Melekhov originally thought that this blockade would be a very easy task to complete, but what happened next made him find that his judgment was seriously biased. Although the city of Uman has been liberated, there are still German defensive positions to the north and west of Uman.
The just-assembled 130th Infantry Division, led by the division commander Colonel Surodenko, headed northwest of Uman, intending to build a blocking position there to prevent enemies defeated by friendly forces from passing there.
Unexpectedly, the location they chose to build their position was less than two kilometers away from a German position. As soon as the work started here, it immediately alerted the enemies in the distance.
After the German lieutenant colonel received the news, he immediately came to the observation post, raised his telescope and looked into the distance. After watching for a while, he asked his adjutant: "Adjutant, what do the Russians want to do by digging trenches so close to our position?"
"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel," the adjutant said: "According to the intelligence we have obtained, the Russians have occupied the city of Uman. I think they dug trenches there, possibly to clear the outer fortifications."
After hearing this, the German lieutenant colonel sneered twice and said: "I will never let the Russians get their wish. Adjutant, immediately notify the artillery to carry out saturation bombardment of the area where the Russian old fortifications were built."
"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel," the adjutant heard the Lieutenant Colonel's order and quickly advised, "I don't think we can fire casually."
"Why?"
"Now that the Russians have occupied Uman, they must have deployed a lot of artillery in the city." The adjutant reminded the lieutenant colonel: "If we fire at their soldiers building fortifications at this moment, I am afraid we will incur retaliation from their artillery. If our artillery is lost, the next battle will be difficult to fight."
After hearing what the adjutant said, the lieutenant colonel pondered for a long time, and finally nodded and said: "Adjutant, you are right. Judging from the current situation, the Russians have not discovered our fortifications, so they dare to be so far away from us. They built fortifications unscrupulously in the immediate vicinity. However, the artillery should still be prepared for bombardment, and if they found that the Russians had any intention of attacking, they would immediately fire on them."
As soon as the lieutenant colonel finished speaking, a corporal hurried over and reported to him: "Mr. lieutenant colonel, there is your phone number in the headquarters. It is from the division commander..."
The lieutenant colonel said to the adjutant: "Go and get the artillery ready to fire." After saying that, he followed the corporal back to his headquarters to answer the phone.
The call came from his superior. The general on the other end of the phone said in a panic: "Lieutenant Colonel, the defense line on your right wing has been destroyed by the powerful Russian offensive. The troops there are moving in an orderly manner. Retreat in your direction, your regiment's task is to ensure the safety of the transfer route."
Although the general said that the defeated troops were retreating in an orderly manner, the lieutenant colonel knew very well that the friendly troops on the right wing had been defeated by the Russians and were retreating towards their own defense zone.
At this moment, he contacted the Soviet troops who were building fortifications in the distance, and couldn't help but gritted his teeth and said: "No wonder they want to build fortifications near our defense area, so that's what happened."
The general on the other end of the phone heard the lieutenant colonel talking to himself and quickly asked: "Lieutenant colonel, what are you talking about?"
"Your Excellency, division commander, the situation is like this." The lieutenant colonel felt that he had an obligation to truthfully report what he saw to the division commander. "Less than two kilometers away from our defense line, there is a group of Russians building fortifications. I It was originally thought that they were planning to use that place as the starting point of the attack to launch an attack on our regiment's defensive position. But now it seems that their real purpose is to build a blocking position to prevent the friendly troops from retreating from the right wing."
"You are right, lieutenant colonel." The German division commander saw Sokov's intention of making such an arrangement and quickly ordered: "While the Russians have just started to build fortifications and there are no shelters around them, fire at them immediately and use Use intensive artillery fire to eliminate them. Make sure that the troops withdrawing from your right wing can pass through this area smoothly."
After the German lieutenant colonel put down the phone, he immediately found his adjutant and asked him: "Are the artillery ready?"
"Under preparation, Mr. Lieutenant Colonel." The adjutant replied: "Fortunately, you are not in a hurry to fire, we can take our time."
"Now that the situation has changed, we must fire as soon as possible." The lieutenant colonel said to his adjutant: "The division commander called and said that our friendly forces on the right have been defeated by the Russians and are fleeing in our direction. Those repairmen just now The Russians building fortifications are most likely setting up blocking positions to prevent our friendly forces from retreating smoothly."
