Chapter 892 Night's Counterattack (Part 2)

Bely opened his arms and gave Sokov a warm hug. He patted Sokov's back vigorously with both hands, and said excitedly, "Misha, I really didn't expect that I would still be alive to see you." How about it, are you going to launch a counterattack against the enemy?"

  Although the back was slapped and the pain almost brought Sokov to tears, he could only grit his teeth and endure it. After all, this kind of hug is the most enthusiastic expression between friends. After finally waiting for Bely to let go, he immediately took a step back, pointed at Golikov who was not far away, and said, "Colonel Bely, let me introduce you. This is the deputy commander of the Front Army." General Golikov, who has come to us to designate a counterattack."

  Bely knew Golikov, so he hurriedly stepped forward to salute and prepared to report to the other party in accordance with the regulations. Unexpectedly, Golikov raised his hand and pulled the hand raised to his forehead. While shaking hands vigorously, he said enthusiastically, "Hello, Colonel Bely, welcome to Mamayev Post."

   After beckoning Bely to sit down at the table, a clever staff officer quickly brought a cup of hot tea and put it on the table. Sokov nodded his thanks to the staff officer, and said to Bely: "Comrade Colonel, it must be quite cold on the road, drink some tea to warm up."

   After taking a sip from the tea mug, Bely looked first at Sokov and then at Golikov, not knowing who to speak to first. Fortunately, Golikov saw his embarrassment, pointed at Sokov with his hand, and said, "Colonel Bely, it was Comrade Sokov who asked Chuikov to transfer you here. If you have anything to do, just ask him." Bar."

Hearing what Golikov said, Bely put down the tea mug in his hand, stood up and faced Sokov, and asked respectfully: "Colonel Sokov, I wonder how you plan to let my troops cooperate with you to launch a counterattack? You know, basically all the tanks in our brigade were lost, and the few remaining ones are now buried in the Dzerzhinsky factory as a fixed point of fire.”

"Don't worry, Colonel Bely." Hearing Bely's final question, Sokov replied with a smile: "I still have more than 20 tanks, which are hidden in the ruins of the new workers' village. You use. There is also a new T-34/85 tank in it.”

"A new type of T-34/85 tank?" Bely heard Sokov mentioned that there was a new type of tank, and couldn't help asking in surprise: "So, the factory director Peter handed over all the tanks with 85mm guns that were just produced to you. ?”

   "Yes." Sokov nodded affirmatively, and then asked: "How many troops do you have?"

"There are still 139 people. Except for a dozen logistics personnel, the rest are combatants." Beret emphasized to Sukov: "By the way, your original tank company commander is still alive. If it weren't for my subordinates There are too few people, and when rebuilding the tank brigade, I want him to be the battalion commander."

   "Since the number of troops is insufficient, let him be the company commander first." Sokov said reasonably: "After the tank brigade is replenished, it will not be too late to make him the battalion commander."

"General Golikov," Bely said, looking at Golikov, with some embarrassment, "I have participated in the counterattack in the Mamayev Hill area, and I know that if the number of tanks is too small, it will be difficult to achieve ideal counterattack. Even if Colonel Sokov handed over all the tanks to me, I would only have more than 20 tanks in my hands. If I want to break through the German defenses, I am afraid..."

Bely stopped in the middle of what he was saying, but Golikov already understood what he wanted to express, so he waved his hand at him and said, "All right, all right, Colonel Bely, stop complaining in front of me. The superiors have decided to send two tank battalions to Sokov, and I will put these two tank battalions under the command of your tank brigade at that time, will this be all right for the head office?"

Bely complained in front of Golikov because he wanted to get some supplements. He didn't expect Golikov to be so generous that he actually gave himself two tank battalions. In this way, the tank brigade was reorganized. He quickly saluted Golikov and said gratefully: "Thank you, General Golikov, I assure you..."

