To the northeast and northwest of the city of Voroshilovgrad, there are a total of five bridges for armored units to cross the Donets River, including two road bridges and one railway bridge for heavy tanks.

On the five bridges, the mighty convoy spewed pungent exhaust gas, and the infantry, panting for breath, lined up in an endless marching procession, crossed the Donets River, and entered a vast new battlefield.

To the northeast, on the road bridge with the best road conditions, Major General Schumacher, commander of the Luftwaffe "Reich Marshal" Panzer Division, and his adjutant rode in an SD KFZ 251 armored car, followed by a command armored car of the same type, sandwiched in a convoy, and rumbled across the bridge.

The armored vehicle crossed the Donets River and followed the road through a riverside swamp about a dozen kilometers on the north bank of the river, stopping next to a village called Nizhny Vilihova.

The long convoy drove past the armored car, making a screeching noise and kicking up a cloud of dust, but Major General Schumacher ignored it, just sat with his back against the wall of the armored car, intently studying the combat map spread flat on his knees.

The map depicts a vast area between the Donets and the Don River to the east, and Major General Schumacher quickly found his location on the map, and his finger followed the village of Nizhny Velihova all the way north, stopping at a small town called Bilovodsik on the map.

"Along the road to the north, about fifty kilometers is the first target. Further north, about forty kilometers, is the second target, and further west, about thirty kilometers is the third target. These are the three recent targets, and hopefully we can catch a couple of unresponsive guys. ”

The large and small red circles marked on the map of Major General Schumacher are the operational targets of the "Reichsmarshal" armored division, and each red circle means that there is a field airfield of the Soviet army there.

Chen Dao's task to Major General Schumacher was to occupy those airfields, and not to let any of them go.

Even if you can't catch the Russian planes, you have to scare them away and drive them north or east, away from the Donets front, so that the Soviet troops along the Donets River will not have enough air support.

Soviet field airfields were located in the rear of the Soviet lines, and the defenses were weak and simply powerless against the German armored units rushing from the ground.

As for the drudgery of outflanking the Soviet army in a roundabout way and seducing the reserves of the Soviet Southwestern Front to come out and destroy them, it was completely left to the SS 104th Heavy Panzer Brigade and the Panzergrenadier Division of the "Greater Germany".

In this way, the "Imperial Marshal" armored division can influence the battlefield at minimal cost, both to gain meritorious service and to preserve its strength for subsequent battles.

Moreover, the Panzer Division of the "Reich Marshal" was subordinate to the Luftwaffe, and the Luftwaffe went to destroy the airfields of the Soviet Air Force, which justified the name, and no one could say anything.

The first target in front of Major General Schumacher was the Bilovodsik airfield, about fifty kilometers to the north.

The field airfield covers a vast area and does not have any concealment capability, and it is exposed to the Luftwaffe reconnaissance planes, not to mention the conscious targeted reconnaissance.

Before the start of the war, all Soviet airfields in the area of operation of the armored division of the "Reich Marshal" were marked on the combat map.

After crossing the river, the reconnaissance battalion rushed to the front, followed by the armored regiment of the "Imperial Marshal", and went straight to the town of Bilovodsik.

Barely met with decent resistance, and near seven o'clock in the morning, Major General Schumacher received a report from the reconnaissance battalion that the troops had successfully captured the town of Bilovodsik, by which time the Soviet airfield northwest of the town had been abandoned, and only two Soviet fighters that seemed to have malfunctioned and could not fly were found.

About an hour later, Major General Schumacher arrived in the town in an armored car.

The town of Bilovodsik was a transport hub with five roads, where the "Imperial Marshal" Panzer Division was divided into two routes, as originally planned.

The reconnaissance battalion and the "Imperial Marshal" Panzer Regiment headed straight north, and the "Imperial Marshal" 1st Panzergrenadier Regiment first turned northeast from the town and then advanced north parallel to the troops of the "Imperial Marshal" Panzer Regiment from the eastern road.

From the town of Bilovodsik to the north, at a distance of about forty kilometers, there is a village called Markiivka, to the north of which there is a field airfield, which is the second target of the armored division of the "Reich Marshal".

Major General Schumacher and the division headquarters were stationed in the town of Bilovodsik, along with the engineer battalion.

The sappers carefully inspected the airfield abandoned by the Soviets and found no traces of mines on the airfield.

To confirm the safety of the airport, the Luftwaffe ground crews who operated with the Panzer Division of the "Reich Marshal" were stationed at the airport, and with the cooperation of engineers, repaired the hangars, navigation towers and other facilities on the airport.

Shortly before 9 a.m., Major General Schumacher again received a report from the reconnaissance battalion that they had successfully captured the village of Markiivka to the north, and found only an empty airfield abandoned by the Soviets.

Major General Schumacher scratched his head, found the combat map, and put a cross on the red circle in the village of Marchivka.

