Chapter 919

As soon as my words came out, the room became quiet, and everyone was shocked by my wonderful ideas. After a long time, wittkov hesitated and asked, "Comrade commander, if I heard you correctly, you just said that our next attack target is zaborosh, where the Manstein command is located?"

"Yes, chief of staff," I said with certainty, "you heard me right. I said zaborosh."

"But why, comrade commander?" Wittkov asked in surprise: "you know, not long ago, the German troops broke through the friendly defense line in our North and went straight into the depth of our group army. Is it appropriate to attack under such circumstances? " Maybe he was afraid that I would forget the German troops in the west of the airport, and he reminded me that "don't you forget that the German" skeleton "Armored Infantry Division has been attacking our airport all the time."

"The skeleton division is not terrible," I said. Looking at the tail of the cabin, I could barely see Ike lying motionless on the floor. My heart said that the attack of the skeleton division in the past two days is not very fierce. Is it because they know that the division commander is in our hands, so they dare not attack us? Thinking of this, I continued: "although they attack the airport every day, compared with the brilliant achievements of the imperial division, they are not so much attacking as conducting offensive and defensive training."

"Attack and defense training?" This time, kirilov said, "Comrade o'shanina, can you tell me more details? This kind of riddle like statement sounds very difficult to us."

Since kirilov asked this question, I stopped beating around the Bush and said frankly, "the imperial division of the Fourth Army of the attacking guards only spent an hour or two annihilating the 25th army of our tanks and the tank brigade of Colonel berey, and easily broke through the direction of the infantry and went straight into the defense depth of our army. And the "skeleton division" is as famous as the SS troops. If they really want to seize the airport, they may be able to reach their destination in a few hours. But now? They fought for several days, but they didn't get into the gate of the airport. What are the reasons for this? "

After my words, Pugachev said tentatively: "Comrade commander, you are right. The attack of the" skeleton division "in the past two days is a bit abnormal. It gives people a sense of perfunctoriness."

"That's right," I said positively to Pugachev's analysis. "According to my analysis, the attack of the" skeleton division "on us was not to seize the airport, but to keep our troops near the airport, so that we could not concentrate our strength to attack the flanks of the" imperial division "and support the defense operations of friendly forces."

"Even if the" skeleton division "attack is perfunctory, but with our strength to attack zaborosh, is it a bit too risky?" As soon as I finished speaking, wittkov immediately expressed his views: "at present, our 308th and 171st divisions are entangled by the German army, so they can't be withdrawn at all. If you want to attack, you can only rely on general bantailiev's close guard 22nd division. At present, there are only three regiments that can be used by this division. It is almost impossible for this force to conquer a city that may be heavily guarded. "

"Comrade chief of staff, your analysis is very correct." After I agreed with wittkov's words, I went on to say: "as I have just said, our army is now surrounded by the German army. In order not to be destroyed by the German army, apart from retreating eastward, the only thing we can do is to take the risk of attacking zaborosh, destroy the German headquarters and make their command system into chaos, This is tantamount to supporting friendly forces under German attack in disguise. "

Seeing that I had made up my mind, the plan to attack zaborosh could not be changed, and vetkov no longer tried to persuade me, but began to consider how to make a combat plan. He thought for a moment and asked me, "Comrade commander, do you need to prepare for artillery fire before attacking?"

I understand the meaning of his question. Although the artillery regiment of lieutenant colonel kaverin added a batch of shells two days ago, the quantity is limited. Each gun can only guarantee three base numbers of ammunition. If it is necessary to provide artillery support for the attacking forces, the artillery will face the situation of no shells in the next battle. After thinking about it, I said to him, "Comrade chief of staff, in order to reduce the casualties of our troops attacking zaborosh, it is necessary to prepare for the necessary artillery fire."

"Well, I'll call lieutenant colonel cavelin right away." Although vetkov still had a helpless expression on his face, listening to me, he had no choice but to say, "arrange the artillery regiment to provide necessary artillery support for our infantry in tomorrow's attack."

Seeing that he was going to make a phone call, I immediately stopped him and told him, "by the way, comrade chief of staff, there are two artillery battalions in the 22nd division of Jinwei, so they should be used together."

"Yes Vetkov agreed and turned to call the artillery regiment.

As soon as wittkov left, kirilov quickly asked, "Comrade oshanina, what are you going to do tomorrow?"

"Comrade political commissar, according to my estimation, the German" skeleton division "will attack our positions tomorrow morning." Hearing kirilov's question, I told him what I thought without reservation: "when their attack is repulsed, we will bombard the German positions outside zaborosh. After the shelling, in addition to leaving a part of the troops to continue to confront the "skeleton division", the rest of the troops launched an attack on zaborosh

"Is that all right?" After listening to my thoughts, kirilov's face became even more worried. He asked anxiously, "Comrade oshanina, when our troops charge zaborosh, will the troops of the" skull division "stand by? If they attack from our flanks, then our attacking forces are in danger of being destroyed. "

I know that my plan is not perfect, or even purely a product of slapping my head. If I attack according to my plan, then we will have half of the chance to capture zaborosh and the whole army. In order to ensure the success of the operation, I took the initiative to postpone the attack for one day, and then issued two new orders to Pugachev: "Comrade major, send a message to major Godunov immediately, so that he can withdraw with his troops before dawn tomorrow and arrive at the airport to join us. In addition, we should send scouts to reconnoiter the German defensive positions in zaborosh overnight, and we must make clear the firepower distribution of the German positions. "

"I see, comrade commander." Pugachev respectfully finished this sentence, turned away from the headquarters, and went to the next telegraph room to send a message.