The adjutant originally thought that since he was not in a hurry to fire on the Russians, he could slowly prepare for the bombardment. But now things have changed so much that he couldn't help but feel a little panicked, and quickly replied: "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, I immediately contacted the artillery and asked them to fire at the area where the Russians are."
Not long after, six 105mm howitzers on the German position opened fire. In just ten minutes, hundreds of artillery shells were fired at the Soviet troops who were building fortifications. The entire position was filled with flames and mud splashed everywhere. The Soviet commanders and soldiers in the open and unobstructed land suffered heavy casualties.
Surodenko never dreamed that his troops would be suddenly bombarded by the German army. A busy battalion was instantly swallowed up by artillery fire. The headquarters where he was located was also bombarded by artillery shells because it was relatively close to the front line. If the chief of staff had asked the soldiers to drag him away, he might have been blown to pieces like the wooden house at this moment.
After running to a safe place, Surodenko quickly ordered the telegraph operator who escaped with him: "Telegraph operator, send a telegram to the military headquarters, saying that our division was suddenly bombarded by the German army during the construction of fortifications. , and now the troops have suffered heavy casualties.”
After receiving the telegram, Melekhov couldn't help but be surprised. The troops responsible for the blocking mission were actually shelled by the German army during the construction of fortifications. He felt that this matter was very important, so he took the initiative to call Sokov and report to him what happened here.
"What, the 130th Division was heavily shelled by the Germans during the construction of fortifications?" Sokov did not expect that after the city was liberated, there would be such a powerful enemy outside the city, shelling his own troops.
"Colonel Burgos," Sokov's first reaction when he learned that the 130th Division had been hit by German artillery fire was to send a tank brigade for reinforcements and destroy the damn German artillery position in one fell swoop: "Colonel Burgos, you Where?"
Sokov shouted several times, but did not hear anyone agree to him, which made him feel a little irritated. Fortunately, Smirnov reminded him in time: "Comrade Commander, didn't you send Colonel Burgos to mobilize the armored forces to make the 18th Guards Corps move westward? Have you forgotten all about it?"
After Smirnov's reminder, Sokov suddenly remembered that he had indeed sent Colonel Burgos to mobilize the tank brigade to follow Afunin's troops to the west to seize Hesin and Jeplik.
The tank troops could not count on it, so they could only pin their hopes on the artillery: "General Tsarev!"
Tsarev, who had long become a little transparent, heard Sokov calling his name and immediately appeared in front of him and asked respectfully: "Comrade Commander, what are your instructions?"
Although Tsarev already knew what happened, Sokov still repeated to him: "General Tsarev, when the 130th Infantry Division was building a blocking position northwest of Uman City, it was hit by powerful German artillery fire. I want to ask, can you use artillery fire to counterattack the German artillery?"
After Tsarev waited for Sokov to finish speaking, he hesitated and said: "Comrade Commander, my artillery unit is still in the south direction of Uman City, and it is temporarily unable to counterattack the enemy's artillery."
Since artillery played a small role in the early battles, Sokov did not care about the location of this unit. But at this moment, the only way to rescue the 130th Division from the German artillery fire was to use artillery. Taking a chance, he asked: "How long will it take for the artillery to enter the battle?"
Tsarev was silent for a moment again, and then replied: "Comrade Commander, I think it will take forty minutes at the earliest before our artillery can enter the battle."
"No, forty minutes is too long." Sokov shook his head and said hysterically: "By the time you deploy the artillery positions, almost all of our people will be dead. At that time, the enemy's artillery will also stop Without shooting, you can't lock their position at all."
"Comrade Sokov, calm down, calm down." Shtemenko rarely saw Sokov lose his composure, so he quickly said to him: "Don't forget that you are the commander of the group army. The more you encounter this kind of situation, the more you must remain calm. Calm down. Got it?”
Shtemenko's words made Sokov gradually calm down, and his mind began to think quickly about what method should be used to rescue the 130th Division from its current predicament. Suddenly an idea flashed in his mind: If the artillery can't catch up, isn't there an air force? General Riazanov was asked to modify a batch of transport aircraft, and now they are just in use.
