"Comrade Battalion Commander," said the radio operator to Serdukov: "We are not far from the regiment headquarters. You can make wireless calls with the regiment commander without sending telegrams."
"Catch me the regiment headquarters immediately." Serdukov felt that the radio operator made sense. It was more inspiring to send telegrams to report victory than to verbal victory, so he ordered the radio operator: "I will report the situation here personally to the regiment commander."
After the radio operator quickly operated it, he handed the sender and headphones in his hand to Serdukov: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the phone number has been connected."
Sherdokov held the headphones and put them in his ear, and spoke to the sender, "Report to the commander of the regiment, my battalion has successfully occupied the municipal building, and I have arranged a few soldiers to plant the red flag. In just a few minutes, our red flag will be able to float over the Red Army City."
"Good, Major Serdukov. You did a great job." The regiment commander was overjoyed to learn that the Third Battalion had successfully occupied the municipal building. He said excitedly: "But the enemy in the city is still fighting stubbornly. Our attack is not going well. You still need to continue to hold on for a while before we can rush over and support you."
The Serdukov Battalion was very lucky to be able to easily take down the municipal building. First, after artillery fire broke the gap in the enemy's defense line, Serdukov led his troops to follow the fleeing enemy and rushed straight to the municipal building. He was almost never intercepted by the enemy along the way. The enemy who was standing in the municipal building was also the direct troops of the Romanian Division. They usually took on some defense tasks and had no combat experience. Therefore, they were bombarded by several Soviet aircraft and could not wait to surrender. The Romanian soldiers in other areas were fighting for a tug-of-war with the Soviet army.
Vasilenko saw his three infantry regiments attacking the city from three directions at the same time, but the progress was slow. He kept raising his hand to look at his watch, calculating in his mind how long it would be dark.
The chief of staff of the division saw that Vasilenko was so anxious, comforted him and said, "Comrade Commander, don't worry, Serdukov is a commander with rich combat experience. If his battalion is on the assault mission, he will definitely take down the municipal building before dark."
As soon as the Chief of Staff of the Division finished his words, he heard the radio operator shouting: "Comrade Commander, the Commander of the 44th Guards Regiment is going to call you."
Vasilenko walked to the radio operator, took the headphones and the sender, and asked angrily: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, how is your regiment going? Have you broken through the enemy's defense?"
"Not yet, comrade of the division commander." Hearing Vasilenko's question, the regiment commander replied with shame: "Which Romanian soldiers were in a tenacious defense in the area we attacked, the attacks of the first and second battalions were not successful. At this moment, they were gathering in the cemetery outside the city and preparing to launch a new attack again."
"What about Serdukov's Battalion?" Vasilenko's mood became worse when he learned that the 44th Guards Regiment was not going well, and he said to the microphone: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, don't forget that you promised me that you can put the red flag on the top of the Red Army's Urban Affairs Building before dark."
"Comrade Commander," the regiment commander waited for Vasilenko to finish his speech, and reported with confidence: "I call you to report to you the progress of the Serdukov camp. They have successfully occupied the municipal building and inserted the red flag on the roof."
"Lt. Colonel," Vasilenko was stunned when he heard the news, and then asked cautiously: "Is this news reliable?"
"Full reliable." The leader, who had received the exact news, said in a positive tone: "It was Major Serdukov who reported to me personally."
"That's great." After confirming that the news that the regiment commander said was true, Vasilenko breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I will immediately report the good news by Comrade Commander. Also, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, on my behalf, please congratulate all the commanders and fighters of the Serdukov Battalion, and congratulate them on their great achievements in the battle."
After finishing his phone call with the commander of the 44th Guards Regiment, Vasilianko immediately had some confidence. As long as the red flag was inserted into the top of the municipal building of the Red Army City and decided to occupy the city in name, he could also submit an assignment to the commander. He instructed the operator: "Immediately connect to the Army Command, and 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 Command. Vasilenko reported to Tolbuhin with some pride: "Report Commander, Comrade of the 15th Guards Division, to you, the commanders and fighters of the Third Battalion of the 44th Regiment of our Division have successfully occupied the municipal hall of the Red Army City and inserted the red flag on the roof."
