Chapter 100: The Consequences of Reckless Advancement
Sukhinichi is a city located 150 kilometers southwest of Kaluga. Normally, this place seems a little inconspicuous, but in wartime , its status suddenly becomes prominent, especially at this time.
When the counterattack campaign was launched, Sukhinich, a city located on the left wing of the Western Front, belonged to the combat area of the Tenth Army commanded by Comrade Philip Ivanovich Golikov. Fundamentally speaking, it had no connection with the combat area of the Sixteenth Army.
But just four days ago, the Tenth Army, which had been advancing smoothly during the counterattack, suffered a heavy blow when its flank was attacked by the German army. The front line that was stretched too long due to the attack became the biggest loophole, and the army command suddenly lost effective control over the troops and positions.
Soon after, Sukhnić fell and the Germans occupied the city, cutting the 10th Army's forces in two and, at the same time, cutting off the retreat of the forces attacking in the direction of Kiev.
Although Comrade Golikov said that he could regain control of the troops in the shortest possible time and recapture the lost Sukhinich, the Supreme Command and the Western Front Command obviously trusted Rokossovsky, who had performed outstandingly before, and the commanders of the 16th Army led by him. Therefore, the entire headquarters of the 16th Army had to leave the front battlefield depressed and ran to the damn left wing, and Yuri had to hand over the command of the 133rd Division and move to the left wing.
Compared with the Klin direction, the snow in the Kaluga direction has undoubtedly fallen heavier in the past period of time. The snow in most places is waist-deep, and no vehicle can pass under such conditions.
Yuri followed all members of the army headquarters and first went to Moscow. After staying in Moscow for one night, they went to Obninsk. However, the road from Obninsk to Kaluga was impassable by cars, so the group had to switch to sleds to continue on their way.
During this period, the Soviet troops on the left wing had just liberated Kaluga and had not established a solid defense line, and had not even had time to clear the rear, so the journey was still very dangerous. Most importantly, German aircraft were active in this area, and often two or three waves of German aircraft could be seen passing in half an hour, which undoubtedly increased the risk factor.
Fortunately, despite various dangers, on the third day after receiving the transfer order, the army headquarters successfully arrived at its destination, Meshevsk, which was the temporary headquarters of the army. According to Rokossovsky's plan, he would take over all the troops of the former Tenth Army here.
Meshevsk was a small town. When the 16th Army Headquarters moved in, the Internal Security Forces had already begun to organize citizens to clean the snow and waste left by the German army on the streets.
It can be seen that the German army retreated very hastily, and due to the heavy snow, almost starting from Kaluga, destroyed and abandoned tanks, artillery and various vehicles could often be seen on both sides of the road.
When the Germans retreated, they abandoned everything they could not take away, but took away everything they could, including the food that the citizens depended on for survival. Previously, the 10th Army's troops pushed through the city without stopping, so many people starved to death in the city in the next few days.
Fortunately, with the arrival of the 16th Army Command, especially with the arrival of the Internal Security Army, six temporary food distribution stations were established in the city center to distribute food and warm clothing to local residents.
When Yuri came out of the headquarters with Arseni and several guards, it was already dark, and the Internal Guards had organized the citizens to clean up the snow and waste on the streets. But although the garbage and snow could be cleaned up, this city that was destroyed by the war could not be restored to its original appearance in a short time.
Walking on the unknown street, Yuri felt inexplicably depressed. Perhaps it was because of the snow. In gloomy weather, most people would not be in a good mood.
The one walking in front was a comrade from the temporary municipal service station, a captain of the Internal Guard. Now that the city was under military control , any temporary department in the city was staffed by officers of the Internal Guard. The captain, who was leading the way, was going to take Yuri to his temporary residence. According to the captain, it was a relatively well-preserved house, close to the street, and in the city center.
After coming out of the headquarters and walking along the street for less than five minutes, the captain stopped and pointed to a two-story traditional Russian house on the street. He said to Yuri: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, this is it. We..."
