Chapter 403

In the face of such a bad situation, meletskov was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. He walked back and forth in the headquarters without saying a word. The staff officers and signalmen who were making phone calls and sending telegrams also deliberately lowered their voices, so as not to affect the thinking of the commander of the front army and bring about disaster.

The most anxious is the commander of the eighth group army, starikov. He watched meletskov keep walking around the room without any sign of stopping. He could not help raising his voice and loudly reminded the other party: "senior general, the situation in the sinavino Highlands is very dangerous at present. You need to find a way as soon as possible. Otherwise, before the German artillery stopped, all our officers and men on the Highlands would have died. "

When he heard what starikov said, meletzkov slowed down and walked back and forth in the room. Then he came to starikov, stopped, looked up and asked, "Comrade starikov, do you have any good way to face the current situation?"

Starikov obviously didn't expect that meletzkov would suddenly ask him this question. He was stunned for a moment and then replied, "we should immediately send the reserve team to the high ground, and we must hold the position."

"Reserves?" When meletskov heard the word, he sneered and said in a sarcastic tone, "my general, do you still have reserves in your hand? You know, at the moment, the Germans are pouring thousands of bombs and shells onto the high ground. Even the heavy tanks that can't be damaged by anti tank guns are smashed by the enemy's high explosive bombs. Even if there is a reserve, in such a dense artillery fire into the position, do you think the flesh and blood of the commanders and fighters is indestructible? It will not help but increase unnecessary casualties. "

Starikov asked in some confusion: "Comrade General, what should we do? You know, after the German bombing and shelling, infantry will be sent out to attack the highlands. The terrain on the north side of the highland is flat and there is no danger to defend. If we don't replenish the garrison, we can't defend the position only by the troops with heavy casualties. "

Meletzkov turned his head to me, spoke to me and said, "Rita, I know you have a lot of ideas. Do you have any good suggestions? "

I nodded hard and answered, "Comrade General, I have a way. Please see With that, I went to the side of the map, picked up the stick leaning against the wall, lit the sinavino highland on the map, and continued: "senior general, general starikov, from the current situation, the German army intends to consume our troops on the highland with aerial bombs and shells, and then they will send infantry to attack, He tried to recapture the Highlands occupied by our army at one stroke. What we can do now is to immediately contact General govolov, commander of the Leningrad front army, and ask them to support us with heavy artillery and naval guns to suppress the German artillery positions. At the same time, we should also ask the air force of Leningrad front army to send out fighter planes to drive away enemy bombers from the current fighting area, so that they can no longer pose a threat to our ground forces. The next thing we need to do is to order the 3rd, 24th and 265th infantry divisions of the guards on both sides of the highland to immediately feint at the enemy's positions, so that the German forces on the north side of the highland can not mobilize enough forces to take part in the attack. " With that, I leaned my stick against the wall again.

Meletzkov nodded with satisfaction and said, "your suggestion is quite right. I'll call general govolov, commander of Leningrad's front army, and Admiral tributz, commander of the Baltic Fleet, and ask them to immediately suppress the German artillery positions with heavy artillery and naval guns." He raised his legs and went to the conference table, where he was going to contact the Leningrad front army by telephone. His hand touched the phone, did not immediately pick up the phone, but turned to ask me: "after the bombing and shelling of the commanders and fighters on the Highlands, the number of survivors will not be too many, there will be a serious shortage of defensive forces, where should we draw forces to supplement them?"

I went to meletskov and said, "senior general, the 140th infantry brigade and the 327th division regiment on the highland are estimated to have lost all their lives. It is very difficult for them to hold on to the highland. The 19th infantry division, which had completed the task of conquering the Highlands, also suffered heavy casualties and was in urgent need of additional troops, weapons and ammunition. It was also unable to complete the task of defending the highlands. I suggest that the 22nd, 23rd and 137th infantry brigades of the 4th Army of the close guard, originally assigned to the left and right wings of the highland, be sent to the highland. They have not gone through combat, and the organizational structure of their troops is complete, so they can hold fast to the high ground. "

"Chief general, I'm going to call general rogensky and ask him to give orders to the three brigades. Let them get close to the high ground and prepare to take over the defensive positions of the 140th infantry brigade and the 327th division." With that, starikov came to the table and was ready to call the headquarters of the Fourth Army.

"Please wait, Comrade General." I saw that he had picked up the receiver and quickly stopped him.

Starikov saw me stop him from calling, looked at me blankly and asked, "do you have anything else to add? Major oshanina. "

"Yes, Rita. Do you have anything left to say? " Meletzkov also asked.

