As a large encirclement of the German army has been formed, many Soviet troops have lost effective supplies. After the Spanish and Italian Expeditionary Forces completed their final rendezvous with the German army, the situation near Kiev suddenly became one-sided, and many of the main forces of the Southwest Front were lost to the German army.
Split surround.
The Military Council and Headquarters of the Southwest Front Army in the encirclement could no longer continue to implement Stalin's bullshit counterattack orders at this time. They deployed a retreat operation overnight to break out of the encirclement.
The military committee, the main headquarters, the political department, service personnel of various military services, and all rear personnel who usually stay away from the battlefield must now participate in the breakout.
Under the control of Kilponos, the entire breakout force will pass from the village of Verkhnyarovka via Piliatin, where there is a small local bridge across the Uday River.
Said to be a breakout force, it actually only had less than 3,000 people. At best, it was the command center of the Southwest Front Army for a breakout.
As for the other units of the Southwest Front, they have now been divided and strangled by the German army. They are fighting on their own and are unable to execute any orders from the front headquarters, let alone launch a breakout operation together.
The only things that Kilponos can quickly assemble and control now are his guard company, headquarters, military committee, political department, and service personnel of various arms.
As long as this group of people can break through, the core upper echelons of the Southwest Front Army can be retained. As long as a large number of new recruits are added in the future, it is not impossible to rebuild a front army. The most that Kilponos can do now is to strive to win over these troops.
A group of people were brought out of the encirclement.
It would be a fantasy to take away all the 500,000 people who had collapsed in the encirclement. Not to mention the chain reactions that such a large-scale mobilization would cause, no matter how slow the German army was, they would not be able to allow such a large-scale attack.
The troops broke out of the encirclement under their noses.
Only Kilponos took the core personnel of the Southwest Front, accompanied by the main combat force of the guard company, and arrived at the Uday River in the middle of the night.
During the day, German Stuka bombers had already come over to bomb the ferry here, so now it was very difficult for Kilponos' team to maintain formation when crossing the river.
However, as long as there is no war, even if the combat formation is not maintained, there will not be any big consequences immediately.
So with no choice, Kilponos left the team alone to find their own way and crossed the river piecemeal.
After crossing the river, this force, which included and was commanded by the headquarters of the South-Western Front, passed through Piliatin and headed for Chernukha, an inconspicuous settlement.
But before dawn, Kilponos and his party encountered another attack from a German armored reconnaissance force from the north, which cut off their contact with the accompanying infantry detachment.
Having lost the two nearby infantry companies, the greatly reduced strength of the headquarters column had no choice but to change direction again and pass through a country road along the left bank of the Uday River to avoid the mainland and reduce collisions with the German army.
It was not until dusk of the next day that Kilponos summoned all the accompanying leaders of the headquarters to hold a "Front Army Combat Conference" in a country farmhouse.
The headquarters of a front army was equivalent to the headquarters of an army group in the German army. But they had to hide in an unknown village and hold a meeting in a farmhouse.
This is really ironic and frustrating, but everyone present is powerless to do anything about it.
In such a depressing atmosphere, General Tupikov, Chief of Staff of the Southwest Front, first reported the situation: "Enemy forces are approaching from all directions. Especially the German Army, they have strengthened their north-facing defenses on the south bank of the Uday River.
.And Italian and Spanish tanks and motorized troops also occupied the east bank of the Mnoga River. As a result, all the large settlements to the north and northwest of us have been captured by the enemy."
"There are not many areas left for us. Moreover, they are basically all small and medium-sized residential areas, which are completely unsuitable as a headquarters settlement." Tupikov sighed with a heavy tone.
After hearing this disturbing information, everyone fell silent. Compared with the heaviness in Tupikov's words, the heaviness in their hearts at this moment was even thicker.
In the end, it was Kilponos, the commander, who broke the suffocating silence first.
"There is nothing else to say. There are too many bad things, and there are more than just one or two. But one thing is obvious, that is, our headquarters column must break through. Now, we only need to make clear which direction to break through.
Other matters will be discussed and summarized when we have the opportunity in the future.”
Sure enough, as soon as Kilponos opened his mouth, the topic was immediately shifted to the key direction.
Soon, someone inspired by Kilponos was coming up with suggestions that were applicable to the current moment.
"Without further ado, I suggest that tonight, with the support of the guard company, our headquarters column forcibly cross the Mnoga River near Gorodishi, head to Lochvita overnight, and in the final push, rush out of the Germans in this direction.
encirclement."
The speaker was a young combat staff officer. He had already thought about this breakout plan, but it was only after Kilponos finished what he said that the staff officer had the opportunity to propose this "stick to it" plan with Stalin.
Position, waiting for an opportunity to counterattack" to violate the breakout plan.
If the commander of the front army does not make this statement, then this is not what a small combat staff officer is qualified to say. Maybe if it gets too big, it will lead to the crime of beheading for timidity in the face of the enemy.
But even if someone musters up the courage to propose a breakout plan, the problem still seems to be unsolvable.
Regarding the staff plan, General Tupikov alone was already firmly opposed to this suggestion.
"The Germans were waiting for us to do this, and they must have set up an ambush at the bridgehead. The strength of the Mnoga River at this time, and may just cause my column to fall into a German ambush, and the entire army will be annihilated there."
Tupikov firmly expressed his opinion: "On the contrary, I think we should go up the river, near Chernukha, that is, walk 12 kilometers northwest from there, and force the crossing of Mnoga at that location.
river."
Chief of Operations Bagramyan, who had just been promoted to major general, immediately stood up to express his support for Chief of Staff Tupikov's combat policy.
In this small farmhouse, Bagramyan preached in front of many headquarters personnel: "We have confirmed that the German army attaches great importance to every bridge, even higher than ourselves!"
Bagramyan analyzed the information he had in hand: "The advantage of breaking out near Chernukha is precisely that it can create a surprise effect on the enemy. There are some good fording grounds there.
, so there is no need to seize the bridge to cross the river and lead the troops out of this natural blockade."
"I think there's no problem!" An older combat staff member immediately made the decision: "This is much better than the previous plan."
"I think that's okay too!"
"I think it's okay too!"
...More and more people are nodding yes to this new breakout plan, so much so that the young staff officer who originally proposed the first breakout plan has also become a supporter of the new plan.
