Chapter 915

As Hitler was taken away by several fighters, after the routine, the next topic relaxed. Zhukov and I are old acquaintances. We don't talk in an official way. Instead, we ask amiably, "how about it, Rita. How do you feel when you become a commander? "

Hearing Zhukov's question, I quickly answered with a smile: "Comrade marshal. Since I became the commander of the infantry army, I feel that I have a great responsibility on my shoulders, so every major decision I make has to be carefully considered. "

"Very good," Zhukov agreed. "Judging from the current situation of the battlefield, the German army can't support for a few days." Zhukov continued to say to me, "as long as the Voronezh front army and the southwest front army have a division, then the German army on the East Bank of the Dnieper River will be either eliminated by us or driven across the river, and we will soon launch a campaign to eliminate the German army in Ukraine."

When I heard Zhukov's optimism, my heart twitched violently. Why did everyone, including Zhukov, an excellent commander, blindly and optimistically think that Manstein's troops were vulnerable, as if as soon as we stretched out our hand, the German army, a giant of foreign strength and middle strength, would fall down suddenly?

Perhaps seeing that I was full of worries, Zhukov asked unexpectedly, "Rita, what are you thinking? I think you are worried about something?"

I nodded, looked at Zhukov and said, "with respect, marshal, are we too optimistic about the situation? We are all optimistic that the Germans have been beaten to death after our winter counterattack. As long as we continue to launch the attack, they will escape the Dnieper River all the way. As for the counterattack, it is impossible at all. "

I thought that my words would arouse Zhukov's vigilance, but after hearing this, he nodded unexpectedly and asked, "yes, judging from the current situation of the enemy and ourselves, it's just like what you just said. The morale of the German troops in Ukraine has been extremely low. Under the strong attack of our two front forces, their collapse is inevitable. Do you think that's not the case? "

"Yes, comrade marshal." If I am in front of other superiors, I will keep some things in my heart so as not to bring disaster to myself. But in front of the familiar Zhukov, I have to say something: "although Manstein is our enemy, I think he is an excellent commander. The troops he commands can't be so vulnerable. According to the confessions of the prisoners captured by our army, they received orders from their superiors. When they were attacked by our army, apart from leaving a small number of troops entangled with our army, the rest of the troops and technical equipment quickly left the battlefield and turned back. "

After listening to me, Zhukov frowned and asked, "Rita, what do you mean by saying these things to me?"

Seeing that Zhukov's voice was full of suspicion, I quickly explained, "marshal, I suspect that Manstein's doing this is a huge conspiracy. It should be said that the purpose of Manstein's previous retreat of the German army in the south line was to lure our army to go deep and far away from the logistics base. Judging from the current position of our army, it seems that his goal has been achieved. "

"Come on When trekov heard this, he yelled at me, which made me shiver. He almost thought he was going to have me arrested.

With his shouts, an officer with the appearance of a staff officer came up, raised his hand, saluted and politely asked, "Comrade marshal, what instructions do you have?"

"Bring me a map!" Zhukov yelled at each other.

After listening to his order, the officer said with some embarrassment, "report to marshal, all the maps are on your special plane."

"Then what are you doing standing here?" Zhukov glared at each other, then said sternly, "go and get a map." With a promise, the officer turned and ran off the plane to get the map Zhukov needed.

Zhukov's plane, which is a special plane, is actually a transport plane that has been simply transformed. Not to mention that there is no luxury desk, even the seats are very poor. Compared with here, the environment there is a world of difference. I welcome Zhukov's temporary office on Hitler's special plane. I immediately ordered lieutenant gretka to take the injured ike to the rear of the plane and clear up the vacated office area.

When Zhukov was sitting in the sofa by the porthole, I heard him murmur in a low voice: "damn Hitler, he made the plane so luxurious."

I saw that Zhukov liked the plane very much, so I took the opportunity to suggest to him, "marshal, anyway, it's a waste to park the plane here. Why don't you let the pilot fly away when you leave later?"

Zhukov looked around the facilities inside the cabin for a moment, then said, "where is the pilot of this special plane now?"

I heard Zhukov say that, and I knew that he was also thinking about the plane, otherwise he would not ask the German pilots. I turned my head and looked at captain Yushchenko standing next to me. He immediately stepped forward and reported to Zhukov, "Comrade marshal of the Soviet Union, the German pilots were all killed by us in the battle."

