The German attack on Donetsk from the front was repelled.
But after a short rest, they launched another attack.
According to the thinking of the German commander, the city defenders had lost almost all of the tanks they owned in the recent counterattack, and their troops were fully capable of destroying the Russian resistance and occupying the city.
But what he didn't expect was that when the German tanks were still three or four hundred meters away from the defenders' trenches, explosions suddenly occurred one after another. When he saw this scene, his first reaction was that the Russians actually deployed a large number of anti-tank guns in the city to deal with their own tanks.
Just when he was about to order artillery to bombard the city, the chief of staff beside him suddenly said: "Your Excellency, division commander, the shells that destroyed our tanks did not fly out from the city, but came from the flank."
"What, the shells flew out from the flanks?" the German division commander asked in surprise: "Do they have a large number of anti-tank guns deployed on both sides?"
"It's not an anti-tank gun, it's a tank." The chief of staff said with a grimace: "Your Excellency, division commander, take a look at the flanks of our army."
The division commander raised his binoculars and looked into the distance, only to see a Soviet tank unit appearing on the flank of the attacking force. Dozens of tanks lined up in a battle formation and were rushing over quickly. Some tanks were moving and stopped from time to time to fire. Although many artillery shells missed, the tanks under his command were still destroyed one after another.
"What the hell, where did these Russian tanks come from?" Seeing the Soviet tanks rushing out from the flanks, the German division commander began to roar: "Immediately order the artillery to fire. We must kill all these Russian tanks." wipe out."
Although the German Chief of Staff issued the division commander's order to the artillery as soon as possible, it was still a step too late. Half of the Soviet tanks that rushed through continued to attack the flanks of the German attacking troops, while the other half pounced directly on the German artillery positions.
Although there were guard troops deployed near the German artillery positions, these troops were able to deal with the Soviet infantry. When they saw the rumbling tanks approaching, they were all in disarray as if their nest had been blown up. Except for a few soldiers who still stayed in the fortifications and fired in vain at the moving Soviet tanks with machine guns, the rest of the officers and soldiers were wandering around like headless flies.
The Soviet tanks rushed into the artillery positions like wolves rushing into the sheep. Within a few minutes, the artillery that was still firing desperately at the Soviet positions turned into piles of scrap metal.
After destroying the German artillery positions, these tanks turned around and headed east, rushing to join their comrades who were attacking the German offensive forces. A tank even passed by more than 20 meters away from the German division headquarters, scaring the officers and soldiers of the German division headquarters so much that they did not even dare to speak out, for fear of exposing their target.
After the tank assault, Soviet infantry followed closely. Seeing the dense crowd, the German Chief of Staff said to the division commander: "Your Excellency, division commander, at least one Russian division has launched an attack on us. I suggest that we retreat immediately, otherwise we are in danger of the entire army being destroyed."
The German division commander had long been scared away by the Soviet tanks. Hearing the advice of the chief of staff, he immediately nodded in agreement: "Retreat, retreat immediately!"
Half an hour later, Major General Merkulov, who was stationed in Donetsk, learned that the German troops in front of him had retreated. By the time he ordered his troops to pursue them, it was already a step too late. The retreating German army left a small number of troops to act as a blocker, while the larger troops slipped away in trucks or armored vehicles.
Merkulov knew very well that his troops had no means of transportation at all, and it was simply impossible to catch up with the enemies on foot who were maneuvering with trucks and armored vehicles. Even if you can barely catch up, when the troops are exhausted and the enemy suddenly turns around, you will cause huge losses to yourself. Therefore, he decisively issued an order to the troops to stop the pursuit and reinforce the fortifications in place to prepare for another possible attack by the enemy.
The German army retreated more than 30 kilometers, and it was estimated that the Soviet troops would not be able to catch up for a while. The German division commander ordered the troops to stop retreating and reported the news of the failure of the attack on Donetsk to Manstein through the radio. reported.
After hearing this, Manstein frowned and asked: "According to the information we have, the Russians only have one under-staffed infantry division and one tank brigade in Donetsk. Your strength has far exceeded theirs." , why not only were they unable to capture the city, but they were driven away from the vicinity of the city?"
"Your Excellency, Marshal," the German division commander replied tremblingly: "Our attack was going quite smoothly, but when the troops were about to rush into the city, a Russian armored force rushed over from the flank, causing damage to our attacking troops. We suffered huge losses. In order to prevent being wiped out by the Russians, I can only order the troops to withdraw first."
"Your Excellency, Commander," while Manstein was on the phone with the German division commander, a communications staff officer ran over and handed him a telegram he had just received: "This is a telegram just sent by our lurker, saying that Russia The large army of people is moving in the direction of Donetsk."
Manstein received the telegram and saw that it read: "There are no less than two Guards Division troops approaching the city from the south of Donetsk. It is estimated that they will be able to reach the south of the city by noon tomorrow at most."
If he had not received this telegram, Manstein might have ordered the defeated troops to attack Donetsk again. But after seeing the telegram, he realized that the Soviet army was attacking Donetsk. With the increase in troops, if we continue to attack Donetsk, this offensive battle may turn into a tug-of-war.
Compared with Kharkiv and Belgorod, Donetsk is just an insignificant small place, and I can't afford to invest so many troops here. Thinking of this, he said into the microphone: "General, immediately take your troops and retreat towards Zaporozhye to prevent the Russians from launching a sneak attack here."
The German division commander had been frightened out of his wits in the battle just now, and he was thinking about what reasons he should use to get Manstein to agree to withdraw his troops from this damn area. Hearing Manstein's order, it was like hearing the sound of heaven, and he quickly replied: "Understood, Your Majesty Marshal, I will lead the troops to Zaporozhye immediately."
News of the German retreat soon reached Sokov's ears.
