After the ring operation began, the results achieved by the Soviet army would be issued to the various army headquarters that night. Sokov calculated that when Cui Kov almost got the war report, he would call him with shamelessness to learn about the war on the front line.
After hearing that the 38th infantry division commanded by Colonel Safiulin destroyed a field airport of the German army, seized eighteen transport planes, and captured all crew members, Sokov couldn't help but feel moved, thinking that the German army, which is now lacking fuel and ammunition, has basically become toothless tigers. He seems to have a small team behind the enemy, so he can let them do something, even if they cannot eliminate many enemies, they will still disturb the enemy's internal tide.
Thinking of this, Sokov asked Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I'll ask you, do we have any small teams behind enemy lines?"
"Squadron?!" When Sidolin heard this question, he frowned and thought for a while, then shook his head and turned around to ask Ivanov who was talking to Anisimov: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, do you know what small troops we have behind the enemy?"
"Didn't the squad led by Captain Guchakov and Kaven have retreated long ago?" Ivanov said with a blank look: "We are behind enemy lines, where are there any squads active."
Just when Sokov was secretly disappointed, he suddenly heard Anisimov say: "The team may not be there, but the last time the team attacked, he left several wounded people to the guerrillas."
Anisimov's words made Sokov's eyes lit up. He quickly picked up the phone in front of him, answered the guard battalion, and asked the battalion commander Tenev: "Comrade Major, I am Sokov. Is Captain Guchakov in your place?"
Since Guchakov sent the German army an ultimatum last time, Sokov has not asked him to return to the third battalion for the time being, but has left him in the guard battalion so that he could send him to his horse when there is another mission to persuade him to surrender. When Tenev heard Sokov's inquiry, he quickly replied: "Report to the division commander, Captain Guchakov is still here. Is there anything that can be conveyed to you?"
"Let him report to the division headquarters immediately. I have something to ask him."
Hearing that it was the commander of the division commander, Guchakov dared not be negligent, so he quickly trotted over. He came to Sokov, raised his hand to salute, and asked breathlessly: "Comrade Commander, are you looking for me?"
"Yes, Captain Guchakov." Sokov nodded and went straight to the topic: "I heard that when you were on a mission behind enemy lines, you left several wounded men behind enemy lines last time. Is there anything wrong?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Guchakov replied affirmatively: "Sergeant Taflin was injured in the battle. In order not to affect the movement of the troops, I left him and two other wounded soldiers in the guerrillas."
"Which guerrilla team is it?" Sokov pulled up the map on the table and reached in front of Guchakov: "Where do they usually move?"
Guchakov approached the map and looked at it, then pointed to a place very decisively and said to Sokov: "Here, the division commander, Mixiga and Vovga's guerrillas have often been active in this area after they have moved out of their original resident."
When Sokov heard two familiar names, he thought about it for a while, and remembered the names of the guerrillas, and asked back, "Is it the Ignatov brothers guerrillas?"
“That’s right.”
Sokov re-standed the map on the table and looked carefully at what valuable military targets were here. When he saw Pitomnik Airport, his pupils couldn't help but shrink. He raised his head and asked Guchakov: "How far is their new station from Pitomnik Airport?"
Before Guchakov could speak, Cidolin asked in surprise: "Comrade Commander, you don't want the Ignatov brothers to attack Pitomnik Airport, right? You know, even if the German army is now suffering a crushing defeat and morale is depressed, they still have no big problems with the guerrillas with poor equipment or training."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," as soon as Sidolin finished speaking, Guchakov retorted: "The equipment of the Ignatov brothers' guerrillas is not bad. After the last attack on the German railway station, the guerrillas seized a large amount of weapons and ammunition, and their equipment was replaced with all German equipment."
Sokov interrupted and asked Guchakov: "Captain, you have not answered me yet. How far is their new station from the German-occupied Pitomnik Airport?"
“It’s probably more than thirty kilometers away.”
"Can you get in touch with them?"
"Yes," Guchakov replied: "Along with the wounded men left with Taflin, there was a radio operator who carried a radio station with him."
"Captain, get in touch with them immediately." Sokov stood up and ordered Guchakov: "I have important combat missions to arrange for them."
Guchakov agreed, walked straight to the phone, gave the radio operator a communication code, and then contacted Sergeant Taflin who was staying in the guerrillas. Sidorin frowned and asked, "Comrade Commander, you don't want a guerrilla team to attack Pitomnik Airport, right? You know, this is a large airport controlled by the Germans. I believe that the number of people in the garrison must be large. Let the guerrilla team attack, wouldn't they let them die?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov said with a smile after listening to Cidolin's words patiently, "When have you ever seen me let the soldiers make meaningless sacrifices?"
Hearing Sokov say this, Sidorin asked in confusion: "But, aren't you asking Guchakov to contact the Ignatov brothers guerrillas just to get them to seize Pitomnik Airport?"
"I plan to let them move near the airport and fire cold guns at the enemies guarding the airport, not to let them occupy the airport. Besides, with their little force, even if they barely occupy the airport, they may not be able to defend it."
"Comrade Commander," Guchakov, who was standing behind the radio operator, turned his head and shouted at Sokov: "We have established contact with the guerrillas."
Sokov walked quickly to Guchakov, and turned his head to look at his radio operator sitting on a stool and said, "Call back to the guerrillas and ask what kind of transportation they have?"
The call came soon: "There are three captured half-track armored personnel carriers, a truck, and a dozen sleds."
Sokov thought silently that an armored personnel carrier could take 12 people, so three armored vehicles could carry 36 people. It is obviously unrealistic to seize the airport with such a small amount of troops, but it should be enough to scare the Germans around the airport. Therefore, he said to the radio operator: "Tell the other party, immediately use three armored personnel carriers to carry the soldiers, rush to Pitomnik Airport, and harass the enemies in the airport."
