The 254th Division and the 188th Division, which occupied the machining factory and the surrounding area, had been fighting the German offensive for the past two days. Since Sokov ordered them to be on the defensive, the two division commanders Shechtman and Koida were frustrated.
When they received the call from Sameko, they thought the other party was asleep and called in the early morning to ask the troops to switch to the attack. However, after the two men repeatedly confirmed that it was indeed Sokov who issued the counterattack order, they immediately shouted excitedly to their subordinates: "Call the commanders of each regiment and ask them to assemble their troops immediately and launch a counterattack against the enemy."
Samyko considered that after several days of fighting between the two divisions, the troops must have suffered serious attrition, so he called the commander of the 182nd Division, Colonel Khoklov, and the Commander of the 84th Division, Major General Fomenko, and ordered them to urgently Deploy troops into the city to assist friendly forces in attacking the city.
Before the right wing of the 27th Army could join forces with the tank troops and mechanized troops rushing into the city, Sameko received an unexpected phone call. A completely unfamiliar voice came from the receiver: "Hello, it's the 27th Army. Headquarters?"
When Samek heard the other party's question, he immediately realized that the caller was definitely not his subordinate, but someone at the same level as himself, so he responded politely: "Yes, this is the 27th Army Headquarters. Who are you?"
"I am General Derevyanko, Chief of Staff of the 53rd Army," the other party asked politely, "Are you General Sokov?"
"No, Comrade Commander is not in the headquarters." Upon hearing that the call was from a friendly force, Sameko quickly responded: "I am Major General Sameko, Chief of Staff of the 27th Group Army."
Derevyanko couldn't help laughing when he heard what Samyko said: "What a coincidence. My comrade commander is not in the headquarters either. He went to the front line to direct the battle in person."
"The same goes for my comrade commander."
A few brief greetings brought us closer to each other. Sameko thought that although both sides were affiliated with the Grassland Front Army, they seemed to have no intersection. How could the other party suddenly call him? In order to clarify this problem, he cautiously asked: "General Derevyanko, I wonder if you are calling me at this time because of something important?"
"You are right, General Samyko." Derevyanko asked with a smile: "I would like to ask, is the sound of gunfire coming from the southwest of the city a combat action of your 27th Army?"
"Yes, General Derevyanko." Samyko replied truthfully: "Commander Sokov felt that the opportunity to seize the city was ripe, so he ordered the troops that had already entered the city to expand the results and launch an attack on the areas controlled by the Germans. .”
"I understand." After Derevyanko said this, he continued: "Now the 1st Mechanized Army under our army group also attacked the city from the north, but encountered stubborn resistance from the German army. Can you see? Do you want to order your troops to feint to the north of the city to attract the enemy's attention?"
"General Derevyanko, I don't think this is necessary?"
"Why?" After hearing this, Derevyanko suppressed his anger and asked, "Are you unwilling to cooperate with us in fighting?"
Samyko heard the dissatisfaction from the tone of the other party's words, and quickly explained to him: "General Derevyanko, you misunderstood. It's not that I don't want the troops to cooperate with you in fighting. I want to attack from the northwest. The tank troops in the city and the 4th Mechanized Corps of the Assault Group are very close to you now, and these troops can fully assist you in launching your attack."
"But I don't know those commanders, how can I contact them?"
"General Derevyanko, you don't have to worry about this. My commander is in that direction. As long as I call him, he can arrange the troops there to cooperate with your actions."
After Samyko explained, Derevyanko understood what was going on, and thanked Samyko repeatedly: "Thank you, thank you, General Samyko. With your support, I believe it won't take long." , we will be able to work with other troops to completely occupy this city."
As soon as he finished his call with General Derevyanko, Samyko connected to Sokov's temporary headquarters and reported to him what had just happened.
Even though the remnants of the Tank Group Army and the 4th Mechanized Army followed the German army and rushed into Kharkov; the troops at the right landing site also took active actions, but Sokov was still uneasy in his heart, feeling like this The strength is still too weak.
Sameko's report was an unexpected surprise for Sokov. He quickly asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, was it the Chief of Staff of the 53rd Army, General Derevyanko, who took the initiative to contact you?"
"Yes, he called me first." Samyko was deeply afraid that Sokov would not agree to support the friendly forces, and specifically emphasized: "I think we can order the troops to move north of the city to attract the attention of the German army. , so that the troops of the 53rd Army can smoothly enter the city."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you don't need to worry about this matter." What Sokov thinks about most now is whether the attack of his right-wing troops can achieve the desired results. You must know that most of his belongings have been smashed into it. If the attack If it fails, then it will be completely discontinued. Therefore, he did not need Sameko to ask about the left-wing landing site. Instead, he told him: "Your task is to promptly grasp the movements of the troops in the west direction of the city and report to me at any time. Do you understand?"
After putting down the phone, Sokov said to Tsvetayev: "Comrade General, there is good news. The 1st Mechanized Army under the 53rd Army has successfully entered the city and is developing in depth towards the German defenses. We should rush over to join them as soon as possible and concentrate several forces so that we can more quickly crush the German defenses in the city."
Tsvetayev felt that what Sokov said was very reasonable, so he personally sent a telegram to the commander of the 4th Mechanized Army, ordering his troops to immediately advance to the north of the city to lead the 1st Mechanized Army that broke into the city from that direction. .
As Tsvetaev's order was issued, the troops that were active in the northwest of the city immediately divided into two groups. One group moved to defense on the spot, while the other group followed the order and launched an assault to the north of the city to cover it. Friendly forces can gain a foothold in the city.
The fighting continued until dawn. In addition to the large-scale occupation by Sokov's troops in the southwest, the German troops in the west and northwest of the city basically stopped resisting. They were either killed or became prisoners.
