The attacks of Army Group South and Army Group Southeast from two directions have clearly demonstrated the situation on the Ukrainian battlefield. The moment of life and death for the Soviet Red Army's Southwest Front has arrived. Since the German Seventeenth Army established a bridgehead in Kremenchug From that day on, the "Southwestern Front Army" headquarters realized the seriousness of the situation it faced. General Kilponos had ordered the Fifth and Thirty-seventh Armies to retreat toward the Desna River. However, General Kilponos's orders were obviously not as fast as the changes on the battlefield. Now the Fifth Army has suffered a heavy blow, and the situation of the 37th Group Army is not optimistic. General Kilponos now knows clearly I know I have to do something.
From the moment Army Group South commanded by Marshal Manstein began a large-scale offensive, the Soviet Southwest Front headquarters in Kiev became the busiest organization in Kiev. Marshal Budyonny and Kirponos The general didn't know how long he had been studying countermeasures in the headquarters, and how many hairs he had turned gray due to worry. However, the busyness of the two people did not change the fate of the Soviet Southwest Front. As time went by, the two people clearly felt that the situation of the Southwest Front was getting worse and worse.
Looking around, the entire headquarters is busy. This is a microcosm of the entire Soviet Red Army command structure now. From Leningrad to Moscow to Kiev, a large number of staff officers and commanders are all busy. He is constantly thinking about how to reverse the unfavorable situation of the Soviet Union in the current Soviet-German war.
When General Kilponos came to the headquarters, he saw such a situation. Someone was constantly conveying the latest orders, and the phones kept ringing in the whole room. After passing through these busy staff officers, General Kilponos went straight to Marshal Budyoni's office.
When he opened the door, General Kilponos saw Marshal Budyonny's iconic beard. In General Kilponos's eyes, Marshal Budyonny looked haggard and had a deep look in his eyes. He looked tired, and even his usually clean beard was a little curled up. One can imagine what Marshal Budyonny’s mentality is now. Perhaps Marshal Budyonny does not have as deep an understanding of the power of armored troops as he does about cavalry, but General Kilponos can imagine that Marshal Budyonny must I saw the current dangerous situation of the Southwest Front Army. The pile of cigarette butts in the huge ashtray next to him seemed to prove Admiral Kilponos's guess.
"Comrade Budyonny, the German Army Group South and Army Group Southeast are currently attacking fiercely, especially the several SS armored divisions on the back. Their armor strength has almost reached a level that we dare not imagine. It seems that their capitalist leaders Almost all the best tanks in Germany were brought into the Southeast Army Group. The offensive made the Fifth Army almost unable to resist. Maybe as I speak now, heroic Soviet Red Army soldiers will die in their hands! Now our front army Both wings have been exposed to the two German groups, and I myself have sent reserves to the front line!" Admiral Kilponos had nothing to hide from Marshal Budyonny, and he told all the worst news as soon as he came up. Tell Marshal Budyonny.
Marshal Budyonny glanced at General Kilponos coldly and remained silent. After all, Marshal Budyonny could not deny the reasons listed by General Kilponos. He slowly stood up and said, He staggered to the window and said sadly, "Comrade Kirponos, I know all about the situation you mentioned, but now I have no choice. Comrade Stalin did not agree to retreat. Earlier, I have suggested retreat twice, and it shouldn’t be difficult to guess what the outcome will be!”
"The situation at that time was far less dangerous than it is now. I think Comrade Stalin will consider it carefully after receiving our report!" General Kilponos still did not give up hope of persuading Stalin at this time. It seems that if a marshal and a general jointly request a retreat, Stalin will consider it, but General Kilponos obviously does not understand Stalin's temper. A marshal is not much more important than a soldier in Stalin's eyes.
Marshal Budyonny obviously knew more about Stalin than General Kilponos, but seeing General Kilponos’ hopeful expression, Marshal Budyonny could not stop him and could only say, “ Okay, let’s give it a try, but don’t get your hopes up too high!”
In order to increase the strength of persuading Stalin, under the request of Marshal Budyonny, General Kirponos found Khrushchev who was currently in Kiev. Now Khrushchev was one of the military commissars. In Marshal Ni's view, Stalin can only be convinced that the current war situation in Ukraine is really dangerous by letting someone whom Stalin trusts report the real situation. Therefore, after discussing with Military Commissar Khrushchev, at six o'clock in the evening, Marshal Budyonny, General Kirponos and Khrushchev jointly submitted a report to Moscow. The report said: "Southwestern Front Army The Military Council considers that, in view of the current situation, it is necessary for the Front to request permission to carry out a general retreat to the rear positions... We believe that it is now clear that the enemy's intention is to move from Novgorod-Seversky and Klei In order to defeat the enemy's attempt, a powerful army group must be assembled, but the Southwestern Front Army is unable to do so. If the headquarters of the Supreme Command cannot currently concentrate such a powerful army group, then the Southwestern Front Army will have There are sufficient reasons to retreat. The measures taken by the Military Commission, including the transfer of two divisions from the 26th Army, are only temporary measures. The delay in the Southwestern Front's retreat will cause the loss of troops and a large number of technical weapons. …”.
