A regiment from the 384th Division came to support the 188th Division. They used their equipped rocket launchers to attack German tanks from a long distance, causing huge casualties to the Germans and driving them away from the first line of defense.
Seeing that the enemy was repulsed, Koida rushed to the position in person and met with the regiment commander who came for reinforcements. He held the other party's hand and said excitedly: "Comrade Colonel, fortunately you arrived in time, otherwise our position would have been broken through by the enemy."
The colonel leader smiled and replied: "Colonel Koida, you are so polite. We are all friendly forces. If we see you in danger, there is no reason for us to stand idly by."
"By the way, where is your division commander, Major General Gritsenko?"
"The division commander, along with two other infantry regiments and artillery regiments, are deployed two kilometers away from here." The colonel leader replied: "Once he discovers that the situation on the position is critical, he will bring his troops over in time to provide support. .”
Seeing Koida's confused look, the colonel leader added: "The division commander said that the position here is too narrow. If too many troops are deployed, they will inevitably suffer huge casualties once they are bombarded by the enemy. .”
After the colonel commander's explanation, Koida immediately understood Major General Gritsenko's intention. He nodded and continued to ask: "Where is your division headquarters? Can you take me there?"
"Yes." The colonel replied readily: "I will arrange for a staff officer to be your guide. But..."
"But what?"
"Colonel Koida." The colonel leader said in embarrassment: "You have also seen that there are only seven or eight hundred people left in my regiment. If we want to hold on to such a position, the strength is slightly insufficient. I wonder if you can stay. Are your troops assisting our regiment in our defense?"
Koida readily agreed to the colonel's request: "No problem, I can leave troops to assist you in your defense, but all the wounded must be evacuated. You won't object to this, right?"
"I have no objection." The colonel commander not only had no objection to Koida's proposal, but also took the initiative to say: "In the battle that just ended, our regiment also had a lot of wounded people. I hope you can evacuate them together. "
Koida ordered the commander of the 562nd Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Majewo, to be summoned and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, from now on, all troops on the position will be led by this colonel, who is the commander of the 384th Division. The commander is in charge. All of you must obey his command, understand?"
"Understood!" Majewo replied loudly.
After explaining the work and seeing that the wounded had been evacuated in an orderly manner, Koida had nothing to worry about. He called the friendly guide and led two guards towards Major General Gritsenko. Go to the location of the headquarters.
Koida came to Gritsenko's headquarters. After saying a few words, he heard the rumble of artillery coming from the direction of the position. He couldn't help but frowned: "Strange, how could the Germans kill them so quickly?" Attacked?"
"Yes, it's quite strange." Major General Gritsenko also had the same feeling. In the past, after the German attack was repelled, it would take at least two or three hours before a new attack would be launched. But this time, less than an hour later, a new attack was launched again. "Why did the enemy's new attack start so quickly?"
Just when Gritsenko and Koida found a spacious place and raised their binoculars to look at the shelled positions, a communications staff officer trotted over and reported to Gritsenko: "Comrade Division Commander, Telegram from Army Group Headquarters.”
Gritsenko took the telegram from the staff, quickly read the contents, and then murmured: "So that's it. No wonder the Germans launched a new attack in such a short period of time."
"Comrade General!" Koida asked curiously: "What did Comrade Commander say in his telegram?"
"Comrade Commander informed us that the Sixth Guards Army and the First Tank Army in the direction of Oboyan have launched a counterattack against the enemy. In order to avoid the fate of being encircled, the enemy will definitely try their best to break through to the south, so let us be ready to fight Preparation for a fierce battle.”
After listening to Gritsenko's story, Koida frowned and asked: "Comrade General, since the commander knows that we are about to face the most difficult situation, why doesn't he send us reinforcements?"
"Isn't our division your reinforcements?"
"To deal with such a strong German army, just our two divisions are not enough." Koida expressed his doubts: "Don't look at the artillery that intercepted the enemy when they were attacking. . But I can analyze from the density of artillery fire that there is at most one artillery division, and the rest of the artillery did not participate in the battle at all."
