As soon as the attack planes and bomber formations dispatched by Goryunov arrived at the battlefield, they carried out indiscriminate bombing on the German army's assembly area and the attacking troops. For a time, the battlefield was filled with flames and smoke.
Originally, the commander of the Guards Division did not provide heavy artillery support to Managarov, and he could not help but have some complaints. But now he saw that the attacking German troops were blown up and turned upside down. Even the tanks and armored vehicles that frightened the soldiers were like paper.
When the toy was blown to pieces, I felt a burst of ecstasy.
He said to the chief of staff of the division: "Comrade chief of staff, call the commanders of the 88th and 89th regiments immediately. As soon as our army's bombing ends, we will immediately launch a counterattack. While destroying the enemy, we will also remove the lost troops of the second battalion."
Take back the position."
The division chief of staff nodded, and then first called the commander of the 88th Regiment: "Comrade Colonel, the division commander ordered: After our army's bombing is over, we will immediately launch a counterattack against the enemy, and we must recapture the lost troops of the second battalion in the shortest possible time.
position."
The Second Battalion's position was lost and all the defenders were killed. This has always been a knot in the heart of the commander of the 88th Regiment. At this moment, he received a call from the chief of staff of the division and immediately patted his chest and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't worry. Wait for the bombing."
As soon as it was over, I personally led the troops to charge and regain the lost positions."
Regarding the statement of the commander of the 88th regiment, the chief of staff of the division thought it was natural. After all, you lost the position, and the commander personally led people to take it back. What's wrong with it? After he ended the call with the other party, he connected again.
89th Regiment, convey the division commander’s order to the regiment.
Sokov was not concerned about what actions the 28th Guards Division was about to take. Although the 53rd Army was temporarily placed under his command, he would never make a decision to bypass Managarov and Derevyanko and directly command the nearby troops.
Regarding the 28th Guards Division, after all, overstepping command is a taboo in the military.
At this moment, the four heavy artillery regiments deployed on the left bank of the Dnieper River had already launched a fierce bombardment on the positions occupied by the Germans. Sokov sat at the table, staring at the map above, silently calculating the time spent on this bombardment.
After the scheduled preparation time for the bombardment was over, before Sokov could say anything, Samyko had already picked up the phone and contacted the three troops at the front one by one to learn about their situation.
Soon, Samyko put down the phone and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the 1st Mechanized Corps, the 73rd Infantry Brigade, and the 254th Infantry Division have launched an attack on the enemy positions south of the landing site. So far.
Position, they are close to the enemy's position and have not been intercepted by fire yet."
Sokov did not speak, but nodded slightly. He had expected this situation for a long time. The Germans were now focusing their attention on the northwest of Klemenkoug, and even attacked the troops at the landing site from the south.
He mobilized his troops, crossed the river to the left bank, and launched an attack on the city.
The Germans are not unaware that once their forces are divided, their forces south of the landing site will become weaker. However, the recent tactics of Sokov's troops have deeply confused them. The troops at the landing site have been defending without any
Signs of counterattack.
At first, the Germans thought this was Sokov's conspiracy to catch them off guard when they relaxed their vigilance. However, after a period of observation, the Germans felt that they seemed to be worrying too much and kept letting them talk.
Sokov, whose expression changed, now seems to be a different person. He only knows how to let his troops defend the position, and does not take the initiative to fight back even if there is a better fighter. Because of this, the commander of the German 1st Army
Only then could General Johannes Blaskowitz confidently and boldly mobilize his troops to cross the river to the left bank to attack the Soviet flank.
But what General Blaskowitz never dreamed of was that the reason Sokov did not allow his troops to actively launch a counterattack during defensive operations was because half of the troops were still on the road at that time. Even if more German troops were captured,
He did not have enough troops to defend these areas, so when faced with the fierce German attacks, he adopted the tactics of fighting step by step.
At this moment, the German troops south of the landing site are empty, which is a good opportunity to counterattack. If Sokov does not know how to seize such a good opportunity, then he will not be able to become the nemesis of the Germans.
When Manstein learned that Blaskowitz had dispatched nearly half of the troops attacking the landing site and crossed the river to attack Klementchug's flank, he vaguely felt that something was wrong, so he attacked the opponent himself.
On the phone, I expressed my worries.
But after General Blaskowitz heard this, he said disapprovingly: "Marshal, you are worrying too much. My troops have been attacking the Russian bridgehead for a long time, but in the face of our attack, the Russians only know how to hide."
In those field fortifications that are not strong, we adopt the method of fighting step by step to stop the advance of our army.
