Chapter 905

After the deployment of the mission to wittkov, I always felt that I had forgotten something important. After walking back and forth in the room with my hands behind my back, I finally figured out what I was worried about. Today, I spent almost all my energy on the troops under the command of major akhromeyev, but I have been indifferent to the situation of the bantailiev division and the gurtyev division.

After witkov gave the order to the reconnaissance battalion, I asked thoughtfully, "Comrade chief of staff, do you have any intelligence reports from the Bantai leyev division and gurdyev division today?"

"Yes, comrade commander," wittkov reported to me after answering in the affirmative, "division gurdyev sent a telegram at noon saying that his division was cleaning up the remnants of the German army around the city. As for the 22nd division of the guards, "he said, pausing for a moment, picked up a pile of telegrams that had been thrown on the table, flipped a few times, took out one of them, and began to read aloud to me." general Bantai leyev said in the telegram that they were assembling troops, adjusting their deployment, and making the final preparations before attacking Kuban. "

It is very helpful for the gurtyev division to eliminate the remnants of the German army scattered in the villages around the city to consolidate the right wing of our army, so I nodded at random and focused on the 22nd division of the guards. After all, they are the main forces attacking Kuban. So I pointed to the telephone on the table and asked, "chief of staff, Can I get in touch with Mr. leiev on this phone? "

When witkov heard my question, he gave me a strange look and then answered me positively, "yes, comrade commander. At present, our phone can directly communicate with Bantai leiev division and gurdyev division. " Then he asked cautiously, "do you want to talk to general bantaileiev now?"

I nodded and said, "well, I want general bantailiev to send troops all night to infiltrate into the periphery of Kuban's German position, establish a" landing site ", and then send more troops to this position to shorten our siege distance."

"I see, comrade commander." Wittkov said politely, "I'll call general bandeleev and tell him what you mean."

When Vitkov was calling bandeleev, kirilov came up to me and whispered, "Comrade oshanina, there's something I want to talk to you about."

Kirilov's words made me a little confused. What important things would he say to me? After thinking about it for a moment, he couldn't understand it. He could only politely say to him, "Comrade political commissar, if you have anything to do, please say it directly."

Kirilov said to me with a heavy face: "Comrade oshanina, I don't know if you have found today that the contact between us and major akhromeyev, whether it is your orders or the results he reported, is all accomplished by telegram."

"Yes, comrade political commissar." Although I didn't understand the purpose of kirilov's words, I honestly replied, "although the speed is a little slow, it can ensure that our military intelligence will not be eavesdropped by the Germans."

"In this case, it doesn't matter if the feedback speed of intelligence is slower." Kirilov waited for me to finish, and said slowly, "if the troops use this kind of communication mode when they are transferring, I think it will delay a big event."

After listening to kirilov's words, I couldn't help nodding. Now, under the situation of slow conversion of attack and defense rhythm, it is an effective way of communication to send orders and send and receive war reports by telegraph. But if our troops are moving, or worse, running for their lives under the pursuit of the German army, it would be a bit inappropriate to use this method again. It occurred to me that kirilov would not easily ask this question. He must have some new ideas in his mind. So I humbly asked him, "Comrade political commissar, do you have any good suggestions?"

Kirilov hesitated for a moment and tentatively said, "Comrade oshanina, two thirds of the soldiers in our army are from Kazakhstan or other Central Asian countries. There are not many Russian speakers among them, and most of them still use the language of their respective countries..."

Before kirilov finished, I understood what he was trying to say. I can't help but think of the Whisperer that later generations have seen. In order to prevent Japanese pirates from eavesdropping on their own information, the American people have specially replaced the telegraph operators with Indians. When communicating, they use the language of their respective countries, so that even if the Japanese pirates eavesdrop on their calls, they can't understand what they are saying. Kirilov stressed to me that most people use their own language. Does it imply that I should select new operators from these people to be responsible for making clear language calls with the divisions, so that the German people who monitor our communication can not understand what they are saying.

"Comrade political commissar, do you want to transfer personnel from these commanders and fighters to the post of telegraph operator?" As soon as kirilov finished, I asked directly, "do you have the right person?"

Kirilov listened to my question, nodded and said, "there are more than ten candidates. They are all commanders and fighters from Kazakhstan, and they are completely reliable politically..."

I saw that wittkov finished the call with Bantai leiev and was about to put down the microphone. He quickly interrupted kirilov's words: "well, comrade political commissar, I understand what you mean. Actually, you think their loyalty is OK, so put them all in the communication company. Let them get familiar with the business as soon as possible, and strive to be independent in two or three days. "

"I understand," kirilov readily agreed, seeing that I agreed to his proposal. "Comrade o'shanina, please rest assured that I will make these commanders and fighters qualified as soon as possible."

I turned to Vitkov and asked, "chief of staff, what does Mr. bantaileiev say?"

"General bantailiev said that he would send four regiments tonight to sneak around the enemy's positions in the dark and build our latest fortifications." Wittkov said, drawing a circle on the map with a red and blue pencil, and said with pride, "Comrade commander, what's your situation? This is the infiltration site they chose. Once this stronghold is successfully established, the starting point for our attack on Kuban will be three to five kilometers ahead, only a few hundred meters away from the enemy's field fortifications. "

As vetkov once told me what a "landing site" was, when I heard his arrangement, I didn't express any objection. Instead, I agreed: "bantailiev has been in the army for more than ten or twenty years, and I believe he also knows how to establish a" landing site ". Let him be fully responsible for this matter."

