"Comrade Chief of Staff," Seeing that Sidorin misunderstood his intentions, Sokov quickly explained to him: "I gathered the troops not to let them stand in Barvinkovo, but to prepare to move to a new location.
place, looking for opportunities to attack the weak points of the German army."
"Comrade division commander, please forgive me." Sidorin continued: "If three German divisions merge, their strength will be extremely powerful. Let alone one of our divisions, even a group army will not be able to defeat them.
Easy thing."
"That's right, if these three divisions of the German army are concentrated together, not to mention one of our divisions, even a group army, they will not be their opponent. General Popov and General Rybalko have proved this with bloody facts.
Passed." Sokov pointed to the map and said to Sidorin: "After dark, order the two battalions in the rear to move quickly towards Barvinkovo. Remember, during the transfer process, the bigger the noise, the bigger the movement.
good."
"If their actions are discovered by the enemy, they will definitely follow us." Sidorin reminded Sokov again: "I'm worried that once the enemy moves too fast, they can follow our retreating troops and rush into us.
Army’s line of defense.”
"After dark, I plan to order the troops to move eastward." Sokov said to Sidorin with a smile: "On the enemy's false positions, there are no our troops at all. Even if the enemy occupies these areas, they will not attack us.
What impact will it have?"
Sokov's words confused Sidorin. He asked in confusion: "Comrade Commander, I don't understand what you mean. Can you explain it to me?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, according to my judgment, the enemy's Imperial Division is now the weakest of the three divisions." Sokov pointed to the map and explained to Sidorin: "I plan to have the troops move back behind the Imperial Division.
, find an opportunity to beat them severely. If possible, we might be able to directly take over the German division headquarters."
Sidorin did not comment on Sokov's statement. He pointed to the positions of the two infantry battalions that were now separated and asked Sokov tentatively: "Comrade division commander, you plan to abandon the commanders and fighters of these two battalions."
?"
"Abandon them? How is this possible?" Sokov continued: "The reason why I asked them to make some noise during their retreat was to attract the enemy's attention and attract them to the Barvinkovo area. In the night
In the middle, the enemies can't see each other clearly, so they can kill each other here."
After listening to Sokov's explanation, Sidorin's eyes suddenly shone: "Comrade Commander, your plan is really wonderful. When the enemy comes to a strange place at night and is attacked, the instinctive reaction is to fight back.
, in this way, they can fight among themselves."
"In order to prevent the Germans from discovering flaws prematurely, the two battalions at the rear must be equipped with a certain number of German weapons." Sokov said: "In this way, when they have a misunderstanding, even if they hear German equipment coming from the other side,
The sound of shooting could be mistaken for a battle with our army."
"Who are the commanders of the two battalions at the end?"
"One is Major Briski, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 124th Regiment, and the other is Major Shamrih, commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 125th Regiment."
Hearing these two familiar names, Sokov nodded slightly and said: "They are old commanders of the infantry brigade and are familiar with my tactics. I am very relieved that they will carry out this task."
After dark, except for one company of the 122nd Regiment left on the position to monitor the enemy, the rest of the troops moved eastward with the main force of the 124th and 125th Regiment. Some soldiers felt that just before dark
When I arrived outside the city of Barvinkovo, I was about to go to sleep, but I had to move again inexplicably. I couldn't help but feel some complaints. Fortunately, the grassroots commanders of each regiment were basically from the infantry brigades. They understood Sokov's tactics, so they
Explain to the soldiers who complained. After the explanations from the grassroots commanders, the soldiers' complaints disappeared, and they all faithfully carried out the orders from their superiors, using the cover of night to quietly move towards the east.
In order to prevent the enemy from discovering that the troops had moved, Sokov left two radio stations outside Barvinkovo and continuously sent out radio signals, making the enemy think that the headquarters of the Guards Division was still in the suburbs.
At one o'clock in the morning, the Briski Battalion was ordered to evacuate the current defensive position and move in the direction of Barvinkovo. Following Sokov's order, they deliberately made noise when they began to retreat, alerting the German scouts hiding nearby.