I moved troops across the river to attack Klementchuk's flank in order to attract the attention of the Russian generals and let them understand that if they did not mobilize troops for reinforcements as soon as possible, I was afraid that their retreat would be cut off." Blaskoviy said.
Ci said optimistically on the phone: "Your Excellency, Marshal, according to my analysis, at noon tomorrow at the latest, the Russians will have to divert forces from their bridgehead to strengthen their rear defense line to avoid being cut off by our army."
Faced with Blaskowitz's blind optimism, Manstein reminded him: "General Blaskowitz, if you are facing an ordinary Russian general, then your statement is undoubtedly correct.
. But now your opponent is Sokov, who is a headache for all our Eastern Front commanders. I am worried that you may suffer a big loss."
"Don't worry, Marshal." Blaskowitz has always been aggrieved that Manstein became marshal before him. Now Manstein's troops are being defeated by the Soviet army. If his troops
If the troops can win, it may make the head of state happy, and he may also have the opportunity to become a marshal. Because of this small thought, he did not take Manstein's reminder to heart at all: "We will definitely
We will not let the Russian conspiracy succeed."
But less than half an hour after the call ended, when Blaskowitz's German troops crossing the river northwest of Klemenkoug were bombed by Russian aircraft; the troops attacking the Russian bridgehead were also attacked by intensive artillery fire.
When he was hit, he couldn't help but be a little confused. Why did things develop differently from what he imagined?
But he still took chances, and just said to the chief of staff who had reported the situation: "The Russians are shelling my troops attacking the bridgehead at the moment, probably because there is something wrong with their defense line northwest of Kremenchug.
They are trying to divert our attention through shelling, but we must not be fooled."
After listening to Blaskowitz's words, the chief of staff nodded repeatedly and said: "Your Excellency, the commander, is right. The Russians holding the bridgehead, facing our army's attack, can only rely on their positions to defend tenaciously, and they simply dare not
Easily launch a counterattack. At this moment, they suddenly launched a fierce artillery bombardment on our army's position. Maybe they were really worried about danger on their flanks, so they had to use this method to divert our attention."
It was precisely because Blaskowitz made a wrong judgment that his chief of staff did not issue any new orders to the troops who were being bombarded. In his mind, if the Russians wanted to bombard them, they could bombard them.
, anyway, no matter how many shells they fire, it is absolutely impossible for the troops who crossed the river and entered the northwest direction of Kremenchug to withdraw.
The heavy artillery regiment deployed on the left bank was still shelling the German positions all the time, but the bombing in the northwest had ended, and the Soviet fighter planes withdrew from the battlefield one after another and returned to the airport from which they started.
As soon as the air raid ended, the 88th and 89th Regiments of the Guards Division launched local counterattacks, trying to eliminate the surviving enemies and regain the positions occupied by the Germans.
The second-line position and the first-line position are more than 800 meters apart. On this land full of bomb craters, there are still many surviving German officers and soldiers, hiding in the craters or behind destroyed tanks, watching warily as they approach.
The Soviet troops in the center were preparing for a final resistance.
When the Soviet counterattack force was still more than 200 meters away from the front-line position, the German officers and soldiers hiding in the bomb crater took the lead in opening fire. The sudden firepower caused some charging soldiers to fall to the ground. The remaining soldiers were not on the spot.
Lying down means jumping into a nearby bomb crater and engaging in a shooting exchange with the enemy.
After a few brave soldiers exchanged fire with the enemy, they threw grenades in the direction of the bullets. Using the smoke rising from the explosion to block the enemy's sight, they jumped up from their hiding places and rushed forward quickly.
In the crater in the distance, continue to exchange fire with the enemy.
However, the Germans were also well-trained and were not affected by the smoke blocking their vision at all. They continued to shoot at the positions they had locked in advance. This enemy's style of fighting threatened the commanders and fighters who used the smoke as a cover to continue to advance.
Very large. Many soldiers were knocked down by oncoming bullets as soon as they jumped out of their hiding places and fell into the crater. The number of soldiers who could actually successfully leap forward was very limited, and even if they jumped into a new crater,
The intensive firepower of the German army will also suppress them from raising their heads.
Seeing this, the commander of the 88th Regiment quickly ordered the mortar company to fire and use artillery fire to destroy those firepower points that were extremely threatening.
As the order was given, the 12 mortars of the mortar company opened fire one after another, and the shells flew towards the German firepower point. Although most of the shells missed the target, they landed near the firepower point and exploded, only for the shooting German aircraft.
