The sudden heavy rain made Naunako worried. He looked at the bombers and attack aircraft parked on the runway. After a fierce ideological struggle, he made the most difficult decision. He turned to his chief of staff and said
: "Chief of Staff, inform several aviation division commanders to temporarily stop air strikes against the Germans."
While the chief of staff was calling to convey his order, Naunako picked up the high-frequency phone on the table and dialed the front army headquarters, preparing to report the matter to Tolbukhin.
Tolbukhin was worried when he saw the heavy rain pouring outside. When he heard the chief of staff say that General Naunako was looking for him, his heart sank suddenly, and he guessed that the call might have something to do with the air force's attack.
"General Naunako, my name is Tolbukhin."
"Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Naunako said to Tolbukhin respectfully: "I am specifically reporting to you that our aircraft cannot take off for combat due to heavy rain."
Although he knew that fighter planes could not take off to fight in heavy rain, Tolbukhin still asked reluctantly: "General Naunako, is there really no way to let fighter planes take off to fight? You know, as long as the enemy comes to attack again,
A single offensive might completely defeat them."
In his heart, Naunako didn't want to order the fighter planes to take off to eliminate the German troops that had already fallen into chaos. But in such weather, letting the fighter planes take off for combat was equivalent to asking the pilots to die. As the commander of the Air Force, he was absolutely
Such an order cannot be issued.
After Tolbukhin finished speaking, he carefully explained: "Commander of the Front Army, my mood is the same as yours. I want the pilots to assist the army brothers to eliminate the Germans. But it can't be done. It's raining so heavily.
Our plane was forced to take off, and due to visibility restrictions, it could not see the target on the ground clearly. It would be bad if it hit one of our own people."
Naunako's words did not mention the danger of flying into the air in rainy weather. He knew that Tolbukhin should understand this truth, so he only emphasized that in such bad weather, pilots cannot clearly see targets on the ground in the air.
Tolbukhin was convinced by Naunako's reason. He was silent for a moment and said to Naunako: "Okay, General Naunako, since the weather is so bad, you can let the pilots go back to the barracks to rest first.
It’s not too late to attack again after the weather improves.”
Although he said this, Tolbukhin understood that this damn rainstorm saved the German army from the brink of destruction. After he ended the call with Naunako, he put down the phone and asked Bilyuzov: "Chief of Staff
Comrade, in such bad weather, can our troops still destroy this German army as planned?"
"Comrade Commander, I think this heavy rain has rescued the enemy from the brink of destruction." Bilyuzov explained to Tolbukhin: "Don't look at the 8th Army dispatched on our southern front, following the enemy's
An attack was launched from behind; the 2nd, 5th and 17th Group Armies on the Northern Front also blocked the German army's path from the front.
But we should clearly see that although the number of troops participating in the battle sounds large, the actual number of troops engaged in combat is very limited. For example, the 10th Infantry Corps of the 8th Group Army on the southern front, they launched an offensive against the German army, but they were only
The two infantry divisions are not fully equipped and lack heavy weapons. If the German army suddenly turns around and breaks out in the direction of Donbas, our troops will not be able to stop them at all."
After hearing what Bilyuzov said, Tolbukhin frowned and thought for a moment, then asked: "Then if we order the troops on the northern front to attack, can we annihilate them all before the enemy takes a breakout action?"
"Comrade Commander, it is also very difficult to do this." Bilyuzov said with a wry smile: "The troops we put into battle on the northern front are not much more than those on the southern front. They now occupy the train stations and bus stations along the way, and their troops have already been
It may be enough to be dispersed and used for defense, but it is far from enough to be used for offense."
"So, we can only watch helplessly as the enemy escapes from our encirclement?"
"Actually, we still have a chance." Bilyuzov pointed to the map and said to Tolbukhin: "Comrade Commander, we can let the 8th Army invest another infantry division and a tank brigade in this area to completely cut it off.
The German army's retreat forced them to go north and fight our troops who stood in this direction."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, your proposal is good. Just do as you say." In order to completely eliminate this German army, Tolbukhin continued: "In addition, you are notifying Gorbatov of the 2nd Army.
