Chapter 1416 The leak in the house happens to rain all night

Facing Manstein's question, Kenfu replied in a panic: "Your Excellency, Marshal, I don't know either. I only learned about this matter after receiving a report from the 11th Army Commander, General Laws. The specific situation I'm not so sure either."

   "General Kenf," Manstein said with a frown, "As a commander, you reported to me in a panic without even knowing where the enemy came from. Is this appropriate?"

"Your Excellency the Marshal," Kenff replied with some embarrassment, "it was a few Italians who had escaped from the prisoner-of-war camps who reported the situation to General Rolls. It happened very suddenly, from the first shot to the prisoners The Russians appeared in the camp within ten minutes."

   "How many Italians were held in the POW camps?"

   "There are more than five thousand."

"More than five thousand?" Manstein said in surprise: "General Kenff, I remember that you just reported to me that more than two thousand people left with the Russians. Does this mean that there are still people left in the prisoner-of-war camps?" More than 2,000 people?"

   "That's right, Marshal!" Kenfu replied, "That's exactly what happened. There are indeed more than 2,000 people left."

   "Why do some people leave and others stay?"

"It is said that after the Russians occupied the prisoner-of-war camp, they gathered all the Italians and sent someone who could speak Italian to tell the Italians to leave with them." Kenff explained: "Many of them felt that the Russians were not To be so kind, to send someone over to rescue them, there must be some conspiracy behind this matter, so I chose to stay."

  Manstein asked nervously when he heard this: "General Kenf, how did the Russians deal with the remaining Italians and massacre them?"

"Massacre, how is this possible, Your Excellency the Marshal." Kenfu said: "After the Russians yelled for a while, they left the prisoner-of-war camp with the Italians who were willing to follow them. stay in the camp."

Although Manstein felt strange that the Soviet army let go of those Italians who were unwilling to leave so easily, he did not get entangled in this matter, but told Kenfu: "General Kenfu, first Don't worry about those Italians, your first task now is to find out where the Russians came from and what kind of troops they have. Understand?"

   "Understood, Your Excellency Marshal." Kenfu replied respectfully: "I have already arranged people to carry out this matter. Once I have a clue, I will report to you in the shortest possible time."

What Kenff said did not reassure Manstein. After all, the Italians who came to report the news did not figure out where the Russians who attacked the prisoner-of-war camp came from. Can't say why, even if Kenfu sends people to investigate the matter, it will not be possible to find out the ins and outs in a short while. Maybe by the time they find out the truth, the Russian army has already arrived outside the city of Dergach.

  Before hanging up the phone, he instructed again: "General Kenfu, your attack on Kazakia Compass Town must continue, and the Russians must not let the Russians use it as the starting point of the attack."

"Don't worry, Your Excellency the Marshal." It may be that the smooth progress of the Kursk battle made Kenf contemptuous of the Soviet army. Even if Sokov's troops beat him to a mess, he still thought that It was accidental, so after hearing Manstein's remonstrance, he also swore: "My troops are fully capable of taking down Kazakia Compass Town."

  …

  The time goes back to two hours ago,

After successfully attacking the German prisoner-of-war camp and annihilating all the defenders of the 98th Guards Division, after confirming that there was no living German in the camp, the division commander Chuvashov got in touch with Sokov through the radio: "Commander Comrade Comrade, our division has successfully captured the German prisoner-of-war camp and rescued the Italians imprisoned in it. What should we do next?"

"You can divide your troops into two groups," Sokov told Chuvashov: "The troops wearing German uniforms can continue to move south, mix into the German defense line, and respond to the main attack; return to headquarters."

   "But there are only half of the Italians who are willing to leave with us. What about the rest?" Chuvashov asked Sokov for instructions: "Should we take them on the spot..."

When Chuvashov said this, he was worried that there were Italians who could speak Russian nearby, so he didn't finish his sentence, but Sokov understood what he wanted to express, and quickly said: "No, Comrade Colonel, even if these Italians People don’t want to leave with you, so don’t make things difficult for them. Since they don’t want to leave, let them stay in the prisoner-of-war camp and wait for the Germans.”

