More than 4,000 captured commanders and fighters were brutally killed by the Germans. These words aroused the common hatred of Sokov and others. He temporarily forgot about the disagreement between himself and Apanashenko, but asked solemnly: "What happened to the SS cavalry that massacred our prisoners of war?"
"What else could they do? Of course they were wiped out by our army." Apanashenko continued: "After massacring one prisoner of war camp, they were on their way to another prisoner of war camp. They met with Colonel Inov of the 31st Tank Corps. The 100th Tank Brigade encountered, and after a fierce battle, all these executioners were wiped out."
"It's so easy for them." After Sokov gritted his teeth and said this, he turned to Sameko next to him and said: "Chief of Staff, when you meet with the commanders of each division, remember to tell them about this. . Please convey my message to them: from now on, all captured SS officers and soldiers will be shot on the spot, and we will not accept their surrender."
"Comrade Commander," Sameko said with some embarrassment: "If the SS surrenders in an organic form and we shoot them again, I am afraid it will cause bad consequences."
"Blood debts must be repaid with blood," Sokov said with a straight face: "I will let them repay the crimes committed by the SS ten times or a hundred times to avenge our dead commanders and soldiers!"
Hearing Sokov's order, Apanashenko's frosty face showed a smile again. He felt that he should treat the enemy as ruthlessly as in the harsh winter. Sokov's order came as a surprise. It kind of suited him. He nodded and said: "Major General Sokov, you are right. You can only deal with beasts in the same way as beasts."
Sokov did not feel complacent blindly because of Apanaschenko's compliment. He knew very well that Apanaschenko always had a prejudice against him. If he wanted to change his view of himself, it would definitely not be possible overnight. Did it.
But out of politeness, Sokov winked at Samoilov, who was standing aside, and motioned for him to pour tea for Apanashchenko. After seeing Sokov's eyes, the latter nodded slightly, and then quietly exited the command post.
Not long after, Samoylov appeared in the headquarters again. He placed teacups, teapots, plates with sugar cubes, plates with slices of bread and biscuits, and canned braised pork from the United States. on the table.
After Sokov waited for him to finish all this, he smiled and said to Apanashenko: "Comrade General, you must have been sick after traveling for so long. Please have something to eat." After that, he picked up the The teapot poured the other party a cup of hot tea.
When Apanashenko saw what was on the table, he walked directly to the table and sat down without any courtesy, and started eating. While he was eating, he said: "Major General Sokov, I thought the food on your front line was very bad, but I didn't expect it to be similar to ours."
Sokov wanted to tell him that the black bread eaten by the commanders and fighters fighting on the front line was mixed with sawdust, which would kill the throat. But when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back. After all, the relationship between him and Apanashenko had just eased, and he couldn't make the other party unhappy over such a trivial matter.
Lunev, who was sitting aside, saw that Apanashenko seemed to be in a good mood at the moment, so he asked tentatively: "Comrade General, I would like to ask when can we launch the attack on Belgorod?" ?”
"Almost." Apanashchenko had just put a piece of bread into his mouth. When he heard Lunev's question, he said vaguely: "The base camp has formulated a new combat plan aimed at capturing Kharko. Husband and Belgorod, I estimate that in a few days, the front headquarters will hold a pre-war military meeting. You will know the specific content after attending the meeting."
As the deputy commander of the front army, Apanaxian not only knew the offensive plan codenamed "Rumyantsev" formulated by Zhukov and Vasilevsky, but even the details of the plan were clear. But there was still some time before the start of the new battle. For the sake of confidentiality, he chose to keep it secret from Sokov and others without hesitation.
Sokov understood Apanashchenko's thoughts and did not ask any more about the offensive plan. He asked curiously about the battle in the direction of Oboyan: "Comrade General, I don't know about the 11th and 17th German troops stranded in the Oboyan area. Has the armored division been eliminated now?"