Wilhelm Stemmermann, commander of the German 11th Army, and General von Spenneck, commander of the 42nd Army, both realized the seriousness of the problem and quickly reported to the army commander, General Weller.
Unexpectedly, after hearing the report, Weller simply gave a brief order: "Counterattack, two military commanders, in order to block the Russian attack, you must immediately launch a counterattack and drive the Russians out of the city."
Giving an order is quite simple, just one sentence is enough, but the people below who execute the order feel very anxious. Stemmermann asked Spenneck privately: "General, do you think we can get the Russians out of the city?"
After hearing this, the latter shook his head and said with a wry smile: "If the Russians had just broken through our direction and rushed into the city, we had concentrated our forces to counterattack, and maybe we could have driven them out. But now..." At this point, He couldn't help but shook his head, "What we can do now is to find ways to hold on for a longer time."
"I don't think the commander is concerned about this matter," Stemmermann reminded Spenneck: "I think we might as well report the situation here directly to Marshal Manstein and see how he reacts. .”
Spenek immediately agreed with Stemmermann's proposal: "I agree."
Half an hour later, Manstein, who was staring at the map in his headquarters in a daze, received a call from Stemmermann: "Your Excellency, Marshal, I am William Stemmermann. I have important information for you. You report.”
After hearing that the caller was the commander of the 11th Army, Manstein asked with some displeasure: "Mr. General, why are you calling and not your commander, General Weller?"
"Your Excellency Marshal, I have reported what happened here to Commander Weller..."
"Oh, it has been reported?" Stemmermann's answer surprised Manstein, and he asked cautiously: "Then how did he reply to you?"
"He just ordered us to continue the counterattack, but he didn't say a word about what kind of troops and tactics we would use."
"Now that you have received the order, follow General Wheeler's order." Manstein said to Stemerman: "Only by continuously counterattacking the Russians can we prevent them from entering Kharkov. .”
After Manstein ended his phone call with Stemmermann, he felt that it was becoming increasingly difficult to hold on to Kharkov. He thought for a long time, then picked up the phone on the table, dialed a number, heard a voice coming from inside, and immediately said: "I am Manstein, pick me up from General Huth in Kharkov."
It took the operator a minute or two to successfully connect Manstein to Holt's headquarters.
As soon as the phone call came through, Manstein asked straight to the point: "General Holt, how is the situation there?"
"Not very good, Marshal." Several troops deployed by Hott at the front were being attacked by the Voronezh Front, so he said with a frown: "I'm worried that if we continue to fight like this, the Russians may be defeated soon. Able to break into the city.”
"Then have you considered abandoning the city, withdrawing your troops from Kharkov, and choosing a new location to establish a new defensive position?"
"What, give up Kharkov?" Manstein's words startled Holt, and he asked in surprise: "Marshal, aren't you worried about the punishment of the head of state?"
"I still remember that at the beginning of the year, the Russian Voronezh Front defeated the 'Lantz Battle Group' commanded by General Lanz with the strength of three armies and captured Kharkov." Manstein did not answer Huo He asked a special question, but answered on his own: "After the city was lost, General Lanz was removed from his post and General Kenff took his place.
At that time, the head of state ordered me to recapture Kharkov, but I rejected the head of state's plan and proposed a more bold plan. I temporarily ignored the Voronezh Front in Kharkov and concentrated my forces to eat the incoming Soviet Southwest Front. , then turned around, defeated the Russians in the direction of Kharkov, and retook the city. "
Hearing what Manstein said, Hott immediately understood that the other party had already thought of giving up Kharkov, so he asked tentatively: "If we give up Kharkov now, how should we deal with it once the head of state tracks it down?" Woolen cloth?"
"You don't have to worry about this." Although Manstein said it easily, he made such a difficult decision after repeated ideological struggles: "If the head of state is to blame, I will naturally bear all the responsibilities. What you have to do is to preserve as much effective strength as possible so that the armored group can quickly form a new line of defense after it retreats to a new location."
Taking the initiative to retreat was a wise move when the battle situation was not going well. In order to prevent being stopped by Mustache, Manstein planned to use some small means to deceive the opponent: "General Holt, I want you to Resist for a while first, and if you find that you really can't resist, you can choose to retreat and push to the defense line of the Dnieper River."
"Resist for a while." After this period of fighting, Holt has keenly realized that the strength of the Soviet army has far exceeded his imagination. Even if he can block them for a while, he cannot block them for a lifetime. In his heart I had already thought about quitting. But since this attention was raised by Manstein, any problem will naturally be solved by him: "Marshal, I would like to ask, when you talk about a period of time, how many days do you mean specifically?"
"Five days!"
"No, if we hold on for five days, my troops will be completely surrounded by the Russians." Holt shook his head and said, "I'm worried about what will happen to Paulus' Sixth Army once our supplies are cut off. This is our ultimate destiny.”
"You don't have to worry about this." Although Manstein said it easily, he made such a difficult decision after repeated ideological struggles: "If the head of state is to blame, I will naturally bear all the responsibilities. What you have to do is to preserve as much effective strength as possible so that the armored group can quickly form a new line of defense after it retreats to a new location."
Taking the initiative to retreat was a wise move when the battle situation was not going well. In order to prevent being stopped by Mustache, Manstein planned to use some small means to deceive the opponent: "General Holt, I want you to Resist for a while first, and if you find that you really can't resist, you can choose to retreat and push to the defense line of the Dnieper River."
"Resist for a while." After this period of fighting, Holt has keenly realized that the strength of the Soviet army has far exceeded his imagination. Even if he can block them for a while, he cannot block them for a lifetime. In his heart I had already thought about quitting. But since this attention was raised by Manstein, any problem will naturally be solved by him: "Marshal, I would like to ask, when you talk about a period of time, how many days do you mean specifically?"
