"What, all the German troops in Bile Town have been wiped out by friendly forces?" Chepultin couldn't help but be shocked when he heard the leader of the regiment called the rear. According to his experience, it would take at least a day to eliminate the enemies entrenched in the town, and that would be without reinforcements.
Therefore, he was dubious about the situation reported by his subordinates: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, is everything you said true?"
"Yes, Comrade Division Commander, of course it's all true." The leader of the regiment thought that his troops were moving fast enough, but unexpectedly, the battle was over before they even got there. If he hadn't heard with his own ears that the gunfire from the direction of the town had stopped, he would have thought he was dreaming. "The commander of the friendly forces is here with me. Do you need to speak to him?"
In order to find out what was going on, Chepultin agreed to the suggestion of the leading regiment commander: "Okay, let the commander of the friendly forces say a few words to me."
Soon, Chepultin heard a strange voice coming from his earphones: "Hello, comrade colonel, I am Lieutenant Zhelya, commander of the fifth company of the second battalion of the 124th regiment of the 41st Guards Division."
"Comrade Lieutenant," Chepultin asked politely, "have you really wiped out all the enemies in the town?"
"Yes, Comrade Colonel." Zhelia replied proudly: "Except for those who were killed, the remaining enemies have become our prisoners."
"Comrade Lieutenant, as far as I know, there are thousands of enemies in the town, and they are also equipped with tanks." After confirming that the enemies in Bile Town were really wiped out, Chepultin asked curiously: "Have you obtained With the support of the air force, the enemy in the town could be wiped out in such a short period of time, which is simply unbelievable.”
"Comrade Colonel," Zhelya did not answer Chepultin's question lightly, but said cautiously: "I think it may be difficult for me to answer your question. You know, in battle, I command It was a company, not all the troops participating in the battle. I could only see the area where I was, and I had no idea how the rest of the area was fought."
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a sigh from Chepultin in the earphones. He quickly added: "Comrade Colonel, if you want to know the answer, you can go to Bile Town to see our division commander, he is waiting for you there. Woolen cloth."
Now that the German troops in Bile Town have been annihilated, there is no need for the 379th Division to mobilize again. While Chepultin asked the chief of staff to inform the troops to stop gathering, he reported to Krylov at the headquarters: "Comrade Commander, the battle in Bile Town has ended, and all the enemies entrenched in the town have been annihilated."
Although Krylov had long known that it would not be difficult for Sokov to annihilate the enemies in the town, the fact that all the enemy troops were wiped out in such a short period of time still surprised him: "What, the enemy has already All annihilated? Colonel Chepultin, can you tell me how this battle was fought? How could the enemy be annihilated in such a short period of time?"
"Comrade Commander," Chepultin replied with a wry smile after hearing Krylov's question: "I don't think I can answer your question either. My leading regiment encountered friendly forces before it reached the town of Bile. officer, and then told them that the battle in the town was over and the enemy had been wiped out."
"Since all the enemies in the town have been wiped out, your division does not need to be mobilized anymore." Krylov thought for a moment and then said: "If Colonel Sokov agrees, you can let the vanguard regiment enter the town of Bile." , responsible for the defense mission there.”
"Understood, Comrade Commander." Chepultin quickly replied: "I immediately issued an order to the vanguard regiment to take over the defense of the town. I will also rush to Bile Town as soon as possible to meet with Colonel Sokov. .”
An hour later, Chepultin rushed to the town of Bile and saw Sokov in the station dispatch room. After the two shook hands and exchanged greetings, Chepultin asked straight to the point: "Colonel Sokov, I am very curious, how could your troops annihilate the enemies in the town in such a short period of time?"
"Comrade Colonel, please come here." Sokov moved the other party to the table, pointed to the map spread out on it, and began to explain to him: "After I learned about the situation from a commander who is familiar with the terrain of the town, , and learned that the town’s main defenses were aimed at the west and south sides, but there were no decent fortifications on the north and east sides.
So I fully took these issues into consideration when formulating the battle plan. The first step was to send a force that was good at fighting guerrillas and go up the railway, but destroy the railway so that the train carrying German officers and soldiers could not continue to enter the train station.
The second step is to send a battalion to the south of the town and assume an offensive posture to attract the enemy's attention, so that they have to leave part of their troops to monitor and defend our troops.
In the second step, I used two infantry battalions reinforced by tank battalions to attack from the northeast and east at the same time.
Since the enemy did not have decent fortifications in the direction of our main attack, our offensive troops easily broke through the enemy's defenses and smoothly rushed into the town..."
After listening to Sokov's introduction to the situation, Chepultin couldn't help but feel ashamed. He felt that if he were to direct the attack, some steps would definitely not be taken, such as sending troops to destroy the railway and prevent the German army from increasing its troops; secondly, also Troops will not be sent in other directions to attract the enemy's attention.
"Colonel Sokov," Chepultin asked tentatively: "What about the defense of this town? Should your division keep troops to defend it, or should you hand over the defense to us?"
Before Chepultin arrived, Sokov was still worried about the town's defense. You must know that this unit belongs to the 62nd Army, the defense zone to the south is the 21st Army, and the original defenders in the town are troops from the Southwest Front.
If the town has been defended by the troops of the Southwest Front, there will naturally be no problem. But the original troops were basically wiped out by the Germans who attacked by surprise, and it was impossible for the town to leave no troops for defense, so who was left to guard it became a headache.
Before Chepultin appeared, Sokov was discussing with Bely which troops he should leave for defense if the friendly forces refused to take over this hot potato. Hearing Chepultin's proactive question at this moment, he couldn't help feeling ecstatic: "Comrade Colonel, if you are willing, I can hand over the defense of the town to you at any time."
Seeing that Sokov agreed to let his troops take over the defense, Chepultin quickly called a staff officer and told him to notify the leading regiment on standby outside the town and come immediately to take over the town's defense.
