Chapter 216
The Soviet breakthrough on the Molochnaya River was equivalent to breaking through the main defense line of the German Southern Combat Group. The German commander Karl Holliday, who was responsible for commanding the front-line defense of Melitopol, was unable to withstand the Soviet army's wave after wave of offensives.
On the third day after the Battle of the Molochnaya River was launched, the Soviet army pushed the front line to the north of Melitopol. The 9th Assault Army, the 44th Army and the 2nd Guards Army launched a series of attacks in the direction of Mikhailovka and encircled the Romanian 24th Infantry Division in the Vesyoloye area.
The main force of the 28th Army made a detour from the area south of Melitopol and advanced rapidly towards northern Tavria. Its combat intention was very clear, which was to attack the lower reaches of the Dnieper River, and while forcing a crossing of the Dnieper River, cut off the connection between the German troops in the Crimean Peninsula and the Southern Army Group.
Faced with the Soviet troops pouring in from the gap in the Molochnaya River defense line like a tide, Hollid was helpless. He only had nearly 200,000 troops in his hands, and most of these soldiers were remnants of a defeated army that had just experienced a disastrous defeat and had not yet completed their rest. The armored forces were seriously short of tanks. Sixteen divisions, plus two armored divisions, had less than 200 tanks put together. The number of artillery was even more seriously insufficient, and even more insufficient than the artillery was the artillery shells.
What's even worse is that after suffering a series of defeats, most of the soldiers under Holiday's command were depressed and had no hope of victory. Their morale was low and they were very war-weary. There were even deserters in many troops, and even more people escaped the war by self-mutilation.
Although at Manstein's suggestion, the High Command imitated the Soviets and created a medal for "Defending the Melitopol Defensive Position" and tripled the salaries of soldiers on the front line defending Melitopol, it still could not change this dire situation.
On the 9th day after the outbreak of the battle, the Soviet army launched an attack on Melitopol. With the assistance of the 11th Tank Army, the 51st Army quickly broke into the inner defense line of the southern suburbs of Melitopol. In just one day of fighting, the 73rd Infantry Division of the German 29th Army was overwhelmed. This infantry division, which was engaged in the battle at the beginning of the Soviet-German War and attacked all the way to Kuban on the southern front, was almost wiped out in this battle, and even the military flag was captured by the Soviet army.
The 11th Tank Army is not a Guards unit, but its combat power is very strong. Yuri assigned the 34th Guards Heavy Tank Assault Regiment that had just been transferred from Moscow to this tank army. This tank assault regiment is equipped with the only 20 KV-85 heavy tanks currently available in the Soviet Army.
However, when attacking the city of Melitopol, the Soviet army still encountered stubborn resistance from the enemy. On the first day of the battle to attack the city, more than 3,000 Soviet soldiers were killed and nearly 15,000 were injured. Of course, the price paid by the German army was also not small. The 111th Infantry Division lost 80% of its personnel in one day of fighting, and was almost completely wiped out.
The battle to attack the city of Melitopol was frustrated, and Yuri ordered the 51st Army to adjust the deployment. In the following two days, the offensive in the city of Melitopol came to a standstill. On the third day, the 4th Ukrainian Front allocated nearly a thousand artillery pieces to bombard the city of Melitopol. After that, a new offensive was launched again.
On November 28, the third day of the street fighting in Melitopol, Hollid issued an order to the German troops stationed in Melitopol to break out. Two days later, after a series of bloody battles, the German troops that broke out entered the northern Tavria area. At this time, the three German troops stationed in Melitopol were almost gone: the 17th Armored Division had only 25 tanks left; the 73rd Infantry Division headquarters failed to break out of the siege, and only 170 infantrymen were left in the entire division; the 111th Infantry Division headquarters was still in place, but the division commander was killed in the battle, and only less than 200 infantrymen were left in the entire division.
On December 1, the 4th Ukrainian Front Command issued a pursuit order, and the 2nd Guards Army launched an attack in the direction of Zaporizhia along the Zaporizhia-Melitopol Railway. The 44th Army launched an offensive in the direction of Nikopol.
At this point, almost the entire 4th Ukrainian Front's participating troops had rushed across the Molochnaya River defense line, and the German Army Group South's southern defense completely collapsed.
…
The whole Sivash Lake was covered with heavy snow, but the pink water did not freeze. Standing on the lake shore and looking south, you can see a large number of corpses floating on the lake. The heavy snow will melt quickly when it falls on the lake , but it will accumulate on the corpses, making the floating corpses look like pieces of white floating ice.
