As soon as Konev's telegram was sent, the situation on the battlefield changed again. The German army, which had already been aware of the actions of the 5th Guards Tank Army, dispatched the air force first, preparing to bomb the Soviet tank units that were fiercely fighting in various villages.
German bombers carried 1,800 kilograms of aerial bombs. These aerial bombs were originally used to deal with warships, but they were used to deal with Soviet tank troops on the ground.
Far away, the tank troops that were gathering in the village heard the roar of aircraft engines in the air. But they didn't pay much attention to it. In any case, their troops were the main force of the attack. The enemy was probably considering
How to deal with our own aircraft and tank troops attacking on the ground? The roar of engines in the air may be the air force preparing to bomb the German positions.
But the next second, the commanders and fighters of the tank unit realized something was wrong. Amidst the monotonous roar of the transport aircraft group, they heard a distinctive high-pitched sound. This sound was all too familiar to everyone. Before they could wait,
Listening carefully, the sharp whistle sound became extremely clear, and countless black things tumbled down from high altitude.
"Boom!" "Boom!" The aerial bomb fell on the village, and the huge explosion instantly drowned out the roar of the bomber group. In the village bombed by the heavy aerial bomb, fireballs exploded one after another, mixed with soil and
Pillars of various fragments rose into the sky. The tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, etc. on the ground were like paper toys, torn apart and crushed by the power of the explosion, then raised high into the air, and then scattered down one after another.
Buildings in the village burst into flames, but were quickly extinguished by the blasted earth. The bombed tanks and armored vehicles started to fire one after another, trying to quickly leave the village and hide in a safe place. But they often did not start.
No matter how far it goes, it will be destroyed by a direct hit from an aerial bomb, or it will be overturned by the huge air wave generated by the explosion.
The troops stationed in the village were the 2nd Tank Brigade under the 2nd Guards Tank Corps. As soon as the brigade commander escaped from the headquarters, he was pinned down by several loyal subordinates in a nearby bomb shelter to avoid the German army.
of air strikes.
The tank brigade commander who was staying in the bomb shelter felt that the ground was shaking violently, and the scenery in front of him became blurry. Although he opened his mouth hard, his ears were still hurt by the loud explosion. The shrapnel, which was as dense as a heavy rain, brought with it
It flew overhead with a scream, mercilessly knocking down those commanders and fighters who had not yet had time to hide.
The tank brigade commander curled up and squatted in the bomb shelter, trying his best to slow down the pain in his internal organs caused by the tremors on the ground, lest he be shocked to death by the shock wave of the explosion.
After an unknown amount of time, the German bombers moved away and the explosions gradually stopped. The tank brigade commander jumped up and shouted loudly to the surroundings: "Hurry up and count the casualties of each unit!"
However, he could not hear his shouts, nor could he hear anyone nearby answering him. He quickly touched his ears and found that there was no blood on his hands, confirming that his eardrums had not been shattered by the huge explosion. He used the palms of his hands to
He covered his ears and pressed hard a few times, letting a stream of air rush into his ear canal. As the noisy sound hit his face, he regained his hearing.
"Hurry up and count the casualties of each unit!" the tank brigade commander shouted again, looking around and finding burning tanks everywhere in the village, and some tank soldiers covered in fire were escaping from the tanks. Surviving soldiers nearby
He quickly stepped forward to help them save their grins.
The brigade chief of staff, who was covered in dirt, ran over from the side. He came to the brigade commander's side, leaned close to his ear and said loudly: "Comrade brigade commander, the headquarters was destroyed by an aerial bomb during the bombing. We and our superiors have lost
Got in touch.”
The tank brigade commander felt that such an important matter should be reported to his superiors immediately. He sternly said to the Chief of Staff: "Chief of Staff, immediately send communications troops to the military headquarters to report what happened here to Army Commander Bulger.
Colonel Ine reports."
The chief of staff agreed and turned to look for the communications personnel, preparing to report to the military headquarters about the air raid.
