Chapter 928

After witkov finished his report, he asked me, "Comrade commander, a regiment under the command of general gurdyev of the 308th division is not far from the area to be broken through. Do you want to order them to launch on the spot and stop the enemy who rushes into our defense line?"

"Chief of staff, if so, do as you say." As for wittkov's proposal, I immediately agreed with him. "In addition, the German army has completely cut off the supply and transportation lines of the 6th group army, and then they can send more troops back to attack us. Therefore, in addition to one regiment transferred into the city to participate in defense, the remaining two regiments are under the command of general gurdyev, Rely on the existing fortifications to resist the German attack. "

"I understand." Wittkov agreed and turned to contact gurtyev.

As soon as wittkov walked away, kirilov kindly reminded me, "o'shanina, since you have contacted the deputy commander, Marshal Zhukov, you might as well send him a telegram about the incident of disobeying orders. In this way, even if someone investigates after the event, someone can say a few words for you. "

Kirilov's reminder brightened my eyes. Yes, how could I forget that there was a mountain like Zhukov behind me. I was worried for nothing just now. I quickly sat down and drafted a telegram for Zhukov, stating the actual situation near zaborosh and the reasons for my disobedience.

When I finished writing the telegram, I looked up and saw Pugachev standing nearby. I handed it to him and said, "Comrade major, send this telegram to Marshal Zhukov immediately. Remember, when you receive a telegram from the marshal, come back and report to me Pugachev took the telegram from me and immediately turned and walked out of the headquarters.

"Comrade political commissar, what's the situation at the airport?" At present, fighting is taking place along the river and in the northeast of zaborosh. It is estimated that the situation of the nearest 171 division defense area will not be much better. So I asked kirilov, "does Colonel andreushenko have the latest enemy information reported?"

"The Colonel called half an hour ago," kirilov said, pushing the map in front of me as usual, explaining, "the new fortification they set up on the south side of the airport has been broken through by the German armored forces. Although our officers and men fought tenaciously, destroyed four enemy tanks, and killed hundreds of SS soldiers, one battalion of the 115th regiment died. At present, the regiment has retreated to the second line of defense and is ready to continue to fight against the German attack. "

Seeing the current position of the 115th regiment, I nodded and said, "the second line of defense they are currently in was originally built by German soldiers. When the 22nd division of the guards entered the airport, it was specially reinforced. It should be OK to block the Germans here for two or three days." I pointed to Kuban and asked with concern, "what's the situation with major akhromeyev? Have you had another fight with the German troops?"

"Another battle was fought, but on a small scale, and the attacking enemy was soon defeated by them." After kirilov finished talking about Kuban, he asked anxiously, "Comrade oshanina, I'm afraid that when the German army comes up, it will not be able to stop with the strength of major akhromeyev. You see, is it possible to draw some troops from somewhere to reinforce them? "

"I can't stop it, I can't help it." With the change of the battlefield situation, the importance of Kuban is far less than that of the previous two days. Regarding kirilov's worries, I said: "since the main supply and transportation lines of the group army have been cut off, it is only a matter of time before our transportation lines are cut off by the enemy. It's better to concentrate on a real fight with the German army than to spend too much force there. "

As soon as I finished, vetkov came over. Seeing that both of them were in front of me, I did not hide my thoughts any more. Instead, I said frankly, "political commissar, chief of staff, there is something I hope you will be prepared for. According to our present strength and weaponry, we will not be able to support the German forces for a long time. Therefore, I intend to stay here for another three days at most, that is to say, the remaining troops of our army will carry out a breakthrough operation on February 25. "

Although I have mentioned many times in front of them that I can't stick to zaborosh for a long time, when I really said that I wanted to prepare for the breakthrough, they were silent.

After a long time, kirilov tentatively asked, "Comrade oshanina, is it true that there is no turning point? We have to know that the total strength of our southwest front army and Voronezh front army is several times that of the German army in Ukraine. Even if we exchange several people for one of them, the final victory will surely belong to us. "

Wittkov nodded in agreement with kirilov's statement. Seeing that their opinions are so unified, I understand that it is very difficult to persuade the commanders below if they are not convinced first. In that way, I will encounter all kinds of obstacles in the implementation of my plan to break through the encirclement. So I said to them earnestly: "political commissar and chief of staff, as commanders, we can't do without mathematics when we fight. Whether we can win in the battlefield depends on many factors. We should not only calculate the forces of both sides, but also calculate who has more tanks and artillery and who controls the air supremacy. Only by doing so can we see clearly who will win in the end when the situation of the enemy and ourselves on the battlefield continues to develop. "

"As you say, comrade commander." Wittkov was still a little unconvinced with what I said: "if we don't have air supremacy on the battlefield, and the number of tanks and artillery is not as large as that of the enemy, then it is very difficult for us to win?"

