Sokov's troops took Donetsk and the Red Army Village by surprise, posing a threat to the German rear. As a result, the enemy's attack on the Kharkiv-Belgorod line weakened, and the Soviet army, which was being beaten in a panic, gained a precious breathing space.
Although Golikov's Voronezh Front had a large number of troops, it was too dispersed. Therefore, when the Kharkiv-Belgorod line was attacked, he was unable to mobilize reserves for reinforcements. As the enemy's offensive weakens, he can move troops from areas where the fighting is less intense to support areas where the situation is critical.
Antonov called Golikov on Stalin's order: "General Golikov, Comrade Stalin asked me to ask you, with your current strength, can you hold the current defensive position?"
"Comrade Antonov," Golikov and Antonov were friends before the war, so they didn't have to worry about speaking. "If you ask this question in two days, I will definitely tell you, We cannot hold it. But now that Sokov's troops have established a foothold on the Donetsk-Red Army Village line, seriously threatening the German army's retreat, therefore, our chances of holding the current position are much greater. .”
"Is it possible to implement a counterattack?" Antonov asked tentatively: "If your troops can join forces with Sokov's troops, then the situation on the entire battlefield will become favorable to us and push the enemy towards us again. On the other side of the Dnieper, it’s entirely possible.”
"Comrade Antonov, you should understand that the reason why our situation has become so bad is entirely because our troops have been far away from the logistics supply base." Golikov explained to Antonov: "If not Without enough fuel and ammunition, our tanks and artillery will become a pile of scrap metal. When the enemy rushes over, all we can do is to blow up these technical equipment to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Germans. "
"General Golikov, you should know that now that the German army has occupied Kursk, if we want to supply you from Moscow, we need to go around a long circle." Antonov said with a wry smile: "The distance in this circle is not big. It's so close, and roads and bridges have been damaged to varying degrees. It will take three days at the fastest for the supplies shipped from Moscow to arrive. If you can capture Kursk and open up this transportation line, our transportation time will be , it can be shortened from the original three days to 28 hours.”
"If Sokov's troops are stationed near Kursk, I believe he has the ability to capture Kursk in a short time. After all, he commanded the troops to capture Kursk last year." Golikov He said helplessly on the phone: "It's a pity that his troops are in Donetsk - the Red Army Village at the moment. They are too far away from us. With our current strength, it is impossible to liberate Kursk."
"That's such a pity." Antonov said to Golikov before hanging up the phone: "General Golikov, I think it is necessary to remind you that Major General Sokov's troops do not have us. As powerful as we imagine, they may be able to hold the Germans back for a week or two, but if we want to completely crush the enemy, we still have to rely on you.”
"Wait a minute, Comrade Antonov." Golikov noticed that Antonov was about to hang up the phone and quickly asked: "I want to ask, how is General Vatutin's Southwest Front?"
"What else can he do?" Antonov said with a wry smile: "His troops were defeated by the Germans. Although they retreated to a safe area to re-accommodate the troops, it is not possible to restore combat effectiveness in a short time."
"So, they won't be able to fight for at least a few months?" Golikov asked tentatively.
"Yes, General Golikov." After Antonov answered in a positive tone, he politely said: "I wish you good luck!" Before Golikov could say anything else, he hung up the phone. .
"Chief of Staff," as soon as Golikov put down the phone, he called the Chief of Staff, Major General Korzhenevich, and asked, "How many reserves do we have on hand now?"
"Very few, Comrade Commander." Korzhenevich replied: "There are only two divisions of reserves that can be used now, and they are divisions that have been greatly weakened after fierce battles. These forces are used in individual areas. For defense, it is barely enough. But if you want to use it for offense, it is far from enough."
Seeing that the chief of staff had guessed what he was thinking, Golikov couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "Today's situation is really a headache. If we carry out pure defense, we can certainly block the enemy's attack. But if we wait for the enemy to eliminate Sokov's After the troops are released, they will re-concentrate their strength on the areas we defend. Whether we can stop them then, the situation is not optimistic."
