The troops commanded by Sokov were quickly discovered by German scouts during their march.
But fortunately, they were mistaken by the German scouts as the 106th Infantry Division that had failed in the attack on Donetsk and was forced to retreat. Therefore, the scouts sent a telegram to their superiors without verification.
They reported sighting the 106th Infantry Division.
After receiving the report from his subordinates, Paul Hausser immediately sent a telegram to the commanders of the three divisions: "The 106th Infantry Division, which had retreated from the direction of Donetsk, is moving towards the direction of Kharkov. In order to prevent this from happening.
There is a misunderstanding, you should open the channel for them after sending someone to contact them."
Paul Hausser, who issued this order, may never have imagined that it was precisely because of his misjudgment that three elite SS divisions suffered a devastating blow.
Coincidentally, in order to confuse the Germans, Sokov asked the commanders and fighters in front to say that they were from the 106th Infantry Division once they encountered the Germans. The Germans received an order from Paul Hausser to ask them to be from the 106th Infantry Division.
Open the escape route.
With the help of the cover of night and the erroneous German order, the 41st Guards Division successfully passed several checkpoints set up by the Imperial Division and quietly approached the German regiment's station.
Leading the way was Papuchenko's 122nd Regiment. He reported to Sokov via telegram: "Comrade Division Commander, according to our reconnaissance, the headquarters of the German Regiment of the German Imperial Division and an infantry battalion are located right in front of us.
Two kilometers away. What should we do, please advise?”
Upon learning that a German station appeared ahead, Sokov immediately ordered without hesitation: "Use rockets to attack the German station."
A huge explosion broke the silence of the winter night.
Captain Braun, commander of the Ninth Company, suffered from severe insomnia recently. Although he took four sleeping pills before going to bed, the huge explosion still woke him up.
"Damn it, we were shelled by the Russians." Braun rolled out of bed. He didn't even have time to put on his clothes, so he rushed out of the room with his clothes and shouted to his orderly: "Hans, Hans, Hans, Hans!
Where are you?"
"Mr. Captain," orderly Hans was also awakened by the explosion. He quickly rushed to Braun and asked, "Do you have any instructions?"
"Artillery attack, the Russians are about to launch an artillery attack on us." Braun hurriedly put on his clothes and shouted at Hans: "Order the troops to hide immediately."
"This is impossible." Hans said in a skeptical tone: "We are more than 20 kilometers away from the Russian position. Even if they have heavy artillery, they may not be able to hit us."
"You idiot." Braun shouted at his orderly: "Didn't you hear the explosion just now? That is not the effect that guerrilla mortars can achieve."
As soon as he finished speaking, there was another loud noise not far away, and the vibration of the ground almost made Braun fall to the ground.
"Damn it, the Russian artillery can really hit us." Hans was completely awakened by the loud noise. He turned around and ran towards the densely packed area of tents, and kept shouting: "Shell!
The Russians are shelling us, everyone, hurry up and find a place to hide."
By this time, the Soviet test firing had been completed. The artillery observers calibrated the target based on the impact points of the first two rockets, and reported the new parameters to the rocket launcher two kilometers away.
Soon, countless rockets trailing flames flew towards the German camp.
"Damn Russians..." Although Braun had never seen the new rockets equipped by the Guards Division before, when he saw the flame tail appearing in the sky, he immediately realized that something was wrong. When he was looking for a place to hide, there was already one
A rocket landed more than 20 meters away from him and exploded.
The huge shock wave caused by the explosion caused him to fall to the ground. His ears were so shaken that he could not hear any sound. He only saw his orderly Hans, running among the many tents, shouting loudly.
Shouting something.
However, it was too late. Those rockets landed in the densely populated tent area one after another, emitting countless dazzling fires and deafening explosions, turning the location of the tent into a sea of fire. Countless soldiers were there.