Generals, Lieutenant General Polenov of the 5th Army and Major General Gastilovich of the 17th Army, immediately sent additional troops to participate in the battle, not only to intercept the German army going north, but also to prevent the defenders of Kharkov
The army went south for reinforcements."
Tolbukhin felt in his heart that at this point in the battle, the German army would rush towards Kharkov at all costs, so he issued an order to the three army commanders in the north to dispatch more troops.
Join the battle and try to destroy this enemy force leaving Donbas.
But what he didn't expect was that Manstein had already discovered that if the troops continued to move north, it would only lead to the annihilation of the entire army, so he issued an order for the troops to return to Donbass.
The German commander received Manstein's order and couldn't help complaining. Judging from the current situation, the Soviet army in the south was constantly attacking him, while the Soviet army in the north was on the defensive. He was hesitating whether to
When he was supposed to obey Manstein's order, it suddenly rained heavily. As a result, the Soviet fighter planes could no longer be dispatched. The only ones they had to deal with were Soviet infantry. He breathed a sigh of relief and immediately ordered people to take Manstein out.
Stein's order was passed on, and he turned around and returned to Donbass.
Due to the heavy rain, the Soviet army did not notice the abnormality of the German army and continued to launch uninterrupted counterattacks towards the temporary positions established by the German army.
When another round of attacks failed and the Soviet commanders and soldiers began to retreat, the German army unexpectedly launched a counterattack. The Soviet army was caught off guard. In less than ten minutes, the area that took them several hours to occupy was already falling behind.
into the hands of the German army.
The Soviet division commander, who was stunned by the German counterattack, took a while to confirm that the enemy had launched a counterattack against his troops. He quickly reported the situation to the commander of the 10th Army. After receiving the report, the commander realized that the battlefield
The situation above had changed, and he did not dare to neglect, and quickly reported the matter to the commander of the group army, Lieutenant General Starikov.
After receiving the report from his subordinates, Starikov immediately pulled the map on the table in front of him and examined it carefully. After looking at it for a while, he found that with the German counterattack, the enemy had already established a defensive depth.
It is almost impossible for the two infantry divisions without heavy weapons to break through the enemy's defense line without air force and artillery support.
After reading the map, Starikov personally called the division commander and asked straight to the point: "Comrade division commander, with your current strength, is it really impossible to break through the German defenses?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." The division commander did not beat around the bush, but answered directly and truthfully: "In order to catch up with the enemy as soon as possible, our division had abandoned all its heavy weapons when it set out, and now it is a light division. If
Without the cooperation of the air force, artillery, and tanks, I think it would be basically impossible to break through the newly established positions of the German army."
Faced with the division commander's pessimistic mood, Starikov did not get angry. On the contrary, he said reasonably: "Comrade division commander, it is raining heavily outside at the moment. We cannot provide you with air cover, tanks and artillery support. You first
Order the troops to move to defense on the spot, seize the time to repair the fortifications, and be ready to meet the German attack."
When Starikov put down the microphone, his chief of staff reminded him specifically: "Comrade Commander, do you think it is necessary to report this situation to the front army headquarters?"
"There is no need." Starikov waved his hand and said confidently: "The reason why our troops lost is because the battle lasted too long and the officers and soldiers were very tired. I think we just need to let them rest for a while and wait for the heavy rain.
After a pause, if we launch an attack on the enemy again, we will definitely be able to break through the German temporary defense line again."
When the Chief of Staff heard what Starikov said, it was hard to refute him. He could only turn the topic to other things: "By the way, Comrade Commander, didn't the Front Army Headquarters order us to deploy another infantry division and a tank?"
brigade to strengthen the offensive troops to completely cut off the German army's retreat to Donbas. Do you think we mobilized troops in the rain?"
"Don't worry, my comrade chief of staff." Starikov said optimistically: "This heavy rain not only affects us, but also affects the Germans. It is difficult for us to mobilize our troops, and they are also unable to mobilize their troops.
I still say the same thing, it’s not too late to wait until the heavy rain stops before taking the next step.”
