Chapter 136: Failure
The sun, without any temperature, hangs in the sky like a silver plate. The sunlight shines on the endless snowfield. When the light is refracted and shines into the eyes, it makes people feel sore and swollen eyeballs, as if they cannot open their eyes.
Yeslovsky, the headquarters of the 57th Army, an armored vehicle entered the town along the bumpy road, passed through the streets where anti-aircraft gun positions were set up, and finally stopped in front of a well-preserved residential building in the town.
The rear door of the armored vehicle opened, and Yuri, wearing a leather windbreaker, walked out of the cabin and hurried into the house.
Yesterday, the logistics department of the front sent a batch of supplies to the 57th Army, among which were several leather windbreakers donated . As the commander of the army, Yuri naturally received one. The leather jacket was finely made, had a good warmth retention effect, and had a nice style, so Yuri liked it very much - but now was obviously not the time to talk about leather jackets, because the battle had already started.
Different from the intelligence intercepted by the Soviet intelligence department before, in order to rescue the besieged Ninth Army in Stalingrad, the German troops on the periphery did not concentrate their superior forces to launch an assault on one front. Instead, they chose two attack directions, that is, the assault was carried out in two routes.
The main force of the German army was divided into two battle groups. One battle group launched an offensive along the railway line from the direction of Kotelnikovo , and the other launched an offensive northward along the Don River in an attempt to attack the flank of the 23rd Army.
Such offensive tactics highlighted the rigidity and conservatism of the German command in tactical thinking after several years of war. They obviously still wanted to use a pincer attack to deal with the Soviet Red Army, which had an advantage in manpower. But the problem now was that after two years of war, the Soviet Red Army had made great progress in both command and tactical thinking. Moreover, in the area outside Stalingrad, the Soviet army was superior to the attacking German army in terms of manpower and equipment. The German attack might cause trouble for them, but it was difficult to pose a real threat.
On the contrary, if the German army concentrated its forces to attack the front line, the threat it could pose might be greater.
Faced with the German army's two-front offensive tactics, Yuri also adjusted the deployment of the army group. He moved the army group headquarters to Yeslovsky on the Aksai River, planning to use the Aksai River as the main line of defense to stop the attacking German army on the opposite side of the river.
In the past two days, the German 57th Army, which was responsible for the offensive on this line, broke through the Soviet defense lines in Kurmoyarsky, Gremyach and other places. Its 6th Tank Division even advanced to the south bank of the Aksai River and seized the ferry on the river.
However, as the German offensive advanced to the Aksai River, it also began to become slow and inefficient. After several days of delay, the Soviet 9th Cavalry Army had advanced to Nebekov and engaged in a fierce battle with the 23rd Tank Division of the German 57th Army.
The 9th Cavalry Army had performed poorly in previous battles, but this time the battle was extremely fierce. In the end, it was forced to ask the friendly 6th Tank Division for help with only 30 tanks left.
At the same time, the 2nd Guards Army, which had arrived at full speed, had arrived at Rychkovsky, posing a huge threat to the German troops attacking the Aksay River on the flank.
Now, Yuri suddenly realized that the situation of the battle was obviously not as bad as he had thought at the beginning. On the one hand, due to the division of the German army, the threat faced by the 57th Army was greatly weakened. On the other hand, due to the severe measures taken by the headquarters, friendly troops were able to arrive in time and share the pressure of the 57th Army.
The first area where the 57th Army fought was the area around the Biryukovsky Concession Station and the Ternovi collective farm. The 337th Infantry Division and part of the 351st Infantry Division were responsible for defending the area. The German army tried to cross the Aksay River in this area through a quick and effective attack and establish two or three landing sites.
The 337th Infantry Division, which lacked effective anti-tank weapons, was forced to ask for help from the Army Group Command four hours after the battle began. Yuri immediately mobilized two regiments of the 341st Division to reinforce, and at the same time, requested assistance from the Front Air Force. So far, the battle in the area has lasted for nearly 11 hours. With the participation of the Air Force after dawn, the situation began to turn in the Soviet Union's favor.
The German army now needs to face a bigger problem, that is, the Soviet Air Force, whose combat effectiveness continues to rise, is gradually seizing control of air supremacy. Unlike the situation at the beginning of the war, the Soviet Air Force is now able to coordinate with ground forces. At the same time, the adoption of new tactics and new combat methods also forms a sharp contrast with the rigid and outdated German army.