Outside the village of Gromievka on the lakeside, German prisoners were lined up in four rows stretching for two or three kilometers. They lacked cotton clothes to keep out the cold, and they huddled together. Their faces, covered in smoke and dust, were cracked by the cold, purple and swollen, and they couldn't even make a basic expression.
There were no cold-proof winter boots, and most people were still wearing single-layer leather boots from autumn. Some lucky guys had snatched a pair of big felt boots from somewhere, and just put them on their feet. They then wrapped the boot openings with dirty and tattered cotton cloth, which more or less helped to keep the boots warm.
These German prisoners belonged to the Romanian 4th Mountain Division and the 258th and 302nd Infantry Divisions of the German 4th Army. They retreated from the Gnichesk area to the Sivash Lake area. When trying to cross the narrow section of Sivash Lake, they were caught up by the Soviet army that followed them. They were eventually forced to surrender to the Soviet army, and nearly 4,000 soldiers were taken prisoners.
Soon, the Internal Security Forces will take over these prisoners. Their destination is not far, it is Melitopol. The city has been completely destroyed in the war. The reconstruction work is arduous, and these prisoners are the best labor force.
A convoy of more than a dozen military vehicles slowly stopped at the entrance of Gromievka village. The bearded Vasily Filipovich Gerasimenko watched the convoy stop, adjusted his collar and military cap, and then took big strides and walked towards the convoy.
Following behind Gerasimenko were several other people, including Major General Rogachevsky, Chief of Staff of the 28th Army, Major General Melnikov, Military Commissar, Colonel Yegorov, Director of the Political Department, and others.
In the second car of the convoy, Arseni jumped out in advance and opened the door for Yuri who was sitting in the back seat.
When getting out of the car, Yuri's face was gloomy. He had not been in a very good mood in recent days. One of the main reasons was that the Fourth Ukrainian Front under his command fell behind in the advancement of the battlefield - just yesterday, the Second Ukrainian Front had crossed the Dnieper River first and successfully liberated Kiev.
However, Yuri had no reason to blame anyone now. He could only say that the 4th Ukrainian Front had bad luck. Since a week ago, the Azov Sea coast had experienced four intermittent snowfalls, each of which was quite heavy. What was even worse was that after the initial severe cold today, the temperature in the following days was surprisingly warm, and the snow could not be stored at all. It all melted into water, making the roads muddy and difficult to travel, hindering the troops' progress.
Fortunately, although he failed to command the first batch of troops to break through the Dnieper River, the front's combat mission was basically completed. The 51st Army, with the cooperation of the 11th Tank Army, had pushed the front line to the Kherson line two days ago, cutting off the retreat of the German army in the Crimean Peninsula.
Similarly, the 28th Army, with the cooperation of the 19th Tank Army, also seized control of the Perekop Pass, providing conditions for the subsequent offensive against the Crimean Peninsula.
The second reason that made Yuri unhappy was the problem from the Second Guards Army. At the suggestion of the army commander Zakharov, the army's military committee dismissed Lieutenant General Sviridov, the commander of the Second Guards Mechanized Army. What's more annoying is that before he, the commander of the front, received the report from the army, Vasilevsky, the representative of the headquarters, got the news first, and he learned the news from the latter.
Yuri wanted to grab Zakharov by the collar and ask him, who gave him the power to dismiss an army commander? Can the Army Military Committee replace the People's Commissariat of Defense to exercise its powers?
The third reason that made Yuri unhappy was a scandal. When the 248th Infantry Division of the 28th Army attacked Genichsk, a unit attacked a German field hospital. After the battle, Soviet soldiers led by a second lieutenant raped several captured German nurses.
This kind of thing is not a big deal, and no one would pay attention to it under normal circumstances . However, the situation was photographed by a military reporter from the United States. Although the reporter was controlled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the matter was still leaked. This morning, Comrade Stalin called to inquire about this matter. The call was not to Yuri, but to Shatenko of the Military Commission.
This kind of shit made Yuri very upset, and it also made him realize how difficult it is to be a front commander.
Of course, Yuri knew very well in his heart that the main reason he felt upset was that he was not fully qualified for the role of front commander.
Serving as a front commander is completely different from serving as an army-level commander. Commanding an army of hundreds of thousands of people is a very complicated skill. It is not just about deploying troops, but also about dealing with many trivial issues. Ignoring any aspect of the problem may cause trouble.
