Chapter 102: Battles in the South and North
Of course, the battle in Suhinichi had nothing to do with the 328th Division commanded by Yuri, and he couldn't care about the situation there now. After all, he still had a lot of headaches here.
At present, the 328th Division has integrated a little more than two regiments of troops, which is less than two thousand people. According to the order issued by the army group command, it needs to launch an offensive in the direction of the Oka River, and strive to advance westward to cut off the road from Vyazma to Orel. In addition, it must ensure that the existing positions are held and not give the German army a chance to counterattack.
Faced with such an order, and looking at the troops under his command, Yuri just wanted to laugh a few times and be done with it.
"With the current strength of the 328th Division, I can't launch an offensive in any direction, and it's also difficult to hold the left wing of Sukhinich," Yuri called the army headquarters directly after learning about the actual situation of the troops. "I need new troops, at least two regiments."
Yuri didn't know that at the same time as he learned about the situation of the troops, the army headquarters also learned about the actual situation of the 324th Division: It was indeed as Comrade Golikov said, Kiryuhin's troops did surround the German troops in the city of Sukhinich, of course, they surrounded them with flags, not soldiers. In fact, Kiryuhin was very nervous during this period. He was worried that the German troops in the city of Sukhinich would launch a counterattack against his troops. Although his troops had artillery support, his troops also suffered heavy casualties after the previous battles. At present, the entire division has only a little over 3,000 troops, which can't be consumed at all.
It was not until this time that the army command fully understood the situation on the front line, which was much worse than Rokossovsky had previously expected.
Before leaving, Golikov vowed that the 324th Division had surrounded the German troops in Sukhinich. Rokossovsky didn't bother to know why he said that, but he would not take the blame, so he immediately reported the situation of the Tenth Army to the front command and also requested new reserve support.
Perhaps considering the importance of the Sukhinich area, the front command quickly responded and approved the army command's request for assistance. In the following days, the 97th Infantry Division and two tank brigades drove over from the Moscow direction and supplemented the army's combat sequence.
However, Rokossovsky obviously had his own plan on how to use this new force. He did not assign any of these support troops to Yuri, but asked him to go to Kozensk, where the 61st Army captured several German concentration camps, including a large number of Soviet soldiers captured by the Germans. Rokossovsky meant to let Yuri select some of these captured German soldiers who were in good physical condition and had no ideological problems to fill the troops. As for weapons, the army headquarters would be responsible for solving them for him.
The reply from the army headquarters made Yuri laugh and cry. He even thought that Rokossovsky was targeting him on purpose, so he handed over the prisoners to him. Looking back, Yuri found himself like a rag collector. He had commanded new soldiers and also commanded defeated soldiers. Now, he began to command prisoners.
But how to answer this question? It is always better to have soldiers than to have no soldiers. And to a certain extent, these Soviet soldiers captured by the German army should be much better than the new recruits in terms of quality. At least they have experienced fierce battles and have rich combat experience.
In order not to delay the subsequent combat plans, Yuri rushed to Kozensk on the day he received the notice, and received 1,200 soldiers who had not been tortured by the Germans and had passed the verification of the political department, and brought them directly back to the base.
In the next two days, these soldiers who had just been rescued from the concentration camps, together with the remnants of the 328th Division, were reorganized. Yuri had three combat-capable regiments in his hands. After receiving artillery and weapons and equipment supported by the army headquarters, he began to launch a tentative offensive towards the north bank of the Oka River.
The battle went surprisingly smoothly. In just two days, the reorganized 328th Division captured more than a dozen villages on the north bank of the Oka River and successfully pushed the front line to the Mitrovka area on the north bank of the Oka River.
Yuri made some defensive arrangements along the Oka River, the main purpose of which was to prevent the Germans from re-establishing a landing site in the area. However, the defensive positions on the north bank of the Oka River also occupied a large number of troops of the 328th Division. Yuri lost the ability to continue advancing westward and had to stabilize the front line in the existing area.
On January 13, just after Yuri inspected the defense line on the north bank of the Oka River for the sixth time, he received another report from the army headquarters. From this report, he learned that the 324th Division actually captured Sukhinichi and occupied the entire city in one fell swoop. The German troops originally stationed in the city had retreated to a defensive position 6 kilometers southwest of the city.
