Chapter 899

It is very easy to give orders to the subordinate troops. But when the troops were mobilized, something unexpected happened. The officers and men of the 308th division stationed in the city of warnowaha were stationed in the surrounding villages by company or battalion. Since the communication equipment was only equipped to the battalion level, gurdyev had to send a large number of personnel to convey the departure order to those companies without communication equipment by motorcycle or truck after receiving the order.

At noon the next day, the 22nd division of the guards, the tank brigade, the artillery regiment and the 171st division of the infantry had all set out to the designated location, but gurdyev's troops had not yet completed the assembly.

After reading the telegram sent by akhromeyev, witkov was so angry that he took off his military cap and fell on the table. He said with a curse: "what the hell is this gurtyev trying to do? The order was given last night, but now more than ten hours have passed, and their division has not yet assembled. If the plane is delayed, isn't he afraid to go to the military court? "

I stared at the map on the table and quietly considered all kinds of possible situations. After witkov finished speaking, I called akhromeyev to him and told him, "major, you go to send a telegram to general gurdyev and ask him to immediately lead the assembled troops to the designated place, leaving the political commissar lieutenant colonel svelin to continue to assemble the troops." Speaking of this, I lowered my voice, like talking to myself, and wanted to say to everyone: "although the straight-line distance from volnovaha to poloi is not far, the speed of troops' March will be greatly affected by such heavy snow, and there are three towns occupied by the German army on the way. It's not even a question of whether we can get there before dark, let alone capture boloy. "

After akhromeyev left, wittkov put the cap on his head again, sat down at the table again and asked me, "Comrade commander, this is not good. If the 308th division is delayed too long, then poloi's defenders will take the opportunity to strengthen their defense and increase the difficulty of our siege. If Manstein draws reinforcements from other places to strengthen Kuban's garrison, then our next battle will be difficult

"Yes, comrade oshanina." Kirilov also said, "from your new order to the 308th division of gurdyev, it will take an hour at the fastest. Coupled with the delay on the road, the plan to capture boloi city can not be completed before dark. Do you think that after the 22nd division of the guards has captured Huli Abel, general bantailiev will send troops to the south to attack poloi

Although the events of akhromeyev and Pugachev make me feel bad about bantailiev, under the current situation, the division is still the most effective unit in our army and has the ability of continuous combat. Otherwise, kirilov would not have made such a proposal to me.

After staring at the map without saying a word for a long time, I felt that although kirilov's proposal has some truth, if it is really implemented, it will not be as easy as we think. Although the German army has only one company in the cities of Huli and Ebola and poloi, if we can't attack the two cities at the same time as planned and make Manstein alert, the next battle will be difficult.

I thought for a long time and finally made a difficult decision. I raised my head and said to Vitkov, "chief of staff, send a telegram to general bandeleyev, and transfer major gordonov's new third regiment to turn around and go south. With the cooperation of major pelskin's tank battalion, I will capture the city of boloi." Although I know that it is taboo to divide troops before the battle begins, in order to occupy and consolidate our starting position as soon as possible, I have to take the risk with a stiff head.

"After taking poloi?" After listening to me, wittkov immediately asked with concern, "let the new third regiment stay in the city for defense?"

"The new third regiment is composed of assault engineering battalions with strong combat effectiveness. Their specialty is to attack cities and plunder land, not to defend passively." As for wittkov's proposal, I immediately rejected it without hesitation: "in addition to leaving a company in the city waiting for the 308th division's troops to take over, the regiment's main forces and tank battalions continued to go south, looking for suitable areas to launch combat formation, and to be responsible for guarding the German armored forces that might come from tokamak."

In the evening, the battle reports from the front came back one after another. Since our main attack directions are the city of Huli, Aberdeen and the city of poloi, the reconnaissance is mainly concentrated in these two directions. I didn't expect that the 308th division was suddenly attacked by the small German troops stationed in the small town in the process of advancing to boloi city. After the troops were attacked, the whole marching line was disrupted, and the commander could not organize effective counterattack in a short period of time. He had to watch the Germans bite us hard and then withdraw from the battle calmly.

In four hours, the 308th division exchanged fire with small German units 17 times, killing 29 German officers and soldiers, while our side lost 315. When I saw such a battle report, I was so angry that I slapped the telegram on the table and walked back and forth in the room with my hands behind my back.

"Comrade commander," the voice of Pugachev suddenly came from the door. I stopped, turned to look in the direction of the voice, and saw the new chief of operations come in with a happy face. Seeing that I noticed him, he raised a piece of paper in his hand and said to me in a loud voice, "good news, comrade commander. Major Godunov called to report that the new third regiment he led had successfully captured the city of poloi, and all the garrison in the city had been eliminated. "

When I received the telegram in his hand, I asked casually, "what's the situation with general bantailiev? Has the city of Huli and Abel come down If we think that gordonov's regiment can easily capture the city of boloy, then it's a piece of cake to occupy the city of Huli Abel, which is led by bantailiev and composed of regiment 1 and regiment 2, plus the tank brigade and artillery regiment.

Unexpectedly, after listening to my question, Pugachev slowly shook his head and replied, "according to the latest war report, the city of Huli Abel is still in fierce fighting. The German army just reinforced two companies at noon today, but our scouts didn't find this in time, so that the current fighting is stuck."

