The day of the great counteroffensive finally came in the anxious waiting of everyone. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

Two hours before the start of the shelling, Rokossovsky braved a snowstorm to reach the defense zone of the 65th Army, and under the guidance of his staff officer, he found the commander of the army, Batov, at an observation post close to the front.

Rokossovsky walked into the observation post and, while patting the snowflakes on his shoulders, asked Batov: "How is it, Comrade Batov, are you ready for the offensive?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Straightening his back, Batov replied: "The artillery is ready to fire, and the infantry and tanks are all in the starting positions. But ......"

"But what?" Seeing that Batov was about to speak and stopped, Rokossovsky couldn't help but ask curiously: "Comrade Batov, is there anything else you are not ready for?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Batov said with a wry smile: "According to the battle plan, one hour after the start of the shelling, our air force will bomb the enemy's defensive depths, but if you look at the blizzard outside, in such bad weather, the plane will not be able to take off at all." ”

Rokossovsky glanced at the snowflakes outside, nodded, and said rather helplessly: "Yes, with such a big snow, our air force will not be able to take off at all." ”

Seeing that Rokossovsky also agreed with his opinion, Batov asked tentatively: "Comrade commander, will our offensive be postponed today?" ”

Hearing Batov's question, Rokossovsky turned his head to look at Batov and said in a stern tone: "General Batov, since the Supreme Command has set the date of the offensive today, not to mention snow, it is a knife, and our offensive must also be carried out as scheduled." ”

Half an hour before the attack, Air Force Commander Rudenko called the observation post, and he anxiously asked: "Comrade commander, now that the blizzard has not stopped, I wonder if the air raid on the German positions scheduled is still going on as scheduled?" ”

Rokossovsky looked at the blizzard outside through the lookout, and after a moment of silence, he replied: "General Rudenko, the climate outside is too harsh and the visibility is low, and even if our air force takes off, it will not be of much use. I now officially announce that the bombing campaign has been canceled. ”

After Rudenko's phone call ended, Rokossovsky made a phone call to the command of the Front, and Malinin, who answered the phone one after another: "Chief of Staff, due to the bad weather today, it is difficult for the plane to take off, and I have ordered the Air Force to cancel the bombing operation. You immediately inform the commanders of the armies and ask them to extend the scheduled shelling by a quarter of an hour. ”

After listening to Rokossovsky's order, Malinin silently calculated in his heart that allowing the artillery to prolong the shelling for a quarter of an hour would not only replace the effect of partial bombardment, but also not worry about running out of ammunition. Therefore, he resolutely agreed: "Don't worry, Comrade Commander, I will immediately inform the commanders of the various army groups." ”

At 7:30 a.m., more than 3,000 artillery pieces of various types of artillery of the Don Front simultaneously opened fire on the German defensive positions in front of them. Rokossovsky, who was in the observation post, was eager to know the effect of the shelling, but the fog was so thick that he could not see the situation on the battlefield at all, and could only see the white mantle reflected red by the flickering fire of the shells

After an hour and a half of shelling, the rumbling shelling finally stopped. There was silence on the battlefield, and at that moment Rokossovsky heard a tsunami-like shout of "Ula" outside the observation post, as well as the creaking of tank tracks.

When he heard these movements, he knew in his heart that the attack had begun!

At the pre-war meeting of the Front, the commanders attending the meeting were very envious of the commander of the 21st Army, General Chistyakov, because they were facing an enemy of the Romanian 3rd Army, which was extremely weak in combat, and it seemed to everyone that as soon as the artillery fire was ready to end and the infantry, under the cover of tanks, rushed to the enemy's position, the enemy would obediently lay down his arms and surrender.

But after the real fight, this was not the case. Twenty-five T-34 tanks guided a division of Soviet commanders and fighters to attack the positions of the 6th Infantry Division of the Romanian Army. Unexpectedly, the Romanian soldiers behaved unusually tenacious, and the commander sent their anti-tank teams and machine guns, with the help of the cover of a blizzard, to hide themselves in the craters at the front of the position. As soon as the Soviet tanks and infantry approached, the machine-gun team used machine guns to strafe the infantry lined up in dense formations behind the tanks, knocking them down in pieces. Then the anti-tank group, which was hidden next to it, attacked the tanks without infantry cover with anti-tank rifles or grenades.

The Soviet troops, who had been caught off guard, after resisting for a while, threw seven or eight burning tanks and more than two hundred dead soldiers, and then retreated one after another. Return to the starting position and regroup, ready to launch a new attack again.