Hearing Sokov's question, Apanashenko had an embarrassed expression on his face. After a long time, he said with some embarrassment: "The fighting is still going on. I believe that it won't be long before our troops can completely eliminate these two German troops."
Sameko couldn't help curling his lips and thinking to himself: With a few incomplete infantry divisions, plus two artillery divisions and a tank corps, we defeated the main force of the Hoth Armored Group Army. There are two armies in the direction of Oboyan. It is too disappointing that the two divisions of the German army have not yet been able to resolve the battle.
Sameko felt a little disappointed when he learned that the fighting in the Oboyan area was still going on. This meant that the more than 20,000 rescued commanders and fighters would not be able to get here before the battle was over.
Lunev seemed to have thought of this. He asked Apanashenko tentatively: "Comrade General, after the battle in the Oboyan area is over, can the rescued prisoners of war be sent over?"
When Runev asked this, he didn't have much hope. But after listening to this, Apanashenko unexpectedly said: "Of course you can come over! Didn't you occupy Kochetovka? Those rescued commanders and combatants bypassed the fighting area and left from Kochetovka. Come here and accept your adaptation."
Apanashenko raised his hand and looked at his watch and said, "According to the plan, they will arrive at your place around ten o'clock in the morning." He raised his head, looked at Sokov and others and asked, "Which one of you will accompany you?" Shall I go and pick up the soldiers?"
"Comrade Military Commissar," Sokov turned to Lunev and said: "The main task after receiving prisoners of war is to screen and examine them. Why don't you and Comrade General accept the prisoners of war."
"Okay, Comrade Commander." Lunev did not raise any objections to Sokov's arrangement, "Then I will accompany Comrade General to receive the prisoners of war and start their screening and review in the shortest possible time. Work."
"To screen and review more than 20,000 people, the workload is not small." Sokov asked with concern: "Comrade Military Commissar, do you have enough manpower?"
"That's enough." Lunev nodded and said, "I've already thought about it. It's definitely not enough to just rely on the political workers from the headquarters, but if you add the political workers from each division, then the manpower will be more than enough. . Moreover, the political staff of each division will screen and review, and those qualified commanders and fighters can be directly incorporated into the troops, which can greatly shorten the time to replenish the troops."
When Sokov heard this, he couldn't help but glance at Apanashenko, fearing that he would make any objections. But Apanashchenko seemed to agree with Lunev's statement with such an expression.
Apanashenko waited for Lunev to finish speaking, then stood up and said: "Comrade Lunev, it's getting late, let's set off now. If the screening work is completed early, I can return to the front headquarters earlier."
After sending Apanashenko and Lunev away, Samyko asked Sokov with some surprise: "Comrade Commander, tell me, Comrade General was still trying to find fault at first, but Lunev proposed to complete the screening. When the reviewed commanders and fighters could be directly incorporated into the army, why didn't he express any different opinions? Isn't this a bit strange? "
"I don't know very well." Sokov is not clairvoyant and has no one at the Front Army Headquarters to tip him off. Naturally, he doesn't know that before Apanashenko came to the 27th Army, he had promised Zhukov that he would never act as a substitute. , something that interferes with Sokov’s command. That's why Sameko had this strange feeling.
The battle in the Oboyan area continued. The troops attacking the 17th Armored Division were the First Tank Army commanded by Katukov. They used tank assault tactics to launch a fierce attack on the 17th Armored Division. The battle lasted until one o'clock at noon. Except for a few tanks that had to be abandoned on the battlefield because they ran out of fuel, the rest of the tanks were destroyed.
Many tank crews who escaped from the destroyed tanks fled into the forest with the infantry, trying to return to Kharkov or Belgorod through the forests and swamps. Division Commander Etlin, with a dozen staff officers and guards, abandoned his barrel truck, mixed in with the fleeing soldiers, and fled towards the forest.
However, just as he was about to run into the forest, he was spotted by a T-34 tank and was immediately shelled. A shell landed five or six meters away from him and exploded. The flying shrapnel knocked him and several staff officers around him down. Fortunately, several loyal guards swarmed him, carried him and fled into the forest.
