Chapter 898

Not long after the order was issued, another good news came: the city of Freda was captured by the gedar regiment of the 22nd division of the guards, and the garrison in the city was completely annihilated.

When the news came, I was still stunned for a moment. I thought that with the withdrawal of the main force, tank brigade and artillery regiment of the 22nd division, the fighting in this city would last for two days. I didn't expect that it would be so easy to attack. But when I think about it, I'm relieved to know that this army, which I set up by myself, is the best at street fighting. Moreover, it has made many achievements in the battle of defending Stalingrad. It's really not a big problem to capture such a small city.

Now that the city of Freda has been successfully occupied, we can rest assured and boldly carry out the offensive plan of the western front. But before that, I think it's necessary to report the good news of the capture of the city of Freda to the headquarters of the group army, so that commander haridonov can enjoy it.

Thinking of this, I called Vitkov over and told him, "Comrade chief of staff, immediately send a telegram to the headquarters of the group army to report the results of our capture of the city of Freda."

After listening to my instructions, wittkov asked with some embarrassment: "Comrade commander, do we really not report our combat plan to the higher authorities? If it is successful, it will be OK; But if something goes wrong and leads to a setback in the attack, the consequences will be unthinkable

Wittkov's reminder made me hesitate. If I don't report the combat plan I just made, if anything goes wrong, the consequences will be very serious. I walked back and forth in the headquarters with my hands behind my back, my brain was spinning fast, thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of doing so. Kirilov and Vitkov stood by, staring at me, waiting for my final decision.

To tell you the truth, in the Soviet army, taking military action without asking for instructions was taking risks with one's own head. But if we report our plan to the group army headquarters, whether it can be approved or not, we may be transferred to the west of Donetsk, together with the main forces, to take part in the battle of attacking the German defensive solid positions.

The word "seeking wealth in danger" suddenly appeared in my mind, which made my thinking suddenly clear. He said to himself in his heart: this battle has not been written in the history books of later generations, which proves that the Soviet Army's attack failed in the end, and it is estimated that it will still be very miserable. In this case, we simply take a second risk. If we have achieved good results when other friendly forces are defeated by the German army, who will be responsible for our unauthorized actions?

Thinking of this, I stopped and decisively ordered wittkov: "chief of staff, send a telegram to the headquarters to report the results of the battle of Fleda. In addition, he told the headquarters of the group army that due to the lack of ammunition and materials, we are unable to carry out new fighting in the short term, and hope to supply our department as soon as possible. " At this point, I looked down at the map with the red and blue arrows on the table and said calmly, "for the future of our 79th infantry, I think we should gamble."

"But, comrade commander." As an old soldier who has been in the army for more than 20 years, vetkov tried to persuade me to change my mind: "it's too risky to do this. Would you reconsider..."

"Comrade chief of staff," as my old partner, kirilov stood up in time to express his support to me. He patted wittkov on the shoulder and said in a friendly way, "just do what Comrade oshanina said. With my understanding of her, her decision will not be wrong."

"Well, comrade Commissar." Seeing kirilov's unconditional support for me, vetkov could only sigh and accept the fact that he could not change. "I'm going to send a telegram to the headquarters of the group army."

After witkov left, kirilov, who had just expressed unconditional support for me, asked anxiously, "Comrade oshanina, I also think you are too risky to do so. To be on the safe side, would you like to send a secret telegram to general rokosovsky or Marshal Zhukov and report your operation plan to them? In this way, even if something goes wrong in the future, someone can come out to deal with it for you. "

I know kirilov said this out of good intentions, but I firmly rejected his proposal and explained to him: "Comrade political commissar, this plan can neither be reported to Marshal Zhukov nor informed to general rokosovsky, which will make things more complicated."

As for how complicated things will become, I did not say, nor did kirilov ask. What he was concerned about was another question: "I don't understand, comrade oshanina. According to my observation, it seems that you don't want us to fight with the main force of the group army. What's the reason?"

When answering kirilov's question, I looked to the left and right as usual. Seeing that the radio operator with earphones on the wall didn't pay attention to us, I whispered, "Comrade political commissar, have you heard of the Somme River battle?"

"The battle of Somme?" Kirilov repeated what I said, nodded and replied, "I know something. It was in the first World War when the British and French allied forces launched an attack on the German army in the Somme river area. The left wing of the British Army adopted a dense attack formation and was seriously damaged by the German machine gun and artillery fire. In just one day, nearly 60000 people were killed and injured." Speaking of this, he stopped for a moment, and then asked in surprise, "o'shanina, what do you want to do with this? Is what you want to say next related to this example of war?"

"Yes, comrade political commissar." I said politely, "I think the tactics of many commanders in our army are too outdated. They mechanically copy the tactics they learned in military academies. They have a deep-rooted belief in their mind that if they want to seize the enemy's positions, they can achieve a breakthrough as long as they invest more troops than the limit of the enemy's firepower density, But I didn't expect to encounter the cobweb like trench and the honeycomb like dense machine gun fortress, our officers and men's lives are only reaped.

Nowadays, some important commanders have no experience in commanding large regiments. If the tactical level, mobility and firearm equipment of both sides are primitive, our soldiers can still be effective if they rely on courage, tenacity and fierce fighting. But look at the enemy's equipment. There are tanks and artillery on board and under. If we adopt the old tactics, I can see what hope we can win, except that our commanders and fighters will donate their blood and lives in vain. "

After listening to my rebellious words, kirilov was silent for a long time, and finally said with difficulty: "well, comrade o'shanina, no matter what kind of decision you make, I will firmly support you."

