Chapter 861

Since our current troops and equipment are unable to launch a direct assault on Paulus' central department store, I have to take second place. The German garrison in the railway station is a lonely army at present. If we want to eliminate them, there must be no problem. As long as we recapture the railway station, we will successfully pull out a nail that the German army has wedged into our defense line and connect the scattered defense areas.

Thinking of this, I looked up again from the map and said to Vitkov, "Comrade chief of staff, please call Colonel bere of the 84th tank brigade and ask him to come to the headquarters immediately."

"Comrade commander," vetkov stood still and asked me tentatively, "are you going to let Colonel berey come here to cover our infantry charge with his tanks?"

"Yes, chief of staff." I nodded and affirmed, "that's how I think about it."

"But Comrade commander," wittkov murmured with an embarrassed expression on his face, "Colonel berey's tank brigade suffered a heavy loss in the early battle. There are only two tanks left in the brigade." Seeing my disappointment, he added hastily, "but please don't worry. As far as I know, some new tanks have arrived on the east bank. Maybe the tank brigade of Colonel berey will be replenished in the next two days."

After listening to wittkov's words, I couldn't help worrying and said to myself, "hell, if we don't have the cover of tanks, let our infantry charge with the enemy's intensive firepower, don't we let them die? No, we must not fight like this, otherwise we are wasting our troops in vain. "

At this moment, my ear suddenly thought of Vitkov's voice: "Comrade commander, I have a suggestion."

"Go ahead, comrade colonel." Thinking that I had become a commander who didn't live up to my name, and that the strength and weapons I could use were not even comparable to the heyday of the independent division, I said impatiently, "if you have any suggestions, please let me know."

Witkov was aware of my dissatisfaction, so he was very careful when he said: "you see, whether we should call the division leaders to a meeting, first, to increase mutual understanding, and second, we can discuss how to carry out the next combat action."

As soon as I listen, this suggestion is not bad. Since I was the commander of the army last night, I have never met several of my division commanders, let alone understood the strength of the other three divisions, so I readily agreed: "chief of staff, your proposal is good, I agree. You'll call several division commanders and ask them to come to the army headquarters for a meeting as soon as possible. "

Half an hour later, four teachers who received the call came to my headquarters. After I asked them to sit down, I didn't beat around the Bush and said frankly, "comrades, we are going to attack the railway station occupied by the German army soon. We plan to transfer a division to take on the main task. I don't know what you think, so you can say it boldly."

Colonel gurdyev of the 308th infantry division first said, "Comrade commander, I believe you have seen all the fighting in the city in recent months. During the brutal fighting, the original backbone of the divisions were almost lost. Although many soldiers were added one after another, they were all new recruits without any training, and they could not be compared with the veterans. "

"Yes, comrade commander." The 284th division commander sitting next to him, vachuk, continued: "although the newly added soldiers have participated in many battles, they have also accumulated some combat experience. However, the training of the troops is still too poor. In the battle, the forward troops are too slow to launch, and the assault is not decisive enough. The support troops at the back are either too far away from the front, or they are simply crowded together with the slow forward troops. "

I saw that the newly appointed commander of the 171st division, Col. andreushenko, did not speak. He was just frowning and thinking about the problem. Then he turned his head and asked Bantai leyev, who was sitting on the left side: "Colonel Bantai leyev, tell me what you think."

Bantai leiev nodded and thought for a moment, then said: "comrades, in the brutal fighting in the past few months, many troops suffered heavy losses, so they were transferred back to the rear for repair. It is the most terrible thing for a unit to be annihilated in a systematic way. Generally speaking, even if a unit loses more than half of its losses in battle, as long as new recruits are added in, veterans who have experienced fierce battles before can play the role of backbone of the battle and make the unit form combat effectiveness quickly. The annihilation of the organizational system means that the detachment has completely disappeared. "

As soon as bantailiev finished his speech, andreushenko, who had never spoken, said in an impassioned voice: "Captain bantailiev is right. My 115th motorized infantry brigade had only 120 people left in the early fighting, of which less than 10 were fighters. Later, although the group army added 500 recruits to us, it was unable to form combat effectiveness at all, So that our brigade is now reduced to a garrison. "

Four division commanders expressed their opinions in turn. After listening for a long time, I realized that except Bantai leiev, the other three division commanders all euphemistically said that their combat effectiveness was too poor to undertake the task of attacking the railway station.

