It's a pity that neither Baharov nor the Chief of Staff of the Army have ever watched "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", so naturally they don't know about the empty city strategy. The German army in front of them has long been exhausted. Their troops and equipment have been almost exhausted in successive battles with the tank army.
When the two regiments sent by Sokov launched an attack from the southeast of the German defense area, the German commander quickly mobilized the remaining troops to intercept. In order to prevent Baharov's tank army from taking the opportunity to launch an attack, the German commander devised an empty city strategy, using less than a company of infantry, five or six malfunctioning tanks, and hundreds of dead soldiers. A confusion array was set up.
It has to be said that this move of the German commander was quite clever. When the 170th Tank Brigade launched the attack, the tanks that served as fixed forts fired a few shots, and the soldiers staying in the trenches fired a few shots, and then the Su The army's tanks were intimidated. They were deeply afraid of any conspiracy by the Germans, so they could only park at a distance and wait for orders, not daring to advance easily.
When the Army Chief of Staff heard Baharov's question, he shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Comrade Army Commander, I don't know what's going on." However, he made a suggestion to Baharov, " How about we send a telegram to General Sokov and tell him about the situation here and see what he says."
"Good idea." Although Baharov has never met Sokov, he has heard that the other party has many clever ideas for fighting. If he tells him about the strange things he encounters, he might be able to give him some advice. Thinking of this, he nodded and said to the Chief of Staff: "Chief of Staff, please send a telegram to General Sokov as soon as possible to ask for his opinion."
Sokov received the telegram from the tank army. After carefully reading the above content, his pupils could not help but shrink violently and his blood pressure suddenly rose: Damn it, the German commander actually knew how to use the empty city strategy to use the main force to block the attack of his own troops. On the other side of the tank army, Baharov's tank army was so scared that they did not dare to move because of the suspicion formation. He even began to wonder whether this German commander, like himself, was also a time traveler from later generations. If that was true, it would be hilarious.
"Comrade Commander," Colonel Shechtman, who was standing aside, saw that Sokov kept staring at the telegram he had just received, but the look on his face was uncertain. He didn't know what was going on, so he quickly Concernedly asked: "What happened?"
"The enemy played a conspiracy to frighten the tank army so much that it dared not move." Sokov considered that Shechtman must not know what the empty city strategy was, so he took a map, pointed to the combat area above, and explained to him : "Your two regiments are here to attack the German army. In order to block your attack, the German commander should transfer all his main forces and deploy them on the path of your attack. On the side of the tank army, Their strength became extremely weak. In order to prevent the tank army from taking the opportunity to launch an attack, the enemy used the cover of night to fill the trenches with corpses, giving the tank army the illusion that this place was heavily guarded..."
"If the trenches are full of corpses pretending to be soldiers, the tank army will find out as soon as they attack. Dead people can't shoot." Colonel Shechtman asked with some confusion: "I don't understand how they could be frightened by the enemy. Woolen cloth?"
"Comrade Colonel," Sokov did not answer the question immediately, but asked: "If you command the troops at night and launch an attack on the enemy's position, but there is only sporadic resistance on the enemy's position, what will you do? "
After hearing Sokov's question, Colonel Shechtman thought for a long time and said in an uncertain tone: "If we really encounter this situation, I will definitely think about how the resistance on the enemy's position can be like this." Weak, have they set some trap for us to escape?"
"You are right. If it were during the day, the tank army might organize a force to conduct a test attack. But at night," Sokov saw that Shechtman had already guessed some of the truth, so he continued: " Because visibility is limited, even if the enemy has any arrangements, they cannot be discovered in time. In this case, a cautious commander will order the troops to stop the attack and send manpower to conduct reconnaissance. After clarifying the specific situation , and then decide whether to launch a new attack."
Colonel Shechtman understood that the German army was bluffing, but he expressed confusion about the German army's approach: "Comrade Commander, I don't understand why the Germans do this? You know, even if they can temporarily confuse me Army, but as long as the scouts come out, they can quickly figure out the truth, and won’t their deployment be in vain?”
"Even if the scouts are sent out, it will probably take several hours to figure out what happened." Sokov explained to Shechtman: "When the scouts figure out the situation and report it to their superiors, the German army They may have repelled our army's attack and transferred their main force from the south back to the north. In this way, the tank army that launched the attack in a hurry may suffer heavy losses."
Shechtman waited for Sokov to finish speaking, then thought about it carefully, and it seemed that this was really the case. According to Soviet tradition, once an attack fails, it must rest for at least three or four hours before launching a new attack in the same area. The German army, on the other hand, could take advantage of this time difference to redeploy the troops used for southern defense to the northern front to block the tank army's attack. As for the tank army, it may think that there is no enemy's main force in front of it because of the intelligence fed back by the scouts, and it may underestimate the enemy. Then it may suffer a big loss.
"Then what should we do?" Shechtman asked Sokov cautiously: "Should we remind them?"
"Comrade Colonel, ask the radio operator to call back the tank army immediately." Sokov ordered: "Just say that the enemy is the Gubu Maze Formation. Their main forces have been transferred to the south to block our attack. Please feel free and bold. After saying this, Sokov thought about it again and added: "Send another telegram to the two regiment commanders and tell them that if the attack is frustrated, they will temporarily retreat and rest. Wait and hear After there is fierce gunfire from the north, launch a new attack."
In response to Sokov's order, Shechtman only took a moment to understand his intention: "Comrade Commander, I understand what you mean. If gunfire comes from the north, it proves that the German army Their main force has been transferred back to block the tank army, so their forces in the southern position will become weak. If we launch another attack at this time, we can easily break through the enemy's defense line and tanks The army's troops flanked the enemy from both front and rear."
