Chapter 1051 The final battle of the tank soldiers (Part 1)
When Popov passed through the defense area of the German 61st Motorcycle Battalion, he ordered his people to send a telegram to the front headquarters and Sokov each to inform him of the breakout and progress of his troops.
When Vatutin saw that Popov couldn't help but ask for instructions, he ordered the troops to break out without authorization. He couldn't help but became furious. He yelled at Chief of Staff Bokin: "Popov led the troops to break out without permission without receiving orders. This is a cowardly act.
He is greedy for life and afraid of death. I will report the matter to the base camp immediately and send him to a military court."
"Comrade Commander," Bogin asked tentatively after waiting for Vatutin's attack to end, "Then what should we do? Order them to stop the breakout?"
"What a breakout is, it's an escape, it's an escape." Vatutin said angrily: "Immediately send a telegram to Popov, ordering him to stop this wrong move, immediately lead the troops back to the original station, and wait for our disposal."
"Comrade Commander, since the breakout operation has begun, would you like to allow them to continue?" Bojin said cautiously: "Many of the troops who are conducting the breakout operation cannot guarantee smooth communication. If we give Bo Jin the opportunity at this time,
General Boff issued such an order, and I am worried that the troops who received the order will retreat, and those who did not receive the order will continue to attack the German army, which will cause unnecessary chaos."
Regarding Bojin's words, Vatugin thought for a while, and it seemed to make sense, so he nodded and said: "Chief of Staff, you are right. Now Popov's troops are breaking through. If the order to stop is given now,
The order to break out may cause his troops to fall into chaos. Then this order will not be issued for the time being, but Popov’s matter must be reported to the General Staff as soon as possible to see what they mean.”
Upon hearing Vatutin's order, Bogin cautiously asked and reminded him: "Comrade Vasilevsky, the Chief of the General Staff, does not seem to be in Moscow. The person in charge of the work of the General Staff now is the First Deputy General Staff
Commander and Chief of Operations, Comrade Antonov. Based on my understanding of him, he will definitely approve of General Popov’s breakout after he learns about it.”
"If Popov's rapid group jumps out of the enemy's encirclement, then the encircled Sixth Army will face the danger of complete destruction." Vatutin said with a serious expression: "I absolutely cannot tolerate such a thing.
If it happens, you should still find a way to contact Comrade Vasilevsky and report the matter to him."
"I heard that Comrade Vasilevsky went to the Voronezh Front two days ago. I immediately contacted the Chief of Staff of the Front, General Pilipenko, to learn about the whereabouts of Comrade Chief of General Staff." Bogin assured Vatutin.
: "I will report to the Chief of General Staff as soon as possible about the breakthrough of Popov's troops."
…………
After receiving the telegram from Popov, Sokov carefully checked the location of the unit, raised his head and asked Vitkov who was standing aside: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what do you think of General Popov's breakout operation?"
, can it succeed?”
Vitkov pointed with his finger at the location of Popov's troops, shook his head and said: "It is already ten o'clock in the morning, but his troops are only wedged six kilometers into the German defense line. How much time will it take to move so slowly?
Only then can I walk these two hundred kilometers."
"Yes, their movement speed is too slow." Sokov stared at the map and said with confusion: "Logically speaking, where they are now, there are only some company-level units of the German army, and they cannot stop them at all.
How come they had to walk for more than ten hours before they could advance such a small distance during their breakout?"
"I'll send a telegram to General Popov to ask what's going on." Regarding Popov's snail-like speed, Witkov also had a headache: "If they keep marching at this speed, then
When can we send troops to reinforce?"
As soon as Vitkov left, Sokov received a call from the front army headquarters. Rokossovsky asked straight to the point: "Colonel Sokov, Lieutenant General Popov's troops have begun to break through to your city.
Yes. Do you know about this?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I know about this." Since Rokossovsky called and asked about this, Sokov took the opportunity to report: "But judging from the breakout battle report they provided us
, their actions are too slow. At present, their breakout troops have only advanced six kilometers eastward, and we are temporarily unable to provide them with any help."
"Popov's situation is not good." Rokossovsky frowned when he learned that Popov's troops were making slow progress. He knew how far Sokov's troops were from Popov, so
He did not blindly assign the response task. After some consideration, he told Sokov: "I will send a telegram to Popov to urge him to speed up. And you must be prepared to respond and be ready at any time.
Preparation for attack."
"You can rest assured that I have made arrangements." Sokov reported to Rokossovsky: "I ordered each division to send sabotage teams that understand German to the enemy's rear. They will wear
The German uniforms are used to carry out sabotage and assassination operations everywhere, causing the enemy to panic. In this way, even if the enemy wants to launch an attack on us, I am afraid they will not be able to concentrate all their forces."
"Oh, you want the sabotage team that goes deep behind enemy lines to operate in German uniforms?" Rokossovsky said with some surprise: "The enemy used this tactic to get us into trouble, but now we can use the same tactic.
Method to deal with them. It’s good, if it proves to be effective, I will order it to be promoted throughout the entire front.”
After Sokov ended Rokossovsky's conversation, Vitkov reappeared in front of him and reported to him with a grimace: "Comrade Commander, General Popov's reply has arrived.
In the telegram, he mentioned in detail the reasons for the slow movement of the troops."
"what reason?"
"First, the presence of a large number of wounded people. The process of transferring the wounded to the field hospital slowed down the marching speed of the troops."
"Besides this reason, are there any other reasons?"
"They currently have more than a hundred tanks left. In order not to leave these technical equipment to the enemy, General Popov ordered that tanks that still have fuel be used to pull those tanks that have exhausted their fuel forward."
"What, use a tank that still has fuel to tow a tank that has run out of fuel?" Hearing this, Sokov couldn't help raising his hand to his forehead, not knowing what to say: "Hasn't General Popov considered it?
, the tank that is responsible for the towing task basically becomes the role of a tow truck. If you encounter an enemy tank or anti-tank driver on the road, you will not be able to fight back at all? "
"Comrade Commander, please tell me." Vitkov asked tentatively: "Should we give General Popov a piece of advice to prevent him from making such a stupid mistake?"
"Send another telegram to General Popov and ask him to order the bombing of those tanks without fuel and ammunition." Sokov made a lot of determination and finally said this: "Although so many tanks were bombed,
It is a very sad thing, but it is better than leaving it to the enemy and letting them use these tanks to attack us."