As he was speaking, the door of the small building was opened from the inside. A soldier of the Internal Security Army with a gun on his back came out first, and following closely behind him were two young men in ordinary clothes.
"...Traitors like this must be given the most severe punishment. I think they should be shot directly!" The two young men did not see Yuri and his group at the door. One of them was still chattering, "Oh, I also know that the Petrov family also provided help to the Germans. They took in a fascist officer. The officer lived in their home for almost a month and left last week."
When the young man said this, he turned his head and was shocked to see a group of soldiers standing at the door. He was startled, then quickly bent down and looked at Yuri with a flattering look.
The soldier of the Internal Guard who led the two young men out saluted Yuri, and then saluted the captain of the Internal Guard.
"Is the house ready?" the captain said, obviously knowing the soldier.
"It has been sorted out , Comrade Captain," the soldier replied, "but we have learned some new information. The owner of this house has provided assistance to the fascists before, and some fascist signalmen have lived here for a period of time."
After a pause, the soldier added, "Also, the owner of this house can speak German and I heard he studied in Germany."
"Oh," the captain nodded and praised, "This situation is very important. We must record it and verify it strictly. We must not let any fascist spy go."
"Yes, Comrade Captain!" The soldier stood up and saluted to show that he accepted the order.
Yuri was listening to this report and was very dissatisfied with it. Providing accommodation to the German army or speaking German could not be used as evidence to judge a spy. The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs had very strict regulations on how to define collaborators and spies. But then again, regulations are just regulations after all, and the people who implement them are still the people below. In such a small place, many strict regulations have become loose.
But Yuri didn't think of getting involved in such matters. After all, even if he tried to take care of such trivial matters, he wouldn't be able to handle them.
As he walked into the building, Yuri finally felt a little warmth. He was almost frozen to death during the whole sled ride.
Asking Arseni to boil some hot water, Yuri simply washed himself, skipped dinner, and went straight to bed. At 3 a.m., Commander Chernyshev would lead his troops over, which was the only unit from the 16th Army. At that time, Yuri would meet with Chernyshev to learn about his troops.
After a simple wash, Yuri went to bed and tried to get some sleep to refresh himself. But before he got to bed, he felt so exhausted that he wanted to fall asleep right away. But when he really lay down on the bed, he couldn't fall asleep. His mind was full of thoughts, which made his eyelids twitch and he couldn't calm down at all.
Of course, the most important thing to consider is the war. Today, the situation of the 10th Army is not good. The main problem is that the various units under the army are too stretched. From Kaluga to Meshevsk, and then to the outer area of Sukhnichi southwest of Meshevsk, the four divisions and a tank brigade under the army are scattered in this vast area with a defense line width of 60 kilometers and a depth of more than 200 kilometers.
As long as he thought about this situation, Yuri felt a headache. How could the troops fight when they were so scattered? The weather was so bad and the roads were so difficult to travel. Not to mention anything else, just contacting these troops was a big problem.
There was no way. It was all because the previous counterattack was too successful. The commanders of each unit were so excited that they pushed westwards at a loss for words. They didn't care about coordinating the two wings or taking care of both ends. They just wanted to be able to show off when reporting to the superior command department every day, saying "My troops advanced westward by X kilometers today." As for other things, they were all thrown out of the window.
Before, when he was at the army headquarters, Yuri had communicated with Rokossovsky. His opinion was that all current actions on the Western Front should be switched from offense to defense, if for no other reason than to consolidate the front line to avoid a counterattack by the Germans.
Think about it, in a dozen days, the troops advanced nearly 200 kilometers to the west, and the fastest one had even advanced 350 kilometers. Such a distance would inevitably lead to insufficient logistics supply. The Soviet army was not the German army, and did not have such a strong logistical support capability. Moreover, such a speed of advancement was very difficult for the German army. Their failure in Moscow could be said to be completely dragged down by logistics, and now the Soviet army seemed to be repeating the mistakes of the Germans.
Rokossovsky also agreed with Yuri's opinion, and he had already made suggestions to the Supreme Command. However, it is hard to say whether this suggestion will be recognized by the Supreme Command.
