In this plan to attack Kursk, there are only two targets that must be captured at all costs. One is the German command headquarters, where Colonel Kempka, the garrison commander of Kursk, stays;
, is a military warehouse. Although there is only one company of troops left in the city, Kempka has placed a platoon of troops in these two key departments.
The troops that went straight to the garrison headquarters were commanded by Second Lieutenant Grisa, and among them, Corporal Ernst was indispensable. After all, in the entire battalion, he was the only one who would not arouse the Germans' anger when he spoke German.
Suspect.
However, as soon as they arrived at the gate of the garrison headquarters, they were stopped by soldiers on duty. The soldier leading the group was a corporal. He did not show respect to Ernst at all because he carried the rank of captain on his shoulders. On the contrary,
He asked in a stern tone: "Mr. Captain, which part do you belong to and what are you doing here?"
"We came from the Tim area," Ernst didn't know the numbers of the nearby German troops, and he didn't dare to say anything casually for fear of betraying others. He said bravely, "We were ordered to send prisoners of war here."
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, the corporal looked him up and down, then stretched out a hand: "Bring it here!"
"What?" The corporal's behavior confused Ernst: "What can I give you?"
"What else could it be?" the corporal said with some disdain: "Of course it's your pass to enter and leave here! If you don't have a pass, then go back to where you came from."
Ernst's eyes quickly glanced around and found that except for two soldiers standing outside the door of the building, a machine gunner smoking inside the sandbag fortification, and the German corporal who was making things difficult for him, he saw no one else.
No one was there, so he quickly winked at Grisa, indicating that he could take action.
Grisa understood this and waved to his men. The soldiers in German uniforms stepped forward and pointed their guns at the German soldiers outside the door. When the German corporal saw the guns pointed at him around him, he couldn't help feeling.
In a panic, he thought that his words had offended the other party, and the captain deliberately ordered people to treat him like this.
The corporal hurriedly smiled and said to Ernst: "Mr. Captain, misunderstanding, this is all a misunderstanding. I think you have just come from the front line, and you must not have a pass. I will let you in right now..."
"There is no misunderstanding," Ernst said coldly, holding his pistol to the corporal's abdomen: "We are the Soviet Red Army!"
"Ah, it's the Russians!" The corporal was startled by Ernst's words and hurriedly raised his hands above his head: "We surrender, we surrender!"
After asking where the German soldiers on guard duty lived, Grisa left two soldiers to guard the prisoners, and rushed into the building with the remaining soldiers. Although Grisa and the others were captured after they rushed into the building,
The German soldiers in the corridor were discovered, and a gunfight broke out. However, the sporadic resistance soon stopped. Grisa held an MP40 submachine gun in his hand, stepped on the corpses of the German soldiers, and rushed into the garrison commander's office.
He raised his gun and aimed it at Colonel Kempka, who had just taken out his pistol from the drawer, and shouted loudly: "Put your hands up, or I'll kill you!"
Even though Kempka couldn't understand what Grisa was shouting, he saw the black muzzle of the gun aimed at him and knew that the situation was over, so he carefully placed the pistol on the table and raised his hands.
The small team led by Grisa easily occupied the German garrison headquarters and captured the commander, Colonel Kempka. The warehouse attacked by the second company commander Vasily personally led the troops also did not encounter any fierce fighting. After all,
This city has never been attacked by the Soviet army since it was occupied. Therefore, the defenders in the warehouse were not very vigilant. They only fired a few shots before laying down their weapons and surrendering.
After successively occupying the garrison commander and warehouse, the remaining sporadic enemies in the city no longer posed any threat, so Sokov and Belkin decided to report the matter to the army headquarters after discussion.
Before receiving Sokov's telegram, Rokossovsky was worried about him. Due to Lidyukov's sacrifice, the situation fell into chaos. Rokossovsky, who was busy dealing with the crisis, could not help but ignore it.
Istrian camp, so much so that they forgot to ask Malinin to send a message to Sokov, asking him to withdraw all the troops.
Now that the war situation has stabilized again, the Istrian battalion suddenly lost contact. Rokossovsky was so anxious that he kept urging the director of the communications corps, Maximenko: "Comrade director, keep calling Istria."
Camp Tra, we must find out where they are now? Are they surrounded by the Germans? Or have they broken through the encirclement and are moving closer to our army?"
After Maximenko recorded the order, he did not wait for the operator to send it out. One of the operators suddenly exclaimed, then turned to Rokossovsky who was standing aside and said: "Report to Comrade Commander, I have received the order."
Telegram from Camp Stella."
Hearing that there was a telegram from the Istrian camp, Rokossovsky, who was eager to know their situation, actually snatched the telegram from the operator's hand, brought it to his eyes and read it carefully. After reading the above
After reading the content, he couldn't help but said repeatedly: "Well done, well done! This Sokov did a great job!"
"Comrade Commander, what happened?" Malinin, who had just officially taken over as chief of staff of the group army, asked: "What did Sokov say in the telegram?"
Rokossovsky handed the telegram in his hand to Malinin and said excitedly: "Sokov said in the telegram that his troops have occupied Kursk."
"What, captured Kursk?" When Malinin heard the news, his first reaction was that it was impossible. A city as big as Kursk, let alone a battalion, even a division, could not be taken.
It could be won. But he felt that Rokossovsky would not talk nonsense, so he quickly took the telegram and read its contents carefully.
After seeing the telegram, Malinen pondered for a long time and said: "Comrade Commander, this victory comes at a very timely time. Kursk has an important material warehouse for the German army. Once it is occupied by our army, it will definitely affect the enemy's offensive plan.
, This buys us valuable time to adjust the deployment."
Rokossovsky walked to the map and looked at it for a while, and then said to Malinin: "Sokov is really a talent, he is really amazing. Several of our army groups were inextricably linked to the German army, and he fought with one battalion.
It is really remarkable that the situation between the enemy and ourselves in the direction of Voronezh has changed."
Malinin carefully reminded Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, once the Germans learn that Kursk is lost, they will definitely mobilize heavy troops to retake Kursk. I am worried that it will not be possible to rely on Sokov's battalion alone."