"Is this true, General Vasilenko?" When Tolbuhin heard the news, he thought he had heard it wrong. He quickly asked again. After receiving the accurate answer, his mood suddenly became happy: "It's great. Although it only occupied the Red Army City in name only, it is a huge encouragement to all the commanders and fighters of the group army. If you have made great contributions, I will ask you for me from your superiors."
As the commander of the army, Tolbuhin considered the issue of Vasilenkodo. After finishing the call, he called the Chief of Staff and told him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the commanders and fighters of the 15th Guards Division have successfully occupied the municipal building of the Red Army City and put the red flag on the roof. You must immediately inform all the troops to encourage the morale of the commanders and fighters."
"I understand, Comrade Commander." The Chief of Staff was naturally very happy to accept such an errand. He nodded vigorously and said loudly: "I will immediately inform all the troops."
When Tanashishen learned that the troops of the 15th Guards Division had already planted the red flag on the top of the municipal building of the Red Army City, he was immediately anxious. In order to break through the joint defense line between the German and Romanian troops as soon as possible, he drove his own tank and personally launched a charge towards the enemy's position.
Seeing the commander's tank rushing in front, the other tank soldiers were like chicken blood, braved the enemy's artillery fire and charged forward without hesitation. They used tank guns to destroy the enemy's fortifications or artillery, and used machine guns to shoot the enemies who rushed out to try to blow up the tank. In less than twenty minutes, nearly 100 tanks of the Tank Army successfully broke through the enemy's defense line and quickly advanced in depth.
On the right wing of the 57th Army, Volsky's mechanized 4th Army. The offensive of this army easily tore open the unstable defense line of the Romanian army like a red sharp knife cutting butter and advances towards the predetermined destination, Schet. If they had not divided part of the troops to restrain the 29th MoF Division of the German Army in order to support the left-wing tank 13th Army, they could have arrived at their destination earlier.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, less than half an hour before darkness, the brigade commander of the Tank Brigade, who served as the vanguard, reported to Wolsky with an excited expression: "Comrade Commander, we are less than five kilometers away from Schet. In front of us, there were fleeing Romanian troops everywhere, and no trace of fortifications was found."
"Comrade Colonel," Wolsky told the tank brigade commander through a megaphone: "Keep on, keep moving forward, and get to the Shet area as soon as possible to establish overnight camps for the follow-up troops."
"I understand, comrade commander." The tank brigade commander quickly replied: "We will occupy the Shet area as soon as possible to occupy the camp for overnight stays for the subsequent troops."
After putting down the sender and headphones, Wolsky said to his chief of staff: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the vanguard has approached the Shet area, and ordered the follow-up troops to speed up and rush to meet with the Tank Brigade. I have ordered the Tank Brigade to establish a night camp in Shet, and we will spend the night in Shet area tonight."
"Comrade Commander," the Chief of Staff, after Warsky finished speaking, he specifically reminded him: "The tank brigade that was carrying out assault missions may have almost consumed fuel and ammunition. Do you see if the logistics will be arranged to send them?"
"Let the logistics forces act with us." After thinking for a while, Wolsky said to the Chief of Staff: "In this way, there is no need to send special troops to ensure the safety of the transport team."
…………
The 57th Army and the 4th Army on the left wing both achieved good results. However, the 51st Army on the right wing attacked Bertovka from the Salpa Lake area, progressed slowly. The 271st and 276th Infantry Divisions, who were responsible for the main attack mission, were stubbornly blocked by the 22nd Armored Division of the German Army during the attack. Although the commanders and fighters performed extremely tenaciously, they did not make any progress. They advanced less than three kilometers, but also paid the price of casualties of more than 3,000 people.
