After a fierce battle, the first echelon of troops finally occupied the enemy's first line of defense. A battalion commander who directed the operation pulled out the signal gun inserted in his waist and fired a shot into the air.
The green signal flare told Sokov and Ivanov who were staying on Mamayev Hill: the position has been occupied.
Seeing the signal flare rising in the sky, Sokov said to Ivanov standing beside him: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, I think it is enough to have a regiment-level commander in the first line of defense that has been occupied.
If there are two regiment leaders, it is easy for the soldiers to not know whose orders they should follow, leading to a situation where they fight independently."
Ivanov heard the implication of Sokov's words, nodded and said: "You are right, comrade division commander. Then let Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko lead the 122nd Regiment command post and go forward to the newly occupied
The enemy's position. But Lieutenant Colonel Starcha's 124th Regiment command post continues to stay in place,"
Seeing that Ivanov agreed with his opinion, Sokov quickly picked up the phone and decisively gave Papuchenko an order: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, our army has occupied the enemy's first line of position, you should immediately send the command
The troops should be transferred there. In addition to commanding the troops to continue to advance, the results of the battle must also be tallied."
Then, he called Starcha, who was a little impatient, and said bluntly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I have ordered Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko to take his regiment command post and go to the front to take command.
The troops are here. You just stay in the current position and you are not allowed to move forward without my order. Do you understand?"
The habit of obedience developed in the army for a long time made Starcha feel dissatisfied with Sokov's arrangements, but he did not dare to disobey him. He could only bite the bullet and replied: "I understand, comrade division commander, I will continue to stay here."
We are waiting for your further instructions at our current position."
Besides, after Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko put down the phone, he immediately yelled at the people in the command post: "Hurry up and pack your things, we have to rush to the front position as soon as possible. Hurry up, we must not let the people of the 124th Regiment grab it.
In front of us."
The regiment chief of staff waited for Papuchenko to finish, and immediately asked the staff to pack up maps, documents, and communications soldiers to pack up communication equipment. When they were almost done, he walked to the door of the command post and headed towards the 124th regiment, which was more than 200 meters away.
Looking at the command post, he saw that although people were constantly coming in and out, there seemed to be no signs of transfer. He quickly retracted his body and said to Papuchenko who was about to walk out: "Comrade Commander,
Lieutenant Colonel Starcha and the others don't have any signs of transfer, so does the division headquarters just let our command post go to the front alone?"
"Hello, Starcha?" Papuchenko looked at the table in front of him, where there was a telephone that had not yet been evacuated. He quickly connected to the regiment command post of the 124th Regiment and asked loudly.
Said: "We are all going to the front, why are you still not making any movement?"
Starcha was already frustrated by not being able to go to the front to command the troops in combat. Now when he heard Papuchenko's sarcastic words, he felt even more uncomfortable. He raised his voice and said into the microphone: "Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko
, don’t make sarcastic remarks here. The division commander asked you to go to the front to command the troops because of his trust in you. If you don’t perform well and are unable to take down the second line of defense, I’ll see how you explain it to the division commander.”
"You don't have to worry about this." Knowing that only his regiment headquarters can move forward, which means that the troops occupying the enemy's positions will all be under his command, Papuchenko couldn't help feeling proud: "I will never do that.
Let the teacher and the others down."
Papuchenko led the regiment command post to the position where wisps of smoke were still rising. He found a complete shelter and set up his regiment command post here. Then he ordered the regiment chief of staff: "Staff
Commander, summon all the battalion commanders, and I will assign them the next task."
After he finished speaking, the regiment chief of staff asked tentatively: "Are we just the three battalion commanders of our regiment?"
"Call the three battalion commanders of the 124th Regiment as well." Papuchenko said proudly: "You know, they are also under my command now."
…
Just when Papuchenko convened a meeting with several battalion commanders, Sokov, who was staying in the observation post, was saying to Ivanov: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, I still didn't think carefully enough about this attack."
