Chapter 575 Continue to go north

   Although Cuikov took a positive and cooperative attitude towards the counterattack deployed by the base camp, he was always skeptical about the effect of the counterattack. After the counter-offensive began, the progress of each unit was very difficult. Due to the lack of air support and sufficient artillery cover, the counter-offensive troops only penetrated into the enemy's depth of one or two kilometers.

Just as he was discussing with Krylov whether to ask his superiors to terminate the counterattack, the director of the communications corps walked up to him, handed him a telegram, and said at the same time: "Comrade commander, this is Soko According to a telegram from Lieutenant Colonel Husband, they have successfully broken through the first German line of defense and are advancing towards the second line of defense."

"Oh, Sokov's troops have broken through the German defense line?" Chuikov listened to the report of the director of communications, with a surprised expression on his face, he turned his head and said to Krylov: "Chief of Staff, this Soko Husband is really not easy. Guriyev commanded the troops to fight for half a day, but failed to break through the German defenses, but as soon as he stepped out, he easily completed this task."

"Well, it's not simple." Krylov agreed with Chuikov's statement, but he also had a question: "But I don't understand, Guriyev is also an experienced conductor." Why did he pay such a high price and still be unable to break through the defense. As soon as Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops came out, they easily broke through the German defense? It's really confusing."

After hearing what Krylov said, Chuikov immediately ordered the director of the communications corps: "Comrade director, send a telegram to Lieutenant Colonel Sokov and order him to report the details of the battle. We need to find out why General Guriyev is late. It is impossible to break through the position, but his troops can reach the goal so easily."

  After five or six minutes, the director of the communications corps returned to Sokov again and handed him the telegram he had just received: "Comrade Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's call back has arrived."

After quickly scanning the above content, Chuikov raised his head and said to Krylov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov said in the telegram that the attacks launched by General Guriyev's Guards Division have been repeatedly frustrated. It was because the troops were intercepted by long-range artillery fire and bombed by enemy planes on the way to attack the German positions. When they launched the attack, the enemy planes had already left the battlefield due to insufficient ammunition and fuel; Adopting a rapid assault formation, before the enemy intercepted the artillery fire, it rushed to the front of the German position, completely disrupting the enemy's defensive deployment."

After figuring out the whole battle, Krylov nodded and said: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov is still very good at fighting. But if they want to reach Orlovka, they need to continue to break through the German army's barriers." Three lines of defense, I don’t know if they have the ability to complete this task.”

"Our army's counterattack this time was launched too hastily. Due to insufficient preparation, the troops were not successful in the attack." Cuikov said with a fluke mentality: "Even if other troops cannot achieve the combat goal, as long as Soko It is a great victory for us that Lieutenant-Colonel's troops can reach Orlovka."

"But their strength is too small. I worry that Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's strength will be exhausted before reaching Orlovka." Krylov reminded Chuikov: "Last time Rokosovs A tank brigade of General Ki broke through the direction of the German army and tried to rush to Orlovka to join our army. As a result, the brigade was completely wiped out by the enemy during the march."

   "Chief of Staff," Chuikov pointed at Krylov and asked tentatively, "Do we still have a reserve team?"

"No more, Comrade Commander." Krylov shook his head and said, "We don't even have a battalion-level reserve team in our hands. In order to prevent the enemy from attacking the headquarters, we have even organized staff and logistics personnel Get up so they can better cover Army Command."

"Since there are staff officers and logistics personnel to protect the safety of the headquarters, let's send our guard battalion out." Sokov thought for a moment, and said to Krylov: "If Sokov can get extremely A big victory may make tomorrow's battle more favorable to us."

   Krylov was quite reluctant when he heard that Chuikov planned to transfer the guard battalion to support Sokov. But hearing Sokov's offensive status can affect the current situation of the battle. So after hesitating for a moment, he nodded and agreed: "Okay, Comrade Commander, I will send the guard battalion over as soon as possible."

