The 254th Infantry Division was progressing smoothly. Less than a quarter of an hour after the attack began, the division commander, Colonel Shechtman, called Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the 762nd Regiment of our division has successfully occupied the German army. As the first line of defense, the troops are developing in depth."
Logically speaking, Sokov should have been smiling when he heard such good news, but instead he raised his hand to look at his watch and asked solemnly: "Colonel Shechtman, how strong is the German army's resistance?"
"It collapsed at the first touch, and there was no decent resistance at all." Shechtman did not notice the strangeness in Sokov's tone, and still reported excitedly: "Seeing the commanders and fighters of our division approaching the position, they were already frightened. The enemy, offering only sporadic resistance, retreated hastily."
If the 254th Division were attacking the positions of the German infantry division, Sokov felt that such a situation was normal. But now they are attacking the elite armored division positions of the German army. Even if the shelling just caused huge casualties to the German army, as long as one or two tanks survive at the front, the Germans will rely on this to carry out a tenacious resistance. Why? It might collapse at the first touch, there must be some conspiracy involved.
"Colonel Shechtman," Sokov felt that he had to remind Shechtman, lest the other party would underestimate the enemy because the German army retreated too quickly, and fall into the enemy's trap, which would be more than worth the loss. "Don't you think the enemy's behavior is a bit abnormal?"
"Abnormal?!" Shechtman obviously did not take Sokov's concerns seriously. He said confidently: "Our troops immediately launched an attack on the German positions after the shelling. Not yet. The enemies who woke up from our shelling saw that our commanders and soldiers appeared in front of them before the smoke cleared, and it was inevitable that they would be frightened."
Seeing that Shechtman did not understand what he meant, Sokov did not talk in circles with him, but said bluntly: "Comrade Colonel, if you are attacking the positions of the German infantry division, this situation is completely possible. It's possible. But don't forget that your division is attacking the defense area of the German armored division. If you use infantry to attack the armored division, even with the support of artillery, you won't be able to win so smoothly."
Shechtman broke into a cold sweat. He asked nervously: "Comrade Commander, do you mean that the Germans may have laid a trap for us?"
"It's not a trap." Although Sokov didn't know that Manstein was commanding the German troops in front of him remotely, he still judged that the German army might have a shortage of troops, so he could only abandon some irrelevant positions and shrink its troops. method to resist the Soviet attack. He said to Shechtman: "The Germans may have insufficient troops, so they can only abandon some insignificant positions and concentrate their troops in important areas. As for you, you may have to divide your troops to guard the occupied areas. This weakens the intensity of the attack."
"Then what should we do?" Shechtman felt that Sokov's words were very reasonable. As long as troops were mobilized to hold on to the occupied areas, the offensive force would be greatly weakened and compete with the assembled German troops. At that time, we would definitely suffer a big loss. He quickly asked Sokov for a solution: "If we leave the troops to defend, it will not weaken the offensive intensity, but in this way, our retreat may be cut off by the enemy at any time. .”
"You don't have to worry about this." After Sokov saw through the Germans' intentions, he could naturally figure out a way to deal with them: "I will order Khokhlov's 182nd Division to follow up and let them take over your defense. .In this way, you don’t have to worry about being taken back by the German army during the attack.
I now order you to continue the attack, bite the retreating enemy hard, and prevent them from having time to form a new line of defense. do you understand? "
"Completely understand, Comrade Commander." Shechtman had a blind trust in Sokov, so after hearing his order, he immediately replied unambiguously: "We will bite the retreating enemy. The enemy, don’t give them time to build a defense line.”
After Sokov ended his call with Shechtman, he called Samyko to him and said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, judging from the current situation, the German armored divisions are shrinking their forces to resist our attack. . Once they complete the concentration of troops, I am worried that Shechtman and the others may suffer a loss. Therefore, I have ordered the 254th Division to push forward desperately, bite the retreating enemy, and not build a defense line for them. time."