I listened to his tone, and if I went on talking about the battle of Stalingrad again, I raised my hand and interrupted his words: "OK, chief of staff, I know what you want to say next. It's true that under extremely difficult circumstances, we held fast for several months in Stalingrad and finally wiped out Paulus's Sixth Army. " When I talked about the 6th army, my heart could not help shivering. My heart said that the destroyed German army was the 6th army, and we are also the 6th army now. This is not a good omen“ But how many troops did we put in Stalingrad and how many troops did the German army put in? Although one month after the outbreak of the city defense war, we will no longer count our own casualties, but you and I should have a rough idea of the number of casualties. At present, our army is surrounded by the German forces in zaborosh. As long as we fight for a few days, we will run out of ammunition and food. In addition, there are no foreign reinforcements. In this case, do you think we can still create a miracle like the battle of Stalingrad? "

After listening to what I said from the bottom of my heart, wittkov remained silent for a while. At last, he slowly shook his head and said with certainty, "Comrade commander, I agree with you. Once there is such a situation as you said, it is the fate of the whole army that awaits us. "

When kirilov saw that Vitkov agreed with me, he was no longer opinionated. Instead, he asked me modestly, "Comrade oshanina, if we want to break through the encirclement, which direction should we stand out from?"

"Comrade political commissar, let's look at the map first." I called them to the table, leaned down, pointed to zaborosh's position, and said to them, "from the current situation, our south side is the 3rd" skeleton "armored infantry division of the German SS; To the northeast, it was part of the 2nd imperial armored infantry division; To the East, the 11th German Panzer Division and the 336th German infantry division. The combat effectiveness of these troops is among the best in the German army. That is to say, if we break through the encirclement from these three directions, we may still be unable to break through the encirclement after fierce fighting. "

Vetkov's eyes swept back and forth on the map. Suddenly, his eyebrows were raised and he asked unexpectedly, "Comrade commander, you don't intend to break through from the position of the headquarters of Manstein, do you?" He patted twice on the Dnieper River next to zaborosh with his hand. "In that case, our troops must cross the Dnieper River first and rush into the depth of the Germans without thinking back."

As for wittkov's understanding ability, I nodded with satisfaction, and then said: "the chief of staff is quite right. Although the number of German troops on the other side of the Dnieper River is more than that in other directions, their vigilance should be the lowest. They never thought that we would cross the river and break through. In this way, our chances of success will be greatly improved. "

"Is there a good chance to break through in this direction?" Kirilov asked suspiciously.

"Comrade political commissar, under the present circumstances, this risk is worth taking." In order to dispel kirilov's doubts, I specially explained to him: "shortly after the outbreak of the war, when the German army was crossing the Dnieper River on a large scale, the commander of the 63rd infantry army, petrevsky, who was standing by the river, unexpectedly led his troops across the Dnieper River, rushed to the enemy's rear, and took the opportunity to recover several occupied cities, It successfully held back the German advance to Moscow. Now, our breakthrough is just a copy of his classic example. "

"In that case, I have no objection." Kirilov was obviously relieved to hear that this tactic had been carried out and succeeded. He added: "we'd better find someone to inquire about general petrevsky's detailed war report, so as to provide a necessary basis for the formulation of our breakthrough plan."

"Comrade commander," without waiting for me to speak, Pugachev's voice came from the door. When I looked up, he came to me with a piece of paper in his hand. When he handed me the paper, he said, "it was Marshal Zhukov who sent you the telegram himself."

I snatched the telegram from his hand and took it to my eyes. I couldn't wait to see it. It says: "the battlefield situation is changing rapidly. As long as you can achieve the goal of containing and consuming the enemy, you can adjust the deployment of troops according to the actual situation. I grant you permission not to carry out all the wrong orders from your superiors. Zhukov

After reading it, I felt relieved. I handed the telegram to kirilov and said, "Comrade political commissar, please have a look. The marshal not only failed to investigate the responsibility of our disobedience, but also allowed us to adjust the deployment of our troops according to the actual situation of the battlefield."

After reading the telegram at a glance, kirilov handed it to wittkov and asked me, "do we need to report the breakthrough plan we just mentioned to marshal immediately?"

I quickly waved my hand and said decisively, "Comrade political commissar, you don't need to report to the police for the time being. At present, only a few of us are aware of this breakthrough plan. We must not disclose it. Otherwise, the morale of the army will be shaken and the morale will be low, and the next battle will be impossible. "

Kirilov nodded after hearing this, then called the operator to stand beside Pugachev and said to them, "our army will implement the plan to break through the encirclement in the near future. So far, only five of us know about it. Before the order is officially given to all divisions, I hope you two will keep secret and don't let out this plan. Do you understand? "“ I see, comrade political commissar. " Pugachev and the operator replied in unison: "we have studied the confidentiality regulations, and we will never let this secret out."“ Good Kirilov was very satisfied with the two men's attitude, then waved to them and said, "go back to work." As soon as they left, the telephone on the desk rang again. When I saw witkov answer the phone, I thought to myself: where is this call from? Can't something happen? Wittkov listened for a moment, then said solemnly to the microphone, "I see, general bantaileiev. Now that the German tanks are coming up, you should try to kill them all. If you have any information, report it to the army. " Then he hung up. When I heard that tanks appeared in the defense area of the leiev division in Bantai, I was surprised and asked, "Comrade chief of staff, what happened and where did the tanks come from?"“ Well, comrade commander. " Wittkov respectfully reported to me: "general bantailiev reported that the German army sent engineers to repair the pontoon where a regiment was located when our army was bombarded and could not observe. Several tanks had rushed along the pontoon."“ Did general bandeleev take any measures? " Kirilov asked nervously, too. Wittkov turned his head to kirilov and said: "a regiment had an anti tank gun in the riverside position, but after several rounds, it was unable to destroy the enemy's tanks after hitting the German tanks. Bantai leiev called to ask us what to do? "