When Sokov and Lunev were wandering on the street, a staff officer suddenly ran over in a hurry, saluted him and reported: "Comrade Commander, the chief of staff ordered me to come and ask you to go back. There are important things that need you."
Ask in person."
"Do you know something?" Lunev asked from the side.
The staff officer turned to Lunev, shook his head and replied: "I'm sorry, Comrade Military Commissar, I don't know what the specific matter was. I only know that after the chief of staff received a phone call, he immediately ordered me to come and find the commander."
When Sokov heard what his staff officer said, he couldn't help but tremble in his heart. Could it be that there was something wrong somewhere that made Sameko so nervous to send people to look for him? Thinking of this, how could he still have the intention to continue shopping, and quickly urged Lu
Nev returned to headquarters to find out what happened.
As soon as he returned to the headquarters, Sokov couldn't wait to ask Samyko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what happened?"
"Comrade Commander," Samyko reported to Sokov: "I just received a call from General Solomatin. He feels that if the troops blindly defend without taking counterattack measures, the morale of the troops will be low.
The morale of the army is weakened..."
Sokov frowned and interrupted Samyko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what does General Solomatin mean?"
Sameko replied: "He plans to mobilize a force to counterattack the enemy."
The landing site on the right bank established by Sokov's troops was a thorn in the side of the German army. In order to consolidate the Dnieper River defense line, Marshal Manstein ordered General Blaskowitz's 1st Army to increase the attack on the landing site. In an attempt to pass the fierce
Attack, drive the Soviet army into the Dnieper River, and eliminate the landing field on the right bank.
Because of this, while defending, the troops holding their positions will also follow Sokov's orders to launch counterattacks against the enemy at night to disrupt the enemy's offensive steps so that they can better defend their positions. Solomatin
It was for this purpose that Sokov was asked to fight back.
When Sokov saw the phone on the table, he pointed his finger and asked Samyko: "General Solomatin hasn't hung up the phone yet, has he?"
"No." Samek said, picking up the microphone and handing it to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, you can communicate with him in person."
"General Solomatin," Sokov put the microphone to his ear and said, "I am Sokov. I heard that you plan to launch a counterattack against the enemy in the defense zone?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Solomatin replied truthfully: "Although we have commanders and fighters of the 300th Division in front of us, who are fighting tenaciously against the German attack, I feel that we cannot stay in the trenches doing nothing every day.
We should attack the enemy."
Sokov had no objections to Solomatin's statement. If he wanted to hold the landing site on the right bank, he could not carry out passive defense. He must carry out uninterrupted counterattacks to completely disrupt the German offensive steps and make the situation worse.
Develop in a direction that is beneficial to our military."
Sokov looked down at the map on the table and asked: "General Solomatin, where do you plan to attack?"
"There are several isolated small villages to the south of the landing site, where the Germans have established fire support points. If we ignore them, the enemy may turn them into the starting point for their offensive." Solomatin said plausibly.
Said: "Therefore, I feel it is necessary to launch a counterattack to eliminate the enemies in these isolated villages and completely tear apart the German defense line."
After Sokov heard Solomatin say the name of the village he planned to seize, he found the place on the map and asked: "Is the enemy's troop deployment clear?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander, everything is clear," Solomatin replied politely: "According to our reconnaissance, the number of German troops in these villages is not large. In the villages with larger numbers, there are about one company of German troops.
strength, while a small village has only one platoon."
"What kind of force do you plan to use to carry out this counterattack?"
"I plan to dispatch the 219th Tank Brigade to perform this combat mission." Solomatin said confidently: "The brigade has three tank battalions, all equipped with advanced T-34 tanks, with a total number of 62, which is fully qualified.
Ability to destroy the enemies stationed in these villages."
After listening to this, Sokov asked: "They are all tank troops, don't they have infantry to cooperate with them?"
"There is no need, Comrade Commander." Solomatin said: "The enemies are all lightly armed troops who lack heavy weapons. When they see our tanks rushing up, why don't they turn around and run away in fear?!" After that, he laughed.
Laughed loudly.
