Chapter 1271 Cutting the mess with a quick knife

  Don't look at Sokov telling Rotmistrov not to report to Vatutin about his commanding troops to attack the Skeleton Division. However, it is unrealistic to completely hide Vatutin from such a big battle. Ten minutes after the battle started, Vatutin found out about it through his specific intelligence channel.

Vatutin put the received information in front of Zhukov and Vasilevsky, and said excitedly: "Two Marshal comrades, have you seen it? Although Konev promised to hand over the 27th Army to my command , But Sokov’s order to me was obedient and obedient. I ordered him to attack the Banner Guard Division, but he directed the attack directly at the Skeleton Division. This, this is simply outrageous.”

"Comrade Marshal," Vasilevsky said to Zhukov with a sideways face after hearing Vatutin's words, "among the enemies west of Prokhorovka, the Skeleton Division is indeed the weakest. During the battle, a large number of soldiers and technical equipment were lost. Even if the German army is already defeated, Comrade Sokov intends to destroy the enemy with the strength of a division, I think it is still a bit difficult."

"That's right, Marshal Zhukov." As soon as Vasilevsky finished speaking, Vatutin echoed: "Now the situation of the 69th Army is not optimistic. Once the Banner Guard Division and the Kenf Combat Group converge, they will be killed. The possibility of encirclement. Now Sokov does not obey my order, but runs to attack the Skeleton Division. Once we are entangled by the enemy, we can only watch helplessly as the 69th Army falls into the encirclement of the enemy..."

   Before Vatutin finished speaking, Zhukov interrupted him and asked unexpectedly: "Comrade Vatutin, wouldn't you be able to fight without Misha's troops?"

"How is this possible, Comrade Marshal." Hearing Zhukov's questioning, Vatutin replied in a panic: "I was just thinking, if Sokov's troops can attack the Banner Guard Division according to my intention, maybe it will It can quickly reverse the current unfavorable situation of our army.”

Zhukov, who had been lowering his head to study the map, looked up at Vatutin after he had finished speaking, and said, "I think Misha's choice is correct. He gave priority to attacking the Skeleton Division. As long as this army can be defeated, then the city of Prokhorovka will be destroyed." The situation in the northwest will become stable, and Rotmistrov's troops will be free to attack the Banner Guard Division together with Sokov's troops. Comrade Vatutin, tell me, is a Is it easier for one force to defeat a Banner Guard division, or is it more likely for two forces to succeed in joint action?"

"Of course, it is easier to succeed if the two troops act at the same time." After Vatutin said this without thinking, he said with some hesitation: "However, I am worried that Sokov's troops will not be able to defeat the Skeleton Division in a short time. , so that they will be entangled by the enemy and unable to free their hands to deal with the Banner Guard division to the south of them."

"Comrade Vatutin, you don't worry too much." Zhukov said lightly: "Since the troops commanded by Misha can defeat the Skeleton Division once, there is no big problem in defeating the Skeleton Division a second time. Besides, not only the Skeleton Division and The Imperial Division, even the Banner Guard Division that gives you headaches, was once defeated by Misha. If Misha's troops destroy the Skeleton Division first, and then deal with the Banner Guard Division, the enemy's morale will definitely be severely damaged Strike. When the time comes to wipe out an army with low morale, the price we pay will be much smaller."

  Vatutin's worries and anxieties disappeared immediately with Zhukov's recognition of Sokov. He even began to consider in his mind, after Sokov's troops wiped out the Skeleton Division, which troops he should send to assist them in attacking the German Banner Guard Division.

  ...

  When the 354th Division arrived at the attack position, the German scouts had already discovered them and reported the information to the division headquarters in time. When division commander Simon learned that Sokov's troops were coming, he couldn't help being frightened into a cold sweat. He quickly issued an order to the heads of the regiments, asking them to hurry up and repair the fortifications. They must complete the construction of the fortifications before tomorrow morning, so as to Counter a possible attack by Sokov's forces.

  The heads of the German army learned that Sokov's troops had arrived, so they dared not neglect them, and immediately ordered their soldiers to start rushing to repair the fortifications, and strive to repair those fortifications that were destroyed in the artillery fire a few days ago before dawn. After the Germans seized this area, although they also carried out fortification repairs, they were worried about the counterattack from Prokhorovka, so the focus of defense was placed on the east. Now facing a sudden threat from the west, they could only cram their feet temporarily and rush to repair the fortifications overnight, trying to rely on the fortifications to resist the attack of Sokov's troops.

