While the infantrymen of the 46th Infantry Brigade were rushing to the outpost, Sokov was also actively dispatching troops: "Chief of Staff, order the 84th and 254th Infantry Divisions to quickly detour towards the enemy's flanks. Since If they want to attack the town of Yakovlevo, don’t even think about returning intact.”
"Comrade Commander," Samyko reminded him after hearing Sokov's order: "The 84th and 254th Infantry Divisions have to make a detour back to the enemy's flanks, and they have to walk at least ten kilometers on this road. There are forests and swamps, and I'm afraid our tanks and artillery can't pass through."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, even if there are no tanks and artillery, I think there shouldn't be much problem with one German infantry division." Sokov said to Samyko: "Don't forget, these two infantry divisions still have a certain number of The new rockets are more than enough to deal with the Germans."
When Samyko assigned tasks to the division commanders below, Zhukov called Sokov. He asked straight to the point: "Misha, I heard that the enemy is attacking your outpost south of the town of Yakovlevo?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Sokov replied respectfully: "According to the intelligence we have, the enemy dispatched the 255th Infantry Division to attack my outpost."
"What measures have you taken?" Zhukov asked briefly.
"I have ordered Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov's 46th Infantry Brigade to carry out reinforcements." Sokov knew very well in his heart that the purpose of Zhukov's question was not to know whether he had sent reinforcements, but whether he was sure. After annihilating the enemy, he continued: "At the same time, I ordered the 84th Infantry Division of Major General Fomenko and the 254th Infantry Division of Colonel Shechtman to use rapid marches through forests and swamps to detour to the enemy's flanks and carry out attacks on them. Encirclement.”
Knowing that Sokov had sent troops to detour to the two wings of the German army, Zhukov's face showed a smile: "Misha, then I wish you victory in advance!"
After putting down the phone, Zhukov called Vatutin to him and said to him: "Comrade Vatutin, Mischa's troops are preparing to encircle and attack the enemies at the outpost. In order to prevent the enemies in Belgorod from reinforcing them, you are in the city. Should the troops in the north also make some feints to distract the enemy?"
"Comrade Marshal," Vatutin said with some embarrassment after hearing the mission assigned by Zhukov: "Our troops are being assembled. If we take action prematurely, we may alert the enemy..."
"I'm asking you to feint, but I'm not asking you to actually attack the enemy." Zhukov said with an unhappy expression: "Are you just going to let Sokov's troops fight alone?"
"That's not true." Seeing that Zhukov was angry, Vatugin quickly defended: "Comrade Marshal, you also know that my troops suffered huge casualties in the battles in the past few days. If we are not prepared before , just launch an attack on the enemy, even if it is a feint, I am afraid it will lead to some variables."
"Comrade Vatutin," Vasilevskiy saw Zhukov's frosty face, knowing that if Vatutin continued to speak, he would definitely arouse the other party's thunderous anger, so he quickly came out to smooth things over: "Marshal Zhukov means that you should be here. The feint to the north of Belgorod does not really allow you to attack. The ground troops can stay still, but you can use artillery fire to bombard the German positions that have been locked."
"Bombarding the locked target with artillery fire?" After listening to Vasilevsky's words, Vatutin said dumbfounded: "Marshal Vasilevsky, doesn't this expose our combat intentions?"
But Vasilevsky's proposal made Zhukov's eyes light up: "I think Comrade Vasilevsky is right. We can consider shelling those targets that have been locked for a long time."
Seeing that Zhukov and Vasilevsky had the same opinion, Vatutin said with a wry smile: "Two comrades, marshals, if we really carry out artillery bombardment on the targeted targets, our intentions will be exposed and the enemy will be prepared in advance. Prepare."
"Comrade Vatutin, you are mistaken." Seeing that Vatutin did not understand his and Vasilevskiy's intentions, Zhukov explained to him: "You shelled the enemy's position this time, but did not launch an attack. . When our offensive begins and the enemy's defensive positions are attacked by artillery fire, the enemy will take it for granted that we are only shelling their positions and will not launch an attack. If we launch an attack at this time, we may not be able to It has an unexpected effect.”
