The 254th Division and the 188th Division, which occupy the machining factory and the surrounding area, have been resisting the German offensive for the past two days. Since Sokov ordered them to be on the defensive, the two division commanders Shechtman and Koida could
I'm so frustrated.
When they received the call from Samyko, they thought the other party was asleep and called in the early morning to ask the troops to switch to the offensive. However, after the two repeatedly confirmed that it was indeed Sokov who had issued the counterattack order, they immediately became excited.
He shouted to his subordinates: "Call the commanders of each regiment and ask them to assemble their troops immediately and launch a counterattack against the enemy."
Samyko considered that after several days of fighting between the two divisions, the troops must have suffered serious attrition, so he called the commander of the 182nd Division, Colonel Khokhlov, and the Commander of the 84th Division, Major General Fomenko, and ordered them to urgently
Deploy troops into the city to assist friendly forces in attacking the city.
Before the right wing of the 27th Army could join forces with the tank troops and mechanized troops rushing into the city, Samek received an unexpected phone call. A completely unfamiliar voice came from the receiver: "Hello, it's the 27th Army.
Headquarters?"
When Samek heard the other party's question, he immediately realized that the caller was definitely not one of his subordinates, but someone of the same level as himself, so he politely responded: "Yes, this is the commander of the 27th Group Army.
Department. Who are you?"
"I am General Derevyanko, Chief of Staff of the 53rd Army," the other party asked politely, "Are you General Sokov?"
"No, Comrade Commander is not here. He has gone to the front for inspection." When Sameko heard that it was a call from a friendly force, he quickly responded: "I am Major General Sameko, chief of staff of the 27th Group Army."
Derevyanko couldn't help laughing when he heard what Samyko said: "What a coincidence. My comrade commander is not in the headquarters either. He went to the front line to direct the battle in person."
"My comrade commander also has the same character."
A few brief greetings narrowed the distance between them. Sameko thought that although both sides were affiliated with the Grassland Front Army, there seemed to be no overlap. How could the other party suddenly call him? In order to figure out this problem, he
He cautiously raised the question in his mind: "General Derevyanko, I wonder if you are calling me at this time because of something important?"
"You are right, General Samyko." Derevyanko asked with a smile: "I would like to ask, is the sound of gunfire coming from the southwest of the city a combat action of your 27th Army?"
"Yes, General Derevyanko." Samyko replied truthfully: "Commander Sokov felt that the opportunity to seize the city was ripe, so he ordered the troops that had already entered the city to expand the results and launch an attack on the areas controlled by the Germans.
.”
"I understand." After Derevyanko said this, he continued: "Now the 1st Mechanized Army under our army group also attacked the city from the north, but encountered stubborn resistance from the German army. Can you see?
Do you want to order your troops to feint to the north of the city to attract the enemy's attention?"
"General Derevyanko, I don't think this is necessary?"
"Why?" After hearing this, Derevyanko suppressed his anger and asked, "Are you unwilling to cooperate with us in fighting?"
Samyko heard the dissatisfaction from the tone of the other party's words, and quickly explained to him: "General Derevyanko, you misunderstood. It's not that I don't want the troops to cooperate with you in fighting. I want to attack from the northwest.
The tank troops in the city and the 4th Mechanized Corps of the Assault Group are very close to you now, and these troops can fully assist you in launching your attack."
"But I don't know those commanders, how can I contact them?"
"General Derevyanko, you don't have to worry about this. My commander is in that direction. As long as I call him, he can arrange the troops there to cooperate with your actions."
After Samyko explained, Derevyanko understood what was going on, and thanked Samyko repeatedly: "Thank you, thank you, General Samyko. With your support, I believe it won't take long."
, we can work with other troops to completely occupy this city."
As soon as he finished his call with General Derevyanko, Samyko connected to Sokov's temporary headquarters and reported to him what had just happened.
