"Comrade Chief of Staff," Seeing that Sidorin misunderstood his intentions, Sokov quickly explained to him: "I gathered the troops not to let them stand in Barvinkovo, but to prepare to move to a new location. place, looking for opportunities to attack the weak points of the German army."
"Comrade division commander, please forgive me." Sidorin continued: "If the three German divisions merge, they will be extremely powerful. Let alone one of our divisions, even a group army will probably not be able to defeat them. Easy things.”
"That's right, if the three divisions of the German army are concentrated together, let alone one of our divisions, even a group army will not be their opponent. General Popov and General Rybalko have proved this with bloody facts. Passed." Sokov pointed to the map and said to Sidorin: "After dark, order the two battalions in the rear to move quickly towards Barvinkovo. Remember, during the transfer process, the greater the movement, the louder the movement. good."
"If their actions are discovered by the enemy, the enemy will definitely follow us." Sidorin reminded Sokov again: "I'm worried that once the enemy moves too fast, they can follow our retreating troops and rush into us. Army’s line of defense.”
"After dark, I plan to order the troops to move eastward." Sokov smiled and said to Sidorin: "On the enemy's false positions, there are no our troops at all. Even if the enemy occupies these areas, it will not affect us. What impact will it have?"
Sokov's words confused Sidorin. He asked in confusion: "Comrade Commander, I don't understand what you mean. Can you explain it to me?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, according to my judgment, the enemy's Imperial Division is now the weakest among the three divisions." Sokov pointed to the map and explained to Sidorin: "I plan to have the troops bypass the Imperial Division. , find an opportunity to beat them hard. If possible, maybe we can directly take out the German division headquarters."
Sidorin did not comment on Sokov's statement. He pointed to the positions of the two infantry battalions that were now broken and asked Sokov tentatively: "Comrade division commander, do you plan to abandon the commanders and fighters of these two battalions?" ?"
"Abandon them? How is this possible." Sokov continued: "The reason why I asked them to make some noise during their retreat was to attract the enemy's attention and attract them to the Barvinkovo area. In the night , the enemies can’t see each other clearly, so they can kill each other here.”
After listening to Sokov's explanation, Sidorin's eyes suddenly shone: "Comrade division commander, your plan is really wonderful. When the enemy comes to a strange place at night and is attacked, the instinctive reaction is to fight back. , in this way, they can fight among themselves."
"In order to prevent the Germans from discovering flaws prematurely, the two battalions at the end must be equipped with a certain number of German weapons." Sokov said: "In this way, when they have a misunderstanding, even if they hear German equipment coming from the other side, The sound of shooting could be mistaken for a battle with our army."
"Who are the commanders of the two battalions at the end?"
"One is Major Briski, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 124th Regiment, and the other is Major Shamrih, commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 125th Regiment."
Hearing these two familiar names, Sokov nodded slightly and said: "They are old commanders of the infantry brigade and are familiar with my tactics. I am very relieved that they will carry out this task."
After dark, except for one company of the 122nd Regiment left on the position to monitor the enemy, the rest of the troops moved eastward along with the main forces of the 124th and 125th Regiments. Some soldiers felt that they had just arrived outside the city of Barvinkovo before dark, and when they were about to go to sleep, they had to move again inexplicably. They couldn't help but feel a little grumbled. Fortunately, the grassroots commanders of each regiment were basically from the infantry brigades. They understood Sokov's tactics and explained them to the soldiers who complained. After the explanations from the grassroots commanders, the soldiers' complaints disappeared, and they all faithfully carried out the orders from their superiors, using the cover of night to quietly move toward the east.
In order to prevent the enemy from discovering that the troops had moved, Sokov left two radio stations outside Barvinkovo and continuously sent out radio signals, making the enemy think that the headquarters of the Guards Division was still in the suburbs.
At one o'clock in the morning, the Brisky Battalion was ordered to evacuate the current defensive position and move towards Barvinkovo. Following Sokov's orders, they deliberately made noise when they began to retreat, alerting the German scouts hiding nearby.
