Chapter 1597

  In the next few days, the 3rd and 6th Armored Divisions sent by Manstein have successively entered the defense zone of Blaskowitz's 1st Army.

  However, the arrival of the new troops did not make Blaskowitz feel at ease, because the speed of the increase of the Soviet army on the opposite side had far exceeded his imagination. After some weighing, he felt that he still needed to ask Manstein for help, otherwise when the Soviet army launched an attack, it would be impossible to resist it with its current strength.

"Your Excellency Marshal," Blaskowitz said straight to the point after receiving Manstein's phone call, "The Russians on the opposite side of us continue to increase their troops. According to reports from the observation post, there are at least five an infantry division."

   "What, five infantry divisions?" Manstein was frightened by Blaskowitz's report: "General Blaskowitz, are you right?"

"There is no mistake," Blaskowitz said in a positive tone: "The observation post has carefully counted the number of Russian trucks and the number of soldiers in each truck, and calculated that the number of reinforcements they have these days should be More than 40,000, based on the calculation of 8,000 people in each division, it is the strength of five divisions."

If it was any other Soviet army, let alone five divisions, even if it was five army groups, Manstein would not only not be worried, but would be ecstatic, because so many Soviet troops concentrated in one position meant that With their own troops have the opportunity to encircle it and fight a great battle of annihilation similar to the Battle of Kyiv.

  But now the Soviet army opposite Blaskowitz's 1st Army is commanded by Sokov, who is a headache for him. Since he dared to concentrate so many troops here, he expressed that he was not afraid of being encircled at all, and even planned to break through the defense line of the 1st Army in one go and advance in depth to his own defense.

   Hearing Manstein's delay in speaking, Blaskowitz said anxiously: "Your Excellency, Marshal, in order to prevent possible Russian attacks, I ask you to send me more reinforcements."

   "Don't you have enough troops?"

"Of course not enough." Blaskowitz said convincingly: "In my hand I had one armored division and two infantry divisions, and their defensive front was seventy kilometers wide. Each division has a defense range of 14 kilometers. If the Russians take advantage of their numbers and attack our defense area, I am afraid my troops will not last long."

  If it was changed to the past, Blaskowitz would never have said such a thing. He felt that even if his troops faced the Soviet army with twice as many people as him, they would still be sure of winning. But through the attack of more than half a month, the performance of Sokov's troops taught him how to re-evaluate the combat effectiveness of the Soviet army. He found that when confronting the Soviet army on the opposite side, not to mention the number of people at a disadvantage, even if the number is equal, it is basically impossible for his own troops to win. The history of one division beating the Soviet army and one group army has long been gone no more.

   "Then how many troops do you need to hold the current line of defense?" Manstein asked.

   "Unless the 82nd and 90th armies stationed in France are transferred, we can block the possible Russian attack on the Dnieper River."

"General Blaskowitz," Manstein said sternly after listening to the other party, "the head of state will never agree to transfer the 82nd and 90th armies out of France. You can only rely on your existing strength. to counter the Russian attack."

"I'm sorry, Marshal, I can't do it." Blaskowitz investigated Sokov through various channels during this time, and found that the other party was a ruthless master, and the troops he was fighting against None of them ever won. Even the most elite Imperial Division and Skeleton Division have been wiped out by his troops, and even the Banner Guard Division has suffered huge losses. Now seeing the large-scale increase of troops in the opponent's defense zone, he felt even more uneasy, so he said firmly: "If you disagree with my proposal, I can only report my opinion directly to the head of state and ask him to make a decision." fair decision."

  In the later period of the Battle of Kursk, although the Soviet army continued to counterattack, as long as Manstein put his reserve team into the battle, he could rewrite the result of the battle. But unexpectedly, the British and American troops landed in Sicily, Italy, and the head of state did not hesitate to transfer all the reserve teams that could determine the outcome of the battle to Europe. Because of this incident, Manstein always had a thorn in his heart.

