"Misha," Zhukov waited for Sokov to finish and asked, "What are you going to do?"
"Comrade Marshal, as early as when I sent out the reconnaissance personnel, my troops were already ready for battle." Sokov replied: "Since it has been determined that the enemy is going to retreat, I absolutely cannot let them leave Bel so easily.
Gorod, I will attack the German army in a quarter of an hour."
After Zhukov ended his call with Sokov, he said to Vasilevsky and Vatutin who were sitting at the table: "Two commanders, Comrade Mischa's scouts reported to him that the enemy is withdrawing in an orderly manner.
Position, it seems that we are planning to evacuate Belgorod overnight."
"Comrade Marshal, could this be a conspiracy?" As soon as Zhukov finished speaking, Vatutin said: "You know, the enemy still has tens of thousands of defenders in Belgorod, including two armored divisions.
And a large number of artillery. If they want to retreat overnight, the tanks and artillery will definitely not be able to take them away and will have to be thrown away. Do you think the Germans will do such a stupid thing?"
When Zhukov fell silent, Vasilevsky continued: "Comrade Marshal, even if the information provided by General Sokov is correct, the enemy really intends to use the cover of night to withdraw from Belgorod. But
What can we do, order the troops to attack?"
When Zhukov heard what Vasilevsky said, he did not speak. He just looked at him meaningfully and raised his chin, indicating that he should continue speaking.
Vasilevsky, who received Zhukov's instructions, continued: "You know, the combat order we issued to the troops not long ago was to hold the position to prevent possible night attacks by the enemy. But only an hour later, we ordered the troops to
From defense to offense. If this order is issued during the day, it will cause heavy losses to the enemy. I have no doubt about this. But when attacking at night, what should we do with the coordination among so many troops? Once
If we fall into chaos and the enemy takes the opportunity to counterattack, how should we respond?"
After Vasilevsky finished speaking, there was silence in the room, and everyone was quietly thinking about what he said. If the troops are ordered to attack overnight, what will happen to the coordination between many troops? What if the enemy takes advantage of the troops?
Falling into chaos and launching a counterattack unexpectedly, what should we do?
"Comrade Vasilevsky," Zhukov said after a long time: "If I understand correctly, do you mean to let our troops stand still and watch the enemy withdraw from Belgorod?"
"Comrade Marshal, I think in the current situation, we should be more cautious and never act rashly." Vasilevsky said to Zhukov earnestly: "Although the intelligence provided by General Sokov said that the enemy is retreating
, but we don’t know whether the enemy is really retreating, or whether it is a trap to lure our troops into a trap.”
Zhukov tapped his fingers lightly and thought about it, as if considering what Vasilevsky said. After a long time, he finally nodded slowly and said: "Comrade Vasilevsky, you make sense.
.If the troops are ordered to attack across the board, the coordinated operations of so many troops at night will be a big problem. Once the attack does not go smoothly and the German army launches a counterattack, the position we finally captured with great difficulty may fall into the hands of the enemy again.
"
Hearing what Zhukov said, Vatutin had a surprised expression on his face: "Comrade Marshal, do you mean there is no need to attack?"
"The large forces continue to stay in place and we can dispatch battalion-level combat units to attack the retreating enemies." Zhukov said to everyone: "Even if this retreat is a conspiracy arranged by the Germans, we will not pay too much.
price."
Seeing that Zhukov agreed not to send large troops to counterattack across the front, Vasilevsky and Vatutin could not help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. After a while, Vasilevsky asked again: "What if the Steppe Front and Sokov's troops
If we are going to attack the enemy overnight, do we need to intervene?"
"No, Comrade Vasilevsky." Zhukov waved his hands and said: "The situation in Konev is different from ours. If they attack overnight, I believe they will be able to achieve good results, and at the same time they can also occupy the areas they occupied.
The area is connected into a large area, which will be very helpful for our subsequent operations. I think it is not appropriate to interfere too much with the combat determination of the front army leaders. It is up to them to decide what to do."
Konev, who was more than 20 kilometers away, suddenly started sneezing non-stop. Susekov, who was sitting next to him, smiled and said according to Russian tradition: "I wish you good health! I wish you good health!"
