Although Sokov told Rotmistrov to report to Vatujing about his command of his troops attacking the Skeleton Division. However, it is unrealistic to completely conceal Vatujing for such a big war. More than ten minutes after the battle started, Vatujing learned about this through his own specific information channels.
Vatujing placed the information he received in front of Zhukov and Vasilevsky and said excitedly: "Two marshals, have you seen it? Although Konev promised to hand over the 27th Army to me to command, Sokov's order to me was slanderous. I ordered him to attack the flag guard division, but he pointed the attack's spearhead directly at the Skeleton Division. This is simply too unreasonable."
"Comrade Marshal," after hearing Vatutin's words, Vasilevsky said to Zhukov with a side face: "Among the enemies on Prokholovkashi, the Skeleton Division is indeed the weakest. They lost a large number of troops and technical equipment in the early battles. Even if the German army was already a defeated soldier, Comrade Sokov planned to destroy the enemy with the strength of a division, which I think is still a bit difficult."
"That's right, Marshal Zhukov." As soon as Huasilevsky finished speaking, Vatutin echoed: "The situation of the 69th Army is not optimistic now. Once the flag guard division and Kenfu battle clusters meet, they will be surrounded. Now Sokov does not obey my orders, but runs to attack the Skeleton Division. Once we are entangled by the enemy, we can only watch the 69th Army fall into the enemy's encirclement..."
Before Vatujing finished speaking, Zhukov interrupted his words and asked unexpectedly: "Comrade Vatujing, can you not fight without Misha's troops?"
"How is this possible, Comrade Marshal." After hearing Zhukov's questioning, Vatutin replied in a panic: "I am just thinking that if Sokov's troops could attack the Banner Guard Division as I intended, they might be able to quickly reverse the current unfavorable situation of our army."
Zhukov, who had been looking down at the map, waited for Vatutin to finish his speech, and looked up at him and said, "I think Misha's choice is correct. Priority is given to attacking the Skeleton Division. As long as this force can be defeated, the situation in the northwest direction of Prokokolovka City will become stable. Then Rotmistrov's troops will be freed up to attack the Flag Guard Division with Sokov's troops. Comrade Vatutin, tell me, is it easier for one unit to defeat the Flag Guard Division, or is it easier for two units to take joint actions?"
"Of course, it is easier to succeed when two troops act at the same time." After Vatuting said this without thinking, hesitatingly said: "But I am worried that Sokov's troops will not be able to defeat the Skeleton Division in a short time, so that they will be entangled by the enemy and will not be able to free up their hands to deal with the Flag Guard Division to the south."
"Comrade Watujing, you're overconfident." Zhukov said lightly: "Since the troops commanded by Misha can defeat the Skeleton Division once, then there is no big problem to defeat the Skeleton Division again. Besides, not only the Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division that was destroyed, but also the Flag Guard Division that gave you a headache, were once defeated by Misha's men. If Misha's troops first eliminate the Skeleton Division and then deal with the Flag Guard Division, the morale of the enemy will definitely be severely hit. At that time, we will be able to eliminate a low-motivated force, the price we pay will be much smaller."
Vatutin's worries and anxiety disappeared as Zhukov's recognition of Sokov suddenly disappeared. He even began to think about what unit should he send after Sokov's troops wiped out the Skeleton Division to assist them in attacking the German flag guard division together.
…………
When the 354th Division arrived at the attack position, the German scouts had already discovered them and reported the information to the division headquarters in time. When the division commander Simon learned that the Sokov troops were coming, he was frightened and sweated. He quickly issued an order to the commanders of each regiment to make them hurry up and repair the fortifications and make sure to complete the construction of the fortifications before tomorrow to fight against the possible attacks by the Sokov troops.
When the German regiment commanders learned that Sokov's troops had arrived, they dared not neglect, so they immediately ordered their soldiers to start repairing fortifications, striving to repair the fortifications that were destroyed in artillery fire a few days ago before dawn. After the German army seized this area, although the fortifications were repaired, they were worried about the counterattack from Prokholovka City, so the focus of the defense was placed on the east side. Now they suddenly faced threats from the west, so they could only cram for the moment, repair the fortifications overnight, and try to rely on the fortifications to resist the attack of Sokov's troops.
