Red Moscow

In the night battle, although there were no tanks involved, Sokov's troops still achieved good results. After a fierce battle, the 254th Division occupied the family area of ​​the machinery processing plant and a nearby street before dawn.

After learning about the results achieved by the right-wing troops, Sokov decisively issued an order to Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please tell Colonel Shechtman that what they will do next is to do everything possible to Hold the occupied area. Do not attack the enemy without further orders from me."

After listening to the inexplicable order issued by Sokov, Sameko asked in puzzlement: "Comrade commander, I have already transferred the 188th division into the city. Continue to expand the results during the day."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, if we blindly expand the results of the war and occupy more areas, we will have to divide our forces." Sokov explained to Sameko: "The enemy's strength in Kharkov far exceeds Without our army, before the main force of the front army reaches the outside of Kharkov, they are fully capable of concentrating superior forces to carry out a counterattack. However, due to the scattered forces of ours, facing the crazy counterattack of the German army, it may not be easy to stop them matter."

"I understand, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Sokov had considered all the issues that should be considered, Sameko quickly stated: "I will truthfully convey your instructions to Colonel Shechtman. "

"General Sokov," Sokov had just put down the phone when he heard Tsvetayev who was sitting next to him say, "After spending the past few days together, I found that the issues you are thinking about are indeed similar to those of us. The older commanders are different. If my troops entered the city and occupied such a large area, I would definitely order them to continue to expand the results of the battle and attack the enemy continuously in order to obtain a larger territory."

"Comrade General," Sokov said with a smile: "The results achieved by our army yesterday have made us the target of the enemy's public criticism. After dawn, the enemy will definitely launch a crazy attack in an attempt to recover their lost positions. If we If you continue to maintain an offensive posture, it will be an egg hitting a rock."

"Your metaphor is very vivid." Tsvetayev gave Sokov a thumbs up: "After spending the past few days with you, listening to the various orders you issued and the results achieved by the troops, I think if you want to win the battle, you have to learn from you."

Hearing Tsvetayev's praise, Sokov couldn't help but blushed a little, and said a little embarrassedly: "Comrade General, in fact, I haven't attended any military academy, and the tactics I usually use in battle are all I figured it out."

"You can achieve such a brilliant record by figuring it out. If you really make a few battle plans seriously, you might be able to drive the enemy across the Dnieper River."

"Comrade General, your wish will come true soon." Sokov stood up straight, looked at Tsvetayev and said, "After we liberate Kharkov, the next battle we launch will be will drive all the Germans across the Dnieper."

"But, General Sokov." But Tsvetayev was obviously not as optimistic as Sokov. He frowned and said, "Have you forgotten that our Southwest Front Army and Voronezh Front Army occupied Kharkov at the beginning of the year?" , and fought fiercely with the Germans on the Dnieper River. But it is regrettable that the Germans, who were at a disadvantage in terms of strength and equipment, won the final victory, and even took Kazakhstan from our hands again. Berkov and Belgorod."

Seeing Tsvetayev's expression of gritted teeth and bulging veins on his forehead, Sokov understood the other party's feelings very well. At the beginning of the year, the Soviet army took advantage of the great victory in Stalingrad, and used far more troops and technical equipment than the enemy to attack Manstein. Yin's forces attacked. Although the early stage progressed smoothly, as the front stretched, the Soviet army's logistical supplies gradually failed to keep up, so that in the battle, many tanks and artillery were eventually captured by the German army because they ran out of ammunition.

"Although our offensive battle in the Dnieper River Basin at the beginning of the year ended in failure." Sokov comforted the other party and said: "But the situation today is different from the beginning of the year. In the Battle of Kursk, which ended not long ago, the German army lost There are a large number of elite troops, and the combat effectiveness of the temporary supplementary troops is much weaker. I believe that if the two sides meet again on the Dnieper River, we will definitely win in the end."

