The 254th Infantry Division was progressing smoothly. Less than a quarter of an hour after the attack began, the division commander, Colonel Shechtman, called Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the 762nd Regiment of our division has successfully occupied the German army.
As the first line of defense, the troops are developing in depth."
It stands to reason that Sokov should have been smiling when he heard such good news, but instead he raised his hand to look at his watch and asked solemnly: "Colonel Shechtman, how strong is the resistance of the German army?"
"It collapsed at the first touch, and there was no decent resistance at all." Shechtman did not notice the strangeness in Sokov's tone, and still reported excitedly: "Seeing the commanders and fighters of our division approaching the position, they were frightened for a long time.
The enemy only put up sporadic resistance and retreated hastily."
If the 254th Division was attacking the positions of the German infantry divisions, Sokov felt that such a situation would be normal. But now they are attacking the positions of the elite German armored divisions. Even if the shelling just caused a huge damage to the Germans
casualties, but as long as one or two tanks survived on the front line, the Germans would rely on this to carry out a tenacious resistance. How could they collapse at the first touch? There must be some conspiracy involved.
"Colonel Shechtman," Sokov felt that he needed to remind Shechtman, lest the other party underestimate the enemy because the German army retreated too quickly, and then fall into the enemy's trap, which would outweigh the gains and losses. "Don't you think the enemy
Is your performance a little abnormal?"
"Abnormal?!" Shechtman obviously did not take Sokov's concerns seriously. He said confidently: "Our troops immediately launched an attack on the German positions after the shelling. Not yet.
The enemies who woke up from our shelling saw that our commanders and soldiers appeared in front of them before the smoke cleared, so it was inevitable that they would be frightened."
Seeing that Shechtman did not understand what he meant, Sokov did not talk in circles with him, but said bluntly: "Comrade Colonel, if you are attacking the positions of the German infantry division, this situation is completely possible.
It's possible. But don't forget that your division is attacking the defense area of the German armored division. If you use infantry to attack the armored division, even with the support of artillery, you won't be able to win so smoothly."
Shechtman broke into a cold sweat and asked nervously: "Comrade Commander, do you mean that the Germans may have laid a trap for us?"
"It's not a trap." Although Sokov didn't know that Manstein was commanding the German troops in front of him remotely, he still judged that the German army might have a shortage of troops, so he could only abandon some irrelevant positions and shrink its troops.
method to resist the Soviet attack. He said to Shechtman: "The Germans may not have enough troops, so they can only abandon some insignificant positions and concentrate their troops in important areas. As for you, you have
It may be that the intensity of the attack is weakened because the troops have to be divided to defend the occupied area."
"Then what should we do?" Shechtman felt that Sokov's words were very reasonable. As long as troops were mobilized to hold on to the occupied areas, the offensive power would be greatly weakened and compete with the assembled German troops.
At that time, we would definitely suffer a big loss. He quickly asked Sokov for a solution: "If we leave the troops to defend, it will not weaken the offensive strength, but in this way, our retreat may be cut off by the enemy at any time.
.”
"You don't have to worry about this." After Sokov saw through the Germans' intentions, he could naturally figure out a way to deal with them: "I will order Khokhlov's 182nd Division to follow up and let them take over your defense.
.In this way, you don’t have to worry about being taken back by the German army during the attack.
I am ordering you now to continue the attack and bite the retreating enemy hard, without giving them time to form a new line of defense. Do you understand?"
"Completely understand, Comrade Commander." Shechtman had a blind trust in Sokov, so after hearing his order, he immediately replied unambiguously: "We will bite the retreating troops to the death."
The enemy, don't give them time to build a defense line."
After Sokov ended his call with Shechtman, he called Samyko to him and said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, judging from the current situation, the German armored divisions are shrinking their forces to resist our attack.
.Once they complete the concentration of troops, I am worried that Shechtman and the others may suffer a loss. Therefore, I have ordered the 254th Division to advance regardless of all costs, bite the retreating enemy, and not build a defense line for them.
time."