However, Chistyakov's 6th Guards Army's battle to besiege the 11th Armored Division did not go so smoothly. After the German division commander Balck received Manstein's telegram ordering him to break out to the west, he immediately sent people to conduct reconnaissance.
The scout reported to him that the Russians had deployed heavy troops on the east, west, and south sides. Only the north side was defended by the 52nd and 67th Guards Divisions, which had suffered heavy losses. After receiving this information, Balke decisively issued an order to break out to the north.
Balck's order made the German officers and soldiers feel a little confused. Aren't they going to retreat south to Belgorod? So why should we implement a breakthrough to the north? Although they were full of doubts, the German officers and soldiers still followed Balke's order and broke through to the north where the Soviet army was weakly defended.
The 52nd and 67th Guards Divisions responsible for the defense in the north never expected that Balck would counterattack, and were caught off guard. The defense line they established was quickly broken through by Balck's 11th Armored Division.
What is even more unexpected is that Balke personally drove a tank and rushed to Sokov with his troops. Hearing this, he couldn't help but glance at Apanashenko, fearing that he would express any objections. But Apanashchenko seemed to agree with Lunev's statement with such an expression.
Apanashenko waited for Lunev to finish speaking, then stood up and said: "Comrade Lunev, it's getting late, let's set off now. If the screening work is completed early, I can return to the front headquarters earlier."
After sending Apanashenko and Lunev away, Samyko asked Sokov with some surprise: "Comrade Commander, tell me, Comrade General was still trying to find fault at first, but Lunev proposed to complete the screening. When the reviewed commanders and fighters could be directly incorporated into the army, why didn't he express any different opinions? Isn't this a bit strange? "
"I don't know very well." Sokov is not clairvoyant and has no one at the Front Army Headquarters to tip him off. Naturally, he doesn't know that before Apanashenko came to the 27th Army, he had promised Zhukov that he would never act as a substitute. , something that interferes with Sokov’s command. That's why Sameko had this strange feeling.
The battle in the Oboyan area continued. The troops attacking the 17th Armored Division were the First Tank Army commanded by Katukov. They used tank assault tactics to launch a fierce attack on the 17th Armored Division. The battle lasted until one o'clock at noon. Except for a few tanks that had to be abandoned on the battlefield because they ran out of fuel, the rest of the tanks were destroyed.
Many tank crews who escaped from the destroyed tanks fled into the forest with the infantry, trying to return to Kharkov or Belgorod through the forests and swamps. Division Commander Etlin, with a dozen staff officers and guards, abandoned his barrel truck, mixed in with the fleeing soldiers, and fled towards the forest.
However, just as he was about to run into the forest, he was spotted by a T-34 tank and was immediately shelled. A shell landed five or six meters away from him and exploded. The flying shrapnel knocked him and several staff officers around him down. Fortunately, several loyal guards swarmed him, carried him and fled into the forest.
However, Chistyakov's 6th Guards Army's battle to besiege the 11th Armored Division did not go so smoothly. After the German division commander Balck received Manstein's telegram ordering him to break out to the west, he immediately sent people to conduct reconnaissance.
The scout reported to him that the Russians had deployed heavy troops on the east, west, and south sides. Only the north side was defended by the 52nd and 67th Guards Divisions, which had suffered heavy losses. After receiving this information, Balke decisively issued an order to break out to the north.
Balck's order made the German officers and soldiers feel a little confused. Aren't they going to retreat south to Belgorod? So why should we implement a breakthrough to the north? Although they were full of doubts, the German officers and soldiers still followed Balke's order and broke through to the north where the Soviet army was weakly defended.
The 52nd and 67th Guards Divisions, responsible for the defense of the north, never thought that Balck would counterattack, and were caught off guard. The defense line they established was quickly broken through by Balck's 11th Armored Division.
What is even more unexpected is that Balke personally drove a tank and led his troops to the