Vitkov looked at him and asked: "Comrade Commander, although the enemy's attack has been repelled, they may still attack the city again. Do you think we should send more reinforcements to Donetsk?"
"No need," Sokov said with a wave of his hand: "We have transferred all available forces to Donetsk. If we send more troops, the defense here in the Red Army Village will become weak. You know , once the war starts, we here will withstand the crazy attack of the German army."
"But if Donetsk fails, our retreat will be cut off."
"Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov said to Vitkov: "The two divisions sent by General Krylov are now approaching Donetsk. If necessary, not only do we not have to attack Donetsk anymore, Netsk increases troops, but on the contrary, all the troops there can be transferred to the Red Army Village to fight to the death with the main force of the German army moving south."
When Sokov reported to Rokossovsky that the enemies attacking Donetsk had been repelled, Rokossovsky cautiously asked: "Misha, do you think the Germans will attack Donetsk again?" Is it possible to launch an attack?”
"Comrade Commander of the Front Army, according to my judgment." Sokov said on the phone: "Even if the enemy wants to launch another attack on Donetsk, I am afraid that they will have to wait until they have eliminated our troops in Kharkiv and Bel Only after the strength in the Gorod area can we mobilize enough troops to besiege us."
"Oh, so the enemy will not attack Donetsk again in a short period of time." After getting the news he wanted to know, Rokossovsky then asked: "But if the enemy concentrates its forces to attack the Red Army Village , do you have the confidence to keep it?"
"I will do my best, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Sokov did not give the other party a positive answer, but said directly: "I am sure that the enemy's main force will be contained in this area for a long time."
"Well, if we can contain the enemy for one more day, our friendly forces will have one more day to prepare." Rokossovsky said to Sokov: "Whether the Voronezh Front can be saved depends entirely on you."
After Rokossovsky ended the call with Sokov, he decided to contact Golikov personally to find out the real situation there. After the call was connected, he hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Comrade Golikov? This is Rokossovsky. I want to ask, do you have the ability to resist the German attack?"
"I'm afraid it's very difficult, Comrade Rokossovsky." Since it was a call from an acquaintance of his, Golikov did not hide the difficulties the Voronezh Front is facing now: "Not only are we seriously short of supplies, but our troops are also attrition. Serious. As of now, the infantry divisions stationed in Kharkov and Belgorod do not exceed 2,000 men each. Tell me, with such strength and equipment, how can I stop the enemy? attack?"
"Sokov's combat group has tried every means to help you contain enough troops." Rokossovsky said on the phone: "Under this situation, can't you seize the time and start from other sources?" Do you want to mobilize troops to strengthen defense?"
"Comrade Rokossovsky, I am already doing this." Golikov said helplessly: "But my troops are too scattered, and it is a big problem to assemble them. In addition, transportation The line has been damaged again, and it will take a long time to deliver these assembled troops to areas where the situation is critical."
"Didn't you ask for help from the base camp?" Rokossovsky asked in surprise: "Without the help of the base camp, I'm afraid it would be difficult for you to get enough supplies and soldiers."
"As far as I know," Golikov said: "Now the base camp is worried that the Southwest Front will be annihilated by the Germans again, so the latest supplies have been given to Vatutin. The supplies given to me are very few and they come very slowly. If not Sokov's troops have pinned down the main force of the German army, and I'm afraid our entire army has been destroyed by now."
"General Golikov, you can't do this." Rokossovsky said anxiously: "Since your troops are already facing such danger, why don't you raise the difficulties to the base camp? You know, it is precisely because of you The delay in raising the difficulty caused the base camp to misjudge your strength, thinking that you still have enough troops to block the enemy's attack. Therefore, the supplies that were originally supposed to be given to you were given priority to Vatutin. Southwestern Front."
"Then what should I do now?" Golikov, who has always been cautious, couldn't help but panic when he heard what Rokossovsky said. "If we raise our difficulties to the base camp now, the superiors will not blame me. Bar?"
"General Golikov, don't think about whether the base camp will blame you." Rokossovsky saw that at this moment, Golikov was still thinking about personal gains and losses, so he reminded him: "If your troops are The enemy has been eliminated, and I’m afraid the fate of the former commander of the Western Front, General Pavlov, is a lesson to you.”
Rokossovsky's words were like enlightenment, which made Golikov completely wake up. He thought that he was worried that Stalin thought he was incapable, so when faced with insufficient supplies and troops, he always considered using his own strength to Overcome these difficulties. But now it seems that he was completely wrong: "Comrade Rokossovsky, you are right, my previous approach was indeed inappropriate. I immediately reported the actual situation here to the base camp, hoping that they can Provide us with supplies.”
Antonov, who acted as the acting chief of general staff, received the call from Golikov. He held the phone in shock for a long time and then asked in surprise: "General Golikov, your army really ordered the soldiers and Insufficient ammunition?"
"Yes, Comrade Deputy Chief of General Staff." Golikov replied awkwardly.
"However, you have never reported to me the situation of your front army. I thought that your strength was enough to compete with the German army." Antonov explained to Golikov: "It is precisely because of this situation that the logistics department and When I discussed the order of supplies, I put Vatutin’s Southwest Front at the top of the list.”
When Golikov heard this, he became a little panicked. He quickly asked: "Comrade Deputy Chief of General Staff, can you adjust the order of supplies? To be honest, if we don't get supplies anymore, our tanks and artillery will be destroyed." Due to lack of ammunition, it turned into a pile of scrap metal. In the end, it was either blown up or fell into the hands of the Germans."
"It's a pity, General Golikov." Antonov said with great regret: "You also know the efficiency of the logistics department. Even if I propose to change the supply sequence now, it will take at least a month before the adjustment can be completed. "