Upon hearing the news of the setback of the 21st Army's offensive, Rokossovsky thought that he had misheard, because they were facing a Romanian army, which was extremely weak, and not the Germans. Now Batov's 65th Army has broken through the German defenses, and the attack of the 21st Army was actually repelled by the Romanian Army?

He hurriedly dialed Chistyakov's command and hurriedly asked: "Hey, Comrade Chistyakov, I heard that your attack was repelled by the Germans, what is going on?" ”

Chistyakov, who had just lost his temper at his subordinates, heard Rokossovsky asking about the reason for the failure of the attack, and hurriedly explained: "Comrade commander, we are too light on the enemy, and we did not expect the enemy to have such a strong combat effectiveness after the artillery fire was prepared. ”

Instead of reproaching him, Rokossovsky continued to ask: "What are you going to do next?" ”

"I'll organize the troops to attack again." Chistyakov confidently said, "The Romanian army is not strong in combat, and if we launch another attack, we will definitely be able to defeat them." ”

"Comrade Chistyakov, then act quickly." Rokossovsky urged: "The 65th and 24th armies have successfully broken through the German defenses, you must not lag behind." ”

The troops of the 21st Army went on the offensive again, this time the Romanian army adjusted its tactics, and the commander, General Laska, ordered both the machine-gun group and the anti-tank men to withdraw to the battlefield. When they saw that the Soviet troops had rushed to a distance of only more than 300 meters from their positions, they immediately ordered the anti-tank guns deployed in the trenches to open fire, easily destroying the two tanks that rushed to the front.

Seeing that the Soviet tanks were destroyed again, the Romanian officers and soldiers squatting in the trenches suddenly became highly motivated, and they used machine guns and rifles to shoot wildly at the dense ranks of Soviet troops, knocking down rows of Soviet commanders and fighters. But in the face of the intensive fire of the Romanian army, the Soviet commanders and fighters behaved heroically, the fighters in the front row were knocked down, and the fighters in the back fearlessly stepped over the corpses of their comrades and continued to advance until they themselves were also defeated.

The division commander who was in the observation post saw his soldiers fall in pieces, and his eyes were red. He rushed to the telephone and was about to call the troops to stop the offensive, but his political commissar persuaded him: "Comrade division commander, our first attack has failed, and if the second attack does not make progress, we should hastily stop the offensive, and if the higher authorities blame it, you and I will not be able to bear it." ”

"I can't care about that much." The division commander shouted uncontrollably: "If we continue to fight like this, my people will die." After speaking, he grabbed the microphone and put it to his ear and ordered loudly, "Stop the attack, I order the attack to stop, and the troops immediately withdraw to the starting point of the attack." ”

As soon as the division commander withdrew his troops, Chistyakov, who had received the news, rushed over, and as soon as he entered the door, he angrily asked: "Who is it?" Who gave the order to withdraw the troops? ”

"Comrade Commander," the division commander hurriedly stepped forward and replied with his head held high, "I gave the order to withdraw the troops from the battlefield!" ”

"Why?" Although Chistyakov was on the verge of rage, he still tried to restrain his emotions and asked: "Don't you know that we are launching a big counteroffensive today?" If you can't break through the Romanian defenses as soon as possible and delay the whole counteroffensive, you'll lose your head. ”

"Comrade Commander, please listen to my explanation." The division commander hurriedly explained to Chistyakov: "The snow on the battlefield is too deep, and as soon as a person steps on it, his legs sink into the snow, and he cannot increase his speed at all, and can only become a target for the enemy's shooting." Seeing Chistyakov's face, after listening to his explanation, he softened, and hurriedly added, "I hope that when attacking, I will be supported by the artillery fire of the army group, as long as the enemy is suppressed in the trenches by our fire, then my troops will be able to rush up and break through the enemy's defenses." ”

Chistyakov thought about the division commander's request, then nodded and said: "Okay, I'll go and organize artillery support for you, but let's say it first, if the third attack still can't achieve results, then I will remove you from the post of division commander." ”

After returning to the headquarters of the army group, Chistyakov first prepared the artillery to provide artillery support to the attacking troops, and then called Rokossovsky to report to him the news of the failure of the second offensive.

Hearing that the 21st Army launched two offences that ended in failure, Rokossovsky couldn't help but be silent, he didn't expect that the Romanian army, which was not favored by everyone, would be able to block the impact of a main division. Just as he was thinking about how to provide assistance to the 21st Army, he heard Chistyakov asking: "Comrade commander, can you get the Air Force to provide air support to the attacking forces?" ”