Although there were no tanks involved in the night battle, Sokov's troops still achieved good results. After a fierce battle, the 254th Division occupied the family area of the machinery processing plant and a nearby street before dawn.
After learning about the results achieved by the right-wing troops, Sokov decisively gave Sameko an order: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please tell Colonel Shechtman that what they will do next is to try every means, Hold the occupied area. Do not actively attack the enemy without further orders from me."
After listening to the inexplicable order issued by Sokov, Samyko asked puzzledly: "Comrade Commander, I have transferred the 188th Division into the city. With the combat power of the two divisions, it is completely possible to Continue to expand the results during the day."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, if we blindly expand our results and occupy more areas, we will have to divide our forces to guard them." Sokov explained to Samyko: "The enemy's strength in Kharkov is far greater than Before the main force of the front army reaches the outside of Kharkov, they are fully capable of concentrating their superior forces to carry out a counterattack. However, due to our dispersed forces, facing the crazy counterattack of the German army, it may not be easy to stop them. matter."
"I understand, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Sokov had considered all the issues that should be considered, Samyko quickly expressed his position: "I will faithfully convey your instructions to Colonel Shechtman. "
"General Sokov," Sokov just put down the phone, he heard Tsvetayev sitting next to him say: "After getting along with each other these days, I found that the issues you are considering are indeed relevant to us. Older commanders are different. If my troops entered the city and occupied such a large area, I would definitely order them to continue to expand their results and continuously attack the enemy to gain a larger territory."
"Comrade General," Sokov said with a smile: "The results achieved by our army yesterday have made us the target of the enemy. After dawn, the enemy will definitely launch a crazy attack in an attempt to restore their lost positions. If we If we continue to maintain the offensive posture, it will be an egg against a rock."
"Your metaphor is very vivid." Tsvetayev gave Sokov a thumbs up: "After getting along with you these days, listening to the various orders you issued, and the results achieved by the troops, I feel that if I want to win the battle, I must learn from you.”
When Sokov heard Tsvetayev's praise, he couldn't help but blush, and said with some embarrassment: "Comrade General, actually I didn't go to any military academy. The tactics I usually use in battle are all I was fooling around."
"You can achieve such brilliant results by just guessing. If you really make a few battle plans carefully, you might be able to drive the enemy across the Dnieper River."
"Comrade General, your wish will come true soon." Sokov stood up straight, looked at Tsvetaev and said: "After we liberate Kharkov, the next battle will be It will drive all the Germans to the other side of the Dnieper River."
"But, General Sokov." But Tsvetayev was obviously not as optimistic as Sokov. He frowned and said, "Have you forgotten that at the beginning of the year, our Southwest Front Army and Voronezh Front Army occupied Kharkov?" , and fought a fierce battle with the Germans on the Dnieper River. But unfortunately, it was the Germans who were at a disadvantage in terms of strength and equipment who won the final victory, and even took Kazakhstan from our hands again. Erkov and Belgorod.”
Seeing Tsvetayev's expression of gritted teeth and blue veins popping out on his forehead, Sokov understood the other party's feelings very well. At the beginning of the year, the Soviet army took advantage of the residual power of the victory in Stalingrad and used troops and technical equipment that far exceeded the enemy to attack Manstein. Because of the troops launched an attack. Although the early progress was smooth, as the front stretched, the Soviet army's logistical supplies gradually failed to keep up. During the battle, many tanks and artillery were eventually captured by the German army because they ran out of ammunition.
"Although our offensive battle in the Dnieper River Basin at the beginning of the year ended in failure." Sokov comforted the other party: "But the situation today is different from that at the beginning of the year. In the Battle of Kursk that ended not long ago, the German army lost There are a large number of elite troops, and the combat effectiveness of their temporary supplementary troops is obviously much weaker. I believe that if the two sides fight again on the banks of the Dnieper River, we will definitely be the ones to win in the end."
