Chapter 1418 Survival from Desperation

The sudden heavy rain made Naunak feel sad. He looked at the bombers and attack planes parked on the runway. After a fierce ideological struggle, he made the most difficult decision. He turned to his chief of staff and said: : "Chief of Staff, inform several aviation division commanders to temporarily suspend air strikes on the German army."

   While the chief of staff was calling to convey his order, Naunak picked up the high-frequency phone on the table and dialed the front army headquarters, preparing to report the matter to Tolbukhin.

  Torbushin was worried when he saw the torrential rain outside, but when he heard the chief of staff say that General Naunako was looking for him, his heart sank suddenly, guessing that the call might have something to do with the Air Force attack.

   "General Naunak, this is Tolbukhin."

   "Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Naunak said respectfully to Tolbukhin, "I am here to report to you that our planes cannot take off to fight due to heavy rain."

Although he knew that fighter planes could not be launched into the air to fight in heavy rain, Tolbushin still asked unwillingly: "General Naunak, is there really no way to send fighter planes into the air to fight? You know, as long as the enemy comes up again A wave of offensive might completely defeat them."

Why did Naunak want to order the fighter planes to take off to wipe out the chaotic German troops, but in this weather, letting the fighter planes go into the air to fight is tantamount to letting the pilots die. As the commander of the air force, he is absolutely Such an order cannot be issued.

After Tolbushin finished speaking, he explained cautiously: "Commander of the Front Army, I feel the same as you. I want the pilots to assist the army brothers to destroy the Germans. But it can't be done, even if it rains so much Our plane was forced into the air, and due to the limited visibility, we couldn’t see the targets on the ground at all, so it would be bad if we bombed our own people.”

  Naunako’s words did not mention the danger of taking off into the air in rainy weather. He knew that Tolbukhin should understand this truth, so he only emphasized that in such bad weather, pilots cannot see clearly the targets on the ground in the air.

Tolbushin was persuaded by Naunak's reason, he was silent for a while, and said to Naunak: "Well, General Naunak, since the weather is so bad, let the pilots go back to the barracks to rest first, It’s not too late to attack after the weather improves.”

  Although he said so, Tolbushin understood that this **** rainstorm rescued the German army from the brink of destruction. After finishing the call with Naunak, he put down the phone and asked Biryuzov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, in such bad weather, can our troops still destroy this German army as planned?"

"Comrade Commander, I feel that this torrential rain has rescued the enemy from the brink of destruction." Biryuzov explained to Torbukhin: "Don't look at the Eighth Army dispatched on our southern front, following the enemy's The attack was launched from behind; the 2nd, 5th, and 17th Armies on the Northern Front also blocked the German army's way ahead.

  But we should clearly see that although it sounds like there are many troops participating in the battle, the number of troops actually engaged in combat is very limited. For example, the 10th Infantry Army of the 8th Army on the southern front, they launched an offensive force against the German army, but they were only two infantry divisions that were not fully formed, and they lacked heavy weapons. If the German army suddenly turned back and broke through in the direction of Donbass, our troops would not be able to stop them at all. "

   Hearing what Biryuzov said, Tolbukhin frowned and thought for a while, then asked: "Then we ordered the northern front troops to launch an attack. Can we wipe them all out before the enemy takes a breakout action?"

"Comrade Commander, it is also very difficult to do so." Biryuzov said with a wry smile: "Our troops on the northern line are not much more than those on the southern line. Now they occupy the railway stations and bus stations along the way. Being spread out and being used defensively may be enough, but to be used offensively, it's not enough."

   "So, we can only watch the enemy escape from our encirclement?"

"Actually, we still have a chance." Biryuzov pointed to the map and said to Tolbukhin: "Comrade Commander, we can let the Eighth Army invest another infantry division and a tank brigade in this area, completely cutting off the The retreat of the German army forced them to go north and fight with our troops standing in this direction."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, your proposal is not bad, just do as you said." In order to completely wipe out this German army, Tolbukhin continued: "In addition, you informed the Second Army of Gorbatov General, Lieutenant General Polenov of the 5th Army and Major General Gastilovich of the 17th Army immediately sent additional troops to participate in the battle, not only to intercept this German army going north, but also to prevent Kharkov from defending The army went south for reinforcements."

