Soon, the commander of the 11th Army Group, von Schobert, received an order from the Army Group Headquarters.
The order was issued by Field Marshal Rundstedt, commander of Army Group.
"There is a Russian armored force breaking out from Kiev!" Rundstedt said to General Schobert: "Their strength is as large as a corps, with an unknown number of tanks. They are moving in the direction of Uman, stop them!
"
"What?" General Shobert was shocked when he heard the news: "But your Excellency, Marshal, our main force has advanced to the line of the Dnieper River. What can we do to stop them?"
General Schobert is right. The strategic target of the 11th Army has been the Crimea region from the beginning... There are Soviet airports in the Crimea region. Soviet bombers taking off from here can cross the Caspian Sea and bomb the Romanian oil fields.
The oil supply was the basis for the German army to attack the Soviet Union.
Therefore, the 11th Army, including the Romanian 3rd and 4th Army, were advancing eastward at full speed. At this time, there were only a few divisions remaining in the rear.
"That's something you need to consider, General!" Marshal Rundstedt replied: "No matter what method you use, stop them!"
"Yes, Your Majesty Marshal!" General Shobert stepped forward helplessly and replied.
After hanging up the phone, Schobert immediately walked to the map and gave the order: "Order the 198th Infantry Division to immediately withdraw its garrison in the Uman area. The 1st Armored Division will advance to Uman to coordinate with the 198th Infantry Division. At the same time... the expeditionary force
Withdraw Uman reinforcements!”
"Yes!" the adjutant responded and passed on the order.
This order sounds confident: one infantry division will be stationed in place, one armored division will coordinate with it, and one corps will be used to reinforce it.
Such a force should be more than enough to stop a Soviet mechanized army.
But only General Schobert himself knew the difficulty: among these forces, only the 198th Infantry Division was a German army, the 1st Armored Division was a Romanian army, and the Expeditionary Force was an Italian army.
Among them, the reason why the Romanian 1st Armored Division is suitable for entering the Uman area for coordination is because the speed of this armored division is too slow... The so-called "Romania" is an army equipped with a large number of mules and horses. In addition, they have tanks.
The speed and poor road conditions made it far behind the main force.
The Italian Expeditionary Force was because this army was the only mechanized unit of the 11th Army, and Schobert judged that it was the only one that could arrive in time and participate in the battle.
"These idiots!" Schobert couldn't help but cursed as he looked at the map: "They actually left the Russian armored forces and crossed the river!"
It is indeed incredible that Schobert was scolding Kleist, but Schobert did not know that there were many twists and turns in it. Even Schobert himself would not be able to avoid making the same mistake.
The Soviet 9th Mechanized Army did not know these arrangements of the German army.
It should be said that the Soviet army could have known about it, because this was the territory of the Soviet army, and there were Soviet civilians and guerrillas everywhere. As long as the German army moved, someone would see it, such as how many troops passed through a certain road.
The problem is that these civilians and guerrillas do not have radio stations, so they cannot transmit news to the Soviet army in a timely manner.
But this is not important, because they are unfolding as planned: using fast mobile troops to conduct reconnaissance in the front, constantly passing information to the rear, and advancing at full speed.
This is a bit like "crossing the river by feeling for the stones", that is, advancing while scouting, but it is much better than trying to fight without knowing the situation.
Shulka and his men are in the second echelon.
There was silence in the car. Although the soldiers were all in the car, it was in a mess. Because of the previous battle, the entire car was dirty with mud, water and blood.
If there is any advantage, it is that the carriage is not as crowded as before...Shurka's platoon lost 7 people, and two others were seriously injured and were carried back to Kiev, which means that there were only 26 people left in the car.
"Avmovich is dead!" Leonev said: "Alyosheka, Andreevich, Anisim..."
"We know, Leonev!" Shulka interrupted him, there was no point in naming these people, it would only increase the fear in the recruits' hearts.
"No, you don't know, comrade platoon leader!" Leonyev replied excitedly: "Many of them don't even have soldier certificates!"
It is true that most of these recruits were temporarily recruited from Kiev, and there were so many that there was a shortage of soldier certificates.
In other words, they are likely to become members of the missing list rather than martyrs who died heroically.
But Leonev's tone made the actor angry.
"So!" the actor glared at Leonyev fiercely and said: "You think this is the fault of comrade platoon leader, don't you? Oh, my God... Someone in our platoon died, so comrade platoon leader should be responsible for this!
"
"In fact!" the veteran said while bandaging the wound on his arm: "If it were not for the command of comrade platoon leader, our platoon would probably no longer exist!"
"Yes!" the thief continued: "Leonev, you should be a corpse at this time, instead of complaining here!"
Leonyev was silent for a while, then turned to Shulka and said: "I'm sorry, comrade platoon leader, I don't mean to complain to you!"
"I know!" Shulka replied: "It doesn't matter, you will get used to it soon..."
Before he finished speaking, Shulka realized that he had said the wrong thing.
Sure enough, these words once again caused a period of silence.
After a long while, a new soldier timidly asked: "Where are we? Are we breaking out?"
"No!" The veteran shook his head and replied: "I think we are in Uman and heading south, which means... our destination is probably the Odessa area!"
"This is impossible!" Leonyev said: "The Germans have already reached the Dnieper River!"
Everyone knows what this means. If the Germans have reached the Dnieper River, it means that this route will be within the enemy's control, so it will not be a breakthrough.
The veteran didn't answer.
A recruit looked out through the back of the car for a while, and then said with a pale face: "God, this is Uman!"
"You didn't admit your mistake?" Leonev asked.
"I can't admit it!" the recruit replied, "I've been here several times!"
The carriage fell into silence again, because they knew that the veteran was right, and this meant that there would be many battles to fight in the future.
The car continued to drive forward staggeringly, and Shulka faintly heard some sobbing amidst the "rumble" of the motor.