Chapter 934 The last madness

  Sokov lay on the camp bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. He always felt as if he had forgotten something, but he couldn't remember it for a while. He closed his eyes tightly, silently belonging to the sheep in his heart, and wanted to fall asleep as soon as possible, after all, it was only a few hours before dawn. Maybe at dawn, the German army's retaliatory action will begin, and even if you want to sleep, you probably won't have time.

Just after counting less than a hundred sheep, Sokov suddenly remembered that when he was in Moscow, he seemed to have seen a battle report saying that Manstein's troops were desperately advancing eastward, trying to join forces with the besieged Paulus' troops, but he didn't know Where are they now. If the blocking force commander can send an elite force to attack the enemy's rear, it can contain Manstein's forces and prevent him from attacking eastward with all his strength.

  As soon as he thought of sending troops to attack the enemy's rear, Sokov immediately remembered what he had forgotten. Since returning to the present, he actually forgot to ask Sidolin and the others whether the squad led by Guchakov had achieved any results in the enemy's rear?

  Thinking of this, Sokov sat up, didn't even have time to put on his boots, so he was barefoot, carrying his boots and walked quickly towards the headquarters, hoping to get information about Guchakov as soon as possible.

   When Sokov walked to the division headquarters, he found that not only Sidolin and Ivanov were there, but also Lieutenant Colonel Anisimov, the division chief of staff. He quickly walked up to the three of them, and asked Sidolin, "Comrade Chief of Staff, look at my memory, I actually forgot Captain Guchakov who was working behind the enemy's rear. Results?"

  Hearing Sokov's question, the three did not speak, but looked at each other. Then Sidolin showed a complacent look on his face, while Ivanov and Anisimov showed disappointment on their faces. Then the two sighed, each took out a pack of cigarettes from their bags, and threw them on the table. Sidolin grabbed two packs of cigarettes and put them in his pocket without any hesitation.

  The actions of the three made Sokov puzzled: "Can any of you tell me what's going on?"

"Comrade Commander, let me tell you." Anisimov said with some embarrassment: "The three of us bet, guess when you will remember Captain Guchakov's squad. The chief of staff said before dawn , you will be able to remember; and the opinion of the deputy division commander and I is that you can only remember the squad after dawn at the earliest."

   "You guys actually bet on me?" Sokov said a little bit dumbfounded.

   "Comrade commander, please forgive me." Ivanov said with a smile: "Staying in the tunnel all day, life is too boring, so I need to find something to entertain."

"Okay, I don't have to pursue the matter that you bet on me." Sokov sat down at the table, bent over to put on his boots, and asked, "Can any of you tell me that Captain Guchakov brought With the troops going deep behind the enemy lines, what results have been achieved?"

"Comrade Commander," Sidolin said sternly: "After Guchakov and his team sensed the Gumrak area, they used rockets to attack two German barracks and a material storage point from a long distance. It can destroy valuable command structures. However, according to the monitoring of the superior telecommunications unit, it was found that the enemy's headquarters has disappeared from the area."

  Sokov heard this and asked tentatively: "Chief of Staff, what do you mean, because of the activities of the Guchakov squad in the Gumrak area, the German Command was so scared that it had to be transferred?"

"Exactly." It was a very remarkable thing that the team he sent could scare Paulus into having to transfer his headquarters: "The rockets they carried were exhausted because of Captain Guchakov. Do, a few days ago, I ordered them to withdraw. The loss of the squad is not big, only three people were sacrificed and nine were injured."

  Knowing that Guchakov had returned safely, Sokov felt much more at ease. Staring at the map, he asked Sidolin: "Chief of Staff, when I was in Moscow, I heard that Manstein sent a large army to the east, trying to rush to meet Paulus's troops. Where are they advancing now?" "

"Here." Sidolin quickly pointed to a place name on the map, and said to Sokov: "According to the information I got from the Army Group Command, yesterday, that is, on December 24, Manstein's troops were attacking Morozovka, which is only a few dozen kilometers away from Paulus's troops."

