During the transfer of the German armored troops, they were air strikes by the Soviet Air Force. The news soon reached Mamayevgang. After reading the telegram sent by Rokosovsky, Trekov originally wanted to hand it to Sokov directly, but when he saw Yelemenko and Khrushchev sitting aside, he thought that although they were no longer their immediate bosses, they still needed necessary respect, so he handed the telegram to the two.
While the two were reading the telegram, he said to Sokov: "Col. Sokov, the German armored unit that was being transferred, was subject to a fierce air strike by our air force and suffered considerable losses. When do you plan to launch an attack on the frontal enemy and regain the lost position?"
The reason why Sokov has not let the troops launch an attack for a long time, but has continued to fire flyers, one is to worry about the German armored forces, and the other is to dismantle the morale of the defenders. Now the German armored forces are blowing the Soviet bomber, so there is nothing to worry about when launching an attack on the lost positions.
Sokov said to Cydolin: "Chief of Staff, contact the leaders of each regiment immediately, and I will issue combat orders to them."
Five minutes later, Sidolin reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the commanders of each regiment are calling on the phone, waiting for your combat orders."
Sokov walked to the phone, picked up the sender and headphones, and was about to speak, when he suddenly saw Yelemenko and others sitting next to him, and stopped his movements. Yelemenko and Khrushchev are now audiences, so they don’t have to pay attention to them; but Cuikov is his immediate boss. Before getting his permission, he gave orders to the frontier troops, which seemed inappropriate. Sokov hesitated and asked Cuikov: "Comrade Commander, why don’t you give combat orders to the troops."
Unexpectedly, Cui Kefu waved his hand after hearing this and said, "It is your army that wants to attack the enemy, so it is more appropriate for you to issue this order."
Since Cuikov was unwilling to command the command level, Sokov was just asking for it. He quickly raised the sending machine to his mouth and said loudly: "Come leader of each group, I am Sokov."
After hearing the voices of the commanders of each regiment came from the headphones, he continued: "I order that each regiment immediately launch an attack on the enemy occupying my frontier positions under the cover of the tank battalion, and be sure to regain our positions from the enemy."
After hearing the loud answers from the leaders of each group, Sokov handed the sender and headphones back to the radio operator. After returning to the table, he straightened his body and said to Cui Kov: "Comrade Commander, I have another request, I hope you can convey it to your superiors."
"Are there any requests conveyed to superiors?" Cuikov was stunned for a moment when he heard Sokov say this, and asked back: "What request, can you say?"
"Comrade Commander, I think that after my division has recovered its lost position, it should immediately stop its offensive operations against the German army." Sokov said: "Not only can our division not attack the enemy for the time being, but also the troops that were originally planned to come to the meeting will also ask them to slow down their advancement and try to postpone the meeting time."
As soon as Sokov said, everyone present was shocked. After a while, Yelemenko asked in confusion: "Col. Sokov, I want to ask, why do you do this? Don't you know that if we and our friendly forces meet one day, we can eliminate the besieged enemies one day earlier?"
"Comrade Commander of the Front Army, please listen to my explanation." Although Yelemenko no longer serves as Commander of the Front Army, Sokov still used his honorific title: "At present, our army's military strength in the city is still too weak. If we forcefully meet with friendly troops coming from the west and cut the enemy's defense zone into two pieces, the enemy who is unwilling to be eliminated will definitely resist wildly. If they concentrate all their troops to continue to attack the defenders in the city, then the front line that has just stabilized will be at risk of being broken through by the enemy, and it will become very difficult to encircle and annihilate the enemy at that time."
Yelemenko cannot refute Sokov's statement. It has been more than a month since the start of the large counterattack on November 20. Apart from the addition of four fully-packed infantry battalions and two tank battalions to Sokov's Guards 41st Division before the counterattack, no one soldier entered the city. The rest of the troops of other troops under Cuikov relied entirely on the wounded and discharged from the hospital, as well as some militias, workers and residents who had little combat experience. Such forces would be difficult to defend the defense line if they were attacked by the German army.