Konev finally stopped sneezing and said strangely: "It's really strange. I basically never left the headquarters today. How could I catch a cold?"
"Isn't it someone who is talking about you behind your back?" Zakharov said jokingly with a smile: "Maybe Major General Sokov is talking about you in his heart, which is why you keep sneezing."
"What is he talking about me for?" Konev snorted and said: "I have told him very clearly that the visibility at night is not high and is not suitable for large corps operations. In order to avoid chaos, the main force of the front army will not participate.
Night Counterattack."
"Comrade Commander," after hearing what Konev said, Zakharov asked with some worry: "Can only one of Sokov's troops launch an attack and achieve results?"
"I believe Comrade Sokov, he must be able to destroy more enemies." Konev said with a normal expression: "The reason why I did not order the troops to go on the offensive is to give him more room for performance.
Let's see how many enemies he can annihilate before dawn."
"Are we just going to watch Sokov's troops fight with the tens of thousands of defenders in the city?" Susekov frowned and said, "Once the enemy launches a counterattack, I'm worried that they will suffer a loss."
"Don't worry, Comrade Military Commissar, Sokov will never suffer a loss." Konev said to Susekov with a smile: "Our troops entering Belgorod have already prepared for battle.
Once I find out that Sokov is in a bad situation, I will send troops to support him and I will never let him fight alone."
Sokov reported the intelligence he detected to Zhukov and Konev respectively. But what he didn't expect was that both of them believed his report, but due to various reasons, they were unable to send troops to cooperate.
This meant that if Sokov wanted to send troops to attack the retreating German army, he would have to fight alone.
Not only Sokov saw this, but also the Chief of Staff Samyko. He looked at Sokov and asked worriedly: "Comrade Commander, if the Voronezh Front Army and the main force of our Front Army cannot send troops, then we will take over
What should we do when we come down? Should we stay in our position and remain silent, or should we attack according to the original plan?"
"Since they are unwilling to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, then we don't need to worry about them." Sokov said decisively: "Chief of Staff, immediately issue orders to all divisions and brigades, leaving only a few troops to proceed.
Outside the defense, the remaining troops immediately launched an attack on the enemy."
"clear."
Sokov picked up the pencil, drew a circle in the direction of the train station in the south of the city, then tapped twice with the pen, and told Sameko: "Tell Colonel Koida that his 188th Infantry Division must capture the south of the city first.
train station, smash the enemy's attempt to withdraw troops through railway transportation, and keep as many enemies in the city as possible."
"Understood." Samyko nodded and said, "I will tell Colonel Koida to concentrate on capturing the railway station so that the enemy cannot leave Belgorod by train."
The battle started soon.
Koida knew that a large number of German troops were gathering at the train station, trying to take a train to leave Belgorod. Therefore, he went against the norm and no longer carried out the assault with the 562nd regiment, but sent the 564th and 568th regiments.
Make a detour from both wings towards the train station, intending to occupy the train station in the shortest possible time.
Cooperating with the two infantry regiments, there was also a tank battalion of the 4th Guards Tank Corps. As the attack order was issued, hundreds of commanders and combatants, following the T-34 tanks, rushed along the street toward the
The train station in the south of the city.
Although they were intercepted by small German troops along the way, the enemy's resistance was completely vulnerable to the absolute strength. Those exposed firepower points were either directly destroyed by tank guns or destroyed at close range by soldiers carrying rocket launchers.
The train station in the south of the city was brightly lit, illuminating the platform and the surrounding rails clearly. Nearly 10,000 German soldiers gathered in the station, waiting for the train under the command of an officer.
As soon as they saw the Soviet tanks and infantry rushing down the street, the troops guarding the railway station immediately opened fire wildly with anti-tank guns, mortars and machine guns. The shells fell on the path of the tanks and exploded, causing a dazzling explosion.
There were flashes of fire and puffs of black smoke, and machine gun bullets hit the tank's armor plate like hail, but they did not slow down the tank's advance at all.
Regardless of the anti-tank guns used by the German army, they were all 37mm anti-tank guns nicknamed "stepping stones" and could not penetrate any Soviet tank at a distance of two hundred meters. Regardless of the German army's ability to fight
It was lively, but the casualties caused to the Soviet army were very limited.
