The German army's counterattack from the town this time was only weak resistance. After less than ten casualties, they reoccupied the lost positions.
The German commander who regained the position proudly reported to Major General Val through the on-board radio station on the armored vehicle: "Your Excellency the Division Commander, my subordinates and I have stood on the position we had lost again."
"Very good," after hearing this exciting news, Major General Val quickly reminded the other party: "Order the troops to hurry up and repair the fortifications and be prepared to smash the Russian attack."
Major General Val soon reported to Hauser about retaking the Zhennan position, and finally said: "God General, in order to strengthen our defense here, I need a lot of cement to build fortifications."
"Major General Val, you know that this damn spring in Russia has filled all our fortifications with water, and the cement stored is soaked in pieces. If you need cement, we must also go to the rear to transport it."
"God General," Major General Val felt very uncomfortable when he saw that Hauser was unwilling to provide cement for himself, and he emphasized specifically: "Our division's defense zone is Sokov's troops. I don't know when they will attack us again. I only know that if there are no strong fortifications, then the loss of the town of Rokinsik is only a matter of time."
Seeing Major General Val brought the town of Roginsik to tell the matter, Hauser had no choice but to give in: "Well, Major General Val, since you said that, I can provide you with a certain amount of cement. But you also know that we do not have such things here, and we must transport them from the other side of the Dnieper River, so it may take a longer time. Before the cement is encountered, I hope you can block the Russian attack."
Since Haussel was willing to provide cement for his troops, Major General Val felt much more at ease. He quickly replied: "Don't worry, General. As long as my division headquarters is in Luojinsik Town, the Russians will not go further."
When Major General Val said this, he never dreamed that the reason why his troops could regain Zhennan's position so easily was just a trap Sokov dug for him, that was, to stabilize his troops in this area so that he could implement the next plan.
From the next day, Major General Val discovered that his nightmare had come.
Originally, the supply convoy arrived in the morning, but in the afternoon, there was no sign of it. Major General Val couldn't help but feel anxious. He quickly called Hauser to ask: "God General, I want to ask, when will your supply convoy arrive?"
"The convoy that provided you with supplies set off three and a half hours ago." Haussel was stunned when he heard Major General Val's question, and then asked back: "Why, haven't you been delivered yet?"
"No." Major General Val was also surprised. The convoy from Balvinkovo ​​only took an hour and a half to reach the town of Rokinsik. Why has it been so long that there is no movement? He asked tentatively: "God General, will there be no accident on the road?"
"Accident, what accident?" Hausel asked with dissatisfaction when he heard Major General Val say this: "Do you think that the convoys that provide you with supplies will be bombed by the Russian Air Force just like the convoys that transport supplies to the Skeleton Division?"
However, as soon as Haussel finished speaking, his adjutant ran over and hurriedly reported: "God of General, something is wrong."
"What happened?" Haussel quickly covered the microphone with his hands and asked his adjutant dissatisfiedly: "Don't you know that as a German officer, it is a basic quality to remain calm at any time?"
The adjutant, who was scolded by Hauser, dared not refute, and could only stand in front of him with his hands down.
After scolding his adjutant, Hauser asked casually: "Tell me, what happened again? Did you find the guerrillas nearby?"
"Your Excellency General, you didn't find the guerrillas." The adjutant replied in a panic: "The convoy that transported materials to the Imperial Division was bombed by the Russians on the way, and the entire army was destroyed."
"What, the convoy of supplies transported to the Imperial Division was also bombarded by the Russian Air Force?" Haussel shouted in surprise: "Hell, how is this possible? How could the Russians know when we will deliver supplies to the Imperial Division's troops?"
"God of General," said the adjutant carefully: "As far as I know, the Russians have been operating in the sky. He may have discovered traces of the transport convoy, so he called the bomber to assist in the war."
Hauser was excited for a moment and did not notice that his hand had been removed from the microphone, which meant that what he said could be heard clearly by Major General Val on the other end of the phone. But Hauser obviously did not realize this, and he shouted at the adjutant, "Immediately contact Colonel Ximeng of the Skeleton Division and ask about their defense zone, as if the Russian reconnaissance plane was wandering."
After sending the adjutant away, Haussel realized that what he had just said might have been heard by Major General Val. He said to the microphone with some embarrassment: "Major General Val, don't worry, we will transport supplies for you again soon."
After hanging up the phone, Hauser thought about it more and more, why did his transportation line be bombed by Russian planes recently and his losses exceeded 100 trucks? Although these lost trucks can be replenished in the shortest time, the supply work of the Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division will be seriously affected before the new truck arrives.
Hauser quickly called the Manstein headquarters and reported the situation here to Manstein. After listening to Hauser's report, Manstein pondered for a long time and finally said, "General Hauser, I think you may have fallen into the trap of the Russians. Look at the locations of the Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division. Once the Russians continue to bomb, their supplies will be interrupted, and even if they want to retreat, they will not be able to withdraw."
"Why can't you withdraw?"
"You idiot, a natural idiot." Seeing that Haussel didn't understand what he meant, Manstein couldn't help but curse: "If the Russians keep raiding your transportation line, then the two divisions you deployed at the forefront will soon face the situation of destruction of the entire army. Even if you find that something is wrong, if you want to retreat, you may not be able to get rid of the Russians in front of you. You must know that the Sokov you are facing is a headache for me."