They were blown to pieces in their sleep. A few soldiers escaped from the tent after hearing Hans's cry, but they still did not escape the blow of the shells. They were either blown to pieces on the spot, or their whole bodies were on fire.
He ran around all over the place, and when he was exhausted, he lay on the ground and continued to burn motionless.
The tanks, armored vehicles and trucks parked nearby were also blown up beyond recognition by Soviet rockets. Braun sat on the ground blankly. After a long time, he realized that he could not hear any sound at all. His ears were already in the air just now.
He was deafened by the explosion. A stream of heat flowed out of his ears and flowed down his cheeks. When he stretched out his hand to wipe it, he realized that it was blood flowing from his ears. Before Braun could get up from the ground,
A rocket landed directly where he was sitting. When the smoke cleared, Braun had long disappeared, leaving only a deep, dark pit still smoking.
The area that was attacked by rockets was not only the location of the Ninth Company, but also the regiment headquarters and the garrison of other nearby companies. After five minutes of bombardment, no one could breathe anymore in the entire camp.
The ground was turned up with scorched earth and the burning remains of tanks, armored vehicles and trucks.
Papuchenko confirmed through the telescope that the German camp had been destroyed, and immediately reported the good news to Sokov via telegram: "Comrade Division Commander, our regiment has successfully destroyed the German camp with new rockets. According to
From my observation, there are almost no survivors."
Sokov was naturally very happy that the 122nd Regiment could achieve such results, but he was worried that in order to achieve the purpose of destroying the enemy, Papuchenko consumed too much of the new rockets he carried. Therefore, he let
When Sidorin called back, in addition to verbally praising the 122nd Regiment, he also specifically asked about the consumption of rockets.
This was not the first time Papuchenko used a new rocket. Naturally he knew the power and importance of this weapon. He quickly replied: "In the battle that ended not long ago, we consumed a total of 63 rockets and destroyed the German army.
A regiment headquarters and an infantry battalion achieved great results."
This time when he went deep behind enemy lines, Sokov carried a total of 500 rockets. When he learned that the Papuchenko regiment had consumed 63 rockets during the battle, Sokov still felt a little upset. After all, what he encountered now was still
It's just the Imperial Division. Behind him, there are the Skeleton Division and the Flag Guard Division. Those are not easy opponents to deal with.
But considering that the 122nd Regiment had just achieved such a significant victory, if he criticized the regiment commander and said that they used too many rockets in the battle, it might affect the morale and morale of the troops. Therefore, he did not have new rockets.
question, but ordered Papuchenko: "Keep moving forward and push deeper into the enemy's defenses."
The news that the "German Regiment" headquarters of the Imperial Division was attacked soon reached the ears of Major General Vaal. Major General Vaal, who had just woken up from his sleep, learned that the attack was coming, and his first reaction was to report it to his own people.
It was a mistake. This place was more than 20 kilometers away from where the Soviet troops were stationed. How could the defenders in the city bombard their own camp from such a far distance? So he said to the adjutant who came to report the situation:
"Go and verify whether this report is true or false. Our German regiment is far away from the Russian defense area, how could it be attacked?"
"Your Excellency, division commander," the adjutant said cautiously, "could it be a guerrilla?"
"This is impossible." Major General Val immediately denied the adjutant's speculation: "With the equipment of the Russian guerrillas, even one of our platoons cannot deal with it. How can they attack a regiment with a battalion outside it?"
After finishing speaking, he communicated with his staff: "Continue to call the German regiment and find out what happened there."
Although Major General Waal expressed doubts about the attack on the German regiment, Paul Hausser learned about the attack on the German regiment through his own channels. He stared at the map in front of him and could not believe his
Eyes, this is impossible, it's night, how did the Russians know the location of the German regiment?
He called his chief of staff and asked: "Tell me, how did the Russians know the location of the German regiment and carry out precise strikes?"
