Chapter 1859

  Melekhov originally thought that the blocking this time was a very easy task, but what happened next made him realize that his judgment had seriously deviated. Although the city of Uman has been liberated, there are still German defensive positions to the north and west of Uman.

  The newly assembled 130th Infantry Division, under the leadership of Colonel Surotenko, the division commander, is heading northwest of Uman, intending to build a blocking position there to prevent the enemy defeated by friendly forces from passing there.

   Unexpectedly, the location they chose to build their position was less than two kilometers away from a German position. As soon as the work started here, the enemies in the distance were immediately alarmed.

  After receiving the news, the German Lieutenant Colonel immediately came to the observation post, raised his binoculars and looked into the distance. After watching for a while, he asked his adjutant: "Adjutant, what are the Russians trying to do by digging trenches so close to our position?"

   "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel," the adjutant said, "According to the information we have obtained, the Russians have already occupied Uman City. I think they dug trenches there, and they may want to clear the outer fortifications."

  The German lieutenant colonel sneered twice after hearing this, and said: "I will never satisfy the Russians. Adjutant, immediately notify the artillery to carry out saturated shelling on the area where the Russians are building fortifications."

   "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel," the adjutant heard the lieutenant colonel's order, and hurriedly persuaded him, "I don't think you can just fire casually."

"why?"

"Now that the Russians have occupied Uman, they must have deployed a lot of artillery in the city." The adjutant reminded the lieutenant colonel: "If we fire at their soldiers who are building fortifications at this moment, I am afraid that their artillery will retaliate. If our artillery is lost, the next battle will be difficult."

Hearing what the adjutant said, the lieutenant colonel pondered for a long time, and finally nodded and said: "Adjutant, you are right. Judging from the current situation, the Russians should not have discovered our fortifications, so they dared to do this at a distance from us." Fortifications were erected with impunity in the immediate vicinity. However, the artillerymen should still be ready to shell, and if they found that the Russians were attempting to attack, they should immediately fire at them."

   As soon as the lieutenant colonel finished speaking, a corporal hurried over and reported to him: "Mr. lieutenant colonel, there is your phone number in the headquarters, and it is from the division commander."

  The lieutenant colonel said to the adjutant: "You go and get the artillery ready to fire." After finishing speaking, he followed the corporal back to his headquarters to answer the phone.

The call was made by his superior, and the general on the other end of the phone said in a flustered tone: "Lieutenant Colonel, the line of defense on your right wing has been destroyed under the powerful offensive of the Russians. The troops there are orderly Retreat in your direction, the task of your regiment is to ensure the safety of the transfer route."

   Regardless of the general saying that the defeated troops are retreating in an orderly manner, the lieutenant colonel knows very well that the friendly troops on the right wing have been defeated by the Russians and are retreating towards their defense zone.

  At this moment, he connected the Soviet troops who were building fortifications in the distance, and couldn't help but gritted his teeth and said, "No wonder they want to build fortifications near our defense zone. That's what happened."

  The general on the other end of the phone heard the lieutenant colonel talking to himself, and hurriedly asked: "Lieutenant colonel, what are you talking about?"

"Your Excellency, the situation is like this." The lieutenant colonel felt obliged to report everything he saw to the commander truthfully, "There is a group of Russians building fortifications less than two kilometers away from our defense line. I thought they were going to use it as a starting point to attack our regiment's defensive position. But now it seems that their real purpose is to build a blocking position to prevent the friendly forces retreating from the right flank."

"You're right, Lieutenant Colonel." The German division commander saw Sokov's intention in such an arrangement, and quickly ordered: "Before the Russians just started to repair the fortifications and there is no shelter around them, immediately fire at them and use Intensive artillery fire to destroy them. Make sure that the troops withdrawn from your right flank can pass through the area smoothly."

  After the German lieutenant colonel put down the phone, he immediately found his adjutant and asked him, "Is the artillery ready?"

   "Preparations are underway, Mr. Lieutenant Colonel." The adjutant replied, "Fortunately, you are not in a hurry to fire. We can take our time."