After hearing what Manstein said, Haussel was immediately shocked and sweated. You should know that he was commanding the three most elite SSs in the German army. If they were really annihilated by the Soviet army, then the military court would be waiting for him. He asked Manstein with a bitter face: "Marson Marshal, what should we do?"
"What should I do, what else can I do under the current circumstances?" Manstein roared: "I can only continue to transport supplies to the Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division. In order to ensure that our traffic lines are smooth, I will dispatch the air force to cover the air and eliminate the Russian air force."
Sokov had long expected that he would frequently dispatch air force to attack the German traffic lines, and the enemy would dispatch fighters to deal with his air force. So he issued an order to Colonel Nemtevich, the commander of the 205th Division of the Fighter Air Force, to ensure that the two fighter squadrons were on standby at any time. Once the bomber on the side was attacked by the German army, he would be dispatched immediately.
The day after he issued the order, the bomber formation that attacked the Skeleton Division transport line was attacked by two German fighters. The German pilots were skilled in technology and had rich combat experience. In just two minutes, they shot down one Soviet bomber and injured one. The remaining two were unable to get rid of the enemy for the time being, and they did not dare to retreat to the airport, so as not to lead the enemy to the field airport.
Fortunately, when Sokov learned of this situation, he immediately ordered two fighter squadrons at the airport to take off and rush to fight against the enemy planes. After a fierce battle, the Soviet army successfully shot down two German fighters after losing another fighter and a bomber.
In this way, in the following days, air combat on the transportation line was going on almost every day. Although the Soviet pilots shot down many enemies, they still paid a considerable price.
During the time when Sokov sent bombers to harass the German transport line, Rokosovsky, in the rear, was very happy to hear the results of the war every day, but soon, he found that the situation had changed. Not only did the fuel and ammunition of the plane rise sharply, but the losses of the pilot and the plane were also not small.
"Major General Sokov," Rokosovsky called the Sixth Army Command and asked Sokov in a stern tone: "Explain me what's going on? Why have you lost so many planes and pilots during this period?"
"Report to the commander of the Front Army," Sokov couldn't help but smile with a wry smile: "The Germans may have noticed my plan and knew that I planned to put the Imperial Division and Skeleton Division bordering us into a place where the ammunition and food were exhausted by attacking the transportation line, so a large number of fighter planes were dispatched to ensure their transportation safety. In order to eliminate the enemy's fighter planes, some casualties inevitably occurred in our air force."
"Major General Sokov," Rokosovsky knew that Sokov was justified, but when he thought of the casualties, he was furious: "You must know how difficult it is to train a pilot. But in order to implement your plan, you lost more than 20 excellent pilots in just one week, causing the combat effectiveness of the aviation division to which your group army was affiliated. I want to ask you, when do you plan to stop such an air raid?"
"Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Sokov heard Rokosovsky's voice outside the painting, and knew that he wanted to give up the tactic of using the air force to block the enemy's traffic lines. He quickly said loudly: "We have been attacking the enemy's transportation lines for almost ten days, and the officers and soldiers of the Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division are now facing a situation of food loss. As long as they persist for another two days, they will basically lose their combat effectiveness, and then we can launch a full-scale attack on them."
"If you launch an attack, what kind of results do you think you can achieve?" Rokosovsky asked.
"Report to the commander of the Front Army," Sokov, after he pondered for a moment, gritted his back teeth and said, "If you can provide support for us and supplement our recent losses of aircraft and pilots, I can assure you that the attack we launched in three days will definitely damage or even wipe out these two SSs."
Originally, Rokosovsky was about to ask Sokov to give up, but when he heard him say he was sure to hurt or even wipe out the Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division, his eyes lit up and he quickly asked, "Are you all saying true?"
"Of course it's true?" Sokov replied, "If you can replenish enough pilots and aircraft for me, then we are confident that the Germans will not get any supplement before being attacked by our army. According to the situation I have, the enemy of the Imperial Division consumed a lot of ammunition when consolidating the defense line of Luojinsik, and then we were attacked continuously by our uninterrupted attacks, and never received any supplements. If I chose the main defense line of the attack in Luojinsik, after destroying the Imperial Division, then detoured to the rear of the Skeleton Division and cut off their retreat, and then there would be no big problem to annihilate the enemy."
After listening to Sokov's plan, Rokosovsky stared at the map on the wall for a long time, and said, "Okay, Major General Sokov, since you said that, I will choose to believe you. I will discuss with the commander of the Air Force Group Army and ask him to dispatch a few more fighter squadrons to the Red Army Village."
Sokov put down the phone, wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hands, and said to Vitkov and Lunev on the side: "Military committee member, chief of staff, and commander of the front army agreed to send us a few more fighter squadrons. I think with these fighter squadrons, the chances of eliminating the enemy air force will be improved."
Witkov's attention was obviously not focused on air supremacy over the transportation line. He asked in surprise: "Comrade Commander, are you really going to launch an attack on the German army in Rokinsik town in three days?"
"I not only have to attack the Imperial Division, but also attack the Skeleton Division." Sokov pointed to the map and said to the two: "When these two German divisions were attacked by us at the same time, they could not provide support to each other. The troops far away in Balvinkovo, even if they wanted to come for rescue, were one step too late and could only watch their troops be wiped out by us."
Chapter completed!