After hearing this, the chief of staff said with an embarrassed look on his face: "Your Excellency General, this matter is difficult to explain. Logically speaking, only the guerrillas can carry out such a precise strike. But the few broken guns of the Russian guerrillas can't deal with me.
The company and platoon-level units of the army are in very difficult situations. How dare you provoke a regiment headquarters of our army? I think this matter was definitely not done by the guerrillas."
"If not the guerrillas, then who is it?"
"Your Excellency, General," the chief of staff said cautiously, "could it be that the Russians who were defeated by our army regrouped in this area and launched a sneak attack on us under the cover of night?"
The explanation of the chief of staff was reasonable, but Paul Hausser thought for a moment and shook his head in denial: "This is even more impossible. The Russian troops defeated by our army have long run out of ammunition and food, even if they want to launch an attack
The attack also uses a night attack to enter our camp and engage in close combat and hand-to-hand combat with our soldiers. How can it be bombarded with artillery fire?"
"Could it be that the Russians dispatched from Kharkov were approaching the Imperial Division's defense area?" The chief of staff continued to analyze for Paul Hausser: "Based on various signs, this is the most likely possibility.
of."
"I think it's impossible." Paul Hausser once again denied the chief of staff's inference: "If the Russians stationed in Kharkov want to appear at the position where the German regiment is attacked, they have to pass through the layer of our army.
layer direction, this is even more impossible."
Having said this, he pointed to the Chief of Staff: "Call Major General Val and ask him why he didn't report to us the attack on the German regiment in time."
"Yes, General, I will call him immediately." The call was quickly connected. After the chief of staff heard Major General Wahl's voice coming from the receiver, he immediately handed the phone to Paul Hausser.
Paul Hausser took the microphone and asked loudly: "Major General Val, why did you not report to me in time such a major event that the German regiment was attacked by the Russians?"
When he learned that Paul Hausser already knew about the attack on the German regiment, Major General Wahl was stunned at first, but then he thought that there was a special intelligence system in the army, and he could report to Paul Hausser without him, so he quickly defended: "
General, I think this matter is a bit too incredible, so I am sending people to verify it. I plan to report to you after I have accurate results, but I didn't expect that you already know about it first."
"Whether this is true or not, you should report to me as soon as possible about such a big thing as the German regiment being attacked." Paul Hausser scolded Major General Wahl on the phone: "This way we can also pass our own
The intelligence system will verify the authenticity of this news."
"Your Excellency, General," Major General Val heard Paul Hausser say this, as if grasping a life-saving straw, he quickly said: "I have sent people to verify, I am afraid it will take a few hours to get the news. I don't know where you are.
Is there any way to understand what happened in the shortest possible time?"
Paul Hausser did not speak, but looked at the chief of staff aside, wanting to hear what he had to say. Seeing Paul Hausser's eyes falling on him, the chief of staff quickly replied: "Your Excellency, General.
, our telecommunications interception department, before and after the attack, discovered unknown radio waves near the location of the attack. They told me with certainty that those were definitely not the radio waves used by our military."
"So, there are really Russian troops that have penetrated deep into our rear?" Paul Hausser frowned and said, "Then why didn't our forward troops notice it at all?"
The chief of staff didn't know the answer, so he could only say with a wry smile: "Your Majesty General, I will contact the front immediately to find out whether a small Russian force has infiltrated."
"The force that can make such a big noise is definitely not a small force. I estimate that it has at least one regiment of troops." Paul Hausser frowned and said into the microphone: "Major General Val, I order you to immediately
Send troops to search that area, and we must find out how many Russian troops have penetrated deep into my rear."
"Your Majesty General, my other troops are a bit too far away from the location of the attack." Major General Val said awkwardly: "Even if we start gathering now, I'm afraid we won't be able to get there until noon."
"Then why are you lingering? Why don't you call the troops into action quickly?" Paul Hausser said angrily: "Otherwise, we won't be able to reach our destination by the afternoon."