The Soviet army's sudden counterattack caught the German troops in the factory area by surprise. Originally, the enemy was in chaos because their tanks and assault guns were blown up. Now, seeing the tide of Soviet troops coming from all directions, how could the remaining officers and soldiers organize a decent defense? After they fired a burst of gunfire, , taking advantage of the cover of twilight, retreated outside the factory.
The retreating German soldiers retreated to the river and found that the road bridge over the river had been blown up, leaving only a simple pontoon bridge built with gasoline barrels. In order to escape as soon as possible, they scrambled to squeeze onto the bridge. Because the bridge deck was too narrow and the bridge body was swinging with the current, many German soldiers had unstable footing and were squeezed into the water like dumplings. . The officers and soldiers who fell into the water, regardless of the freezing cold water, swam to the other side and fled toward their positions on hands and feet.
If this night counterattack was organized by Sokov, he would definitely use the pontoon bridge on the river to escape after the German army was defeated. Even if he cannot blow up all the pontoon bridges on the enemy's retreat path, he will place machine gunners and snipers nearby to eliminate as many enemies who have lost their organization as possible.
However, neither Zholudev nor Sokolov expected that the enemy would retreat so quickly. Before their troops could reach the lost positions, the enemies who held on to these positions had already escaped from the factory through the pontoon bridge. By the time the two men discovered that most of the defeated enemies had successfully evacuated the factory, it was too late to regret.
The German infantry battalion deployed in the factory area had more than 700 people at full strength. After being counterattacked by the Soviet army, more than 200 people successfully retreated to their starting position during the day. Among the four to five hundred people who were annihilated, more than one hundred and fifty were the result of Alitai's combat team.
Chuikov couldn't help but be overjoyed when he learned that the troops of Zoludev and Sokolov had successfully restored the lost positions in the factory area. But when he asked about the results, he couldn't help but fell silent again. Such a record really made him feel ashamed. He mobilized thousands of people to participate in the counterattack, and he actually achieved such results.
Seeing Chuikov's frustrated look, Krylov comforted him and said: "Comrade Commander, although the number of enemies we destroyed tonight is limited, we have regained the lost positions after all. In this way, we can finally have some influence on our superiors." An explanation.”
Chuikov agreed with Krylov's statement. Nowadays, what the superiors care about is how much area their troops control in the city, and how many enemies they can annihilate is the second priority. After being silent for a while, he said to Krylov: "Chief of Staff, call the two division commanders. The German army may launch another attack on the factory after dawn. Let them seize the time to repair the fortifications and consolidate the defense line. If they attack again If we lose the position to the enemy, let them wait for the military court."
"What about the regiment of the 41st Guards Division?" Krylov asked Chuikov for instructions: "If General Rudev's troops are insufficient, should they be left behind?"
Chuikov thought for a while, then shook his head and said: "No, I borrowed this regiment from Sokov. If they don't return to build it, I'm afraid it will affect his future combat deployment, so let them go back. The ones on the river The road bridge has been blown up, and the German tanks and assault guns will not be able to cross the river and enter the factory in a short period of time. If they rely solely on infantry to attack, Rudev's troops can completely stop them."
"Well, since that's the case, I will immediately notify them to return to the army." Krylov sighed and said: "As for General Zhorudev, I will explain it to him, I believe he will understand."
…………
If it were not for the participation of the Belkin Regiment, Sokov would not have paid attention to the counterattack in the Dzerzhinsky Factory. After all, it was too far away from his defense zone. When he saw the final battle report, he couldn't help but be shocked. He thought he had made a mistake, so he checked it letter by letter again.
Sidorin, who was sitting next to him, smiled bitterly and said: "Comrade division commander, don't look at it. Our two divisions led a regiment to counterattack and only wiped out more than 400 to less than 500 Germans. One-third of them , or the results achieved by the combat team commanded by Lieutenant Alitai."
"Comrade Commander, I don't understand." Ivanov took the message from Sokov, read it briefly, and then frowned and asked, "Although the troops staying at the Dzerzhinsky factory have passed During this period of fighting, the attrition was very serious. But in any case, with the Belkin regiment, there must be five to six thousand people. It should not be a problem to solve a German infantry battalion that has fallen into chaos, right? But in the end The result is surprising, what on earth is going on?”