"Col. Sokov," the person who asked this time was Cuikov: "Tell me, what should we do?"
"In my understanding of General Rokosovsky, he may be planning a new offensive to eliminate the enemy faster and more thoroughly." Sokov replied: "In order to cooperate with his actions, we should still maintain the existing attack strength, so that Paulus will have a wrong situation, and feel that we do not pose any threat to them. In this way, we can seize the time to accumulate strength and finally give Paulus a hard blow at the critical moment."
"By the way, Colonel Sokov." Hearing Sokov's words, Cuikov did not express any comments, but remembered an important thing: "I remember you have a camp, in the residential area south of the city, right?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Although Sokov did not know the purpose of Cuikov's question, he answered truthfully: "Although their main activity area is the residential area in the south of the city, when necessary, I intend to let them move towards the Central District and find an opportunity to seize the Central Railway Station occupied by the German army."
"It may be difficult for your little force to gain a foothold in the residential area in the south of the city." Cui Kefu thought for a while and said, "I think if it is necessary, I'd better draw the battalion back and strengthen the defense of Mamayevgang."
"No, Comrade Commander." As soon as Cui Kov finished speaking, Sokov blurted out: "We cannot let them retreat."
Sokov's reaction frightened Cuikov, and he asked in confusion: "Why?"
Sokov naturally would not tell Cui Kov that it would not take long before Paulus would transfer his headquarters to the basement of the department store in the central district. He would leave a unit there for himself to capture Paulus himself. If he retreated at this time, wouldn’t all his efforts be wasted?
"Comrade Commander," in order to keep the third battalion in its current position so that it can be used in the future, Sokov could only open his eyes and lies: "My third battalion is operating in that area and can restrain a considerable number of enemies. If they withdraw from Mamayev, it seems to have strengthened the defense here, but in fact it will leave the Germans without worries. In this way, they can concentrate their troops to launch attacks on our flanks, which will force us to mobilize more troops to defend."
Sokov's far-fetched explanation was really believed by Yeliaumek and others. He spoke to Cuikov: "Comrade Cuikov, although I am not your superior now and can no longer give orders to you, I think Colonel Sokov's statement makes sense. In my opinion, his third battalion will continue to stay in his current position."
When Sokov learned that his third battalion could be kept in his current position, he breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he could have troops near the department store, he might be able to capture Paulus himself in the future.
The German army, which occupied the frontier positions, was already panicked since seeing the leaflets launched by the Sokov troops. When they saw the armored troops they were relying on, they also withdrew on a large scale, the soldiers became even more depressed and distant. Seeing the Soviet army rushing towards their positions under the cover of tanks, and aimlessly fired guns from a distance.
The distance was too far, and their shooting not only did not cause any casualties to the attacking Soviet infantry, but instead exposed their firepower points too early, so that the tanks covering the infantry's attack could stay several hundred meters away from the position, as if they were shooting a target, calmly clearing these firepower points one by one to clear obstacles for the attacking infantry.
The tank unit that the right wing covered the attack of the 122nd Regiment was the first tank battalion commanded by Colonel Bere himself. The battalion was equipped with the most advanced T-34/85 tanks and self-propelled artillery of the Soviet army, which was very effective against the enemy's artillery positions and machine gun fire points. They first broke through the German defense line and rushed into the positions occupied by the enemy.
Seeing the infantry fighting for positions with the enemy, Beret asked Lieutenant Colonel Papchinko: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, your soldiers have rushed into the position, and my tank battalion can't help much. I think it's better to reinforce friendly forces on the left so that they can also rush into the enemy's position as soon as possible."
"Comrade Colonel," replied Lieutenant Colonel Papchinko with a smile: "Your rank is higher than me, so how to fight is of course your final decision. Do you need to send a company of soldiers to cooperate with your tank operations so as not to be attacked by the enemy's anti-tank hands?"
