Chapter 909 Open Ground Coordination

The pilot of the Il-2 attack aircraft in the air found the small convoy on the ground and saw a barrel truck sandwiched between the armored vehicle and two trucks. Guessing that there must be an important mission in the vehicle, he pushed the joystick and dived from a high altitude down.

   This is a two-seat Il-2 attack aircraft. The pilot sitting in the front only needs to be responsible for flying, and the task of attacking the ground is completed by the attacker sitting in the back.

  The attacker locked on the Z-shaped barrel truck with a scope, and fired two rockets without hesitation. Unexpectedly, the barrel car drove too fast, and the rocket launched failed to hit the target. One exploded more than 20 meters away from the left side of the barrel truck, and a large amount of black soil and white snow powder was thrown into the air by the air waves; while the other rocket directly hit a truck behind, knocking it down. It exploded into a ball of fire.

The burning truck drove forward for more than ten meters by virtue of its inertia before stopping. Several soldiers who were on fire jumped out of the truck. They screamed and jumped up and down. It scurryed about like a fly until at last it lay motionless in the snow.

  Although a truck of the German army was blown up, the pilot was obviously dissatisfied with the result. He raised the plane again, and after circling in the air, he swooped down again and fired rockets at several vehicles that were fleeing to the woods.

  The attacker used a 20mm cannon to penetrate the weak top armor of the armored vehicle, turning it into a burning torch. The two rockets launched again, due to lack of precision, still failed to hit the fleeing barrel truck, but the air wave from the explosion overturned another truck, throwing all the German soldiers on the truck into the snow .

  Rossky, who was sitting in the car, saw that the armored vehicle and two trucks protecting him had been killed by Soviet attack planes. He was already scared out of his wits and urged the driver repeatedly: "Drive faster, drive faster!"

  Although the distance from the road to the woods is less than two kilometers, due to the thick snow and the tree stumps buried in the snow, the driver has to carefully bypass these obstacles, which affects the speed of the vehicle. Seeing the attack plane in the sky, he chased him relentlessly. The driver pessimistically thought that he was doomed this time, and quickly shouted without turning his head: "Your Excellency, the situation is not good, you jump out of the car!"

  Rossky saw the Soviet planes chasing him. Although he was nervous, he was lucky. He felt that his car could rush into the woods smoothly, so he just sat in the car without moving. The chief of staff of the division sitting on the side wanted to jump out of the car, but seeing that the commander didn't move, he couldn't run for his own life as the chief of staff. Hearing the driver's shout at this moment, he hurriedly yelled at Roskel: "Your Excellency, jump out of the car, or it will be too late if you don't jump out."

  When the barrel truck drove less than 50 meters away from the woods, it seemed that Roskey and the others were about to be rescued, but one of the last two rockets fired by the attacker on the attack plane directly hit the barrel truck. After an explosion, the rear wheels of the barrel cart covered in fire flew into the air, flipped forward, fell heavily on the snow, and began to burn with all four wheels facing the sky. Seeing that the barrel car was destroyed by rockets, the pilot of the attack plane drove the plane around in the sky, then turned around and flew eastward.

   Five or six of the German soldiers who fell from the second truck were slightly injured. As soon as they struggled to get up from the snow, they saw the division commander's car was destroyed by a Soviet attack aircraft. They were scared out of their wits, and they didn't care about rescuing those injured companions, so they ran towards the burning barrel cart.

  They ran to the barrel truck, scooped up the snow on the ground, and threw it at the barrel truck desperately, trying to quickly put out the fire. However, this amount of snow was nothing to the burning barrel truck. Not only did the fire not weaken, but it became bigger and bigger. The scorching air waves made them feel out of breath.

   "Help!" Just as the soldiers were feeling desperate, a faint cry came from the snowdrift not far away: "Who will help me!"

  A soldier with sharper ears followed the sound and saw an officer wearing a military coat lying in a snowdrift. He took a closer look, and found that the officer was none other than the division commander, Major General Rosskel. He quickly shouted to his companion not far away: "The teacher is here."