Before the telegram was sent, General Kilponos had already obtained the consent of Marshal Budyonny and boarded a plane to Moscow. Two hours after the telegram arrived in Moscow, General Kilponos had already arrived. After arriving in Moscow, he got off the plane and rushed to the Kremlin without stopping. After being inspected by the internal security forces, General Kirponos entered Stalin's office on the second floor of Building 1.
Stalin was not surprised by the arrival of General Kilponos. Although it was already late at night, fortunately Stalin worked at night all day, and this was even more true since the beginning of the war, so General Kilponos He was quickly met by Stalin. However, what frightened General Kilponos was that after entering the Kremlin, General Kilponos discovered that some buildings in the Kremlin had been destroyed. These must have been belonging to the Luftwaffe. masterpiece.
Before General Kilponos could speak, Stalin gave him a cold look and said first, "Comrade Kilponos, are you here to persuade me to give up Ukraine? You should know what Ukraine means to us. The importance of the Soviet Union! That is our granary. If we lose it, what will the soldiers of the Soviet Red Army eat? Once Ukraine is abandoned, we will go to war hungry! Is this what you want to see? "
"But Comrade Stalin, now our Southwest Front is in danger of being surrounded!" General Kilponos argued, "If we continue, we will probably be surrounded and destroyed by two powerful German armies!"
"It is your incompetence that has led to this situation. Why can an army moving south from Smolensk reach the defensive area of the Southwest Front?" Stalin said angrily, "If the situation is unfavorable, we should do our best. can change the situation. Since the German Panzer Army poses a threat to you, you should take a counterattack. Remember, Ukraine is very important. I don’t want to hear anyone say giving up on Ukraine, anyone. As a great general of the Soviet Red Army , General Kirponos, you should go back to Ukraine and be with your soldiers!”
After speaking, Stalin waved his hand and stopped listening to General Kilponos. Seeing this situation, General Kilponos could only leave Stalin's office with a heavy heart. During this period, Stalin had heard calls for retreat three times in a row, and Stalin also learned that Marshal Budyonny had actually issued an order to retreat to some troops. Stalin was very dissatisfied with the retreat order issued by Marshal Budyonny. Annoyed, any further retreat was categorically prohibited. He gave a clear order that Kiev must be defended no matter what, and the Southwestern Front Army must be prepared to carry out a full-scale counterattack against the armored group of the Waffen SS.
After being unable to finish issuing the order, Stalin stood up and walked around his desk twice before picking up the phone and saying, "Get Marshal Timoshenko to me and ask Marshal Timoshenko to come to my office right away!", in In the Soviet Union, Stalin's orders represented the supreme authority, and no one could disobey him, so even though it was late at night, Marshal Timoshenko immediately arrived at Stalin's office.
"My dear comrade-in-arms Timoshenko, I have an important thing to give you!" After the Battle of Smolensk, since Army Group Center did not continue to attack Moscow, Marshal Timoshenko served as the commander of the campaign. The commander's status in Stalin's eyes skyrocketed, so this situation occurred. After gesturing for Marshal Timoshenko to sit down, Stalin said cordially, "Marshal Budyonny is already old. As a cavalry marshal, , he is not suitable for the war of this era, so my comrade, I decided to send you to command the battle of the Southwest Front. I hope you can bring victory to the Soviet Union just like you did in the Battle of Smolensk!"
Of course, Marshal Timoshenko knew that Marshal Budyonny could not be blamed for this matter, but Marshal Timoshenko did not dare to disobey Stalin because he knew that if he disobeyed, he would immediately change from a friendly comrade to a fearful comrade. The Germans are cowards, so even though he had no choice but to do so, Marshal Timoshenko accepted Stalin's order and promised to go to Kiev early tomorrow morning. But Stalin did not see Marshal Timoshenko's unsteady steps when he left the office.
Early the next morning, one of Stalin's heralds flew to Marshal Budyonny's command post in Kiev and handed Marshal Budyonny a letter of dismissal from his post. Stalin dismissed Budyonny from his post as commander-in-chief of the Soviet Red Army on the Southern Front and sent him to Siberia as commander of the Reserve Front. At the same time, the new commander-in-chief of the Soviet Red Army on the southern front, Marshal Timoshenko, arrived.
Although a comprehensive retreat was vetoed by Stalin, it was due to the progress made on the German flanks. As early as the Soviet Supreme Command in Moscow discovered that the German army had begun to encircle Kiev, the Soviet command structure east of the Dnieper River made an accurate estimate of the situation. Admiral Kilponos and his commanders, driven by their sense of duty, ordered a partial retreat.
On the same day that Marshal Timoshenko succeeded Marshal Budyonny as the commander-in-chief of the Soviet Red Army on the southern front, Ukraine's rainy weather finally improved for a week. The German Air Force, which was unable to take off due to continuous rainy weather, finally appeared in the Russian sky again.
