"Comrade battalion commander," the radio operator said to Serdyukov, "we are not far from the regiment headquarters. You can have a wireless conversation with the regiment commander without sending a telegram."
"Get me to the regimental headquarters immediately." Serdyukov felt that what the operator said was reasonable. There is no more inspiring message than reporting a victory verbally by telegraphing it, so he ordered the operator: "I want to personally report the situation here to the regimental commander.
Report."
After a quick operation, the operator handed the microphone and earphone to Serdyukov: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the call has been connected."
Serdyukov put the earphone to his ear, spoke into the microphone and said: "Report to the commander, our battalion has successfully occupied the municipal building, and I have arranged for several soldiers to plant the red flag. We only need to go through it again."
In a few minutes, our red flag will be flying over the Red Army City."
"Well done, Major Serdyukov. You did a great job." The regiment leader was overjoyed when he learned that the third battalion had successfully occupied the municipal building. He said excitedly: "But the enemy in the city is still in progress.
Resistance, our attack is not going well, you need to continue to hold on for a while before we can rush over to support you."
Serdyukov's battalion was able to easily capture the municipal building because of a lot of luck. First, after the artillery fire tore a hole in the enemy's defense line, Serdyukov led his troops to follow the fleeing enemy and rushed straight to the municipal building.
There was almost no interception by the enemy along the way. The enemy standing guard at the municipal building was a force directly under the Romanian Division. They usually performed some security tasks and had little combat experience, so they were bombed by several Soviet aircraft.
They couldn't wait to surrender. However, the Romanian soldiers in other areas were engaged in a tug-of-war with the Soviet army, fighting for every inch of territory.
Vasilenko saw that his three infantry regiments were attacking the city from three directions at the same time, but the progress was slow. He kept raising his hands to look at his watch, mentally calculating how long it would take before dark.
Seeing that Vasilenko was so anxious, the division chief of staff on the side comforted him and said: "Comrade division commander, don't worry, Serdyukov is a commander with rich combat experience. If his battalion is assigned to the assault mission, he will definitely be able to do it in the sky."
Black Qian took the municipal building."
As soon as the division chief of staff finished speaking, he heard the radio operator shouting: "Comrade division commander, the commander of the 44th Guards Regiment wants to speak to you."
Vasilenko walked up to the operator, took the earphone and microphone, and asked angrily: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, how is the situation of your regiment? Have you broken through the enemy's defense?"
"Not yet, Comrade Division Commander." Upon hearing Vasilenko's question, the regiment commander replied with some shame: "The Romanian soldiers were making a tenacious defense in the area where we attacked, and the attacks of the 1st and 2nd Battalions were unsuccessful.
At this moment, they are gathering in the cemetery outside the city, preparing to launch a new attack."
"What about the Serdyukov Battalion?" After learning that the 44th Guards Regiment was not progressing smoothly, Vasilenko's mood became even worse. He said into the microphone: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, don't forget what you promised me.
He said that you can put the red flag on the top of the Red Army City Municipal Building before dark."
"Comrade division commander," the regiment leader reported confidently after waiting for Vasilenko to finish: "I am calling you to report to you the progress of the Serdyukov camp. They have successfully occupied the municipal building.
, and put the red flag on the roof.”
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Vasilenko was stunned for a moment when he heard the news, and then asked cautiously: "Is this news reliable?"
"Completely reliable." The regiment leader, who had received the exact information, said in a positive tone: "Major Serdyukov reported it to me personally."
"That's great." After confirming that the news told by the regiment leader was true, Vasilenko breathed a sigh of relief and said: "I will report this good news to Comrade Commander immediately. Also, Lieutenant Colonel
Comrade, on my behalf, please extend my congratulations to all the officers and men of the Serdyukov Battalion and congratulate them on their great achievements in the battle."
After finishing the phone call with the commander of the 44th Guards Regiment, Vasilenko suddenly felt a little more confident. As long as the red flag was planted on the top of the Red Army City Municipal Building, he would nominally occupy the city, and he could also ask the commander for help.
The commander handed in the report. He told the operator: "Immediately call the group army headquarters. I want to report this good news to the commander."
