The offensive tactics formulated by Sokov were beyond the expectations of the Germans. Even ordinary Soviet commanders and fighters were confused when they heard this style of play. But not to mention, the effect of this tactic is good. The German 5th Chasseur Division is a relatively strong combat unit, but it was still defeated in a short period of time. In less than an hour, it was forced to abandon its position and retreat south. . As soon as they withdrew, the weak 592nd Division became a lone force.
Just as the 3rd Infantry Division occupied the position of the German 5th Jäger Division and prepared to attack the 592nd Division's defense area, the troops of the 120th Guards Division also successfully passed through the town of Puutusk and appeared at the forefront of the German defense line .
Nikitin, the commander of the 120th Guards Division, received a call from the commander of the 339th Regiment: "Comrade Division Commander, friendly troops have been found on our left flank."
"Friendly troops?" Nikitin asked: "Have you figured out which troops they are?" According to his idea, the troops appearing on the flanks of the German 592nd Division at this moment may be the 1st or 1st Guardsmen who left the town. A member of the 6th Division specifically asked, "Is it the Guards Division?"
"No, Comrade Division Commander." Unexpectedly, the commander of the 339th Regiment replied: "They are the troops of the 3rd Infantry Division."
"The troops of the 3rd Infantry Division?" Nikitin said with some surprise: "Why did they appear in our attack area?"
When Sidorin assigned the task to Nikitin, he only said that his division should pass through the town of Puutusk and attack the German 592nd Division south of the town. He did not say that Kirillov's 3rd Infantry Division would also be responsible for the task. The mission was to attack the German 5th Jäger Division, so Nikitin was so surprised when he heard that the 3rd Infantry Division appeared on the flank of the attack target.
However, Nikitin's mood quickly returned to calm. He ordered his subordinates: "You immediately send someone to contact the friendly forces and find out why they appear nearby."
After ending the call with his subordinates, Nikitin called the headquarters again, wanting to know some information from Sidorin. Hearing Sidorin's voice coming from the receiver, Nikitin quickly asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, there is a situation that I need to report to you. Not long ago, one of my regiment commanders reported to me, saying Troops from the 3rd Infantry Division appeared on their flanks. I want to ask, what is going on?"
"General Nikitin, the situation is like this." Sidorin listened to the other party's question and realized that he had made a mistake in assigning the task. He quickly explained to the other party: "According to the deployment of the headquarters, your division will attack the south of the town. The 592nd People's Grenadier Division, and General Kirillov's 3rd Infantry Division attacked the German 5th Jäger Division. Since your attack times were different, I did not explain this to you when assigning the mission..."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Nikitin said in a complaining tone after listening to Sidorin's words: "Our divisions are all Guards divisions, and General Kirillov's 3rd Infantry Division is just an ordinary infantry division, like Such an important task as dealing with the German 5th Jäger Division should be left to us. I assure you, it will only take me one day at most to defeat the 5th Jäger Division."
"Haha." Unexpectedly, Sidorin laughed dryly after hearing this, and then said: "General Nikitin, you may not know that the German 5th Jäger Division has been attacked across the board by the 3rd Infantry Division. retreat, their positions south of the town of Puutusk have all fallen into the hands of our army. As for why the 3rd Infantry Division appeared on your flank, it should be that General Kirillov wanted to eliminate the 592nd Infantry Division by the way. Master."
Perhaps worried that Nikitin would be dilly-dallying again, Sidorin urged him: "General Nikitin, I want to remind you that if you keep nagging me on the phone, General Kirillov's troops may Take the lead in attacking the 592nd Division."
Knowing that Kirillov's troops might attack the enemy before him, Nikitin could not remain calm. After putting down the phone, he called the commanders of each regiment directly and said hurriedly: "Listen, Now, the friendly forces appearing on the flank of the 339th Regiment are the 3rd Infantry Division, which has just defeated the German 5th Chasseur Division. They will next launch an attack on the German 592nd Division. If you don't move faster, then seize the town. The honor of the southern position will be taken away by our friendly forces. Do you understand?"
"Understood." The three regiment commanders replied resoundingly: "We will immediately command the troops to attack."
