Chapter 918

"Comrade commander," I heard the voice of a telegraph operator behind me. Seeing that our tanks were destroyed by German planes, I was choking with fire. When I heard the telegraph operator calling me, I couldn't help being anonymous. I turned around and yelled at him: "what's the matter?"

Holding earphone and transmitter in his hand, the operator timidly said, "Comrade commander, comrade commander of the group army is still on the line. He wants to talk to you."

Listening to what the operator said, I remembered that before our tanks were bombed by the German army, I was talking with haridonov, so I quickly went to the operator, took the earphone and transmitter from his hand, took a deep breath, calmed down my excitement, and then politely said, "Comrade commander, I'm oshanina."

"Comrade oshanina," haridonov obviously heard gurtyev's voice, so as soon as he heard my voice, he couldn't wait to ask, "what's the matter? Is the situation on the battlefield dangerous now? "

"Yes, comrade commander of the group army." With the emergence of German planes, the situation faced by our army is getting worse, so I have to tell haridonov the truth and let him know: "our 25th tank army was completely annihilated by the German army equipped with new tanks, although I ordered Colonel berey's tank brigade to attack from the flank in time, destroying and injuring some German tanks, A lot of infantry was wiped out. When we saw that the German infantry and tanks were about to be completely separated, the German aircraft appeared. Because our tanks lack the means of air defense, I estimate that in a short time, they will be completely destroyed in the bombing and strafing of German aircraft. "

Haridonov heard me say this, sighed a long time, and asked: "Comrade oshanina, what kind of action do you think the German army will take after the total annihilation of the tank brigade?"

"It's obvious, comrade commander." What will happen next is that the German tanks and infantry are converging to attack the defense area of the Fourth Army of the guards. So I said frankly, "as long as our tanks are eliminated, the German tanks and infantry will gather again to launch a new attack on our defense position."

"Do you think the 4th Army can hold the position?" Harridonov asked, after listening to me, in discreet and polite terms.

"Comrade commander, with all due respect, our position can not be held." Without waiting for him to ask, I took the initiative to explain the reason: "the 45 mm anti tank gun shells on the ground of our army only left one or two white marks on the body of the new German tanks, which could not resist the impact of the German armored forces. Once our defense line is torn by German tanks, then the German infantry will encircle and annihilate our defenders. Judging from the defensive zone of the Fourth Army of the close guard infantry, they lack the necessary defense in depth. As long as the front is broken through, the German army can smoothly break into the rear of our army. "

After all this, it suddenly occurred to me that if the German army really broke through the friendly line of defense and developed in depth, as I said, then the group army headquarters in the rear would bear the brunt of the attack. I immediately reminded harridonov, "Comrade commander, if the German army broke through the friendly line of defense, Then their tanks may soon rush to the position of the headquarters of the group army, so I suggest that you order the troops to build fortifications as soon as possible to fight against the possible German troops. "

When I went back to the observation port, I saw that our tanks on the battlefield were in a very bad situation. At the moment, the enemy planes in the sky were no longer just four, but more than a dozen. From time to time, the enemy planes dived at the fast-moving tanks of our army, dropping bombs one by one, or using machine guns to strafe the tank soldiers who escaped from the destroyed tanks.

I could see the tanks of the tank brigade destroyed one by one by German planes, or by the far turned Tiger tanks shelled by tanks; One by one, the tankers who escaped from the destroyed tanks fell to the muzzle of the plane's machine gun or armored vehicle's machine gun. My nose was sore, and I felt like a knife. But I couldn't help what happened in front of me. My clenched fist hit the earth wall of the observation station.

After the German army solved our tank brigade, they began to regroup in the open field. In this time and space, the hovering planes dived toward the friendly positions, bombed and strafed, but they ignored our positions, as if they didn't see us at all.

When the enemy planes ran out of bombs and bullets and turned around and flew West, the German ground attack began again. Led by tanks, they stormed to our friendly positions again.

Seeing that the German army launched the ground attack again, the brave anti tank artillery climbed out of the position full of holes, quickly ran to the front of the position which had not been destroyed, adjusted the firing angle of the artillery, loaded the shells, and fired at the coming tank. Although their shells caused little damage to the German tanks, they still shot tenaciously, until all the Gunners fell in the fire, or were crushed by the German tank's crawler with guns, and then they stopped shooting at the German tanks.

Perhaps because of the tragic sacrifice of the artillery brothers in front of them, the infantry on the position jumped out of the trench one after another, holding burning bottles or anti tank grenades, and rushed bravely to the German tanks in groups without hesitation.

In the face of the swarming of our army's commanders and fighters, the only remaining more than 30 German tanks stopped at the same place and fired shells into the crowd. The vehicle mounted machine guns kept sweeping away, quickly harvesting the lives of our army's commanders and fighters. In particular, tank shells fall in the crowd and explode, often one shell explodes, which will blow more than ten or twenty commanders and fighters into the sky.

Seeing that our friendly troops were being slaughtered by the enemy, gurdyev could not hold his breath. He stood up and asked me in a loud voice: "Comrade commander, we can't watch the Germans kill all our comrades. I suggest that we immediately send our division's regiment deployed at the forefront to strike them from the flank of the Germans, so as to relieve the pressure on the comrades of the Fourth Army of the close guard infantry. "

As for gurdyev's proposal, I refused it unambiguously. I pointed to a few enemy planes that just appeared in the sky and said anxiously, "general gurdyev, without air force support, let your commanders and fighters give up their existing defense work and fight in the field with the German troops who have the air control power, strength and equipment, This is undoubtedly unwise. So I can't agree with your proposal. "

"But, comrade commander." After being rejected by me, gurtyev did not give up and continued to try to convince me: "can we just watch the Germans break through the friendly positions and drive straight into the rear of our army to defeat the main force of the group army?"

