The German counterattack launched from the town encountered only weak resistance. After paying less than ten casualties, they reoccupied the lost position.
The German commander who retook the position reported triumphantly to Major General Val through the on-board radio on the armored vehicle: "Your Excellency, Division Commander, our men and I have regained the position we lost."
"Very good." After hearing this exciting news, Major General Val quickly reminded the other party: "Order the troops to seize the time to repair the fortifications and be ready to crush the Russian attack."
Major General Val quickly reported to Houser on the retaking of the Zhennan position. He finally said: "Your Excellency, General, in order to strengthen our defense here, I need a lot of cement to build fortifications."
"Major General Val, you also know that this damn spring in Russia has filled all our fortifications with water, and the stored cement has been soaked into blocks. If you need cement, we have to go to the rear to transport it. "
"Your Excellency General," Major General Val felt very uncomfortable when he saw that Hauser was unwilling to provide him with cement. He emphasized: "Opposite the defense zone of our division is Sokov's troops. I don't know when they will. Attacking us again, I only know that if there are no strong defenses, then the loss of the town of Roginsik is only a matter of time."
Seeing that Major General Val brought out the town of Roginsik to talk about the problem, Hauser could only choose to give in: "Okay, Major General Val, since you said so, then I can provide you with a certain amount of cement. But you also know , we don’t have such a thing here, it must be transported from the other side of the Dnieper River, so it may take a long time. Before the cement meets, I hope you can block the Russian attack."
Since Hauser was willing to provide cement for his troops, Major General Val felt much more at ease. He quickly replied: "Don't worry, General. As long as my division is in the town of Roginsik, the Russians will not even think about moving forward." further."
When Major General Val said this, he never dreamed that the reason why his troops could retake the position in the south of the town so easily was just a trap dug by Sokov to stabilize his troops in this area. , in order to implement the next step of the plan.
Starting the next day, Major General Val found that his nightmare was coming.
The supply convoy had just arrived in the morning, but there was no sign of it in the afternoon. Major General Val couldn't help but became a little anxious. He quickly called Hauser and asked: "Your Majesty General, I would like to ask when your supply convoy will arrive. arrive?"
"The convoy that provided you with supplies set off three and a half hours ago." Hausser was stunned when he heard Major General Val ask this, and then asked: "Why, it hasn't been delivered yet?"
"No." Major General Val was also surprised. The convoy coming from Barvinkovo only takes an hour and a half at most to reach the town of Rojinsik. Why is there no movement after such a long time? Woolen cloth? He asked tentatively: "Your Excellency, General, there won't be any accidents on the road, right?"
"Accident, what accident?" After hearing what Major General Val said, Hausser asked with some dissatisfaction: "Do you think that the convoy that provides supplies to you will be attacked by the Russian Air Force like the convoy that delivers supplies to the Skeleton Division? Bombing?”
However, as soon as Hausser finished speaking, his adjutant ran over and reported hurriedly: "Your Excellency General, it's bad, something happened."
"What happened?" Hausser quickly covered the phone's mouthpiece with his hand and asked his adjutant dissatisfied: "Don't you know that as a German officer, staying calm at all times is a basic quality? "
The adjutant who had been scolded by Hauser did not dare to refute and could only stand in front of him with his hands down.
After Hauser finished scolding his adjutant, he asked casually: "Tell me, what happened again? Did you discover guerrillas nearby?"
"Your Excellency, General, have you discovered the guerrillas?" the adjutant replied in a panic: "The convoy transporting supplies to the Imperial Division was bombed by the Russians on the way, and the entire army was destroyed."
"What, the material convoy transporting to the Imperial Division was also bombed by the Russian Air Force?" Hausser shouted in surprise: "Hell, how is this possible? How could the Russians know when we will attack the Imperial Division?" Where are the troops delivering supplies?”
"Your Excellency, General," the adjutant said cautiously: "As far as I know, the Russians have been flying reconnaissance planes in the sky. He may have discovered traces of the transport convoy, so he called bombers to help in the battle."
In his excitement, Hausser did not notice that his hand had moved away from the phone, which meant that what he said could be heard clearly by Major General Val on the other end of the phone. But Hausser obviously didn't realize this. He even shouted at the adjutant, "Get in touch with Colonel Shimon of the Skeleton Division immediately and ask about their defense area. It seems that Russian reconnaissance planes are lingering."
After sending the adjutant away, Hausser realized that what he had just said might have been heard by Major General Val. He said into the microphone with some embarrassment: "Major General Val, don't worry, we will transport supplies for you again soon." .”
After hanging up the phone, Hauser thought more and more about why something was wrong. Why had his transportation lines been bombed by Russian planes recently? He had lost more than a hundred trucks. Although these lost trucks can be replenished in the shortest possible time, before new trucks arrive, the supply work for the Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division will be seriously affected.
Hausser quickly called Manstein's headquarters and reported the situation here to Manstein. After listening to Hauser's report, Manstein pondered for a long time and finally said: "General Hauser, I think you may have fallen into a Russian trap. Look at the positions of the Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division. Once their supplies are interrupted due to the continuous bombing by the Russians, they will not be able to retreat even if they want to."
"Why can't we withdraw?"
"You idiot, a born idiot." Seeing that Hauser didn't understand what he meant, Manstein couldn't help but cursed angrily: "If the Russians continue to air raid your transportation lines, then the two troops you deployed at the front will The division will soon face the situation of total annihilation. Even if you find that something is wrong and want to retreat, I am afraid you will not be able to get rid of the Russians in front of you. You know, the Sokov you are facing is giving me a headache. .”
