After the defense zone of the Imperial Division was attacked by the Soviet army, Hauser, who received the news, immediately called Colonel Ximeng: "Col. Ximeng, the Russians are attacking the defense zone of the Imperial Division. I order you to immediately draw troops to attack the Russian flanks, crush their attacks, and assist the Imperial Division in defending the defense zone."

"God General," Colonel Ximeng refused Hauser's order. As soon as the other party finished speaking, he immediately spoke: "The Russians in front of us also have signs of being ready to move. I am worried that when the troops are mobilized at this time, the Russians may attack our defense zone."

"No, colonel." Hausel disagreed with Colonel Ximeng's statement: "The Russians are dull in tactics. When they attack in one direction, the rest of the directions will remain unmoved. Even if you are discovered by the Russians when you are mobilizing the troops, they will not have time to formulate a combat plan. Maybe when you repel the Russians' attack and return to the defense zone, the Russians in front of you will still remain unmoved."

Colonel Ximeng didn't agree with Hauser's statement at all, but since the other party had issued an order and he could not disobey his subordinates. He could only agree with the order, and then ordered the armored regiment to move eastward and prepare to attack the flank of the 67th Division of the Guards.

The enemy's mobilization was discovered by the scouts of the 41st Division of the Guards, and quickly reported the situation to the division headquarters. After reading the information, the acting division commander Colonel Sidorin immediately called Sokov: "Comrade Commander, a new situation has happened here, and we need to report it to you immediately."

"Tell me, comrade Colonel." Sokov said to the microphone: "What happened?"

"It's like that. Our scouts discovered that the Skeleton Division had an armored regiment moving towards the Imperial Division. According to my judgment, the enemy was preparing to attack the flanks of friendly forces. What should we do?"

Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch. With less than five minutes left before the attack on the Skeleton Division, he said to Cydolin: "Comrade Colonel, there are still five minutes left. The artillery will be bombarded on the enemy's positions. Even if the enemy wants to turn around, it will probably be too late. Your division can easily occupy the enemy's positions."

"Comrade Commander," Sidolin was a cautious man, proposing to Sokov: "I think at least one regiment of troops should be left to monitor the transferred German troops. Once they turn back, they can immediately block them and prevent them from joining the battlefield between us and the Skeleton Division."

"This is a good idea." Although the 41st Guard Division was Sokov's old army, he did not go over Cidolin to directly issue orders. On the contrary, he also handed over the choice to Cidolin: "Comrade Colonel, as for which regiment to send to see the enemy, you will decide."

The armored regiment of the Skeleton Division had just left the defense zone, and the Soviet artillery began. The armored regiment commander hurriedly asked Ximeng for advice: "Secretary Commander, the Russians are bombarding your positions. Should we turn around?"

"No. I think this is the Russians who discovered our intention and used shelling to restrain us." Ximon said stubbornly: "You should go out to the town of Rokinsik according to the original plan and attack the Russians' flanks."

In this way, when the defense zone of the Skeleton Division was bombarded by the Soviet army, due to Colonel Ximeng's wrong judgment, the armored regiment sent did not return to defense in time, but instead accelerated the marching speed and prepared to arrive at Luojinxik Town in the shortest time to reinforce the imperial division that was defeated.

The ten-minute artillery bombardment ended soon. The soldiers on the front line of the Skeleton Division, like the Imperial Division, immediately rushed back to their front line positions after seeing the Soviet artillery fire extension, and were attacked by rockets. The new rockets owned by the Sixth Army were basically equipped with the 41st Guard Division, so the number of rockets they fired was far more than in the direction of Luojinsik Town.

The officers and soldiers of the Skeleton Division who rushed back to make a defense immediately suffered huge casualties. Then before the smoke from the position had dissipated, the attack of the 41st Division of the Guards was launched. The commanders and soldiers used sparse formations to charge towards the Skeleton Division's position.

Because the Skeleton Division had just drawn away an armored regiment before the battle started, the troops in the entire defense zone were greatly reduced. Faced with the Soviet army that was rushing like a tide, they could not resist it, and the first line of defense was quickly broken through. After clearing the enemies in the first line of defense, the commanders and soldiers rushed into the second line of defense.

Seeing that the Soviet army easily broke through his defense line and rushed towards the location of the division headquarters, Colonel Ximeng was frightened and hurriedly ordered someone to send a telegram to the commander of the armored regiment, ordering him to lead the troops back to support immediately.

The armored regiment of the Skeleton Division is now only three kilometers away from Luojinsik Town. After receiving the urgent order from Colonel Ximeng 100,000, the armored regiment commander could only order the troops to give up their plan to attack the Soviet flanks and turn back to their original garrison.

However, on their way back, they were attacked by the rocket launcher ambushing the roadside near Colonel Papchinko's 122nd Regiment, like a target, destroying enemy tanks one by one; the rockets that kept rising into the air brought together the German infantry who tried to launch an attack, and howled.

According to the initial combat plan, the 67th Guard Division, which launched an attack from the north to the Imperial Division, should quickly implement a detour after breaking through the enemy's defense line and cut off the path of the Skeleton Division to retreat to Balvinkovo. However, due to Hauser's wrong decision, the German defeat was accelerated.

After the 41st Guard Division broke through the enemy's defense line, Colonel Sivakov's 71st Guard Division entered the battlefield from the breakthrough point, adopted roundabout tactics, and detoured to the rear of the imperial division, completely cutting off their retreat. The German officers and soldiers who had fallen into the encirclement became even more chaotic. Faced with the Soviet attack, the German army, which had long been insufficient in ammunition and supplies, could not organize decent resistance.