Although the ideas in my mind are beneficial to the war situation, it would offend people to say them. At least starikov, who is standing in front of me at the moment, will hate me after listening to my new suggestions. However, for the sake of the overall situation, I hesitated again and again, but still summoned up the courage to say, "senior general, since the 4th and 6th guard armies belong to two different command systems, the coordination between them will be very poor during the operations of large regiments, which may lead to the delay of fighters. In order to improve the current situation of command, I suggest that a commander with a higher rank be replaced to command the troops. "

As soon as I said this, I saw that starikov's face turned black immediately. He glared into my eyes, almost spewing fire. If it wasn't for meletskov, he would have been smoking.

As for my proposal, meletskov lowered his head for a moment, then raised his head, frowned and asked, "Rita, who do you think should command these two armies?"

"Comrade General, our troops participating in the battle of the siniavino bulge are divided into three echelons. The first echelon is the eighth group army under the command of general starikov, and the second is the second assault group army under the command of lieutenant general krakov. "When referring to krakov, I specially emphasized the two words of lieutenant general rank," the third echelon is the Fourth Infantry army under the command of general Gagan. Of the three commanders, general Krakow has the highest rank. I think it is appropriate for him to assume the position of front-line commander of the offensive forces. "

After listening, meletskov did not say yes or no, but looked at starikov and asked, "Comrade starikov, what do you think of major Rita's opinion?"

Meletzkov threw the question directly to starikov, making his face red and white. He was silent for a long time before biting his back teeth and saying, "I think major oshanina's proposal is correct at this stage. It will greatly improve the current situation of poor coordination and ineffective command between the troops by handing over my sixth army and general roganski's Fourth Army to general krakov. "

Seeing that starikov didn't express any objection, meletzkov directly called the headquarters of the front army, and stilimach, who answered the phone, said: "Comrade chief of staff, please inform general Krakow of the second shock group army immediately and ask him to rush to the temporary headquarters of the eighth group army immediately."

After receiving this puzzling call, stilimacher was obviously stunned, and then asked in surprise, "Comrade General, may I ask why you called general krakov to the provisional headquarters of the Eighth Army?"

Because of the time constraint, meletzkov did not behave politely with stilimach. He said frankly, "I intend to adjust the command of the forward forces, and I intend to hand over all the 4th and 6th guards to him. When you call to inform him, tell him to come as soon as possible. Time is running out. "

Then he called general govolov and Admiral tributz, commander of the Baltic Fleet, and asked them to support us with artillery and air force to defend the heights of sinavino.

As soon as the conversation with Leningrad's front army headquarters was over, Stalin's call came back. He yelled angrily on the phone, "Comrade meletzkov, what's the matter? Why are tens of thousands of officers and men of Neva group still trapped in the valley of Neva River? Have you ever let your troops attack the depth of German defense? "

On hearing Stalin's fury, meletzkov could not help shivering. Others may find it strange that a man who has been in the army for decades should be frightened by the words of the supreme commander. Only I can understand that meletzkov was arrested by the Ministry of the interior in late June 1941. He was tortured by the Ministry of the interior, forcing him to admit that he joined forces with vannikov, Kulik and Pavlov in an attempt to launch a coup. Although he suffered from the abuse of waste people, and was broken a few ribs, but he always gritted his teeth, did not admit to his frame. It was not until September that Stalin, who lacked a good enough commander, thought of him that he was released and sent to Leningrad.

It took quite a while for meletzkov to return to normal, his mood returned to stability, and he clearly reported to Stalin: "report to Comrade Stalin, at present, the German army is using bombers and cannons to pour thousands of bombs and shells onto the heights of sinavino, in an attempt to destroy our army with powerful firepower, and then recapture the heights."

"What measures have you taken?" Stalin's voice, the smell of gunpowder is still very strong.

"At the suggestion of major oshanina, I called general govolov of Leningrad's front army and Admiral tributz, commander of the Baltic Fleet, to ask them to suppress German artillery positions with artillery fire and send out Air Force fighters to drive German bombers out of our combat area. At the same time, I also intend to order the troops on both sides of the highlands to immediately attack the defense depth of the German army, so as to restrain their defense forces and prevent them from dispatching more troops to participate in the battle for the highlands. "

After listening to meletskov's reply, Stalin's voice softened a lot: "this kind of deployment is good. It seems that Rita still has some skills."

"Comrade Stalin," meletzkov looked at me and added, "major oshanina also suggested that, in order to improve the command of the troops, the 4th and 6th guard armies belonging to different systems should be handed over to lieutenant general krekov of the 2nd shock group army." At this point, he insisted to Stalin: "it's a bit condescending to let her be a combat staff officer. I think she should be given a more important position."“ Comrade meletskov, please tell Rita. She said that her analysis was correct. After further analysis by the supreme command, the German attack target in the southern region was indeed Stalingrad. Let her be ready and ready to go to a new job. "