Wittkov, who came back from the phone call, heard me postpone the operation, nodded and said with emotion: "Comrade commander, postpone the attack until the day after tomorrow, so that we have more time to prepare. As long as we have a clear picture of the enemy's deployment in the city, and then carry out targeted attacks, I believe our success rate in capturing the city will greatly increase. "

For Vitkov's lack of confidence, I just gave a wry smile, because I had no idea whether the attack would succeed or not. I only hope that major Godunov can bring back more commando engineers. With these well-trained commando engineers, we will have a great advantage in the upcoming street battle.

Because of the fact that gordonov was blocked by the German army when he led the army to transfer last time, I didn't have much hope that they could withdraw from the German encirclement this time. I didn't expect that the more hopeless things are, the easier it is to bring surprise to people.

I was sleeping on the March bed by the wall when I felt someone shaking my shoulder. Then I heard kirilov's familiar voice: "Hello, o'shanina, wake up, wake up."

I tried to open my eyes, looked at kirilov standing in front of my bed and asked slowly, "Comrade political commissar, is it daybreak outside?"

"It's still early in the morning," kirilov said excitedly with a happy face. "I have good news for you. Godunov and his troops have successfully withdrawn from the German encirclement."

"What, major Godunov is leading the Department out?" Hearing this news, I suddenly sat up from the March bed, but I didn't care to put on my shoes. I stepped on the ground barefoot and couldn't wait to ask kirilov, "Comrade political commissar, where are they now?"

Kirilov saw that I was in a hurry and said with a smile, "Comrade oshanina, you are in a hurry. Major Godunov has just called to say that he has led the troops to Kuban and is in the process of recuperation. " At this point, he stopped for a moment, and then said to me in a deliberative tone, "after days of fighting, their commanders and fighters are very tired, so I decided to let major Godunov lead the Department to rest in Kuban, and then lead the troops to come back at noon."

When I heard that gordonov and his troops were still in Kuban, I sat back on the March bed and put on my boots and said, "since they are resting in Kuban, let them rest a little longer. Anyway, the attack will start tomorrow. By the way, is there any new information from the group army? "

Kirilov nodded and replied: "the group army headquarters sent a telegram saying that the German army broke through the line of defense of the Fourth Army of the close guard infantry yesterday, advanced nearly 100 kilometers and approached the location of the headquarters. At present, the commander is commanding the army and launching a fierce battle with the German army."

"Where is general gurdyev?" After asking about the situation of the group army, I was concerned about the 308th division, which was supposed to serve as the flank of the cover. "What happened to the Germans in front of their positions? What's more, I asked him to send a search team to look for survivors of the tank brigade on the battlefield. What's the result? "

"According to general gurdyev, there are currently no German troops in their front." Kirilov picked up a telegram and read it to me: "after intensive collection, the search team sent out that night rescued about 40 wounded soldiers of our army, 15 of whom were seriously injured. No sign of Colonel berey was found."

Hearing this, I suddenly stood up and said angrily, "what's wrong with gurtyev? It's such a big place that he can't find anyone. It's rubbish." After walking in the room with my hands behind my back for two times, I stopped and said to wittkov, who was standing beside me: "Comrade chief of staff, send a message to general gurdyev, and let him send more people to continue searching. If you want to see people alive or dead, you must find the whereabouts of Colonel berey."

"Yes Wittkov agreed, handed me a telegram, and reported: "Comrade commander, this is the telegram just received. It's a joint telegram from major akhromeyev and the commander of the 171st division, Colonel andreushenko. They said that the 11th armored division and 336th infantry division of the German army were pressed up from both directions at the same time, which seriously compressed their circle space and forced them to engage in brutal positional warfare with the German army. "

"Ah?" Kirilov, who was close to me, was shocked when he heard the news, and then asked me, "Comrade oshanina, why does this happen?"“ It's very simple, comrade political commissar. " As for his question, I shrugged my shoulders and said helplessly, "major Godunov's troops have successfully withdrawn from the German encirclement. Then the German troops, which were originally restrained by the new third regiment, will have no worries. They will be able to move to attack our 171st division calmly."“ With the troops and weaponry of the 171st division, it is impossible to resist the attack of an armored division and an infantry division of the German army. " Kirilov said anxiously, "what are we going to do next? Are we going to watch them destroyed by the German army?"“ Don't worry, comrade political commissar. Things are not so critical yet. " I quickly comforted kirilov and said, "as our army's current strength is too scattered, I intend to let major akhromeyev withdraw to Kuban under alternate cover, and build new fortifications there to resist the German attack. Once we succeed in seizing zaborosh, we will withdraw the 171st and 308th divisions into the city and stay there waiting for help. "“ That's a good idea. I agree. " It's said that my plan is to withdraw more than 10000 or 20000 people of the whole army into the city to continue fighting after zaborosh is captured. Kirilov's confidence will be restored immediately. "Maybe in this way, we can successfully replicate a" Stalingrad style "street battle in zaborosh until the main forces of the Southwest front army and Voronezh front army arrive, Just under the city of zaborosh, surround and annihilate the German troops. "