A quarter of an hour later, troops of the 120th Guards Division took the lead in launching an attack on the German 592nd Volksgrenadier Division. Kirillov's 3rd Infantry Division also entered the battle half an hour after the offensive battle started.
Originally, the 3rd Infantry Division could have launched an attack before the 120th Guards Division, but Kirillov rejected Chief of Staff Miyakov's proposal and said to him seriously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I understand you. means. The German 592nd Division is nothing more than a semi-military force, not only poorly equipped but also poorly trained. If we launch an attack immediately, we can defeat them in an hour at most. But the superiors assign the task of attacking this unit , was handed over to General Nikitin’s 120th Guards Division. If we attack first, it will be equivalent to robbing the other party of the credit, which will cause unnecessary trouble."
"Then we just stand still?"
"No." Kirillov shook his head and said, "We will attack the 592nd Division half an hour after the friendly forces' attack begins. In this way, even if we achieve greater results than the friendly forces, Nikitin The general can’t find anything to say.”
The German 592nd People's Grenadier Division was established not long ago. The quality of the soldiers is uneven and the equipment is poor. It is deployed south of the town of Puutusk. It is just a fill-in. The real defense tasks are performed by other units. A division is responsible. But what they didn't expect was that before the Soviet offensive battle began, the German headquarters fell into Sokov's trap and transferred the main force to the wrong direction for defense, thus forcing the 592nd Division to assume an independent defense mission. .
Facing the attack of two Soviet divisions, the resistance of the 592nd Division seemed insignificant. Those civilians who had just taken up arms had no fighting ability. Facing the tide of Soviet commanders and fighters, most of them fired a few shots at random and then obediently raised their hands and surrendered.
As the German army south of the town of Puutusk was defeated, the German 129th Division and a regiment of the 5th Chasseur Division in the town fell into an encirclement by the Soviet army. Although they were still resisting tenaciously in the face of attacks from all directions, due to being cut off from supplies, once their ammunition was exhausted, the fate waiting for them was either to be completely annihilated or to lay down their weapons and surrender.
It was only a matter of time before the German troops in the town were annihilated. Sokov personally called Rokossovsky and reported to him the results of the troops: "Comrade Marshal, my troops have successfully occupied Puutu." The German positions south of the town of Sk, and part of the German 129th Infantry Division and the 5th Chasseur Division in the town have been surrounded by our army, and it is only a matter of time before they are eliminated by our army."
"Well done, Misha." Rokossovsky said: "The 3rd Army on your left and the 2nd Assault Army on the right are still fighting fiercely with the enemy. They have encountered tenacious resistance, and I'm afraid it will take a while. It will take two days to capture the German position.”
Sokov knew very well that he was able to capture the German position so smoothly only because the German commander fell into his trap and transferred the main force away from his main attack direction. Otherwise, he might be like the friendly forces. At this moment, the battle with the German army was in a stalemate. Before the friendly forces achieve a breakthrough, they cannot continue to advance, otherwise they may become a lone army. Once cut off from both wings by the German army, they will be encircled. So he asked cautiously: "Then do we have any new tasks?"
Rokossovsky heard what Sokov was saying, and after a moment of silence he said: "Misha, the task of your group army is to consolidate the existing area and prepare for the German counterattack. Commanders and soldiers will use their blood to The captured positions must never be returned to the Germans. Do you understand?"
"Understood, Comrade Commander." Sokov replied resoundingly: "I will order the troops to move to defense on the spot and prepare for the German counterattack."
When he learned that the positions in the north and south of the town of Puutusk were lost, and that part of the 129th Infantry Division and the 5th Jäger Division trapped in the town, they were in desperate situation, the German commander was so angry that he broke the table with his hands. After sweeping the things on the ground, he cursed angrily: "Hell, why is the Russian offensive so fierce? We have lost almost three divisions in just one morning of fighting."
When the German commander got angry, the chief of staff did not dare to talk to him. After finally waiting for him to calm down, he cautiously said: "Your Excellency, Commander, you must know that the troops attacking Puutusk Town were commanded by the devil Sokov." The 48th Group Army. This person has always been crafty, and many of our generals have suffered losses from him."
