Chapter 1273 Failed Empty City Plan

  It's a pity that neither Bakharov nor the chief of staff of the army have ever read "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", so naturally they don't know about the empty city strategy. The German army in front of them has long been exhausted, and their strength and equipment have been almost exhausted in successive battles with the tank army.

  When the two regiments sent by Sokov launched an attack from the southeast of the German defense zone, the German commander hurriedly mobilized the remaining troops to intercept them. In order to prevent Bakharov's tank army from taking the opportunity to launch an attack, the German commander laid out an empty city plan, using less than a company of infantry, five or six tanks with malfunctions, and hundreds of dead soldiers. A confusion array was set up.

I have to say that the German commander's move was very clever. When the 170th tank brigade launched an attack, the tanks serving as fixed turrets fired a few shots, and the soldiers staying in the trenches fired a few shots, killing the Soviet Union. The German army's tanks were bluffed, fearing that the Germans would have some conspiracy, so they could only stop at a distance and wait for orders, not daring to move forward easily.

Hearing the question raised by Baharov, the chief of staff of the Army smiled wryly and shook his head, saying, "Comrade Commander, I don't know what's going on." But he made a suggestion to Baharov, " Or, let's send a telegram to General Sokov, tell him what's going on here, and see what he has to say."

   "Good idea." Although Baharov has never met Sokov, he has also heard that the other party has a lot of ghost ideas for fighting. If he tells him the strange things he encountered, he may be able to give him some advice. Thinking of this, he nodded and said to the chief of staff: "Chief of staff, please send a telegram to General Sokov as soon as possible to ask for his opinion."

Sokov received a telegram from the tank army, and after carefully reading the above content, his pupils could not help constricting violently, and his blood pressure suddenly rose: Hell, the German commander actually knows how to plan an empty city and use the main force to block the attack of his own troops ; On the side of the tank army, there was a suspicious formation, which frightened Baharov's tank army so that they did not dare to move. He even began to wonder whether this German commander was also a time traveler from later generations, just like himself. If this was the case, it would be quite lively.

"Comrade Commander," Colonel Shechtman standing aside saw Sokov staring at the telegram just received, but his face was cloudy and uncertain. He didn't know what happened, so he hurriedly He asked with concern, "What happened?"

"The enemy played a trick and scared the tank army too much to move." Considering that Shechtman must not know what an empty city plan is, Sokov took a map, pointed to the combat area above, and explained to him : "Your two regiments are here to attack the German army. In order to block your attack, the German commander should transfer all his main forces and deploy them on the road of your attack. On the side of the tank army, Their strength became extremely weak. In order to prevent the tank army from taking the opportunity to attack, the enemy used the cover of night to fill the trenches with corpses, giving the tank army the illusion that this place was heavily guarded..."

"If the trenches are full of corpses pretending to be soldiers, the tank army will be able to find out as soon as they attack, and the dead will not shoot." Colonel Shechtman asked a little puzzled: "I don't understand, how could they be frightened by the enemy?" Woolen cloth?"

"Comrade Colonel," Sokov didn't answer the question immediately, but asked rhetorically, "If you commanded troops at night and launched an attack on the enemy's position, and there was only sporadic resistance on the enemy's position, what would you do? "

Hearing Sokov's question, Colonel Shechtman thought for a long time, and then said in an uncertain tone: "If this situation really happened, I would definitely think, how could the resistance on the enemy's position be like this? Weak, did they set up some kind of trap for us to drill into?"

"You're right. During the day, the tank army might organize a force to conduct a probing attack. But at night," Sokov saw that Shechtman had already guessed some of the truth, and continued: " Because of the limited visibility, even if the enemy has any arrangements, they will not be able to detect them in time. Under such circumstances, the cautious commander will order the troops to stop the attack and send people to conduct reconnaissance. After the specific situation is clarified , and then decide whether to launch a new attack."

Colonel Shechtman understood that the German army was bluffing, but he was puzzled by the German army's approach: "Comrade commander, I don't understand why the Germans would do this? You know, even if they can temporarily confuse me Army, but as long as there are scouts out, they can quickly find out the truth, so wouldn't their deployment be in vain?"

"Even if scouts are sent out, it may take several hours to find out what happened." Sokov explained to Shechtman: "When the scouts figure out the situation and give feedback to their superiors, the German army It may have repelled our army's attack and transferred their main force from the south back to the north. In this way, the tank army that hastily launched an attack may suffer a big loss."

   Shechtman waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and after careful consideration, it seemed that this was really the case. According to the tradition of the Soviet army, once the attack fails, it will take at least three or four hours to rest before launching a new attack in the same area. As for the German army, they can take advantage of this time difference to redistribute the troops used for the defense of the southern line to the northern line to block the attack of the tank army. As for the tank army, because of the information fed back by the scouts, they may think that they do not have the main force of the enemy in front of them, and behave underestimated the enemy, and may suffer a big loss at that time.

   "Then what should we do?" Shechtman asked Sokov cautiously: "Should we remind them?"

"Comrade Colonel, ask the radio operator to call back the tank army immediately." Sokov ordered: "Just say that the enemy is in a maze, and their main force has been transferred to the south to block our attack. Please rest assured and be bold. Let's launch an offensive." After saying this, Sokov thought for a while, and added: "You send another telegram to the two regiment leaders, telling them that if the attack is frustrated, they will temporarily retreat and rest. Wait Launch a new attack after intense gunfire sounds from the north."

It took only a moment for Shechtman to understand Sokov's order: "Comrade Commander, I understand what you mean. If there are gunfire from the north, it proves that the German army Their main force has been transferred back to block the tank army, so their troops on the southern position will become weak. If we attack again at this time, we can easily break through the enemy's defense line and tanks The troops of the army flanked the enemy from front to back."