A few minutes later, the radio operator connected to the radio station of the group army headquarters. Vasilenko reported to Tolbukhin with some pride: "Report to Comrade Commander, the 15th Guards Division reports to you that the 3rd Army Group of the 44th Regiment of our division has
The commanders and fighters of the battalion have successfully occupied the city hall of the Red Army City and planted the red flag on the roof."
"Is this true, General Vasilenko?" When Tolbukhin heard the news, he thought he had heard it wrong. He quickly asked again. After getting the accurate answer, his mood suddenly became happy.
: "Great. Although we only occupied the Red Army City in name only, it is a huge inspiration to all the commanders and fighters of the group army. You have made great achievements, and I will ask your superiors for credit."
As the commander of the group army, Tolbukhin had more issues to consider than Vasilenko. After ending the call, he called the chief of staff over and told him: "Comrade chief of staff, the commanders and fighters of the 15th Guards Division have successfully
They occupied the municipal building of the Red Army City and planted the red flag on the roof. You must immediately inform all the troops of this news to boost the morale of the commanders and soldiers."
"Understood, Comrade Commander." Naturally, the Chief of Staff was very happy to accept such an errand. He nodded vigorously and said loudly: "I will report this to all the troops immediately."
When Tanahishin learned that the troops of the 15th Guards Division had planted the red flag on the top of the municipal building in the Red Army City, he was immediately anxious. In order to break through the joint defense line of the German and Romanian troops as soon as possible, he drove his own
Tank, personally launched a charge towards the enemy's position.
Seeing the commander's tank charging at the front, the rest of the tank crews were like chicken blood, braving the enemy's artillery fire and charging forward without hesitation. Use tank guns to destroy the enemy's fortifications or artillery, and use machine guns to shoot those
The enemy rushed out and tried to blow up the tanks. In less than twenty minutes, nearly a hundred tanks of the tank army successfully broke through the enemy's defense line and quickly advanced the enemy in depth.
On the right wing of the 57th Group Army was Volski's Mechanized 4th Army. The offensive of this unit was like a red-hot knife cutting through butter, easily tearing through the Romanian army's weak defense line.
Advancing towards the intended destination - Schette. If they hadn't detached part of their troops to contain the 13th Tank Corps on the left to contain the German 29th Motorized Infantry Division, they could have reached their destination earlier.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, less than half an hour before dark, the commander of the tank brigade, who served as the vanguard, reported to Volski with excitement: "Comrade Commander, we are only a few minutes away from Shet."
To five kilometers. In front of us, there were fleeing Romanian troops everywhere, and no trace of fortifications was found."
"Comrade Colonel," Volski told the tank brigade commander through the microphone: "keep moving forward, keep moving forward, and get to the Scheit area as soon as possible to establish an overnight camp for the follow-up troops."
"Understood, Comrade Commander." The tank brigade commander quickly replied: "We will occupy the Shaite area as soon as possible and occupy an overnight camp for the follow-up troops."
After Volski put down the microphone and earphones, he said to his chief of staff: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the leading troops have approached the Shaite area, and ordered the follow-up troops to speed up and rush to join the tank brigade. I have ordered the tanks to
The brigade has established a night camp in Sheite, and we will spend the night in the Sheite area tonight."
"Comrade Commander," the Army Chief of Staff waited for Volski to finish speaking and then reminded him specifically: "The tank brigade responsible for the assault mission has probably run out of fuel and ammunition. Please see if you can arrange logistics to send them there.
?”
"Let the logistics troops move with us." After thinking for a moment, Volski said to the chief of staff: "This way there is no need to send special troops to ensure the safety of the transportation team."
…………
The 57th Group Army and the 4th Mechanized Army on the left achieved good results. However, the 51st Army on the right attacking from the Sarpa Lake area towards Beltovka made slow progress. The 271st Infantry Corps, which was responsible for the main offensive task,
and the 276th Division. During the attack, they were stubbornly blocked by the German 22nd Armored Division. Although the commanders and soldiers performed extremely tenaciously, they made little progress. They advanced less than three kilometers, but more than 3,000 people were sacrificed.
cost of casualties.
Seeing that his troops were performing so poorly, Army Group Commander Trufanov stamped his feet anxiously. He was somewhat at a loss and said to the Army Chief of Staff: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the troops on the left have successively broken through the enemy's
The defense line is developing in depth, but our group army has been fighting so far, but has not achieved any results. I am worried that if we continue like this, I may be criticized by our superiors."