"Now the situation has changed, and we must fire as soon as possible." The lieutenant colonel said to his adjutant: "Your Excellency called, saying that our friendly forces on the right wing have been defeated by the Russians and are fleeing in our direction. Those repairs just now It is very likely that the Russians who are working on the fortifications are establishing blocking positions to prevent our friendly forces from retreating smoothly."

  The adjutant originally thought that since he was not in a hurry to fire at the Russians, he could prepare for the shelling slowly. But now that things have changed so much, he couldn't help being a little flustered, and quickly replied: "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, I will contact the artillery immediately and ask them to fire at the area where the Russians are."

   Not long after, six 105mm howitzers on the German position fired. In just ten minutes, hundreds of shells were fired at the Soviet army who were building fortifications, and the entire position was ablaze and mud splashed.

  Surodenko never dreamed that his troops would be suddenly bombarded by the German army. A battalion that was busy was swallowed up by artillery fire in an instant. And his headquarters was also bombarded by shells because it was relatively close to the front. If the chief of staff had let the soldiers drag him away, he might have been blown to pieces just like the wooden house.

When he ran to a safe place, Surodenko quickly ordered the telegraph operator who escaped with him: "Radio operator, send a telegram to the army headquarters, saying that our division was suddenly bombarded by the German army during the construction of fortifications." , and now the troops have suffered heavy casualties."

   Melekhov, who received the telegram, couldn't help being taken aback. The troops responsible for the blocking mission were actually shelled by the German army during the construction of the fortifications. He felt that this matter was very important, so he took the initiative to call Sokov to report to him what happened here.

   "What, the 130th Division was heavily shelled by the German army during the construction of fortifications?" Sokov didn't expect that the city was liberated, and there would be such a powerful enemy outside the city to shell his troops.

"Colonel Burgos," knowing that the 130th Division was hit by German artillery fire, Sokov's first reaction was to send a tank brigade to reinforce and destroy the **** German artillery position in one fell swoop: "Colonel Burgos, you Where?"

   Sokov yelled a few times, but he didn't hear anyone agreeing to him, so he couldn't help feeling a little annoyed. Fortunately, Smirnov, who was next to him, reminded him in time: "Comrade commander, didn't you send Colonel Burgos to mobilize the armored troops and sleep the 18th Guards Army to move westward? Have you forgotten?"

  After Smirnov’s reminder, Sokov suddenly remembered that he had indeed sent Colonel Burgos to mobilize the tank brigade and go west with Afunin’s troops to capture Hessing and Teplik.

  The tank troops can't count on it, so they can only pin their hopes on the artillery: "General Tsarev!"

   Tsarev, who had already become a little transparent, immediately appeared in front of Sokov when he heard Sokov calling his name, and asked respectfully, "Comrade Commander, what instructions do you have?"

Although Tsarev already knew what happened, Sokov repeated to him: "General Tsarev, when the 130th Infantry Division was building a blocking position in the northwest of Uman City, it was hit by powerful German artillery fire. I want to ask, can you counter the German artillery with artillery fire?"

  Tsarev waited for Sokov to finish speaking, hesitated for a moment, and said: "Comrade Commander, my artillery unit is still in the south of Uman City, and it is temporarily unable to counter the enemy's artillery."

  Since the artillery played little role in the early battle, Sokov didn't care where this unit was. But at this moment the only way to save the 130th Division from German artillery fire was to use artillery. Taking chances, he asked, "How long will it take for the artillery to go into battle?"

  Tsarev was silent again for a moment, and then replied: "Comrade Commander, I think it will take forty minutes at the fastest before our artillery can go into battle."

"No, forty minutes is too long." Sokov shook his head and said hysterically, "When you deploy the artillery positions, our people will be almost dead. At that time, the enemy's artillery will also stop. Without shooting, you have no way of locking on to their positions."

"Comrade Sokov, calm down, calm down." Shtemenko rarely saw Sokov lose his composure, and quickly said to him: "Don't forget that you are the commander of the group army. Calm down. Got it?"

  Stemenko's words made Sokov gradually calm down, and his mind began to think quickly, what method should be used to rescue the 130th Division from the current predicament. A flash of inspiration suddenly flashed in his mind: the artillery is too late, isn't there still an air force? At the beginning, General Ryazanov was asked to modify a batch of transport planes, and now they can just come in handy.