Although the Soviet army on the northern front received Tolbukhin's order, the three commanders, like Starikov, chose to wait until the heavy rain stopped before mobilizing troops to the designated location. Little did they know that it was because of their
The negligence gave the Germans a chance to escape.
The German commander was ecstatic when he learned that the counterattack on the southern front had achieved good results. However, he was worried that this move would attract more Soviet troops to besieged. Therefore, after the troops counterattacked to regain the lost positions, he did not give orders.
Continue the attack, but let the southern front troops move to defense on the spot to observe the movements of the Soviet army.
But after waiting for more than an hour, there was no movement from the Soviet army. Not only did they not launch a new attack on their own troops, but on the contrary, they seemed to have switched to defense on the spot.
Seeing this situation, the German commander immediately issued an order to the troops to attack and advance to Donbas. His order was not questioned by the four division commanders. Everyone knew in their hearts that the Soviet troops on the southern front should attack at this moment.
They are digging fortifications in the rain. When digging fortifications in heavy rain, the fortifications often collapse due to the erosion of the rain before they are formed. If they choose to launch an attack at this time, the Soviet army does not even have a decent fortification and cannot block their own attack.
.
Soon, the battle started again.
The situation on the battlefield was exactly as the four German division commanders expected. The Soviet army did not have decent fortifications at all, and they were not vigilant enough. Facing the German troops that suddenly appeared in front of them, there was only sporadic resistance. However,
This resistance was quickly overwhelmed by the incoming German troops.
The Soviet division commander's headquarters was no more than 300 meters away from the front. But when he heard gunfire and explosions in the distance that were covered by the sound of rain, he was stunned for a while before he realized that the Germans were launching an attack on his troops.
attack.
In order to understand the scale of the attack on the enemy, he specially called a staff officer and told the other person: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you rush to the front immediately to find out what kind of force the enemy is using to attack us."
Less than three minutes after the staff officer ran out of the temporary headquarters, he ran back in wet and said in a panic: "Comrade division commander, the enemy's vanguard is less than a hundred meters away from our headquarters. You'd better hurry up."
Move it."
After saying that, the staff officer called to two soldiers, held the division commander one to the left and the other to the right, and dragged him outside without explanation.
The division commander left the division headquarters, and the rest of the staff and communications troops also packed up their things and prepared to leave this dangerous place quickly. But before they could finish packing, gunshots and explosions came from the door, and the enemy had already reached the headquarters.
's doorway.
The staff officers and a small number of guards in the division headquarters still fought tenaciously in the face of an enemy that was more than ten times more numerous than them. The battle lasted for five minutes. Except for two seriously wounded soldiers who were captured, all the remaining commanders and soldiers died heroically.
.
The Soviet division headquarters was directly taken over by the Germans, which led to the German attack being unable to be reported to the 10th Army Headquarters and the 8th Army Headquarters in time. After the troops lost unified command, they also fell into chaos.
, commanders at all levels had no idea what was going on, and could only direct their subordinates to fight independently and desperately resist the German attack.
It was not until the withdrawn division commander came to another headquarters that he reported the news of the enemy's sudden attack to the corps headquarters and group army headquarters.
When he learned that the Germans actually launched an attack and defeated one of the division's troops, Starikov was so angry that he slapped his hand on the table several times and cursed the damn enemy loudly. Fortunately, he was not just complaining.
, after setting off a fire, he ordered his chief of staff: "Chief of Staff, immediately call the infantry division and tank brigade to rush to the designated location to intercept the German troops heading south. They must not be allowed to escape back to Donbas.
.”
After the Chief of Staff learned that the German army was launching an offensive to the south, he immediately realized that the enemy wanted to escape back to Donbas. The two infantry divisions originally used to attack the German army were basically hopeless now. If he wanted to stop the enemy, he had no choice but to
Deploy troops for reinforcements. But at the moment, only dispatching an infantry division and a tank brigade seems to be far from enough, so he suggested to Starikov: "Comrade Commander, an infantry division and a tank brigade are here."
Under the current circumstances, it’s a bit too little. Do you think we can send more troops there?”
