For Tolbukhin, cutting off the German army's supply lines and retreat routes is nothing more than helping others. In the end, when the merits are rewarded, the victory he has achieved at a huge cost may be ignored. But what he can do in front of him is
The most important thing was to take away Zaporozhye, where Manstein's headquarters was located, and to eliminate or severely damage the retreat route of the German 17th Army.
Bilyuzov, the chief of staff of the Southern Front, said with some concern: "Comrade Commander, is this appropriate? If the enemies in Kharkov are really allowed to successfully withdraw to the Dnieper River, it will be very difficult for our next operation.
It’s very detrimental.”
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Tolbukhin did not explain anything to Bilyuzov immediately, but asked rhetorically: "If the enemies in Kharkov want to break out, do you think we can stop the enemy by putting all our troops into battle?"
?"
Bilyuzov thought for a while, then slowly shook his head, "I don't think so."
"That's right," Tolbukhin said solemnly: "Once the enemies withdrawing from Kharkov are blocked by us, they will definitely break through desperately and cause huge casualties to our blocking troops. Instead of
It is better to use these troops to attack than to waste troops in blocking battles."
Bilyuzov agreed with Tolbukhin's statement. In order to prevent the enemies of Donbas from reinforcing Kharkov in the past few days, four army groups were mobilized. Although they successfully shattered the German reinforcement plan,
The troops also suffered heavy casualties. However, he still asked with concern: "If the superiors investigate, how should we deal with it?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you don't have to worry about this." Since Tolbukhin was planning to use the main force of the front army to attack Zaporozhye and the German 17th Army, he naturally had his own plan: "Now he is responsible for cutting off the German army.
The three armies on the retreat have each deployed one or two divisions. In other words, we have no less than five divisions to cut off the enemy's retreat, so our superiors probably won't blame us."
After the troops of Hoth and Wheeler withdrew from Kharkov, they were intercepted by the Southern Front troops along the way. As Tolbukhin expected, in order to open the passage, the German army would launch a desperate attack as soon as it encountered an obstruction.
In the attack, they first used artillery bombardment, then used tanks to cover the infantry charge, and even called in aircraft to bombard the defenders' positions indiscriminately.
Two of the five divisions deployed by the Southern Front on the road leading to the Dnieper River were defeated by the troops of Hoth and Wheeler in less than half a day, and the casualties of the troops exceeded half.
After Bilyuzov learned that the blocking force suffered heavy casualties, he quickly asked Tolbukhin for instructions: "Comrade Commander, it took the enemy less than half a day to continuously break through the direction of our two divisions. Do you want to send troops?"
Go for reinforcements?”
"There is no need." Tolbukhin shook his head and said: "Now our focus is not on blocking the enemy's withdrawal from Kharkov, but on continuing to attack the German 17th Army. Only by severely damaging them can we continue to attack them."
to carry out the next step of combat operations."
The troops that broke out from Kharkov are moving closer to the Dnieper River step by step. This fact really makes Manstein feel happy. As long as the troops reach the designated place, they can escape the fate of being surrounded and annihilated by the Soviet army. But at the same time, he is in a
The 17th Army in the Donets Basin is worried.
He asked his chief of staff, General Busse: "Chief of Staff, now the Russian Southern Front is attacking the 17th Army. What do you think we should do?"
When Busse heard Manstein's question, he immediately replied without hesitation: "A telegram should be sent to the 17th Army, ordering them to hold the Donets Basin at all costs and wait for the reinforcements we send."
"But, General Busse, judging from the current situation, if we want to defend the Donets Basin, we need at least six armored divisions." Manstein said with a wry smile: "Where can I find six armored divisions for them?"
Manstein's words silenced Busse. As the chief of staff of the Army Group, he naturally knew very well that from the Battle of Kursk to the present, the German army had suffered huge losses in soldiers, but supplies from superiors came very little and very slowly.
Today, let alone six armored divisions, even two armored divisions may not be able to be put together.
"Then what should we do?" Busse asked Manstein softly: "Should we order the 17th Army to abandon their defense area and withdraw to the Dnieper River?"
"Based on the current situation analysis, it is obviously unrealistic to continue to hold on to the Donets Basin until a new armored division is obtained." Manstein frowned and said: "The best way is to withdraw the troops from there immediately.
come out."