Tolbukhin felt in his heart that the battle had progressed to this point, and the German army would definitely rush to Kharkov desperately, so he gave an order to the three army commanders in the north to send more troops to attack Kharkov. Take part in the battle to destroy this wave of enemies leaving the Donbass.

  But what he didn't expect was that Manstein had already discovered that if the troops continued to go north, it would only lead to the annihilation of the entire army, so he issued an order to let the troops return to Donbass.

  The German commander received Manstein's order, and couldn't help crying in his heart. Judging from the current situation, the Soviet army in the south is constantly attacking itself, while the Soviet army in the north is on the defensive. When he was hesitating whether he should obey Manstein's order, it suddenly rained heavily. As a result, the Soviet fighter planes could no longer be dispatched, and they had to deal with only the Soviet infantry. He breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately ordered someone to convey Manstein's order, and turned back to Donbass,

  Due to the heavy rain, the Soviet army did not notice the abnormality of the German army, and continued to launch a counterattack towards the temporary position established by the German army.

  When another round of offensive failed and the Soviet commanders and fighters began to retreat, the German army unexpectedly launched a counterattack. The Soviet army was caught off guard. In less than ten minutes, the area that took them several hours to occupy fell into the hands of the German army.

  The Soviet division commander who was beaten by the German counterattack took a long time before confirming that the enemy launched a counterattack against his troops. He hurriedly reported the situation to the commander of the 10th Army. After receiving the report, the army commander realized that the situation on the battlefield had changed, and he didn't dare to neglect, so he hurriedly reported the matter to Lieutenant General Starikov, commander of the group army.

   After receiving the report from his subordinates, Starikov immediately pulled the map on the table in front of him and examined it carefully. After watching for a while, he found that with the counterattack of the German army, the enemy had already established a defense line with a deep defense. He sent two infantry divisions without heavy weapons to break through without the support of the air force and artillery fire. The enemy's line of defense is almost impossible.

  After reading the map, Starikov personally called the division commander and asked straight to the point: "Comrade division commander, with your current strength, is it really impossible to break through the German defense?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." The division commander did not go around in circles, but replied straightforwardly and truthfully: "In order to catch up with the enemy as soon as possible, when our division set off, we had already abandoned all heavy weapons, and now we are a lightly armed division. If Without the cooperation of the air force, artillery, and tanks, I think it is basically impossible to break through the newly established positions of the German army."

Facing the division commander's pessimistic mood, Starikov did not get angry. On the contrary, he said reasonably: "Comrade commander, it is raining heavily outside at the moment, and we cannot provide you with air cover, as well as tank and artillery support. You first Order the troops to switch to defense on the spot, seize the time to rush to repair the fortifications, and make preparations for the German attack."

  When Starikov put down the microphone, his chief of staff specifically reminded him: "Comrade Commander, do you think it is necessary to report this situation to the Front Army Command?"

"There is no need for this." Starikov waved his hand and said confidently: "The reason why our troops lost was because the fighting time was too long, and the commanders and fighters were very tired. I think we just need to let them rest for a while and wait for the heavy rain After the pause, if we attack the enemy again, we will surely be able to break through the temporary German defense line again."

Hearing what Starikov said, the chief of staff couldn't refute it, so he could only change the topic to other things: "By the way, Comrade Commander, didn't the Front Command order us to draw another infantry division and a tank?" brigade, to strengthen the attacking force in order to completely cut off the retreat of the German army to the Donbass. Do you think we are mobilizing troops in the rain?"

"Don't worry, my Comrade Chief of Staff." Starikov said optimistically: "This heavy rain not only affects us, but also affects the Germans. It is difficult for us to mobilize troops, and they cannot mobilize troops either. I still say the same thing, it’s not too late to take the next step until after the torrential rain stops.”

