Red Moscow

General Golikov was taken aback, and quickly asked: "General Kryuchenkin, isn't there a third army of tanks in Kharkov? You can let the tanks cover the infantry and counterattack the enemies who rushed into the city. Get out of town."

"I'm afraid this can't be done, Comrade Front Army Commander." Kryuchenkin said with a sad face, "You should know that most of the tanks of General Rybalko's Third Tank Army were destroyed by the Germans in the early battles. Most of the remaining tanks are also unusable due to lack of fuel and ammunition. Now we are at an absolute disadvantage in terms of the number of tanks. Once the two sides start a battle, we have no chance of winning at all."

"Where is the 25th Guards Division in the south of the city?" In Golikov's mind, among the troops deployed in Kharkov, the most reliable one is the 25th Guards Division of General Sasuke. repelled a German attack from the south for the first time: "What are they doing now?"

"I don't know." Kryuchenkin replied: "The headquarters lost contact with them an hour ago, and I fear that their entire army has been wiped out."

"The entire army is destroyed, how is this possible?" Golikov asked in surprise: "In any case, there are more than 5,000 people in the 25th Guards Division, and the division commander, General Sasuke, is a veteran with rich combat experience. The old commander..."

"Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I didn't lie to you." Seeing that Golikov did not believe what he said, Kryuchenkin quickly defended himself and said, "The Skeleton Division and the Banner Guard Division rushed from the defense area of ​​the 25th Guards Division. We came here. Originally, we could still contain the offensive of the Imperial Division and prevent them from further expanding the occupied area, but as the Skeleton Division and the Banner Guard Division entered the city, the situation became more and more unfavorable to us."

"Immediately send someone to find General Sarkov." General Sarkov is Golikov's favorite general. Now that he has lost contact with him, he is very anxious: "If you want to see people, you need to see dead bodies, understand. ?"

"Understood." Kryuchenkin replied quickly: "I will send someone to find his whereabouts immediately." He did not put down the phone immediately, but asked tentatively, "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, the situation here is very critical." , I wonder if you can send a reserve team to reinforce us?"

"General Kryuchenkin, I don't have a reserve force in my hand." Golikov said impatiently: "The German 11th Army is attacking Belgorod, and the 40th Army is fighting with them." Fighting, I can't spare any troops to reinforce you. You can only rely on your own strength to firmly defend the city, understand?"

After Golikov hung up the phone, he stood on the map and looked at it for a while, thinking that if Kryuchenkin really did not send more reinforcements, maybe Kharkov would not be able to hold it, so he used the high-level weapon on the table to He made a frequency call and got through to the General Staff. Hearing Antonov's voice, he said straight to the point: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, I am Golikov."

"It's General Golikov." Antonov was one of Golikov's subordinates before the war, so he spoke in a very polite tone: "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Under the strong offensive of the German army, the situation in Kharkov and Belgorod under our control is not very good." Golikov said: "I hope that the headquarters can send us reinforcements immediately so that we can be rescued." Army rescued from danger."

"General Golikov," Antonov waited for Golikov to finish, and explained to him: "If you want to send reinforcements, you must go through the discussion of the Supreme Command. But I have some good news for you. "

"What good news?"

"At the suggestion of Major General Sokov, the commander of the 27th Army," said Antonov, "the 21st, 6th and 64th Armies will attack in the direction of Barvinkovo, and the Southwestern Front will also launch in the direction of Izyum. Feint to attract the enemy's attention. In this way, the enemy's offensive against you will definitely weaken, and you can buy time to strengthen the existing defense."

"Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, everything you said is meaningless to us." Golikov said anxiously: "What we need is reinforcements to strengthen our army's existing forces." Defense, to ensure that the enemy cannot take Kharkov and Belgorod from us."

"General Golikov," Antonov said cautiously, "I will immediately report the situation there to the Supreme Commander himself, and see if I can send reinforcements for you as soon as possible."

After finishing the call, Antonov did not go to Stalin's office immediately, but ordered someone to send relevant information, studied it carefully, and then set off for Stalin's office.

