After the air raid alarm was issued, the drivers of the convoy did not know what measures should be taken.
In fact, this cannot be blamed on these car soldiers. After all, since they entered the Soviet land, they had never encountered any air strikes except for guerrilla attacks. When they suddenly encountered air strikes, they really didn't know what to do. Most of the cars stopped on the road. The driver poked his head out of the car and looked into the air, wanting to see where the Soviet plane was.
The four bombers in the air, seeing the convoy on the ground, stopped moving, and trucks were parked neatly on the road. Although they were a bit far apart, for bomber pilots with rich combat experience, they were simply targets for training.
Four bombers dived from the air in turn and dropped bombs at trucks on the ground. If a bomb falling from the sky hits the truck directly, it will directly blow the truck into a ball of fire. Even if it does not hit the target directly, the air waves formed by the explosion not far away will overturn the truck.
If the inside is filled with ordinary supplies, it is a little better, but it is spread all over the ground. But if there is ammunition inside, it will be miserable and will soon cause an explosion and blow the surviving soldiers around the truck to the ground.
As for the resistance on the ground, it is simply negligible. Each German car had only two soldiers escorting the car. They carried basically rifles, at least a few submachine guns, and there were no machine guns at all. Faced with bombers diving from the air, their air shooting was futile.
After the bombers dropped the bombs they carried, they began to return. At this time, there were fire and thick smoke everywhere on the ground. Except for two trucks that hid in the woods on the road in time, the rest of the German convoy was basically destroyed by Soviet bombing.
After the bomber left, two reconnaissance planes appeared in the air. The pilot flew low, flew past the still burning trucks, and ventured to take photos of the enemy's convoy being destroyed.
After Colonel Nechepolenko was washed out, he immediately rushed to the headquarters to find Sokov and reported to him: "Comrade Commander, look, this is the result of our bomber squadron."
After seeing a series of photos, Sokov showed a gratified smile on his face. After handing the photos to Vitkov and Lunev, he smiled and said, "Our air strikes destroyed so many transport vehicles from the enemy. If they want to ensure supply to the Skeleton Division, they have to transfer enough vehicles from other directions to replenish them. In this way, the supply level in other directions will drop to a certain extent."
"Comrade Commander," Lunev said to Sokov after seeing the photos: "Actually, after you proposed this plan to attack the German transportation line, I didn't look at you. I always think that using bombers to deal with the enemy's transport convoy is a waste. But judging from the achievements made by the Air Force today, your tactic is very effective. If the Germans want to ensure the supply of the Skeleton Division, they must invest more transport vehicles in this direction to supplement those lost vehicles."
"Comrade Commander," said Colonel Nechepolenko with some excitement: "The pilots participating in this air strike were extremely enthusiastic about fighting. After flying back to the airport, they strongly demanded that they would re-enter the new battle after replenishing ammunition and fuel."
"The enemy's transportation line was attacked by you. I guess the Germans will not provide any supplies to the Skeleton Division until tomorrow." Sokov said casually: "Comrade Colonel, even if your pilot wants to attack, he can only wait until tomorrow."
"No, comrade Commander, you don't understand what I mean." Colonel Nechepolenko waited for Sokov to finish his statement, and quickly explained: "The pilots believed that since we successfully attacked the transportation line to the west, we might as well take advantage of the weather to attack and attack the transportation line to the north of the German army and cut off their supplement to the imperial division."
"There is no need for this." After hearing this, Sokov waved his hand and said, "The Imperial Division only has one regiment to the north of ours, and we have a division's troops that can deal with them completely. We don't have to consider cutting off their supplies for the time being."
"Comrade Commander, I have a bold idea," Vitkov interjected, "We can order the troops stationed in the north of the city to carry out feints against the Imperial Division, so that the enemy thinks we may attack them."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," when Sokov was thinking about the plan proposed by Vitkov, Lunev asked first: "We intend to launch an attack on the enemy. In order to prevent them from preparing, we must do hidden work in advance to prevent them from increasing troops to the front. Your approach will surely alert the Germans. If they increase troops to the front, then the attack we are about to launch will become very unfavorable."
"Comrade Military Commissioner, please wait. I think the meaning of the Chief of Staff is not what you imagined." Sokov first stopped Lunev, and then asked Vitkov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, are you planning to attract the enemy to transfer more troops to the north through our army's feint?"
Seeing that Sokov guessed his intention, Vitkov smiled and nodded, and replied with certainty: "Yes, that's how I thought about it."
"I don't understand why we have to let the enemy increase troops on the front line?" Lunev said in confusion: "You must know that the less troops on the front line of the enemy, the easier it is for us to break through the enemy's defense line when we launch an attack."
Seeing that Lunev did not understand what Vetkov meant, Sokov explained to him: "Military Comrade and Chief of Staff meant to attract the enemy to increase troops to the front. After their troops reach a certain number, we will send the air force to attack their transportation lines. You must know that the more German troops on the front, the more materials they consume every day. If their transportation lines are paralyzed under the attack of our air force, the German troops on the front will face the situation of exhausting ammunition and food. Tell me, what kind of results will be achieved if the enemy is short of materials and morale is low, and they will launch an unexpected attack?"
Lunev is not a fool either. After Sokov's explanation, he immediately understood what was going on. He said suddenly: "So that's the case. The more German soldiers at the forefront, the more supplies they need. As long as our air force blocks their transportation lines, they will soon be short of supplies and ammunition."
