"The Germans are going to run?" When Samoilov heard Sokov say this, he couldn't help looking out from the shooting hole. He saw the enemy who was attacking the position being retreated in a hurry. He thought that Sokov was talking about this, so he echoed: "That's right, Comrade Commander. The German attack on us was shattered, so he could only retreat to his original position in panic."
"Comrade Lieutenant, I'm not talking about this." Sokov shook his head and then said decisively: "Let's go, we will return to the battalion command post immediately. I want to call Chief Sidolin."
"Comrade Commander," Samoilov reminded Sokov, "there is a walkie-talkie here, and you can talk directly to the division headquarters."
Sokov shook his head again and said, "This matter is of great importance. We cannot use walkie-talkie to talk, so as not to be eavesdropped by the enemy and make our plan fail. For the sake of safety, I'd better go back to the battalion command post to make a call."
When Starcha saw Sokov coming in from outside, he immediately stood up to meet him and said excitedly: "Comrade Commander, you have seen it all. The enemy's attack was shattered by us. They abandoned hundreds of corpses and wounded in front of our positions."
"Lieutenant Colonel," Sokov said after Starcha, and asked bluntly: "What is the casualties of the first and second battalions? Can you continue to fight? If you can't, transfer your third battalion immediately."
Sokov's mindless words made Starcha's face look puzzled. He didn't know why Sokov asked this, but he still answered truthfully: "The first and second battalions suffered nearly two hundred casualties in the battle, and he can continue to fight."
Seeing that Starcha did not understand his meaning, Sokov further explained: "The Germans may have to escape, so we can take the opportunity to pursue them to achieve greater results."
"The Germans are going to run away?" Starcha was stunned when he heard Sokov say this, and then asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, where did you get the news?"
"What got the news from where?" Sokov replied as he reached out to grab the phone on the table: "I judged it based on the reaction of the Germans."
Without further explanation to Starcha, he asked the communications troops to connect to the division headquarters. After hearing Sidorin's voice, Sokov immediately said without hesitation: "Comrade Chief of Staff, according to my observation, the Germans may escape. You immediately notify the 122nd and 125th Regiments to prepare for attack. Also, all the two tank battalions retreated to the back of Mamayev's hill were transferred to the front line, so that they could send great uses when pursuing the enemy."
Sidolin was puzzled by Sokov's order. He asked in surprise: "Comrade, what did you make such a judgment based on?"
"The enemy who had just attacked the 124th Regiment's position was repelled. When I was observing their movements, I accidentally discovered that there were a large amount of black smoke behind them." Sokov replied on the phone: "According to the progress of friendly forces outside, they could not advance nearby at this moment, so the black smoke was created by the Germans."
"But what can these black smoke behind the enemy mean?" Cidolin asked in confusion.
"Don't you understand, my chief of staff?" Sokov felt a little disappointed when he saw that Sidolin could not keep up with his thoughts: "If the enemy wants to escape, he will definitely throw away the untiety materials and equipment. If my judgment is correct, the black smoke is the enemy burning untiety materials and some important documents that cannot fall into the hands of our army."
After Sokov finished speaking, before Sidolin could make any move, Golikov, who was sitting beside him, reached out to take away the microphone from Sidolin's hand. He asked with a serious expression: "Colin Sokov, do you really think that the Germans are preparing to retreat in large quantities?"
"Yes, comrade, deputy commander of the Front." Sokov heard Golikov asking himself, and quickly replied in an affirmative tone: "I'm sure the enemy is preparing to escape."
"Are you really sure?"
Sokov remembers that in twenty hours, the Soviet troops heading north and south would meet in Karachi, completely cutting off the retreat of the German Sixth Army, and forcing those troops who fled from the city to return to their original garrison. It was precisely because of this history that when he heard Golikov's question, he immediately replied without any ambiguity: "Yes, I am completely sure of the Deputy Commander of the Front Army."
