Red Moscow

Sokov received a telegram from Rokossovsky, and was also stunned: "What, my troops killed Ike, the commander of the Skeleton Division, during the battle? But why didn't Papchenko report this to himself? What's the important news?"

In order to find out what was going on, he personally called the regiment headquarters of the 122nd regiment and asked Papchenko: "Comrade Colonel, did you kill any senior commanders of the enemy during the battle?"

"Senior commander?" Papchenko shook his head and replied: "Comrade commander, you also know that the enemy's commanders are cowards. Even their regimental headquarters are usually located more than ten kilometers away from the front line." position, let alone their senior commander."

"Are you really sure that you didn't kill any senior German generals during the battle?"

When Sukov actually said the word general, Papchenko immediately realized that the other party might know something he didn't know, and quickly asked tentatively: "Comrade commander, what is going on, can you explain it well?" Can you be more clear?"

"It's like this, Comrade Colonel," Sokov said into the microphone: "According to the report from the superior, there seems to be some confusion in the command system of the Skeleton Division. According to the analysis of the superior, something may have happened to Ike, the commander of the division. Therefore , I will ask you whether any important figures of the German army were killed during the battle."

"Comrade Commander, the enemy commanders killed by us, except for a major, are all lieutenant-level officers, and there are no general-level commanders at all."

Sokov thought for a while, and felt that since Papchenko and the others did not kill Ike, the only possible way for Ike to die was to be killed by a rocket bomb, so he ordered Papchenko: "Comrade Colonel, order someone in Search the ruins in the area you occupy to see if there is any commander who died inside."

"Understood, Comrade Master."

When Sokov put down the phone, Sidolin asked tentatively, "Comrade commander, do you think the superior made a mistake?"

"No." Regarding Sidolin's question, Sokov immediately denied it, "I think the superior's analysis is reasonable, if nothing happened to Ike, the Germans would not be at this time, The division commander was replaced. I think it is very likely that Ike is dead, but we haven't found his body for the time being."

"If Ike is dead, it's a good thing for us." Sidolin said: "It will take a while for a division commander to get familiar with the troops. It is impossible to fully exert their original combat effectiveness."

Rokossovsky called Sokov, asking about Ike's life and death. Not long after, Zhukov also sent the same telegram, also asking about Ike's life and death. After Sokov received this telegram, he knew that Zhukov was now concurrently serving as the commander of the Southwest Front Army.

After hearing the news, Sokov couldn't help but be overjoyed, he knew it very well. If someone else served as the commander of the Southwest Front Army, he would definitely not care about his plan. But Zhukov is different. Once he understands his intentions, he will definitely make a big enough movement in the northeast of Igyum to attract more German troops and reduce the pressure on himself who is dealing with heavy enemy groups.

Taking advantage of Papchenko's opportunity to verify Ike's life and death, Sokov turned his attention to the southwest again, because the German Banner Guard Division was heading towards Barvinkovo. And their vanguard has already caught fire with the 125th regiment.

The bomber formation sent by Rokossovsky carried out an air strike against the German troops advancing towards Barvinkovo, destroying a considerable number of tanks, armored vehicles and trucks, causing considerable casualties to the German army. It was precisely because of the Soviet air strikes that the rapidly advancing Banner Guard Division had to stop in place to avoid the air strikes, making the battalion that had gone out to Barvinkovo ​​a lone army.

Knowing that there was only one battalion of the German army fighting with him, Ershakov immediately ordered the third battalion to turn around from the flank and launch a surprise attack from the side of the German army. As German tanks, armored vehicles and trucks were destroyed one by one by rocket launchers, the German army fell into chaos.

Seeing that the frontal enemy began to retreat, Ershakov promptly issued an order to attack, and the whole regiment launched a full-scale counterattack. The battle lasted only half an hour. Except for more than forty soldiers who escaped, the vanguard of the Banner Guard Division was completely wiped out.

At the same time, while the enemy was not attacking, Papchenko was organizing people to search the ruins to see if he could find what Sokov wanted.

In the search, the soldiers gain a lot. Some found ammunition, food, and medicine hoarded by the German army, while others found the bodies of some German officers killed by rocket bombs.

But unfortunately, after searching for a long time, Ike's body was not found among the hundreds of corpses found. After Papchenko learned of his subordinate's report, he secretly doubted: "Could it be that the division commander made a mistake, and Ike actually didn't die at all, but continued to stay in his headquarters?"

Just when he was about to give up, Major Vasily, the commander of the first battalion, called: "Comrade commander, we found a collapsed house in the defense zone, and it seemed that a crushed barrel truck was buried."

Hearing that the barrel cart was found, Papchenko's eyes lit up immediately. He knew very well that those who were qualified to ride a barrel cart in the German army would definitely not be some low-level officers, so he quickly told Vasily: "Comrade major, you immediately Prevent people from digging out the car to see who is inside."

"Comrade head, I have already organized people to dig." Vasili replied, "I estimate that I will have to wait for twenty minutes at the earliest before I can find out who is in the barrel car."

"Major, order the soldiers to speed up." According to Sokov's instructions, before discovering Ike's body, there must be no leaks. Who is sitting?"

After more than twenty minutes, he received another call from Vasily. The major said excitedly on the phone: "Comrade commander, you may not have imagined what we found in the barrel car?"

"Major, don't go around in circles, tell me quickly what you found."

"Although the head of the corpse was smashed by bricks and stones, it is impossible to discern his appearance." Vasily reported: "But the military uniform on that officer wears the rank of general of the SS."

"The rank of general of the SS?" Papchenko felt his breathing shortness of breath and his heart beat faster when he heard this. He asked quickly, "Are you sure?"