Upon hearing the news, Yuri was speechless, even though the report clearly stated that this German force retreated on its own initiative. Although the 324th Division captured Sukhinich very easily, it could not escape credit for this military achievement.
Sure enough, Kiryuhin's name was on the final commendation list. He was promoted to the rank of major general and transferred to the 61st Army Group. He was replaced by Colonel Kravchenko.
Yuri's name was also on the commendation list. In recognition of his outstanding performance in the direction of Klin, his rank was promoted to colonel, and the designation of the 133rd Division was changed to "18th Guards Klin-Sorlechnogorsk Infantry Division Awarded the Order of Lenin".
Along with the notice, there was also a transfer order. Fortunately, this time it was not to transfer Yuri, but to mobilize his troops.
Rokossovsky's main offensive target was still the railway and highway lines from Vyazma to Orel. He ordered Yuri to transfer the positions along the Oka River to another army unit of a friendly neighbor, and to transfer the main force of the 328th Division to the Sukhinich direction as soon as possible to cooperate with the 146th Tank Brigade to launch an offensive against the German defense line west of Sukhinich.
According to Rokossovsky's plan, the guerrillas led by Soldatenko and Oreshkin behind the German army would also cooperate with this operation.
Yuri, who received the transfer order, quickly handed over the position with the friendly troops who came to support him, and then marched north and returned to Zherdevo. On the day when the 328th Division returned to Zherdevo, Yuri received another notice that Comrade Rokossovsky had moved the army headquarters to the city of Sukhinichi.
It is definitely not a good idea to move the army headquarters to Sukhnici at this time. After all, this city is still on the front line. Less than 6 kilometers away from the city, there is a German division stationed. Their artillery can even cover the entire Sukhnici city.
However, Rokossovsky was obviously not a man who could be easily persuaded. He insisted on going to the front line to command his troops, and moving the headquarters to Sukhinich was obviously the best choice in his opinion.
On the second day after the division headquarters moved to Zherdevo, Yuri received an order to attend a meeting at the army headquarters. Originally, the distance of 20 kilometers was a bit daunting for him, but that evening, the problem was resolved and the army headquarters arranged an automatic sled for him.
This was the first time Yuri had seen an automatic sled. It looked like an armored vehicle, but it had no wheels under the car body. It only had two metal slides for support. At the rear of the car body, there was a huge propeller. It was obvious that this thing was powered by the propeller.
According to the second lieutenant who drove the vehicle, the front headquarters equipped the 16th Army with a company of propeller-type automatic sleds. Previously, they used this vehicle to break through the German positions and sent a guerrilla force to the rear of the Germans. According to the second lieutenant, when the Germans saw this vehicle speeding across the snow, they even forgot to shoot. Who could have imagined that an armored vehicle could run so fast on waist-deep snow?
The lieutenant spoke excitedly and Yuri believed it at first. But the next day, when he actually sat on this thing, he found that the so-called "flying" could not even reach a speed of 30 kilometers per hour.
"Are your troops ready to attack?" This was the first thing Rokossovsky said when he saw Yuri in the basement of the army headquarters.
"Yes, Comrade Commander," Yuri saluted him, and then saluted the Chief of Staff Malinin standing beside him, and then said loudly, "My troops can launch an offensive at any time. The morale of the soldiers is high and they are well prepared."
"Very good," Rokossovsky patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile, "I can tell you a good news in advance. This may be the last battle in the near future. As long as we can achieve the combat objectives, our troops will switch from offense to defense to consolidate the existing positions."
After a pause, Rokossovsky continued, "Also, a delegation from Moscow will be here in three days. They will bring a lot of good things. Don't miss it."
"I will try to end the battle within three days, Comrade Commander," Yuri smiled.
"Okay, let's see what we need to take down this time," Rokossovsky pointed to the map on the table and motioned Yuri to go over and take a look.
" This is where you need to fight, Popkovo," Rokossovsky pointed to a location on the map and said, "There is a German artillery unit there. The German artillery fire that threatens us mainly comes from this place."
