearing Out of ammunition."

   "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," just as Bronnikov was complacent, Captain Qi Wen suddenly said: "There are hundreds of wounded in the city. I want to ask, what should they do?"

"Slightly wounded who can still fight can break out with us." Bronnikov gritted his molars when he heard this headache and said, "As for the wounded who can't move, we can only take them out." Stay and hope the Germans can heal their wounds."

  (end of this chapter)