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." Chuvashov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and immediately continued: "I will arrange people to **** these prisoners back to the headquarters of the Army Group."

"Comrade Colonel, let me remind you." Sokov worried that the troops sent by Chuvashov would stray into the compass town of Kazakhia on the way to **** the Italians back, so he reminded him: "Now Kazakhstan There's a battle going on in Asia Luopan, we must take the Italians around the town, so as not to be drawn into the battle."

After putting down the headset and microphone, Sokov quickly walked to the table, and said to Sameko who was looking down at the map: "Comrade Chief of Staff, Colonel Chuvashov and the others rescued more than 2,000 Italians. They are coming towards us. Look, where is it better to arrange them?"

Sameko looked up at Sokov, looked down at the map again, and said, "Comrade Commander, I know the Italians. They will drive from Gergach to us, and they will have to walk for at least two days. , We have enough time to arrange the issue of their residence."

  After being reminded by Sameko, Sokov immediately realized that he had made a common sense mistake. He still calculated the time it took for the Italians to arrive here according to the marching speed of his subordinates. He laughed dryly twice, and then said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you reminded me more, the marching speed of the Italians is definitely not comparable to that of our soldiers, I think it will not be too late to consider how to arrange them after two days .”

   "How is the battle in Compass Town, Kazakhia?"

"The enemy is still attacking." Sameko picked up a telegram on the table and reported to Sokov: "This is a telegram from General Fomenko. His 268th regiment has taken over from the 568th regiment." Defense is fighting against the crazy attack of the German army."

   "Can they hold up?"

   "No problem." Sameko said confidently: "According to your tactics, they deliberately let the enemy's tanks pass through the line of defense, destroying the infantry following behind, and then have anti-tank fighters destroying the enemy's tanks."

  Knowing that the commanders and fighters of the 84th Division were using this tactic, Sokov asked with a little confidence: "Then what is the result?"

   "Fantastic, simply fantastic," Sameko reported. "They took out no fewer than twenty tanks, but none of the anti-tank teams suffered more than five casualties."

   "Twenty German tanks were exchanged with five people." Sokov was still very happy when he heard this data: "This is really a good deal."

   "Comrade Commander," Sameko reminded Sokov: "There is no problem with our army defending the compass town of Kazakhya. Do you see if the main force of the army group should be gradually transferred to this area?"

"I think it's okay." With the bold attack these days, October Town, which was originally blocking the way for the troops to advance, has become the rear, and Sokov spoke with a lot of confidence: "Tomorrow, the army group Headquarters is going to October Town, where I will lead the attack on Kharkov."

"Move to October Town tomorrow?" Sameko asked in surprise: "The town is only a few kilometers away from the defense zone of Huot's troops. Once the enemy knows where our headquarters is, I am afraid they will send troops to attack. Then we will We have to deploy troops from other directions to defend October Town."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, you are worrying too much." Sokov replied confidently: "Even if Huot knew that my headquarters was in October Town, I don't think he would dare to send troops to attack easily. Because in this way, It is bound to weaken his frontal defense force, facing the steppe front army and Voronezh front army that are mobilizing in full swing, he does not have the guts to regard my headquarters as his attack target."

  Sameko is very convinced of Sokov's judgment. Since he said that Huot dared not send troops to attack October Town, he would definitely not send troops to attack. So he nodded, went to the side and called a staff officer, and whispered a few instructions, and arranged for the other party to go to October Town to check the terrain and find a suitable place for the new army headquarters.

  ...

  Early the next morning, Manstein called Kenff and asked straight to the point: "General Kenff, has your troops captured Kazakia Compass Town yet?"

   "No, Your Excellency the Marshal." Kenfu replied in embarrassment: "My subordinates have tried their best, but the Russians are still not driven out of town by us."