Take the adoption of radio as an example. In today's Soviet Red Army, the Air Force often sets up three to five radio stations at the front line, including a main guidance station. Air Force commanders no longer hide far behind, but command fighter aviation operations in the front line.
In the 57th Army commanded by Yuri, almost every division has an air force radio station, the purpose of which is to command the air force units in the rear to cooperate in combat.
In Yeslovsky's temporary command post, Yuri strode into the living room. He had just returned from Biryukovsky because the battle situation in the Zalivsky direction was not optimistic.
Zalivsky was the defensive position of the 335th Division, where the second wave of the German offensive had already begun. The German raid took place in the early hours of last night, and in the six-hour battle that followed, 30 German tanks broke through the positions of the 335th Division and seized a landing site at the bend of the Aksay River.
This news made Yuri very angry. He had already called the commander of the 335th Division, Kreshko, and gave him a clear order, that is, no matter what the cost, the riverside landing site of Zalivsky must be recaptured. In short, as a division commander, Kreshko had only two choices, either to recapture the position or to go to military court.
The promotion of military rank and the expansion of the troops under one's command will bring the most direct impact to a person, that is, when facing the casualties of soldiers, one will begin to become numb. In many cases, in order to win a key battle, one will even completely forget to consider the issue of casualties. Now, Yuri has already had such a change of mind.
Looking back to when he was a battalion commander, Yuri felt distressed for the loss of every soldier under his command, because he only had so many people under his command, and one less soldier died. Of course, another reason was that at that time he did not need to consider the battle or the overall situation, he only needed to complete the battle mission in front of him.
Now, he is an army commander, commanding a force of tens of thousands of people, and the issue he needs to consider is no longer a certain battle, let alone the number of casualties in this battle. What he needs to consider is the overall issue, the victory or defeat of a huge battle composed of battles, and among these battles, there are always a few battles that are critical, and he cannot afford to lose, let alone lose, so the casualties of a certain unit are no longer a problem he needs to consider.
The landing site lost by the 335th Division was very critical. It was located at the junction of the 57th Army and the 2nd Guards Army. Once the German army achieved a breakthrough in this direction, it would directly threaten the entire outer defense line of Stalingrad. It was for this reason that Yuri deployed a reorganized 335th Division on the front of Zalivsky, which was only 2 kilometers wide. This was also the only reorganized infantry division under the entire 57th Army.
A reorganized division of nearly 20,000 people held a front line of defense of less than two kilometers, but was broken through by the German army within a few hours. As the commander of the army group, it was inevitable that Yuri would get angry and curse people. If it were Zhukov, he would probably kill people.
However, no matter how angry he was, the problems that needed to be solved still needed to be solved properly. Yuri hurried back to the temporary command post for two purposes. One was to arrange for the Army Military Commissioner to go to the 335th Division to supervise the battle, and the other was to seek support from the Air Force. At the same time, make some strategic adjustments to get rid of the unfavorable situation in the direction of Zalivsky.
The army headquarters seemed a bit deserted. Several main commanders had gone to various units, and only a few staff officers remained here.
A military map was placed on the only table in the living room, and a staff officer was making some changes to the map according to the latest battle reports from all sides. Seeing Yuri coming in, the staff officers and staff stopped their work and saluted him.
Yuri had a serious expression. He walked straight to the table without saying a word and stood up to look at the map on the table.
Less than 30 kilometers behind Zalivsky is Malinovsky, where the German troops surrounded in the Stalingrad area retain a salient. The Soviet 23rd Army and the 65th Army are fighting there to flatten the German salient. Yuri believes that once the news that the German army has captured the landing site in Zalivsky is known to the front, the front command will definitely question him. Maybe it won't be long before the front military committee will arrange someone to come.
"Comrade General, Comrade Glebov from the 65th Army is calling," Yuri had just finished thinking about this when a communicator reported at the door.
Glebov is the newly appointed chief of staff of the 65th Army. Less than a month ago, he was still a colonel. He was recently promoted to major general and took over his current position.
"Report to Comrade General, Comrade Piankovsky from the 23rd Army called," another communicator reported loudly before Yuri could speak.
Penkovsky is currently the chief of staff of the 23rd Army and is Chistyakov's most capable assistant.
Yuri was relieved when he heard that the two men called. Since the two army chiefs of staff called, it meant that the army commander still trusted him. Of course, the army headquarters also put some pressure on him in this way.
