Needless to say, the person who sent the telegram was naturally Vatutin himself, who was directly under the Stalin Guards 1st Tank Division under the command of the Front Army Headquarters. Unless it was temporarily assigned to other armies or first-level units of the group army to participate in the battle, it was generally
In most cases, orders were taken directly from the front army headquarters. Naturally, the person who most often gave orders to Malashenko was Commander Vatutin.
The content recorded in the telegram was not much, only a few lines. Malashenko, who was holding the telegram in his hand, raised his head and glanced at the correspondent who sent him the telegram. He found that there was nothing to say, and then he started reading.
content.
The text in the telegram mainly explained two things to Malashenko.
First, the front army headquarters has been informed of the results achieved by Stalin's 1st Guards Tank Division. According to the current summary of the battle situation, at least 40 German armored units in the entire encirclement were killed by Stalin's 1st Guards Tank Division.
%, and they are all independently organized heavy armored units, or they are relatively powerful elite armored divisions.
This provided huge support for friendly forces operating on the front of the Cherkasy encirclement and in all other directions. It greatly accelerated the overall attack speed of the Red Army, and more German troops encountered powerful attacks before retreating.
was completely destroyed.
The second and most important point is that aviation reconnaissance planes reported that the German troops under Hill 239 had new trends worthy of attention.
There are a large number of German armored forces gathering on standby. The total number is about the strength of an armored division. There is not enough intelligence support to determine the enemy's number. But they are not in the same direction, but divided into two large areas, two different areas.
Location. Moreover, these two groups of armored units only exist as the core, and there are a large number of German infantry gathering close to them.
Aerial reconnaissance cannot determine the more specific situation and can only take a general look at it.
The front army headquarters judged that the next specific move of the German army is likely to be to break out in two groups. If they plan to mass the attack, there is no need to disperse the precious and few remaining armored units into two groups again. This will only be in vain.
There is no use in increasing the chance of failure. No matter how crazy the German guy is, he is still not so arrogant that he cannot recognize how much he weighs now.
Now that we are at the end of our rope, we have to divide our forces into two groups. The only possible explanation is to break out of the encirclement.
As for the possible direction of the German army's breakout, the headquarters' research concluded that the breakout should be westward. The Germans who suffered a bloody blow under Hill 239 in the north can only try westward.
To the east is the main force of the powerful 1st Ukrainian Front. As long as the Germans are not showing off their heads, they will not hit the steel plate head-on. If they want to escape southward, they will go in the opposite direction and the distance will be too far, which will waste time.
For the Germans, the gains outweigh the losses.
Therefore, the western position of the German Army Group currently located in the Stalin Guards 1st Tank Division led by Malashenko will be the direction facing the greatest pressure from the German forces to break through, and this is very likely to be the case.
Vatutin sent this telegram with only one purpose, to remind Malashenko to stay on high alert, especially at night, to prevent the defending German troops from breaking out at night to cause trouble.
This is the general content mentioned in the telegram. It takes a little time to read them all, but Malashenko wants to complain about one thing more at this moment.
Vatutin only told him in the telegram what tasks he wanted to complete, but said nothing about sending reinforcements.
In other words, what Malashenko has to do next is to use the troops he currently has on hand: a tank division and a tank brigade to stop an entire German corps and an SS corps on the opposite side.
The breakout force of the elite armored division.
Although Stalin's 1st Guards Tank Division has strong troops and horses, it is the elite among the elite in the entire Red Army tank force, and it is the absolute ace. However, such a disparity in strength comparison still made Malashenko, who was holding the telegram, scratch his head. This is like a good tiger.
For the same reason that it cannot hold off a pack of wolves, even if Stalin's 1st Guards Tank Division is capable of fighting, it will be difficult to stop so many German troops breaking through at the same time.
"It's giving me another problem. No one else would know how to handle such a difficult task. It's impossible to stop so many Germans in a night battle!"
It could be heard that there was obvious complaint in Malashenko's tone, and the action of his right hand was to take off the tank cap on his head and then scratch his head, playing with the dirty hair that was about to become a ball, and he was annoyed.
"Comrade Commander, what happened?"
Dudapovsky could tell that Malashenko must have encountered some kind of problem. The problem probably stemmed from the telegram he had just received. Malashenko before and after reading the telegram was completely different.
"It's all written on it. Take a look for yourself."
As the chief of staff, Dudabovsky was fully qualified to read the telegram and know its contents. Malashenko also pointed at the telegram on the table without reservation, and Dudabovsky understood it clearly.
Key then reached out and took the telegram on the table in front of him.
"..."
"...I understand, Comrade Division Commander, this is indeed difficult to do, even for our First Tank Division of Stalin's Guards."
It's a good thing that someone has said something conscientious on his behalf. Even if the conscientious words may not be heard by people who don't care about the matter, it doesn't matter, but it doesn't matter. In short, it feels good to be able to forgive yourself.
"Comrade Commander seems to have not considered the objective situation. One division and one brigade are going to stop the Germans' armored corps of the Wehrmacht and an elite SS armored division. Ha, I can't think of such a task.
How to accomplish this properly? If you divide your troops into two groups, you will inevitably have insufficient strength. If you don’t divide your troops, you can only take care of one side."
"If you have any good ideas, just tell me. I just want to hear your opinion."
It stands to reason that as a subordinate, Malashenko should not make rash comments about Vatutin, who is his direct superior. Not only is this against the rules, but if the matter spreads, it may be caught by villains, which is not good for Comrade Lao Ma.
Shenke himself understands this.
It's just that this time I really couldn't hold back. Malashenko really couldn't figure out what was wrong with Vatutin and gave this order. If the German guy hadn't been greatly weakened and wanted to run away, he
This lone army is staying on the flank with no friendly troops to look after it. I'm afraid it's lucky if the Germans don't rush over and make dumplings, right?