Red Moscow

Knowing that the vanguard of the 18th Guards Army on the left wing had advanced to 18 kilometers from Uman, Kurishenko was a little impatient. He said to Sokov: "Comrade commander, anyway , our division is all your old troops. Now that we have such a good opportunity to make contributions, you can't let us sit on the bench here."

After hearing this, Sokov looked sideways at Shtemenko who was sitting beside him, and then said with a smile: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, look, our commanders heard that there was a war, and each one was more active than the other. .”

When he faced Kurishenko again, he said seriously: "General Kurishenko, the attack on Uman has just begun, and there are still many battles to be fought. Don't worry that there are no battles for you to fight, or hurry up Take a rest, and when you need you, you can pull the troops out at any time."

When Sokov and Shtemenko were eating at the headquarters of the 41st Guards Division, the 233rd Division of the 57th Army had already approached the town of Golovanivsik, preparing to attack the town overnight.

After receiving the call from Chumakov, Colonel Yesenin, the division commander, immediately assured him: "Don't worry, Comrade Commander. I will deploy the attack immediately, and we will take the whole town before dawn."

Chumakov believed in Yesenin's statement. Today, he and his allies broke through the four lines of defense of the German army. The enemy who retreated to the town had only two battalions. Dealing with them is no small matter. So he said with a smile: "Well, Comrade Colonel, when the town of Golovanivsik is captured, I will personally ask the commander for credit for your division!"

After Yesenin put down the phone, he ordered someone to call the head of the 699 regiment. He said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the army commander has an order to let our division capture the town of Golovanivsik overnight. Your regiment is the vanguard of the entire division. How about it? Do you have confidence?"

It may be that after the troops of the 57th Army entered the battlefield, they fought so smoothly that the commanders of each unit had some thoughts of underestimating the enemy. After hearing Yesenin's words, the regiment leader patted his chest and said, "Comrade commander, when has our regiment let you down? Don't worry, our regiment will definitely be able to take the town of Golovanivsik before dawn." .If you have no objection, after the enemies in the town have been wiped out, I want to lead the troops to continue rushing towards Uman."

In the afternoon battle, thanks to the support of the airborne troops, Yesenin's division successfully broke through the German fourth line of defense. At this moment, in Yesenin's mind, the German army in the town was vulnerable, and it was a bit too flattering to say that they would be dealt with before dawn. If they were dismissed as in the afternoon, the battle might be resolved within an hour or two. If they can continue to advance towards Uman after occupying the town, and achieve certain results, it is possible that by the end of the battle, their own troops may also be reorganized into a guard division.

Thinking of this, Yesenin's head began to heat up. He nodded and said to the head of the regiment: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, then I will wait for the good news of your victory."

The head of the 699 regiment knew in his heart that there were many buildings in the town. If artillery preparations were carried out before the attack, the enemy might withdraw from the position and hide in the buildings in the town. At that time, his troops would have to fight the enemy on the streets. up. Street fighting was the most time-consuming, and he didn't want such a situation to happen, so he rejected the artillery preparation suggested by Yesenin and planned to use a sneak attack to capture the town of Golovanivsik.

In order to take down the town as soon as possible, the whole regiment approached the town secretly under the cover of night, intending to rush into the German position by surprise and annihilate the main force outside the town, so that the next battle will be easier to fight.

Unexpectedly, when there were more than 300 meters away from the town, the troops that were quietly moving forward were spotted by the German guard post. After he sent out the signal, rows of large and small flames flashed on the ground, and the commanders and fighters who were approaching the fortifications seemed to have hit a transparent grid, shaking and falling down a large piece.

But the commanders and fighters were flustered, and they immediately dispersed into groups of three or five, and continued to rush forward quickly, intending to rush to the front of the enemy's position as soon as possible, and the enemy's firepower would lose their threat to them.

The Germans saw that the firepower network composed of machine guns, rifles and submachine guns could not stop the Soviet army from advancing, so they set up mortars and began to bombard them. The shells fell into the ranks of the Soviet army and exploded, and the shrapnel flying around knocked down the commanders and fighters near the blast point. But as soon as someone fell here, new commanders and fighters immediately stepped forward to fill their seats.