   "That's right, that's what it means." Sokov nodded slightly, and told Shechtman: "Colonel, hurry up and tell the operator to send the report, we are running out of time."

Just after calling the two regiments on the left, the troops on the right, which were attacking the Panzergrenadier regiment of the Skeleton Division, called Colonel Shechtman again and reported to him: "Comrade commander, our regiment has succeeded. We successfully broke through the German defenses, please instruct us on the next task."

  Colonel Shechtman held the microphone and did not speak. Instead, he cast a look of help at Sokov next to him, hoping to hear new instructions from him.

  Seeing the other party looking at him, Sokov understood what he meant, and quickly issued a new order: "After ordering them to defeat the enemy, drive them to the position where the Banner Guard Division is, and then they will follow behind and pursue."

"Comrade Commander," Colonel Shechtman's eyes lit up when he heard Sokov's order. He knew that if he really followed the defeated Skeleton Division and advanced towards the position of the Banner Guard Division, the Banner Guard Division would Because the sky was too dark, the defenders saw crowds of people approaching, and it was difficult to distinguish between the enemy and the enemy. They must not dare to shoot lightly. There is no one in their own troops that can break through the enemy's defense without firing a single shot. They quickly replied : "I'll pass on your order right away."

After almost half an hour, Baharov sent a telegram to Sokov again, which read: General Sokov, after receiving your telegram, I immediately put all my troops into the attack. With almost no casualties, the troops have broken through the German defense line and are developing in depth. Please inform the officers and soldiers of your department to pay attention to night identification, so as to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.

  Sokov did not expect that Bakharov would be so courageous. He dared to order the entire army to attack the German defense line at the same time with just his own telegram. But this is also good, the tank army that goes into battle will become the last straw that overwhelms the camel's camel, and the German army near the October Farm is estimated to be wiped out before dawn.

He handed the telegram in his hand to Shechtman, and said to him: "Comrade Colonel, send a telegram to the commander of the left wing, saying that the tank army on the opposite side has launched a full-scale counterattack against the German army, and ask them to pay attention to identification at night. To avoid misunderstanding."

Colonel Shechtman ordered his radio operator to send a report to the two regimental commanders on the left wing, and then asked Sokov cautiously: "Comrade Commander, do you think we can eliminate the Skeleton Division?" It seems that everything is moving in a direction that is beneficial to him, but Shechtman is still not at ease in his heart. After all, with the strength of the skeleton division, he can deal with an army of the Soviet army. Now he can defeat the opponent with a single division. Like the Arabian Nights.

"Comrade Colonel, it is indeed very easy for us to defeat the Skeleton Master. This is related to some preparatory work we have done in the early stage." After saying this, Sokov saw Shechtman's confused expression and explained to him Said: "The Guards Tank Army and the troops deployed in the middle section continuously attacked the German transportation lines. As a result, the supply of the Skeleton Division was interrupted. I believe they are now facing the situation of running out of ammunition and food. In this case, if If you can't defeat them, your troops can only be transferred to the rear to retrain."

   "Comrade Commander, please rest assured." Hearing what Sokov said, Shechtman couldn't help but panic: "I assure you, my troops will definitely wipe out the German troops near October Farm before dawn."

  The German army near the October Farm was attacked by the 354th Division and the tank army, so they could only shrink the line of defense step by step. The German commander never dreamed that the strategy he had come up with would be seen through by the Russians in such a short period of time. Facing the Russians pressing from two directions at the same time, he had no intention of fighting any longer, so he changed into the uniform of an ordinary soldier in his command post so that he could escape when the situation was dangerous.

   When the battle continued until two o'clock in the morning, the Soviet troops assaulting from two different directions had successfully joined forces and surrounded the remaining German troops in a small area. They could be completely wiped out with another assault.

  The news of the victory was immediately sent to Sokov and Rotmistrov by telegram. Seeing the battle report of the 18th Tank Army, the Chief of Staff of the Army Group tentatively asked Rotmistrov: "Comrade Commander, this is a great victory. Do we need to report to General Vatutin immediately?"

   "No," but Rotmistrov shook his head and said, "We have no right to report this victory ahead of Comrade Sokov."

Seeing the question mark on the face of his chief of staff, Rotmistrov asked again: "Chief of staff, let me ask you, if there is no cooperation from Comrade Sokov's troops, our tank army can wipe out the October Farm Enemies nearby?"

Regarding the question raised by Rotmistrov, the chief of staff only thought for a moment, then shook his head and said: "General Baharov's troops have occupied the farm for more than two days, but they were blocked by the German army. Although there were several fierce battles, it was still unable to expand the occupied area.”

"You are right." Rotmistrov echoed the chief of staff's statement, and continued: "If Sokov's troops did not take the initiative to attack the enemy tonight, I am afraid that after dawn, Our tank army still has to engage in brutal positional warfare with the enemy, and it is still unknown when we will be able to break through the German defenses."

"You are right, Comrade Commander." Now that Rotmistrov has already said this, it would be very naive if the chief of staff insisted on reporting to Vatutin first, and he said hastily: "General Sokov should be the first to report this exciting result to General Vatutin."

As for Sokov, his attention was focused on the battle near the 252.2 Heights, and he did not think of the news that the enemy near the farm should be wiped out soon. He reported to Vatutin who was waiting anxiously in the headquarters of the Front Army. Terman gave instructions: "Comrade Colonel, concentrate all the artillery fire of the artillery regiment to bombard the enemies who are still nesting in the trenches, and must drive them all out of the trenches in the shortest possible time.

  Our right-wing troops must rush the officers and soldiers of the defeated Panzergrenadier Regiment to the defense zone of the Banner Guard Division before dawn, so that we have the opportunity to further expand the results of the battle. "

  (end of this chapter)