   "Comrade Director of Communications Corps, immediately connect me to General Ryazanov of the Air Force."

Smirnov, who had given up hope of rescuing the 130th Division, couldn't help his eyes lit up when he heard Sokov instructing the director of communications to contact General Ryazanov of the Air Force. He tentatively asked Sokov : "Comrade commander, are you planning to use those aerial fortresses to attack the enemy on the ground?"

"That's right, that's what I think." Sokov nodded and said, "The batch of transport planes rebuilt by the Air Force are specially used for ground attacks. As long as they can get to the battlefield as soon as possible, they can completely destroy the enemy." Artillery positions to rescue the 130th Division."

   "Comrade Commander," the director of the Communication Corps reported to Sokov in a low voice: "The call with the Air Force has been connected."

   Sokov stepped forward to take the receiver, thanked the director of the communications corps, put the receiver to his ear and said, "General Ryazanov? I'm Sokov."

   "Hello, General Sokov." When Ryazanov heard that Sokov was looking for him, he roughly guessed his intention: "Do you need air support from our air force?"

"Yes, the 130th Infantry Division in the northwest of Uman City has been heavily bombarded by the German army at this moment." Sokov explained to the other party: "Because the artillery and armored forces are temporarily unable to provide assistance to them, so I can only I've come to you for help."

"No problem," Ryazanov replied very readily when he learned that Sokov's troops had been attacked in the northwest of Uman, "I will immediately send four aerial fortresses to the fighting area to support." He raised his hand and looked Glancing at the time, "Our plane will reach the sky above the target in ten minutes at the latest."

   "Great, this is really great." Sokov said with relief: "General Ryazanov, on behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the 130th Infantry Division, thank you!"

  While Sokov was busy trying to find a way to relieve the 130th Division, the situation on the battlefield changed again. The German army took advantage of the opportunity that the Soviet commanders and fighters were suppressed by the artillery fire and sent two companies of troops to move quietly towards the shelling area, preparing to attack the Soviet army as soon as the shelling was over. The heavy damage has not yet recovered from the shelling God's Soviet commander.

Taking advantage of the enemy being shelled and unable to conduct effective observation, he quietly sent troops close to the opponent's position. This was originally created by Sokov, but those German commanders who had suffered a lot knew how to learn such tactics. It came in handy.

   It has to be said that the level of German artillery is also very high. Usually, when a 105 mm caliber artillery is fired, the error of the impact point is usually two to three hundred meters. In other words, the German army sneaking up to the 130th Division may have been accidentally injured by their own people three hundred meters away.

The sneak attacking German officers and soldiers stopped when they came to the edge of the bombardment area. The shooters with six MG42 general-purpose machine guns found a suitable position to set up a shooting position, pointed their guns at the Soviet commanders who were being bombed, and waited for the artillery fire As soon as they stopped, suppress them with machine gun fire.

   As soon as the six machine gun positions were built, the artillery shelling stopped abruptly.

  As soon as the shelling stopped, before the smoke cleared, the German officers and soldiers hiding around rushed up with weapons. And the six machine guns also roared, firing towards the smoky area.

On the Soviet positions, after the shelling ended with great difficulty, everyone just crawled out of their hiding places, and before they could stand upright, there was the sound of intensive machine gun shooting outside the smoke, and then some commanders and fighters who had just stood up, They were hit by bullets from outside the smoke, and fell in pieces like cut wheat grains in a pool of blood.

  A Soviet captain saw a shaking figure in the smoke, so he shouted loudly to the left and right, but found that he could not hear a sound at all. It turned out that the shelling not long ago had deafened his ears. He grabbed the whistle hanging around his neck and blew it desperately, trying to attract the attention of the surrounding soldiers through this sound.

   Regrettably, his attempt still ended in failure, because not only his ears were deafened by the shock, but the commanders and fighters around him also encountered the same problem. In desperation, he could only bend down to pick up a Mosin Nagant rifle on the ground, and shoot at the figure shaking in the smoke, preventing the German officers and soldiers from approaching him.

  The soldiers around saw his actions, and imitated his appearance one after another. They stood up straight, raised their weapons, pointed directly at the figure in the gunpowder smoke, and pulled the trigger.

  (end of this chapter)