"What about the positions they occupied?" Samyko did not hear the conversation between Sokov and Shechtman. He did not know that Sokov planned to order the Khokhlov Division to follow up, and asked with a worried look: "Leaving troops for defense will definitely weaken their offensive power; but if we don't leave troops behind, the Germans may take advantage of them."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, the Germans took the initiative to abandon some unimportant positions and retreat, just to throw such a problem to us." Sokov sneered and said contemptuously: "But they never dreamed that I would see through them. Trick. Now call Colonel Khokhlov, commander of the 182nd Division, and order his troops to attack immediately to take over the position occupied by the 254th Division and nail it there like nails."
"But according to our plan, the 182nd Division is the second echelon. They should only enter the battlefield when the 254th Division suffers heavy losses and is unable to continue to advance." Samyko reminded Sokov: "At this time Is it too early to put them into the battlefield? Besides, we still don’t know whether the division is ready for combat."
What Sameko means is that the commanders of individual divisions feel that their troops will not enter the battle for a few days anyway, so they will be very perfunctory when preparing for battle. Unless it is before the battle begins, it will be improvised.
Sokov naturally understood what Samyko wanted to express, smiled slightly, and then said: "It doesn't matter even if the 182nd Division is not ready for battle. Anyway, their mission today is to take over the territory occupied by the 254th Division. Position. As long as they enter the position, they will naturally have a sense of urgency. Even if we don't urge them, they will be ready for all battles in the shortest possible time. "
Sameko strongly agrees with Sokov's statement. As long as the 182nd Division enters the position occupied by the 254th Division, even if no one supervises them, the commanders and fighters will be more vigilant and seize the time to prepare for battle. "You are right, Comrade Commander. As long as the 182nd Division is allowed to enter the position, they can consciously prepare for battle even if no one supervises them."
When Khokhlov received a call from Samyko and learned that they were about to enter the position occupied by the 254th Division, he couldn't help but panic because, as Sokov and Samyko had guessed, they I feel that the battlefield is still far away from me, so I can't help but feel a little relaxed.
At this point, he could only tell Sameko truthfully: "Comrade Chief of Staff, our division is not fully ready for battle. Maybe it is not appropriate to go into battle at this moment, right?"
"There is nothing inappropriate." Sameko said carelessly: "The German armored divisions are shrinking their forces and trying to concentrate superior forces locally to counterattack our offensive forces."
The 254th Infantry Division was progressing smoothly. Less than a quarter of an hour after the attack began, the division commander, Colonel Shechtman, called Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the 762nd Regiment of our division has successfully occupied the German army. As the first line of defense, the troops are developing in depth."
Logically speaking, Sokov should have been smiling when he heard such good news, but instead he raised his hand to look at his watch and asked solemnly: "Colonel Shechtman, how strong is the German army's resistance?"
"It collapsed at the first touch, and there was no decent resistance at all." Shechtman did not notice the strangeness in Sokov's tone, and still reported excitedly: "Seeing the commanders and fighters of our division approaching the position, they were already frightened. The enemy, offering only sporadic resistance, retreated hastily."
If the 254th Division were attacking the positions of the German infantry division, Sokov felt that such a situation was normal. But now they are attacking the elite armored division positions of the German army. Even if the shelling just caused huge casualties to the German army, as long as one or two tanks survive at the front, the Germans will rely on this to carry out a tenacious resistance. Why? It might collapse at the first touch, there must be some conspiracy involved.
"Colonel Shechtman," Sokov felt that he had to remind Shechtman, lest the other party would underestimate the enemy because the German army retreated too quickly, and fall into the enemy's trap, which would be more than worth the loss. "Don't you think the enemy's behavior is a bit abnormal?"
"Abnormal?!" Shechtman obviously did not take Sokov's concerns seriously. He said confidently: "Our troops immediately launched an attack on the German positions after the shelling. Not yet. The enemies who woke up from our shelling saw that our commanders and soldiers appeared in front of them before the smoke cleared, and it was inevitable that they would be frightened."