"Is this really true?" Vatutin asked in an uncertain tone: "Can our shelling of the enemy's positions really confuse the enemy?"
"Of course." Seeing that his opinion coincided with Zhukov's, Vasilevsky urged Vatutin: "Comrade Vatutin, stop dawdling, order the artillery to prepare. Otherwise, the enemy will complete the assembly and attack Ya When we increase troops in the direction of the town of Kovjevo, it will be too late. Not only will Sokov's encirclement plan fail by then. Their troops who have detoured behind the enemy will also face the dilemma of being attacked from both sides."
"General Ivanov," since Zhukov and Vasilevsky had reached an agreement and both agreed to bombard the enemy's defensive positions, Vatutin no longer hesitated and called Chief of Staff Ivanov and ordered He said: "Call the artillery commander immediately. Tomorrow they will bombard the enemy's defensive positions with fierce artillery fire in ten minutes."
Ivanov, who had just walked over, did not hear the conversation between Vatutin and the two marshals, so after hearing this order, he asked with some confusion: "Comrade General, what targets should our artillery bombard?" Woolen cloth?"
"Where else, of course, are the targets that have been locked for a long time." Vatutin did not bother to explain more to Ivanov, so he urged him: "Order the artillery to launch bombardment as soon as possible, and be sure to use violent artillery fire to destroy the enemy. defensive position."
"Comrade General," Ivanov said cautiously: "There are still about three hours before dawn. We are shelling the enemy's position so early. I am worried that there will not be enough time to complete the assembly of the infantry."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Vasilevsky said from the sidelines: "It's just shelling the enemy's position. There is no need for a ground attack, so there is no need to assemble infantry at all."
"Just shelling the enemy's position?" Ivanov was dumbfounded: "Marshal Vasilevsky, what on earth is going on? Since we want to shell the enemy's position, why don't we launch an attack?"
"Sokov's troops are attacking the German 255th Infantry Division in the west. The two marshals were worried that the enemies in Belgorod would rush to reinforce them, so they ordered us to shell the enemy's positions." See Ivan Nov kept asking, and Vatutin could only explain to him: "As soon as our shelling starts, it will give the Germans the illusion that we are about to launch an attack on the city. In this way, they will I don’t dare to act rashly, let alone send troops to reinforce.”
After figuring out what was going on, Ivanov nodded and asked the question he was worried about: "If we shell the target today, will it reveal our intentions?"
"Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff." Seeing that Ivanov still had doubts about this matter, Vatutin explained to him: "We only shelled but did not launch a ground attack. This will give the Germans a sense of The misconception is that we are incapable of launching a ground attack. On the day the attack is launched, when the enemy's position is bombarded, they will think that we are just shelling again, and send troops to reinforce the direction in which we are preparing to break through."
After Ivanov figured out what was going on, he immediately called the artillery commander happily.
…………
Besides, the infantry brigade commander Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov received orders from Sokov to do everything possible to hold back the German 255th Infantry Division that was attacking the outpost. Therefore, after the main force entered the village and defensive positions one after another, he did not immediately order the troops to launch a counterattack. Instead, he seized the time to repair the fortifications and prepared to rely on the village for defense.
The German division commander looked through the telescope and saw the Soviet commanders and soldiers repairing fortifications outside the village, and couldn't help but be stunned. According to his thinking, at the moment when his troops' attack was frustrated and they retreated, if the Soviet army took advantage of the situation and launched a counterattack, his troops would definitely be beaten to pieces.
Facing the strange scene, he put down his telescope and turned to ask his chief of staff: "Chief of Staff, tell me, what on earth are the Russians doing? Their newly reinforced troops are fully capable of counterattack, but why don't they What about launching a counterattack?”
The chief of staff raised his telescope and looked at the Soviet commanders who were building fortifications in the distance for a while. Then he said thoughtfully: "Your Excellency, division commander, I have a bold idea. The reason why the Russians are repairing fortifications is not To launch a counterattack against us, could it be that they don't have many troops, so they can only choose to hold on and wait for reinforcements."
