Red Moscow

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov saw that Sidolin had misunderstood his intentions, and quickly explained to him: "I have concentrated the troops, not intending to let them stick to Barvenkovo, but to transfer to the new place, looking for opportunities to attack the weak points of the German army."

"Comrade Commander, please forgive me." Sidolin continued: "If the three German divisions converge, their strength will be extremely strong. Let alone our division, even if it is an army group, it may not be possible to defeat them. Easy stuff."

"That's right, if the three divisions of the German army are gathered together, let alone one of our divisions, even an army group, they will not be their opponents. This is proved by General Popov and General Rybalko with bloody facts Passed." Sokov pointed to the map and said to Sidolin: "After dark, order the two remaining battalions to quickly move to Barvenkovo. Remember, during the transfer process, the more noise you make, the more good."

"If their actions are discovered by the enemy, the enemy will definitely follow and pursue them." Sidolin reminded Sokov again: "I am worried that if the enemy's action speed is too fast, they will be able to follow our retreating troops and rush into us. Army's line of defense."

"After dark, I plan to order the troops to move east." Sokov said to Sidolin with a smile: "In the enemy's false positions, there are no troops at all. What's the effect?"

Sukov's words made Sidolin confused, and he asked puzzledly: "Mr. Comrade, I don't understand what you mean. Can you explain to me?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, according to my judgment, the enemy's Imperial Division is now the weakest of the three divisions." Sokov pointed to the map and explained to Sidolin: "I plan to let the troops go back to the Imperial Division. , find an opportunity to beat them hard. If possible, maybe we can take out the German division headquarters directly."

Sidolin did not comment on Sokov's statement. He pointed to the positions of the two infantry battalions that were now broken, and tentatively asked Sokov: "Comrade commander, you plan to abandon the commanders and fighters of these two battalions. ?"

"Abandon them? How is this possible." Sokov continued: "The reason why I let them make some noise when retreating is to attract the attention of the enemy and attract them to the Barvinkovo ​​area. In the dark In the game, the enemies can't see each other clearly, so they can completely kill each other here."

After listening to Sokov's explanation, Sidolin's eyes lit up immediately: "Comrade commander, your strategy is really wonderful. When the enemy comes to a strange place at night and is attacked, the instinctive reaction is to counterattack , In this way, they can completely fight their own people with their own people."

"In order to prevent the Germans from discovering the flaws prematurely, a certain number of German-style weapons should be equipped with the two battalions after the breakup." Sokov said: "In this way, when they have a misunderstanding, even if they hear the sound of German-style equipment from the opposite side The sound of shooting might be mistaken for a battle with our army.”

"Who is the battalion commander of the two battalions that have been cut off now?"

"One is Major Briski, the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 124th Regiment, and the other is Major Shamrih, the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 125th Regiment."

Hearing these two familiar names, Sokov nodded slightly, and said: "They are the old commanders of the infantry brigade, and they are very familiar with my tactics. I am very relieved that they will carry out this task."

After dark, the 122nd regiment left a company on the position to monitor the enemy, and the rest of the troops followed the main force of the 124th and 125th regiments and moved eastward. Some soldiers felt that they had just arrived outside the city of Barvinkovo ​​before dark, and they were about to go to bed, but somehow they had to move again, so they couldn't help complaining. Fortunately, the grassroots commanders of each regiment are basically from the infantry brigade. They understand Sokov's tactics and explain them to the soldiers who complained. After the explanations of the grassroots commanders, after the complaints of the soldiers disappeared, they all faithfully carried out the orders of their superiors, and used the cover of night to quietly move towards the east.

In order to prevent the enemy from discovering that the troops had been transferred, Sokov left two radio stations outside the city of Barvinkovo, constantly sending out radio signals, making the enemy think that the headquarters of the Guards Division was still staying in the suburbs.

At one o'clock in the morning, the Briski Battalion was ordered to withdraw from its current defensive position and move towards Barvinkovo. According to Sokov's order, they deliberately made noise when they began to retreat, which alarmed the German scouts hidden nearby.