Seeing that Lunev understood what he meant, Sokov turned to face Nechepolenko and said, "Comrade Colonel, from now on, your aviation division's mission will be to block the supply line from Pavlograd to the Skeleton Division. On the northern line, just send a reconnaissance plane to figure out the route and time of the enemy's transport convoy."
"I understand, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Sokov handed over such an important task to him, Colonel Nechepolenko was overjoyed. He quickly expressed his gratitude: "Don't worry, our reconnaissance plane can figure out the enemy's transportation route and the time of its appearance in at most two days."
After saying this, Colonel Nechepolenko remembered Vitkov's proposal and was preparing to let a force harass the enemy in the north, so he took the initiative to propose: "Comrade Commander, do we need our air force to attack when the troops in the north pretend to move to the German Imperial Division?"
"No, no," Sokov waved his hand and said, "Comrade Colonel, I have already said that the mission of your aviation division is to block the transportation line to the west and minimize the supply that the skeleton division can obtain."
"Comrade Commander, there should be no problem for us to block the enemy's transportation lines during the day." Colonel Nechepolenko waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and expressed his thoughts, "But if they adjust the transportation time to night, what should we do?"
"Don't worry, comrade Colonel." Witkov replied with a smile: "We have sent a lot of sabotage teams to the rear of the enemy. They carry a new rocket that can attack German targets at a distance. Your air force is responsible for blocking the daytime transportation lines, and they will use this new rocket to attack German transport vehicles at night."
After Colonel Nechepolenko left, Vetkov asked Sokov for advice: "Comrade Commander, we are pretending to move north of the city. How many troops do you think you should deploy?"
"The enemy has a regiment, and I see that we can only find one regiment." Sokov said to Vitkov: "Major General Merkulov's 67th Guard Division is considered a relatively strong division in our army. I think it is very suitable for them to carry out feint attacks."
Witkov said: "I can't explain this mission clearly on the phone. I think I'd better call him here."
"Okay," Sokov nodded: "You call him."
It took less than five or six kilometers from the headquarters of the 67th Guards Division to the headquarters of Sokov. Major General Merkulov, who received the call, took less than ten minutes to arrive at the headquarters.
After Shaking Hands with Merkulov, Sokov said to him: "Comrade General, I have an important task to hand over to your division to complete."
Merkulov has been serving as Sokov's subordinate for a long time, and he knows very well that if Sokov says this, it means that the other party will hand over a task that can make achievements to him. He quickly straightened his body and said, "Comrade Commander, please give orders."
Sokov pointed at Rokinsik's position and said to Major General Merkulov: "Comrade General, the enemy has set up a regiment of the Imperial Division here, do you know?"
"Of course I know." Merkulov nodded and replied: "In the early morning of this morning, our patrol team also exchanged fire with the enemies who were trying to sneak into our positions, killing one person and injuring two people on the spot, and the rest fled in a hurry."
"What, your division had exchanged fire with the enemy in the early morning?" Sokov couldn't help frowning when he heard the unexpected news, "Why didn't there be any reports?"
"Comrade Commander," Merkulov said with a smile: "It's just a small-scale firefight, I don't think it's necessary to alarm you."
"Comrade General, your idea is completely wrong." Sokov said with a stern face and taught them a lesson: "Maybe these enemies were trying to get into our positions to conduct reconnaissance, but you thought it was just an ordinary firefight, and it was so low that it was very dangerous."
Merkulov, who was criticized by Sokov, blushed and said nothing.
After Sokov finished speaking, in order not to embarrass the other party, he changed the topic and then talked about the purpose of calling him over: "Comrade General, I have an important task to call you here, and I will hand it over to your division to complete. Tomorrow, I hope you can use a regiment of troops to launch an attack on Luo Jinsik."
"Comrade Commander, don't worry." Major General Merkulov became excited when he heard Sokov say this: "I promise you that it takes half a day for our division to occupy the town of Rokinsik and drive away all the enemies inside."
"Comrade General, you're wrong." Sokov waved his hand and said, "I asked you to attack Rokinsik, not to let you drive away or destroy the enemies in the town, but to hope that through your attack, the enemy will feel threatened and have to ask for help from the enemies in the rear, so that the enemy can dispatch more troops to Rokinsik."
"Comrade Commander, I don't quite understand what you mean." Merkulov said with a daze in response to Sokov's order: "Since you are launching an attack on the enemy, not to destroy the enemy, but to attract more enemies to Rokinsik, I really don't understand why you did this."
"I will tell you another thing before explaining to you." Sokov said slowly: "Today our air force attacked a transport convoy from Pavlograd. After a bombing, all the transport vehicles were basically destroyed. This batch of supplies was prepared by the enemy to supply them to the Skeleton Division, but due to our air strikes, the Skeleton Division's troops will not receive enough supplies within a day or two. What do you think? "
Major General Merkulov frowned and thought for a while, then said carefully: "At that time, Paulus's troops were besieged in Stalingrad by us. Because they did not receive sufficient supplies, the combat effectiveness of the troops decreased, their morale was declining, and their morale was dispersed. Otherwise, it would not be so easy for us to wipe out all of them."
"You have analyzed a lot. The reason why we were able to wipe out the Paulus group at the beginning was entirely because of their supply interruption." Sokov then explained to Major General Merkulov: "I asked you to find a way to get the enemy to transfer more troops to Rokinsik, so that after gathering enough German troops there, they could cut off their supplies with the air force. In this way, the German troops lacking supplies would not last long without our strong attack."