After Sokov learned that the attack was successful, he immediately issued an order to the 74th and 88th Divisions of the Guards, asking them to immediately go to the front line and take over the defense zones vacated by the three divisions of the first echelon.

After Vitkov conveyed the order, he looked at Sokov and asked, "Comrade Commander, it seems that even if we cannot wipe out the Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division today, we can still seriously damage their vitality and cannot recover their combat effectiveness in a short period of time."

"Comrade Commander," Lunev also asked with great enthusiasm: "If we make these two SSs lose their combat effectiveness, what should we do next? Will we attack Balvinkovo?"

"The enemy is in the city of Balvinkovo, and there are also flag guard divisions and two armored divisions." Sokov shook his head and said, "In today's situation, it is impossible to use tank troops on a large scale. Letting infantry without tank cover attack on the enemy's strong defense will be equivalent to letting the soldiers die. I can't do such a thing."

"But, Comrade Commander, what a good opportunity." Although Sokov has made it clear that he will not attack Balvinkovo, Lunev said unwillingly: "We now have eight divisions of troops and the cover of the air force, and it is not impossible to seize Balvinkovo."

Seeing that Lunev was blinded by the victory in front of him, Sokov reminded him: "Comrade Military Commissioner, don't forget that Ijium also has two German armored troops and some infantry divisions in the direction of Ijium. If we really attack Balvinkovo ​​and cannot capture the city in a short period of time, Ijium's enemies will have to go south directly and surround our attacking troops. At that time, some of the results we have finally achieved will be gone, and a large amount of living power will be lost."

After hearing what Sokov said, Vitkov echoed: "Comrade Commander is right. The reason why we can win such a victory today is entirely because we blocked the enemy's traffic line in the early stage, which caused the two SSs to reduce their combat effectiveness because of the distinction between supplies. But if we attack Barvinkovo, the enemy will be in sufficient supply, and we will have plenty of tanks and artillery. And we will have only infantry. If we launch an attack rashly, it is equivalent to letting the commanders and fighters die."

"Military Comrade," Sokov saw Vitkov echoing him, Lunev's face looked particularly ugly. In order not to let the other party get out of the way, he also explained to the other party: "If you want to seize Balvinkovo, you must eliminate the enemy in Ijum city, and with the strength of our army, you cannot do this. If you need to ask for help from friendly forces, it may take half a month or even longer just for preparatory work, and we can't wait that long.

Therefore, our attack was only aimed at eliminating or severely damaging the German Skeleton Division and Imperial Division. As for the enemies in the city of Balvinkovo, we don’t have to worry about it.”

After Sokov finished speaking, he was silent for a long time, and he was thinking hard in his mind about what the other party said. After some careful consideration, Lunev felt that Sokov was very reasonable, so he nodded and said, "Comrade Commander, you are the military chief. If you fight, you will have the final say. I also expressed my true thoughts in my heart. If there is something wrong, I would like to ask you to forgive me."

Seeing that Lunev was so reasonable, Sokov smiled slightly and then said to him: "Military Comrade, your statement is correct. If there is a battle in front of us, our army can use tanks on a large scale to attack Balvinkovo, which is not impossible. I am even 60% sure that I can take back that city from the hands of the Germans."

In the afternoon of the battle, the troops of the 67th Division of the right wing guards completely occupied the entire town of Luojinsik and were attacking other defense areas of the Imperial Division. The 41st and 71st Divisions of the left wing captured the division headquarters of the Skeleton Division and captured the acting division commander Colonel Ximeng alive.

After reading the battle report, Sokov showed a bright smile on his face. He quickly sent a telegram to the Front Command. The person who answered the phone was Malinin. He heard Sokov's voice and asked quickly: "General Sokov, how is the battle going there?"

"Report to Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov said excitedly: "After the fierce battle, the 41st and 71st Guards on the left wing had defeated the German Skeleton Division and captured the division commander of the division alive. The 67th Guards on the right wing also occupied the town of Rokinsik and was fighting fiercely with the enemy, but the retreat of the Imperial Division had been cut off by the 41st Guards Division, and they could not escape."

"General Sokov, this is really exciting news." Malinin said excitedly when he heard Sokov's report: "I will report this good news to Commander Rokosovsky immediately."

When Sokov heard Malining say this, he couldn't help asking: "Why, the commander of the Front Army is not in the headquarters, where has he gone?"

"General Sokov, this matter is not necessary to keep it confidential to you. Comrade Commander received a call from the base camp at noon and had already taken a plane back to Moscow. But don't worry, I will report the results you have achieved to him immediately."

At this moment, in the Stalin office of the Moscow Kremlin, members of the Supreme Command are holding meetings to discuss how to alleviate the severe situation in Kharkov-Bergorod. As the attendee, Rokosovsky had no say and could only listen quietly to everyone's opinions.

Halfway through the meeting, Poskrebeshev suddenly pushed open the door and walked in from outside.

Seeing Poskrebeshev suddenly appear, Stalin asked with some displeasure: "Don't you know, are we having a meeting? What's wrong?"

Poskrebeshev glanced at Rokosovsky quickly, then stopped his body and reported to Stalin, "Comrade Stalin, General Malining called and said that there were important things and needed to report to Comrade Rokosovsky immediately."

"What else can be more important than holding a meeting?" Marshal Temuxin, who was speaking, said unhappily when he saw that his speech was interrupted, "You can't wait for the meeting to end before making a call."

Stalin heard Temuxin's complaint and glanced at him. The latter came into contact with Stalin's gaze and lowered his head guiltily.

"Comrade Poskrebeshev, answer the phone." After Stalin finished speaking, he looked at Rokosovsky and said, "Comrade Konstantinovich, you will answer the phone here later."
Chapter completed!