"Comrade Director of the Communications Corps, immediately connect me to General Riazanov of the Air Force."
Smirnov, who had given up hope of rescuing the 130th Division, couldn't help but his eyes lit up when he heard Sokov instructing the director of the communications corps to contact General Ryazanov of the Air Force. He tentatively asked Sokov : "Comrade Commander, do you plan to use those aerial fortresses to attack the enemies on the ground?"
"Yes, that's what I think." Sokov nodded and said: "The transport aircraft modified by the Air Force are specially used for ground attacks. As long as they can get to the battlefield as soon as possible, they can completely destroy the enemy. artillery positions to free the 130th Division."
"Comrade Commander," the director of the communications corps reported to Sokov in a low voice: "The call with the Air Force has been connected."
Sokov stepped forward to take the microphone, thanked the director of the communications corps, put the receiver to his ear and said: "General Ryazanov? I am Sokov."
"Hello, General Sokov." When Ryazanov heard that it was Sokov who was looking for him, he roughly guessed his intention: "Do you need air support from our air force?"
"Yes, the 130th Infantry Division northwest of Uman City is under heavy artillery fire from the German army at this moment." Sokov explained to the other party: "Since the artillery and armored forces are temporarily unable to provide assistance to them, I only I can turn to you for help.”
"No problem," Ryazanov said when he learned that Sokov's troops were attacked northwest of Uman. He replied very cheerfully: "I immediately sent four flying fortresses to the fighting area to support." He raised his hand to look at He glanced at the time and said, "Our plane will reach the target in ten minutes at the latest."
"Great, this is great." Sokov said with relief: "General Ryazanov, on behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the 130th Infantry Division, thank you!"
While Sokov was busy thinking of ways to relieve the 130th Division, the situation on the battlefield changed again. The German army took advantage of the Soviet commanders and soldiers being suppressed by artillery fire and sent two companies of troops to quietly move towards the shelling area, preparing to attack the Soviet army as soon as the shelling was over. The heavy damage had not yet been recovered from the shelling. God's Soviet commander.
Taking advantage of the opponent being shelled and unable to conduct effective observation, quietly sending troops to approach the opponent's position was originally invented by Sokov, but those German commanders who had suffered losses knew how to learn such tactics, and now they Put to use.
It has to be said that the level of German artillery is also very high. Usually when a 105 mm caliber artillery bombards, the error of the impact point is usually two to three hundred meters. In other words, the German troops secretly approaching the 130th Division might be accidentally injured by their own people even three hundred meters away.
The sneak attack German officers and soldiers came to the edge of the bombardment area and stopped. The shooters of the six MG42 general machine guns found a suitable position to establish a shooting position. They pointed their guns at the Soviet commanders and soldiers who were being bombarded, preparing to wait for the artillery fire. Once stopped, suppress them with machine gun fire.
As soon as the six machine gun positions were built, the artillery bombardment stopped abruptly.
As soon as the shelling stopped, before the smoke cleared, the German officers and soldiers hiding in the surroundings rushed forward with weapons in hand. The six machine guns also roared and fired towards the smoke-filled area.
On the Soviet position, after finally waiting for the shelling to end, everyone crawled out of their hiding places. Before they could stand up straight, the sound of intensive machine gun fire came from outside the smoke, and then some commanders and soldiers who had just stood up, He was hit by bullets fired from outside the smoke, and then fell into pieces in a pool of blood like wheat being cut down.
A Soviet captain saw a moving figure in the smoke and shouted loudly to the left and right, but found that he could not hear any sound. It turned out that the shelling not long ago had made his ears deaf. He grabbed the whistle hanging around his neck and blew it desperately, trying to use this sound to attract the attention of the surrounding soldiers.
But unfortunately, his attempt still ended in failure, because not only was his ears deafened by the shock, but the surrounding commanders and fighters also encountered the same problem. In desperation, he could only bend down to pick up a Mosin-Nagant rifle on the ground, and fired at the figure shaking in the smoke to prevent the German soldiers from approaching him.
The surrounding soldiers saw his actions and imitated his example. They stood up straight, raised their weapons, pointed directly at the figure in the smoke and pulled the trigger.