Poskrebyshev, who was sitting outside, saw Antonov walking in with a serious expression, and immediately realized that something unpleasant had happened, and quickly asked tentatively: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, are you sure?" Things got worse on the frontier?"

"Yes, Comrade Poskrebyshev." After Antonov gave the other party an affirmative answer, he asked, "Is Comrade Stalin in the office?"

"He's inside." Poskrebyshev replied, "He's reading a report on the Leningrad Front Army, and he doesn't seem to be in a good mood. Be careful when you go in later."

Antonov walked into Stalin's office. Stalin, who was sitting in the back of the office and reading the report, raised his head, looked at Antonov and asked slowly: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, why are you in a hurry to find me? thing?"

"Comrade Stalin," Antonov said without circling around, but straight to the point: "The situation in the direction of our army in Kharkov has become worse. According to the information we have, the German army has invested 14 divisions, including four armored divisions, three SS divisions, one motorized infantry division, three infantry divisions..."

After waiting for a while for Antonov's report, Stalin asked, "How many tanks does the enemy have?"

"No less than four hundred Li vehicles."

"Then what about our army?"

"Less than seventy, and this is the statistics from yesterday evening." Antonov said cautiously: "I think the number of tanks our army has at the moment will be much less."

"The situation is very serious, Comrade Antonov." After listening to the report, Stalin said with a serious expression: "Tell me, what should we do to save the situation in the direction of Kharkov?"

"I think we should send troops for reinforcements." Antonov said to Stalin: "I checked, we can mobilize the 2nd Guards Army, the 18th Tank Army and the 3rd Tank Army of the Supreme Command for reinforcements. , they can appear on the battlefield in two days."

"Comrade Antonov, I have a question." After lighting his pipe with a match, Stalin frowned and asked, "Why did the German army be silent a while ago, but suddenly made such a big commotion these days? "

"Comrade Stalin, I think the recent actions of the German army may be related to the transfer of Major General Sokov."

"Oh, the recent actions of the German army have something to do with Misha's transfer?" Stalin asked with great interest, "Comrade Antonov, what is the reason?"

"Yes, Comrade Stalin, according to my analysis, this is exactly the case." Antonov explained to Stalin: "Major General Sokov launched an active attack on the German army before he became the commander of the Sixth Army. Moreover, the enemy was beaten and disabled, so that the German army had to mobilize a large number of troops to guard against him.

However, as he was transferred away, and the commander who took over his position did not take office for a long time, the acting chief of staff did not dare to make decisions without authorization, so he could only order the troops to concentrate on building fortifications. The Germans may know that Sokov has been transferred away, and seeing that the Sixth Army is busy repairing fortifications, they may not be able to spare the strength to attack themselves, so they can safely and boldly deploy troops to launch an attack on Kharkov-Bel Gorod's attack. "

"Cunning German guy." Stalin took the pipe out of his mouth, and after dozing hard on the ashtray a few times, he asked Antonov: "Do you think our troops can hold Kharkov—Bergo Rhodes?"

"Comrade Stalingrad, it's hard to say whether Belgorod can hold it, but Kharkov will definitely not be able to hold it." Antonov explained to Stalin: "The German 48th Army detoured to Kharko. The defenders in the city can be said to have fallen into the siege of the German army. They faced two choices, one is to continue to fight the Germans until the entire army is wiped out; Taking advantage of the opportunity that the German encirclement had just formed and was not yet strong enough, he decisively chose a weak direction to break through,..."

"Kharkov is an important tank production base in our country, and it must not be easily handed over to the Germans." Stalin said with a serious expression: "Comrade Antonov, I agree with your proposal just now, and transfer the 2nd Guards Army , the 18th Tank Corps and the 3rd Tank Corps of the Supreme Command went to reinforcements to defend Kharkov at all costs."

"Yes, Comrade Stalin." Seeing that Stalin had agreed to his suggestion, Antonov quickly replied, "I will immediately deploy troops and tell General Golikov the good news."

After Golikov learned that the reinforcements would arrive two days later, he couldn't help but smile. He assured Antonov: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, please rest assured that with these reinforcements, we will surely We are sure to keep Kharkov and Belgorod, and we will never let these two cities fall into the hands of the Germans again."