Seeing that Solomatin was so confident, Sokov had no reason to object. He nodded and then said: "General Solomatin, I agree with your counterattack plan. I wish you good luck. If you win, please give me a try."
Inform me as soon as possible and I will be waiting for your good news."
When Sokov put down the phone, Managarov, who was sitting on the table next to him, smiled and said: "General Sokov, I think Solomatin's timing for this attack was very good.
With a large number of troops, their defense force south of the landing site has become weak. If we launch a counterattack against them at this moment, we will definitely achieve good results."
Both Sokov and Managarov were full of confidence in the counterattack Solomatin was preparing to carry out. It would be strange if an elite tank force went to a village defended only by light infantry and could not win.
However, ideals are full and reality is skinny. Two hours later, Solomatin called Sokov and said in a serious tone: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I have let you down."
Sokov was startled and asked quickly: "General Solomatin, what happened?"
"Comrade Commander, our counterattack has failed."
"What on earth is going on?" Sokov asked anxiously: "Did we encounter a large German army?" The reason why he thought so was because Solomatin dispatched a tank equipped with 62 T-
A tank brigade with 34 tanks will never be defeated if it does not encounter an enemy with absolute superiority in strength and equipment.
"Unfortunately, Comrade Commander, we encountered only a small group of enemies." Solomatin said with a grimace: "According to the report of the brigade commander, Colonel Spyridon Timofevich, their tanks attacked the first
When advancing into a village, we accidentally entered a minefield laid by the Germans. 11 tanks hit mines and exploded. The tanks that passed through the minefield were attacked by anti-tank guns and tank fire when they entered the village. As a result, we
Army tanks were destroyed one after another.
Since the firing anti-tank guns and tanks were hidden among the wooden houses, our tanks could not detect the opponent's whereabouts in time. Seeing that the situation was not good, Colonel Spyridon Timofevich immediately ordered all tanks to
Exit the village and prepare to fight the German tanks again in a place with a wide view outside the village..."
"You can't beat the Germans in the village, but you can win if you withdraw from the village?" Sokov was full of doubts about this matter. He said unhappily: "We pulled out all the tanks from the village in a hurry, and we didn't wait for everyone."
When I came back to my senses, I'm afraid it was completely destroyed by the German anti-tank firepower."
The confrontation between Sokov and Solomatin was heard by Managarov, who was sitting not far away. He was a little dumbfounded. This was simply a joke. An elite tank brigade was dispatched to attack several
A small village, it was like killing a chicken with a sledgehammer. But I didn’t expect to be defeated by the Germans... Fortunately, he was still in front of Sokov just now, saying good things for Solomatin. Now it seems...
My face hurt a little, and the corners of my mouth were twitching. I had been slapped in the face.
Sokov, who was on the phone with Solomatin, did not notice Managarov's expression. What he was concerned about was how many tanks of this tank brigade were retained: "General Solomatin, please tell me
Let me tell you the truth, how many tanks are left in the 219th Tank Brigade?"
Solomatin, who was on the other end of the phone, heard Sokov's question and couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "Less than twenty tanks were successfully withdrawn."
I learned that the 219th Tank Brigade, which was originally equipped with 62 tanks, was wiped out by the Germans in two-thirds of the tanks in an instant. The remaining tanks were probably not enough for defense, let alone attack.
Sokov sighed softly, and then said: "General Solomatin, since your counterattack has failed, immediately withdraw your troops, and when the time is right in the future, we will launch a new attack on the Germans."
."
"I really didn't expect it, General Sokov." Managarov saw Sokov put down the microphone and said quickly: "I thought that an elite tank brigade would be dispatched to seize several villages occupied by the German army.
Suffering such heavy losses.”
"Yes, Comrade General, not only did you not expect it, but I also didn't expect it." Sokov said with a melancholy expression: "I didn't expect that a small German army would cause such heavy casualties to our army. It failed.
There are many reasons, but I think the most important one is probably underestimating the enemy."