If someone else had said this, Tsvetayev must have said it because the other person was drunk. As long as a salted fish drank wine, he would not be so drunk. But when these words came out of Sokov's mouth, they gained some credibility out of thin air. He nodded slowly: "General Sokov, if your 27th Army is among the troops participating in the attack, I believe we can achieve the final victory. You are a nightmare for the Germans, just hearing your orders , their soldiers will be disorganized and their morale will be low due to fright."
Seeing that Tsvetayev gave himself such a high evaluation, Sokov seemed a little embarrassed: "Comrade General, you praise me. I am not as capable as you said."
"I'm telling the truth, General Sokov." Tsvetayev said seriously: "If there were more capable group army commanders like you, we would achieve greater results on the battlefield and establish a A greater feat.”
After dawn, General Rotmistrov's tank troops formed three attack wedges, crossed the ravine in front of the starting position, and rushed into the sunflower fields. According to the order, they will rush directly to the main road from Akhtelka to Kharkov.
The German army discovered the Soviet attempt and immediately launched artillery fire to intercept it. The shells landed in the tank formation and exploded. Pillars of mud rose into the sky, and the mud crackled on the bodies of the tanks that were speeding by.
Although some unlucky tanks were directly destroyed by German artillery fire and burned in the sunflower fields, the tanks that were not injured continued to advance despite the enemy's artillery fire.
The torrent of Soviet steel passed through the sunflower fields and came to an open area. Here they were unexpectedly intercepted by German anti-tank guns and anti-aircraft guns.
Although German anti-tank guns have a chance to penetrate the frontal armor of Soviet T-34 tanks at a distance of two to three hundred meters; the 88mm anti-aircraft guns deployed on the position are a nightmare for Soviet tanks. With just one round of shooting, the tank battalion at the front was wiped out in an instant. Twenty or so tanks were parked in the open ground and burning. The tank soldiers who escaped from the tanks were also sniped by German snipers, often killing them. Before they could run very far, they were all killed by bullets.
The tank in front was destroyed, and the tanks in the back continued to swarm in. The Soviet tank commander confidently believed that although the enemy had deployed anti-tank positions in the front, they could not resist his own force of more than 200 tanks. of steel torrent. As long as you keep rushing forward, you can use the tracks to crush all the German anti-tank guns or anti-aircraft guns.
But there is a difference between ideal and reality after all. The tank group that continued to advance forward, although a tank column broke through the German anti-tank defense line, was met head-on by the Panther tanks, Tiger tanks and assault troops that were ambushing here. After a heavy blow, the Soviet tanks were either destroyed on the spot or retreated hastily.
Rotmistrov learned that the tank army was ambushed by German anti-tank weapons and tank troops during the attack, and after suffering heavy casualties, he issued an order to the commander of the army to quickly withdraw to the starting position. .
The tank commander who received Rotmistrov's order immediately ordered his tanks to use alternate cover, retreated from the battlefield, and returned to the starting point of the attack as quickly as possible.
After learning that the tank corps had returned to the starting point of the attack, Rotmistrov couldn't wait to ask the corps commander: "Comrade corps commander, have your casualty data come out?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." The tank corps commander replied bitterly: "According to incomplete statistics, the tanks we lost during the attack were probably between 160 and 200."
Hearing the data on lost tanks, Rotmistrov couldn't help but gasped: "What, your army actually paid such a heavy lesson in today's attack?"
"That's right, Comrade Commander." The tank commander quickly explained to Rotmistrov: "I didn't expect that the enemy would actually deploy anti-tank guns and 88mm anti-aircraft guns behind the sunflower fields. Coupled with Panther tanks, Tiger tanks and assault guns, our tanks suffered heavy casualties at the cost of these firepower."
After the tank commander said this, he saw that Rotmistrov's face was as dark as water, and he couldn't help but panic. He quickly expressed his position: "Comrade Commander, I will immediately reorganize the troops and attack the enemy again. I don’t believe that I can’t break through the enemy’s defense line.” In the night battle, although there were no tanks involved, Sokov’s troops still achieved good results. After a fierce battle, the 254th Division occupied the family area of the machinery processing plant and a nearby street before dawn.