Hearing that Blaskowitz said he wanted to contact the Führer at this moment, he couldn't help but frown. According to his experience, if he reported it to Berlin at this time, maybe the Führer would do something wrong and go directly over himself to command the troops below. . In order to avoid the failure of the battle due to the blind command of the head of state, he decided to compromise with Blaskowitz: "General Blaskowitz, although I have no right to mobilize the troops stationed in France, I can send you another Go to two infantry divisions to strengthen your existing strength."

   Blaskowitz was not excited after hearing this, but asked calmly, "Your Excellency, Marshal, I wonder which two infantry divisions you plan to send to strengthen us?"

"The 320th and 282nd divisions," Manstein thought for a while, and decided to transfer the two divisions closest to the 1st Army. It is the only force I can use, if you are not satisfied, there is nothing I can do."

Blaskowitz thought to himself: To set up a line of defense on the Dnieper River, which is hundreds of kilometers long, Manstein's troops are already tight, and it is probably his limit to transfer four divisions to himself. , and said smoothly: "Okay, Your Excellency Marshal, when will these troops reach my defense zone?"

"I'm afraid it will take two to three days at the earliest," although Manstein has promised to hand over the troops to Blaskowitz, but the strength of the two divisions is too scattered, and they need to be assembled first before being sent to the In this way, the defense zone of the 1st Army will inevitably take a lot of time: "General Blaskowitz, before they arrive, I hope you can build good fortifications and establish a complete defense system so that the Russians cannot easily attack them." break through your defenses."

"Don't worry, Marshal." Blaskowitz replied: "My troops are laying barbed wire, anti-tank barriers, and minefields in front of the position. As soon as we finish these tasks, the Russians want to break through." Our defense, that's not going to be easy."

  Because Sokov had dispatched a large number of reconnaissance teams in the German defense zone in advance, any movement of the German army could not escape the eyes of the scouts.

After seeing the report sent by the Chief of Reconnaissance, Sokov smiled and said to Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it seems that our plan has succeeded. The enemy south of the landing site is increasing their troops on a large scale. They must think that we A breakthrough will be made in that direction."

"Yes, Comrade Commander." After reading the report, Sameko said with the same relief: "I really didn't expect that the fake moves we made really deceived the enemy, and even let them attack in the direction of our feint. A massive increase in troops."

Although the enemy has fallen into his own trap, Sokov did not feel complacent about it, but stared at the map and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the Germans know that the enemy they are facing is us, so they are so serious about it." To increase troops. If other friendly forces are replaced, the Germans will not increase troops to the front, but will only strengthen their wings..."

   "Why is this, Comrade Commander?" Sokov puzzled Sameko.

"The reason is very simple," Sokov said slowly, "if they are confronted with friendly troops instead of ours. The Germans increased their troops on the flanks in order to detour to the rear of the friendly troops after the attack began and complete Encircle them. But now that they are facing us, the German commander has to adjust his strategy and strengthen the frontal defense, lest our army easily break through their defense line."

"The Germans may never have imagined that our attack direction is not in the south at all, but in the northwest of the landing field, which is the focus of our attack." Sokov thought of a key question after saying this: "The staff Comrade Chang, although the Germans have fallen into our trap and sent additional troops to the south of the landing field, if their scouts are lurking in our defense zone, then our plan may fail."

"Comrade commander, you can rest assured about this." Sameko said to Sokov: "Once the German scouts enter our defense zone, the deception we have implemented may be seen through by the Germans." .So I organized a lot of patrols to patrol the defense zone non-stop, just to prevent the Germans from infiltrating."