Manstein, who had learned about the battle situation in Compass Town of Kazakia through other means, sneered after Kenfe finished speaking: "General Kenfe, if I'm not mistaken, your troops are still fighting the battle until now." How did you drive the Russians out of the town if you failed to enter the town?"

Seeing that Manstein had told the truth, Kenfu murmured: "Your Excellency, Marshal, you should know that the enemy we are facing is not ordinary Russian troops, but the 27th Army under the command of Sokov. They not only Good at offense, but also very good at defense.

   Our artillery blasted their positions into a sea of ​​flames, and under those conditions, I am afraid not even a mouse can survive. But when our soldiers charged, those damned Russians came out of nowhere and shot at our soldiers from all directions, repelling our attack. "

"General Kenf, Sokov is indeed the opponent who caused us the most headaches, but he is not without any weaknesses." Manstein waited for the other party to finish speaking, and immediately added: "You have to find a way to find his shortcomings. This will completely defeat him."

Hearing what Manstein said, Kenf murmured in his heart: "If I could find Sokov's weakness, I would have defeated his army long ago, and I wouldn't have fought all day and night. The troops I participated in the attack actually even killed the entire town. They can't get in."

  Thought this in his heart, but he didn't dare to say it to Manstein. He could only bite the bullet and say: "Understood, Marshal, we will definitely find out Sokov's weakness and find a way to defeat him."

As soon as Manstein put down the phone, the chief of staff came in and reported to him: "Your Excellency, the reserve team in the Donbas region has already set off. There is an armored division and three infantry divisions, and they can arrive as soon as this afternoon." Erkov."

  Manstein nodded after hearing this, and strolled to the window. He opened the window and looked up at the sky, only to see a dark cloud above his head. He couldn't help frowning, "Chief of Staff, it looks like it's going to rain."

   "Yes, Your Excellency Marshal." The chief of staff replied: "According to the report from the meteorological department, there will be a heavy rain at 2 o'clock in the afternoon at the latest."

   "If there is heavy rain, not only will it become more difficult to attack Kazakhya Compass Town, but it may also affect the time for the reserve team to arrive at Kharkov."

"There's nothing you can do about it, Your Excellency Marshal." The chief of staff said helplessly, "Fortunately, this bad weather affects both sides. Although it will affect the speed of the march, the Russians are very concerned about Kazakhstan. Irkov's attack had to be postponed until the day when the weather cleared up. In this way, we will have enough time to improve the fortifications."

  The reserve team departing from the Donbas area was spotted by a Soviet reconnaissance plane after walking for less than half an hour.

   This reconnaissance plane belongs to the 4th Army of the Air Force of the Southern Front of the Soviet Army. When he found a large number of troops on the ground, he thought it was his own troops at first. But he still lowered the height according to the regulations and conducted close observation.

  When he found a white cross on the tank advancing along the road, he immediately realized that it was actually a German army. He quickly turned around and turned around, as if observing more carefully, but was unexpectedly attacked by ground fire. At this time, even if he didn't look at it, he still knew that the troops marching on the ground were German troops, because his own people would never open fire on his plane.

  The pilot of the reconnaissance plane immediately turned around and flew towards the airport, and reported the intelligence he had detected to his superiors in time as quickly as possible.

  After receiving the report, Major General Biryuzov, chief of staff of the Southern Front, checked the map and found that there were no Soviet troops on the enemy's way forward, and the enemy could enter Kharkov smoothly along the road.

After realizing this serious situation, Major General Biryuzov came to Admiral Tolbukhin with a telegram, and reported solemnly: "Comrade Commander, just received a reconnaissance report from the Air Force, there is a German army The troops left the Donbass and are heading towards Kharkov. It seems that they are going to reinforce Kharkov."

  Torbushin did not draw conclusions lightly, but asked cautiously: "Chief of Staff, is the intelligence reliable?"

"Reliable, Comrade Commander, completely reliable." Major General Biryuzov quickly replied: "The pilot is an old pilot with rich flying experience. He not only saw the white cross on the ground tank clearly, but was also attacked by ground firepower. , absolutely no mistake."

  (end of this chapter)