But what the Germans did not expect was that Sokov did not plan to rest for a night and attacked again until the next day and day. Before even the troops arrived, he couldn't wait to launch an attack. The first attacking troops actually rushed to Simon's division command in tanks.
Fifty tanks, riding on more than 400 infantry commanders and fighters, quickly passed through some small positions that were not strong in the German army and rushed straight to the location of the division.
When Simon learned of the Soviet tanks, he came straight to his division headquarters, and shouted at his guard battalion commander on the phone: "Major, order your subordinates to block the Russian tanks, and must block them, otherwise the division headquarters will be completely destroyed."
Although Simon ordered his troops to defend the dead, he did not dare to stay in the command center anymore. After all, a few months ago, he was captured by Sokov's troops. Even if he was later rescued by his subordinates, it would have become a stain on his military career. If the bearded man had not valued him, he would have been sent to the military court at this moment. It would have been a fantasy to want to become the commander of the Skeleton Division again.
"Chief of staff, our defense line cannot stop the Russians. The division headquarters needs to be transferred immediately, otherwise we will become prisoners of the Russians." Simon said to his chief of staff: "I will take the people first, and you will stay and take charge of the aftermath." After Simon said this, he fled to the grenade regiment in two armored personnel carriers.
Seeing the armored personnel carrier Simon was riding away, the chief of staff cursed in his heart: A coward who was afraid of death. Then he ordered the staff in the division command center and the correspondents began to dismantle the telephone and lines, and moved the things to the trucks outside one after another, trying to move them to a safe area.
The tank battalion commander who led the team to charge saw several brightly lit wooden houses in the distance. He guessed that it must be the German command, so he ordered his subordinates to stop and aim at the wooden houses in the distance to bombard the shelling.
Fifteen tanks stopped one after another, and they slowly aimed their muzzles at the wooden house in the distance. With the battalion commander's order to fire, fifteen tanks fired at the wooden house in the distance one after another. After only two rounds of fire, the wooden houses in the distance were shot one after another. After the violent explosion, the wooden houses were either blown into pieces or began to burn.
Seeing that the wooden house in the distance caught fire, the tank continued to sail forward, and the infantry on the tank body jumped off the tank, unfolded the battle formation, followed behind the tank, and rushed towards the enemy's position.
Although the officers and soldiers in charge of the security division were extremely tenacious, they could not stop the Soviet tanks rushing over because of their lack of effective anti-tank weapons. Even more deadly, the tanks were followed by Soviet infantry. They took advantage of the chaos of the defenders, quickly rushed into the trenches and fought with the soldiers inside.
When the soldiers saw the wooden house where the division headquarters was located, they were destroyed by Soviet tank artillery fire, the morale of the army was already in chaos. So much so that the Soviet commanders and fighters who rushed over with the tanks quickly gained the initiative after jumping into the trenches.
Just as the German army's resistance became weaker and weaker, the main force that had just arrived spread across the German army's defensive positions like a tide, and continued to rush forward with the tanks in front.
"Comrade Commander." After confirming that his troops had captured the German division headquarters, he reported to Shechtmann via radio station: "We have occupied the German division headquarters."
"You have occupied the German division headquarters?" Shechtmann was overjoyed when he heard this good news: "Have you caught General Simon, the commander of the Skeleton Division?"
"No, comrade Commander." The commander of the vanguard replied awkwardly: "When we arrived, the house was burning violently. Although there were many burnt corpses inside, when we interrogated the captives, we learned that the division commander Simon left the division commander before our tanks fired, leaving only his chief of staff, a group of staff, communication soldiers, etc.."
Shechtman felt very sorry when he learned that Simon had run away. He quickly asked, "Do you know where he has escaped?"
"I don't know, comrade commander." The commander replied truthfully: "The captive only knows that he took his men to take two armored personnel carriers and left the division headquarters. As for where he went, no one knows."
Sokov, who was standing by, heard this and quickly said to Shechtman: "Comrade Colonel, ask your subordinates, in which direction did the German armored vehicles go?"
