Forty kilometers southeast of the city of Bataiysk, on the banks of the Kagalnik River, the town of Malinovka.

Knowing that German units had crossed the Don in Bagaevskaya and Aksai districts, Marshal Budyonny and Lieutenant General Malinovsky moved their headquarters here overnight.

After the headquarters was relocated and operations were resumed, the two received bad news that the troops had failed to counterattack the German bridgehead south of the bridge across the river in the Aksai district.

"Alas······" Marshal Budyonny crossed his arms and let out a long puff of rough air from his nose.

"Our troops are simply too chaotic, and the chaos weakens our combat effectiveness. I think it is basically impossible to maintain a line of defense along the Don River, and our next task is to deploy a line along the banks of the Kagarnik River according to the prepared plan. The Germans moved too fast, the main forces of the forces of the North Caucasus Front were still on the way, and the vanguard alone could not stop the enemy from crossing the Don. Now it depends on whether the judgment of the general secretary and the Supreme High Command is accurate, and the main forces of the Germans will not go south. Marshal Budyonny said.

Lieutenant General Malinovsky said: "After the withdrawal of our troops to the south, the troops of Rostov and Bataysk will be left alone. ”

Marshal Budyonny said: "The task of these units is to delay the enemy's attack, to buy time for our large forces to retreat south, to let them hold out until dark, and then retreat, without making meaningless sacrifices." If the general secretary is right, the Germans will stop the offensive at most if they occupy the city of Bataisk, confront us here, and then wait for the report of the battle in the direction of Moscow. ”

Lieutenant General Malinovsky scratched his hair and said in embarrassment: "To be on the safe side, I think we should send a telegram to Moscow about the situation here, so as not to be held responsible." ”

Marshal Budyonny said: "You are quite right, we should make a report to Moscow, and our battle plan is drawn up in full accordance with the general secretary's judgment on the enemy. Also, I have to make the people on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of the Crimean Peninsula withdraw, strengthen our defenses, lose the supremacy of the sea, and there is no point in holding on to those troops any longer. ”

The two commanders reached a consensus and quickly drafted a telegram to send to Moscow.

About an hour later, the Soviet High Command in Moscow replied, approving the plan for the main forces of the Southwestern Front to abandon Batesk and Rostov, but to build a new line of defense as soon as possible. If possible, try to engage in some harassing attacks.

Seeing the last content of the telegram, Marshal Budyonny and Lieutenant General Malinovsky looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

"We are fighting on a secondary front, and the logistical replenishment aspect is not taken seriously in the first place, especially in terms of tanks and aircraft. We can thank God that we can barely scrape together two hundred tanks on both fronts. These tanks went to launch a counterattack, and the Germans could send an armored regiment to kill them all. We simply can't inflict any damage on the Germans, and Moscow wants us to launch a counterattack······ Alas, Moscow's demands are really beyond our capabilities. Marshal Budyonny said.

Lieutenant General Malinovsky, listening to Marshal Budyonny's strange remarks in front of the staff officers around him, did not answer, but cautiously changed the subject.

"The High Command agreed to our retreat, let's not hesitate any longer, it's the right thing to let the troops withdraw as soon as possible."

After receiving approval, the two each sent a telegram to their subordinate troops.

The main forces of the 18th Army and the 56th Army under the Southwestern Front retreated in great strides, retreated to the Kagalnik River, and used the villages and towns along the river to rebuild the defensive line.

The main forces of the 51st Army under the command of Marshal Budyonny of the North Caucasus Front stopped moving north, and between the 18th Army and the 56th Army, joined the ranks of building defensive lines.

The day flew by, and most of the troops of the three armies arrived intact on the south bank of the Kagalnik River.

At twelve o'clock in the evening, the old marshal, having difficulty sleeping, climbed the attic of a small two-story building on the north side of the town of Malinovka, climbed up to the roof through the skylight of the attic, and looked north with a telescope.

To the north, in the direction of the city of Bataiysk, the flames from the explosion of the shells were particularly dazzling in the dark night.