When Ivanov heard what Sokov said, he couldn't help but be stunned, and then asked: "Where is it not thorough enough?"
"The first echelon that entered the battle had the strength of two regiments." Sokov explained: "However, I did not designate a commander to command the two regiments, so our commanders and fighters could easily appear during the battle.
Because of the lack of unified command and the fact that each one is fighting independently, there is a possibility of being defeated by the enemy one by one."
"You are right, comrade division commander. The first echelon does need a commander for unified command." Regarding Sokov's mistake, Ivanov said euphemistically: "But after all, this is your first time as a commander.
Division-level commanders have no experience, so it is inevitable for such a situation to occur."
Seeing that Ivanov did not make any mistakes in his command, he sneered at himself. Sokov said humbly: "Colonel Ivanov, you have been a commander for many years and have rich command experience.
, in the future if you see anything I did wrong, be sure to point it out to me."
"Absolutely." Ivanov readily agreed to Sokov's request. But he quickly changed the subject: "By the way, comrade division commander, since we have taken down the enemy's first line of defense
, when will we attack in the enemy’s second direction?”
"Wait a minute." Sokov mentally estimated that Papuchenko's headquarters was not in place yet, and if he launched an attack in a hurry, the troops might become a ball of scattered sand, so he said cautiously: "Wait a minute.
Whenever Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko calls us, we will attack the enemy's second line of defense."
…………
When Sokov's troops were fighting for position with the enemy, the two infantry divisions in the direction of the Red October Factory had just launched an attack on the enemy's position under the cover of the tank troops. Since they only attacked the enemy's position after the artillery preparations were completed,
The position was attacked, giving the enemy enough time to recover from the bombardment.
The two tanks at the front were destroyed by the Romanian army's anti-tank guns. The infantry following behind were also killed by a combination of machine gun fire and mortars. A large number of them fell down suddenly. See
The infantry was suppressed by the enemy's firepower. Colonel Bely did not dare to let the tanks attack the enemy's position without infantry cover, so he could only order all the tanks to withdraw to their starting positions.
Chuikov learned that the attack launched from the direction of the Red October Factory ended in failure, and he was immediately furious: "Two infantry divisions plus a tank unit were unable to break through the enemy's position without any solid fortifications. These commanders are white
Is there something to eat?”
Seeing Chuikov getting angry, Khrushchev, who was sitting nearby, quickly persuaded him: "Comrade Chuikov, don't worry, the enemy is far more powerful than we imagined. Since the first attack failed, let's let the troops rest for a while.
, launch another attack, maybe it will succeed."
After saying these words, Khrushchev was silent for a moment and said to himself: "I wonder what happened to the attack in the direction of Mamayev Heights. Why is there no movement yet?"
Khrushchev's words reminded Chuikov. He realized that it was a bit strange that he had not received a call from Mamayev Heights from the beginning of the offensive to now. He quickly ordered Krylov: "Chief of Staff, please give me a call."
Make a phone call from Mamayev Ridge and ask them how the attack is going in that direction."
Krylov agreed, immediately picked up the phone on the table and called the division headquarters at Mamayev Ridge. After hearing Sidorin's voice from the receiver, he asked straight to the point: "Sidolin"
Lieutenant Colonel Lin, how is your attack there? Have you broken through the enemy's defense?"
"Report to Comrade Chief of Staff." Hearing that it was Krylov asking about the battle situation, Sidorin quickly replied: "Our first echelon has successfully broken through the enemy's defense and occupied the enemy's first line of defense."
"What, you have occupied the enemy's first line of defense?!" Sidorin's report surprised Krylov. He turned to look at Khrushchev and Chuikov, who were also surprised, and said angrily: "
Since you have occupied the enemy's position, why don't you report it to the army headquarters?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, what did you say? You didn't get any report?" Krylov's words also surprised Sidorin. He asked in confusion: "Didn't Comrade Division Commander report to you?"