Seeing that Shechtman did not understand what he meant, Sokov did not talk in circles with him, but said bluntly: "Comrade Colonel, if you are attacking the positions of the German infantry division, this situation is completely possible. It's possible. But don't forget that your division is attacking the defense area of the German armored division. If you use infantry to attack the armored division, even with the support of artillery, you won't be able to win so smoothly."
Shechtman broke into a cold sweat. He asked nervously: "Comrade Commander, do you mean that the Germans may have laid a trap for us?"
"It's not a trap." Although Sokov didn't know that Manstein was commanding the German troops in front of him remotely, he still judged that the German army might have a shortage of troops, so he could only abandon some irrelevant positions and shrink its troops. method to resist the Soviet attack. He said to Shechtman: "The Germans may have insufficient troops, so they can only abandon some insignificant positions and concentrate their troops in important areas. As for you, you may have to divide your troops to guard the occupied areas. This weakens the intensity of the attack."
"Then what should we do?" Shechtman felt that Sokov's words were very reasonable. As long as troops were mobilized to hold on to the occupied areas, the offensive force would be greatly weakened and compete with the assembled German troops. At that time, we would definitely suffer a big loss. He quickly asked Sokov for a solution: "If we leave the troops to defend, it will not weaken the offensive intensity, but in this way, our retreat may be cut off by the enemy at any time. .”
"You don't have to worry about this." After Sokov saw through the Germans' intentions, he could naturally figure out a way to deal with them: "I will order Khokhlov's 182nd Division to follow up and let them take over your defense. . In this way, you don’t have to worry about being taken back by the Germans during the attack."
After Sokov ended his call with Shechtman, he called Samyko to him and said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, judging from the current situation, the German armored divisions are shrinking their forces to resist our attack. . Once they complete the concentration of troops, I am worried that Shechtman and the others may suffer a loss. Therefore, I have ordered the 254th Division to push forward desperately, bite the retreating enemy, and not build a defense line for them. time."
"What about the positions they occupied?" Samyko did not hear the conversation between Sokov and Shechtman. He did not know that Sokov planned to order the Khokhlov Division to follow up, and asked with a worried look: "Leaving troops for defense will definitely weaken their offensive power; but if we don't leave troops behind, the Germans may take advantage of them."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, the Germans took the initiative to abandon some unimportant positions and retreat, just to throw such a problem to us." Sokov sneered and said contemptuously: "But they never dreamed that I would see through them. Trick. Now call Colonel Khokhlov, commander of the 182nd Division, and order his troops to attack immediately to take over the position occupied by the 254th Division and nail it there like nails."
"But according to our plan, the 182nd Division is the second echelon. They should only enter the battlefield when the 254th Division suffers heavy losses and is unable to continue to advance." Samyko reminded Sokov: "At this time Is it too early to put them into the battlefield? Besides, we still don’t know whether the division is ready for combat."
What Sameko means is that the commanders of individual divisions feel that their troops will not enter the battle for a few days anyway, so they will be very perfunctory when preparing for battle. Unless it is before the battle begins, it will be improvised.
Sokov naturally understood what Samyko wanted to express, smiled slightly, and then said: "It doesn't matter even if the 182nd Division is not ready for battle. Anyway, their mission today is to take over the territory occupied by the 254th Division. Position. As long as they enter the position, they will naturally have a sense of urgency. Even if we don't urge them, they will be ready for all battles in the shortest possible time."
Sameko strongly agrees with Sokov's statement. As long as the 182nd Division enters the position occupied by the 254th Division, even if no one supervises them, the commanders and fighters will be more vigilant and seize the time to prepare for battle. "You are right, Comrade Commander. As long as the 182nd Division is allowed to enter the position, they can consciously prepare for battle even if no one supervises them."