Seeing that the enemy's blocking firepower had caused negligible damage to his own troops, the tank battalion commander immediately conveyed an order to his subordinates through the vehicle-mounted radio: "Speed up, speed up, the enemy's anti-tank guns will attack our structures."
If there is no threat, we must destroy the enemy's defensive positions as soon as possible and cover our troops' smooth rush into the train station."
A few minutes later, the Soviet tanks rushed to the barricades outside the train station. The German officers and soldiers who were standing in the fortifications were frightened and fled in all directions when they saw the Soviet tanks so close. The Soviet tank soldiers took the opportunity to use
The vehicle-mounted machine guns fired at these enemies, knocking them down in pieces like target practice.
Breaking through the German defenses outside the train station, the tank rushed into the train station and rumbled towards the platform where the German troops were waiting for the train.
In the military column closest to the station entrance, countless soldiers were boarding the train. Seeing the tanks rushing in, the soldiers were startled and quickly stopped boarding. They took off their weapons and shot at the tanks. When the train driver saw
The tank rushed towards his position. He was so frightened that he started the train urgently and drove south along the railway.
Some of the German officers and soldiers crowded on the platform fired at the rushing Soviet tanks, while others continued to board the train. None of them expected that the train driver hurriedly started the train without even saying hello.
, dozens of unlucky German soldiers were caught under the wheels of the train and crushed into two pieces on the spot.
Soviet tanks were firing machine guns at the soldiers on the platform and using tank cannons to bombard trains in the distance to prevent any more emergency trains from starting and to escape from the soon-to-be-occupied railway station. Soviet infantry also arrived at this moment.
Assault rifles fired at the crowded German officers and soldiers, causing the enemies to cry and howl, and their flesh and blood flew everywhere.
Although the number of German officers and soldiers on the platform exceeded that of the Soviet army, because they did not have strong defenses and were in a hurry to retreat and had no intention of fighting, when the Soviet infantry accompanying the tank assault rushed in front of them, they became ready to be slaughtered.
The lambs could only be slaughtered by Soviet firepower.
After fighting for a while, some soldiers jumped off the platform, used the platform as cover, and shot at the Soviet commanders and soldiers who rushed up; while others fled southward along the railway tracks without their lives.
The battle at the station was one-sided from the beginning. In less than half an hour, the sound of guns and artillery in the station became sparse. The Germans who were eager to retreat had thrown away their baggage and carried limited ammunition, so they could not fight for long.
, the bullets and grenades were all used up.
A gun without bullets is just a useless fire stick. Seeing the Soviet commanders and soldiers swarming forward, the surviving German officers and soldiers did not dare to continue fighting. They quickly threw away the weapons in their hands and raised their hands to surrender to the Soviet army.
When Koida learned that his troops had successfully captured the train station, he quickly called Sokov to report the good news: "Comrade Commander, I am honored to report to you that my troops have successfully captured the train station and captured
We bought two hundred wagons and seven locomotives. In a word, the enemy's attempt to transport troops southward by railway was crushed by us."
"Well done, Comrade Colonel." Knowing that Koida's troops had successfully captured the train station, Sokov couldn't help but feel ecstatic. Occupying the train station, regardless of destroying the German army's intention to use trains to transport troops south, captured
The carriage and front of the vehicle also solved the problem of transporting troops to Kharkov. At least the commanders and soldiers no longer had to march on foot.
Considering that the Germans were not willing to lose the train station and would definitely launch a crazy counterattack, he told Koida: "But Comrade Colonel, I want to remind you. The enemy will never be willing to let the station be occupied by us, and they will definitely find a way to regain it."
Capture the station. Your troops must firmly hold the train station and never let it fall into the hands of the enemy again."
"Comrade Commander, don't worry." Koida assured Sokov: "Even if our division is completely exhausted, we will never let the enemy take away the train station again."
Although Sokov believed that the other party would fulfill his promise, for the sake of safety, he still resisted the other party: "Comrade Colonel, if you have any difficulties, remember to call me in time, and I will find a way to solve it for you."
This chapter has been completed!