The words of the chief of staff made the German division commander fall into deep thought. He raised his telescope again and looked at the Soviet positions in the distance. He saw that the busy Soviet commanders and soldiers were indeed building fortifications and showed no signs of attacking.
"Chief of Staff, it seems that what you said makes sense." The German division commander put down his telescope and agreed with the Chief of Staff's statement that the Soviet army did not launch an attack entirely because of insufficient troops. "Since the Russians do not have enough troops, we can attack them again. As long as we break through their defense lines, we can hope to capture the town of Yakovlevo."
"Your Excellency, division commander," the chief of staff was worried that the division commander would change his mind and quickly reminded him: "We must fight quickly, otherwise when the Russian reinforcements arrive, we may suffer huge casualties if we try to capture the town again."
"What you said makes sense." The division commander decisively made up his mind and ordered the chief of staff: "Immediately order the infantry regiment to go into battle, and be sure to capture their outpost before the Russian reinforcements arrive."
Just like that, the Germans attacked again.
However, due to fear of retaliation from Soviet artillery fire, their attack did not receive any artillery cover. The two battalions were divided into two echelons and launched a new round of attacks towards the position where the 46th Infantry Brigade was stationed.
Uzakov, who set up his headquarters in the village, couldn't help but smile when he learned that the enemy had launched another attack on his position. Although he didn't know Sokov's specific battle plan, he knew that Sokov ordered him to do everything possible to delay the German army. There must be some backup plan. He quickly ordered: "The first battalion is responsible for blocking the enemy and waiting for them to be defeated." After defeating the enemy's attack, the Second Battalion will take over their defense."
When the enemy was still 150 meters away from the position, the light and heavy machine guns on the position opened fire at the same time.
Many of the enemies who were immersed in charging immediately fell in the dense rain of bullets. The rest quickly fell down on the spot and relied on the crater to fight back.
When several MG42 machine guns were set up on the edge of the bomb crater and fired at the Soviet position not far away, the German soldiers who were originally suppressed by the firepower used the short-leap forward tactic to jump from one bomb crater to another and quickly attack the Soviet army. The position is approaching.
In the headquarters, Uzhakov saw through the telescope that the enemy was approaching his position little by little. He quickly called the artillery company commander and ordered him: "Comrade company commander, order the mortars to fire to destroy these troops who are approaching us." The enemy of the position.”
"Your Excellency, division commander," the chief of staff was worried that the division commander would change his mind and quickly reminded him: "We must fight quickly, otherwise when the Russian reinforcements arrive, we may suffer huge casualties if we try to capture the town again."
"What you said makes sense." The division commander decisively made up his mind and ordered the chief of staff: "Immediately order the infantry regiment to go into battle, and be sure to capture their outpost before the Russian reinforcements arrive."
Just like that, the Germans attacked again.
However, due to fear of retaliation from Soviet artillery fire, their attack did not receive any artillery cover. The two battalions were divided into two echelons and launched a new round of attacks towards the position where the 46th Infantry Brigade was stationed.
Uzakov, who set up his headquarters in the village, couldn't help but smile when he learned that the enemy had launched another attack on his position. Although he didn't know Sokov's specific battle plan, he knew that Sokov ordered him to do everything possible to delay the German army. There must be some backup plan. He quickly ordered: "The first battalion is responsible for blocking the enemy and waiting for them to be defeated." After the enemy attacks, the Second Battalion will take over their defense."
When the enemy was still 150 meters away from the position, the light and heavy machine guns on the position opened fire at the same time.
Many of the enemies who were immersed in charging immediately fell in the dense rain of bullets. The rest quickly fell down on the spot and relied on the crater to fight back.
When several MG42 machine guns were set up on the edge of the bomb crater and fired at the Soviet position not far away, the German soldiers who were originally suppressed by the firepower used the short-leap forward tactic to jump from one bomb crater to another and quickly attack the Soviet army. The position is approaching.
In the headquarters, Uzhakov saw through the telescope that the enemy was approaching his position little by little. He quickly called the artillery company commander and ordered him: "Comrade company commander, order the mortars to fire to destroy these troops who are approaching us." The enemy of the position.”