Seeing that the Soviet army was about to retreat, the German scouts immediately reported the news. When he learned that the Soviet army was about to retreat, the German division commander was unhappy. He thought to himself that this damn Russian force had wiped out two of his own battalions in more than a day. How could they be allowed to escape so easily? He quickly issued a pursuit order to his troops.
As the order was issued, the German troops, who were preparing to rest, regrouped. With full fury, they pursued the Russian troops fleeing towards Barvinkovo, preparing to completely eliminate the troops that disturbed their sleep.
At the same time, the Shamrich Battalion also retreated towards Barvinkovo with the troops of the Flag Guard Division. As a commander with rich combat experience, Major Shamrih felt that Sokov's plan was too risky, because at this time, the troops heading to Barvinkovo included not only his own battalion, but also a friendly battalion. What if both parties regard each other as enemies and misunderstanding occurs? Or maybe they mistook the pursuing enemy for the opponent, rushed over to join the opponent, and what should they do if they suffered losses?
Regarding these issues, he felt that Sokov had not explained clearly. Therefore, he continuously sent scouts to conduct reconnaissance in the direction of Camp Briski to learn about the other party's movements at any time.
Less than two kilometers from the city, a scout came to see Shamrih with officers from the Briski Battalion. After seeing Shamrih, the officer said to him: "Comrade Major, our battalion is one kilometer to your left at the moment. Please move closer to us as soon as possible so that you can retreat according to the route designated by your superiors."
Knowing that the friendly forces were only one kilometer away from him, Shamrih immediately gave an order to his troops, "Leave one company to block the enemy, and the rest of the troops rushed to the left wing to join the friendly forces."
The ninth company commanded by deputy battalion commander Captain Yakuda was left behind to perform the post-breaking mission. Shamrih told him: "Comrade Captain, you only need to hold on here for an hour, and then you can withdraw from the position and follow us. Leave the road signs to jump out of the enemy's encirclement."
"Don't worry, comrade battalion commander." Yakuda replied: "We promise to complete the order well."
The leading troops of the Flag Guard Division soon caught up. Here they were attacked head-on by the sailors and were defeated on the spot. Half an hour later, after receiving reinforcements, they launched another attack, but unfortunately it still didn't work, and they finally retreated.
The third attack started an hour later. This time the commander of the attack was Major Hansen, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 1st German Regiment. He first ordered mortars to be directed in the direction of the Soviet position, and after some shelling, he personally led the troops forward. Seeing the battalion commanders taking the lead in the charge aroused the blood of the soldiers. They shouted and rushed towards the positions that were still burning with fire and gunpowder smoke.
This time, the Soviet position was very quiet. When the German soldiers rushed into the position, there was not a single gunshot. Seeing this situation, Hansen couldn't help but frowned. He called a company commander and asked: "What on earth is going on? Why did the Russians disappear without firing a shot?"
"Mr. Major," his subordinate replied, "I guess it was the burst of artillery fire we just fired that knocked the Russians unconscious. They felt that they would definitely die if they stayed on the position any longer, so they ignored their commander's orders and gave up without permission. The position fled.”
Hansen felt that what his subordinates said made some sense. After nodding, Hansen ordered the telegraph operator to report the news of the occupation of the Soviet position to the division headquarters. He also said that he planned to lead the troops to pursue in the direction of Barvinkovo and asked his superiors to contact him. friendly forces to support themselves.
On the right flank of Camp Hansen, a battalion of the Imperial Division also captured the empty Soviet position and was advancing in the direction of Barvinkovo.
Ten minutes later, the two battalions met in the darkness.
Both sides mistook each other for Soviet troops and opened fire without saying a word.
Sokov's previous layout came into effect at this moment. It stands to reason that when the German army hears that the weapons used by the other side are German-style equipment, they will definitely be more cautious and think about whether there is a misunderstanding with friendly forces. However, since Sokov equipped the two battalions in the rear with a large number of German weapons, the officers and soldiers of the Flag Guard Division and the Imperial Division who had exchanged fire with the rear troops all regarded each other as Soviet troops, and naturally they would not fight with them. Show mercy.