  After shouting, the soldier quickly ran to Roskai's side and squatted down, carefully helped him to sit up, and asked with concern: "Your Excellency, Commander, are you all right?"

   "I may have broken a few ribs," Roskai said after finishing his expression in pain, and then asked, "What happened to the Chief of Staff?"

   "The barrel car was blown up." The soldier replied, "Everyone in the car was burned to death. Your Excellency, how did you escape?"

"I was pushed down by the chief of staff." Rothkai sighed and said with a painful expression, "He may have seen the rockets fired by the Russians flying towards our barrel truck and pulled me out of the car at a critical moment." Pushed out."

  ...

   The results of the attack aircraft, let alone Sokov of Mamayev Gang, did not know, even the pilots who carried out the attack did not know. They almost killed a big man in the German army. They just reported to their superiors in accordance with the regulations on the way back, and destroyed one armored vehicle, one barrel car and two trucks of the German army, and the results of the battle have been confirmed.

  Sokov is in contact with the front line in time by phone or radio to understand the progress of the attacking force. Just as the three regiments successively occupied the positions of the German army and were clearing out the remnants of the enemy, Cuikov called.

  Sokov thought that Chuikov was calling to inquire about the progress of the troops, so he took the initiative to report: "Comrade Commander, I just wanted to call you and report to you the progress of our division."

  Chuikov asked somewhat unexpectedly: "So, you have taken down the third line of defense of the German army? How about the casualties of the attacking troops, and can you continue to move forward?"

"Reporting to Comrade Commander, although the troops of our division were attacked by the enemy's long-range artillery fire during the attack on the enemy's position, the casualties caused to us were limited due to the small number of artillery they used." Sokov Reported with a normal expression: "After clearing out the remaining enemies in the position, they will continue to move forward, choose a suitable location, and build new fortifications."

   "Colonel Sokov, you have done a good job." After listening to Sokov's report, Chuikov first praised him, and then continued: "I called you because I have good news for you."

good news? ! Hearing what Chuikov said, Sokov couldn't help but his eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked: "Comrade Commander, did the left bank send us new reinforcements?"

   "Uh, that's not enough." Sokov's words made Chuikov silent for a moment, and then replied sheepishly: "The good news I said has nothing to do with the reinforcements."

  Knowing that there were no reinforcements, Sokov suddenly lost interest in the so-called good news, but out of politeness, he asked politely: "Comrade Commander, I don't know what the good news you are talking about is it?"

   "Our communications unit has intercepted the German telegram. Paulus has ordered the 76th Infantry Division to withdraw from its current position and move to the Don River defense line..."

Sokov knew that he was facing the 71st and 76th Infantry Divisions of the German Army. When he heard that the 76th Division had been allowed to retreat, he asked without waiting for Chuikov: "What about the 71st Division? Did you also receive an order to retreat?"

"No, the order Paulus gave them was to organize an attack on the spot so that our army could not pursue their retreating order." Chuikov added: "The good news I want to say is that it has something to do with the 71st Infantry Division. .”

  Hearing that Chuikov's good news was related to the 71st Infantry Division, Sokov immediately aroused his interest: "Comrade Commander, what is the good news, please tell me quickly."

"Actually, what I could have said a long time ago is that you kept interrupting me, which kept me from getting to the point." Responding to Sokov's urging, Cuikov said helplessly: "According to the information we intercepted, one of our An attack plane that went deep into the enemy's rear attacked the convoy of Major General Ross Kai, the commander of the 71st Infantry Division, which was being transferred, and destroyed an armored vehicle, a barrel car and two trucks. More than 50 Faxi Temple bandits were eliminated, and the division commander Major General Rosekai was seriously wounded, and the division chief was killed on the spot."

   "Our pilots are really great." Sokov waited for Chuikov to finish speaking, and immediately proposed to the other party: "Comrade Commander, I think the creative pilots should be awarded honors in recognition of their great achievements."