"Comrade General," in order to make him understand the current situation, I had to emphasize and say to him seriously, "I remind you that the task of our army is to cover the flank of the main force of the group army, and we are carrying out this task in front of us. If the German army turns around and attacks us, we can't give up our position even if we fight to the last man. We must resolutely stop the German here. Do you understand? "

After listening to what I said, gurdyev probably understood that I would not allow him to send troops to reinforce the friendly forces. He could only weakly promise, "I see, comrade commander."

"And Comrade General." When I thought of the tank brigade that was surrounded and annihilated by German tanks and planes, I felt heartbroken and forced to bear the indignation in my heart. I told gurtyev to say, "after dark, you should send people to the battlefield to search. If you meet the wounded of the tank brigade, you must rescue them all. In particular, Colonel bere, who lives to see people and dies to see corpses, can not leave his body to the Germans even if he is sacrificed. "

"Yes, comrade commander." For my order, gurtyev agreed very readily. He said to me in a loud voice, "I'll call the commander of the forward regiment and ask him to organize a search and rescue team to search the battlefield and treat the wounded of the tank brigade."

Half an hour later, the German army broke through the defensive position of the Fourth Army, and the tanks ran over the defensive area of the Fourth Army of the infantry, advancing rapidly to the East. As the enemy never attacked our position, and I needed to return to the army headquarters to take control of the situation, I left the observation post of gurtyev division and drove back to the airport.

When I walked into the command post in the cabin, kirilov and wittkov met me and asked with concern, "what's the situation ahead? Is the German army still pushing deep into the defense of the group army?"

"Yes, political commissar and chief of staff," I said solemnly to them, "the current situation is very bad. The German army has torn a gap in the defense line of the Fourth Army of the close guard infantry. More than 30 tanks and a large number of infantry have rushed to the rear of our army from this gap. But our defense line has not completely collapsed, and the guards are still fighting tenaciously. "

After introducing the situation, I asked wittkov: "Comrade chief of staff, what's the situation on this side of the airport?"

"The German infantry attacked twice under the cover of tanks." Wittkov said lightly: "because they did not use heavy artillery and bombing, their attack was easily repulsed by our army."

"Do you know the German number of the attack?" If we think that all the units attacking the Fourth Army of the close guard infantry are from the SS, we can't be the national defense forces here, so I want to find out what part of the enemy is.

"It's all clear, comrade commander." Wittkov waved to Pugachev, who was standing beside him. At the same time, he said, "Comrade chief of operations, please introduce the German army to the commander."

Pugachev nodded and immediately reported to me, "Comrade commander, according to our reconnaissance and interrogation of German prisoners, we know. It was the imperial armored infantry division affiliated to the SS Panzer that attacked the fourth position of the guards. The troops attacking the airport were the "skeleton" armored infantry division under Ike's command. They also got the information and knew that their division commander, general Ike, was in our hands, so they seemed to be a bit tied when attacking. This is also their willingness that their attack can be easily repulsed by us. "

After hearing this, I called kirilov and wittkov to the map at the table, pointed to the position of our army on the map, and said to them, "comrades commander, our north side is the German" empire "armored infantry division which broke through the defense line of the guards, the south side is the 11th armored division, and the front side is the powerful" skeleton "armored infantry division. The situation is very bad. Our army has fallen into the three encirclement of the German army unconsciously. If they send a unit to cut off our supply lines, we will be left alone. "

After listening to my analysis, vetkov said with some disapproval: "Comrade commander, are you talking too seriously? You know, although the German army broke through the defense line of the guards today, their strength is limited. Facing the strong offensive of our two front forces, they will soon be in a desperate situation. "“ Comrade chief of staff, it may be our army that is about to fall into a desperate situation. " As soon as wittkov finished speaking, I immediately raised my voice and said, "in the early battle, in addition to leaving a small number of troops to deal with our army, the main force quietly withdrew to the vicinity of the Dnieper River. Now they have an absolute advantage in local areas. As long as we launch a surprise attack on our troops, our campaign may end in failure. "“ Comrade commander, what shall we do next? " Frightened by my analysis, Pugachev asked cautiously, "should we gather our forces and retreat to the east?"“ Major, why retreat eastward? " Kirilov asked in a puzzled way after hearing Pugachev's question. Hearing kirilov's question, Pugachev coughed, cleared his throat, and explained: "Comrade political commissar, in our east is the weakest link of the German army. Once the situation is critical, we choose to retreat eastward, we can get strong support from the troops in the Don River Basin, and quickly get out of danger."“ Major, you think too simply. " Wittkov rebutted Pugachev impolitely: "the situation is not so bad, you even think about the retreat. You'd better listen to what the commander said." Seeing that everyone's eyes were focused on me, I also went around the circle and said my plan frankly: "I will definitely not take the road to the East, which is to be a deserter; North or south, because the superiority of troops and weaponry is on the German side, it is not in my consideration. The last direction left, "I pointed to zaborosh on the map and solemnly announced," we will concentrate our forces to attack here tomorrow. "