"Your Excellency, Marshal," Busse waited for Manstein to finish speaking and carefully reminded him: "Would you like to report this matter to the Führer and get his opinion?"
In fact, even if Busey didn't say anything, Manstein planned to report the matter to Mustache. Although he was the marshal of the empire, ordering an army group to abandon a defense zone required Mustache's permission.
The call was quickly connected to Mustache's office. After hearing Manstein's voice, Chief of General Staff Zeitzler asked with some expectancy: "Your Excellency, Marshal, are all our troops who broke out from Kharkov...
Have you reached the Dnieper River?"
"Not yet, Mr. Chief of General Staff." Manstein responded politely: "But judging from the speed of their current attack, they will reach the Dnieper River by tomorrow night at the latest."
"Oh, that's it." Zeitzler then asked: "Excuse me, what is the reason for your call?"
"That's it, Your Excellency, Chief of General Staff." Manstein did not talk in circles, but said straightforwardly: "The Russians have now broken through the defense line of the 6th Army of Hollett and are launching an attack on the 17th Army in the Donets Basin area.
Attack. I ask you to allow this force to withdraw from the Donets Basin and retreat to the Dnieper River."
Even though Zeitzler was the Army Chief of Staff, he still did not dare to give an order to a group army to abandon its position and retreat casually. He glanced at the mustache sitting not far away and began to mutter in his mind how to reply to the other party.
Mustache noticed something strange about Zeitzler and asked first, "Zeitzler, who called?"
"It's Marshal Manstein."
Mustache stood up and came over, took the microphone from Zeitzler's hand, put it to his ear and said loudly: "Manstein, it's me. Is there anything you need to report to me?"
"Yes, my head of state." Manstein heard the mustache's voice coming from the receiver and said quickly and respectfully: "I have something important to report to you."
"Say it." Mustache said briefly.
"That's it, my head of state." Manstein said cautiously: "I plan to withdraw the 17th Army in the Donets Basin to the Dnieper River area. They are currently being attacked by the Russian Southern Front. If they continue to hold on,
, there is a possibility of being annihilated.”
"No, Manstein." Mustache rejected Manstein's request without hesitation. He just agreed to let the Kharkov garrison retreat two days ago. If he agrees to station in the Donets Basin today,
If the 17th Army retreats, then everything is still in chaos. "The 17th Army cannot retreat."
"My head of state." Although his proposal was vetoed by Mustache, Manstein said reluctantly: "If you want to continue to hold on to the Donets Basin, then you must provide them with at least six armored divisions. If
Without the provision of these troops, the exposed salient on the Mius River cannot be held."
Hearing that the problem was so serious, Xiao Hu couldn't help but fell silent.
Seeing that Mustache was silent, Manstein knew that the other party was weighing the pros and cons, so he struck while the iron was hot and said: "My head of state, I think we must shrink the line of defense. In this way, we can move along a shorter and more advantageous line of defense.
Block the Russians. You know, the reason why we were able to defeat the Russians in the Dnieper River Basin at the beginning of the year was because we shrank our defense lines and gave up many cities, so that the Russians had to send a large number of troops to defend those cities, thus weakening them.
increased their combat effectiveness."
Just when Mustache was silent, he suddenly heard Manstein say: "My head of state, under the current circumstances, I ask you to grant me the power to exercise my autonomy."
Mustache's pupils contracted violently. To him, no word was more shocking than the phrase "autonomous exercise of power". For a general to make such a request to himself is tantamount to betrayal, even if this person is the person he trusts most.
Neither does Manstein.
"No!" Mustache replied firmly: "Marshal Manstein, I will not give you independent control."
Just when Manstein felt disappointed, he suddenly heard Mustache say: "Don't take any action, I will rush over and deal with it myself."
Manstein didn't expect Mustache to reply to him like this, so that the other party hung up the phone for a long time, and he was still holding the phone in a daze. Seeing that Manstein didn't speak, Busey next to him asked anxiously: "Your Excellency, Marshal, no?"
Do you know what the head of state said?"
Only then did Manstein come to his senses. After he put down the phone, he sighed heavily and said to Busse: "If the head of state doesn't let us take any action, he will rush over to deal with it himself."