"A few days ago, when we were in danger, Sokov's troops supported us in time, forcing the attacking Imperial Division to withdraw from the battle." Khrushchev interjected: "Now we are launching in the direction of Donetsk The attacking enemies include not only the Imperial Division, but also the Flag Guard Division and the Totenkopf Division, which have also transferred their main forces. I am worried that Sokov’s troops will not be able to block the crazy attack of these three SS divisions."
"But what can we do, Comrade Khrushchev." Hearing what Khrushchev said, Golikov could only explain with a wry smile: "You just heard the chief of staff mention it, and now we have There are only two greatly weakened infantry divisions. Using such strength for defense may be barely enough, but if it is used for offense, it is far from enough."
"Are we just going to watch Sokov's troops being wiped out by the enemy?" Khrushchev said displeased: "Are they going to attack us again after they free up their hands?"
Seeing that Khrushchev was angry, Golikov quickly explained: "Comrade Military Commissar, I think we should send a telegram to Sokov to understand the real situation there before deciding whether to send troops for reinforcements."
"Okay," Khrushchev nodded to Golikov's proposal and said, "Send a telegram to Sokov immediately and ask him how the situation is there."
…
When Sokov received the telegram from Golikov, the city was being bombed by the Germans. Sokov was in the basement, dictating a telegram to the operator: "...the Red Army village is being brutally bombed by the German Air Force. We hope that the Front Army Headquarters can send aircraft to support us..."
When the telegraph operator was sending the message, Chief of Staff Vitkov handed him Golikov's telegram: "Comrade Commander, this is a telegram sent to you by General Golikov, commander of the Voronezh Front."
After reading the telegram, Sokov showed a faint smile. He said to Vitkov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the reason why General Golikov sent this telegram is that the current situation makes him a little hesitant. Continue to hold on, once the enemy has eliminated us, he will turn around and deal with them. . Send troops over for reinforcements. Their troops are seriously short of supplies. I am afraid that the reinforcements will not be halfway through and will be severely damaged or wiped out by the enemy because they run out of ammunition and food."
"Then how should we reply to this message?" Vitkov asked Sokov: "We can't let them stand still, right?"
"Chief of Staff, please call General Golikov back." Sokov waited for Vitkov to finish and immediately expressed his opinion: "Let them take advantage of the favorable opportunity when the German attack weakens, seize the time to repair fortifications and improve defenses. system to resist a new round of attacks that the Germans may launch."
"What about us here?" Vitkov said in surprise: "Do we really not need the help of friendly forces?"
"We need friendly forces to attack, but that doesn't mean we need them to come over." Sokov explained to Vitkov: "As long as they can hold their current positions and launch one or two counterattacks against the enemy from time to time, they will be the most harmful to us. support."
As the fighter group sent by Rokossovsky arrived, the German bombers that were bombing the city saw that the situation was not good and quickly turned around and retreated towards the west. And wherever the Soviet fighter planes were willing to let them go, they followed them one after another.
As soon as the bombing ended, Sokov came from the basement to the smoke-filled city streets. The streets were in chaos. Among the people running back and forth were Sokov's men and residents of the city. At this moment, they were running around like headless flies. Wherever there were more people, they instinctively ran towards them.
Sokov quickly came to the headquarters of the 41st Guards Division and asked Sidorin, who had just made a phone call: "How is the situation at the front?"
"The 125th Regiment has just repelled a German attack and is seizing the time to clean up the battlefield."
"How are the casualties among the troops?"
"We haven't calculated the statistics yet." Sidorin replied: "But the number of casualties is about one-third."
When he learned that the casualties of the 125th Regiment actually reached one-third, Sokov couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat. Unexpectedly, in just a few hours, the 125th Regiment lost one-third of its troops. If according to the With this kind of fighting method, this army will be wiped out in less than two days. He thought to himself: fighting outside the city without decent fortifications, this battle is really impossible to fight.