Kirilov's attitude made me feel warm. I went forward to hold his hand, shook it hard, and said gratefully, "thank you, comrade commissar! But please rest assured that not only will there be any vicious consequences in the future, I will bear them all. "

"Comrade oshanina, you think too much." Kirilov listened to me and quickly expressed his attitude again: "since I am your political commissar, if anything goes wrong in the future, I will share part of the responsibility for you."

As we were talking, vetkov came in from the outside with a smile on his face, followed by akhromeyev, who also had a full face. When they came to us, akhromeyev took the lead and said, "Comrade commander, there is an old subordinate of yours who has been discharged from hospital. He came to report to you specifically. Do you want to see him?"

"My old man?" Akhromeyev's words confused me. I have tens of thousands of subordinates. How can I guess who came to me to report? He was about to wave akhromeyev to send him away, but seeing that he and vetkov were both smiling, it proved that they both knew each other, and the level was not too low, so I changed my mind and told akhromeyev: "Comrade major, please call the people in."

"Yes Akhromeyev agreed, turned and walked towards the door. He came to the door and called out, "come in, comrade commander, let you in!"

With his shouts, an officer in a big cornice hat came out of the door. He quickly came to us, raised his hand to salute, and said in a loud voice: "report to division commander, political commissar comrade, major Pugachev, acting head of the second regiment of the independent division, I have recovered and discharged from the hospital, please return to the team, please give instructions!"

"At ease!" I called a command casually, but I didn't reply. I grabbed his hand, shook it vigorously, and said excitedly, "major Pugachev, when did you leave the hospital?" We haven't seen each other since the last time we went to the group army headquarters of trakov and he was sent to capture the artillery observation point of the school. I even thought he died. At the moment, seeing him standing in front of me full of energy, I was overjoyed. While shaking hands with him, I asked with concern: "Comrade major, are you all healed?"

"Yes, comrade commander." It was just because he was excited that he called me and kirilov by his old position. Now when he formally reported to me, he called me by the correct rank: "after more than three months of recuperation, my injury has fully recovered." At this point, he suddenly became a bit awkward and asked me, "I heard that lieutenant colonel Oleg has returned to the post of commander of the second regiment. I don't know how you plan to arrange my work?"

When Pugachev mentioned this, I immediately remembered that after he was injured, I merged the second regiment and the fifth regiment, and let the former commander of the second regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg, take the post of commander again, and let the first level instructor, verol, take the post of political commissar of the regiment. Now that major Pugachev is back from injury, as the acting head of the regiment, he can't go back to the second regiment to compete with Commander Oleg for the post of head of the regiment. He can only rearrange his post. Thinking of this, I turned to kirilov and asked, "Comrade political commissar, how do you think about major Pugachev's work arrangement?"

Kirilov frowned and thought for a while. Finally, he shook his head and said regretfully, "Comrade oshanina, as far as I know, Mr. bantailiev has made a great personnel adjustment in the division recently." speaking of this, he gave a meaningful look at akhromeyev standing in front of us, and then said, "many commanders joined him from the new editor, They have been promoted to different degrees. Therefore, I think it may not be appropriate for Comrade Pugachev to return to work in the 22nd division of the guards. "

Kirilov's words made my heart heavy. Unexpectedly, less than two months after I left the independent division, bantailiev began to place confidants everywhere to repel others. Even akhromeyev, chief of staff of the division, was squeezed out of the division. Pugachev has been away from the army for quite a long time. It is estimated that even if he goes back, he will not be assigned any good posts. Rather than that, I might as well leave him in the army headquarters, or at least have one more subordinate who can weigh his hands. But what position should he be given? I can't help worrying.

When I was in a dilemma, akhromeyev stepped forward and said to me in a loud voice, "Comrade commander, I have an idea. Can I say it?" I was upset when I heard what ahlomeyev said. I couldn't help waving my hand and said in a bad mood: "Comrade major, you are my old subordinate. If you have anything to say, don't beat around the bush."“ Comrade commander, I think so. " Akhromeyev heard me say this, so he didn't beat around the Bush any more, but said directly: "thanks to your trust, I've been assigned two posts of director of operations and director of intelligence. I don't think it's appropriate for me to hold two posts by one person, so I suggest that major Pugachev take over one of them." After listening to akhromeyev's suggestion, I stared at Pugachev and began to think: he is a commander with rich combat experience. He has participated in many battles and made a lot of contributions. What he lacks is the experience of working in the headquarters. It's time for him to exercise. After consideration, without consulting with kirilov, I formally announced to akhromeyev and Pugachev: "major akhromeyev, after my consideration, in order to give full play to your strengths, I intend to let you serve as the chief of the military staff and the chief of the intelligence department, and the vacant post of the chief of the combat department will be taken over by major Pugachev." Speaking of this, I asked kirilov beside me: "Comrade political commissar, do you have different opinions?"“ No comment. " Kirilov nodded and said, "I think your arrangement is very suitable." Witkov saw my eyes sweeping towards him. Without waiting for me to speak, he immediately said, "Comrade commander, I don't have any opinions. I'm determined to dive into your order."“ Since we all have no objection, "I saw that the political commissar and the chief of staff expressed their support for my proposal, and finally said," from now on, Pugachev will be the chief of operations of our army. "