In the next two days, the forces under the command of major akhromeyev, in the process of constantly shifting their positions, caused great losses to the German forces who tried to rush to the city. The shock Engineer Battalion led by gordonov also established its own stronghold beside the German defense line near tokamak.

As for bandeleev's troops, after two days of fierce fighting, they succeeded in seizing Kuban from the German army. Although Kuban city completely fell into our army's hands after fierce fighting, bantailiev's attempt to move forward became an impossible thing. Because the German army was unwilling to lose such an important city as Kuban, they sent a large number of troops to launch counter attacks against Kuban, in an attempt to take the city away from our army again. In the face of the fierce attack of the enemy, bantaileiev had to mobilize his forces to open a brutal positional war with the enemy.

We are fighting hard here, but the enemy is not much better. According to the information from akhromeyev, the troops fighting with them were not only the motorized infantry regiment of the 11th armored division of the German army, but also the 336th infantry division of the German army. The fighting between the two sides was stuck, so that we could not transfer our forces to other directions.

Although the direction and situation we are in are not going well, the main forces of Voronezh's front army and the southwest front army are reporting good news. Following the successful capture of Kharkov by Voronezh's front army on February 16, a part of the southwest front army adopting the great detour tactics has successfully broken through the enemy's defense and approached zaborosh, where the Manstein command is located, from our north.

When I heard the conversation from the commanders of the divisions on the telephone, I felt very uneasy. Although we succeeded in seizing a series of towns and settlements, the two wings of the army were unconsciously exposed to two powerful German groups. What's worse is that our commanders and fighters are not aware of the danger they are in. The generals, including the commander of the southwest front army, general vatukin, are optimistic that the Germans have been beaten to death after the winter counterattack. As long as the Red Army continues to pursue them, they will escape the Dnieper River all the way, As for the enemy's counter attack, it is impossible at all. Stalin, the equally optimistic commander-in-chief, agreed. The lower ranking officers of the Red Army expressed all their optimism when they were talking on the radio.

The troops of the southwest front army are advancing rapidly to the West. Others only see how many towns the main force can capture, how many enemies it can annihilate and how many kilometers it can advance. However, I find that the troops have not been replenished in time after consumption, so that most of the companies are dissatisfied with the formation.

At noon today, bantaileiev saw that the German attack was repulsed again, and promptly dispatched the 84th tank brigade to counter charge the enemy in the open field. At the beginning, the progress was very smooth, but less than an hour after leaving the city and driving westward, the German army met with tenacious resistance, and the tanks would soon be repulsed by the enemy.

After three successive attacks ended in failure, bantaileiev finally found out that the German army was in a distant position and did not know when to deploy a large number of anti-aircraft guns. The three attacks launched by the tank brigade were all retreated by these damned antiaircraft artillery. Our army has at least 20 tanks of various types, which have been turned into burning scrap iron in front of the enemy's positions.

Bantailiev sent me a telegram asking me whether to let Godunov's regiment return to the army, because after continuous fighting, the whole division was seriously reduced. If the regiment can't be built, its combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced in the next battle.

Witkov stood beside me with the telegram in silence, waiting for my orders. I walked back and forth a few times in the room with my hands behind my back, thinking whether I should withdraw the gordonov regiment, which is restraining the German forces near tokmak, and strengthen the bantailiev division, which is responsible for the offensive task? After thinking for a long time, I finally made a decision. Although Godunov involved about a regiment of German troops near the stronghold he established, he could not weaken or weaken the enemy. Instead of letting them fight a war of attrition there, it was better to withdraw them and join the battle against zaborosh with Bantai leiev.

Thinking of this, I stopped and told wittkov: "chief of staff, immediately send a telegram to major Godunov, so that he can quietly withdraw his troops from the present stronghold after dark and turn to Kuban."“ Yes Vetkov agreed and ran to the telephone to send the message. Kirilov looked at wittkov's back and asked me anxiously, "Comrade oshanina, if you withdraw major Godunov's troops from the direction of tokmak, then the enemy can concentrate their forces and press against the line of defense held by major akhromeyev. In the face of repeated attacks by an armored division and an infantry division of the German army, major akhromeyev, can they hold the position? " As for kirilov's worries, I waved my hand and said with disapproval, "Comrade political commissar, although gordonov's troops had been in the enemy's rear for three days. But their role is only to contain and not to completely eliminate the enemy. Based on this consideration, I agreed to bantailiev's request to let Godunov's regiment return and quickly move towards Kuban to strengthen the 22nd division of the close guard, which was trapped in a bitter battle there. " Wittkov soon came back from the phone and nodded to me, indicating that the telegram to Godunov had been sent. I was thinking about what to say to him when major Pugachev, the chief of operations, came into the headquarters with a telegram. Seeing his serious face, I knew it was not a good thing, but I politely asked, "Comrade major, what kind of news have you brought us?"“ Comrade commander, major akhromeyev called "He said that after days of fighting, the 115th regiment lost more than half of its personnel and the 124th regiment lost one third of its casualties. He hopes to get some supplement from us, so that he can delay the enemy for another three days or so. "