The joy of capturing Zaporozhye had not lasted for a day, but the situation of the Southwest Front became increasingly dangerous. The 48th and 57th Armored Corps of the German Fourth Armored Group launched attacks at the same time.
Before dark, the troops of these two armored corps captured Pavlograd after annihilating many Soviet troops along the way, joined the Imperial Division going south, and successfully cut off the retreat route of the Soviet Sixth Army.
General Knobelsdorf, commander of the 48th Armored Corps, and General Kissina, commander of the 57th Armored Corps, met in the city. The two stood on a three-story building, looking at the still-rising buildings in the distance.
In the smoke-filled city, Kissner said proudly: "General Knobelsdorf, if the Russians lose this city, it means that their Sixth Army's retreat route has been cut off by us."
"Twenty days ago, Paulus's Sixth Army was completely destroyed in Stalingrad." Knobelsdorff said thoughtfully: "Now the Russian Sixth Army has also fallen into our encirclement. I don't know.
Will they all be wiped out like Paulus, or will some of them break out?"
Although his troops had an absolute advantage, Kissina did not get carried away. He thought for a while and replied: "I think there are many difficulties in annihilating this Russian army. First of all, we
Our troops are limited and cannot form a real encirclement against them. The encirclement is full of loopholes. Secondly, the Donetsk River still has thick ice. Russians carrying light weapons can easily escape from us through the ice.
of encirclement.”
"If ordinary Russian soldiers want to escape, let them go." Knobelsdorff said: "But their command organization must not be spared. Even if their commander cannot be captured alive, he must be severely damaged."
The fall of Pavlograd greatly surprised Vatutin. After staring at the map for a while, he called his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Ivanov, and asked with a straight face: "Chief of Staff
Comrade, why were our troops defending Pavlograd unable to block the enemy's attack? You know, the loss of this city means that the Sixth Army's retreat has been cut off, and they will no longer be able to obtain supplies from the rear.
.Once their ammunition and food are exhausted, what awaits them will be the end of the entire army."
"Comrade Commander." Lieutenant General Ivanov waited for Vatutin to finish speaking and carefully reminded him: "The letter General Rokossovsky forwarded to us a few days ago reminded us in it, saying
The German army may launch a comprehensive local counterattack, and Pavlograd will be the focus of the enemy's attack, so we must be careful."
Vatutin naturally remembered the letter sent by Rokossovsky a few days ago. The situation was very good at that time. Naturally, Vatutin had no interest in reading Rokossovsky’s opposition letter. Now listen to
When Ivanov mentioned it, he quickly told the other party: "Hurry up, go get the letter. I want to see what General Rokossovsky said."
After a while, Ivanov came over with Rokossovsky's letter, handed it to Vatutin and said: "Comrade Commander, please read this letter. The enemy's troop deployment and attack
General Rokossovsky made a detailed analysis of the direction in his letter. I really didn’t expect that everything he predicted came true.”
Vatutin snatched the letter from Ivanov's hand, unfolded it and browsed it quickly. The more he read, the more frightened he became. Rokossovsky's letter detailed the direction in which the enemy might launch an attack.
time and possible troops to be used. Vatutin did not know these contents. They were compiled by Sokov based on his own memory, and he thought they were conclusions drawn by Rokossovsky’s analysis. He couldn’t help but sigh to Ivano
The husband said: "Chief of Staff, General Rokossovsky is really amazing. What he analyzed is basically consistent with what we encountered. If we had seen his letter earlier, maybe our losses would have been much smaller.
.”
When Ivanov heard what Vatutin said, the muscles on his face twitched violently. He clearly remembered that after Rokossovsky sent someone to deliver the letter, the messenger sat on the bench for a long time before sending him the message.
The letter was handed into his own hands. At that time, he felt that Rokossovsky's analysis was somewhat reasonable, so he reported the matter to Vatutin. Unexpectedly, after hearing this, the other party not only did not cause alarm, but on the contrary
Blame yourself for making a fuss.
However, under the current circumstances, who is right and who is wrong is no longer a trivial matter. What needs to be done now is to save the Sixth Army from the brink of destruction. Therefore, Ivanov carefully asked: "Comrade Commander
, now not only the Sixth Army is surrounded by the Germans, but also the 24th Tank Corps, the 267th Infantry Division and the 106th Infantry Brigade. If they are all eaten by the Germans, the strength of our front army will be seriously damaged."
Vatutin did not expect that his troops had just occupied Zaporozhye yesterday and drove Manstein and his headquarters away from the city. Unexpectedly, before he could laugh out loud, the German army launched a counterattack.
Within a day, one of his army groups was surrounded. He thought for a long time, then raised his head and asked Ivanov: "Chief of Staff, what do you think we should do?"
"I think we should order Popov to quickly stop the current offensive operations." Ivanov suggested to Vatutin: "Let General Popov turn around and come back to join the Sixth Army. With the strength of the two armies, we can completely
It can break through the German encirclement."
"Break through the German encirclement?" Vatutin looked at Ivanov and asked with a sneer: "Where to break through? And then escape back to our current position?" He raised his hand and slapped the table hard, loudly
He said, "Order Popov to continue to attack the enemy's defenses in depth according to the original plan. At the same time, send a message to the commander of the Sixth Army, asking him to resolutely hold on to the existing position at all costs. He must not
Lose an inch of ground to the enemy."
As the chief of staff, Ivanov felt that Vatutin's order was completely wrong. If this order was really passed on, the fate of the Sixth Army and Popov's rapid regrouping would be a devastating blow.
. Therefore, he cautiously reminded Vatutin: "Comrade Commander, this is related to the lives of tens of thousands of commanders and soldiers. Please consider this matter carefully."
"There is nothing to consider." Vatutin said stubbornly: "Transmit my order immediately, otherwise it will delay the war, and I will personally send you to a military court."
Seeing that Vatutin was so unreasonable, Ivanov sighed softly and ordered someone to send Vatutin's order in the form of a telegram. However, when he sent the telegram to Popov, he had an extra thought.
, specifically asked the telegraph operator to add at the end of the telegram: If the situation gets out of control, you are allowed to issue various combat orders based on the specific situation.
After receiving the telegram, Popov immediately understood what his old friend Ivanov meant. The other party told him that if the army was severely damaged, he would lead the remaining troops to withdraw to Lu as agreed in advance.
The defense area of the 41st Guards Division in Gansk continued to deal with the German army.