Hearing the place name Morozovka, Sokov frowned and thought about it for a while. He felt that in real history, Manstein, who rescued Paulus, seemed to have only progressed to this position, in order to prevent being encircled by the Soviet army. , had to give up the rescue, and shrank back obediently.

   "Comrade Commander," Sokov was contemplating when he suddenly heard Anisimov's voice: "Do you think Paulus will escape?"

"Paulus wants to escape from our encirclement?" Sokov has basically decided in his heart that Manstein's attack is already at the end of his attack. If he continues to advance east, let alone rescue Paulus, I am afraid that he himself will be caught. The danger of encirclement. To be on the safe side, he could only stop the rescue and obediently withdraw from areas that might be surrounded. It was precisely because of his understanding of this period of history that Sokov pointed to the map on the table and pretended to analyze to the three of them: "Look at the situation of the enemy and us on the map, don't look at the relief forces of Manstein and Paulus's forces." There are only tens of kilometers between the troops. But for them, these tens of kilometers are an insurmountable moat."

   "But the Germans are attacking fiercely." Sidolin frowned and said, "Although our friendly forces have put up tenacious resistance, they still cannot stop the German army from advancing eastward."

"Look at the map. Due to Manstein's rapid advance, he has penetrated too far into our army's defense." Sokov continued: "Once our troops on the left and right sides launch an attack, then Manstein will be encircled. As an excellent commander of the German army, he will never make such a mistake. Therefore, I think he may give up the eastward plan at any time and withdraw the troops to the original starting position.”

"Comrade Commander," the three of them were suspicious of Sokov's statement, and Ivanov frowned and asked: "Do you really think that Manstein's troops will retreat at this time? ?”

"That's for sure, Comrade Deputy Division Commander." Sokov replied in an affirmative tone: "Since we can surround Paulus's army of more than 300,000 troops, then we can encircle the hundreds of thousands of troops commanded by Manstein. It shouldn't be too difficult."

   "If we encircle Manstein's troops again, there will be at least 400,000 enemy prisoners in our encirclement." Sidolin began to wring his fingers to calculate how many troops would be needed to take care of these prisoners.

Seeing what Sidolin was thinking, Sokov waved his hand at him and said, "Chief of Staff, don't count how many prisoner-of-war camps we need to build to hold such a huge number of prisoners. The enemy will not surrender easily. Yes, to eliminate these enemies, it is bound to pay a huge price. Therefore, the time of this battle will definitely not be too short."

"After completing the encirclement of the Paulus Group, General Vatutin's Southwest Front Army no longer participated in the offensive, but General Golikov's Voronezh Front Army together, dealt with the reinforcements of Manstein." Ivanov pointed out. Looking at the map, he said to Sokov: "The troops that encircled and wiped out the Paulus Group are only left with General Rokossovsky's Don Front Army and our Stalingrad Front Army. Manstein's attack made our army Paulus's encirclement and annihilation operations had to be temporarily stopped and sufficient troops were mobilized to deal with enemy reinforcements.

  Yesterday, the troops of the 51st Army faced the frenzied attack of the German army. Although they resisted tenaciously, they were regrettably repelled. "

  Although Ivanov did not explain how far the troops of the 51st Army were repelled, Sukov knew very well in his heart that the troops of the Army retreated at least five to ten kilometers. Although the battle was defeated, it was not necessarily a bad thing. The front line of Manstein's army was stretched, and he had to mobilize enough troops to defend the places he had just occupied. In this way, their offensive power is weakened, and it is obviously unrealistic to continue to advance in the next battle. On the contrary, they are in danger of being surrounded at any time. Moreover, it was Zhukov who commanded the battle in that direction, and I believed that he could formulate a deployment that made Manstein terrified.

  ...

   After dawn, the German army retaliated against the positions of the 41st Guards Division. They dispatched more than forty bombers to bombard the positions defended by the three guard regiments indiscriminately.