At this time, the two battalions and one company remaining in the German encirclement successfully jumped out of the German encirclement along the passage left in advance.
Hearing the gunshots and explosions from behind, Briski smiled and said to Shamrih: "Comrade Lieutenant Commander, the fighting there is really lively. Wait until the enemy finds out that they are fighting against their own people." , I’m afraid the casualties will not be small.”
And Shamrih said with emotion: "The division commander's strategy is still good. Let us lead the enemy to a place and let them kill each other. In this way, we can calmly jump out of the German army through the designated passage." Encirclement.”
"Order the troops to speed up." Briski said to his company commander: "We are going to jump behind the Imperial Division and beat them hard."
…………
Colonel Shimon, the acting division commander of the Skeleton Division in the city, heard that there was a fierce battle outside the city and received a telegram from the Flag Guard Division Headquarters. He learned that two friendly troops had arrived outside the city and were fighting with the Russians there. During the fierce fighting, he quickly moved to an infantry battalion in the south of the city. Under the cover of tanks, he rushed to the area where the fighting was fierce and assisted the friendly forces in annihilating the Russians there.
However, what Colonel Shimon did not expect was that when the two German troops, who were already fighting fiercely, saw the large troops approaching from a distance, they thought they were Soviet reinforcements and immediately stopped attacking each other and turned their guns. Open fire on the troops coming out of the city.
Three of the most elite German SS divisions opened fire on their imaginary enemies in the darkness. In the battle, not only the officers and soldiers of each division showed extremely tenacity, even if they were seriously injured, they would fire grenades and die together with the "enemies" rushing up around them.
When Sokov led the troops behind enemy lines, all the commanders and fighters were wearing German uniforms, and they still wore these clothes even in the following battles. So much so that the German officers and soldiers who were fighting in the melee, with the help of the firelight caused by the explosion or the illumination of burning objects, could clearly see that the people around them were wearing the same uniform as themselves, but they thought they were Russians wearing makeup, so they fought even more fiercely. .
The more heroic the officers and soldiers behave, the greater the casualties they cause to their friendly forces.
The three division commanders soon discovered that they had lost contact with the frontline troops. They realized that something was wrong, and sent people to inquire about the news, only to find that they were actually fighting with their own people. The troops sent to stop it not only failed to stop the melee between the three parties, but actually made the situation worse and involved them in the battle group.
Knowing that the situation was getting worse, the three division commanders immediately called and discussed ways to stop the melee. In the end, it was Colonel Shimon who suggested firing a large number of illumination bombs into the air to make the battlefield look like daylight, so that the troops fighting in the melee could see clearly that they were fighting one of their own, not the enemy.
His suggestion was quickly approved by the other two division commanders. Soon, countless flares were raised on the battlefield. At the same time, the troops that were not involved in the battle group were also using bugles to communicate.
In this way, after more than half an hour of tossing, the three parties who were fighting finally stopped. In order to avoid further misunderstandings, the troops of the three divisions retreated one kilometer and regrouped.
After dawn, the three division commanders came from different places to the place where the melee was taking place at night. Seeing the destroyed tanks and corpses everywhere on the battlefield, Colonel Simon said sadly: "Two generals, what on earth is going on? Why do our troops from three divisions have misunderstandings here and fight among themselves?"
The commander of the Flag Guard Division said angrily: "My subordinates told me that they originally held the retreating Russians tightly, but unfortunately they were attacked by friendly forces. As a result, all the Russians escaped."
"Gentlemen, now is not the time to investigate the responsibility." said the commander of the Imperial Division: "What we should consider is how to report this unfortunate news to General Howser."
As soon as his words came out, the other two division commanders fell silent. Everyone knew that this incident was of a bad nature. If a suitable reason could not be found, I am afraid that everyone would not be able to escape the blame.