"Needless to say, it is naturally a matter of tactical use." Sidorin inferred the general situation at the time from the content of the battle report, and explained to Ivanov: "General Rudev and Sokolow Both Colonel Husband and Colonel Husband were accustomed to fighting regular battles. They only considered how to break through the enemy's defense from the front, but neglected to send troops to detour from the two wings to encircle the enemy. As a result, the German army only had to leave a small force. Carry out defense and slow down the speed of our army's attack in order to cover the retreat of other officers and soldiers."
"The chief of staff is right. The reason why not many enemies were eliminated in this counterattack is because the two division commanders did not send troops to cut off the German army's retreat." Sokov picked up a pen and paper and drew a sketch and told Iraq Vanov explained: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, you see, it can be seen from the picture that the enemy will definitely choose to retreat westward after being attacked by our army. As long as the two division commanders send even one platoon of troops to By holding the pontoon bridge on the river, the number of enemies who can escape will be greatly reduced.”
Ivanov stared at the picture for a while, then raised his head and said to Sokov: "Comrade division commander, although the number of enemies annihilated in this counterattack was a little small, we have recovered all the lost positions after all."
After listening to Ivanov's words, Sokov shook his head with a wry smile and said: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, I don't agree with your point of view. If you want to crush the enemy's attack on the city, you must find a way to consume his vitality. In In tonight's battle to regain the lost ground, we are not fighting a battle of annihilation, but a battle of defeat, and the enemy's vitality has been preserved. When daybreak, these routed enemies will come back and launch a new attack on the factory."
"Just come, there's nothing to be afraid of." But Ivanov said disapprovingly: "Since we can repel their attack once, we can repel them the second, third, or even more times." attack."
Ivanov's point of view made Sokov dumbfounded: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, let me give an example. A fully-equipped German division has 15,000 people. If we wipe out 5,000 enemy people in a battle of annihilation, Will the enemy's combat effectiveness be severely weakened? But if it takes ten consecutive rout battles to annihilate 5,000 of the opponent's troops, the decline in the opponent's combat effectiveness will be very limited."
When Sokov said this, when Ivanov opened his mouth and seemed ready to refute him, he quickly raised his hand to stop him and continued: "Although both the annihilation battle and the rout battle annihilated 5,000 Germans, the former Killing 5,000 people at once reduces the enemy's strength by one-third; while the latter completes this number of annihilations in ten times. The enemy loses one-thirtieth of its troops each time, and they can quickly replenish it from the reserve army. The impact on the combat effectiveness of the troops is minimal. ...I explain it this way, can you understand?"
After listening to Sokov's explanation in simple terms, Ivanov realized that he had fallen into a misunderstanding. If the number of enemies annihilated in each victory was not large, the enemy army would not be weakened, and they would soon be able to launch new attacks. attack. In this case, due to heavy casualties and a large number of new recruits, the defenders, whose overall combat effectiveness has declined, can they still block their attack? Thinking of this, he asked Sokov respectfully: "Comrade division commander, if you are commanding this counterattack, what are you going to do?"
"I will definitely use frontal attack and roundabout tactics." Sokov said lightly: "But first, I will definitely send people to lurk near the pontoon bridge, and when the battle starts, they will blow up the pontoon bridge immediately. Even if it is because of the enemy's defense If the bridge is too tight and the bridge cannot be blown up, I will also deploy a machine gun position near the pontoon bridge and block the bridge deck with machine gun fire. In this way, I am afraid that few of the fleeing Germans will be able to escape to the other side of the river."
"Comrade division commanders!" Seeing that Sokov and Ivanov had been commenting on the Dzerzhinsky factory's counterattack, Sidorin couldn't help but interrupt them: "Captain Guchakov organized The counterattack will begin soon, do you think there is anything else that needs to be explained to him?"