"Totally sure."

"Comrade Major, I now order you to immediately find something suitable to contain the corpse and send him to the division commander's headquarters, understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Commander, I will carry out your order immediately."

After finishing the conversation with Vasily, Papchenko felt that such important news should be reported to Sokov as soon as possible, so he ordered the communications soldier to connect to the division headquarters: "Hello, Comrade Division Commander , I am Colonel Papchenko."

"Comrade Colonel," there was no sound of gunfire from the direction of the city, and Sokov knew that there was no fighting there, and if there was anything worthy of Papchenko calling himself, it must have something to do with Ike, so he said bluntly Q: "Did Ike's body be found?"

"Comrade Commander, I'm not sure yet whether the corpse we found is Ike, the commander of the Skeleton Division." Colonel Papchenko said, "But Major Vasily reported to me that the uniform worn on the corpse , the rank worn on it is the rank of general of the SS."

"Ike's military rank is SS general." From Papchenko's report, Sokov basically determined that the corpse was Ike, and he quickly ordered the other party: "Immediately arrange manpower and send his body to the come over."

"I have ordered Major Vasily to collect the corpse and send it to your command post."

"Good job, Comrade Colonel." Sokov said gratifiedly: "I believe that killing Ike is enough to award you a medal."

"Comrade Commander, you're honored." Knowing that he might win the medal, Papchenko felt ecstasy in his heart, but he still said in a calm tone, "This is what I should do."

Not long after, Major Vasily himself took a truck and escorted the coffin containing Ike's body to Sokov's headquarters. After some inspection by everyone, it was decided that the deceased was Ike. Sokov quickly ordered Sidolin to send a telegram to Rokossovsky and Zhukov, informing them of the exact news of Ike's death.

Knowing that Ike was really dead, Rokossovsky couldn't help but be overjoyed. He quickly said to Malinin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately report this major victory to the General Staff. They need a battle right now." Such a victory."

Regarding Rokossovsky's order, Malinin did not dare to neglect, and immediately connected the General Staff with a high-frequency telephone, and reported to the Chief of Operations Shtemenko who answered the phone: "Comrade Chief of Operations, this is Malinin, I have good news for you."

Shtemenko was tortured by a series of bad news recently. Hearing what Malinin said at this moment, his eyes lit up: "Comrade Malinin, what good news?"

"Major General Sokov's 41st Guards Division just killed the commander of the German Skeleton Division and SS General Theodor Eck not long ago."

"What, Ike was shot?" Shtemenko felt a little unbelievable about what Malinin said, "Is this true?"

"Of course it's true, Comrade Minister of Operations." Ma Linin said confidently: "This is the telegram that Major General Sokov just sent us. He himself saw Ike's body with his own eyes. He can't be wrong."

"That was a great victory, Comrade Malinin." Shtemenko said excitedly: "If I report this good news to the Supreme Commander himself, he will be very happy."

"Comrade Minister of Operations, please report this good news to the Supreme Commander himself immediately." Ma Linin also said with a smile: "I think he is very happy to hear such good news."

Yeremenko said that he wanted to report to Stalin himself, but according to the procedure, he had to want to report to Antonov, and then the other party reported to Stalin. He picked up the intercom, dialed a number, and said into the microphone: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, can you come to the War Department immediately? I have something important and I need to report to you in person."

Antonov soon came to the War Department, looked at Yeremenko and asked: "Comrade Chief of War, what's important?"

"That's right, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff." Yeremenko said with a smile: "Not long ago, I received a call from General Malinin, who said that the 41st Guards Division of Major General Sokov, not long ago, Successfully killed Ike, the commander of the German Skeleton Division."

"Oh, Ike was shot to death." Antonov also showed a surprised expression on his face when he heard this: "This is really exciting and good news. I wonder if it has been verified?"

"It has already been verified." Yeremenko nodded and said, "Major General Sokov saw Ike's body with his own eyes. There is no doubt about that."

Antonov knew very well that as long as Sokov was involved, there would be absolutely nothing wrong with such a result. He said to Yeremenko: "That's really great. Such good news needs to be reported to Comrade Stalin immediately. Comrade Chief of Operations, you can come with me."

…………

After Colonel Shimon took over Ike's command, he made some adjustments to the deployment of the troops, and then ordered the troops again to attack the Soviet army controlling the south of the city.

Fortunately, Sokov had already guessed that the enemy had the intention to counterattack, so he ordered the anti-tank fighters to carry rocket launchers and hide in the buildings on both sides of the street. Once the enemy tanks came into range, they would immediately use the rocket launchers to destroy them. Then use machine guns to shoot the soldiers who followed the tanks, and beat the enemy to the ground.

In this way, relying on such tactics, Sokov smashed several German counterattacks in a row. Burning German tanks can be seen everywhere on the street, as well as dead German corpses lying on the ground in various poses.

The battle lasted until dark, and the counterattack by the Skeleton Division in the city did not make the slightest progress, but instead lost troops. However, the Banner Guard Division in the southwest and the Imperial Division in the south had already woken up from the Soviet raid. After readjusting their deployment, they rushed towards Barvinkovo ​​aggressively, trying to cooperate with the Skeleton Division in the city to complete the close-up attack. The encirclement operation of the 41st Guards Division.

After Sokov learned the news, he ordered very calmly: "The 124th and 125th regiments each leave a battalion to block the German Imperial Division and Banner Guard Division, and the rest of the troops will move to the outskirts of the city."

"Comrade Commander," Sidolin reminded Sokov: "We have gathered all our troops together, and it is easy to fall into the encirclement of the enemy. You should think about it again."