   Although the Soviet army on the northern front had received an order from Tolbukhin, the three commanders, like Starikov, chose to wait until the rainstorm subsided before mobilizing troops to the designated location. As everyone knows, it was because of their negligence that they gave the Germans a chance to escape.

  The German commander was ecstatic when he learned that the counterattack on the southern front had achieved good results. However, he was worried that this move would attract more siege from the Soviet army. Therefore, after the troops counterattacked and regained the lost positions, he did not order to continue the offensive.

  But after waiting for almost an hour, the Soviet army did not make any movement. Not only did they not launch a new attack on their own troops, but on the contrary, they seemed to turn to defense on the spot.

   Seeing this situation, the German commander immediately issued an order to the troops to attack and advance to Donbass. His order was not questioned by the four division commanders. Everyone knew very well that the Soviet army on the southern front should be digging fortifications in the rain at this moment. When digging fortifications in heavy rain, the fortifications often collapsed due to the erosion of the rain before they were formed. When they chose this time to attack, the Soviet army didn't even have a decent fortification, and they couldn't stop their own attack at all.

   Soon, the battle started again.

  The situation on the battlefield was as expected by the four German division commanders. The Soviet army did not have decent fortifications at all, and they were not yet vigilant enough. Facing the German troops that suddenly appeared in front of him, there was only sporadic resistance. But these resistances were quickly overwhelmed by the flood of German troops.

  The headquarters of the Soviet division commander is no more than 300 meters away from the front. But when he heard gunshots and explosions in the distance covered by the sound of rain, he was stunned for a while before he realized that the German army had launched an attack on his troops.

  In order to find out the scale of attacking the enemy, he specially called a staff officer and told the other party: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you rush to the front immediately and find out what kind of force the enemy is using to attack us."

The staff officer ran out of the temporary headquarters for less than three minutes, and ran in again wet, and said in a panic: "Comrade commander, the enemy's vanguard is only less than a hundred meters away from our headquarters, you should hurry up!" Move it."

   After finishing speaking, the staff officer greeted the two soldiers, supported the division commander from left to right, and dragged him outside without any explanation.

  The division commander left the division headquarters, and the rest of the staff and communications soldiers also packed up their things, preparing to leave this dangerous place quickly. But before they finished cleaning up, there were gunfire and explosions at the door, and the enemy had already hit the door of the headquarters.

  The staff officers and a few guards in the division headquarters fought tenaciously in the face of an enemy more than ten times their size. The battle lasted for five minutes. Except for two seriously wounded soldiers who were captured, the rest of the commanders and fighters all died heroically.

  The division headquarters of the Soviet Army was directly taken away by the German army, which caused the German army to launch an offensive. It was unable to report to the 10th Army Headquarters and the 8th Army Headquarters in time. After the troops lost their unified command, they also fell into chaos. The commanders at all levels didn't know what happened, so they could only direct their subordinates to fight on their own, desperately resisting the German attack.

   It wasn't until the withdrawn division commander came to another headquarters that he reported the news of the enemy's sudden attack to the army headquarters and the group army headquarters.

   When he learned that the German army had actually launched an attack and defeated the troops of one of the divisions, Starikov was so angry that he clapped his hands on the table several times and cursed the damned enemy loudly. Fortunately, he didn't just complain. After firing a fire, he ordered his chief of staff: "Chief of staff, call the infantry division and tank brigade immediately, and rush to the designated place to intercept the German troops going south. They cannot be allowed to flee back to the Donbass."

Since the chief of staff learned that the German army was attacking south, he immediately realized that the enemy wanted to flee back to the Donbass. The two infantry divisions originally used to attack the German army were basically hopeless now. If they wanted to block the enemy, they had to Send troops for reinforcements. But it seems that it is far from enough to dispatch only one infantry division and one tank brigade at the moment, so he suggested to Starikov again: "Comrade commander, under the current circumstances, an infantry division and a tank brigade should It's too little, do you think we should send more troops over there?"

  (end of this chapter)