If someone else said that, Tsvetayev must be because the other party was drunk, but he would not be so drunk when he had a salted fish. But the words came out of Sokov's mouth, which added a bit of credibility out of thin air. He nodded slowly: "General Sokov, if your 27th Army is among the troops participating in the attack, I believe that the final victory will be achieved. You are the nightmare of the Germans, just hearing your orders , their soldiers will lose their ranks and demoralize because of fright.”

Seeing that Tsvetayev gave himself such a high evaluation, Sokov seemed a little embarrassed: "Comrade General, you are too good at it. I am not as capable as you said."

"I'm telling the truth, General Sokov." Tsvetayev said sternly: "If there are more capable commanders like you among the commanders of the army group, we will achieve greater victories on the battlefield and establish Greater feat."

After dawn, General Rotmistrov's tank unit, in three attack wedges, crossed the ravine in front of the starting position and rushed into the sunflower field. According to the order, they will rush directly to the main road from Akhturka to Kharkov.

The German army discovered the Soviet army's attempt and immediately intercepted it with artillery fire. The shells landed in the tanks and exploded. Columns of mud shot up into the sky, and the mud crackled on the bodies of the passing tanks.

Although there were some unlucky tanks that were directly destroyed by the German artillery fire and stopped burning in the sunflower fields, the uninjured tanks still marched forward under the enemy's artillery fire.

The torrent of steel from the Soviet army passed through the sunflower fields and came to an open field. Here they were accidentally intercepted by German anti-tank guns and anti-aircraft guns.

Although the German anti-tank guns had to be at a distance of two to three hundred meters to have a chance to penetrate the frontal armor of the Soviet T-34 tanks; but the 88mm anti-aircraft guns deployed on the positions were a nightmare for Soviet tanks. It was just a round of shooting, and the tank battalion rushing to the front was wiped out in an instant. About 20 tanks were parked on the open ground and burned, and the tank soldiers who escaped from the tanks were also sniped by German snipers. Before they ran far, they drank bullets and died one after another.

The tanks in front were destroyed, and the tanks behind continued to swarm in. The Soviet tank commander confidently believed that although the enemy had set up anti-tank positions in front, they could not resist his own army, which consisted of more than 200 tanks. torrent of steel. As long as you keep going, you can use the tracks to crush all those damn anti-tank guns or anti-aircraft guns of the Germans.

But there is a difference between ideal and reality after all. The tank group that continued to advance forward, although a tank column broke through the first defensive position of the German 3rd Armored Division, it was attacked by the Panther tanks and Tiger tanks ambushing here. In the head-on attack of tanks and assault soldiers, the Soviet tanks were either destroyed on the spot or retreated hastily.

Rotmistrov learned that the tank army was ambushed by German anti-tank weapons and tank troops on the way to attack. After suffering heavy casualties, he gave the army commander an order to withdraw to the starting position immediately. .

The tank commander, who received Rotmistrov's order, immediately ordered his tanks to use alternate cover, withdraw from the battlefield, and return to the starting point of the attack as quickly as possible.

Knowing that the tank army had returned to the starting point of the attack, Rotmistrov couldn't wait to ask the army commander: "Comrade commander, have your casualty data come out?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." The commander of the tank army replied bitterly: "According to incomplete statistics, the number of tanks we lost in the offensive was between 160 and 200."

Hearing the data on the loss of tanks, Rotmistrov couldn't help taking a breath: "What, your army has paid such a heavy lesson in today's offensive?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander." The tank commander quickly explained to Rotmistrov: "I just didn't expect that the enemy would deploy anti-tank guns and 88mm anti-aircraft guns behind the sunflower field, Plus there are Panther tanks, Tiger tanks and assault guns, and it is at the price of these firepower that our tanks pay heavy casualties."

After the tank commander finished speaking, seeing Rotmistrov's face sinking into water, he couldn't help feeling flustered, and quickly stated: "Comrade commander, I will immediately regroup and attack the enemy again. If you don’t believe it, you can’t break through the enemy’s defenses.”