In order to boost morale, Golikov quickly called Kryuchenkin to inform Kryuchenkin of the good news that the reinforcements would arrive within two days. After Kryuchenkin heard the good news, he immediately became excited as if he had been beaten with chicken blood. He immediately ordered his chief of staff: "Chief of staff, immediately order the 17th and 19th infantry brigades to cooperate with the 179th tank brigade Next, launch a full-scale counterattack against the German troops rushing into the city."

Regarding Kryuchenkin's order, the chief of staff of the group army reminded him cautiously: "Comrade commander, these two infantry brigades and one tank brigade are the only reserves in our hands. If the counterattack is unsuccessful, I am afraid that the situation in the city will be even more unfavorable to us."

"It doesn't matter, Comrade Chief of Staff." Kryuchenkin said with a relaxed expression: "The superior has sent us reinforcements. As soon as they arrive, we can completely smash the enemy's attack and drive them far away from the city. .”

"Comrade Commander," the chief of staff did not give up his efforts, and continued to persuade: "General Rybarco's 3rd Tank Army has basically lost its combat effectiveness. The 179th Tank Brigade is the only tank unit in our hands. If the battle When things don’t go well and we have to abandon the city, we still need these tanks to lead the way and help us break through the enemy’s encirclement.”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, what's the matter with you?" Hearing his chief of staff say this, Kryuchenkin became a little impatient: "Didn't I tell you that the reinforcements will arrive soon? There are reinforcements in the reinforcements." Two tank armies, with their arrival, the number of tanks on both sides will soon be balanced. If we don't want to recover more places now, when the reinforcements arrive, there will not be enough space to place such tanks Lots of tanks."

Seeing that Kryuchenkin was so stubborn, the chief of staff knew that there would be no results if he continued to persuade him, so he could only bite the bullet and said helplessly: "Okay, comrade commander, I will immediately notify the three brigade commanders and order them Launch a full-scale counterattack."

As the order was issued, Soviet commanders and fighters, under the cover of tanks, launched a comprehensive counterattack towards the area occupied by the Germans. At the beginning, the German army was caught off guard, and many newly occupied areas were recaptured by the Soviet army. But with the emergence of German tanks and anti-tank guns, the situation was reversed. One after another Soviet tanks were destroyed on the streets of the city by German tanks and anti-tank guns during the counterattack.

The infantry who lost the cover of the tank were immediately exposed to the powerful firepower of the enemy. The counterattack, which was still imposing, was contained, and the commanders and fighters could only retreat while fighting, trying to quickly return to their attack positions and rely on the terrain there to resist the German attack.

However, the enemy kept chasing after him. The defenders in the fortification saw the enemy and the retreating soldiers mingled together. For fear of accidentally injuring their own people, they didn't dare to shoot casually. They could only watch the enemy rush in. own position. In this way, the counterattack launched by the Soviet army not only failed to achieve the goal of regaining the lost ground, but also lost a lot of territory.

After learning that the counterattack failed, the chief of staff immediately said to Kryuchenkin: "Comrade Commander, our counterattack has failed. I believe it will not be long before enemy tanks will appear at the entrance of our command department. , I think it’s better to retreat quickly.”

Kryuchenkin knew that he would continue to fight, so he decisively followed the advice of the chief of staff: "Well, immediately notify the commanders of the various units, and immediately break out to the east of the city, and rush to Belgorod and the No. The troops of the 40th Army are converging."

After hearing the order to break out of the siege, the troops that had just retreated immediately launched a new attack to the east of the city without even being able to catch their breath. The commanders and fighters knew very well that if they did not break out of the enemy's encirclement when it was not secure, once they were trapped by the shock, breaking out would become an impossible task.

When the headquarters was about to break out with the troops and was dismantling the telephone line, the chief of staff suddenly received a call, and an anxious voice came out of the receiver: "Comrade chief of staff, I am..." The other party had just said this, and the phone went off. There was a sudden break. The chief of staff thought it was some commander asking about the phone call about the breakout, so he didn't take it to heart. After putting down the phone, he said to the communications soldier on the side, "This phone can also be dismantled."