"It's up to you to say, after hearing the news, not only the Air Force Group Army will award honors to the pilots of the attack aircraft, but even the Front Army Command will also award them honors." Cuikov said here, and finally got down to business: "Since Ross Kai is seriously injured, and the command system of the 71st Infantry Division will surely fall into chaos in a short period of time. Colonel Sokov, how about it, did you not consider expanding the results of the battle?"

"Comrade Commander." Although what Chuikov said was indeed very reasonable, due to safety considerations, Sokov would never risk his troops and Mamayev Gang, so he waited for the other party to finish speaking, Said cautiously: "If the seriously injured person is not Major General Roskey but Paulus, I can completely let my troops rush forward recklessly, and even rush to the bank of the Don River, choose a suitable place to build fortifications , Waiting for the friendly troops going south or north to come and join forces.

  However, only one division commander was seriously injured. Even if his troops were in chaos due to command failure, there was only one division after all. Sokov calmly analyzed to Chuikov: "As for the German troops on the left and right flanks, once they realize that the flanks of our division are empty, they are likely to take the opportunity to attack from the two wings, cut off and encircle our offensive troops. At that time, not only the attacking troops will suffer serious losses, but even the Mamayev Post may not be able to be kept. "

  The basin of cold water that Sokov poured on Chuikov made him regain consciousness. He thought for a moment, squeezed a smile on his face, and said to Sokov with some embarrassment: "Colonel Sokov, you are right. Even if we have the ability to wipe out the 71st Infantry Division of the German army, their The overall strength is still strong, and it is not something that one of your divisions can handle. Well, as for where to stop the attack, it is up to you to decide, I wish you good luck!"

After putting down the phone, Sokov said to Sidolin and Ivanov: "Chief of Staff, Deputy Division Commander, I have good news for you. Our air force attacked the convoy of the retreating German 71st Division Commander Roskey, bombing the convoy. All the vehicles were destroyed, the chief of staff of the division was killed, and even Roskay was seriously injured." Hearing the good news, Sidolin and Ivanov couldn't help showing joyful expressions on their faces.

Sokov pointed at Sidolin and told him: "Chief of staff, you immediately inform the three regimental commanders that, except for a few troops left to wipe out the remnants of the enemy, the rest of the troops will follow the tanks and continue to rush into the depths of the German army. Before dark, choose a suitable location to stop the attack and build fortifications to prevent possible German counterattacks."

After instructing Sidolin, Sokov said to Ivanov again: "Comrade deputy division commander, you are in charge of liaising with the air force. Please tell the air force commander in command of the battle so that they can cooperate with the attack of the ground troops. Except In addition to helping us destroy the enemy's solid fortifications, if we find the enemy's artillery positions and tank assembly points, we must give priority to attacking. Only by eliminating these technical equipment that poses the greatest threat to our army can we minimize the casualties of our attacking troops. "

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Ivanov and Sokov have been partners for so long, so he naturally knows that he values ​​​​the lives of soldiers and will not let everyone make unnecessary sacrifices, so he replied confidently: "I will never let you down."

  The news that the attack plane that went deep behind the enemy caused the serious injury of the German division commander had already spread among the air force pilots who participated in the battle. After receiving Ivanov's order, the pilots formed a four-machine formation and rushed towards the retreating enemy to guide the ground troops to attack.

  Seeing the place where the enemy gathers together, the pilots drop the bombs they carry, blowing the enemy to pieces; when they find the enemy's artillery positions or assembled tanks, they use rockets to attack. It made it impossible for the German army to continue to resist effectively by relying on the technical equipment they were familiar with.

  The Soviet commanders and fighters who attacked on the ground quickly saw the intention of the air force and was guiding them to attack. The tanks immediately speeded up and rushed forward. Often where the planes bombed, the tanks rushed to destroy the remaining tanks and artillery before the smoke cleared. The commanders and fighters who followed closely used various weapons to eliminate the fleeing infantry.

  In this way, in the coordinated air-ground attack of the Soviet army, the German army's already weak front began to shake, and the soldiers who had already become panicked fled from the positions they should stick to and ran towards the west.

  (end of this chapter)