Seeing that the Soviet army was about to retreat, the German scouts immediately reported the news. Knowing that the Soviet army was going to retreat, the German division commander was not happy. He thought to himself that this damn Russian army had wiped out the strength of his two battalions in more than a day. How could they let them escape easily? Hastily issued a pursuit order to his troops.

With the order issued, the German army, which was about to rest, regrouped. Full of rage, they pursued the Russian troops fleeing towards Barvinkovo, ready to wipe out the troops that had disturbed their sleep.

At the same time, the Battalion of Shamrih also retreated towards Barvinkovo ​​with the troops of the Banner Guard Division. Major Shamrich, as a commander with rich combat experience, felt that Sokov's plan was too risky, because at this time, the troops heading to Barvinkovo ​​included not only his own battalion, but also a battalion of friendly forces. What if the two sides regard each other as enemies and a misunderstanding occurs? Or it seems that the chasing enemy is mistaken for the opponent, and what should I do if I suffer losses?

Regarding these issues, he felt that Sokov did not explain clearly. Therefore, he continued to send scouts to the direction of the Briski camp to conduct reconnaissance and keep abreast of the opponent's movements.

Less than two kilometers away from the city, a scout came to meet Shamrih with officers from the Briski Battalion. After seeing Shamrih, the officer said to him: "Comrade Major, our battalion is now one kilometer to your left. Please move closer to us as soon as possible so that we can retreat according to the route designated by our superiors."

Knowing that the friendly army was only one kilometer away from him, Shamrih immediately gave an order to his troops, "Leave a company to block the enemy, and the rest of the troops rushed to the left to join the friendly army."

The Ninth Company under the command of Deputy Battalion Commander Captain Yakuda stayed behind to take on the post-break mission. Shamrih told him: "Comrade Captain, you only need to stand here for an hour, and then you can withdraw from your position and follow our Leaving behind the road signs, jump out of the enemy's encirclement."

"Don't worry, Comrade Battalion Commander." Yakuda replied, "We promise to complete the order."

The vanguard of the Banner Guard Division soon caught up, and they were hit head-on by the sailors here, and they were defeated and retreated on the spot. Half an hour later, after receiving reinforcements, they launched an attack again, but unfortunately it still didn't work, and finally retreated.

The third attack was launched an hour later. This time the attack was directed by Major Hansen, commander of the Second Battalion of the First Regiment of the German Army. He first ordered the mortar to point in the direction of the Soviet army's position, and after shelling, he personally led the troops forward. Watching the battalion commanders take the lead in the charge, the blood of the soldiers was aroused, and they shouted and rushed to the positions that were still smoldering with fire and gunpowder smoke.

This time the position of the Soviet army was very quiet, and when the German soldiers rushed into the position, there was not a single shot. Seeing this situation, Hansen couldn't help frowning. He called a company commander and asked, "What's going on here? Why did the Russians disappear without firing a single shot?"

"Mr. Major," his subordinate replied, "I reckon the Russians were stunned by the artillery fire just now. They felt that if they stayed in the position, they would definitely die, so they gave up on their own initiative regardless of their commander's order." The camp fled."

Hansen felt that what his subordinates said made sense. After nodding his head, he ordered the radio operator to report the news of the occupation of the Soviet positions to the division headquarters, and said that he planned to lead the troops to pursue in the direction of Barvinkovo, and asked his superiors to contact him. Allies, support yourself.

On the right flank of Hansen's battalion, a battalion of the Imperial Division also captured the empty Soviet position and was advancing in the direction of Barvinkovo.

Ten minutes later, the two battalions met in the dark.

Both sides regarded each other as the Soviet army, and shot without saying a word.

Sokov's previous layout played a role at this moment. It stands to reason that when the German army heard that the weapons used by the opponent were German-style equipment, they would definitely pay more attention to whether there was a misunderstanding with the friendly army. However, because Sokov equipped the two battalions of the broken rear with a large number of German weapons, the officers and soldiers of the Banner Guard Division and the Imperial Division who had exchanged fire with the broken rear troops all regarded each other as the Soviet army, and naturally they would not fight. show mercy.