  But what the Germans didn't expect was that Sokov didn't plan to rest overnight and wait until dawn the next day before attacking. He couldn't wait to attack before even the troops arrived. The first group of attacking troops actually rushed to Simon's division headquarters in tanks.

  Fifty tanks with more than 400 infantry officers and fighters quickly passed through some small German positions that were not strong, and rushed straight to the division headquarters.

When Simon learned that the Soviet tanks came straight to his division headquarters, he yelled to his guard battalion commander over the phone: "Major, order your subordinates to block the Russian tanks. You must block them, otherwise the division headquarters will be destroyed." It's all over."

Don't look at Simon ordering his troops to stand firm, but he didn't dare to stay in the headquarters anymore. After all, he was captured by Sokov's troops a few months ago. Even if he was later rescued by his subordinates, he became A blot on his military career. If it wasn't for the little beard who valued him highly, he might have been sent to a military court by now, and it would be impossible to become the commander of the Skeleton Division again.

"Chief of staff, our defense line cannot stop the Russians. The division needs to be transferred immediately, otherwise we will become captives of the Russians." Simon said to his chief of staff: "I will lead people to take a step first, and you stay behind." Come down and take care of the aftermath." After Simon finished speaking, he took a dozen guards and fled to the Grenadier Regiment in the south in two armored personnel carriers.

  Watching the armored personnel carrier Simon was driving away, the chief of staff cursed secretly in his heart: coward who is greedy for life and afraid of death. Then he ordered the staff officers and communications soldiers in the division headquarters to start dismantling the telephones and lines, and moved the things to the trucks outside one after another, trying to move them to a safe place.

  The commander of the tank battalion who led the charge saw several brightly lit wooden houses in the distance, guessing that it must be the headquarters of the German army, so he ordered his subordinates to stop and aim at the distant wooden houses for shelling.

  Fifteen tanks stopped one after another, and they slowly aimed their muzzles at the wooden houses in the distance. Following the battalion commander's order to fire, fifteen tanks fired at the wooden houses in the distance one after another. After only two rounds of shooting, the wooden houses in the distance were shot one after another. After the violent explosion, the wooden houses were either blown to pieces or started to burn.

Seeing the fire in the wooden house in the distance, the tank continued to drive forward, while the infantry on the tank body jumped out of the tank one after another, formed a battle formation, followed the tank with cats on their waists, and rushed to the enemy's position .

  The guard battalion in charge of defending the division headquarters. Although the officers and soldiers were extremely tenacious, because they lacked effective anti-tank weapons, they could not stop the Soviet tanks rushing over. Even worse, the tanks were followed by Soviet infantry. They rushed into the trenches quickly while the defenders were in chaos, and started fighting with the soldiers inside.

  When the soldiers saw that the wooden house where the division headquarters was located was destroyed by Soviet tank fire, they were already in a panic. So that the Soviet commanders and fighters who rushed over with the tank quickly took the initiative after jumping into the trench.

  Just as the resistance of the German army was getting weaker and weaker, the main force that had just arrived flooded over the German defensive position like a tide, and continued to rush forward with the tanks ahead.

   "Comrade Division Commander." The head of the main regiment responsible for the offensive mission, after confirming that his troops had captured the German division headquarters, reported to Shechtman via radio: "We have captured the German division headquarters."

   "Have you already occupied the division headquarters of the German army?" Hearing the good news, Shechtman couldn't help but be overjoyed: "Have you captured the commander of the Skeleton Division, General Simon?"

"No, Comrade Commander." The head of the first regiment replied awkwardly: "When we arrived, the house was burning violently. Although there were many charred corpses inside, we learned when we interrogated the prisoners that the division commander Simon Before the tanks of our army fired, they left the division headquarters in a car, leaving only his chief of staff, a group of staff officers, signal soldiers and the like.”

   Knowing that Simon had run away, Shechtman felt very sorry in his heart, and he hurriedly asked: "Have you figured out where he fled to?"

   "I don't know, Comrade Division Commander." The regiment commander replied truthfully: "The captives only know that he took people in two armored personnel carriers and left the division headquarters. As for where he went, no one knows."

   Sokov on the side heard this and quickly said to Shechtman: "Comrade Colonel, ask your subordinates, which direction is the German armored vehicle heading?"

   "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Hearing Sokov's order, Shechtman quickly said into the microphone: "Have you asked the captives which direction Simon and his men are heading?"

