Chapter 95: Recognition
It is not easy to mobilize dozens of tanks without being detected by the German army, but that is under normal circumstances. At the moment, it is not difficult to achieve this goal. All you need is some simple camouflage.
Yuri ordered his tank company to paint all the tanks white and march at night. It took only one night for them to reach the Lower Misanesco area and hide in the vast snowfield.
After the combat mission was assigned to each unit, starting from the evening of December 7, Yuri ordered the divisional artillery to launch an artillery attack on the German positions every 8 hours, and at the same time, required the front-line combat units to launch a charge shout at their respective positions. Each artillery attack lasted for 5 minutes, and the soldiers' shouting of "Ura" was to last for 10 minutes.
By the early morning of December 9, the divisional artillery's bombardment time was extended to 10 minutes, and the soldiers' shouting was cancelled. At 4 a.m., the assault battle in the Lower Misanesco area officially began.
Yuri did not sleep a wink on the night of the 9th. Not only him, but everyone in the division headquarters did not dare to go to sleep. Everyone was waiting for the battle report from Misanesco and the news that the Soviet army had broken through the German canal defense line.
At this time, Yuri didn't know that those who suffered from insomnia that night were not limited to the 133rd Division Headquarters. Many people at the 16th Army Headquarters, the 30th Army Headquarters, the Western Front Headquarters, and the Kalinin Front Headquarters were waiting for his battle report.
In the Kremlin, at the Supreme Command, Comrade Stalin had a midnight snack at one in the morning, and then closed his eyes to rest in his office, his pipe still in his mouth, and light blue smoke continued to emerge from the pipe.
The US Ambassador Lawrence Steinhardt was also awake. He had just sent a message to Washington, informing Washington that the Soviet army would launch a tentative counterattack against the German troops tonight. If this counterattack was successful, then the Soviet Red Army would launch a series of counterattacks in the direction of Moscow. Lawrence Steinhardt believed that this might become a key turning point for the Soviet war against Germany.
On Gorky Street, in an open news station set up by the Allies in Moscow, Allied reporter Henry Shapiro was also waiting for news from Klin to determine how to write his article.
Again, the waiting time is long and the fighting on the front line is bloody.
Perhaps the offensive in the direction of Klin city that attracted the attention of the German army played a role. The 133rd Division's offensive in the Lower Misanesco area was very smooth. Within an hour after the battle started, under the assault of tanks, the attacking troops broke through the German defense line along the canal. Gusakovsky, the chief of staff of the 133rd Division, who personally commanded the battle on the front line, immediately ordered the troops to quickly launch an attack on the Lower Misanesco railway station. At 5:27 in the morning, the German troops stationed at the railway station were defeated, and the Soviet army successfully recaptured this stronghold.
At 6 o'clock in the morning, the Soviet assault troops pushed the front line to the vicinity of Yeniseyskaya village. Then, an incredible scene appeared. When 14 Soviet tanks approached its defense line, a French infantry battalion stationed in the village collapsed after only resisting for less than 15 minutes. They abandoned all their weapons and equipment and fled in all directions on the snowy plains like wild ducks. The Soviet commander who commanded this unit, in order to capture prisoners, actually forgot his mission and forcibly slowed down the attack speed. Gusakovsky, who arrived later, was so angry that he almost shot the commander who forgot everything on the spot.
At 6:35, a Soviet army unit approaching the town of Mezinov attacked a temporary German tank repair station on the outskirts of the town. Although the German technicians at the repair station were involved in the battle, the repair station was eventually blown up by the Soviet army. All 23 German tanks waiting for repairs were destroyed, and nearly 40 German technicians were killed, with no survivors.
At 7:15, the Soviet troops of Pandinov's 316th Division, which were defending the right wing of the 133rd Division, noticed the German attempt to bypass the Yakhroma area and outflank Misanesko's left rear wing. Without the approval of the 30th Army Command, they deployed two regiments to the area, hindering the German combat intention.
At 8 o'clock in the morning, the assault troops of the 133rd Division arrived at Sheverdlov Hill, 1.5 kilometers east of Sollochnogorsk, and built fortifications in the area. At the same time, two Soviet tanks climbed to the top of the hill and opened fire in the direction of the city of Sollochnogorsk.
In the four-hour assault, the 133rd Division's offensive forces successfully pushed the front 13 kilometers westward. Although they failed to achieve the operational goal of retaking Sollochnogorsk, they did test the weakness of the German army. At the same time, this was the first time that the Soviet army had successfully launched a counterattack on the front battlefield since the Battle of Moscow.