Bantai leiev and I are familiar with each other. He can tell from my expression whether I am angry or not. Seeing that I am sullen after listening to your speeches, he knows that I am sulking and hurry out to make a round: "comrades, our independent division... No, it should be called the 150th red flag infantry division now, although it has lost a lot in recent battles, But we are willing to take on the task of mainly attacking the railway station. I'm here to make it clear to the commander that our division will successfully complete the tasks assigned to us by our superiors. "

As for Bantai leiev's rescue, I gave him a grateful smile. Then I stopped looking at the other teachers and said with a smile: "Colonel Bantai leiev, tell me about your plan. How do you plan to attack the German garrison in the railway station?" After listening to what I said, Bantai leiev knew that I was going to give him a chance to show his face, so he stood up and said to several teachers around him, "comrades, my attack plan is like this. In the front of the railway station, where the fountain is located, use tanks to cover the infantry for assault... "" Comrade Colonel, "before he finished his words, guldyev interrupted him. The other side said in a sarcastic tone:" the streets and the square in front of the station are full of bricks, stones and craters. The tanks can't speed up when they rush up, It's going to be taken out one by one by German antitank men. Once the tank is destroyed, the infantry following will be easily defeated. "“ Comrade Colonel, "bantaileiev immediately refuted gurdyev's sarcasm. After a heavy snort, he confidently said," since the establishment of our division, we have trained in urban tough battles. I don't think our experience in street fighting is worse than any other unit. "“ Colonel bantailiev, I remind you... "Gultyev was very unconvinced with bantailiev's retort, and also made a tit for tat retort."... "When they were arguing, vetkov, who was sitting next to me, asked in surprise:" Comrade commander, there are only two tanks left in captain beley's tank brigade, Whether it can be used or not is still a question. How could Colonel Bantai leiev suggest that tanks should be the forerunner to cover the infantry attack With a smile, I said to him in a low voice, "chief of staff, you don't know, there is a tank battalion in the independent division, there are ten captured German tanks, and a similar number of armored vehicles. There are also two artillery battalions, including several 155 mm heavy howitzers seized from the German army, as well as 10 meter anti tank guns, and an anti tank rifle company After listening to a series of data reported by me, Colonel wittkov was very surprised. After a while, he said with emotion: "Comrade commander, I didn't expect that the independent division had so many heavy technical equipment. No wonder the German army could not move forward in any way when they stood at mamayev post." After talking with wittkov for a while, I suddenly looked up and found that bantailiev and gurdyev were still arguing. Seeing this, I raised my hand and repeatedly patted the table. At the same time, I yelled, "come on, don't make any noise. Be quiet. Keep quiet for me." Under my intervention, bandeleev and gurdyev stopped quarreling and sat back to their own positions. I coughed and said to bantaileiev, "Comrade Colonel, please go on with your attack plan." Then he turned to warn gurdyev: "Colonel gurdyev, please listen quietly to Mr. Bantai leiev finish his plan and don't interrupt him, OK?" Gultyev, who had been warned by me, blushed with shame. He nodded embarrassed, and then said in an inaudible voice, "I see, comrade commander." Seeing that gurdyev was no longer competing with himself, bantaileiev continued: "because the German troops were hidden in solid fortifications or basements, our shelling didn't cause much damage to them. Therefore, we had to send tank troops as pioneers to cover the forward assault of infantry and destroy those firepower points on the way forward with tank guns. If there are some solid firepower points that can't be destroyed by tanks, the heavy howitzers of the artillery battalion of the division will approach and shoot... "After Bantai leiev finished his plan, vetkov and I looked at each other and asked Bantai leiev:" Comrade Colonel, I don't know how many days it will take your division to capture the railway station? " Bantaileiev frowned and thought for a moment, then raised his hand decisively, stretched out two fingers and said in a positive tone: "two days. Comrade commander, in two days at most, we can recapture the railway station occupied by the German army. "“ Good I nodded with great satisfaction to Bantai leyev's statement, and then said, "two days, two days. I'm waiting for the good news of your victory!"