Although Cui Kefu took an active cooperative attitude towards the counterattack deployed by the headquarters, he was always skeptical about the results of the counterattack. After the counterattack began, the progress of each unit was very unsuccessful. Due to the lack of air support and sufficient artillery cover, the counterattack troops only broke into the enemy's depth for one or two kilometers.
Just as he discussed with Krelov whether to ask his superiors to terminate the counterattack, the Director of the Communications Force walked up to him and handed him a telegram, and said, "Comrade Commander, this is a telegram sent by Lieutenant Colonel Sokov. They have successfully broken through the first line of defense of the German army and are advancing towards the second line of defense."
"Oh, Sokov's troops have broken through the German defense line?" After hearing the report of the Communications Commander, Cuikov showed a surprise expression on his face. He turned his head and said to Krelov: "Chief of Staff, this Sokov is really not simple. Guryev commanded the troops for a long time but could not break through the German defense. But as soon as he took the opportunity, he easily completed this task."
"Well, it's not simple." Krelov agreed with Cuikov's statement, but he also had a question: "But I can't understand. Guriyev is also an experienced commander. His predecessor was also an airborne division with strong combat effectiveness. Why did he pay such a great price to still be unable to break through the defense? As soon as Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops took off, they easily broke through the German defense? This is really hard to understand."
After hearing what Krelov said, Cuikov immediately ordered the director of the communications corps: "Comrade Director, telegram to Lieutenant Colonel Sokov and ordered him to report the detailed battle process. We must find out why General Guriyev was unable to break through the position, but his troops could achieve his goal so easily."
After five or six minutes, the communications officer returned to Sokov and handed him the telegram he had just received: "Comrade Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's call has been received."
After quickly browsing the above content, Cuikov looked up and said to Krelov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov said in the telegram that the attack launched by General Guriyev's Guard Division was repeatedly frustrated because the troops were intercepted by long-range artillery fire and bombed by enemy planes on the way to attack the German positions. When they launched the attack, the enemy planes had already left the battlefield due to insufficient ammunition and fuel; and the tank troops responsible for the attack adopted a rapid assault formation, and before the enemy carried out artillery interception, they rushed to the front of the German positions, completely disrupting the enemy's defense deployment."
After figuring out the whole battle, Krelov nodded and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov is still very good at fighting. But if they want to reach Orlovka, they still need to continue to break through the three German lines of defense. I wonder if they are capable of completing this task."
"Our army's counterattack was launched too hasty. Due to insufficient preparation, all the troops were not going well in the attack." Cuikov said with a lucky mentality: "Even if other troops cannot achieve their combat goals, as long as Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops can rush to Orlovka, it will be an amazing victory for us."
"But their troops are too small. I am worried that before I reach Orlovka, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops will be exhausted." Krelov reminded Cuikov: "Last time, a tank brigade of General Rokosovsky broke through the direction of the German army and tried to arrive at Orlovka to join our army. As a result, the brigade was completely wiped out by the enemy during the march."
"Chief of Staff," Cuikov pointed at Krelov with his hand and asked tentatively: "Do we still have a reserve team?"
"No more, Commander." Krelov shook his head and said, "We don't even have a battalion-level reserve team in our hands. In order to prevent the enemy from sneak attacking the command, we have even organized the staff and logistics personnel so that they can better cover the command."
"Since there are staff and logistics personnel to protect the safety of the headquarters, send our guard battalion out." Sokov thought for a moment and said to Krelov: "If Sokov can achieve great results, it may make tomorrow's battle situation more beneficial to us."
Krelov was quite reluctant to hear that Trekov planned to transfer the guard battalion to support Sokov. But hearing that Sokov's offensive situation could affect the existing battle situation. So hesitated for a moment and nodded in agreement: "Okay, Comrade Commander, I will send the guard battalion as soon as possible."
The original guard battalion of the headquarters was almost completely lost in the early battles. The existing guard battalion soon crossed the river with the counterattack troops and entered the factory area. The battalion commander was Major Tenev, a commander with rich combat experience. He had participated in many large-scale battles and received two medals for his outstanding military achievements.
Krelov quickly sent someone to call Major Tenev, pointing to the map and said to him: "Comrade Major, immediately lead the guard battalion through the Red October Factory, and advance along the northwest direction to meet with the 73rd Infantry Brigade commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, and then advance together towards Orlovka."
"Comrade Chief of Staff." Tnev naturally had to implement the order issued by his superiors, but he considered that in the troops of the Security Command, only his own guard battalion was established. If all of them left, the security work here could only be completed by the staff and logistics personnel with weak combat effectiveness. Therefore, he asked with concern: "We have all left, who will be responsible for the security work here in the Command?"
"Comrade Major," Cuikov heard the question of Tenev and immediately said lightly: "As long as you can make progress, the enemy will not be able to mobilize troops to attack us. Even if a few stragglers come here, the temporary guard unit composed of our staff and logistics personnel will be enough to completely eliminate them."
"I understand, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Cuikov had already considered everything he should consider, Tenev quickly stepped forward and asked, "Do you need me to leave? I plan to gather the guard battalion as soon as possible and rush to join Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops."
"Go, Major Comrade." Cuikov nodded at the other party and said, "We will provide you with more than a dozen trucks so that you can catch up with Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops as soon as possible."
…………
Sokov, who was sitting in the armored vehicle, pointed to the map spread on his knees and said to Yakov: "There are only a few small fortifications on the second line of defense of the German army. Don't see that they are all built of reinforced concrete, but they do not store much troops. Moreover, their defense directions are all facing the west."