"Colonel Bely, don't promise me anything." Golikov interrupted without waiting for Bely to finish speaking, "No matter how beautiful the words are in words, if they can't be put into practice, they will be fine." It's all empty talk. I know that your brigade performed very well in the battle to defend the Dzerzhinsky factory, and I hope you can continue to maintain it and achieve more brilliant results in the next counterattack."

   "General Golikov, I would like to ask a question." Bely waited for Golikov to finish speaking, and asked tentatively, "Is that okay?"

   "If you have any questions, just ask." Golikov waved his hand and said carelessly: "As long as I can answer, I will definitely give you a satisfactory answer."

   "According to the deployment some time ago, the troops on the periphery of our army should have launched a counterattack against the enemy." Bely asked cautiously: "I want to ask, what is the result of their battle?"

"Shortly after launching the counterattack, the Southwest Front Army and the Don River Front Army successfully broke through the enemy's defense line in the Don River Basin and defeated the Romanian troops deployed there." Golikov guessed that Bely may not be aware of the results of the battle outside , Then he said carelessly: "Our front army launched a counterattack from the south side of the city yesterday. Although the time of the counterattack was repeatedly delayed due to the weather. But after the battle started, Major General Volsky's Mechanized 4th Army At 16:00, the 13th Tank Corps of Colonel Tanashishin rapidly advanced in depth to the enemy's defenses in its own section. At 22:00, Lieutenant General Shapkin's 4th Cavalry Corps, Advance with the 4th Mechanized Army, develop an offensive westward..."

"Great, this is really great." Hearing a series of good news from Golikov, Bely cheered excitedly: "Since our army is in the west and south, we have dealt heavy blows to the enemy. , then the counterattack after dawn, I believe, will be able to successfully break through the frontal defense of Mamayev Post."

   "Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army," Sokov waited for Bely to finish speaking, and asked Golikov again: "I would like to ask, when will the two tank battalions given to us by the superior enter the designated positions?"

  If Sokov asked this question yesterday or the day before yesterday, Golikov would definitely make fun of him. But at this moment, Golikov couldn't laugh anymore. The time for the two tank battalions to cross the river was delayed again and again, and it was even a question of whether they could reach Mamayev Post before the counterattack began. Golikov was silent for a while, and finally said: "I think you should be able to arrive before your counterattack begins."

Bely heard something was wrong from Golikov's tone, and quickly interjected: "General Golikov, tanks are prone to break down when marching in such cold weather. Even if they arrive before the counterattack, Special personnel are also needed for maintenance before they can be put into battle."

   "What, the tank must be maintained before it can be put into battle?" Golikov asked in surprise.

"That's right." Beley nodded, and said in a positive tone: "According to the regulations, after the tank has traveled 50 kilometers, it should be inspected and maintained to avoid breakdowns. After a hundred kilometers, they will be maintained, but the weather is too cold today, and the chances of tank failure are greatly increased, so after the tank battalion crosses the river, inspection and maintenance must be carried out."

"So that's how it is." Golikov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said thoughtfully, "If I let the tank battalion cross the river now, by seven o'clock in the morning, I should be able to reach Mamayev Post. At that time, it will take another one or two hours to carry out inspection and maintenance, and I think it should still be in time."

"It will take at least five hours for the two tank battalions to cross the wide river." Bely continued: "Even if they are ordered to cross the river now, it will probably take around nine o'clock when they arrive at Mamayev Post. Check again And maintenance, at least eleven o'clock before they can all go into battle."

"You can go into battle at eleven o'clock?" Not only Golikov was dissatisfied with the time Bely said, but even Sokov was dissatisfied. The position, I am afraid it is not enough. So he shook his head and said, "That would be too slow, and we can't keep the tanks in the fight that late."

  Golikov nodded when he heard Sokov say this, and then asked: "Colonel Sokov, do you have any way to shorten the attack time of the tank troops?"

"There is a way." Sokov just thought about a way in his heart, and now he heard Golikov ask, and said it directly: "Let the tank troops cross the river in units of companies. When a company comes over, it will Let the maintenance workers inspect and maintain the tanks of this company. I think that before the counterattack begins, all the tanks should be ready to go out."