"Ah?!" After hearing what Manstein said, Busey asked in surprise: "So, the head of state is coming?"
"Yes, I estimate that he will arrive by nightfall at the latest. Please hurry up and send someone to arrange his accommodation."
The Soviet army had always thought that Manstein's headquarters was located in Zaporozhye, but unexpectedly, his headquarters was now in Vinnitsa, right in front of a large-scale Soviet offensive.
Since Mustache is coming, his safety must be guaranteed. Therefore, on the basis of the original defenders, Manstein also mobilized two infantry divisions from the 23rd Armored Division and the 11th Army to take charge of the defense of Vinnitsa.
.
But Mustache's plane did not land at the airstrip in Vinnitsa until the next day. As soon as he arrived in Vinnitsa, he summoned Manstein and the commanders of his army groups for a meeting.
In order to convince Mustache, Manstein called in the retired commander of the 11th Army, Rouse, and the commander of the 23rd Armored Division, General von Furman, hoping that they could put in a good word for him at the meeting. Because these two
The general had achieved a series of great results in the battle with the Soviet army. There would be no doubt about what Mustache said to the two of them.
After the meeting began, Manstein spoke first. He listed two figures in a heavy tone to illustrate the current predicament of the troops: "My head of state, Army Group South has lost a total of 178,000 people in the battles in the past few months.
, but only received 33,000 additional personnel, leaving a vacancy of 145,000. Howlett's 6th Army suffered losses of 23,830 between July 17 and August 21, and received 3,312 additional personnel.
people, a shortage of 20,000 men; General von Mackensen's 1st Panzer Army lost 27,291 men, and added 6,174 men, a shortage of 21,000 men."
After listening to the series of figures reported by Manstein, Mustache's expression did not change at all. To him, the casualty figures were just groups of numbers, not living people.
Seeing that the data he reported did not attract the necessary attention from Mustache, Manstein felt a wave of disappointment in his heart. He turned to Hollett who was sitting at the conference table and said: "General Hollett, please tell me
The head of state will tell you the balance of power between the enemy and ourselves."
General Howlett heard Manstein call his name, stood up quickly, bowed slightly to the mustache and said: "My head of state, please allow me to report to you the current comparison of the enemy's and our forces." About the troops.
All kinds of data were firmly remembered in Hollett's mind. He reported directly to Mustache without looking at any written documents: "My 29th Army has 8,706 people left, facing 69,000 Russians."
; The 17th Army has only 9,284 men left, facing 49,500 Russians; the 4th Army is in slightly better shape, with 13,143 men left, facing 18,000 Russians. Our total strength is 31,133. The Russians are not working hard enough.
There are 136,500 people.
Comparing tank strength, Tolbukhin has 165 tanks that can be put into battle, but we can use only 7 tanks and 37 breakthrough tanks."
As soon as Hollett's report ended, Manstein continued: "My head of state, the Russians are strengthening their strength. With our current strength, we simply cannot hold on. In addition to the 6th Army, the 1st Armored Army's
The situation is not good either. Also, the 4th Armored Army and the 8th Army, which have just withdrawn from Kharkov, are in positions that cannot block the Russian breakthrough to the Dnieper River for a long time.
In addition, according to my understanding, the southern flank of Army Group Center, which is the defense area of the Second Army, is also in a very dangerous situation and may be attacked by the Russians at any time."
After introducing the current situation to Mustache, Manstein added: "My head of state, if you insist on holding on to the Donets Basin, then at least 12 divisions must be transferred to us, of which 6 armored divisions must be included;
Or, we can abandon the Donets Basin and free up the necessary troops within the Army Group as reserves. Other than that, I can't think of any good way."
After listening to the introductions of Manstein and Howlett, Mustache realized that the situation at hand was very difficult, and the personnel losses in each unit were also very serious. He stood up, thanked the officers who participated in the meeting, and emphasized that
: "Gentlemen, we cannot retreat. We must hold on to our existing defenses and fight for every inch of ground with the Russians repeatedly until the Russians realize that their offensive is futile."
"But, my head of state." As soon as Mustache finished speaking, Manstein retorted: "I still stick to my opinion, either send us new troops or withdraw from the Donets area. There is no third party.