Chapter 817 Considerations

  The sudden counterattack of the Soviet army caught the German army in the factory area by surprise. Originally, the enemy fell into chaos because the tanks and assault guns were blown up. Now, seeing the tide of Soviet troops coming from all directions, how can the remaining officers and soldiers organize a decent defense? After they crackled and fired a burst of guns , took advantage of the cover of twilight and retreated outside the factory area.

  The retreating German soldiers retreated to the river and found that the highway bridge on the river had been blown up, leaving only a simple pontoon bridge built with gasoline barrels. In order to escape as soon as possible, they scrambled to squeeze onto the bridge. Because the bridge deck was too narrow and the bridge body was swinging with the current, many German soldiers were unable to stand firmly, and they were squeezed into the water like dumplings. . The officers and soldiers who fell into the water, ignoring the icy cold water, swam to the opposite bank, and fled towards their own positions with hands and feet.

  If Sokov organized this night counterattack, he would definitely prevent the German army from being defeated and use the pontoon bridge on the river to escape. Even if he couldn't blow up all the pontoons on the enemy's retreat route, he would deploy machine gunners and snipers nearby to destroy as many enemies who had lost their organization as possible.

  However, neither Ruoludev nor Sokolov expected that the enemy would retreat so quickly. Before their own troops reached the lost positions, the enemies holding on to these positions had already escaped from the factory area through the pontoon bridge. When the two found out that most of the defeated enemies had successfully withdrawn from the factory area, it was too late to regret.

  The infantry battalion deployed by the German army in the factory area had more than 700 people when it was full. After being counterattacked by the Soviet army, more than 200 people successfully retreated to the starting position during the day. Among the four or five hundred people who were wiped out, more than one hundred and fifty people were the result of the combat team of Alitai.

  Chuikov was overjoyed when he learned that the troops of Zholudev and Sokolov had successfully recovered the lost positions in the factory area. But when he asked about the results of the battle, he couldn't help but fell silent again. Such a record really made him feel ashamed. Thousands of people were used to participate in the counterattack to achieve such a result.

Seeing Chuikov's dejected expression, Krylov comforted him and said: "Comrade Commander, although the number of enemies annihilated tonight is limited, we have regained the lost positions after all. In this way, it is finally beneficial to the superiors." an explanation."

   Chuikov agreed with Krylov's statement. What the superiors are concerned about now is the size of the area controlled by their troops in the city, and how many enemies to annihilate is placed in the second place. After being silent for a while, he said to Krylov: "Chief of Staff, call the two division commanders. The German army may attack the factory again after dawn. Let them hurry up to repair the fortifications and strengthen the defense line. Leave the ground to the enemy, and let them wait to be court-martialed."

   "What about the regiment of the 41st Guards Division?" Krylov asked Chuikov for instructions: "General Rudev's troops are insufficient, should they be kept?"

Chuikov thought for a while, then shook his head and said: "No, I borrowed this regiment from Sokov. If it is not returned to the establishment, it may affect his next combat deployment, so let them go back. The road bridge has been blown up, and the German tanks and assault guns cannot cross the river into the factory area in a short period of time, and Zoludev's troops can completely stop them if they rely solely on infantry to attack."

   "Okay, since that's the case, I'll notify them immediately." Krylov sighed, and said, "As for General Zoludev, I'll explain it to him, I believe he will understand."

  ...

  The counterattack in the Dzerzhinsky factory, if not for the participation of the Belkin Regiment, Sokov would not have paid attention at all, after all, it was too far away from his defense zone. After he saw the final battle report, he couldn't help being stunned. He thought he had misread it, so he checked it letter by letter again.

Sidolin sitting next to him said with a wry smile: "Comrade commander, don't look at it. Our counterattack with two divisions and one regiment only wiped out more than 400 to less than 500 German soldiers. One-third of them , or the results achieved by the combat team commanded by Lieutenant Ali Tai."

