Chapter 233

As the chief of staff of the 20th army, I feel very incompetent. I've been in office for two days, and my eyes are still focused on the third part of the eighth division of Jinwei. I don't care about the rest. So far, I don't know what units are under the control of the group army and where the specific defense area is.

I stared at Vlasov as he was speaking, remembering the names of the troops and commanders he had mentioned, as well as their current positions.

After Vlasov introduced the basic situation, President Lin began to speak: "in recent days, the German army launched an attack on our army in many areas. The intensity and density of the attack is unique since the beginning of the Moscow battle. According to the analysis of this situation, it should be German Marshal von bock who put all their reserves into the battle, trying to break through the defense line of our army at one stroke, so as to quickly capture Moscow and draw enough troops to other fronts. Judging from the current situation, this desperate tactic is extremely threatening. They have forced our troops to retreat in many areas. "

Mr. Lin talked endlessly. Shi Zhe, who was standing behind him, translated his words into Russian in time for us to listen to. Vlasov leaned back in his chair, took the cigarette case on the table, took a cigarette out of it, struck a match in his mouth and lit it. Smelling the faint sulfur smell of the match burning in the air, President Lin looked at him, frowned slightly, and continued: "the situation of our group army is slightly better than that of other troops. Although the enemy launched several large-scale attacks on us since we occupied wolokoramsk, their plot to seize the city failed under our army's heroic resistance. Not only did they not take advantage of it, on the contrary, some of the areas they occupied were recaptured by us. In order to reverse the current unfavorable situation, the headquarters of the front army is prepared to let our group army take positive actions to contain part of the enemy's forces, so as to give the friendly forces a chance to breathe. "

"Deputy commander Lin," I asked preemptively, taking advantage of the gap between his words, "in what direction is the headquarters of the front army going to let us launch an attack?"

"Comrade Rita, come and see." Mr. Lin used the red and blue pencil in his hand to light the map for me to explain. Maybe it was for his convenience to read the map. There was Chinese beside the Russian name on the map. It was not a problem for me to understand such a map“ The operational intention of the headquarters of the front army is to make our division, with the seventh division as the main force, equipped with two tank battalions, attack kashino, which is guarded by the German 340th infantry regiment in the north, strive to seize the small town, and then threaten the German supply bases in suvorovo and botovo, forcing the enemy to transfer troops from the front line to defend, In order to reduce the pressure of the friendly forces. "

I looked at the map and thought to myself whether it would be cost-effective to launch such an attack. Seeing that I didn't speak and just stared at the picture in a daze, Vlasov couldn't help asking, "Comrade Rita, what do you think of this attack?"

Instead of answering his question directly, I asked, "comrades commander, under normal circumstances, if our group army is going to take part in a major counter offensive, what kind of offensive line will it take?"

Vlasov leaned forward, pointed to a point on the map, and said: "according to the initial deployment, after the great counterattack begins, the group army will take the seventh division as the main force, take chismena eastward first, and take this small town as the starting point to launch a counterattack against klin in the Northeast. At the same time, the eighth Division will go northward from Taiyangshan City, forming a potential attack against klin."

"What forces do our army have in chismena and Cassino at present?"

The one who answered my question this time was general manager Lin. he pointed his pencil at chismena on the map and replied, "the forward position of the seventh division is on the edge of the forest three kilometers west of chismena, defended by two infantry battalions and an anti tank artillery battalion." Then he moved the pen to another position and said, "five kilometers south of kashino is the small city of Ivanov skoye, where a regiment of our 354th infantry division is stationed. Although they are the same regiment's troops, because the enemy's organizational system is different from ours, they have an advantage in the number of people. "

"Is there any fighting in these two areas in the near future?" I asked a third question that I was interested in.

"No," said Vlasov, shaking his head, "since the end of November, the German army has been afraid of being beaten in the war with us. Now it no longer takes the initiative to attack the areas under the jurisdiction of our group army, but tries its best to build all kinds of fortifications to defend against the counterattack that our army may launch."

I raised my head, looked at the two commanders and asked softly, "Comrade commander, do you think we should carry out this combat order of the headquarters of the front army?"

Almost without thinking, Vlasov replied, "the orders of the superior are not to be discussed. We should carry them out immediately."

"I don't agree!" After listening to Shi Zhe's translation, President Lin decisively put forward his own point of view: "our existing forces and reserves obtained from the base camp are preparing to assemble in chismena area. If they are transferred to Ivanov skoye to take part in the attack, if the attack is not smooth, they may be entangled by the enemy, which will affect our plan of counter attack."

When I heard the two commanders' different views, I understood why they called me to the headquarters of the group army in such a hurry. It turned out that I was the referee for them. Although I agree with Mr. Lin's point of view, if we want to publicly express our support for him, we will offend Vlasov and even Zhukov. My eyes were fixed on the map, and my mind was desperately trying to figure out what to do? For a moment, I was so absorbed that Vlasov patted me on the shoulder twice before waking me up from my meditation. Seeing that I noticed him, Vlasov urged, "Rita, how do you think about it? Tell me what you think." I looked at Vlasov and remembered that he had just said that the German army was afraid to take the initiative to attack our group army. All of a sudden, I had a brilliant idea in my mind and came up with a clever plan. So I took a long breath and said to them easily, "two commanders, I have a bold idea. I can not only complete the operational orders issued by the headquarters of the front army, but also not affect the counter offensive two days later." Hearing that I thought of a way to have the best of both worlds, they could not help but brighten their eyes and urged me to speak quickly“ Just now, general Vlasov said that the enemy facing our army has been scared by us, and we dare not take the initiative to attack at all. Therefore, we can create a false impression of assembling a large number of troops to ivanovskoye, put on a posture that is about to attack kashino, and force the German Army to increase its troops to kashino. "“ What illusion? You need to be more specific. " Vlasov asked in a puzzled way, but Mr. Lin frowned slightly, trying to think about something. I went on to say, "we can send troops to Ivanov skoye area in a big way during the day, and intentionally let the enemy find our troops moving, and then quietly withdraw them at night. In this way, troops were sent during the day and then withdrawn at night, giving the enemy the illusion of a large army gathering and a major military attack in the direction of kashino. In this way, if they want to keep their important supply points, they will send heavy troops back to defend the area. "“ What about chismena? " Vlasov asked, motionless“ In chismena, we take the opposite approach. In the daytime, except for a small number of Guard troops, the rest of the troops swaggered back, and in the evening they were sent up together with the reinforcements. In this way, we will be able to gather enough troops at the starting point of the offensive before the great counter offensive begins. " After listening to the translation, Mr. Lin slapped the table and exclaimed, "great! What a trick to" hide the truth from the world and cross the sea! " I was stunned when I heard that the name of this strategy was "hide the truth from the world and cross the sea". I thought it should be called "increase the number of troops and reduce the number of stoves" or "decrease the number of troops and increase the number of stoves". Vlasov also showed a smile on his face and said, "since this is the best way to get the best of both worlds, we will act according to the plan after we report it to the headquarters of the front army."“ Wait a minute, comrade Vlasov. " President Lin stopped Vlasov who wanted to report to Zhukov in time. "Although this plan is good, there are still many shortcomings. Some details need to be improved. For example, what should we do if troops encounter enemy air strikes on the way to mobilization? If the enemy doesn't respond to our false appearance of assembly in the direction of kashino, what should we do?... " After listening to President Lin's analysis, I admire him more and more. He is worthy of being the God of the army. The problem I'm considering is comprehensive. With him commanding the army, there's no reason why I don't win.