"Toward the west?" Yakov couldn't help but interrupt and asked, "Misha, in this way, were these fortifications built by us?"
"That's right." Sokov nodded and replied truthfully: "It's all used by our army to deal with the Germans. Who knows that the Germans came too fast and these fortifications had to give up before they had time to play a role. However, even if the Germans occupy this place, it would not be a big threat to us. After all, the defense direction of these fortifications is towards the west. When we attack from south to north, we should be able to easily break through the German defense."
Hearing Sokov's tone so relaxed, Yakov's face couldn't help but show a surprise expression: "Misha, then, we can reach Orlovka before dark."
"Yakov, I haven't finished my words yet." Seeing that Yakov was so optimistic, Sokov said with a wry smile: "The third line of defense was transformed and reinforced by the German army, specially used to deal with our counterattack. It not only has a solid and complete defense system, but also has the support of artillery and air force at any time. If we want to break through this line of defense, we will definitely pay a huge price."
"Misha." Yakov asked in surprise when he heard this: "How did you understand these? Have you sent someone to conduct reconnaissance in advance?"
"In the counterattack in early September, I was ordered to go north to Orlovka to pick up friendly troops rushing in from outside the encirclement. As a result, after waiting for a day, I realized that after breaking through the German defense, the friendly troops were besieged during the march, and the entire army was destroyed, so we had to give up Orlovka and retreat." Sokov said this and couldn't help but sigh: "Maybe we will face the same situation this time."
Yakov automatically filtered Sokov's last sentence, but considered how to break through the German third line of defense. After staring at the map for a long time, he asked back: "Misha, since the German third line of defense is so tight, how do you plan to implement a breakthrough?"
"Faced the front, detour from the flank." Sokov pointed his hand on the map: "I ordered the troops to carry out feint attacks on the front, and Colonel Bere's tank battalion detoured from both wings to achieve the goal of capturing the position."
"Send infantry to conduct a frontal feint attack?" Yakov put forward a different view on Sokov's statement: "If they had no tank cover, they would probably suffer heavy losses. Even if we barely break through the German defense, we would not have any extra strength to continue north."
"Yakov, have you forgotten the new rockets?" Sokov waited for Yakov to finish his words and smiled faintly, adding: "When I carry out a feint attack head-on, I will order the infantry to attack the enemy's positions with rockets, giving the enemy an illusion that they think we will use strong attacks to break through their defenses. But in fact, our main assault force is the tank battalion commanded by Colonel Bere. They will detour from both wings to the back of the enemy, and fight the enemy hard, and completely crush their third line of defense."
"What a pity, what a pity!" Yakov thought that Sokov had ordered the troops operating behind enemy lines to withdraw from Mamayev, otherwise at this time they could be allowed to harass the enemy and create favorable fighter jets for themselves to break through the enemy's defense line: "If the small troops behind enemy lines have not withdrawn, they might be able to send some usefulness."
"It's impossible not to retreat, Yakov." Sokov sighed and said, "The rockets they carried have been used up. If they don't retreat, they may be surrounded by the enemy and be destroyed by the entire army."
As soon as Sokov said this, he suddenly realized that although he issued a retreat order to Grissa, whether they have retreated now is still unknown. If they are still active behind enemy lines, they might be able to help him. Thinking of this, he quickly ordered the radio operator: "Send a newspaper to Mamayevgang and ask if the troops operating behind enemy lines have returned successfully?"
The radio operator agreed and immediately sent a newspaper to the brigade command center located in Mamayev hill, asking about the whereabouts of the Grissa team. After receiving the telegram, Sidorin said to Vitkov and Berkin: "The deputy brigade commander, political commissar, and brigade commander sent a telegram to ask if Grissa's troops had returned to Mamayev hill, how should we reply?"
"We have lost contact with Lieutenant Grissa since yesterday," said Witkov with a frown. "I don't know if there was something wrong with their radio station or if they were destroyed in the siege of the enemy."
"There is little chance of a problem on the radio station. The troops operating behind enemy lines were formed by a combination of several small teams." Belkin said: "These squads each have a radio station that we contacted. Even if one of them has a problem, the remaining radio stations can contact us. There is no news at all, and I think it may be the worst possible."
"Comrade of the Political Commissar," Cidolin asked tentatively: "What do you mean, the troops led by Lieutenant Grissa have been destroyed behind enemy lines?"
"It's totally possible." Witkov took over the topic: "At this time, the brigade commander asked about the small troops behind enemy lines, and might want their cooperation. I think we should tell him the truth so that he can designate a practical combat plan based on the specific situation."
After reaching an agreement on the three people, they telegrams to Sokov and reported the loss of Grissa's troops to Sokov in detail. Seeing this telegram, Sokov was so heartbroken that without the cooperation of the team, even if the frontal feint attack and side-by-side detour tactics were adopted, the casualties of the troops would definitely not be small. Whether there is enough force to continue northward will be a very serious problem.
Just when Sokov felt at the end of his life, the radio operator suddenly reported in surprise: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I just received a telegram from the Army Command, which said that in order to ensure that we have enough troops to go north, the commander sent the headquarters' guard battalion to cooperate with us in the battle."
"The headquarters' guard battalion?" Sokov was surprised. He thought to himself: "When this happens, won't the headquarters just be the empty city plan?"
"I've seen that General Cuikov sent out all the guard battalions." Yakov said in surprise: "Who will defend the headquarters? You can't let the commander, the political commissar and the chief of staff fight against the enemy with pistols?"
Chapter completed!