Hearing what the chief of staff said, the German commander thought of his own grievances and spent 10,000 pounds to buy a false intelligence. Based on the content of this intelligence, he transferred the main force to the wrong area for defense, which led to the battle. As soon as the battle started, his troops fell into a passive position.
Although fake pounds were used to buy information, the information bought must be false. Thinking of this, the German commander felt as sick as if he had eaten a dead fly. He looked at his chief of staff and asked, "Has the intelligence officer returned?"
"He's back." The chief of staff replied, "He's right outside the door. Do you want to see him?"
"Bring him in!"
Soon, the intelligence officer appeared in front of the German commander. Before the commander could speak, he took the initiative and said: "Your Majesty Commander, everything is clear. Now Henrik's family has arrived in the Danzig area."
"What, their whole family has arrived in the Danzig area?" The commander frowned and asked, "What's going on? How come they are in the Danzig area?"
Ever since the intelligence officer knew that he had been deceived, he had been holding back his evil fire and wanted to settle accounts with Henrik, who had provided him with false information. When the commander asked him to continue to pursue the matter, he led his people to the place where Henrik's sister's house was and launched an investigation into the nearby neighbors.
After some inquiries, a neighbor said he saw a truck parked in front of Henrik's house early two days ago. Soon after, the Henrik family came out of their home and got into the truck. As for where the truck went, he didn't know. Fortunately, he also wrote down the license plate number of the truck.
The intelligence officer wrote down the license plate number of the truck, immediately rushed to the nearby Gestapo office, learned the owner's information from them, and then followed the clues to find the truck in a nearby street and caught the driver.
When the driver was arrested, he thought his black market business had been discovered. Usually, this situation can be settled by just calling the officials you bribed. But what he never dreamed of was that the reason for his arrest was not for doing black market business, but for sending Henrik's family away. The intelligence officer naturally regarded him as an accomplice of Henrik's family. After being captured at the Gestapo office, he was greeted with severe torture.
Although the driver is tall and tall, he is a coward. As soon as the instruments of torture were placed in front of him, and before he was tortured, he was so frightened that he confessed all the black market business he had done in the past few years. Even the officials he had bribed confessed everything one by one. Speak up.
The intelligence officer, who was eager to make meritorious service and atone for his crime, heard the driver name so many people. After recording them all, he handed them over to the Gestapo to arrest them. As for whether he would catch the wrong person, it was not within his scope of consideration. Anyway, as long as he could escape, he would rather catch three thousand people by mistake than let one go.
In this way, he originally wanted to arrest Henrik's family, but he didn't expect that the driver actually confessed so many people, so he ordered them all to be arrested without ceremony.
After his subordinates reported to him that everyone on the list had been arrested, the intelligence officer nodded and then asked the driver: "I heard that you drove Henrik's family away a few days ago. Is this the case? "
"Yes, yes." The driver thought about what serious sin it could be if he just sent a few people away, so he agreed without hesitation: "I sent a friend and his family away."
"Sent to where?"
"Getansk." The driver said without hesitation: "I heard they plan to take a boat to London from there."
Hearing that Henrik's family was preparing to take a boat to London, the intelligence officer became even more convinced that Henrik had deliberately provided him with false information. Now that he saw that it was about to be exposed, the whole family fled in advance. Thinking that whether he could catch Henrik was related to his life or death, he gritted his teeth and asked: "Where are they living in Getansk now?"
The driver did not dare to be negligent and quickly told the current address of Henrik's family. Finally, he asked the intelligence officer tremblingly: "Sir, I have told everything I know. Can you let me go home?"
"Go home?" The intelligence officer snorted coldly after hearing this and said, "We still need to verify what you said to confirm that what you said is true, and we will consider letting you go home."
From the intelligence officer's words, the driver heard that the other party seemed to want to find Henrik's family as soon as possible, so he took the initiative: "Sir, if you want to find that family as soon as possible, I can take you there to ensure that no one can escape."
The intelligence officer was also worried that if he sent someone over at this moment, Henrik's family would run away again in advance. Since the driver took the initiative to ask for help, he thought for a moment and agreed: "Okay, I want to go and ask for permission. If the superior agrees, I will let him go." You take people to Getansk to arrest them.”