Sokov recognized Sameko's ability to handle affairs very much. Hearing what the other party said, he nodded slightly and continued: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you must not take it lightly. You know, our actions involve There are as many as tens of thousands of people. If the secrecy discipline is not strictly enforced, then there is a possibility that the Germans will see through. Once they are seen through, not only will they send more troops to the area where we are about to attack, but at the same time they will gather troops in the south of the landing field, It will also launch an attack on our army's defense line in the landing field, thus completely disrupting our plan."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander, I assure you that the German scouts will never be aware of the truth of our actions." Having said that, Sameko glanced at the place where Managarov was originally sitting, with lingering fear in his heart Said: "Fortunately, the 53rd Army Command is now separated from us. Otherwise, more people will be involved in this plan. If you want to keep it secret, the degree of difficulty will increase exponentially."

  In order to ensure that the attack on the right bank landing field can be carried out smoothly, Konev made a decision not long ago to do his best to ensure the supply of weapons, ammunition and various military supplies for Sokov's troops. As a result, the 53rd Army received very little supplies, and could no longer participate in this offensive operation. It could only be responsible for the defense of the left bank, so as to avoid the frontal attack of Sokov's troops from being taken by the German army.

  As the 53rd Army withdrew from offensive combat, the army was no longer under Sokov's command, so the headquarters was moved to other places so that Managarov could better command his troops.

Regarding the departure of Managarov and others, Sokov did not feel lost in his heart at all. Regardless of the fact that this unit was under his command some time ago, for various reasons, he did not want to hand over those important combat tasks to Let the unit complete it, so as not to make any mistakes, and need his own unit to clean up the mess, which will affect the overall plan. Their departure is undoubtedly a relief for him.

  Sokov's thoughts were seen by Sameko. He saw that there were no outsiders around him, and asked in a low voice: "Comrade commander, have you been expecting the other party to leave?"

"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, I really think so in my heart." Sameko is one of his own, and Sokov has no need to hide his true thoughts from him: "General Managarov has always been very polite to me. , and his chief of staff is always arguing with me, even if I want to assign them some tasks, I am worried that the other party will obey them, which will eventually lead to the failure of the task. Now after they leave, I feel a sense of relaxation in my heart. "

   "Comrade Commander, I have been thinking about a question." Sameko said: "Without the cooperation of friendly forces, how far can we go?"

"Chief of staff, your question is meaningless." Sokov said without hesitation: "If you said this a week ago, I would still be worried that our group army would be attacked by the German army in the rear after launching an offensive. But with the liberation of Poltava, the main force of the front army is advancing towards the Dnieper River, and it is already impossible for the enemy to cut off our retreat. Otherwise, Commander Konev would not have put the 53rd Army and We split because even without the 53rd Army, there would be other units covering our flanks and rear so that we could attack the enemy with confidence."

   "Then when do you plan to attack the enemy?"

Sokov looked down at the map in front of him, and said thoughtfully: "The order from our superiors is to launch an attack on the German army no later than September 30. But judging from the current preparations, we can completely take the The attack time is advanced."

  Sameko was not surprised by Sokov's statement. During this period of time, the logistics department of the front army was at full capacity to provide various ammunition and supplies for its own troops. The materials hoarded on the right bank can fully support the consumption of the troops for half a month.

  In this case, it is very necessary to attack the enemy in advance. So Sameko asked again: "Comrade Commander, when do you plan to launch an offensive?"

   "I think the time can be set on September 28, which means the day after tomorrow."

   "The day after tomorrow?" After hearing the date, Sameko thought about it carefully and thought it was more appropriate. He nodded and said, "I agree. Do I need to report to the Front Army Command?"

   "No hurry, no hurry," Sokov said, waving his hands. "We still have to hurry up and check the preparations of the troops. If they are not fully prepared and launch an attack hastily, I am afraid they will suffer unnecessary losses."

   "Okay then." Sameko nodded and said, "I'll check with the two division commanders later, and if they complete the preparations, it won't be too late for me to report to the Front Army Command."

   "Let's report tomorrow night." Sokov said after thinking for a moment: "I believe that the two division commanders Fomenko and Keda should be ready for battle by then."

  (end of this chapter)