Even though the remnants of the Tank Group Army and the 4th Mechanized Army followed the German army and rushed into Kharkov; the troops at the right landing site also took active actions, but Sokov was still uneasy in his heart, feeling like this
The strength is still a bit too weak.
Samyko's report was an unexpected surprise for Sokov. He quickly asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, was it the Chief of Staff of the 53rd Group Army, General Derevyanko, who took the initiative to contact you?"
"Yes, he called me first." Samyko was afraid that Sokov would not agree to support friendly forces, so he emphasized: "I think we can order the troops to move north of the city to attract the attention of the Germans.
, so that the troops of the 53rd Army can smoothly enter the city."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you don't need to worry about this matter." What Sokov thinks about most now is whether the attack of his right-wing troops can achieve the desired results. You must know that most of his belongings have been smashed into it. If the attack
If he failed, it would be a complete stoppage. Therefore, he did not ask Sameko to ask about the left wing landing field. Instead, he told him: "Your task is to grasp the movements of the troops in the west of the city in a timely manner and report to me at any time. Understand
Yet?"
After putting down the phone, Sokov said to Tsvetayev: "Comrade General, there is good news. The 1st Mechanized Army under the 53rd Army has successfully entered the city and is advancing in depth towards the German defenses.
We should rush over to join them as soon as possible and concentrate several forces so that we can more quickly crush the German defenses in the city."
Tsvetayev felt that what Sokov said was very reasonable, so he personally sent a telegram to the commander of the 4th Mechanized Army, ordering his troops to immediately advance to the north of the city to attract the 1st Mechanized Army that broke into the city from that direction.
.
As Tsvetaev's order was issued, the troops that were active in the northwest of the city immediately divided into two groups. One group moved to defense on the spot, while the other group followed the order and launched an assault to the north of the city to cover it.
Friendly forces can gain a foothold in the city.
The battle continued until dawn. In addition to the large-scale occupation of the southwest by Sokov's troops, the German troops in the west and northwest of the city basically stopped resisting. They were either killed or became prisoners.
The commander of the German 11th Army, Wilhelm Stemmermann, and the commander of the 42nd Army, General von Spenneck, both realized the seriousness of the problem and quickly reported it to the army commander, General Weller.
Unexpectedly, after hearing the report, Weller simply gave a brief order: "Counterattack, two military commanders, in order to block the Russian attack, you must immediately launch a counterattack and drive the Russians out of the city."
Issuing an order is quite simple, just one sentence is enough, but the people below who execute the order feel very anxious. Stemerman asked Spenneck privately: "Mr. General, do you think we can remove the Russians from the city?"
Are you going to drive him out?"
After hearing this, the latter shook his head and said with a wry smile: "If the Russians had just broken through our direction and rushed into the city, if we had concentrated our forces to counterattack, we might have been able to drive them out. But now..." At this point,
He couldn't help but shook his head, "What we can do now is to find ways to hold on for a longer time."
"I don't think the commander seems concerned about this matter," Stemmermann reminded Spenneck: "I think we might as well report the situation here directly to Marshal Manstein and see how he reacts.
.”
Spenek immediately agreed with Stemmermann's proposal: "I agree."
Half an hour later, Manstein, who was staring at the map in his headquarters in a daze, received a call from Stemmermann: "Your Excellency, Marshal, this is William Stemmermann. I have important information for you.
You report."
After hearing that the caller was the commander of the 11th Army, Manstein asked with some displeasure: "Mr. General, why are you calling and not your commander, General Weller?"
"Your Excellency, Marshal, I have reported what happened here to Commander Weller..."
"Oh, it has been reported?" Stemmermann's answer surprised Manstein, and he asked cautiously: "Then how did he reply to you?"
"He just ordered us to continue the counterattack, but he didn't mention a word about what kind of troops and tactics we would use."
"Since you have received the order, then follow General Wheeler's order." Manstein said to Stemerman: "Only by continuously counterattacking the Russians can we prevent them from entering Kharkov.
.”