At this time, the two battalions and one company remaining in the German encirclement successfully jumped out of the German encirclement along the passage left in advance.

Hearing the sound of gunshots and explosions behind him, Briski smiled and said to Shamrih: "Comrade Lieutenant Commander, the fighting there is really lively. When the enemy finds out that they are their own people fighting with their own people , I am afraid that the casualties will not be small."

And Shamrih said with emotion: "It is better to use the division commander's strategy. Let us lead the enemy to a place and let them kill each other, so that we can calmly jump out of the German army's enemy from the designated passage." encirclement."

"Order the troops to speed up." Briski said to his company commander: "We will jump behind the Imperial Division and beat them hard."

…………

Colonel Simon, the acting commander of the Skeleton Division in the city, heard the fierce battle outside the city, and received a telegram from the Division Headquarters of the Banner Guard, and learned that the two friendly troops had rushed outside the city and were fighting the Russians there. In the fierce battle, he quickly considered an infantry battalion in the south of the city. Under the cover of tanks, he rushed to the fierce battle area to assist friendly forces in annihilating the Russians there.

However, what Colonel Shimon didn't expect was that the two German troops, who had been fighting each other, saw a large army approaching from a distance, and thought it was the reinforcements of the Soviet Army, so they immediately stopped attacking each other, turned their guns, Open fire on the troops coming out of the city.

The three most elite SS divisions of the German army opened fire on their imaginary enemies in the dark. In the battle, not only the officers and soldiers of which division were extremely tenacious. Even if they were seriously injured, they would pull off the grenade and die with the "enemies" rushing up around them.

When Sokov led the troops into the enemy's rear, all commanders and fighters wore German uniforms, and even in the ensuing battles, they still wore the same clothes. As a result, the German officers and soldiers who were in the melee, with the help of the flames generated by the explosion or the lighting of the burning objects, could clearly see that the people around them were wearing the same uniform as themselves, but they thought they were Russians wearing makeup, and they fought more intensely. .

The more heroic the officers and soldiers behaved, the more casualties they inflicted on their allies.

The three division commanders soon found that they had lost contact with the forward troops. Realizing that something was wrong, they sent someone to inquire about the news, only to find out that it was actually their own people fighting with their own people. The troops sent to stop them not only failed to stop the three-party melee, but made the situation worse and involved them in the battle group.

Knowing that the situation was getting worse, the three division commanders immediately made a phone call to discuss how to stop the scuffle. In the end, it was Colonel Shimon who proposed to fire a large number of flares into the air to make the battlefield as bright as daylight, so that the troops in the scuffle could clearly see that they were fighting with their own people, not the enemy.

His suggestion was quickly endorsed by the other two division commanders. Soon, countless flares were raised on the battlefield. At the same time, the troops that had not yet been involved in the battle group were also communicating with bugles.

In this way, after more than half an hour of tossing, the three parties who were fighting in the scuffle finally stopped. In order to avoid further misunderstandings, the troops of the three divisions all retreated one kilometer and regrouped.

After dawn, the three division commanders came from different places to the place where the melee was fought at night. Seeing the destroyed tanks and corpses everywhere on the battlefield, Colonel Shimon said sadly: "Two generals, what is going on? Why do the troops of our three divisions have a misunderstanding here, and our own people are fighting with our own people?"

The commander of the Banner Guard Division said angrily: "My subordinates told me that they were holding on to the retreating Russians, but unfortunately they were attacked by friendly forces. As a result, all the Russians fled."

"Gentlemen, now is not the time to pursue responsibility." The commander of the Imperial Division said, "What we should consider is how to report this unfortunate news to General Hausser."

As soon as his words came out, the other two division commanders were silent. Everyone knew that the nature of this incident was bad. If they couldn't find a suitable reason, everyone would be unable to escape the blame.