"What about the positions they occupied?" Samyko did not hear the conversation between Sokov and Shechtman. He did not know that Sokov planned to order the Khokhlov Division to follow up, and asked with a worried look:
"Leaving troops for defense will definitely weaken their offensive power; but if we don't leave troops behind, the Germans may use their retreat."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, the Germans took the initiative to abandon some unimportant positions and retreat, just to throw such a problem to us." Sokov sneered and said contemptuously: "But they never dreamed that I would see through them.
Trick. Now call Colonel Khoklov, commander of the 182nd Division, and order his troops to attack immediately to take over the position occupied by the 254th Division and nail it there like nails."
"But according to our plan, the 182nd Division is the second echelon. They should only enter the battlefield when the 254th Division suffers heavy losses and is unable to continue to advance." Samyko reminded Sokov: "At this time
Is it too early to put them into the battlefield? Besides, we still don’t know whether the division is ready for combat."
What Sameko means is that the commanders of certain divisions feel that their troops will not enter the battle for a few days anyway, so they will be very perfunctory when preparing for battle. Unless it is before the battle starts, they will make temporary preparations.
Embrace the Buddha's feet.
Sokov naturally understood what Samek wanted to express, smiled slightly, and then said: "It doesn't matter even if the 182nd Division is not ready for battle. Anyway, their mission today is to take over the territory occupied by the 254th Division.
Position. As long as they enter the position, they will naturally have a sense of urgency. Even if we don't urge them, they will surely be ready for all battles in the shortest possible time."
Sameko strongly agrees with Sokov's statement. As long as the 182nd Division enters the position occupied by the 254th Division, even if no one supervises them, the commanders and soldiers will be more vigilant and seize the time to prepare for battle.
"You are right, Comrade Commander. As long as the 182nd Division is allowed to enter the position, they can consciously prepare for battle even if no one supervises them."
When Khokhlov received a call from Samyko and learned that they were about to enter the position occupied by the 254th Division, he couldn't help but panic because, as Sokov and Samyko had guessed, they
I feel that the battlefield is still far away from me, so I can't help but feel a little relaxed.
At this point, he could only tell Sameko truthfully: "Comrade Chief of Staff, our division is not fully ready for battle. It may not be appropriate to enter the battle at this moment, right?"
"There is nothing inappropriate." Samek said carelessly: "The German armored divisions are shrinking their forces, trying to concentrate superior forces locally to counterattack our offensive forces.
In order to prevent the 254th Division's attack from being frustrated, the comrade commander has ordered them to bite the retreating German troops and not give them a chance to build a new line of defense. Since they have to concentrate their efforts on attacking the enemy, the 254th Division does not have excess strength.
Come and defend the position occupied by them.
After discussion with Comrade Commander, I feel that it is very necessary for your division to enter the battlefield and take over these positions to relieve the 254th Division from worries."
Khokhlov knew very well in his heart that since Samyko had already said this, if he tried to push back again, it would be too disrespectful. He could only bite the bullet and said: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff.
, I obey the orders of my superiors. But since our division is not fully ready for battle, I plan to send Lieutenant Colonel Golyachkin's 246th Regiment to take over the occupied areas from the 254th Division."
For Sammeko, as long as there are troops to defend the German troops occupied by the 254th Division, it does not make much difference whether the troops performing the task are a division or a regiment, so he readily replied: "That's okay.
But Colonel Khokhlov, if I were you, I would still lead all the troops into the designated position in the shortest possible time."
"I understand, Comrade Chief of Staff." Hearing what Samyko said, Khokhlov replied with some embarrassment: "I will deploy the entire division to the designated location as soon as possible."
The 254th Division's attack went smoothly, and the commanders and fighters of the 300th Division also launched an attack on the German positions under the cover of artillery. Under Sokov's arrangement, the artillery's attack method this time was different from that of the armored division just now.
, as soon as the artillery bombardment began, the infantry launched an attack on the enemy's position. When they approached the enemy's position, the artillery fire began to extend forward, and the Germans listened to the artillery fire outside and had not stopped, and they hid in their shelters and could not come out.
This allowed the Soviet commanders and fighters to successfully rush into the trenches.