"No, no," Bere shook his head and said, "Our tank soldiers are very experienced in dealing with the enemy's anti-tank hands. Even without the cooperation of infantry, we can eliminate those anti-tank hands who attempt to blow up tanks."
The German army never dreamed that as soon as their left wing was lost, the Soviet tanks and self-propelled artillery rushed over. If their armored forces were still there, these more than 20 tanks and self-propelled artillery would be purely a suicide attempt. However, without armored forces, it would be impossible to block the attack from the north and the east with just a small number of anti-tank guns.
Therefore, the German resistance lasted only for more than ten minutes and then collapsed. Seeing that the situation was not good, most of the German troops threw away their positions and fled to the west. There were only some wounded people with inconvenience left in the fortifications. As soon as the Soviet infantry rushed into the position, the wounded immediately stopped resisting and raised their hands to surrender to the Soviet army.
In this way, in less than an hour, the three guard regiments successfully recovered the frontier positions occupied by the German army. While commanding people to repair fortifications, rescue the wounded, and then send them to prisoners, they also reported the results of their achievements to Sokov by phone.
"Comrade Commander," he heard the battle reports from the three regiments one after another, and the stone hanging in Sokov also landed on the ground. I believe Cui Kov would be very satisfied with the position occupied by the enemy so neatly. "Our division has successfully recovered the lost position."
After seeing the battle report, Cui Kefu nodded slightly and said, "It's a good job, Colonel Sokov. But you can't be proud. You know, the enemy is cunning. Although they were driven out of the position by us, they will never be willing to fail. They are likely to attack your position again. This time, you must defend it, do you understand?"
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Since there was no armored troops that gave him a headache, Sokov had nothing to worry about. He assured Cui Kov: "We will definitely defend our position and will never hand it over to the enemy again."
"It's getting late, and it's time for me to go back to the headquarters." Cuikov raised his hand and looked at his watch. He felt that he could go back to his headquarters, so he casually asked Yelemenko and Khrushchev who were sitting next to him drinking tea: "Are you willing to go to my headquarters to see it?"
"Of course we have to go." Khrushchev replied first: "This is the first time we have met since our Front Command moved to the left bank. We must go to your Command to see what circumstances you are commanding the command to defend this city named after the Supreme Commander himself."
After seeing Yelemenko away, Khrushchev and Cuikov and his group, Sokov collapsed in his seat and thought to himself: Thank God, I finally sent them away. The psychological burden of these big men is too heavy to stay here. If something happens to them, their little shoulders will not be able to bear such a big responsibility.
"Comrade Commander, I have a question, I want to ask you." Seeing that Yeliaumko and other big names had left, Ivanov asked his question: "There are all people here, I hope you can tell me the truth."
"Comrade Deputy Commander, what's the problem?" Sokov was curious about what Ivanov wanted to ask, so he nodded: "Just ask."
"Why don't you let the Third Battalion retreat?" Ivanov asked with a serious expression: "I know it is definitely not the reason you said to the commander. What is the reason? I hope you can tell me the truth."
Seeing that Ivanov noticed his little abacus, Sokov smiled embarrassedly and said, "Comrade Deputy Commander, do you really want to know?"
"Yes, I want to know." Ivanov nodded and turned his eyes to Sidolin and Anisimov: "I think you want to know the answer, too."
"Yes, we want to know the answer, too." Anisimov nodded in agreement and said, "I hope you can tell us the real answer."
"Okay, since you all want to know, I will tell you." Sokov also reminded the three of them: "But this matter is limited to the four of us, so we must not let others know. Do you understand?"
"Don't worry," Comrade Commander." Ivanov said on behalf of everyone: "We will keep it confidential, just talk quickly."
"You see the map." Sokov stood up, pointed to the map in front of him, and said to the three of them: "As the encirclement narrows, the enemy will definitely shrink into the city, and Paulus's headquarters will also be transferred to the city. Tell me, where will he set the headquarters?"
Chapter completed!