"Comrade Commander, the terrain of the offensive area assigned to us by superiors is easy to defend and difficult to attack." After the chief of staff waited for Trufanov to finish speaking, he said helplessly: "There are hills everywhere here, it is impossible to attack at all.
We deploy our armored forces, and the enemy can use the terrain to block our attack at any location. Without powerful artillery or air support, it will be very difficult for us to break through the enemy's defenses in this area, even if we pay a huge price.
"
"Then what should we do?" Trufanov walked back and forth in the headquarters several times with his hands behind his back, then stopped and said to the Chief of Staff: "Chief of Staff, immediately call the 9th Infantry Division of the second echelon.
The corps commander called and ordered his troops to prepare for battle and be ready to take over the offensive tasks of the 271st and 276th Infantry Divisions at any time."
Seeing that the commander was a little confused because of his anxiety, the chief of staff swallowed his words of persuasion again and said insincerely: "Yes, comrade commander, I will immediately convey your order to the 9th Infantry Corps."
, let them be ready to take over the attack from the first echelon of troops."
Just when the chief of staff started dialing, the roar of aircraft engines came from the air. Hearing the deafening roar in the air, Trufanov couldn't help being startled. He quickly called a staff officer and told him:
"Go out and take a look. What's going on with the plane outside?"
The staff officer agreed, turned around and ran out of the headquarters. In less than two minutes, he ran back again and reported to Trufanov excitedly: "Comrade Commander, these are our planes, there are many of them, at least
Hundreds of them.”
When the chief of staff heard this, he immediately put down the phone, walked up to the staff and asked, "You read that right, are you sure it's our military's plane?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." The staff officer replied excitedly: "I can clearly see the red star on the fuselage. Yes, it is an attack aircraft of our army."
"Attack planes?!" The chief of staff heard that the ones coming were attack planes, not bombers or fighter jets. He couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. Then he thought of a possibility and quickly turned to Trufanov and said: "Comrade Commander, maybe this batch of
The planes are here to provide us with air cover."
"Provide us with air cover?" Trufanov didn't recover for a moment, and asked in confusion: "How to support?"
"Comrade Commander, haven't you heard that what appears in the sky are all attack aircraft that can attack the ground?" Seeing that Trufanov had not recovered, the Chief of Staff quickly explained to him: "Maybe these attack aircraft are all attack aircraft.
They were sent by our superiors to help us break through the German defense lines."
The words of the chief of staff soon became reality. This sudden air force attacked the German defense line in front of the 51st Army. The rockets carried by the attack aircraft were the nemesis of the German tanks. As long as they were discovered, a few of them would be destroyed.
The attack plane makes a dive and fires two rockets, which can turn the exposed tank into a burning torch.
The German army, which had lost the cover of its tanks, seemed somewhat powerless in the face of the Soviet attack, and was forced to retreat from some isolated positions to second-line positions in preparation for reorganizing new defenses.
News of the enemy's retreat soon reached the group army headquarters. The chief of staff said to Trufanov: "Comrade Commander, the enemy has been forced to retreat under the powerful blow of our air force and infantry. Look at us
Is it possible to put Lieutenant General Shapkin's 4th Cavalry Corps into the battlefield and use the impact speed of the horses to destroy the fleeing enemy?"
"You are right." Trufanov agreed with the chief of staff's proposal. He picked up the phone and personally assigned the task to the commander of the cavalry corps, Shapkin: "General Shapkin, this is Trufanov.
Fanov.”
Shapkin, who had been waiting for a combat mission, heard Trufanov's voice and knew that the mission of his cavalry army was coming. He quickly asked: "Comrade Commander, what is the combat mission of our army?"
"You see that the enemies in the front position are already in chaos, right?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." The observation post where Shapkin was located could clearly see the situation of the German defense line in the distance. He nodded quickly and replied: "The enemy is retreating from their position after being attacked by our air force.
Retreat."
"Since the enemy has begun to flee, your cavalry army will attack immediately." Trufanov ordered: "Overtake the attacking infantry, rush into the enemy's position, use your sabers and carbines, and destroy everything you see.