  The other end of the phone fell silent, but Shechtman could vaguely hear some voices, as if the group leader was asking something. After a while, the commander's voice came again from the headset: "Comrade commander, according to the confession of the prisoners, the armored personnel carrier Simon was riding in was retreating towards the southeast..."

   "Retreating towards the southeast?" After hearing what the leader said, Sokov immediately checked the map to study where Simon might have fled. After watching for a while, he analyzed Simon's next step based on the situation of the enemy and us on the map, and said to Shechtman: "Comrade Colonel, immediately notify your subordinates and order them to continue advancing to the northwest and contact the support as soon as possible." The fighting tanks of the 18th Corps converged to destroy or severely injure the enemy fleeing from our defense zone."

"Comrade Commander," Shechtman said with some puzzlement about the order issued by Sokov, "Didn't Simon flee to the southeast to find his grenadier regiment? Why don't we advance to the southwest? Instead, attack in the northwest direction?"

"The reason is very simple." Sokov said lightly: "At this moment, order the troops to go north, so that they can flank General Rotmistrov's 18th Tank Army and annihilate the main force of the Skeleton Division that has fallen into chaos. As for the southeast direction The Grenadier Regiment can put the remaining infantry and artillery regiments into battle, and let them wipe out as much of the German army as possible."

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." After hearing Sokov's arrangement, Shechtman said understandingly: "I will immediately order the infantry and artillery regiments still on the ground to attack the German army."

"First order the artillery to bombard the German grenadier regiment's garrison." Sokov told Shechtman: "While the bombardment is in progress, the infantry regiment quickly moves towards the enemy's defended position. When the bombardment stops, the enemy will continue to attack." There is no favorable opportunity to return to God, and quickly occupy the enemy's position."

For this arrangement of Sokov, Shechtman had inexplicable confidence in him, and this confidence was built up from countless victories before. He did not question Sokov's order, but truthfully Confidentially conveyed Sokov's latest order to several of his regiment leaders.

  After the order of Colonel Shechtman was issued, except for a few troops left to clear out the remnants of the enemy, the rest immediately turned around and went north to continue attacking those enemies who were still rushing to repair the fortifications.

  The 18th Tank Army stationed on October Farm has been confronting the Germans for two days. Two hours ago, Major General Baharov, the army commander, received a call from Rotmistrov, saying that Sokov's troops were about to launch an attack on the Skeleton Division, and hoped that he could take active actions to cooperate with Sokov Destroy this enemy.

Baharov was very conflicted about Rotmistrov's order. His troops and the 29th Tank Army fought the enemy here for two days, but they were still trapped in the October Farm. Unable to take a step forward, how can it be said that Sokov's troops can smash the enemy's resistance when they arrive?

  After dark, he listened to the sound of gunfire and explosions outside, thinking to himself that if the sound of gunfire stopped, it would prove that the attack of the friendly forces had been crushed by the Germans. Then I can stand still for the time being, and when the friendly army has the strength to rush to the farm, it will not be too late for me to send troops to help.

  The sound of gunfire didn't last long and was soon stopped. Just as Baharov was sighing for the failure of the friendly army's attack, a staff officer came in from the outside and reported to him: "Comrade commander, the friendly army is attacking the flank of the enemy in front of us. Should we help them?" ?”

   "What, what did you say?" Baharov thought he heard it wrong, and quickly asked the staff officer: "What did you just say, what are our friendly forces doing?"

   "Report to Comrade Commander," the staff officer reported to him: "Friendly troops are attacking the enemy's flank, do we need to help them?"

   "Come here to the map." Baharov did not easily believe the report of the staff officer, but called him to the wall, pointed to the map hanging on it and said, "Point me to the location of the friendly forces."

"Here, Comrade Commander." The staff officer picked up the explaining stick by the wall, pointed to the southwest direction of October Farm, and said to Baharov: "According to the information we have, the friendly army is attacking the Skeleton Division's division. After that, immediately turn around and head north to attack the Skeleton Division's rear... The battle is going on fiercely now, do we need to help them?"

After figuring out the situation, the high-spirited Baharov straightened his waist and said to the staff: "Since our friendly forces are attacking the enemy, how can we stand idly by? Immediately order the troops to start a full-scale counterattack, and join the friendly forces going north as soon as possible to encircle and annihilate them." Enemy of the Skeleton Master."

  (end of this chapter)