After Manstein ended his call with Stemmermann, he felt that it was becoming increasingly difficult to defend Kharkov. He thought for a long time, then picked up the phone on the table, dialed a number, and listened.
There was a voice coming from inside, and he immediately said: "I am Manstein, pick me up General Holt from Kharkov."
It took the operator a minute or two to successfully connect Manstein to Holt's headquarters.
As soon as the phone call came through, Manstein asked straight to the point: "General Holt, how is the situation there?"
"Not very good, Marshal." Several troops deployed by Hott at the front were being attacked by the Voronezh Front, so he said with a sad face: "I'm worried that if we continue like this, the Russians may be defeated soon.
Can break into the city."
"Then have you considered abandoning the city, withdrawing your troops from Kharkov, and choosing a new location to establish a new defensive position?"
"What, give up Kharkov?" Manstein's words startled Holt, and he asked in surprise: "Marshal, aren't you worried about the punishment of the head of state?"
"I still remember that at the beginning of the year, the Russian Voronezh Front defeated the 'Lantz Battle Group' commanded by General Lanz with the strength of three armies and captured Kharkov." Manstein did not answer Huo.
He asked a special question, but answered on his own: "After the city was lost, General Lanz was removed from his post and General Kenff took his place.
At that time, the head of state ordered me to recapture Kharkov, but I rejected the head of state's plan and proposed a more bold plan; I temporarily ignored the Voronezh Front in Kharkov and concentrated my forces to eat the incoming Soviet Southwest Front.
, then turned around, defeated the Russians in the direction of Kharkov, and retook the city."
Hearing what Manstein said, Hott immediately understood that the other party had already thought of giving up Kharkov, so he asked tentatively: "If we give up Kharkov now, how should we deal with it once the head of state tracks it down?"
Woolen cloth?"
"You don't have to worry about this." Although Manstein said it easily, he made such a difficult decision after repeated ideological struggles: "If the head of state is to blame, I will naturally bear all the responsibilities.
What you have to do is to preserve as much effective strength as possible so that the armored group army can quickly form a new line of defense after retreating to a new location."
Taking the initiative to retreat when the battle situation was not good was a wise move. Regardless of being stopped by Mustache, Manstein planned to use some small means to deceive the opponent: "General Holt, I want you to
Resist for a while first, and if you find that you really can't resist, you can choose to retreat and push to the defense line of the Dnieper River."
"Resist for a while." After this period of fighting, Holt has keenly realized that the strength of the Soviet army has far exceeded his imagination. Even if he can block them for a while, he cannot block them for a lifetime. In his heart
He had long thought of quitting. But since it was Manstein who raised the issue, he would naturally answer any questions: "Your Excellency, Marshal, I would like to ask, when you talk about a period of time, how many days do you mean specifically?"
"Five days!"
"No, if we hold on for five days, my troops will be completely surrounded by the Russians." Hott shook his head and said, "I'm worried about what will happen to Paulus' Sixth Army once our supplies are cut off.
This is our ultimate destiny."
"Those three days."
"Three days is still a bit too long." Hott said thoughtfully: "You know, Sokov's troops are to the west of the city. Three days is enough for them to build a solid direction and make us
We had to pay a heavy price when we broke through."
"Two days." After giving this deadline, Manstein said angrily: "General Holt, if your troops cannot last even 48 hours under the siege of the Russians, then I will consider whether to send them
Split into other units."
Manstein's words frightened Holt. He didn't want his armored group to be dismantled to pieces, so he quickly said: "Okay, okay, Marshal, then I will order the troops to resist for another 48 hours. When the time comes,
Come, even without your order, I will order the troops to retreat."
"General Huot, don't worry. As long as your troops hold on to Kharkov for another 48 hours, I will personally give you a retreat order."
After Manstein put down the phone, he sat in his seat and thought for a long time. Finally, he ordered the chief of staff standing aside: "Chief of Staff, call the General Staff and inform the head of state that we are planning to abandon Kharkov.