"Comrade commanders, if we want to defeat the enemy, we cannot just rely on frontal combat. We must also send small teams deep into the enemy's rear." Sokov thought of the Brandenburg team that was annihilated that day and decided to follow suit.
Use the same method to deal with the enemy: "Commanders and fighters sent behind enemy lines must not only have rich combat experience, but also need everyone to understand German. This way, after they put on German uniforms, they will not be easily spotted by the enemy."
"Comrade Commander," Colonel Gorishny couldn't help but curiously asked after hearing Sokov's strange order: "Why do all the soldiers sent to the enemy's rear must understand German?"
"A few days ago, the German army sent a Brandenburg detachment to try to assassinate me and plunge our army into chaos. Even if we discovered and eliminated them, we did not make a big mistake." Sokov looked at it.
Not only Gorishny had doubts, but other commanders also had doubts, so he took the opportunity to explain to everyone: "Think about it, if everyone among the soldiers we send can speak German, they can disguise themselves as messengers from the enemy.
Soldiers, giving various wrong instructions to the enemy; or wearing German uniforms and continuing to attack everywhere, making everyone in the enemy in danger. If the enemy's rear becomes a mess, they can only deploy troops to maintain the stability of the rear.
When the time comes to attack us, the number of enemies will be greatly reduced."
After Sokov's explanation, the division commanders present finally understood why soldiers sent to the enemy's rear needed to understand German. It turned out that the commander wanted to turn the enemy's rear upside down. They all stood up to express their stance and said, "Wait a minute."
After returning to the army, he immediately selected suitable candidates and sent them to perform tasks behind enemy lines.
After listening to the statements of each division, Sokov continued: "Comrade commanders, I only remind you: now we are competing with the enemy for time. We should send out small units behind enemy lines earlier to disrupt the enemy's rear. We will
The smaller the threat we face, the better it will be for us to seize the initiative on the battlefield."
…………
Just as Sokov's men returned to their respective units and began to select soldiers who would go deep behind enemy lines, Popov's troops began to break through.
This rapid cluster of four original tank corps and one infantry corps, after a series of fierce battles, only 137 tanks were left, and only six combatable motorized battalions were left, and the rest were empty.
No. Due to the depletion of fuel, many tanks were unable to move. In this case, Popov made a decisive decision: the infantry would serve as the vanguard of the breakout, while all the tanks stayed in place to confuse the enemy and prevent his own
The breakout operation was discovered prematurely by the enemy.
The German troops that besieged Popov's rapid group were the 7th and 11th Armored Divisions, the Viking Division, and the 333rd Infantry Division that was crippled by Sokov's troops. The enemy believed that Popov and the others were not continuing to advance towards Zaporozhye.
It is to break through in the direction of Ijumu, so the main forces are concentrated in these two directions. On the way east, except for the 333rd Infantry Division more than 100 kilometers away, there are only some company-sized troops.
The commander of the vanguard battalion of the breakout was Captain Bielko. He led the entire battalion of commanders and fighters, using the cover of night, to quietly approach an enemy defense area. He looked at the barbed wire fence on the road in the distance and the sandbag fortifications on the hillside.
, and the black hole of the machine gun muzzle, he said to his several company commanders: "Comrades, in order not to expose the target prematurely, we must use sneak attacks to eliminate this group of enemies blocking our way."
The German troops stationed here never dreamed that the Soviet army would choose this direction to break out. They just fired a flare into the air every quarter of an hour as usual.
The flares rising into the air illuminated the surrounding snow as bright as day. The Soviet commanders and soldiers who were crawling towards the enemy's position quickly stopped and lay motionless on the snow to avoid being discovered by the enemy. When the light dimmed,
, they continued to climb forward.
Everything seemed to be going well, but when the soldiers continued to crawl toward the enemy's position along the cut barbed wire, they accidentally triggered the mines in the minefield.
The explosion in the minefield alerted the German soldiers who had not yet slept. The machine guns deployed on the hillside immediately fired at the location where the flames were rising. The newly installed MG42 machine guns of the German troops fired wildly.
, the bullets caused snow powder and mud on the ground to fly everywhere.
Seeing the enemy's machine gun fire blocking the way forward for the soldiers, Belko knew that a sneak attack was no longer realistic, so he decisively ordered the nearby light and heavy machine guns to fire, suppressing the enemy's machine gun fire, and covering the troops trapped in the minefield to rush forward.
.
The troops staying here were officers and soldiers of the 61st Motorcycle Battalion of the 11th Armored Division of the German Army. The German company commander who was staying in the command post heard the intensive gunfire ringing down the hillside and immediately realized that he was being attacked by regular Soviet troops.
, quickly called the battalion headquarters and reported to the battalion commander what happened here.
After hearing this, the battalion commander immediately shouted to him: "Captain, you must defend your position at all costs. I will send troops to reinforce you immediately."
After the battalion commander put down the phone, he immediately arranged for the second company to rush to support the first company that was under attack. Then he called the division headquarters to report what happened here. The person who answered the phone was the division chief of staff, Colonel Wenke.
He learned that the defense area of the 61st Motorcycle Battalion had been attacked by the Soviet army. He was shocked and asked quickly: "Major, how many Russians are attacking your defense area? Do they have heavy weapons?"
"There are quite a few people." The battalion commander had just asked the company commander carefully about the fighting situation, and he had some knowledge of the situation in the firefighting area. When the division chief of staff asked, he quickly replied: "Except for machine guns, there are no heavy weapons.
"
"Then what measures did you take?"
"I have sent the second company to reinforce the first company that was attacked." The battalion commander reported: "I believe it won't take long for the second company to reach its destination."
"Observe the situation closely and report to me any new situation at any time." Colonel Wenke said, "I will report this situation to the division commander immediately."
After Wenke put down the phone, he quickly went to the house of the division commander, General Balk, and knocked on the door: "Your Excellency, division commander, the intelligence is not good. Our troops were attacked by the Russians."
Balke, who had just been lying on the bed, heard Wenke's voice and came to the door in his pajamas. After opening the door, he said with concern: "We were attacked by the Russians somewhere."
"Your Excellency, Division Commander," Wenke reported: "The defense area of the 61st Motorcycle Battalion was attacked by the Russians, and their offensive was extremely fierce."
"The defense area of the 61st Motorcycle Battalion?" Balk was stunned at first, and then asked: "Aren't they stationed to the east of the Russians? How could they be attacked by the Russians?"
"I think the Russians may have discovered that we deployed heavy troops on their retreat route, so they chose the east direction to break out." Wenke said: "Your Excellency, division commander, I suggest that you send troops to reinforce immediately to prevent the Russians from
People protrude from our encirclement from the east."
"I think it's better not to report it yet." Balk waved his hand and said: "At present, we still don't know whether the Russians who attacked the 61st Motorcycle Battalion were just a test by a small force, or whether they really wanted to break through?
If it is just a sneak attack, if we rush to report this situation, I am afraid it will affect the Marshal's correct judgment."
"Okay, Sir." Seeing that Balke was not willing to report the news yet, Wenke also felt that there was no need to report it in a hurry without fully understanding what was going on. He hesitated for a moment and then said
: "I will keep in touch with the 61st Motorcycle Battalion to keep abreast of their battle situation there."
This chapter has been completed!