But what the tank brigade commander and chief of staff did not expect was that not only the village where their brigade was assembled was bombed by German bombers, but the troops assembled in three or four other villages were also ruthlessly bombed by the German air force.
The tank force suffered huge losses during the bombing.
When the signal trooper drove a motorcycle to the village where the military headquarters was located, the military commander, Colonel Bourjeine, was also worried about the bombing of his subordinate units. His expression changed when he learned that the 2nd Tank Brigade had also been bombed.
Turning livid, he looked at the signal soldier and asked: "What are the casualties of your brigade?"
"Still counting, Comrade Commander." The communications soldier replied with an embarrassed look on his face: "But at least two-thirds of the troops have lost their combat capabilities during the bombing."
After sending away the signal corps, Colonel Bourdeine personally answered Rotmistrov's phone and reported to him in a serious tone: "Comrade Commander, I am Colonel Bourdeine, and I have a
Sad news, I need to report to you immediately."
"Colonel Bourdeine," Rotmistrov asked in a stern tone: "Did your army suffer heavy casualties from German bombing?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Seeing that he had not spoken yet, Rotmistrov had already guessed what he was going to report, and he couldn't help but asked in surprise: "How did you know?"
"How do I know?" Rotmistrov replied with a wry smile: "Colonel Bourdeine, ten minutes before you called, the commander of the 5th Guards Mechanized Corps also called me.
On the phone, the troops that their army was gathering were also bombed by the Germans, and the troops suffered heavy casualties."
When Colonel Bourjeine learned that more than one of his troops had been attacked by German air attacks, he couldn't help but gasped. He tentatively asked: "Comrade Commander, what should we do next? Or launch an attack on the enemy as planned according to the original plan?"
Attack?"
"Colonel Bourdeine, do you think your troops are still capable of continuing?" After Rotmistrov asked the opponent in a stern tone, he sighed softly and said helplessly: "I think the attack is still temporary.
Postpone it and wait for my next notification when to launch the attack."
"Comrade Commander," as soon as Rotmistrov put down the phone, Chief of Staff Solomatin came over to him and asked for instructions: "General Konev ordered us to send people to conduct reconnaissance in the Sunflower Field. Would you like to immediately
Send out scouts to conduct reconnaissance in that area."
At this moment, Rotmistrov was troubled by the bombing of his troops. Hearing Solomatin mention this matter, he said impatiently: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what is our top priority now?"
Quickly regroup the troops and prepare to launch a new attack on the enemy. As for reconnaissance, you can just send two reconnaissance teams to take a look at that area."
After Solomatin recorded Rotmistrov's order, he asked tentatively: "Do we need to report the news that we were bombed to our superiors?"
Rotmistrov raised his head, stared at his chief of staff for a while, and nodded slowly: "Comrade chief of staff, immediately send a report to the front army headquarters and tell us in detail what happened here.
Report to the superiors and plead with General Konev to allow us to postpone the attack for two to three days."
"Delay by two to three days?" Solomatin was startled by Rotmistrov's words. He deliberately reminded the other party: "Comrade Commander, the order given to us by our superiors is in one hour."
Launch an attack. If we postpone the attack for two or three days, will it affect the overall combat deployment of our superiors?"
Solomatin's concerns are justified. Now the troops of the two fronts are fighting together. If the attack in the northwest is delayed due to his own fault, he may have to go to a military court once his superiors investigate.
After Rotmistrov wanted to understand this, he said solemnly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, after you report our situation here to General Konev in detail, then ask him how long he can give us.
time?"
Soon, Konev received a telegram from Solomatin. After reading the telegram, he fell into deep thought. Zakharov, who was busy at the side, noticed that something was wrong with Konev's expression and hurriedly came over and said tentatively.
Question: "Comrade Commander, what happened?"
"Something happened at Rotmistrov." Konev handed the telegram in his hand to Zakharov: "The several tank brigades and mechanized brigades they were gathering at the front were all bombed by the Germans.
The casualties among the troops were very heavy."