"Comrade Commander, I don't understand." Ivanov took the telegram in Sokov's hand, read it briefly, and asked with a frown: "Although the troops standing at the Dzerzhinsky factory have passed During this period of battle, the reduction of personnel was very serious. But in any case, with the Belkin Regiment, there must be five or six thousand people. It should be no problem to solve a German infantry battalion that has fallen into chaos, right? But the last It turned out to be surprising, what happened?"

"Needless to say, it is naturally a matter of tactics." Sidolin inferred the general situation at that time from the content of the battle report, and explained to Ivanov: "General Zoludev and Sokolo The two colonels, both of whom are used to fighting regular battles, only considered how to break through the enemy's defense from the front, but ignored the tactics of sending troops to detour from the two wings to encircle the enemy. As a result, the German army only had to leave a small army Defensively delay our army's attack speed to achieve the purpose of covering the retreat of other officers and soldiers."

"The chief of staff is right. The reason why this counterattack wiped out not many enemies is because the two division commanders did not send troops to cut off the German army's retreat." Sukov picked up a pen and paper and drew a sketch, and told Yi Vannov explained: "Comrade deputy division commander, you can see from the map that after being attacked by our army, the enemy will definitely choose to retreat to the west. As long as the two division commanders send even one platoon of troops to Hold the floating bridge over the river, and the number of enemies that can escape will be greatly reduced."

   Ivanov stared at the picture for a while, then raised his head and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, although the number of enemies wiped out in this counterattack is a little less, we have regained all the lost positions after all."

After listening to Ivanov's words, Sokov smiled wryly and shook his head, and said, "Comrade Deputy Commander, I disagree with your point of view. If you want to crush the enemy's attack on the city, you must find a way to consume his vital strength. In the battle to regain the lost ground tonight, what we are fighting is not a war of annihilation, but a battle of defeat, and the enemy's vital strength has been preserved. When the day breaks, these defeated enemies will make a comeback and launch a new attack on the factory."

"Come and come, what's so scary." Unexpectedly, Ivanov said disapprovingly: "Since we can repel their attack once, we can repel their second, third, or even more attacks." attack."

Ivanov’s point of view made Sokov dumbfounded: “Comrade deputy division commander, let me use an analogy to say that a full-staffed division of the German army has 15,000 troops. If we wiped out 5,000 enemies in a war of annihilation Will the combat effectiveness of the enemy army be severely weakened? But if you fight ten consecutive defeat battles and only wipe out 5,000 people from the opponent, the decline in the opponent's combat effectiveness will be very limited."

When Sokov said this, seeing Ivanov open his mouth, as if he was about to refute himself, he quickly raised his hand to stop the other party, and continued: "Although both the annihilation battle and the rout battle annihilated 5,000 German troops, but the former is Annihilation of 5,000 people at one time reduces the enemy's strength by one-third; while the latter is to complete such annihilation in ten times, and the enemy loses one-thirtieth of its troops each time, and they can quickly be replenished from the reserve army. The impact on the combat effectiveness of the troops is negligible... I explain it this way, can you understand?"

After listening to Sokov's in-depth explanation, Ivanov realized that he had fallen into a misunderstanding. If the number of enemies annihilated in each victory is not large, the enemy's vitality will not be damaged, and they will soon be able to launch new ones. attack. Under such circumstances, can the defenders, who have suffered heavy casualties and recruited a large number of recruits, resulting in a decline in the overall combat effectiveness of the troops, still be able to block their attacks? Thinking of this, he asked Sukov respectfully: "Comrade commander, if you command this counterattack, what do you plan to do?"

"I will definitely adopt the tactics of attacking from the front and turning around on both sides." Sokov said lightly: "But first, I will definitely send people to lurk near the pontoon bridge, and when the battle starts, I will immediately blow up the pontoon bridge. Even if it is because of the enemy's defense I will also deploy machine gun positions near the pontoon bridge and block the bridge deck with machine gun fire. In this way, few of the fleeing Germans will be able to escape to the other side of the river."

"Two division commanders!" Seeing that Sokov and Ivanov had been commenting on the counterattack at the Dzerzhinsky factory, Sidolin couldn't help interrupting them: "The team organized by Captain Guchakov The counterattack will start soon, do you think there is anything else that needs to be explained to him?"