The call was very slow this time, and I waited for almost ten minutes before a brief inquiry message came: "Who is the commander who issued the combat order?"
"Tell them." Sokov said to the radio operator with great pride: "The one who gave them the order was Colonel Sokov, the commander of the 41st Division of the Guards."
Less than a minute after the telegram was sent, the other party's call came back: "Resolutely obey the order, this mission will be directed by Sergeant Tavlin. We will also use sleds to carry more guerrillas to the airport to pick up."
Seeing that the other party accepted his order so readily, Sokov was very satisfied. He added again: "Since the enemy has lost air supremacy in the Stalingrad region, and the German army on the ground is also panicked by our army, you can attack at any time without worrying about encountering major dangers. At the same time, I would like to remind you that when Sergeant Taflin leads his troops to operate, you must bring a radio station so that you can contact the division headquarters directly."
When the radio operator sent a message, Sokov thought in his mind: If the guerrillas commanded by Taflin encountered any danger near the airport, he would call Rokosovsky and ask him to dispatch the air force to reinforce.
…………
From the guerrillas' station to Pitomnik Airport, it is only more than 30 kilometers. If it is sunny and the road is in good condition, it only takes an hour for the armored vehicle to drive there.
But the squad led by Sergeant Tavlin took two hours to drive the armored vehicles out of the snow-covered forest, and then it took the same time to approach Pitomnik Airport. At this moment, the sky was already bright, and Tavlin couldn't help but complain secretly, and was about to attack the enemy. Who knew that if it was light today, the enemy's garrison troops would be discovered before they could get close to the airport. A fierce battle might occur.
The three armored vehicles were seven or eight hundred meters away from the airport and were discovered by the garrison troops in the airport. At first, the German soldiers standing on the watchtower were watching, and they didn't take it seriously. But as the armored vehicles approached, he saw clearly that the people in the car were basically wearing casual clothes. There was a Russian wearing a steel helmet on the first armored vehicle. He immediately shouted in panic: "Russians, the Russians are here!"
After he shouted twice, there were shouts from below: "The Russians are here! The Russians are here!" With the shouts, countless people ran out of the wooden houses or tents on both sides of the airport runway. Everything that happened next made the German sentry standing on the watchtower dumbfounded. These people who ran out not only did not enter the position, but ran in the opposite direction, yelling while running.
The armored vehicle was parked more than 200 meters away from the airport and sat in Tafflin, the first armored vehicle. He saw the enemies in the airport being in a mess, but did not shoot at him.
He raised his telescope strangely and looked towards the airport. He saw countless German soldiers not entering the defensive positions to shoot at him, causing trouble and running towards the forest further away. Some cars that were slowly starting were crowded with countless German soldiers. They squeezed forward desperately, trying to climb into the carriage, and in order to compete for these precious positions, they even fought. Tavlin even saw some wounded soldiers with leg injuries, limping and running towards the distance with crutches or rifles...
Seeing this scene, not only Tavlin was confused by the monk, but even the other guerrillas in the car were stunned. He asked Tavlin in confusion: "Comrade Sergeant, what's wrong with the Germans? Why did we run away without a chance when we saw us not shooting, but ran away without a life?"
Although Tavlin couldn't figure out what happened, he still ordered the radio operator to send a telegram to the division headquarters and report to Sokov in a timely manner what happened here.
Sokov received the telegram and widened his eyes in surprise. After a while, he ordered the radio operator: "Call back to Sergeant Tavlin and ask them to chase the fleeing German soldiers with machine guns, making them even more confused."
Tavlin, who received the order, immediately ordered three armored vehicles to line up and slowly advance towards the airport while using machine guns to shoot the German soldiers who fled in panic. Amid the dense shooting sound, the German soldiers crowded together fell in pieces like cut wheat.
Seeing his companions around him fall down in groups of gunfire, the remaining soldiers became even more chaotic. Many soldiers who found that they could not get on the car immediately fled in all directions, trying to avoid the machine guns that were shooting wildly from afar.
When there was no longer a standing German soldier on the airport, the guerrillas in the car cheered and shouted in tears: "Victory, we have won!"
Tavlin was also very excited when he saw the German corpses in the airport. But he knew very well that it was impossible to defend the airport with his more than 30 guns. Therefore, he ordered the radio operator: "Send a telegram to the division commander and report the situation here to him, saying that we had eliminated at least 300 German soldiers, and there was no one occupied German in the airport. Please tell us to instruct our next action."
"This Sergeant Taflin is doing a good job." Sokov smiled and said to Sidolin and Ivanov, "Without any casualties, our army actually wiped out more than 300 Germans. This is a great victory."
"Comrade of the Division," Ivanov said suspiciously about the achievements made by Tavlin and the others: "Don't you think there is something wrong with this battle report?"
"Are there any questions?" Sokov asked in confusion: "Comrade Deputy Commander, what are the problems?"
"The enemy saw three armored vehicles approaching the airport. Not only did they not defend, they fled in a hurry." Ivanov said cautiously: "I think this situation is too unrealistic. Even if a few German soldiers fired, Sergeant Tavlin and their armored vehicles would be difficult to get to the airport."
"Comrade Deputy Division Commander, you're over-thinking. There's nothing impossible." Sokov explained to Ivanov: "The offensive launched by our army in the past two days has made the Germans panic. Maybe when they saw Tavlin and the others appear, they thought our army was going to attack the airport, so they didn't have the courage to stick to it, so they naturally fled in a hurry."
Chapter completed!