Seeing his troops performing so poorly, the commander of the Army Group Army Trofanov stomped his feet in a hurry. He said to the Chief of Staff of the Army Group, "Comrade Chief of Staff, the left-wing troops have successively broken through the enemy's defense line and developed in depth. However, the battle between our army Group has not achieved any results. I am worried that if this continues, I may be criticized by superiors."
"Comrade Commander, the terrain of the attacking area assigned to us by our superiors is easy to defend but difficult to attack." After the Chief of Staff and Trufanov finished speaking, he said helplessly: "There are hills everywhere here, and it is impossible to deploy armored troops at all, but the enemy can use the terrain to block our attack in any area. Without strong artillery or air support, it is very difficult for us to break through the enemy's defense in this area even if it pays a huge price."
"What should we do?" Trufanov, after walking back and forth in the command center with his hands behind his back, stopped and said to the Chief of Staff: "Chief of Staff, immediately call the commander of the 9th Infantry Army of the Second Echelon, and order his troops to be ready to fight and be ready to take over the offensive missions of the 271st and 276th Infantry Divisions at any time."
Seeing that the commander was already a little confused because of his anxiety, the Chief of Staff had spoken all the persuasion, and swallowed it back again. He said insincerely: "Yes, Comrade Commander, I will immediately convey your order to the 9th Infantry Army, so that they can prepare to take over the attack of the first echelon."
Just as the chief of staff began dialing, the roar of the aircraft engine came from the air. Hearing the deafening roar in the air, Trufanov was shocked. He quickly called a staff officer and told him, "Go out and see, what's going on with the plane outside?"
The staff officer agreed and turned around and ran out of the command center. In less than two minutes, he ran back again and reported to Trufanov with an excited look on his face, "Comrade Commander, it is our plane, with a lot of aircraft, at least hundreds."
When the chief of staff heard this, he immediately put down the microphone, walked to the staff and asked, "You are not mistaken, are you sure it is our army's plane?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." The staff member replied excitedly: "I can see the red star on the fuselage clearly. Yes, it is our army's attack aircraft."
"Strike planes?!" The Chief of Staff heard that all the attack planes were coming, not bombers or fighters, so he was stunned for a moment. Then he thought of a possibility and quickly turned around and said to Trufanov: "Comrade Commander, maybe these planes are here to provide us with air cover."
"Provide air cover for us?" Trufanov didn't come back to his senses for a moment, and asked in a confused look: "How to support?"
"Comrade Commander, have you not heard that all the attack aircraft appear in the sky that can attack the ground." Seeing that Trufanov had not come back to his senses, the Chief of Staff quickly explained to him: "Maybe these attack aircraft are all sent by superiors to assist us in breaking through the German defense line."
The Chief of Staff's words soon became a reality. This sudden air force attacked the German defense line in front of the 51st Army. The rockets carried by the strike plane were the nemesis of German tanks. As long as they were discovered, several strike planes dive and fired two rockets, they could turn the exposed tanks into burning torches.
The German army, which had lost the cover of tanks, seemed a little overwhelmed in the face of the Soviet attack and was forced to retreat from some isolated positions to the second-line positions, preparing to reorganize new defenses.
The news of the enemy's retreat soon reached the Army Command. The Chief of Staff said to Trufanov: "Comrade Commander, the enemy has been forced to retreat under the powerful attack of our air force and infantry. Do you see if we can put Lieutenant General Shapkin's 4th cavalry army into the battlefield and use the speed of the horse's impact to eliminate the fleeing enemy?"
"You are right." Trufanov expressed his approval for the Chief of Staff's proposal. He picked up the phone and personally assigned a task to Shapukin, the chief of the cavalry army: "General Shapukin, I am Trufanov."
Shapkin, who had been waiting for the combat mission, heard Trufanov's voice and knew that the mission of his cavalry army had come. He hurriedly asked: "Comrade Commander, what is the combat mission of our army?"
"You see the enemy on the front position, you are already in chaos, right?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." The observation center 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 the position after being hit by our air force."
Chapter completed!