"Comrade Colonel, don't worry too much." Gritsenko comforted Koida and said, "I think the reason why the commander did not use the rest of the artillery must have his own considerations. Think about it, if the battle starts, we If all our strength is exposed, the enemy will formulate corresponding countermeasures. But if we only use our troops in stages, the enemy will not be able to figure out the details of our army. "
"Comrade General, what you said seems to make some sense." Koida said thoughtfully: "The enemy was intercepted by our army's artillery fire during the last round of attack, but as the enemy's aircraft entered During the battle, our artillery soon became silent. We don’t know whether it moved its position or was destroyed by the enemy. If all the artillery fired at the same time, they would definitely not be able to escape the fate of being bombed."
This round of German shelling was short, ending in less than ten minutes. Before the smoke cleared, the German tanks and infantry launched another charge towards the Soviet blocking position. The Soviet artillery, which had reestablished its position, intercepted the attacking German troops with artillery fire.
But the German troops in this attack behaved differently from before. They braved the Soviet artillery fire and rushed forward desperately, and soon rushed to the blocking position. Some tanks ran over the Soviet trenches. While the Soviet soldiers leaned out to bomb the tanks and had no time to shoot, the enemy infantry also jumped into the position and started close combat and hand-to-hand combat with the commanders and soldiers.
Gritsenko did not expect that in such a short period of time, the enemy would rush into the blocking position and become entangled with his own troops. He raised his head and wiped the sweat from his forehead, and told his chief of staff: "Chief of Staff, the enemy's offensive is too fierce. I'm worried that the troops in the position cannot hold it. You should immediately send another regiment to rush over for reinforcements. Be sure to crush them." Enemy attack."
New troops were sent up, bringing with them all the remaining rocket launchers of the 384th Division, ready to kill the enemy tanks first and then the infantry who broke into the position.
The German tanks that were firing towards the blocking position did not expect so much anti-tank firepower to come out from their flanks. In less than five minutes, seven or eight tanks were hit by rockets and burned on the battlefield.
The tank soldiers escaped from the burning tank and maybe found a safe place, but they were shot to death by the infantry covering the anti-tank soldiers around the tank.
As the tanks were destroyed one by one by the Soviet anti-tank crews, the remaining tanks were frightened. They were worried that if this continued, they would be slowly wiped out by the Soviet anti-tank crews, so they quickly put on reverse gear. Back away.
Seeing the tanks withdrawn, the German infantry who rushed into the position suddenly became less confident. Without the cover of tanks, they would soon be annihilated by the Soviet troops that had just arrived, so the commander could only issue an order to retreat.
Seeing the German troops retreating, the Soviet commanders and fighters did not pursue them. Instead, they immediately returned to the blocking position and began repairing fortifications and rescuing the wounded in preparation for a new round of enemy attacks.
Unexpectedly, before the health workers had time to finish bandaging the wounded, the whistling sound of artillery shells was heard in the air, and a new round of German shelling began again.
"Hell!" Through the telescope, Gritsenko discovered that the repulsed tanks and infantry had not completely returned to their starting position. The enemy actually started shelling. He frowned and said: "The Germans are crazy. Their people are still here." Without retreating, they started a new round of shelling. What do they want to do?"
Koida had not left at this moment. When he saw this situation, he immediately realized that the German army had changed its tactics, and quickly suggested to Gritsenko: "Comrade General, I think we should report the situation here to Comrade Commander immediately. , maybe he can understand what the Germans meant by doing this.”
"The telegram is too slow." Gritsenko shook his head and said, "And it may not be able to explain clearly the situation on the battlefield. I want to speak directly with the commander."
The two returned to the temporary headquarters, and Gritsenko asked the radio operator to contact the group army headquarters.
Soon, the radio operator took off his earphones and said to Gritsenko: "Comrade division commander, General Samyko, chief of staff of the group army, wants to speak to you!"
