Chapter 903

In the face of the tension of wittkov and kirilov and Pugachev's confusion, I tried to keep my final composure and asked in a calm tone: "Comrade major, are the commanders and fighters in the current position still fighting?"

Pugachev didn't know why I asked, but he nodded his head and said, "yes, comrade commander, although the enemy broke into our position, our commanders and fighters are still fighting tenaciously. As long as there is one more person, they will never step back. "

As soon as wittkov and Pugachev finished talking, he immediately suggested to me: "Comrade commander, the 11th German armored division is far superior to our army in combat effectiveness and equipment. Since they can easily defeat one of our tank troops, the defense line set by major akhromeyev will soon be broken through. "

After hearing what he said, I asked noncommittally, "in this case, chief of staff, what measures do you plan to take to resist the German offensive?"

"The 115th regiment of the 171st division was immediately transferred to reinforce the first echelon in the southern suburbs." as for the defense of the southern suburbs of poloi, vetkov may have considered it carefully. Hearing my question, he immediately said without hesitation: "the 124th regiment was also transferred to the south at the same time, building a second line of defense behind the first echelon, leaving only the division headquarters of the 171st division and the 149th regiment in the city, To be responsible for the defense of the city. "

From the heart, wittkov's arrangement is well-organized, which is very suitable for the current defensive war. So I didn't raise any objection. I said directly to Pugachev, "major, record the order. The 115th and 124th regiments were ordered to move immediately to the southern suburbs. The 124th regiment built new fortifications five kilometers south of the city to prepare for the impact of German armored forces. After the first echelon repulsed the German attack, the 115th regiment immediately exchanged defense with the gordonov regiment. "

"Changing guard?" When Pugachev, who was recording the order, heard me say this word, he could not help but stop and asked tentatively: "Comrade commander, you are talking about the change of defense between the 115th regiment and the gordonov regiment?"

"Yes, when the German attack is repulsed, let the two regiments change their guard as soon as possible." I was deeply afraid that Pugachev could not fully understand what I meant, and I specially stressed that "the troops after the change of defense are under the unified command of major akhromeyev."

"Comrade commander, I don't understand why you made such a decision." Vitkov could not help it. He asked in surprise, "don't you know that changing defense on the battlefield will cause unnecessary chaos?"

"Comrade chief of staff." I turned to look at him and said, "the reason why I made the decision to change the defense is that the unit that is sticking to the defense line at the moment is the shock Engineer Battalion assigned to us by the former commander of the 62nd group army. What they are good at is attack rather than defense. Instead of putting them on the front to die in vain, they should withdraw and let them play a greater role in the next battle of Kuban or zaborosh. As for the 115th regiment, the situation is different. They learned how to defend in the battle of defending Stalingrad. It would be most appropriate for them to change this good defensive force to deal with the attack of the 11th armored division. "

After listening to my somewhat farfetched explanation, vetkov no longer insisted on his opinion. He waved to Pugachev and said, "Comrade major, immediately convey the commander's order."

After Pugachev returned to the telegraph room, kirilov, who had never spoken, asked me anxiously: "Comrade oshanina, you know, the 11th armored division is the elite of the German army. They once severely damaged our first tank army with 50 tanks in two weeks. We can't take such an enemy lightly. Do you really think our line of defense can hold back the German attack

Although I feel like 15 buckets to draw water now, I still reply with a stiff head: "Comrade political commissar, I believe major akhromeyev's command ability, in the face of German tank assault, he will not have no backhand. Let's just sit here and wait for the news. I believe it won't be long before good news comes. "

"Comrade commander," a cry came from the wall. I turned to look in the direction of the sound. I saw the operator standing in front of the telephone, nervous, with earphone and transmitter in hand. Seeing that I noticed him, I quickly raised my voice and said to me, "the commander wants to speak to you."

I quickly walked towards the operator, and at the same time, I thought to myself: haredonov had just talked to me not long ago. How could he talk to me again soon? Did he know that the position in the southern suburbs was in danger?

When I took something from the operator, he suddenly lowered his voice and said to me, "it's the commander of the front army."

When I heard that the person who called me was not haridonov, but watujing, commander of the front army, I couldn't help shivering. My heart said what such a big leader called me to do. Did he come to ask for a crime? I put on the earphone and said to the transmitter, "Hello, comrade commander of the front army, I'm o'xia Ningna. What's your instruction?" As soon as I spoke, I found that my voice became a little hoarse because of tension.

"Hello, comrade oshanina." Vatukin's loud voice came out of the earphone: "I heard general haridonov report that your army decisively attacked and successfully won huri Eberle and poloi, only one step away from the city of Kuban. Once you succeed in capturing Kuban, you can pose a threat to the Manstein command in zaborosh. Well, is there any difficulty now? "

I'm much more confident to understand that watujing didn't come to ask for a crime. Since he asked us what difficulties we had, I would not pretend to be polite. Instead, I said frankly, "Comrade commander, our army has a small number of artillery and tanks. It's OK to deal with the enemy's infantry division. If we meet the enemy's armored division, we will be at a disadvantage in terms of equipment. In addition, we do not have air support. Once the enemy's air force comes out, we will be in a passive situation. "

After listening to my words, vatujing said with a smile: "Comrade o'shanina, you have a lot of difficulties. But I can't help you now. You know, other troops can't compare with you either in strength or equipment. I believe that even with the existing equipment and strength, you can capture zaborosh without the support of friendly forces. After all, your army now has more than 20000 people, accounting for one third of the total strength of the sixth group army, and it is also the strongest one third. No matter where such forces are placed, they are likely to have a decisive impact on the whole war situation. "