After hearing Sokov's proposal, Golikov couldn't help laughing. He nodded and said, "Colonel Sokov, you really have a lot of ways. In this way, we can solve the problem of tanks crossing the river after they cross the river." The problem of not being able to fight for a long time. Then, I will immediately call Commander Yeremenko and ask him to order the tank battalion to cross the river."

While Golikov was calling the front headquarters, Sokov said to Bely: "Colonel Bely, I will send someone to take you to the Workers' New Village to receive the tanks later. Now, let me tell you to attack route.” Seeing Bely nodding, he went on to say, “There are two routes to attack: one is to attack from the Workers’ New Village and break through to the west; the other is to attack from the north and south of Mamayev Gang Attack the canyon in the middle of the hills, try to advance to the southwest, cooperate with the troops in the central city, and encircle the enemies in the city..."

  ...

  In the evening of the 20th, Paulus received news that the Romanian Army and the German Army Reserve in the Don River Valley had been wiped out by the Soviet Southwest Front Army and the Don River Front Army. When Paulus first heard the news, he could not believe that, according to his thinking, the attack launched by the Russians was nothing more than a diversionary operation, which prevented him from concentrating his forces to take the city.

   But after repeated verification by Chief of Staff Schmidt, it was finally discovered that this was not a rumor but a fact, Paulus seemed a little flustered. He quickly ordered someone to take over the phone call from the commander of Army Group B, von Weicks, and said in a panic: "Mr. General, the situation here seems to be a little bit bad. The Romanian army and our reserve team deployed in the Don River Basin, Already wiped out by the Russians."

  When Weikes answered the phone call from Paulus, he thought that the other party was reporting the execution of the order to him, but unexpectedly he heard such bad news. He asked in amazement: "General Paulus, didn't you see the order I gave you on the evening of the 19th? I asked you to stop all offensive operations against Stalingrad and to deploy troops to protect your flanks. Did you not Didn't it work?"

"No, Mr. General." Paulus replied in a panic: "My officer reported to me that the strength of the Russians is almost exhausted. Take this **** city."

"Stop the attack immediately, and withdraw the troops from the city." Weikes said in a stern tone: "And use these troops to counterattack in the direction of the Don River. We must drive those **** Russians away, so as to protect your army." Flank security. Do you understand, my General Paulus?"

   "Understood, Mr. General." At such a time, Paulus still dared to argue, and quickly said submissively: "I will immediately issue an order to retreat to the troops, and let them withdraw from the city overnight."

  Paulus immediately passed Schmidt and gave orders to the troops responsible for attacking the factory area to withdraw from the city overnight and ensure that the retreat would not be discovered by the Russians.

   However, the plan could not keep up with the changes. The 305th Infantry Division and four engineer battalions stationed in the barricade factory exchanged fire with the Soviet army in the factory shortly after they began to retreat. The news quickly reached Paulus's headquarters. Paulus grabbed Schmidt's arm and said in a panic: "Chief of Staff, it seems that the Russians have calculated that we will retreat overnight before ordering the workers in the factory. The defenders counterattacked at this point."

   "So what do we do?" Schmidt asked.

"Order the troops to stop retreating and organize resistance on the spot." Paulus raised his hand to wipe off the cold sweat on his forehead, and told Schmidt: "Also, those areas that have not been attacked for the time being, should also be more vigilant to prevent the Russians from launching attacks. attack."

"Understood, I will convey your order to the commanders of the divisions immediately." After Schmidt finished speaking, he reminded Paulus: "The troops in the Don River Basin are basically finished now, and our position is unexpectedly The Russians are no more than ten kilometers away. Once they launch an attack, they will rush to the headquarters of the group army in less than two hours."

   Paulus, who had fallen into a panic, didn't know what to do for a while, so he could only ask Schmidt for help: "Chief of Staff, tell me, what should we do next?"

  (end of this chapter)