Major General Schumacher led the division headquarters to set off again and advance towards the village of Marchivka.

Less than an hour after he left the town of Bilovodsik, eight JU-52 "Junker Aunts" transport planes, escorted by four ME-109 fighters, appeared in the sky and landed safely at the German airfield in the town of Bilovodsik.

Paratroopers from the 1st Parachute Division, numbering a platoon, jumped out of the plane and began to build fortifications around the airfield.

Second wave, third wave······ Transport planes arrived in turn, bringing more paratroopers and aviation gasoline and other military supplies to prepare for the future transfer of Luftwaffe fighters.

Major General Schumacher led the division headquarters to the village of Marchivka, where sappers were normally sent to check the security of the airfield, and Air Force ground crews then took over the airfield to prepare for its reopening.

By this time, the reconnaissance battalion had received the third good news that they had occupied the town of Novopskov, about thirty kilometers west of the village of Markiivka.

As before, the Soviet airfield in the town of Novopskov has been abandoned by Soviet troops.

Major General Schumacher did not lead the division headquarters to transfer, but only sent sappers and air ground crews to the west, stationed at the Soviet airfield in the town of Novopskov.

The air force of the Russians is not stupid, it even knows to flee in advance, but even the enemy's ground forces have not encountered much, which is very abnormal.

Was it because we were moving too fast that the enemy did not have time to react, or were the enemy's reserves all drawn away by the Panzergrenadier Division of the left flank "Großdeutschland"?

After pondering for a long time, Major General Schumacher decided to continue his scheduled mission and attack other Soviet airfields.

Three Soviet airfields were abandoned by the enemy, and Major General Schumacher's courage grew.

The operational area designated by his immediate superior, General Rosen, was about 160 kilometers wide from north to south and about 200 kilometers long from east to west to the Donets River to the east, the Kalitva River to the north, and the Donets River to the west and south.

The village of Markivka, where he is now, happens to be in the center of this area, in which direction should he lead his troops to attack next? To be able to deliver the deadliest blow to the enemy?

The south side is the direction from which oneself came and excludes it at first.

To the east, in the direction of getting farther and farther away from the Donets front, there are no worthy targets, and the number of enemies is small.

There were many enemies to the west, but General Rosen had hinted to himself not to gnaw hard bones.

It appears that there is only one direction to the north, and Major General Schumacher has set his sights on the Kalitwa River to the north.

The Kalitva River is a tributary of the Don River, running east-west, and in the middle reaches there is a riverside city called Rossohi.

It was a transportation hub, from where enemy reinforcements from the north were supposed to pass through the Kalitva River, and his own map showed a Soviet airfield in the northwest corner of the city of Rosohi.

The distance from the village of Markivka to Rosohi is about 80 km, which is a straight distance on the map, which is not very far.

The next target, the city of Rosohi to the north, was decided by Major General Schumacher.

In the western suburbs of the city of Rosoch, the commander-in-chief of the Southwestern Front of the Soviet Union and the headquarters of the Southwestern Front, Marshal Timoshenko and his staff were nervously thinking about countermeasures.

"The enemy is crossing the Donets River from bridges in the Voroshilovgrad region, our Southwestern Front is in danger of being outflanked by the enemy, we must abandon the Donets line of defense and retreat to the east and northeast." This was stated by the Chief of Staff of the Southwestern Front, Lieutenant General Bokin.

Khrushchev, General Political Commissar of the South-Western Command, said: "Have you ever thought about how many troops we will lose during the retreat under the pursuit of the armored forces of the Germans? ”

Marshal Timoshenko said: "If we do not retreat, our troops will be completely annihilated, and it is better to lose a part of it than to lose all of it." ”

Khrushchev did not insist on his opinion, he knew that the plan of Marshal Timoshenko and Lieutenant General Bokin was the most in line with the current form.

Out of unwillingness, Khrushchev still asked: "Can our troops hold on to their positions and hold out until the arrival of the Voronezh Front?" ”

"I'm afraid not in terms of time, after the troops are surrounded, they can't hold out for that long. Moreover, even if the troops of the Voronezh Front arrive, it is a question of whether they will be able to break the enemy's encirclement. Lieutenant General Bogin said.

Khrushchev no longer insisted: "Then so be it, let the troops retreat." At the same time, let the reserves attack, delay the advance of the enemy's armored forces as much as possible, let the encirclement close later, and give the troops more time to retreat. ”

Marshal Timoshenko said: "The most important thing is to let the Voronezh Front arrive as soon as possible, we need them too much now." ”

"Their vanguard, the Fifth Tank Army, has set out, and it is expected that tomorrow their first troops will move south from Rosohsi into the battlefield," said Lieutenant General Bogin. The enemy's air force is as annoying as ever, and hopefully their itinerary will not be disrupted by the enemy's air force. ”