"Lt. Colonel," Shechtmann hurriedly said to the microphone when he heard Sokov's orders: "Have you asked the prisoners, in which direction did Simon and his subordinates go?"
The other end of the phone fell silent, but Shechtman could vaguely hear some voices, as if the regiment commander was asking something. After a while, the voice of the regiment commander came from the headphones again: "Comrade Commander, according to the captain's confession, the armored personnel carrier Simon was riding in was retreating in the southeast..."
"Retreat in the southeast?" Sokov heard what the regiment commander said, immediately checked the map and studied where Simon might have fled. After looking at it for a while, he analyzed Simon's next stop based on the enemy-to-me situation on the map, and said to Shechtman: "Comrade Colonel, immediately notify your subordinates and order them to continue to advance in the northwest, and join the 18th Tank Army that was supporting the battle as soon as possible, and eliminate or severely damage the enemies who escaped from our defense zone."
"Comrade Commander," Shechtman said in confusion about the order issued by Sokov: "Didn't Simon flee to the southeast and look for his grenade regiment? Why don't we push southwest but attack in the northwest?"
"The reason is very simple." Sokov said lightly: "At this moment, when ordering the troops to go north, you can attack General Rotmistrov's tank 18th Army, and annihilate the main force of the Skeleton Division that has fallen into chaos. As for the grenadier regiment in the southeast, you can put the remaining infantry regiments and artillery regiments into battle, allowing them to eliminate as much of the German vitality as possible."
"I understand, Comrade Commander." After hearing Sokov's arrangement, Shechtmann said with understanding: "I immediately ordered the infantry and artillery regiments that are still on the position to attack the German army."
"First order the artillery to shell the German grenadiers' base." Sokov ordered Shechtmann to say: "When the shelling is in progress, the infantry regiment quickly advances towards the enemy's defensive position. When the shelling stops, the enemy has not yet recovered its favorable opportunity to quickly occupy the enemy's position."
Shechtman had inexplicable confidence in Sokov's arrangement, and this confidence was established by countless victories he had achieved. He did not question Sokov's orders, but truthfully conveyed Sokov's latest orders to his several commanders.
After Colonel Shechtmann's order was issued, except for a few troops who left to clear away the remaining enemies, the rest immediately turned around and continued to attack those enemies who were still rushing to repair fortifications.
The 18th Tank Army stationed on the October Farm has been confronting the German army for two days. Two hours ago, the commander of the army, Major General Baharov, received a call from Rotmistrov, saying that Sokov's troops were about to attack the Skeleton Division, hoping that he could take active action and cooperate with Sokov to eliminate the enemy.
Baharov was very resistant to Rotmistrov's order. His troops and the 29th Tank Army fought with the enemy for two days, but they were still trapped in the October Farm and could not move forward. Why do you say that Sokov's troops could crush the enemy's resistance when they arrived?
After dark, he listened to the gunshots and explosions coming from outside, and murmured in his heart that if the guns and cannons stopped, it would prove that the attack of friendly troops was shattered by the Germans. Then he could temporarily hold his troops and wait until the friendly troops had the strength to rush to the near-farm, and it would not be too late to send troops to help him.
The guns and cannons lasted not long and were soon stopped. Just as Baharov sighed for the failure of his friendly forces' attack, a staff officer came in from outside and reported to him: "Comrade Commander, the friendly forces are attacking the flanks of our frontal enemies. Should we help them?"
"What, what are you saying?" Baharov thought he had heard it wrong, so he asked the staff officer: "What did you just say, what are our friendly forces doing?"
"Report to the commander," the staff officer reported to him: "Friends are attacking the enemy's flanks. Do we need to help them?"
"Come here on the map." Baharov did not easily believe the staff's report, but called him to the wall and pointed to the map hanging above and said, "Sign up the location of friendly forces to me."
"Here, Comrade Commander." The staff officer picked up the explanation stick beside the wall, pointed to the southwest of October Farm, and said to Baharov: "Based on the information we have, after attacking the division headquarters of the Skeleton Division, the friendly forces immediately turned north and attacked the side and rear of the Skeleton Division... The battle is currently ongoing fiercely. Do we need to help them?"
Chapter completed!