The firepower of the German army was fierce, but it did not slow down the advancing speed of the Soviet commanders and fighters in the slightest. After a while, the commanders and fighters who rushed fast were less than a hundred meters away from the position, but at this moment, something unexpected happened. Two rows of barbed wire suddenly appeared, blocking the way of the commanders and fighters.

Since it was already dark when the Soviet army reached the outskirts of the town, no one noticed that there was a barbed wire fence as high as half a person in front of the German position. In fact, even if someone saw it, they would think it was a bush.

The commanders and fighters who were blocked by the barbed wire seemed a little flustered. Some people tried to retreat, but the people behind blocked the way; some were hung on the barbed wire, unable to advance or retreat.

The German army on the ground discovered the Soviet commanders and fighters who were blocked in front of the barbed wire, and immediately fired several machine guns over them. At the same time, screams rang out one after another, and people were shot and fell everywhere.

Since the Soviet commanders generally rushed to the forefront, after being shot by German machine guns, they were either sacrificed or seriously injured, and could not continue to command the battle. The soldiers who had lost their command were at a loss, and they were all crowded in the barbed wire to advance in a dilemma. At the same time, under the firepower of the German army's machine guns, the casualties continued to increase.

The soldiers who were squeezed in front of the barbed wire were not willing to sit and wait for death, so they hacked the barbed wire with the bayonet in their hands. But the bayonet is not the best tool for cutting the barbed wire. Although the cutting sparks are scattered at the starting point, the barbed wire has not been cut off. Some soldiers tried to jump over the barbed wire in front of them, but they were caught by the barbs on it, making them even more unable to escape.

The soldiers in front of the barbed wire gathered more and more, turning into a human wall. The German army immediately concentrated all its firepower and crazily output it in this direction, and the bullets shot countless blood mist in the crowd. The soldiers in front fell in pieces, while the soldiers behind continued to surge up. In this way, countless soldiers fell under the intensive firepower of the German army.

The head of the 699th regiment at the command post at the back saw his troops suddenly stop advancing and suffered heavy casualties under the intensive firepower of the German army, and he was suddenly stunned.

He wanted to find out what was going on, so he sent a correspondent to find out the situation. Unexpectedly, several correspondents were dispatched in a row, but they were not reported. He couldn't help panicking, and quickly called the division commander Yesenin: "Comrade commander, the situation seems to be not good. My troops' attack has been frustrated."

"The attack was frustrated?" Yesenin asked after listening: "What happened, why did you get frustrated?"

"I don't know, Comrade Commander." The head of the regiment replied tremblingly: "My troops seem to be blocked by some obstacles and cannot continue to move forward, and the German firepower is crazily output at them. It is estimated that the casualties at this moment are very high." heavy."

"Didn't you send someone to check the situation?"

"Sent, sent four or five correspondents in a row." The group leader said aggrievedly: "But so far, none of them have returned, so I have no idea what happened."

"Can you see the situation on the enemy's position clearly?" Yesenin asked.

"The light is too dim to see clearly." The leader said: "You can only see the flame mouth of the weapon shooting and the flame produced by the explosion, and the rest can't be seen clearly."

"You immediately send two flares to see what's going on ahead."

"But if we fire flares, it will reveal our whereabouts."

Regarding the reply from the head of the regiment, Yesenin was really dumbfounded: "Our actions have been discovered by the Germans long ago. If we don't fire flares to see the situation in front of the enemy's positions, we will pay a heavier price. I order you to fire flares immediately." , Find out what happened in front of the enemy's position."

Now that Yesenin gave the order, the regiment leader didn't dare to refute. He quickly called a staff officer and ordered him to fire flares into the air to find out what happened in front of the position outside the town.

The flares quickly rose into the air, allowing the regiment leader to see clearly the situation ahead. He opened his mouth wide in surprise and looked at the scene in front of him. He never dreamed that the two barbed wire fences in front of the German positions blocked the way for the troops to advance. The soldiers crowded in front of the barbed wire fence are suffering continuous casualties under the intensive firepower of the German army at this moment.

Seeing this situation, the head of the regiment knew that if he hesitated for a moment, the commanders and fighters of his regiment might be wiped out, so he quickly issued an order to the staff at the side: "Retreat, order the troops to retreat immediately."