After receiving a call from Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko, Sokov said calmly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, don't worry. The German army is really crazy at the end. They don't have enough fuel and ammunition to support the crazy attack. You Order commanders and fighters to resolutely resist the enemy."

After Sokov said this, he was afraid that Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko would turn the battle into a war of attrition that would outweigh the gains, so he specifically told him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, let me remind you that in battle, you must know how to save Your own strength. If the first line of defense cannot be defended, immediately retreat to the second line of defense. After all, there are strong fortifications there, and there are minefields and barbed wire. Even if the Germans want to attack, I am afraid it will cost a lot strength."

As soon as the phone was put down here, Lieutenant Colonel Starcha called in. He also told Sokov that his position was bombed by German planes, and that according to reports from the observation post, the German army was gathering tanks and infantry. It seems to be preparing to storm the field.

   "I see, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Sokov said calmly: "The Germans are the last madness, so you have to find a way to hold your ground and destroy as many of the enemy's vital forces as possible."

While Sokov was puffing up his subordinates, Chuikov's phone call came in, and he asked nervously: "Colonel Sokov, I know that the enemy is bombarding the positions of the three guard regiments indiscriminately. You Give me a word, can you hold your ground?"

  The reason why Chuikov asked this is because after the Battle of Stalingrad began, he saw the so-called solid positions more than once. Before the crazy German attack, they were like paper and were destroyed without much effort.

"Please rest assured, Comrade Commander." Sokov waited for Chuikov to finish speaking, and assured him: "I have issued an order to the troops. If the enemy's offensive is too fierce, we can retreat after consuming a large amount of the enemy's vitality. Go to the second line of defense and continue to defend."

   "What?" Cuikov couldn't help frowning when he heard this, "Are you planning to let the troops retreat?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Sokov felt that he should explain it to Chuikov, lest he think that he was greedy for life and fear of death, so he would give such orders to the commanders and fighters without authorization, and quickly explained: "I plan to order the troops to be on the second day. The first line of defense, to carry out tenacious defense. Moreover, the artillery deployed on the left bank can carry out intensive artillery fire interception against the enemy attacking the second line of defense, which is conducive to our army's defense of the position."

"Well, since you said so, then I agree with your plan." Chuikov said reasonablely: "According to the information just obtained, the troops of Manstein and Holt are desperately rushing towards Stalingrad, trying to fight The forces of Paulus who are besieged here join forces. It will be a great feat if you hold back the enemy's attack."

"According to the reports of the heads of the regiments, the enemy has assembled a large number of troops and technical equipment in front of their positions." Sukov said without changing his expression, "But I think our commanders and fighters are completely sure to block the Germans from attacking." crazy offensive."

   "Colonel Sokov, don't take it lightly." Chuikov said on the phone: "You know, the Germans have much more troops and technical equipment than you."

After finishing the call with Chuikov, Sokov said to the three people in front of him: "As soon as the bombing is over, the Germans will launch an attack on our position. According to reports from the front, the enemy has assembled a large number of tanks and armored vehicles. It seems that they are preparing to launch the final general attack."

   "The enemy has so many tanks, can our soldiers stop them?" Sidolin asked tentatively.

   "The enemy's tanks are not scary. Our bazooka is designed to deal with enemy tanks and armored vehicles." Sokov said here, and immediately remembered a person he had forgotten: "Where is Lieutenant Seryosha?"

   "It should be in the 124th Guards Regiment." Sidolin said in an uncertain tone: "After all, since they entered the position until now, they have basically not achieved any results?"

   "What, they have been stationed in the position for more than a month, why haven't they seen any results?"

"Comrade Commander, you can't blame me for this." Sidolin said a little bit dumbfounded: "The enemy's recent attacks are basically infantry-based, and there are not many tanks invested. Therefore, the troops commanded by Lieutenant Sergei What is the opportunity to participate in anti-tank operations."

   "Get in touch with Seryozha immediately and get them ready." Sokov told Sidolin: "I hope their performance on the battlefield will not disappoint me."

  (end of this chapter)