Gritsenko took the headphones and put them on his head, and said into the microphone: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff, I am Major General Gritsenko."
"Comrade General, don't say any polite words." Sameko said rudely when he saw it: "Report your intelligence to me immediately. We have lost contact with the 188th Division, and Comrade Commander is getting angry. "
Gritsenko glanced at Koida who was standing beside him, twitched the corner of his mouth, and then said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, Colonel Koida, commander of the 188th Division, is by my side at the moment. You need to talk to him. ?"
"Speak to him later." Sameko said urgently: "Hurry up and report the situation there. How many troops have you sent to reinforce the 188th Division?"
"Two regiments, Comrade Chief of Staff."
"Huh?! You invested two regiments?" Samek said with some displeasure: "Why did you invest two regiments into the battle so quickly?"
"The situation on the battlefield is critical. If I don't put my troops into battle in time, the blocking position may be lost."
"I know." Before Gritsenko could finish his words, Samyko interrupted him: "Comrade General, I am now officially informing you: Once the position is in danger of being lost, you immediately order the troops holding the position. Retreat to both wings in an orderly manner, and do not send troops to block the gap opened by the enemy. Do you understand?"
"I don't understand!" Gritsenko felt that the order issued by Samyko was simply incomprehensible. He said dissatisfiedly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, if you follow your order, the German army may soon break through our defense line... "
"Breakthrough is a breakthrough!" Sameko said disapprovingly: "Maybe after they break through our position, the next battle will be easier to fight."
He did not continue to talk nonsense with Sameko, but said in a tough tone: "If you have any opinions, please wait until the battle is over. Let me remind you one last time that you must not leave the last person without an order from the Army Group Headquarters. The regiment goes into battle. Carry out the order, comrade general!"
Just when Gritsenko was about to take off his headphones, he heard Samyko say again: "Let Colonel Koida answer the phone. Comrade Commander has something to say to him."
As soon as Koida put on the headphones, he heard Sokov's voice coming from inside: "Colonel Koida, it's great to hear your voice again. How many people are left in your unit?"
"There are not many left, Comrade Commander." Hearing Sokov's question, Koida replied with a bitter look on his face: "It is estimated that there are still a few hundred people left in the division."
"The remaining commanders and fighters are the backbone of your division's combat. They cannot be allowed to sacrifice in this kind of attrition position battle." Sokov ordered on the other end of the phone: "Withdraw them all immediately and transfer them to A safe place. Wait for your superiors to add new troops to you."
"Comrade Commander, it may be difficult to withdraw the troops."
"Why?"
Koida quickly repelled the enemy's attack and while he was repairing the fortifications and rescuing the wounded, the enemy started a new round of shelling. He told Sokov in detail, and finally said: "Comrade Commander, The enemy suddenly changed their offensive tactics. I think there must be some conspiracy. You should be more careful about them to avoid suffering big losses."
"Don't worry, Colonel Koida." Sokov comforted Koida and said: "The reason why the enemy's attacks have become so intensive is probably because our friendly forces launched a counterattack in the direction of Oboyan. In order to get rid of the enemy, The fate of the encirclement is that they can only desperately break through to the south. Only by breaking through our army's blocking position can they have a chance to return to Belgorod smoothly."
Seeing that Sokov was well aware of the enemy's intentions, Koida was worried that he would not know the strange order that Samyko had just given to Gritsenko, so he said cautiously: "Comrade Commander, the Chief of Staff just gave Gritsenko Major General Ke issued an order. When the enemy breaks through the defense line, not only can they not send troops to block the breakthrough, but they must make way for the enemy. I want to ask, do you know this order? "
"I know, of course I know." Sokov replied readily: "As long as we let the enemy break through our defense line, the next battle will be much easier to fight."
"Comrade Commander, I don't understand."
Regarding Koida's question, Sokov did not give him an answer immediately, but said with a smile: "Colonel Koida, don't be anxious, wait patiently, in two hours at most, you will understand what I ordered." That’s the purpose of the order.”