The troops in the city had already received the order to abandon the city and retreat south after dark, and they did not know how many people could be withdrawn, and the most important thing was how big a bridgehead the Germans were prepared to build on the south bank of the Don River, and whether a city of Batesk could meet their needs?

The answer is after dawn.

Marshal Budyonny spent three difficult hours of impatient waiting, and as soon as the eastern sky turned white, reconnaissance planes flew over the Kagalnik River over the city of Bataisk to monitor the movements of German troops in and around the city.

For a whole morning, except for a small reconnaissance force, the reconnaissance aircraft did not detect the German troops moving south.

In the afternoon, it was also uneventful.

Another night came, and Marshal Budyonny was a little relieved.

As soon as the morning dawned, at the urging of the old marshal, the reconnaissance plane set off again, risking being chased by German fighters, and continued to reconnoiter in the direction of the city of Bataisk.

Throughout the day, good news kept coming, and the reconnaissance planes not only did not detect the large German forces moving south, but found that German armored units were moving north through the bridge in the city of Rostov-on-Don.

Around the city of Bataisk, aerial photographs taken by reconnaissance planes show that the German troops in the city began to build fortifications around the city and turned into a defensive state.

Seeing the aerial photographs, Marshal Budyonny and Lieutenant General Malinovsky breathed a sigh of relief.

Lieutenant General Malinovsky put down the photo, wiped the sweat from his forehead and said: "The general secretary's judgment is right, the Germans will not waste their forces on the secondary battlefield, the city of Bataiysk should be the apex of their offensive on the south bank of the Don River, they will not continue to advance, they will go east, march to the bend of the Don River, and then look across the river with our friendly forces and wait for the results of the battle of Moscow." ”

Marshal Budyonny said: "One more day of observation, if tomorrow the Germans have not attacked, we can judge that the general secretary is completely correct." ”

The two looked north and had another difficult day.

On the new day, the reconnaissance planes and the reconnaissance troops on the ground sent good news one after another, and the German troops around the city of Batesk were as stable as the Caucasus Mountains, and had no intention of attacking at all.

Another day passed, the battlefield was uneventful, the troops had begun to defend their line in the Kagalnik valley, Marshal Budyonny and Lieutenant General Malinovsky were completely relieved, and after a delicious dinner, they had the first good sleep in recent days.

At one o'clock in the evening, under the starry sky, a convoy drove into Rostov from the northwest, then crossed the Don River through the city and drove straight into the city of Bathensk.

The convoy stopped at a small hotel north of the city of Bataisk, and Chen Dao jumped out of the armored car, walked into the hotel, and found the headquarters of the 3rd Waffen-SS Panzer Corps in the hotel.

Seeing Chen Dao's arrival, the commander of the 3rd SS Armored Corps, General Theodore Ike, greeted him with a smile.

"General Rosen, you're finally here, I've been waiting for you for two days."

Chen Dao smiled and asked, "Are you waiting for me, or are you waiting for the order to attack?" ”

"Is there a difference between the two?" Admiral Ike asked rhetorically.

Chen Dao said: "Well, there is no difference between the two. Our troops marched at night and rested during the day, the speed of the march was affected, and the time to assemble was slow, but this could create a kind of paralysis among the enemy and make them think that we had stopped at the city of Bataisk. Give them two more days of anesthesia to relax their nerves a little more and attack the morning after tomorrow. ”

Admiral Ike said, "The day after tomorrow morning, is it?" I understood, give me three days, and I promise to drive them all into the Sea of Azov. ”

"Remember, we must do a good job of secrecy, and the movement of troops should be carried out at night, so as not to expose the target. The troops of Army Group A have opened the door to the Caucasus Mountains for our Army Group C, so that we can avoid losing our strength in the outpost battle, and go into battle in full condition, to carry out a deep assault of hundreds of kilometers, we must not live up to their good intentions, and we must take the Russians by surprise. Chen Dao said seriously.

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