At 8:05 on January 10, 7,000 artillery pieces of various calibers deployed by the Don Front Army at different locations simultaneously launched a violent bombardment on the German positions. The ear-splitting rumble broke the silence of the cold winter breakfast.
After the artillery fired continuously at the enemy positions for fifty-five minutes, the limited German artillery positions were destroyed, communication lines were interrupted, and countless fire points and shelters were destroyed by artillery fire. Since the German army lacked sufficient defense depth, when being bombarded, the officers and soldiers could not retreat to the second line of defense to avoid the Soviet artillery bombardment as they had done in the past. They could only stay in their shell holes or shelters. The result was a large number of casualties.
Batov's 65th Group Army was responsible for the assault mission in the main direction. Although the German army put up tenacious resistance, the Soviet commanders and fighters of the group were still advancing step by step under the cover of artillery and air force. By nightfall, Batov's troops were wedged five kilometers into the German defense line.
The next day, the Army and the 21st Army continued to advance deeper into the German army and successfully advanced to the west bank of the Rossoshka River and the Karpovka area. The German troops defending in this area were afraid of being divided and surrounded by the Soviet army, so they abandoned their positions and hurriedly retreated towards Stalingrad.
The 57th Group Army, which was attacking from the south, had been defeated steadily by Hott's troops some time ago. From the commander of the group army to the soldiers below, everyone was suffocating in their hearts. Now that they finally expected to attack, they would naturally not be polite to the German troops attacking in front of them, and beat the enemy to a complete defeat.
The most outstanding performance was the 38th Infantry Division commanded by Colonel Safiullin. During the attack of the leading regiment, the regiment leader reported to Safiulin: "Comrade division commander, we have discovered a German field airfield in the front. Please give us instructions on our next move."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the order is clear." When Safiulin learned that the German field airport had been discovered ahead, he quickly said to the head of the vanguard regiment: "Immediately concentrate the forces of the entire regiment and launch an attack on the airport. If nothing happens, No worries, I will take the other two regiments and rush over as soon as possible to support you."
After receiving the attack order, the leader of the vanguard regiment immediately understood the direction of the troops' adjustment and took the enemy's field airport as the main direction of attack. There was probably a company of German troops guarding the airport. When they saw the sudden appearance of the Soviet troops, they immediately put up a tenacious resistance.
The first attack of the vanguard group was repelled by the enemies defending the airport. After the attack failed, the leader of the vanguard regiment was not discouraged and immediately regrouped the troops and personally led the charge.
The commanders and fighters of the vanguard regiment saw their commander personally leading the charge, and their morale was immediately boosted. Regardless of casualties, they braved the enemy's hail of bullets and marched forward one after another. After a fierce battle, they finally rushed into the airport.
Safiulin, who had just arrived nearby, saw the plane parked at the airport through his telescope, and immediately ordered the chief of staff beside him: "Notify the leading group immediately, and be sure to capture all enemy planes at the airport."
Since the regiment leader was personally leading the team to participate in the battle, this order could not be conveyed in time through the radio. In order to prevent the regiment commander from impulsively blowing up all the captured enemy planes into scrap metal, Safiulin quickly sent a staff officer to rush to the airport on a motorcycle and inform the leader of the leading regiment that it was necessary to Capture enemy planes parked at the airport.
Fortunately, the staff officer acted quickly. When the motorcycle he was riding rushed into the airport, the battle was already over. The leader of the vanguard regiment was arranging soldiers to tie explosives to the planes, preparing to blow them to pieces.
Seeing this, the staff officer shouted loudly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, wait a moment, don't blow up the plane yet. The division commander ordered that the enemy's plane must be captured intact." In this way, eighteen German transport planes were completely preserved. .
Safiulin rushed to the airport and saw that the vanguard group had captured eighteen transport planes, and he repeatedly praised the leader of the vanguard group. But he soon discovered a problem: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, did you find any enemy pilots during the battle?"
"No." After Safiulin reminded him, the leader of the vanguard found that the Germans he had eliminated were all security forces guarding the airport. There was not even a pilot. He quickly ordered his subordinates: "Search everywhere for me immediately." , even if the German pilots are hiding underground, I have to dig them out."
The surrounding soldiers dispersed and looked for the German pilots. A few minutes later, a captain who was responsible for searching the wooden house next to the runway hurried over and reported to the regiment leader: "Comrade commander, we found a hole in the wooden house. It is too dark inside and we can't see anything." clear."
When Safiulin heard what the captain said, he quickly interrupted and asked, "Have you seen clearly whether there are any Germans hiding in the cave?"
"No, comrade division commander." The captain quickly replied: "It's too dark inside. We're worried about an ambush inside, so we haven't sent anyone in to check for the time being."
"Hurry up and take me in to take a look."
The group of people walked into the wooden house next to the runway. Safiulin saw a wooden plank lifted in the middle of the house, revealing a rectangular hole. A group of soldiers stood near the hole, their guns pointed at the dark hole.
Safiulin pointed towards the entrance of the cave with his hand and ordered the regiment leader: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, immediately arrange for someone to shout into the cave and ask them to put down their weapons and come out to surrender, otherwise we will throw grenades."
The regiment leader nodded, called an officer who knew German, and asked him to shout to the entrance of the cave. The officer squatted two feet away from the hole and shouted in German: "You are surrounded by us. Put down your weapons and surrender immediately, otherwise we will throw grenades."
After shouting, there was silence in the cave. The officer turned to look at Safiulin, waiting for his instructions. Safiulin pursed his lips and said: "Since the enemy is unwilling to come out and surrender, let's destroy them. Prepare to throw grenades into the hole."
The surrounding soldiers agreed, took out the grenade, turned on the safety, and prepared to throw it into the hole. At this time, a broken Russian voice came from the cave: "Don't throw grenades, surrender, we surrender."
"Throw out the weapons." The officer in charge couldn't help but feel ecstatic when he heard the voice inside, but he still pretended to shout: "I count to three, if the weapons haven't been thrown out yet, we will throw grenades." .”
"No, no, we surrender." A voice of fear came from the cave, and then a bunch of pistols were thrown out one after another.
Seeing the enemy throwing weapons, the officer then shouted: "One by one, come out with your hands raised, otherwise we will throw grenades."
After the officer finished shouting, he saw a white handkerchief tied to a small wooden stick rising slowly from the hole, and then a German pilot wearing a pilot uniform emerged. As he walked, he timidly said: "Don't shoot, we surrender!"
After a while, the German pilots in the cave came out one after another and surrendered. Safiulin actually has more than forty pilots, which is a big fish. He turned around and ordered the radio operator following him: "Immediately send a message to the Army Group Headquarters, saying that we destroyed the German field airport near Voroponovo, intercepted eighteen transport planes, and captured all the crew members."