A layer of soil was sprinkled on the gunner's body. However, a shell still fell into the crater without any deviation. The air wave pulled the machine gunner and his machine gun out of the crater and threw them high into the air.
The Soviets had mortars, and so did the Germans. Although their 50mm mortars had a range of only 500 meters, seeing the threat posed by the Soviet mortars to the firepower points, they fired smoke grenades in the direction of the Soviet positions.
Suddenly, a cloud of smoke rose from the positions of the Soviet Union and Germany.
As the smoke rose, the Soviet artillery could no longer clearly see the movements of the German troops. In order to prevent accidental injury to their own people, they could only stop the shelling.
The Soviet commanders and fighters who were suppressed by the German firepower couldn't help but rejoice when they saw the enemy's firepower destroyed by their own artillery fire. They were planning to wait until the German firepower became sparse before launching a charge. But they didn't expect the Germans to be so cunning.
Fire a large number of smoke grenades, blocking the sight of your own artillery.
When the counterattacking Soviet commanders and fighters were suppressed again, gunshots and explosions suddenly came from the German position ahead. Commanders and fighters closer to the position heard that there were Bobosha submachine guns and Mosinas in the gunfire.
The sound of gunfire.
Just when everyone was wondering how the firing of Bobosha submachine guns and Mosin-Nagant rifles could be heard from the German positions, they saw many officers and soldiers covered in soil emerging from the trenches and engaging in fierce battles with the enemies on the positions.
.
Once the firepower on the position was weak, the German troops scattered in the bomb craters in front of the position seemed a little weak and unable to suppress the attacking Soviet troops with firepower.
Seeing this, the first battalion commander knew that it was a good opportunity to attack. He jumped out of the crater where he was hiding, waved his pistol and shouted loudly: "Comrades, charge with me!"
The commanders and soldiers who had been suppressed by the German firepower were already suffocating in their hearts. Seeing that the enemy's firepower had weakened, they felt that the opportunity for revenge had arrived, so under the leadership of the commander, they launched a charge with weapons in hand.
The German troops who stood firm in the crater were quickly overwhelmed by a flood of Soviet commanders and soldiers. Some soldiers had exhausted all the bullets in their guns and were stabbed to death with bayonets by Soviet soldiers who rushed up while they were changing magazines.
After eliminating the German troops hiding in the craters, the commanders and soldiers quickly rushed into the fortifications, fought side by side with the suddenly appearing friendly forces, and eliminated the enemies who were still resisting in the trenches.
The German army, which was attacked from both inside and outside, could not withstand it. In less than ten minutes, except for twenty or thirty long-legged German soldiers who escaped, the rest were either killed or became prisoners of the Soviet army.
While cleaning the battlefield, the commander of the first battalion was surprised to find that the friendly troops who had just suddenly appeared in the enemy's position were actually commanders and fighters of the second battalion. He found the commander of the fifth company who was directing the soldiers to treat the wounded and asked in surprise: "Commander of the fifth company"
, what the hell is going on? Aren’t you all wiped out? Where did this come from? "
"Report to Comrade Major." After hearing the first battalion commander's cross-examination, the fifth company commander quickly replied: "When our company was shelled by the Germans, the exit of the air-raid shelter was blown down, and we were all buried inside. I organized people to dig out
I planned to dig out the exit in the shortest possible time. Unexpectedly, when I was about to dig through it, I suddenly heard someone talking outside. I listened carefully and found that I couldn't understand it at all, so I realized that the position had been occupied by the Germans.
People were occupying it, and if we went out at this moment, we would be facing death, so I ordered the soldiers to stop digging."
"Then what?" a battalion commander continued to ask.
"I felt it was impossible to get out of here, so I planned to move to another place." The fifth company commander continued, "I ordered people to dig into the air-raid shelter next to it. It didn't take long to dig through the next door. Seeing the surviving soldiers inside, I felt
You can keep digging and you might be able to find more warriors.
In this way, we dug seven or eight air-raid shelters in succession and gathered nearly a hundred soldiers. Originally, I planned to wait until dark before sneaking out to eliminate the enemies in the trenches and take the position back from the enemy's hands.
But not long ago, I felt the ground shaking, and I guessed that the position might have been bombed or shelled. In this case, I felt it was necessary to coordinate with the attacking troops and regain the lost position."
The first battalion commander, who understood the ins and outs, raised his hand and patted the fifth company commander on the shoulder twice, and said approvingly: "Well done, comrade captain, I will report your matter to my superiors and let you get your dues."
honor."
This chapter has been completed!