Hearing what Manstein said, Hausser was immediately startled into a cold sweat. You must know that he was commanding the three most elite SS divisions in the German army. If they were really annihilated by the Soviet army, then what awaited him would be military court. He asked Manstein with a grimace: "Marshal, what should we do?"
"What should we do? Under the current circumstances, what else can we do?" Manstein roared: "We can only continue to transport supplies to the Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division. In order to ensure that our lines of communication are open, I will dispatch the Air Force to carry out air operations. Cover and destroy the Russian air force.”
Sokov had long expected that he would frequently dispatch air force to attack the German communication lines, and the enemy would dispatch fighter jets to deal with his own air force. So he gave an order to Colonel Nemtsevich, the commander of the 205th Fighter Aviation Division, asking him to ensure that the two fighter squadrons were on standby at all times. Once his bombers were attacked by the Germans, they would be dispatched immediately.
The day after he issued the order, the bomber formation attacking the Skeleton Division's transportation line was attacked by two German fighter jets. The German pilots were skilled and experienced in combat. It only took two minutes to shoot down a Soviet bomber and damage another. Seeing that they could not get rid of the enemy for the time being, the remaining two did not dare to retreat towards the airport, lest they lead the enemy to the field airport.
Fortunately, after Sokov learned of this situation, he immediately ordered the two fighter squadrons that had been at the airport to take off and rush over to meet the enemy planes. After a fierce battle, the Soviet army successfully shot down two German fighter jets after losing another fighter and a bomber.
Just like that, in the following days. Air battles on transportation lines were carried out almost every day. Although Soviet pilots shot down many enemies, they still paid a heavy price.
When Sokov first sent bombers to harass the German transportation lines, Rokossovsky from the rear felt quite happy when he heard the results of the battle every day, but soon he discovered that the situation had changed. Not only did the aircraft's fuel and ammunition consumption skyrocket, but the losses to pilots and aircraft were also considerable.
"Major General Sokov," Rokossovsky called the Sixth Army Headquarters and asked Sokov in a stern tone: "Explain to me, what is going on? Why is this happening?" You have lost so many planes and pilots in a period of time?”
"Report to Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Sokov saw that the situation was more serious than he expected. He couldn't help but replied with a wry smile: "The Germans may have noticed my plan and knew that I planned to attack the transportation line to make the border with us The Imperial Division and the Skeleton Division were trapped in a place where they were running out of ammunition and food, so a large number of fighter jets were dispatched to ensure the safety of their transportation. In order to destroy the enemy's fighter jets, our air force inevitably suffered some casualties."
"Major General Sokov," Rokossovsky knew that Sokov was right, but when he thought of the pilots who were injured or killed, he became very angry: "You have to know that when we train a pilot, What a difficult thing. But in order to implement your plan, you lost more than 20 excellent pilots in just one week, resulting in a decline in the combat effectiveness of the aviation division of your group army. I want to ask you , when do you plan to stop such air strikes?"
"Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Sokov heard Rokossovsky's voiceover and knew that he wanted to give up the tactic of using the air force to block the enemy's communication lines, so he quickly said loudly: "We are responsible for the enemy's transportation The line attack has been going on for almost ten days, and the officers and soldiers of the Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division are now facing a situation of running out of food. As long as they persist for two more days, they will basically lose their combat effectiveness, and then we can launch a full-scale attack on them. "
"If you launch an attack, what results do you think you can achieve?"
Fortunately, after Sokov learned of this situation, he immediately ordered the two fighter squadrons that had been at the airport to take off and rush over to meet the enemy planes. After a fierce battle, the Soviet army successfully shot down two German fighter jets after losing another fighter and a bomber.
Just like that, in the following days. Air battles on transportation lines were carried out almost every day. Although Soviet pilots shot down many enemies, they still paid a heavy price.
When Sokov first sent bombers to harass the German transportation lines, Rokossovsky from the rear felt quite happy when he heard the results of the battle every day, but soon he discovered that the situation had changed. Not only did the aircraft's fuel and ammunition consumption skyrocket, but the losses to pilots and aircraft were also considerable.
"Major General Sokov," Rokossovsky called the Sixth Army Headquarters and asked Sokov in a stern tone: "Explain to me, what is going on? Why is this happening?" You have lost so many planes and pilots in a period of time?”
"Report to Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Sokov saw that the situation was more serious than he expected. He couldn't help but replied with a wry smile: "The Germans may have noticed my plan and knew that I planned to attack the transportation line to make the border with us The Imperial Division and the Skeleton Division were trapped in a place where they were running out of ammunition and food, so a large number of fighter jets were dispatched to ensure the safety of their transportation. In order to destroy the enemy's fighter jets, our air force inevitably suffered some casualties."
"Major General Sokov," Rokossovsky knew that Sokov was right, but when he thought of the pilots who were injured or killed, he became very angry: "You have to know that when we train a pilot, What a difficult thing. But in order to implement your plan, you lost more than 20 excellent pilots in just one week, resulting in a decline in the combat effectiveness of the aviation division of your group army. I want to ask you , when do you plan to stop such air strikes?"
"Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Sokov heard Rokossovsky's voiceover and knew that he wanted to give up the tactic of using the air force to block the enemy's communication lines, so he quickly said loudly: "We are responsible for the enemy's transportation The line attack has been going on for almost ten days, and the officers and soldiers of the Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division are now facing a situation of running out of food. As long as they persist for two more days, they will basically lose their combat effectiveness, and then we can launch a full-scale attack on them. "
"If you launch an attack, what results do you think you can achieve?"