When I heard the unexpected news, I just sighed. I didn't mean to blame captain travkin at all. After all, their reconnaissance area is too large. This small-scale movement of the German army may be in their blind spot. After glancing at the telegram, I handed it to wittkov, who was standing nearby, and asked Pugachev, "major, what is the position of the 171st division of Colonel andryushchenko?"

"Report to the commander that they have reached the northeast of the city of Huli and are standing by." Pugachev knew that I would not suddenly ask about the position of a troop. He would certainly have his own consideration. So after reporting the whereabouts of the 171st division, he asked curiously, "do you have any new arrangements for them?"

"Major Pugachev, since they are not far from the city of poloi, you will send a message to Colonel andreushenko. Let him immediately lead the troops south to take over the defense of poloi. " At this point, I felt a little indifferent to gurdyev's 308th division, and then said, "after taking over, let the Colonel transfer the 149th infantry regiment to take over the 308th division."

Looking at the back of Pugachev's departure, wittkov said with emotion: "Comrade commander, in this way, maybe the positions of the divisions will be readjusted."

I nodded and said with certainty, "yes, comrade chief of staff, that's for sure. Let the 171st division and the 308th division exchange ground defense. As for the 22nd division of the guards, no matter whether they can capture the city of Huli Abel tonight, they must attack the city of Kuban tomorrow

"I understand." When I said this, wittkov immediately said, "I will send your order to the army as soon as possible." He raised the telegram I had just handed him, adding: "after clearing the remnants of the German army in flerda, the fourth regiment of Colonel gedar left behind a company to defend, and the main force of the regiment also left for the city of Huli eberler overnight."

The battle of bantaileiev division's attack on the city of Huli Abel ended at two o'clock in the morning. Except for a few German troops who escaped, the remaining defenders were either killed or captured alive. Bantai leiev sent a telegram to me asking for instructions, saying that the troops were too tired. Would they rest for one or two days before launching an attack on Kuban?

After reading it, I handed the telegram to kirilov and asked noncommittally, "Comrade political commissar, general bandeleev asked to postpone the attack on Kuban city for a day or two. How do you think about it?"

"No, absolutely not." Kirilov put forward his own objection without thinking, and said angrily: "our troops suffered a great loss in the battle tonight due to the unexpected reinforcement of the enemy. If we take a day or two rest in the existing position, it will give time for Kuban and zaborosh's German troops to set up defense, which is quite unfavorable for our next battle. I suggest that we immediately send a message to bandeleev and tell him that the original order remains unchanged and that the 22nd division of the close guard must attack Kuban tomorrow morning. "

"Comrade chief of staff," I saw wittkov still standing in a daze after listening to kirilov's words, and said to him straightforwardly, "immediately send a telegram to general bandeleev, saying that his request has been rejected. The original attack plan remains unchanged. The 22nd division of the guards must attack Cuban tomorrow morning

When the day came on February 13, after a night of fierce fighting, the 308th infantry division finally arrived at the new garrison site, the city of Huli Abel, where they would rest and cover the right wing of the 22nd guard division attacking Kuban.

After hearing that the 22nd division of the guards had launched an attack on Kuban, I asked akhromeyev, "Comrade major, what's the situation in boloi?"

Akhromeyev, as the chief of staff and chief of intelligence, is already familiar with these situations. At this moment, he listened to my question and quickly stepped forward and reported to me: "Comrade commander, the city of boloi and the surrounding villages and towns are under the control of the 171st division of andriyuke."

"What about major Godunov's third regiment and captain travkin's reconnaissance?" I continued.

"Report to the commander, major Godunov's forces and the reconnaissance forces of trafkin, in order to create favorable conditions for organizing defense and prevent the German forces from carrying out a surprise attack on the city of poloi. Godunov sent two powerful reconnaissance teams to tokamak. "

"Two powerful reconnaissance units?" When witkov heard this, he couldn't help asking curiously, "Comrade major, I'd like to hear what kind of unit it is. Can they block the attack of German armored forces?"

Akhromeyev turned to Vitkov and said, "Comrade chief of staff, major Godunov's two reconnaissance detachments are composed of 10 tanks and an infantry company with tanks under the command of captain travkin; The other is made up of eight tanks and an infantry company, under the command of major perskin“ So Godunov split major pelskin's tank battalion and used it. " After hearing this, kirilov said: "Comrade commander, I think major gordonov's arrangement is very correct. We should know that he is commanding assault engineers with strong combat effectiveness, which is far beyond the general combat forces. I think it's appropriate for them to stop the sudden attack that might be launched by the German army. " As for kirilov's statement, I nodded in agreement, and added: "major Godunov's arrangement is very appropriate, but the rest of his troops can't stay in place and do nothing. They should find a suitable place to build fortifications. You know, if Tokamak's German armored forces really go out, it will be very difficult to block the enemy just by sending out two reconnaissance detachment. " At this point, I looked at akhromeyev and said, "major, go immediately and give my latest order to major Godunov." After akhromeyev left, my eyes were fixed on the map, and I said to the remaining people, "I have sent troops to cover the left and right wings of the bantailiev division, so that they can attack Kuban without scruple." Although I said it lightly, I still felt uneasy about whether Bantai leiev could win Kuban successfully“ Comrade commander, you can rest assured. " Perhaps to see that I still have scruples about this battle, wittkov unexpectedly comforted me and said, "with the fighting capacity of the 22nd division of the guards, plus the cooperation of the tank brigade and the artillery regiment, there is no problem in capturing Kuban."