Seeing that the Soviet army was about to retreat, the German scouts immediately reported the news. Knowing that the Soviet army was about to retreat, the German division commander was not happy. He thought to himself that this damn Russian army had wiped out two of his own troops in more than a day.
How could a battalion of troops allow them to escape easily? He quickly gave his troops a pursuit order.
As the order was issued, the German troops who were preparing to take a rest regrouped. With full fury, they pursued the Russian troops fleeing towards Barvinkovo, preparing to completely eliminate the troops that disturbed their sleep.
At the same time, the Shamrich Battalion also led the troops of the Flag Guard Division and retreated towards Barvinkovo. As a commander with rich combat experience, Major Shamrich felt that Sokov's plan was too risky.
, because at this time, the troops heading to Barvinkovo, in addition to their own battalion, also had a friendly battalion. What if the two sides misunderstood each other because they regarded each other as enemies? Or they seemed to mistook the pursuing enemy for each other and rushed over.
What should you do if you meet the other party and suffer losses?
Regarding these issues, he felt that Sokov had not explained clearly, so he continuously sent scouts to conduct reconnaissance in the direction of Camp Briski to learn about the other party's movements at any time.
Less than two kilometers away from the city, a scout brought an officer from the Briski Battalion to see Shamrih. After the officer saw Shamrih, he said to him: "Comrade Major, our battalion is at this moment.
One kilometer to your left, please move closer to us as soon as possible so that you can retreat along the route designated by your superiors."
Knowing that the friendly forces were only one kilometer away from him, Shamrih immediately gave an order to his troops, "Leave one company behind to block the enemy, and the rest of the troops rushed to the left wing to join the friendly forces."
The ninth company commanded by deputy battalion commander Captain Yakuda was left behind to perform the post-breakout task. Shamrih told him: "Comrade Captain, you only need to hold on here for an hour, and then you can withdraw from the position and follow us.
Leave the road signs and jump out of the enemy's encirclement."
"Don't worry, comrade battalion commander." Yakuda replied: "We promise to complete the order well."
The leading troops of the Flag Guard Division soon caught up. Here they were attacked head-on by the sailors and were defeated on the spot. After half an hour, after receiving reinforcements, they launched another attack.
The attack, unfortunately, still didn't work, and they retreated in the end.
The third attack started an hour later. This time, the person commanding the attack was Major Hansen, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 1st German Regiment. He first ordered the mortar to point in the direction of the Soviet position, and after some shelling, he personally
Leading the troops to charge forward. Seeing the battalion commanders taking the lead in the charge inspired the soldiers' blood. They shouted and rushed towards the positions that were still burning with fire and gunpowder smoke.
This time, the Soviet position was very quiet. When the German soldiers rushed into the position, there was not a single gunshot. When Hansen saw this situation, he couldn't help but frowned. He called a company commander and asked: "What on earth is going on?"
What happened, why did the Russians disappear without firing a shot?"
"Mr. Major," his subordinate replied, "I guess it was the burst of artillery fire we just fired that knocked the Russians unconscious. They felt that if they stayed in the position any longer, they would definitely be destined to die, so they ignored their commander's orders and gave up without permission.
The position fled."
Hansen felt that what his subordinates said made some sense. After nodding, he ordered the telegraph operator to report the news of the occupation of the Soviet position to the division headquarters. He also said that he planned to lead the troops to pursue in the direction of Barvinkovo and asked his superiors to contact him.
Friendly troops provide support to oneself.
On the right flank of Camp Hansen, a battalion of the Imperial Division also captured the empty Soviet position and was advancing in the direction of Barvinkovo.
Ten minutes later, the two battalions met in the darkness.
Both sides mistook each other for Soviet troops and opened fire without saying a word.
Sokov's previous layout came into play at this moment. Logically speaking, when the German army heard that the weapons used by the opponent were German-style equipment, they would definitely be more cautious and think about whether there was a misunderstanding with friendly forces. But because
Sokov equipped the two battalions in the rear with a large number of German weapons. Therefore, the officers and soldiers of the Flag Guard Division and the Imperial Division who had exchanged fire with the rear troops all regarded each other as Soviet troops, and naturally they would not show mercy during the fight.