Seeing that Sokov answered so affirmatively, Golikov also felt confident in his heart. He quickly asked to the microphone: "Col. Sokov, do you have any plans?"
"I plan to take advantage of the enemy's retreat and launch a counterattack again." Sokov replied: "Try to expand the area controlled by our teacher."
"Is there any difficulty?" Golikov continued.
"We did not get the support of artillery from the left bank during the attack." Sokov thought for a moment, feeling that since he could not get the support of artillery, he could try to ask for cooperation from the Air Force. After all, today's weather is suitable for fighter jets to take off. "Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army, can you ask the Air Force to provide necessary air support to our offensive forces?"
"Col. Sokov," Golikov felt that if Sokov's troops did not receive any fire support during the attack, they would inevitably increase the casualties of the troops. After a brief thought, he said decisively: "I will report this matter to Commander Yelemenko immediately and ask for assistance from the Air Force."
…………
Time went back a few hours ago, Paulus, who moved the headquarters to Gumlak, received reports from various defense areas. After reading these contents, he sadly discovered that the scale of the Soviet army's counterattack this time was far beyond his imagination. If he allowed the Soviet army's offensive to continue to develop, his troops would have the possibility of being trapped in the encirclement.
Paulus put down the documents in his hand and asked his chief of staff Schmidt: "Chief of staff, tell me, what should we do now?"
Schmidt quickly replied respectfully: "Mr. Commander, I think it is best to withdraw all troops from the city immediately under the current circumstances and order them to move west quickly so as to break out of the encirclement that the Russians might have formed."
"Retreat?!" After hearing Schmidt's words, Paulus couldn't help but smile and replied with a wry smile: "Do you think Berlin will agree to us abandon our existing defensive zone and retreat westward?"
Schmidt was silent for a long time before answering: "Commander, please be honest. I will give the troops a retreat order, so that the B Group Army Group will be approved; but Berlin will never agree. Do you still remember the failure of our army under the city of Moscow?"
Seeing Paulus nodding to his memory, Schmidt continued: "At that time, General Guderian took the initiative to order the troops to withdraw from dangerous areas so that he could be surrounded by the Russians, but was scolded by the head of state."
"That's right," Paulus said, "Although Guderian was scolded, he saved most of his troops. Otherwise, who would win and lose in the Battle of Kharkov will be an unknown number."
"Your Excellency Commander, now you are facing two choices like General Guderian at that time." Schmidt said solemnly: "One is to follow Berlin's orders and continue to stick to the existing area, waiting to be surrounded by the Russians; the other is to make his own decisions and order the troops to quickly turn westward and preserve as much vitality as possible. Please decide for yourself."
By the way, Paulus was unwilling to fall into the Soviet encirclement, but if he ordered the troops to retreat without asking for instructions, he would definitely be held accountable by Berlin in the future and even be sent to a military court. It was precisely because of this consideration that Paulus was reluctant to issue an order to retreat.
Seeing that Paulus had been hesitating, Schmidt guessed his thoughts and said tactfully: "Commander, if you really can't make up your mind, you might as well send a telegram to the Army Group Command of Group B to report our situation to General Weix and ask him what to do?"
"What about Berlin?" Paulus was still a little moved about Schmidt's proposal, but when he thought of the beard in Berlin, he couldn't help but tremble. He asked calmly: "Chief of Staff, if Berlin pursues it, how should we answer?"
"We can ignore it, just pretend that there has been no telegram from Berlin." Schmidt was not allowed to retreat immediately, and persuaded Paulus: "If the above people pursue it, we will say that the troops are marching and cannot receive the telegram for the time being. When the troops stop advancing and start to receive the news, all the troops have evacuated from the original garrison area. In this case, even if Berlin wants to hold them accountable, you can find a reasonable explanation."
"You make sense." Paulus nodded and said, "Then you send a telegram to General Weix first, telling him that the situation here is very critical. Since we continue to stay in the distance, we may be surrounded by Russians, so our army must immediately move to the west."