When I learned from vatukin's words that we could not get any support from our superiors, I was disappointed. Thinking of the fierce battle in the southern suburbs, I complained to vatukin: "Comrade commander of the front army, our flank is being attacked by the 11th German armored division. According to the latest battle report, the enemy's tanks have burst into our defensive positions. The whole defense line is in danger of being broken by the German army at any time. Once the German army opens the breach, then their tanks can directly rush to the city of poloi. Once our main force is entangled by the German armored division, I think we may not be able to mobilize enough forces to capture Kuban and threaten zaborosh. "

After listening to my words, vatukin was silent for a long time. Just when I was worried about whether I had angered him, he finally said: "I know that the 11th German armored division is very powerful. It almost completely annihilated one of our tankers in the battle on the banks of the river zier. But after a long battle, they have been greatly weakened. According to the situation, didn't you just annihilate their 15th Armored Regiment? In this way, I don't think there will be any problem in blocking them with your existing forces. Now the left wing of the 6th army is in your charge. I order that the 11th armored division of the German army be blocked at all costs. "

"Yes, comrade commander." Listening to him say so, I quickly expressed my determination to him, "I promise you that as long as there is one person in the 79th infantry army, it will never give up its position."

Although he didn't ask watujing for supplies of soldiers and technical equipment, he personally promised that our army would be separated from the 6th group army and have more freedom of movement, so that we would not have to take part in the offensive that is not worth the loss.

When I told kirilov and Vitkov what vatukin said, there were worried expressions on both faces. With a smile, I comforted them and said, "political commissar, chief of staff, what's the matter with you? Although our superiors can't provide us with any support of soldiers and technical equipment, can't we defeat an incomplete German armored division with our existing strength and equipment? "

I didn't expect wittkov to say pessimistically: "Comrade commander, although the 11th Armored Division has been greatly reduced in the battle, and our army has also severely damaged the 15th Armored Regiment, it is still very difficult to block their attack."

Just as I was speechless, I caught a glimpse of Pugachev at the door. From his happy expression, I knew that there was good news coming, so I asked aloud, "Comrade major, did you bring us good news this time?"

Pugachev nodded vigorously, raised a telegram in his hand, and said with emotion: "report to the commander, the German attack has been repulsed by us."

Witkov was close to the door. Hearing the good news, he rushed to Pugachev, snatched the telegram from his hand and read it quickly.

"Tell me, comrade major." Knowing that the telegram in wittkov's hand would not return to me for a while, I asked Pugachev straightforwardly, "what's the matter? How did our troops repel the enemy's attack? "

Pugachev got used to my habit of asking about the situation of the war directly without looking at the telegrams. He immediately reported: "report to the commander, when the enemy's tanks burst into our army's position and are gradually destroying our anti tank guns, the tank battalions of the 115th and 124th regiments of the second echelon circled up from both sides of the enemy and fired fiercely at the enemy from the side. The German tanks, which were attacking forward, were immediately dazed by the sudden heavy artillery fire and had to withdraw from our position in a hurry. In the battle, only four tanks of the first company of the tank battalion of the 115th regiment destroyed nine German tanks and destroyed one infantry company.

The German tanks, which were suddenly attacked by us, were forced to retreat to a depression one kilometer away, ready to assemble there and attack our position again. Before the enemy attacked again, the pelsteen tank battalion came back from rifney. Major akhromeyev ordered all the tanks to concentrate their fire on the German troops in the depression. Under the attack of our intensive artillery, the German formation in the depression was in chaos, and the soldiers and equipment were badly damaged.

In this battle, we lost five tanks, two of which were burned down on the battlefield, and the remaining four, led by other tanks, are returning to the repair points in the city. Although the loss of tanks was not great, our shock Engineering Battalion and anti tank artillery company suffered a great loss. " When I heard that the blocking battle was won under the command of akhromeyev, I automatically ignored the casualties of the infantry, and then asked Pugachev, "what's the plan of major akhromeyev next?"“ The major thought that if he continued to stick to the existing position, the troops would probably suffer heavy casualties in German shelling and bombing, so he suggested that the troops retreat two to three kilometers backward and build new fortifications. At the same time, major perskin's tank battalion and the other two regimental tank battalions continued to ambush in front of the line, actively looking for suitable fighters. "“ Major Pugachev, you immediately send a telegram back to Comrade ahlomeyev: the military command fully agrees with your operational plan. " After hearing a series of achievements made by akhromeyev, I have more confidence in him, so in reply to his request, I added: "the situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly. In order to ensure the victory of the battle, I grant you the right of discretion on the spot. You can adjust the deployment of troops according to the specific situation. You don't have to ask for instructions in everything, so as not to delay the fight." After Pugachev left, vetkov asked me in surprise, "Comrade commander, is it appropriate for you to give major akhromeyev such great power?"“ There is nothing inappropriate, comrade chief of staff. " When I thought of the rigid offensive tactics of the Soviet army, I couldn't get angry. But at the moment, I still had to be patient and explain to wittkov, "our army has a clear advantage in the battlefield many times, but it can't win in the end. The reason is that our army's offensive actions are well-known, and the commanders don't know how to be flexible, The stupid repeated attacks on a certain defensive point, the formulation of artillery firepower organization, and the inability to choose the terrain for attack all show that the grass-roots commanders lack creativity and rigidity in thinking when performing their tasks. As for akhromeyev's commanders who know how to adjust their deployment in time when the battlefield situation changes, we should boldly delegate power to them so that they can give full play to their talents. I don't want to see the situation that clearly we have an advantage in the battlefield, but because the superior doesn't give new orders to the subordinate in time, the result can't be expanded. "