"Yes, that's what I mean." Sokov nodded slightly and told Shechtman: "Colonel, hurry up and notify the operator to send the report. We don't have much time."
Just after sending phone calls to the two regiments on the left, the troops on the right attacking the Panzergrenadier Regiment of the Skeleton Division called Colonel Shechtman and reported to him: "Comrade Division Commander, our regiment has succeeded. The ground broke through the German defense, please give instructions on the next task."
Colonel Shechtman held the microphone and did not speak. Instead, he cast a pleading look at Sokov next to him, hoping to hear new instructions from him.
When Sokov saw that the other party was looking at him, he understood what he meant and quickly issued a new order: "After ordering them to defeat the enemy, drive them to the position of the flag guard division, and then they will follow behind and pursue."
"Comrade Commander," Colonel Shechtman's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard Sokov's order. He knew that if he really followed the defeated Skeleton Division and advanced towards the location of the Flag Guard Division, the Flag Guard Division would Because it was too dark, it was difficult for the defenders to distinguish ourselves from the enemy when they saw groups of people coming. They certainly did not dare to open fire easily. None of their own troops could break through the enemy's defense without firing a shot, so they quickly replied : "I will pass on your order immediately."
Almost half an hour later, Baharov sent another telegram to Sokov, which read: General Sokov, after receiving your telegram, I immediately put all my troops into the attack. Now my With basically no casualties, the troops had broken through the German defense line and were moving in depth. Please inform your officers and soldiers to pay attention to night identification to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.
Sokov did not expect Baharov to be so courageous. With just one telegram, he dared to order the entire army to attack the German defense lines at the same time. But this is fine. The tank army entering the battle will be the straw that breaks the camel's back. The German army near the October Farm is expected to be completely wiped out before dawn.
He handed the telegram in his hand to Shechtman and said to him: "Comrade Colonel, send a telegram to the commander on the left wing, saying that the tank army on the opposite side has launched a full-scale counterattack against the German army, and please pay attention to identification at night. To avoid any misunderstanding.”
Colonel Shechtman ordered his radio operator to send a report to the two regiment commanders on the left, and then cautiously asked Sokov: "Comrade Commander, do you think we can destroy the Skeleton Division?" Although judging from the current progress of the battle, It seems that everything is developing in a direction that is beneficial to him, but Shechtman still feels uneasy. After all, with the strength of the Skeleton Division, he can deal with a Soviet army group, but now he can defeat the opponent with just one division. It is simply... Like a fantasy.
"Comrade Colonel, it was indeed easy for us to defeat the Skeleton Division. This is related to some of the preparations we made in the early stage." After Sokov said this, he saw Shechtman's confused look and explained to him Said: "The Guards Tank Corps and the troops deployed in the middle areas continued to attack the German transportation lines. As a result, the supply of the Skeleton Division was interrupted. I believe that they are now facing a situation of running out of ammunition and food. In this case, if If you still can't defeat them, your troops will have to be transferred to the rear for retraining."
"Comrade Commander, please rest assured." Shechtman couldn't help but panic after hearing what Sokov said: "I assure you that my troops will definitely eliminate the German troops near October Farm before dawn."
The German army near October Farm was attacked by the 354th Division and the Tank Corps, and could only shrink its defense line step by step. The German commander never dreamed that the strategy he came up with would be discovered by the Russians in such a short period of time. Facing the Russians who were pressing in from two directions at the same time, he had no intention of continuing the fight, so he changed into the uniform of an ordinary soldier in his command post to facilitate his escape when the situation was dangerous.
When the battle lasted until two o'clock in the morning, the Soviet troops attacking from two different directions had successfully joined forces and surrounded the remaining German troops in a small area. With one more attack, they could be completely wiped out.
News of the victory immediately reached Sokov and Rotmistrov via telegram. Seeing the battle report of the 18th Tank Army, the Army Chief of Staff asked Rotmistrov tentatively: "Comrade Commander, this is an amazing victory. Do we need to report it to General Vatutin immediately?"
"No," Rotmistrov shook his head and said, "We are not qualified to report this victory before Comrade Sokov."
Seeing the question mark on his chief of staff's face, Rotmistrov asked again: "Chief of Staff, let me ask you, without the cooperation of Comrade Sokov's troops, can our tank army destroy the October Farm?" Any enemies nearby?"
Regarding the question raised by Rotmistrov, the Chief of Staff only thought for a moment, then shook his head and said: "General Baharov's troops have occupied the farm for more than two days, but they were blocked by the German army. Although we fought several fierce battles, we were unable to expand the occupied area."
"You are right." After Rotmistrov agreed with the chief of staff's statement, he continued: "If Sokov's troops had not taken the initiative to attack the enemy tonight, I am afraid that after dawn, Our tank army still has to engage in brutal positional battles with the enemy, and it is still unknown when it will be able to break through the German defenses."
"You are right, Comrade Commander." Since Rotmistrov has already said this, it would be very foolish for the Chief of Staff to insist on reporting to Vatutin first. He said quickly: "General Sokov should be the first to report this exciting result to General Vatutin."
As for Sokov, his attention was focused on the battle near Highland 252.2, and he did not even think about the news that the enemy near the farm was about to be destroyed. He reported to Vatutin who was waiting anxiously at the front headquarters. He was reporting to Sheikh Terman gave instructions: "Comrade Colonel, concentrate all the artillery fire of the artillery regiment, bombard those enemies who are still nesting in the trenches, and be sure to drive them all out of the trenches in the shortest possible time.
Our right-wing troops must rush the defeated officers and soldiers of the Panzergrenadier Regiment to the defense area of the Flag Guard Division before dawn, so that we can have a chance to further expand our victory. "