At 8:40 a.m., the 1075th Regiment of the 316th Division was ordered to reinforce Sheverdrov Kurgan and launch an exploratory attack on the city of Sollochnogorsk.
At 9 o'clock, the German troops attacking the northwest of Klin were forced to retreat towards Solrochnogorsk because their rear wing was threatened. The 133rd Division took advantage of the situation to recapture more than a dozen villages and towns northwest of Klin and formed a powerful salient within the German defense line in the area.
At the same time as the German troops retreated northwest of Klin, the combat briefing of the 133rd Division Command was submitted to the 16th Army Command, and then submitted to the Supreme Command through the Western Front Command and to Comrade Stalin.
After receiving the report, Stalin put down his pipe and said to his secretary in a relaxed tone: "Inform Comrade Molotov and ask him to convey a message to Ambassador Lawrence that our great Soviet Red Army will launch an offensive in the near future to crush all military forces of the fascist invaders in the Moscow area."
"In addition," Stalin added in a deep tone, "give the bottle of brandy that Ambassador Lawrence gave me to Comrade Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Arkhipovich, and tell him that he is a truly qualified commander of the Soviet Red Army."
When Stalin said this , Yuri was inspecting the prisoners of war in Nizhnemisanesco. In the four-hour battle, the 133rd Division had gained a lot. In addition to the achievements of the front line advancing westward, the German army also lost a lot of troops, weapons and equipment. In addition, the attacking troops also captured thousands of prisoners of war, including nearly 300 German prisoners of war, and the rest were all French in the French Legion.
Yuri already knew about the jaw-dropping battle in Yeniseyskaya village. He never expected that these Frenchmen fought so well in France and they still fought so well here. Recalling the film "Enemy at the Gates" shot by a French director in later generations, it seemed that it was shot according to the rhythm of French soldiers.
After inspecting Misanesko, Yuri rushed to the army headquarters without stopping. In addition to being the commander of the 133rd Division, he also served as the army's combat staff. The counterattack in Klin City gave the Supreme Command the confidence to launch a counterattack in advance. According to Comrade Rokossovsky's prediction, the Supreme Command could regard the salient formed by the 133rd Division in the Klin direction as the primary breakthrough direction of the entire counterattack. Therefore, Comrade Rokossovsky asked Yuri to go to the army headquarters and give a detailed introduction to the specific situation of the Klin salient.
In fact, Yuri was also considering the issue of a full-scale counterattack, but for him, such considerations were more of a personal learning. After all, at his current level, he could not participate in the planning of the campaign. Not to mention him, even Rokossovsky, the commander of the 16th Army, did not have the qualifications. That was the power and responsibility of the commander of the front.
Well, considering that Rokossovsky did not have such power, why did want to know the situation in the salient? Undoubtedly, the answer is that Rokossovsky was also learning, and he wanted to develop a set of plans first, and then compare them with the plans issued by the front command to see where his own shortcomings and advantages were.
In fact, being a military commander is the same as doing academic research. Everyone needs to keep learning in order to make continuous progress. The same is true for Yuri. Rokossovsky specifically recruited him this time to understand the situation. In fact, he may not have the intention of looking up to him.
Yuri knew very well that when he first arrived at the 16th Army headquarters, although Rokossovsky spoke to him politely and acted as if he attached great importance to him, in fact, the subsequent sending of him to the 32nd Infantry Army proved that Rokossovsky had doubts about his abilities and even believed that he was not capable enough to be qualified for the position of army combat staff.
This is very clear. What was Yuri doing in the 32nd Division? A staff officer's job. He was a combat staff officer of an army group, but he was transferred to a division headquarters to be a staff officer. Doesn't this explain the problem? Rokossovsky almost told Yuri clearly: You should go to the division headquarters to be a staff officer first. You can't do my job. Keeping you here will only cause trouble for me.
Now, Rokossovsky took the initiative to recruit Yuri to the army headquarters. Although nominally he wanted to learn about the situation in the salient from him, it was actually a sign of recognition. It can be said that Yuri has proved his ability through his achievements and has been recognized by senior Soviet commanders.
This recognition may seem insignificant, but it is actually very important for Yuri's development. What does this recognition mean? It means that when there are important tasks or important positions vacant in the future, Yuri will have more opportunities to get recommendations from others - a certain army has just been formed and is still lacking an experienced and competent commander. Who is the most suitable? The answer is that Comrade Yuri Arkhipovich is more suitable, as he has demonstrated his ability in a certain battle before. Well, that's it.