"Comrade Division Commander," Sidorin asked Sokov for instructions: "Do you want to order Colonel Bely's tank brigade to attack?"
"I think it's okay." The strategy originally designated by Sokov and Bely was that when the large German troops attacked the 125th Regiment's position, Bely's tank brigade unexpectedly rushed out from the side and destroyed the enemy's tanks and armored vehicles. and infantry. However, after the battle started, because there were German planes lingering in the sky, Sokov was worried that sending troops as a surprise attack at this time might kill the German pilots. Hence the silence. Now that the enemy's aircraft have been driven away, even if the tank brigade attacks with its entire army, there is probably no need to worry about being attacked by air attacks. "When the enemy attacks again, order Colonel Bely to attack from the flank and teach these bandits a lesson."
The Germans, who had suffered losses from rocket launchers, appeared to be very cautious when they launched their attack again. Behind each tank, two armored vehicles passed. The machine gunner on the armored vehicle kept adjusting the direction of the muzzle, preparing to shoot and kill the target without hesitation.
This tactic of the German army was able to restrain the Soviet anti-tank fighters. After all, when those soldiers wanted to fire rockets, they had to stand up from their hiding places and shoot in an upright or semi-crouched position. Usually during the shooting process, they are the first choice targets of the enemy machine gunners.
After losing several anti-tank groups, Yershakov realized the insidiousness of this German tactic. In order to prevent more soldiers from paying unnecessary sacrifices, he adjusted the tactics and had sharpshooters hide in the craters to snipe and kill those tanks. The emerging machine gunner. After killing the machine gunner on the armored vehicle, the German tank will lose its cover, which will help the soldiers use rocket launchers to destroy enemy targets within the range.
Seeing that their offensive tactics were ineffective, the Germans immediately stopped the attack, withdrew their troops and readjusted. Two hours later, they launched a new attack again. This time the troops entering the battle consisted of twelve tanks and thirty armored vehicles. They lined up at a time, divided into four rows, and rushed towards the Soviet position.
When the enemy was less than 500 meters away from the trench, a green signal flare rose into the sky. The tank brigade, which had been preparing for a long time, immediately launched its tanks and roared towards the side of the German attacking force.
The field of vision in the tanks is very narrow. The reason why they dare to attack the Soviet positions is entirely because they are covered by armored vehicles full of soldiers behind them. The machine guns on the armored vehicles and the soldiers in the vehicles can easily destroy the Russian anti-tanks. hand.
But what the Germans did not expect was that dozens of Soviet tanks piled with snow quickly rushed towards the German offensive troops from the side. Although there was a Tiger tank among them, its side armor could not withstand the attack of the Soviet 85mm tank gun. It was hit and caught fire, and it was parked in the wasteland and burned.
When the soldiers on the armored vehicles saw the Soviet tanks rushing from the side, they would either use machine guns to shoot at them, or they would choose the vehicle, find a crater to hide, and shoot at the Soviet tanks rushing towards them.
Although bullets fired from different weapons clanked against the armor plate, they did not slow down the advance of the Soviet tanks at all. Some tank soldiers stopped one or two hundred meters away from the German armored vehicles and bombarded them with tank guns. At such a close distance, the German armored vehicles were a ready target for tank soldiers.
Some armored vehicles were directly bombarded into a ball of fire. Soldiers who did not have time to jump out of the vehicle were either killed on the spot or burned alive. Seeing that the situation was not good, some armored vehicles were about to turn around and escape, but were knocked over by the approaching tanks. The soldiers in the vehicles were either killed or injured.
The tank following behind saw that its comrades actually used a collision method to deal with the German armored vehicles. They immediately imitated the example and drove the tank directly over, knocking the armored vehicle over, and used machine guns to shoot at the soldiers who jumped out of the vehicle. Clear enemies within sight.