From Sidorin's words, Krylov guessed that Sokov was definitely not at the headquarters, so he asked angrily: "Where did Sokov go?"
"He and the deputy division commander Colonel Ivanov went to the observation post on the top of the hill." Sidorin only knew at this moment that Sokov did not report the troops' occupation of the enemy's position to the headquarters at all, and quickly explained
: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I thought the division commander had already reported the battle situation to you, so I didn't call the headquarters."
After Sidorin's explanation, Krylov realized what the problem was. It must be that after the troops captured the enemy's position, Sokov, who stayed at the observation post on the top of the mountain, thought that Sidorin would report the battle situation to the headquarters.
Reporting, he no longer had to report. As for Sidorin, he thought that Sokov must have reported the battle situation as soon as possible, so he did not report to his superiors. This resulted in the troops occupying the enemy's position for a long time.
But the headquarters still knew nothing about this matter.
Krylov was curious about the fact that the 41st Guards Division could seize the enemy's position so quickly: "Lieutenant Colonel Sidorin, I want to ask, how can your troops seize the enemy's position so quickly?"
"That's it, Comrade Chief of Staff." Seeing that Krylov was eager to know the secret of the troops' victory, Sidorin introduced him: "Comrade Division Commander is worried that if we launch an attack on the enemy after the artillery preparations are completed, what will happen to us?"
The enemy had sufficient preparation time, causing the attacking troops to suffer huge losses. Therefore, as soon as the bombardment began, he ordered the troops to advance towards the enemy's positions."
"Oh my god," Krylov couldn't help but exclaimed when he heard this: "When our army's artillery fire preparations just started, Sokov ordered the troops to attack. Wasn't he worried that the artillery fire would accidentally injure the enemy?
One of our own?"
"No," Sidorin replied confidently: "After careful calculation, Comrade Division Commander, it takes about forty minutes to walk from Mamayev Heights to the enemy's position. After the artillery preparations were completed, our troops
Stay at a position no more than ten minutes away from the enemy's position. This way you will not only avoid accidental damage from our artillery fire, but you can also rush into the enemy's position in the shortest possible time."
After listening to how the troops of the 41st Guards Division attacked, Krylov said approvingly: "Lieutenant Colonel Sidorin, please convey my message to Colonel Sokov: You did a good job! I hope you will
We can seize the enemy's second line of defense as soon as possible and create favorable conditions for occupying the Razgulyaevka concession."
After Krylov put down the phone, he told Khrushchev and Chuikov the whole story, and said with emotion: "I thought it would be easier to achieve our goal by launching an attack from the direction of the Red October Factory.
.After all, we have invested two-thirds of our troops in this direction, plus dozens of T-34 tanks, so there should be no problem in breaking through the enemy's defense line. On the contrary, in the direction of Mamayev Hill..."
"It will be very difficult for the troops attacking in the direction of Mamayev Heights to break through the enemy's positions because they do not have the cover of tanks." Khrushchev interjected: "Am I right, Klay?
General Love?”
"I think," Chuikov said cautiously after Khrushchev finished speaking, "if the troops attacking from the direction of the Red October Factory were commanded by Sokov, they might have occupied the enemy's position at this moment. Don't look at it.
Among the three division commanders, he has the youngest qualifications and has served as a commander for the shortest time. But when it comes to fighting, let alone our group army, even if we take out all the division and brigade level commanders of the entire front army, there is not a single one.
His command level can surpass his."
"I have to admit that Sokov is indeed very good at fighting." Krylov said with a wry smile: "We old guys also have a huge gap in front of him. If he is allowed to be under the division commander's command,
After two years of training on the job, maybe his position will surpass ours and he will become our superior."
No one refuted Krylov's statement. On the contrary, Chuikov also echoed: "Chief of Staff, you are right. For example, General Rokossovsky, when the war broke out, he
He is just a commander of the mechanized army. But the war has only lasted a little more than a year, and he is now the commander of the front army. I think he will become a marshal sooner or later."