The German air reconnaissance aircraft were finally able to provide Army Group South with the accurate movements of the Soviet Red Army. The German aerial reconnaissance aircraft detected the retreat of the enemy's powerful forces from the Priluki area to the Lubne-Lochvita-Romne line. Reliable information. These troops were the Soviet troops who had accepted the order of General Kilponos to withdraw.
The pilot of the reconnaissance plane who obtained the accurate movements of the Soviet Red Army immediately reported the information to his superiors after landing. Then the intelligence was reported step by step and finally reached the hands of the Air Force Commander Kesselin. Kesselin did not dare to neglect. The collected information was directly handed over to Marshal Rundstedt, commander of Army Group South.
"Retreat?" Marshal Rundstedt did not expect that the Soviets would start to retreat so quickly, so he asked his chief of staff, "Manstein, we should pursue it immediately!"
"Of course we must pursue immediately!" Manstein, who was lying on the map, gave precise orders while looking at the map; "
Order all the troops of the 17th Army and the 6th Army to pursue the pursuit without reservation! "
The retreat of the Soviet Red Army not only alarmed Army Group South, giving Marshal Manstein the opportunity to defeat the Southwest Front in one fell swoop, it also alarmed General Kesselring's aviation force. After learning about the retreat of the Soviet Red Army, Kesselring General Selling acted one step faster than Marshal Manstein. He first ordered the air force to dispatch. A Stuka dive bomber wing and two bombers scrambled from each airport under the cover of two fighter teams, and encircled them point by point. Heavy bombing was carried out on the Konotop-Rilsk railway section in the north of the circle and the Lubne-Poltava railway section in the south. The Lubne-Poltava railway was also a key section of the Soviet Red Army's retreat.
After ordering the troops of Army Group South to pursue, Marshal Manstein informed Lin Wei of the situation, so while Army Group South was operating, Lin Wei issued an order to the 1st Armored Corps of the Waffen-SS, "Soviet Red Army" The retreat will definitely cause a chain reaction, which is a huge opportunity, so now the First Armored Army must immediately enter the battle!"
Dietrich, commander of the 1st SS Panzer Corps, immediately ordered General Paul Hausser's Imperial Armored Division to cross Lochvita and advance towards Pilyatin. In order to prevent the enemy from having time to consolidate his defenses, General Paul Hausser ordered all his armored forces to launch an attack despite the shortage of vehicles and the harsh weather.
At dusk that day, General Paul Hausser formed an advance detachment in Romney. The detachment was still commanded by Major Frank and consisted of the 3rd Company of the 521st Anti-Tank Battalion, the 2nd Company of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, and the 1st It consisted of four Panther tanks, two light anti-aircraft guns and an engineer platoon from the 1st Company of the Reconnaissance Battalion, the 6th Company of the 75th Artillery Regiment, the 2nd Battalion of the 6th Armored Regiment. Before dark, the advance detachment attacked south from the city, first smashing some small groups of enemies on guard duty, and then continued to advance forty-five kilometers. By nine o'clock in the evening, various detachments under the command of Major Frank had captured the bridges over the Sula River near Mlini. Opposite is Lochvita. The Soviet Red Army here was stunned by the sudden appearance of the German army near Lochvita, but soon recovered and moved existing troops to the Sula River. This small advance detachment of German troops was in danger of being eaten. During the night, Major Frank made a request for immediate support to the division headquarters. The next morning, General Paul Hausser once again selected men from the division's units to form another battle group commanded by Lieutenant Colonel von Lewinsky. The battle group set out at noon. On the way, it received an order to advance at full speed because the Kongjun reconnaissance plane reported that Soviet tanks were attacking the position of our advance detachment. German dive bombers were dispatched and dive bombed Soviet combat vehicles. By the time Lewinsky's battle group entered Mlini, enemy combat vehicles had been destroyed.
After a brief negotiation after the rendezvous, the two commanders Lewinsky and Frank decided to use the existing companies to attack Lochvita without waiting for the arrival of the division. Tanks, personnel transport vehicles, and motorcycles rushed along the river embankment and successively captured three bridges on the Sula River south of Mlini. Both battle groups immediately established bridgeheads and halted their advance. At this time, the Soviet army became active, and its artillery bombarded the German leading tanks from Lochvita, which was only one kilometer away.
Lewinsky and Frank's battle groups gained some cover by occupying the rugged south bank of the Sula River under fire. In order to avoid being killed by the enemy, each company advanced at an extremely fast speed, causing the formation to become fragmented and chaotic. But soon the officers gathered their detachments and continued to advance towards Lochvita. The self-propelled artillery of the third company of the 521st Anti-tank Battalion provided fire cover, while the combat vehicles of the 2nd Battalion of the 6th Armored Regiment formed the The commandos charge forward. Then the tanks stopped and took cover, while the self-propelled guns moved forward. In this way, the two battle groups arrived near Lochvita and occupied the eastern part of the city before 17 o'clock.