After Sidorin's reminder, Sokov immediately realized that the most important thing at hand was not to discuss the gains and losses of the Dzerzhinsky factory's counterattack, but to allow the counterattack organized by Guchakov to achieve victory. Greater results. Sokov paused for a moment, pointed towards Sidorin with his hand, and said: "Chief of Staff, please write down all the precautions I mentioned, and then forward them to Guchakov after sorting them out."
Sidorin nodded, immediately picked up a pen and paper, and was ready to record. I only heard Sokov say: "After the attack on the 564th kilometer station and Kot Luban station is launched, the surrounding German troops will definitely come for reinforcements. Therefore, before the attack, the reinforcement troops must be arranged to prepare for the attack on the station." The troops gained valuable time..."
"Comrade division commander," Sidorin stopped the pen in his hand and carefully reminded Sokov: "The combat effectiveness of the guerrillas is limited. If they are assigned to the task of blocking, I'm afraid they won't be able to sustain it for long."
"There is nothing we can do about it. If possible, I would even like to dispatch a regiment to attack the station directly." After Sokov finished these two angry words, he sighed and said helplessly: "But Our regular army cannot penetrate the enemy's defense line, so the task of providing reinforcements can only be completed by the guerrillas themselves."
Seeing Sidorin lowering his head and recording what he said exactly in his notebook, Sokov continued: "The guerrillas are indeed weak in positional warfare, but they still have their strengths."
Sokov's words made Sidorin's eyes light up, and he quickly asked: "Comrade Commander, what are your strengths?"
"They operate behind enemy lines, usually planting landmines, cutting off German communication lines, or attacking transport convoys, etc. These are their strengths." Sokov said: "Two stations were attacked by our army, and the enemy wanted to Reinforcements can only be transported by road or railway, and they can lay mines on the road, blow up bridges, or destroy the railway, so that the enemy's troops have to stop on the road."
"I think the Germans must have guessed that we would lay mines along the way, and they must have a large number of engineers in their troops." Sidorin sighed and said, "As soon as there are landmines on the road, they will send engineers to clear the mines..."
"You can probably find a few sharpshooters in the guerrillas." Sokov waited for Sidorin to finish speaking, then said with a smile: "Let these sharpshooters lurk in the distance, engineers who specialize in demining. The engineers were killed. How can the Germans advance? By the time they bring in new engineers from the rear, at least a few hours will have passed, and by then Guchakov and his friends may have already taken down the station."
"Comrade division commander, this method of yours is really amazing." Hearing this, Ivanov couldn't help but exclaimed: "Even if the guerrilla sharpshooters only kill a few engineers, the remaining engineers will probably not dare to fight again." After clearing mines, they were afraid that they would be killed by a bullet flying from nowhere. Even if the officer forced them to clear mines with a gun, they would probably not be able to do their job. In this way, Guchakov That’ll give them enough time to take the station.”
After Sokov finished talking about the precautions he thought of, he did not ask Sidorin to send the report immediately. Instead, he looked at Ivanov and asked politely: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, do you have anything else to add?"
"You have thought it through very carefully. I have nothing to add." Ivanov waved his hand, indicating that he had nothing to say, "As long as Captain Guchakov abides by the precautions you mentioned, I think he will be able to Complete this mission successfully.”
Seeing that his proposal was approved by Ivanov, Sokov felt very relieved. He turned to look at Sidorin again: "What about you, Comrade Chief of Staff? Is there anything you need to add?"
Sidorin nodded instinctively at first, then shook his head violently and replied: "No, comrade division commander, I think these precautions you put forward are the guarantee of victory, and I have no objections."
Now that the opinions of the division leaders have been unified, Sokov did not show any pretense. He nodded from Sidorin and ordered him: "Chief of Staff, immediately organize what I just said into a telegram and send it to Gucha quickly. Captain Koff.”
While Sidorin went to send a telegram, Ivanov smiled and said to Sokov: "Comrade division commander, two days ago we were worried about whether Guchakov had the heavy weapons to attack the enemy, whether there was enough ammunition, and the strength of the troops. Is it enough? How to deal with enemy reinforcements, etc. But after reading the notes you gave Guchakov, these problems can be easily solved. I believe that Guchakov’s performance this time will not disappoint us. .”