After being reminded by Sidolin, Sokov immediately realized that the most important thing in front of him was not to discuss the gains and losses of the Dzerzhinsky factory's counterattack, but if the counterattack organized by Guchakov could win Greater victories. Sokov paused for a moment, pointed at Sidolin, and said, "Chief of Staff, please write down all the precautions I said, and forward it to Guchakov after sorting it out later."

  Sidorin nodded, immediately picked up the pen and paper, and was ready to record. I only heard Sokov say: "After the attack on the 564th kilometer station and the Kotluban station is launched, the surrounding German troops will definitely come to reinforce them. Therefore, before the attack, we must arrange reinforcements. Troops bought precious time..."

   "Comrade Commander," Sidolin stopped the pen in his hand, and carefully reminded Sokov: "The guerrillas have limited combat effectiveness. If they are assigned to block the mission, I am afraid they will not last long."

"This is something that can't be helped. If it's possible, I even want to dispatch a regiment to attack the station directly." After Suokov said these two angry words, he sighed and said helplessly: "But Isn’t our regular army unable to penetrate the enemy’s defense line, so the task of reinforcements can only be completed by the guerrillas themselves.”

   Seeing Sidolin lower his head and record what he said in his notebook, Sokov continued: "The guerrillas are indeed weaker in positional warfare, but they still have strengths."

  Sokov's words made Sidolin's eyes light up, and he hurriedly asked: "Mr. Comrade, what are the strengths?"

"They operate behind enemy lines, usually laying mines, cutting off the communication lines of the German army, or attacking transport convoys, etc. These are their strengths." Sukov said: "The two stations were attacked by our army. Reinforcement can only be transported by road or railway, and they can lay mines on the road, blow up bridges, or destroy the railway, so that the troops sent by the enemy have to stop on the road.”

   "I think the Germans must have guessed that we would plant landmines along the way. They must have a large number of engineers in their troops." Sidolin sighed and said, "As long as there are mines on the road, they will send engineers to clear them..."

"A few sharpshooters can be found in the guerrillas." Sokov waited for Sidolin to finish, and then said with a smile: "Let these sharpshooters lurk in the distance and specialize in mine clearance engineers. The engineers were destroyed. How can the Germans move forward? By the time they bring in new engineers from the rear, at least a few hours have passed, and by then Guchakov and the others may have already taken down the station."

"Comrade commander, this method of yours is really brilliant." Hearing this, Ivanov couldn't help but exclaim: "Even if the sharpshooters of the guerrillas only knocked out a few engineers, the remaining engineers would probably not dare to fight again." They are afraid that they will be killed by a bullet flying from nowhere. Even if the officer forces them to clear the mines with guns, they will not work hard. In this way, Guchakov They'll have enough time to take down the station."

  After Sokov finished talking about the precautions he thought of, he didn't ask Sidolin to send the report immediately, but looked at Ivanov and asked politely: "Comrade deputy division commander, do you have anything to add?"

"You have considered everything thoroughly, and I have nothing to add." Ivanov waved his hand, indicating that he had nothing to say, "As long as Captain Guchakov abides by the precautions you mentioned, I think he will be able to This mission has been successfully completed.”

   Seeing that his proposal was approved by Ivanov, Sokov felt very relieved. He turned to look at Sidolin again: "How about you, Comrade Chief of Staff? Is there anything to add?"

  Sidorin nodded instinctively, then shook his head violently, and replied: "No, Comrade Commander, I think these precautions you put forward are the guarantee of victory, and I have no disagreement."

Now that the opinions of the division leaders have been unified, Sokov is not hypocritical. He nodded from Sidolin and told him: "Chief of Staff, immediately organize what I just said into a telegram and send it to Gucha immediately." Captain Cove."

While Sidolin was sending a telegram, Ivanov smiled and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, we were worried two days ago whether Guchakov had heavy weapons to attack, whether the ammunition was sufficient, and whether the troops Whether it is enough, how to deal with the enemy reinforcements, etc. But after reading the precautions you gave Guchakov, these problems can be easily solved. I believe that Guchakov's performance this time will not let us down .”

  (end of this chapter)