After learning about the results achieved by the right-wing troops, Sokov decisively gave Sameko an order: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please tell Colonel Shechtman that what they will do next is to try every means, Hold the occupied area. Do not actively attack the enemy without further orders from me."
After listening to the inexplicable order issued by Sokov, Samyko asked puzzledly: "Comrade Commander, I have transferred the 188th Division into the city. With the combat power of the two divisions, it is completely possible to Continue to expand the results during the day."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, if we blindly expand our results and occupy more areas, we will have to divide our forces to guard them." Sokov explained to Samyko: "The enemy's strength in Kharkov is far greater than Before the main force of the front army reaches the outside of Kharkov, they are fully capable of concentrating their superior forces to carry out a counterattack. However, due to our dispersed forces, facing the crazy counterattack of the German army, it may not be easy to stop them. matter."
"I understand, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Sokov had considered all the issues that should be considered, Samyko quickly expressed his position: "I will faithfully convey your instructions to Colonel Shechtman. "
"General Sokov," Sokov just put down the phone, he heard Tsvetayev sitting next to him say: "After getting along with each other these days, I found that the issues you are considering are indeed relevant to us. Older commanders are different. If my troops entered the city and occupied such a large area, I would definitely order them to continue to expand their results and continuously attack the enemy to gain a larger territory."
"Comrade General," Sokov said with a smile: "The results achieved by our army yesterday have made us the target of the enemy. After dawn, the enemy will definitely launch a crazy attack in an attempt to restore their lost positions. If we If we continue to maintain the offensive posture, it will be an egg against a rock."
"Your metaphor is very vivid." Tsvetayev gave Sokov a thumbs up: "After getting along with you these days, listening to the various orders you issued, and the results achieved by the troops, I feel that if I want to win the battle, I must learn from you.”
When Sokov heard Tsvetayev's praise, he couldn't help but blush, and said with some embarrassment: "Comrade General, actually I didn't go to any military academy. The tactics I usually use in battle are all I was fooling around."
"You can achieve such brilliant results by just guessing. If you really make a few battle plans seriously, you might be able to drive the enemy across the Dnieper River."
"Comrade General, your wish will come true soon." Sokov stood up straight, looked at Tsvetaev and said: "After we liberate Kharkov, the next battle will be It will drive all the Germans to the other side of the Dnieper River."
"But, General Sokov." But Tsvetayev was obviously not as optimistic as Sokov. He frowned and said, "Have you forgotten that at the beginning of the year, our Southwest Front Army and Voronezh Front Army occupied Kharkov?" , and fought a fierce battle with the Germans on the Dnieper River. But unfortunately, it was the Germans who were at a disadvantage in terms of strength and equipment who won the final victory, and even took Kazakhstan from our hands again. Erkov and Belgorod.”
Seeing Tsvetayev's expression of gritted teeth and blue veins popping out on his forehead, Sokov understood the other party's feelings very well. At the beginning of the year, the Soviet army took advantage of the residual power of the victory in Stalingrad and used troops and technical equipment that far exceeded the enemy to attack Manstein. Because of the troops launched an attack. Although the early progress was smooth, as the front stretched, the Soviet army's logistical supplies gradually failed to keep up. During the battle, many tanks and artillery were eventually captured by the German army because they ran out of ammunition.
If someone else had said this, Tsvetayev must have said it because the other person was drunk. As long as there was a salted fish drinking, he would not be so drunk. But when these words came out of Sokov's mouth, they gained some credibility out of thin air. He nodded slowly: "General Sokov, if your 27th Army is among the troops participating in the attack, I believe we can achieve the final victory. You are a nightmare for the Germans, just hearing your orders , their soldiers will be disorganized and their morale will be low due to fright."
