Chapter 260 Fighting in the rear of the enemy (Sixth)
In this plan to attack Kursk, there were only two goals that had to be seized at all costs. One was the German command, where Colonel Kerka, the commander of Kursk's garrison, stayed; the other was a military warehouse. Although there was only one company of troops left in the city, Kerka had a platoon of troops in these two key departments.
The troops that rushed to the garrison headquarters were commanded by Lieutenant Grissa, and Corporal Ernst was indispensable. After all, in the entire camp, only when he spoke German, would he not arouse the suspicion of the Germans.
However, as soon as they arrived at the gate of the garrison command, they were stopped by the soldiers on duty. The soldier led the team was a corporal. He did not show respect to Ernst because he was carrying the rank of captain on his shoulders. Instead, he asked sternly: "Sir Captain, which part of you are from, what are you here to do?"
"We came from the Dym area," Ernst did not know the number of nearby German troops and did not dare to talk casually, so he said with a slight slightest attack. "He was ordered to send prisoners of war here."
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, the corporal looked him up and down, then stretched out a hand: "Get it!"
"What?" The Corporal's actions confused Ernst: "What are you giving?"
"What else can it be?" said the corporal disdainfully: "Of course it is your pass to enter and exit here! If there is no pass, then you will go back wherever you come from."
Ernst's eyes swept around quickly and found that except for two soldiers standing outside the door of the building, there was a machine gunner smoking in the sandbag fortifications, and the German corporal who made things difficult for him, he saw no one again. He quickly winked at Grissa and signaled that he could do it.
Grissa, who understood the gods, waved his hands to his subordinates. The soldiers in German uniforms stepped forward and pointed the gun at the German soldiers outside the door. The German corporal was panicked when he saw the gun around him. He thought that his words had offended the other party, so the captain deliberately ordered people to treat him like this.
The corporal hurriedly laughed at Ernst and said, "Sir Captain, misunderstandings, these are all misunderstandings. I think you have just come from the front line and there must be no pass. I will let you in now..."
"I can't misunderstand," Ernst, who was pushing his pistol into the abdomen, said coldly: "We are the Soviet Red Army!"
"Ah, it's Russian!" The corporal was startled by Ernst's words and hurriedly raised his hands over his head: "We surrender, we surrender!"
After asking where the German troops who were on guard duty lived, Grissa left two soldiers to guard the prisoners and rushed into the building with the remaining soldiers. Although Grissa and the others rushed into the building, they were discovered by the German soldiers in the corridor and there was also a gunfight. However, sporadic resistance soon stopped. Grissa held an MP40 submachine gun in his hand and stepped on the German body, and rushed into the garrison commander's office. He raised his gun and aimed at Colonel Kempka, who had just taken out his pistol from the drawer, and shouted loudly: "Raise your hand, otherwise you will be killed!"
Although Kempka couldn't understand what Grissa was calling, he saw the black muzzle aiming at him and knew that the situation was going to be. He carefully placed the pistol on the table and then raised his hands.
The small team led by Grissa easily occupied the German garrison headquarters and captured the commander Colonel Kempka. The warehouse attacked by the second company commander Vasily himself led the troops to encounter no fierce battle. After all, the city has never been attacked by the Soviet army since the occupation, so the defenders in the warehouse are not vigilant. After only a few shots, they put down their weapons and surrendered.
After successively occupying the garrison commander and warehouse, the remaining scattered enemies in the city no longer pose any threat. Therefore, after discussing with Belkin, Sokov decided to report the matter to the Army Command.
Before receiving Sokov's telegram, Rokosovsky was worried about him. Due to Lidukov's sacrifice, the situation fell into chaos. Rokosovsky, who was busy dealing with the crisis, inevitably ignored the Istrian camp and forgot to let Malinin send a message to Sokov and ask him to withdraw all his troops.
Now the battle situation has stabilized again, but the Istrian Battalion suddenly interrupted contact. Rokosovsky was anxious. He kept urging the communications officer director Maximemko: "Comrade Director, call the Istrian Battalion continuously. You must figure out where they are now? Are they surrounded by the Germans? Or are they breaking out of the encirclement and moving closer to our army?"
After Maximenko recorded the order, he didn't wait for him to send it. A radio operator suddenly exclaimed, then turned his head and rushed to Rokosovsky, who was standing aside, and said, "Report to the commander, I have received a telegram from the Istrian camp."
When he heard that there was a telegram from the Istrian camp, Rokosovsky, who was eager to know their situation, actually snatched the telegram from the radio operator and looked in front of him carefully. After reading the above content, he couldn't help but say repeatedly: "Good job, good job! This Sokov did so beautifully!"
"Comrade Commander, what happened?" asked Malining, who had just officially taken over as Chief of Staff of the Army, and "What did Sokov say in the telegram?"
Rokosovsky handed the telegram in his hand to Malinin, and said excitedly: "Sokov said in the telegram that his troops had occupied Kursk."
"What, occupied Kursk?" When Malining heard the news, his first reaction was that it was impossible. A city as big as Kursk, not to mention a battalion, even a division could not be taken. But he felt that Rokosovsky would not speak nonsense, so he quickly took the telegram and carefully browsed the contents on it.
After seeing the telegram, Malining pondered for a long time and said, "Comrade Commander, this victory came in time. Kursk has an important German material warehouse. Once occupied by our army, it will definitely affect the enemy's offensive plan, which will buy us valuable time to adjust the deployment."
Rokosovsky walked to the front of the map and looked for a while, and said to Malining: "Sokov is such a talent. He is so amazing. Several of our army fight with the German army. His battalion changed the enemy-to-we position in the direction of Voronezh. It's amazing."
Malining carefully reminded Rokosovsky: "Comrade Commander, once the Germans learn that Kursk is lost, they will definitely mobilize heavy troops to recapture Kursk. I am worried that relying on one of Sokov's battalions will not be able to stop the enemy's counterattack."