  The original guard battalion of the headquarters was almost lost in the early battle. The existing guard battalion crossed the river with the counter-offensive force and entered the factory area. The battalion commander is Major Tenev. He is a commander with rich combat experience. He has participated in many large-scale battles. And received two medals.

Krylov hurriedly sent someone to call Major Tenev, pointed to the map and said to him: "Comrade Major, you immediately lead the guard battalion, pass through the Red October factory area, and go northwest to meet Sokov. The 73rd Infantry Brigade under the command of the Lieutenant Colonel joined together and moved forward together in the direction of Orlovka."

"Comrade Chief of Staff." Tenev will naturally carry out the orders issued by his superiors, but he considers that among the troops of the Security Command, only his own guard battalion is organized. If they all leave, the security work here will be difficult. It can only be done by staff officers and logistics personnel who are not strong in combat effectiveness, so he asked worriedly: "We have all left, who will be responsible for the security work here at the headquarters?"

"Comrade Major," Chuikov immediately said lightly when he heard Tenev's question, "as long as you can make progress, the enemy will not be able to mobilize troops to attack us. Even if a few stragglers come here, our staff and A temporary guard force composed of logistics personnel is also enough to wipe them out completely."

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Chuikov had considered all the things that should be considered, Tenev hurriedly stood up and asked, "Do I need to leave? I plan to gather the guard battalion as soon as possible and rush to meet Sokov. The lieutenant colonel's troops converge."

   "Go, Comrade Major." Chuikov nodded at the other party and said, "We will provide you with a dozen trucks, so that you can catch up with Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops as soon as possible."

  ...

Sokov, who was sitting in the armored car, pointed to the map on his knees and said to Yakov: "The second line of defense of the German army has only a few small fortifications, don't see that they are all made of reinforced concrete. Yes, but there are not many troops stored inside, and their defense direction is all facing west."

   "Facing west?" Yakov couldn't help interjecting when he heard this, "Misha, so we built these fortifications?"

"That's right." Sokov nodded, and replied truthfully: "Our army used it to deal with the Germans. Who knew that the Germans came too fast, and these fortifications had to be abandoned before they had time to play a role." But even if the Germans occupy here, they will not pose a great threat to us, after all, the defensive direction of these fortifications is facing west, and we should be able to easily break through the German defenses if we attack from south to north."

   Hearing Sokov's relaxed tone, Yakov couldn't help showing a pleasant expression on his face: "Misha, so we can reach Orlovka before dark."

"Yakov, I haven't finished my words yet." Seeing Yakov's optimism, Sokov said with a wry smile: "The third line of defense is specially modified and reinforced by the German army to deal with our army's counterattack. We have a solid and complete defense system, and we can get artillery and air support at any time. If we want to break through this line of defense, we will definitely pay a huge price."

   "Misha." Yakov asked in surprise when he heard this: "How do you know this? Did you send someone to conduct reconnaissance beforehand?"

"During the counterattack in early September, I was ordered to go north to Orlovka to meet the friendly forces rushing in from outside the encirclement. As a result, I waited for a day before knowing that the friendly forces had been attacked during the march after breaking through the German defenses. The siege, and the entire army was wiped out, so that we had to give up Orlovka and retreat." Sokov couldn't help but sighed: "Maybe we will face the same situation this time."

  Yakov automatically filtered out Sokov's last sentence, and instead considered how to break through the German third line of defense. After staring at the map for a while, he asked back, "Misha, since the German third line of defense is so well-defended, how do you plan to break through?"

   "Fake attack from the front, turn around from the flanks." Sokov pointed on the map with his hand: "I ordered the troops to carry out a feint attack from the front, and Colonel Bely's tank battalion turned around from the two wings to achieve the goal of seizing the position."

"Send infantry to carry out a frontal feint attack?" Regarding Sokov's statement, Yakov put forward a different view: "If they don't have tank cover, I'm afraid they will suffer heavy losses. At that time, we will barely break through the German defense. , and there is no extra strength to continue northward.”