"What, the 5th Guards Tank Army was bombed by the enemy?" After Zakharov heard the news, he was suddenly frightened into a cold sweat. He lowered his head to read the telegram and said in surprise: "Don't our air force not have
Will support be dispatched in time?”
Konev shook his head and replied: "We only know now that the 5th Guards Tank Army was bombed by the enemy, let alone the Air Force." At this point, Konev couldn't help but get angry for no reason, "
What did Goryunov do? Didn’t he promise me that air superiority over the entire battlefield was firmly in the hands of our army? When Rotmistrov’s troops were bombed by the enemy, his air force was
where?"
Seeing that Konev was getting angry, Zakharov quickly comforted him and said: "Comrade Commander, don't worry. I think the German Air Force that bombed the Tank Army may have taken off from other airports. General Goryunov's men simply
It was not detected and therefore air cover was not provided to Rotmistrov in time."
In order to find out what happened, Zakharov called Goryunov and asked in a stern tone: "General Goryunov, Comrade Commander asked me to ask you, didn't you promise him
, do you have the air superiority over the entire battlefield in your hands? Then when General Rotmistrov’s 5th Guards Tank Army was bombed, where were your fighters, attack planes and bombers?”
"Comrade Chief of Staff!" Hearing what Zaharov said, Goryunov's breathing became rapid: "What did you say, the enemy launched an air attack on the 5th Guards Tank Army?"
"Yes, the German Air Force dispatched a large number of bombers to indiscriminately bomb our assembled troops. As a result, the troops that were attacked by the air suffered huge losses." Zakharov said in a stern tone:
"The Army suffered such heavy losses, and your Air Force cannot absolve itself of the blame."
Goryunov raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead and replied tremblingly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, we have been having reconnaissance planes operating in that area and closely monitoring the German airport in the direction of Kharkov. We have not found any takeoffs.
Signs. The German air force carrying out the air strike this time may have come from other field airfields.”
Konev walked over and grabbed the microphone from Zakharov's hand, put it to his ear and said loudly: "General Goryunov, I don't care where the enemy comes from, I just want to remind you. If Rotmi
If General Stroeve's troops are bombed by enemy planes again, then you can wait to be court-martialed!"
After listening to Konev's powerful words, Goryunov quickly assured him: "I immediately sent a group of fighter planes and attack aircraft to patrol the area to provide air cover for General Rotmistrov's troops.
.”
Although the measures taken by Goryunov were a bit late, they were better than nothing. No one knew whether the Germans would attack again, so they had their own air force patrolling near the sunflower fields. Once the ground troops were attacked, they could
Provide timely air cover.
After Zakharov waited for Konev to hang up the phone, he asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, the 5th Guards Tank Army suffered heavy losses in the bombing, so much so that General Rotmistrov proposed to postpone the attack.
Please let me know how many days you can give them to regroup?"
Konev raised his hand to look at the time, then silently calculated the progress of other troops in his mind, and said to Zakharov: "I will give them five hours. They must report to the designated German troops before dark."
Position and launch an attack."
"Comrade Commander, five hours is too short." Zakharov interceded for Rotmistrov and said: "The army suffered heavy losses in the bombing. If we want to regain our strength within five hours,
I think it is simply impossible to complete the assembly and launch an attack."
"Then tell me, how long should I give them to regroup?"
Zakharov held out two fingers and said to Konev: "Comrade Commander, I think it will take at least two days before General Rotmistrov's tank army can regain the ability to attack."
"No, two days is too long." Konev shook his head vigorously and said, "Even if I agree, I'm afraid the base camp won't agree after hearing the news. After all, doing so will seriously affect the next battle.
plan."
"Then just one day." Zaharov was afraid that Konev would object again, and emphasized: "I think they should be able to complete the regrouping of the troops and launch an attack on the enemy within such a long time."
"Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, then I will give Rotmistrov one more day to prepare." Konev said expressionlessly: "When the time is up, we must launch an attack on the enemy."