"All killed?" Zhukov tentatively asked Yushchenko. Seeing that he nodded his head in affirmation, he said in a regretful tone: "Alas, it's a pity that such a plane needs at least two pilots to fly, while there are only two pilots on my special plane. If one of them comes to fly, it may not be possible for the last two planes to return safely. Well, let's forget it this time. Anyway, it won't be long before our troops can successfully capture zaborosh, and then we'll find the pilot to fly the plane back. "

The officer brought the map and a stack of war reports that were said to be new. Zhukov read the war report for a while, then frowned and looked up the current position of the troops on the map. After a long time, he called me to his side, pointed to the map and said to me, "Rita, it seems that your analysis is correct. Since the beginning of the winter counterattack, our troops have pushed about 6 or 700 kilometers on the roads in winter under the wind and snow. Because the roads and bridges along the way have been completely destroyed by the German army, the logistics supply base and airport of our army are far from keeping up with the advancing speed of the fighting forces. So far, after three months of fighting, our troops are not only seriously depleted, but also very short of supplies and necessary air support. In particular, the situation of general vatukin's southwest front army is particularly bad. There are only 137 tanks left in Popov's fast cluster and the fourth tank army, and many tanks in this cluster can hardly move because there is no fuel. "

I listened silently to Zhukov's account of the current situation between ourselves and the enemy. I didn't express my opinion, because I knew in my heart that Zhukov would take the initiative to ask me when he wanted to hear my opinion. Before he spoke, I kept silent.

Zhukov saw that I didn't speak or ask for my opinion. He said directly: "the other troops of the 6th group army are only tens of kilometers away from zaborosh. They will attack zaborosh under the cover of the 25th tank army. Due to the current shortage of fuel and ammunition, I ordered the tank army to temporarily stop advancing and continue to rest in place for a short time while waiting for the supply of fuel and ammunition. Their attack will resume the day after tomorrow, February 19

In the evening, Zhukov's special plane, escorted by fighters, flew in the direction of Moscow. Looking at the plane in the air going away, I turned and told kirilov, "Comrade political commissar, call all battalion and regimental commanders to have a meeting." With that, I headed for Hitler's special plane. It was better to work on the plane than in a tent with wind all around.

In order to keep the communication with the troops below unblocked, I let lieutenant razumeyeva and some members of the communication company also get on Hitler's special plane. After they had assembled the message, I gave the first order to razumeyeva: "Comrade lieutenant, immediately send a message to the group army headquarters, saying that our army has successfully captured zaborosh's airport after fierce fighting. Please ask the headquarters to direct the next action."

After about ten minutes, harridonov's reply arrived. His order was very simple. He asked our army to suspend all attacks and rest in place. When the main force of the group army and the 25th army of tanks launched an attack from the northeast of zaborosh, they sent a force northward to cover the flanks of the friendly forces.

At this moment, all the battalion and regiment commanders who could come to the meeting got on the plane. Because of the limited seats, except for the two division commanders bantailiev and gurtyev, and several regimental commanders who had seats, the rest of the battalion commanders stood aside.

After reading harritonov's telegram to all of you, I asked, "comrades, you can tell me what you think of this telegram from your superiors."

As soon as my voice fell, lieutenant commander xiejerikov took the lead in standing up and said in a loud voice, "Comrade commander, give this glorious task to our regiment, and we will guarantee to complete it."

"No, you can't have all the good things." As soon as he finished, some people stood up to express their dissatisfaction. When I heard the familiar voice, I didn't look at it, and I knew it was Gaidar, the fourth commander, who said in a loud voice, "Comrade commander, you'd better leave it to our regiment to cover the flanks of our friendly forces. I promise you that as long as our regiment is there, we will never let the Germans threaten the flanks of our friendly forces."

"Lieutenant Commander Gaidar, your mission is to ensure the safety of the airport. It is a heavy responsibility and can not be transferred casually." Speaking behind him was lieutenant colonel Oleg, the second group leader. "This task should be completed by our regiment."

When I saw my old subordinates fighting for the task, I couldn't help but put a smile on my face. But when I saw gurdyev and his three commanders, I felt a little uncomfortable. I said that several commanders of bantaileiev division were fighting for tasks, and you and your subordinates were sitting in a daze like clay sculpture.

Kirilov, who is good at observing words and expressions, may have found something strange on my face. He coughed a few times and stopped the argument between them. Then he looked sideways at gurdyev and asked with a smile, "general gurdyev, which unit do you think should be sent to carry out this task?"

On hearing kirilov's question, gurdyev quickly stood up from last night, straightened up and said in a loud voice, "Comrade commander, can I give you an opinion on behalf of all the officers and men of the 308th division?"

Give me advice, which is quite new. I nodded and said with a smile, "go ahead, general gurdyev, if you have any advice, you can speak freely here." Speaking of the latter, I turned to kirilov and jokingly said, "no matter what you say is right or wrong, you will not be blamed. We will certainly change what we have and encourage what we have not." With my encouragement, gurdyev continued: "I think you look down on our 308th division. You give all the tough battles to your old troops, but you always let our division serve as a reserve force, or carry out some unimportant vigilance tasks. You know, our division fought bloody battles with the German army for several months in the defense of Stalingrad, and all the surviving officers and soldiers were good. If there is no war, it will hurt their self-esteem. Therefore, I firmly request that our division go north to carry out this task of covering the friendly forces. "