"Yakov, have you forgotten the new rockets?" Sokov waited for Yakov to finish speaking, smiled lightly, and added: "When conducting a feint attack from the front, I will order the infantry to attack the enemy's position with rockets. To give the enemy the illusion that we will use a strong attack to break through their defenses. But in fact, our main assault force is the tank battalion commanded by Colonel Bely. They will detour from the two wings to the enemy's From behind, give the enemy a hard blow and completely smash their third line of defense."

"It's a pity, it's a pity!" Yakov thought that Sokov had ordered the troops operating behind the enemy to withdraw to Mamayev Post. Otherwise, at this time, they could harass the enemy and create a favorable situation for him to break through the enemy's defense line. Fighter: "If your small army behind the enemy lines hadn't withdrawn, maybe they could still be useful."

"It's impossible not to retreat, Yakov." Sokov sighed and said, "The rockets they carry have all been used up. If they don't retreat, they are very likely to be surrounded by the enemy and be attacked by the entire army." The fate of destruction."

  Sokov just said this, and suddenly thought that although he had given the retreat order to Grisa, it was still unknown whether they would withdraw now. If they were still operating behind the enemy lines, they might be able to help him. Thinking of this, he quickly ordered the operator: "Send a report to Mamayev Post and ask whether the troops operating behind the enemy have returned smoothly?"

   The radio operator agreed, and immediately sent a report to the brigade headquarters on Mamayev Gang, asking about the whereabouts of the Griza team. After receiving the telegram, Sidolin said to Vitkov and Belkin: "The deputy brigade commander, the political commissar, the brigade commander sent a telegram to ask whether Grisa's troops have returned to Mamayev post. How should we reply? ?”

   "We have lost contact with Lieutenant Grisa since yesterday," Witkov said with a frown, "I don't know if there is a problem with their radio station, or they were completely wiped out in the enemy's siege."

"It is unlikely that there will be a problem with the radio station. The unit operating behind enemy lines is formed by merging several sub-units." Belgin said, "Each of these sub-units has a radio station that communicates with us. , even if one of them has a problem, the remaining stations can still contact us. If there is no audio at all, I think it may be the worst possible possibility.”

   "Comrade Commissar," Sidolin asked tentatively, "What do you mean, the troops led by Lieutenant Grisa have been wiped out behind the enemy lines?"

"It's entirely possible." Witkov took over the topic: "Comrade Brigadier asked the small troops in the enemy's rear at this time, maybe he wanted to get their cooperation. I think we should tell him the truth so that he can base his specific circumstances to designate a practical and feasible combat plan.”

  After the three reached an agreement, they sent a telegram back to Sokov, reporting the loss of contact with Grisa's unit to Sokov in detail. Seeing this telegram, Sokov's heart sank a bit. Without the cooperation of the squad, even if he adopted a frontal feint attack and sideways detour tactics, the casualties of the troops would definitely not be small. Will there be enough troops to continue northward by then? It is a very serious problem.

Just when Sokov felt that he was at the end of his rope, the radio operator suddenly reported pleasantly: "Comrade Brigadier, I just received a telegram from the headquarters of the Army Group, which said that in order to ensure that we have enough troops to go north, the commander sent the headquarters The guard battalion, come to cooperate with us in fighting."

   "The guard battalion of the headquarters?" This news surprised Sokov, and he thought to himself: "In this way, isn't the headquarters playing an empty city plan?"

"I have seen that General Chuikov sent out the guard battalion." Yakov said in surprise: "Then who will defend the headquarters? The commander, political commissar and chief of staff cannot be allowed to fight the enemy with pistols." ?”

"Yakov, don't worry, I think the commander made such a decision, it must have been carefully considered." Sukov quickly figured out the key point: "If our progress here is smooth, the enemy will not be able to attack at all." Unable to mobilize enough troops, launch an attack in the direction where the headquarters is located. Even if there are a few stragglers, the commander will have a way to deal with them. We strive to take down the second line of defense of the German army in the shortest possible time, and wait for the guard battalion to arrive. Later, attack the third line of defense."

  (end of this chapter)