newbobooks Chapter 182 The first confrontation
Chapter 182 The first confrontation
On December 12, a large number of Chinese and Soviet troops suddenly appeared in Salsk in the south. The 29nd Motorized Infantry Corps of the German 1st Tank Army defending Salsk was caught off guard and retreated westward in panic. The 52rd and 1th Armored Corps of the 3st Tank Army and the 14th Mechanized Corps stationed around Salsk received the report and immediately rushed to Salsk.
The 115th Army commanded by Lin occupied Salsk. They had been reinforced by two Soviet tank divisions. A Soviet tank division had a relatively large number of tanks, more than 200 tanks, which seemed to be a lot more than the 150 tanks in a division of the United States and Germany. However, the Soviet army still had no breakthrough in the use of tanks and combat modes. They often adopted cluster assaults and attempted to fight in a group fight. They were no match for the German tank divisions that had formed an offensive and defensive, high-low match.
During his years recuperating in the Soviet Union, General Lin had learned about tank operations, including secretly participating in Soviet combat, and had gained a good understanding of tank operations, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of both German and Soviet tanks. Furthermore, Huang Wei had briefly briefed him on the deployment and tactical maneuvers of the Chinese Expeditionary Force's tank divisions. Upon taking command of the 115th Group Army, he immediately dismantled the 343rd Armored Division, the 115th Group Army's sole armored unit, to form the new 343A and 343B Tank Divisions, decisively integrating the two Soviet-made tank divisions into these divisions. This gave the 115th Group Army two exceptionally large tank divisions, each with over 250 tanks. However, their corresponding tank destroyers were insufficient, a fact that remained unresolved.
Lin adopted a strategy of luring the enemy, and ordered part of the 343A Division and the 344th Division to retreat as soon as they came into contact with the enemy, pretending to engage in a decisive battle with the German army in the city of Salsk.
A tank division of the German vanguard 3rd Armored Corps easily destroyed several Soviet-made T34s and mistook the sudden attack on Salsk as the Soviet 55th or 58th Army. They reported to the army headquarters and the army, believing that the Soviet army was trying to take advantage of the 1st Army's possible reinforcement in the direction of Stalingrad by taking advantage of the battle going on in the Stalingrad area.
Field Marshal von Kleist was also misled by the division commander. He believed that a Soviet army group, with the powerful assault force of the 2nd and 14th Panzer Corps and the assistance of the 48th and 52nd Armies, was fully capable of inflicting heavy damage on the enemy, retaking Salsk, and possibly taking this opportunity to counterattack the Elista line, occupy Elista and surrounding areas, and open up an important channel for the Soviet Union to Iran and Iraq.
Von Kleist ordered General Eberbach to take charge of the operations in this direction, to capture Salsk as soon as possible, and after defeating the Soviet army, to advance towards Elista, and to capture Elista and the surrounding areas, preferably reaching the Caspian Sea coastline.
General Lin was very happy to see that the 344th Division had drawn the German troops in. He ordered the 343A and 343B Divisions to hide outside the city, and the 344th Division to be responsible for the defense of the urban area. The 341st and 342nd Divisions were on both sides of the city, forming a triangle defense with the 344th Division. The 345th Division was mobile, and the direct artillery regiment provided artillery support for the front line. The direct anti-tank artillery regiment was divided into three divisions with battalions and companies as units to form a joint defense.
Based on Soviet warfare practices, each army group directly controlled five divisions, an artillery regiment, a supply regiment, an engineer regiment, and a dedicated anti-tank artillery regiment. Each division comprised approximately 5 men, with each army group comprising between 1 and 2. Due to factors such as equipment and personnel technical capabilities, the 7th and 8th Armies each had only one armored division, while the 115th Army had no armored division at all, only one motorized division, with the remaining four divisions being infantry. The 129th Army had one armored division and two motorized divisions, with the other two divisions also having limited mechanization. The 4th Army, however, comprised two tank divisions, one armored division, one mechanized division, an artillery division, an engineer brigade, and a supply brigade. It was the undisputed backbone of the Third Expeditionary Force.
Now, the 115th Division was supplemented by two Soviet tank divisions. With Lin's magical operation, it immediately transformed into 6 divisions, including two tank divisions 2A\B and one motorized division 343.
Lin dared to engage in a head-on confrontation with the German 1st Army in Salsk precisely because of this confidence. At the same time, he knew that a powerful assault group composed of the 200th Army and the Soviet 58th Army had been deployed to his north, and a flanking group composed of the Soviet 55th Army and the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Armies had circled and approached Rostov. As long as Lao Peng, Huang Wei and himself could kill the German heavy force group 1st Tank Army in the Salsk area, the German army would have no power to stop the advance of the Chinese and Soviet armies on the line from Rostov to Ukraine!
The battle soon began. As the front line of defense, the 344th Division experienced its first taste of German power. Although most of its soldiers were staunch believers with deep political roots and years of combat experience, they still faced a sudden collapse. Division Commander Chen successfully executed several company and platoon-level officers and personally went to the front lines to stabilize the situation.
Lin actually had more authority in the 115th Group Army than Lao Peng. After receiving the report on the unusual situation in the 344th Division, he simply said, "It's better than I expected. Lao Luo and Lao Nie have had a hard time these past few years!"
The 344th Division, which had stabilized its position, immediately gave the German army a warning. The German coordinated offensive force, which was mainly composed of tanks, was blocked in a completely different way from the Soviet army. In particular, the enemy's sudden appearance of short-range rocket launchers and American-made bazooka recoilless guns caused heavy casualties to the German offensive force, which was mainly composed of Type and Type tanks.
The ground offensive launched by a light tank battalion and an infantry regiment of the German army was blocked outside the city of Salsk. General Eberbach immediately realized that this was not the Soviet army, but a new enemy - the Chinese army.
Field Marshal von Kleist was astonished upon receiving General Eberbach's report. The Chinese were clearly concentrated in the direction of Stalingrad, so why were they suddenly present at Salsk? He even suspected that other Chinese troops had reached the Soviet Union. However, Field Marshal von Kleist ignored the possibility that this was a Chinese trap. He simply believed that the Chinese might be slightly superior to the Soviets in tactics and soldier skills, and that the 1st Tank Army's superior combat power would quickly crush them. Field Marshal von Kleist even telegraphed General Eberbach, urging them to treat the captured Chinese well. After all, Germany and China had no feud.