Facing the impulsive subordinates, Rotmistrov quickly stopped him and said: "Comrade Colonel, your army suffered too much losses in the battle today. Even if you regroup and launch an attack, I am afraid it will be difficult to achieve any results. I It seems that you should take your troops down, and I will order other troops to complete this task."

Hearing what Rotmistrov said, although the tank commander was unwilling, he was helpless. He could only raise his hand to salute, then turned and walked out of the headquarters.

As soon as the tank commander left, the Chief of Staff Solomatin said: "Comrade Commander, I think today's tactics are very problematic. The sunflower fields block the sight of our tank soldiers, preventing them from discovering the enemy's attack immediately." Anti-tank positions, and ambushes of Panther tanks, Tiger tanks and assault guns.

Moreover, our tanks were divided into three wedge formations. When attacked by the German army, they could not form an advantage in firepower, and thus were defeated one by one by the enemy. "

Solomatin's words made Rotmistrov frown. He stared at the map in front of him for a long time, then raised his head and said to Solomatin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you are right. Our offensive surface was laid out too quickly today, which weakened the troops' offensive power. If tomorrow If we want to attack again, we must concentrate all our forces and launch an assault on the enemy's position."

"What are you going to do?"

"Chief of Staff, look here." Rotmistrov tapped twice on the map and said, "There is a railway line here, which only leads directly to the main road of Kharkov. Tomorrow In the battle we attacked along the railroad line with a huge wedge of tanks, and after passing through the sunflower field, we rushed rapidly into the depths of the enemy's defenses."

Solomatin stared at the map for a while, then nodded and said, "Comrade Commander, I agree with your suggestion and attack along the railway line. I don't believe that the enemy will deploy a large number of troops along the railway line. Even if We were bombarded and attacked by the enemy along the way, but we were able to tear through the enemy's defenses and advance into the depths of their defenses."

After formulating the battle plan for the next day, Solomatin reported the plan and today's battle report to the Front Army Command.

Seeing the battle report handed over by Solomatin, Konev was so angry that he threw a tea mug on the table to the ground and cursed angrily: "What does this Rotmistrov do? The tank army attacked, and nearly 200 tanks were destroyed by the Germans in less than an hour. Will he know how to fight? If not, I can find someone who can fight to replace him.”

"Comrade Commander, please calm down." Seeing Konev's rage, Zakharov hurried out to smooth things over: "As early as two days ago, Comrade Sokov reminded us that the Germans might use the sunflower fields to build defenses position, to prevent our army's tanks from developing in depth."

"Yes, he did say that." Konev replied blankly: "I even ordered the air force to conduct aerial reconnaissance, but unfortunately, the enemy is too hidden, and our aerial reconnaissance is nothing. .”

As soon as he mentioned Sokov, Konev became angry. He said angrily: "This Sokov is really outrageous. His troops have already established a foothold in the southwest of the city, but he Don't let the troops expand the results of the battle, but just stick to the existing area and fight the Germans."

"Comrade Commander," Zakharov saw that Konev was angry with Sokov, and hurried out to smooth things over: "I think Comrade Sokov must have his reasons for doing this."

"Reason, what reason?" Konev said dissatisfiedly: "He is passively avoiding the battle. If it weren't for the merits he had made before, I would have dismissed him and investigated him."

Hearing Konev say such insincere words, Zakharov couldn't help laughing: "Actually, you also understand in your heart that Sokov is doing the right thing. The enemy in the city is much stronger than him. If If he continues to attack, he will inevitably disperse his forces, and he may fall into the encirclement of the German army at that time.

However, the main force of our army has not yet reached the city of Kharkov, so it will be very difficult for them to get out of trouble. Therefore, the best way is to consolidate the existing area and consume a large amount of the active forces of the German army. After the main force of our army enters Kharkov, they will attack from the southwest and cooperate with the main force to destroy the defenders in the city. "

Konev's anger came and went quickly, and Zakharov's words just gave him a step to step down. He coughed lightly, and then asked Zakharov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, tell me, what is General Rotmistrov's attack plan for tomorrow?"