At this time, the two battalions and one company remaining in the German encirclement successfully jumped out of the German encirclement along the passage left in advance.
Hearing the gunshots and explosions from behind, Briski smiled and said to Shamrih: "Comrade Lieutenant Commander, the fighting there is really lively. Wait until the enemy finds out that they are fighting against their own people."
, I’m afraid the casualties will not be small.”
And Shamrih said with emotion: "The division commander's strategy is still good. Let us lead the enemy to a place and let them kill each other. In this way, we can calmly jump out of the German army through the designated passage."
Encirclement."
"Order the troops to speed up." Briski said to his company commander: "We are going to jump behind the Imperial Division and beat them hard."
…………
Colonel Shimon, the acting division commander of the Skeleton Division in the city, heard that there was a fierce battle outside the city and received a telegram from the Flag Guard Division Headquarters. He learned that two friendly troops had arrived outside the city and were fighting with the Russians there.
During the fierce fighting, he quickly considered an infantry battalion in the south of the city. Under the cover of tanks, he rushed to the area where the fighting was fierce and assisted the friendly forces in annihilating the Russians there.
However, what Colonel Shimon did not expect was that when the two German troops, who were already fighting fiercely, saw a large force coming from a distance, they thought it was a Soviet reinforcement and immediately stopped attacking each other and turned their guns.
Open fire on the troops coming out of the city.
The three most elite SS divisions of the German army opened fire on their imaginary enemies in the dark. During the battle, not only the officers and soldiers of each division performed extremely tenaciously, but even if they were seriously injured, they would pull out.
He fired the grenade and died together with the "enemies" rushing up around him.
When Sokov led his troops into enemy lines, all the commanders and fighters were wearing German uniforms. Even in the subsequent battles, they still wore these clothes. So much so that the German officers and soldiers who were fighting in the melee, with the help of the fire generated by the explosion, or
Under the illumination of the burning object, it was clear that the people around him were wearing the same uniform as himself, but they thought they were Russians wearing makeup, so they beat him even more fiercely.
The more heroic the officers and soldiers behave, the greater the casualties they cause to their friendly forces.
The three division commanders soon found that they had lost contact with the frontline troops. They realized that something was wrong, and sent people to inquire about the news. Only to find that they were actually fighting with their own people. The troops sent to stop them not only failed to stop the melee between the three parties
, but made the situation worse and involved them in the battle group.
Knowing that the situation was getting worse, the three division commanders immediately called to discuss ways to stop the melee. In the end, Colonel Shimon suggested firing a large number of flares into the air to make the battlefield look like daylight.
Troops fighting in a melee can clearly see that they are fighting with their own people, not the enemy.
His suggestion was quickly approved by the other two division commanders. Soon, countless flares were raised on the battlefield. At the same time, troops that were not involved in the battle group were also using bugles to communicate.
In this way, after more than half an hour of tossing, the three parties that were fighting in the melee finally stopped. In order to avoid further misunderstandings, the troops of the three divisions retreated one kilometer one after another and regrouped.
After dawn, the three division commanders came from different places to the place where the night battle took place. Seeing the destroyed tanks and corpses everywhere on the battlefield, Colonel Simon said sadly: "Two generals, what is going on?
Why do our troops from three divisions have misunderstandings here and fight among themselves?"
The commander of the Flag Guard Division said angrily: "My subordinates told me that they originally held the retreating Russians tightly, but unfortunately they were attacked by friendly forces. As a result, all the Russians escaped."
"Gentlemen, now is not the time to investigate the responsibility." The commander of the Imperial Division said: "What we should consider is how to report this unfortunate news to General Hauser."
As soon as his words came out, the other two division commanders fell silent. Everyone knew that this incident was of a bad nature. If a suitable reason could not be found, I am afraid that everyone would not be able to escape the blame.