"I think as long as there is the support of heavy artillery, there shouldn't be much problem in taking over the village." Derevyanko suddenly interjected: "We should immediately launch a violent bombardment of the village while the enemies in the village have not left. I think
A way to destroy the enemy tanks and anti-tank guns ambushed in the village."
"General Derevyanko, what you said makes sense. If you bombard the village with heavy artillery at this moment, and then assault the village with a tank brigade, there should be no problem in taking over the village." Sokov said to Derevyanko: "Soloma
Beijing launched a counterattack into the enemy's defense zone, originally only to destroy some fire support points on the German defense line, and along with it, eliminate the enemy's effective forces.
However, as long as we occupy these fire support points, the Germans will send out troops to snatch them, and then this place will become a battlefield of attrition. Instead of spending a lot of energy to maintain an insignificant village, it is better to concentrate on thinking
Thinking about how to kill more enemies."
"General Sokov is right. Once our army captures those villages, the enemy will definitely not give up. At that time, they will dispatch a large number of troops to engage in repeated tug-of-war with us in these villages, consuming our army.
Managarov saw that his chief of staff seemed to want to refute Sokov, so he quickly came out to smooth things over: "General Sokov still has the final say on what to do next."
According to Sokov's original plan, when the 5th and 7th Guards Armies captured Poltava and the main force advanced towards the Dnieper River, he could take the lead in launching an attack on the German army on the right bank. By then, he would only have
Several tank brigades were about to be put to great use. But unexpectedly, one of them was directly disabled by a small German force today, which made Sokov feel extremely sad in his heart.
"Comrade Commander," just when Sokov was heartbroken, Samyko suddenly spoke: "I think we can consider Derevyanko's proposal and organize forces to launch another attack on that village and find a way to remove the village from the Germans.
Take it back from your hands."
Samyko's words made Sokov frown and thought to himself, aren't you going against me? I just expressed my opinion that I was not going to attack that village again, so you suggested that I launch an attack on the village?
Sokov's reaction was seen by Samyko. Seeing Sokov's reaction, he immediately realized that the other party might have misunderstood, and quickly explained: "Comrade Commander, according to General Solomatin's report, they
More than 40 tanks were lost in and around the village. If we don’t drag the wreckage of these tanks back as soon as possible, the Germans may drag them away for recycling..."
Samyko's words reminded Sokov that anyway, the 219th Tank Brigade dropped more than forty tanks near the small village. If he sent people to pull all these tanks back, he might be able to repair some of them.
The tanks continued to be used. "Comrade Chief of Staff, which unit do you think is more appropriate to send?"
"I think we'll let the 483rd Tank Battalion go, and deploy an infantry company to support them. I believe we can capture the village." Sameko said, "We will not give up those tanks until we have pulled back all the tank wreckage.
A village that has long since outlived its usefulness.”
"Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff. I'll do as you say. Let the 483rd Tank Battalion go out and cover the infantry to seize the village." Seeing that Sameko's idea coincided with his own, Sokov agreed to him simply.
He made a request and told him: "Remember, once a village is captured, people must be sent to drag all the tank wreckage inside and outside the village to the maintenance station as soon as possible to see if some of the tanks can be repaired."
"Then I'll contact the maintenance station," Sameko said, "and ask them to send armored maintenance vehicles to the fighting area as soon as possible. Once they see any destroyed equipment of our army, they will drag them back as soon as possible. They must not leave them behind."
To the Germans."
Sokov knew very well that once the Germans brought back these scrapped tanks, they would definitely repair them. Maybe this would provide the Germans with the tanks they needed for combat in disguise. "Tell the workers involved in the repairs,
If it is really impossible to bring the tank back to the maintenance station, we must also find a way to blow it up. In this way, the Germans will not use the remains of our destroyed tanks."
"Comrade Commander, you can rest assured on this." Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Samyko assured Sokov: "I will definitely handle this matter properly and will never let the remains of our tanks fall into the air."
into the hands of the Germans."
"Very good, very good." Sokov was very satisfied with Samyko's statement. He pushed the phone in front of Samyko and urged: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it's getting late. You call the maintenance station first."
Let’s make a phone call and let them get ready to go.”
This chapter has been completed!