After seeing Schmidt finish recording the telegram, Paulus added: "Tell the troops that except for ammunition and dry food for two or three days, the rest of the things were thrown away, including the soldiers' military coats."
"What, let the soldiers throw away the military coat?!" Schmidt thought he had heard it wrong and quickly reminded Paulus: "Commander, in such cold weather, if the military coat is thrown away, the soldiers will easily be frozen in the cold."
"Chief of Staff, look at the map." Paulus slapped a few times on the map with his hand and said angrily: "The distance we retreated is about a few hundred kilometers. If the soldiers were allowed to march in heavy military coats in ice and snow, they would soon be caught up by the Russians who rushed from behind, and let them throw away the military coats, so that the troops could move forward lightly. As for the cold weather and worrying that soldiers without military coats would be frostbite, you can rest assured that as long as our troops retreat to the right bank of the Don River, there are many our supplies warehouses along the way, so that the soldiers can put on new military coats again."
"I understand, Commander." Hearing that Paulus had taken into account all the issues that should be considered, Schmidt quickly replied: "I will convey your order immediately."
A few minutes later, the order to transfer lightly arrived at the division headquarters of the 71st Infantry Division. After reading the telegram, Major General Roske specially called the communication staff to come over and asked: "What's going on with your telegram? There is no record error, how could he order the soldiers to throw away all their military coats?"
"Yes, Your Excellency the Division Commander." The communications officer replied quickly: "When I first received this telegram, I was worried that the content above was wrong, so I checked it out. Yes, this is the order issued by the Army Command."
Roske handed the telegram to his chief of staff and said with some amusement: "Chief of staff, the headquarters ordered us to assemble troops immediately to move. In order to reach the Don River as soon as possible, we also ordered us to throw away the supplies that could not be taken away."
The Chief of Staff received the telegram and saw clearly that the sentence of throwing away the military coat was written on it. He couldn't help but say to Roske in surprise: "Sir, in such cold weather, the soldiers throwing away the military coats will cause a lot of frostbite."
"There is no way, my chief of staff." Roske said helplessly: "This is the command of the commander, and we must implement it unconditionally."
"But let the soldiers throw their military coats down, wouldn't it be cheaper for those damn Russians?" The Chief of Staff reminded Roske: "We can't let the Russians wear warm and gentle clothes to pursue our retreating troops."
"Then do you think, how should we deal with the thrown away?"
"Since we can't take it away, we can't leave it to the Russians." Chief of Staff said gritting his teeth: "I think we can burn all these materials with one fire."
"Burn?!" Roske replied hesitantly: "Will this cause panic in the army?"
"Your Excellency, you can't care about that much." The Chief of Staff replied: "The sneak attacks on the Russians have now become strong attacks. After several hours of fighting, we were unable to seize positions from the Russians. Our soldiers had long become a little panicked. Even if they saw us burning supplies, the situation would not be worse."
"Chief of Staff, arrange manpower immediately to burn the warehouses where supplies are stored." Roske ordered his chief of staff: "Apart from weapons and ammunition and dry food required along the way, throw away all the rest. In addition, on the way to retreat, several fires were set up, and the soldiers passing by threw all their military coats into the fire to burn them."
After recording the order, the Chief of Staff of the Division asked Roskei for instructions: "Grand Commander, what should the troops attacking the Russian positions do? Let them stop the attack and withdraw immediately?"
"No, let them continue to attack." Roskei thought for a while, shook his head and said, "As long as their attack continues, the Russians will not find our intention to retreat, which will help us withdraw more troops to safe areas."
After dawn, the main force of the 71st Infantry Division began to retreat. Several fires were lit on both sides of the road where they retreated. The soldiers standing beside the fire shouted at the passing officers and soldiers: "Take off your military coats and throw them into the fire."
Chapter completed!