Although he issued the retreat order in time after seeing the situation on the battlefield clearly, it was still a little late. There were more than 1,900 commanders and fighters in the regiment, and no more than 300 retreated, and most of them were wounded.

Seeing the Soviet retreat, the Germans stopped firing. They were worried that the retreat of the Soviet army was to make it easier for the artillery to fire. If they continued to shoot, the muzzle flames exposed in the dark would become the best targets for the opponent's artillery.

The head of the 699 regiment broke out in a cold sweat when he saw that his troops had withdrawn to less than 300 people. Because of his own mistakes, not only did the entire regiment suffer almost all casualties, but it also affected the overnight capture of the town of Golovanivsik. If the superior pursues the responsibility, he will definitely lose his head.

Although he was worried, it was obviously impossible not to report such a big event. He could only call Yesenin and report what happened here in detail.

After hearing this, Yesenin couldn't help being taken aback. A full-stacked infantry regiment almost lost its casualties in less than half an hour, which would definitely have an adverse effect on morale, and the next battle would be difficult to fight. Hurry up to call Army Commander Chumakov and report to him the failure of the 699 regiment's attack.

After Chumakov heard this, he suddenly became angry: "Colonel Yesenin, I entrusted such an important task to your regiment because I believe that you are capable of capturing the town. But what is the actual situation? Not only did you fail to Seize the position, but also lost a main force, so how will the next battle be fought?"

"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander." Yesenin said in a low voice: "This failure is due to our lack of preparation. Please give me another chance, and I will immediately organize an attack. I assure you that this time, Golo will be killed." Vanifsik took it."

"Pause the attack, let the troops withdraw to rest." Although Chumakov also wanted to take the town of Golovanivsik overnight, considering the failure of the 699th regiment's attack, it would be detrimental to the morale and morale of the troops. Influence.

"Stop the attack?!" Yesenin asked in surprise, "How do you explain to Comrade Commander?"

"I'll explain it to the commander myself, so you don't have to worry about that."

After Chumakov finished talking with Yesenin, he raised his hand and looked at his watch. It was already ten o'clock in the evening. He estimated that Sokov should have returned to the army headquarters, so he called the headquarters and wanted to report the failure of the attack. .

Unexpectedly, the person who answered the phone was Smirnov. When he learned that Chumakov wanted to find Sokov, he took the initiative to say: "Comrade Commander is now at the headquarters of the 41st Guards Division. If you have anything , Telling me is the same, I can convey your meaning to the commander."

Chumakov hesitated for a moment, then said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have some bad news for you."

"Bad news, what bad news?" As soon as Smirnov said the words, he guessed a possibility, and asked quickly: "General Chumakov, it will not be your attack on the town of Golovanivsik. Did the attack fail?"

"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, you guessed right." Chumakov said with a heavy heart: "A regiment on an offensive mission was stubbornly blocked by the German army before it entered the town. There are more than 1,900 people in the regiment. , less than 300 survived."

After hearing this, Smirnov couldn't help taking a breath: "What, so many casualties? General Chumakov, tell me quickly, what happened?"

Chumakov did not dare to neglect, and quickly reported to Smirnov that the 699 regiment planned to sneak attack at night, but the attacking troops were blocked by the barbed wire set up by the German army, unable to advance, and suffered heavy casualties.

After Smirnov heard this, the expression on his face became serious: "General Chumakov, this matter is of great importance, and I need to report to the commander immediately. I am here to remind you, whether it is Colonel Yesenin , or that regiment leader, I’m afraid they will all be punished, so you have to be mentally prepared in advance.”

Hearing what Smirnov said, Chumakov realized that both Yesenin and the regimental commander might be punished. Out of concern for his subordinates, he tentatively asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, there are many reasons for the failure of this attack. Can you please say a few good words to the commander and don't punish them too severely."

"General Chumakov," Smirnov said sternly, "I will report to Comrade Commander what happened in the town of Golovanivsik. As for how to deal with your subordinates, it will be up to the Commander." Comrade Party members decide, no matter what I say, I am afraid it will not be effective. You should not worry about others, and think about what you should do if you are also punished."