The commanders and fighters who entered the trench quickly came to the bunker where the German troops were hiding. Without shouting inside, they took out a few grenades, pulled the strings and threw them directly in. After the loud noise of "boom boom boom" ended, without waiting,
As soon as the smoke inside dissipated, the commanders and soldiers rushed in with weapons in hand and fired at the location where the sound was coming from.
In this way, the commanders and fighters of the 300th Division quickly eliminated the defenders on the first line of defense with almost no casualties, leaving a small number of troops for defense. The remaining commanders and fighters pounced directly on the second line of defense, which was covered by artillery fire.
Second line of defense.
After receiving the telegram from the division commander, Colonel Weisbach, Samyko excitedly reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, good news, the 300th Division captured the German infantry division with almost no casualties.
The first line of defense is now advancing towards the second line of defense."
"Today's attack went very smoothly." After listening to Samyko's report, Sokov showed a smile on his face: "It is estimated that before dark, the defense line constructed by the two German divisions will be completely destroyed by our army.
Destroy it, and the road to Alexandria is opened to us."
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Sameko agreed: "I didn't expect that today's attack would go so smoothly."
"The reason is very simple," Sokov explained to his chief of staff with a smile: "We conducted forty minutes of artillery preparations before attacking the German armored division. And when the German infantry division was bombarded by our army,
, naturally instinctively thought that the bombardment against them would last for at least half an hour. But they never dreamed that it only lasted less than ten minutes, and the artillery fire extended, and the officers and soldiers in their first line of defense,
They are all still hiding in the shelter to avoid our army's artillery fire, so that the commanders and fighters of the 300th Division can block them in the shelter and eliminate them one by one."
"Comrade Commander, the tactics you used are really great." Samyko has been working with Sokov for a long time, but he still feels that he cannot see through him and can always come up with some ingenious ideas.
Things. He said with emotion: "Even if I were a German commander, I would probably handle this situation in the same way."
Although the attack organized by Sokov was to break through the German defense line south of the landing site, what he was more concerned about at the moment was the Mikhailov camp hanging alone in the city of Pavlish. He asked Samyko: "
Chief of Staff, are Major Guchakov and the others ready to attack?"
"They have been prepared for a long time. They have been waiting for your order." Samyko said to Sokov: "They are more worried than us about the safety of Mikhail Camp. You know, they have just been established after all.
If the army loses a battalion in the near future, it may affect the reputation of the army..."
"Chief of Staff," Sokov saw that the attention of the German troops south of the landing site was drawn to the two areas that were under attack. Even if the German defense area opposite the infantry brigade was attacked, the Germans would not be able to spare the effort to reinforce it.
Now that the time is ripe, there is no need to wait any longer. He decisively issued an order: "Let Major Guchakov launch an attack immediately. He must enter the city of Pavlish before dark and fight with the garrison who stood there.
The troops unite."
Samyko had been waiting for Sokov's order and quickly replied loudly: "Yes, Comrade Commander, I will call Major Guchakov immediately and ask his troops to launch an attack immediately."
Askel, who was staying at the brigade headquarters, learned about the smooth progress of the 254th and 300th divisions through familiar officers in the headquarters. He raised his hand to look at his watch and asked Guchakov anxiously:
"Comrade Brigade Commander, the friendly forces are making good progress now. When can we launch an attack on the enemy?"
Guchakov didn't know when he could launch an attack, so naturally he couldn't answer his question. He changed the topic and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, is there any new news from Captain Mikhailev?"
"There is no new news yet." Askel shook his head and said: "But according to the content of the last telegram, the Germans may not have enough troops to launch an attack on them. They only sent troops to guard the front and rear gates of the Kurdistan area.
, to prevent them from retreating."
Although this information had been known for a long time, Guchakov still wanted to express his opinion after hearing Askel repeat it again: "Since the Germans are unable to attack them, they are safe for the time being. Comrade Chief of Staff,
Don’t worry, Comrade Commander knows what he is doing and will naturally give us orders when it’s time to attack.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the phone on the table rang.
The ringtone seemed to be the clarion call for an attack. The two stood up at the same time and reached for the phone together, trying to figure out whether this call was related to the attack.
This chapter has been completed!