Chapter 939

At dawn, HAMA was bombed by German planes. At the same time, "imperialist division" and "skeleton division" also launched an attack on zaborosh.

Hearing the dense explosions coming from both directions at the same time, I stood in the middle of the headquarters and kept yelling: "how come the telegraph operator hasn't contacted the political commissar? And you, major Pugachev, get in touch with the 308th division and the 22nd division immediately. By the way, ask general bantaileiev: did the German army send any ground troops besides the air force bombing? "

At my urging, the operator quickly raised his voice and called the operator who stayed in the city army headquarters to the transmitter. Pugachev turned and ran out in a hurry, and went to the temporary telecommunication room next door to contact bandeleev and gurtyev.

When the operator finally contacted the city and handed me the transmitter and earphone, I found that he also raised his hand to wipe the sweat on his forehead. It seems that he was scared by me just now.

Hearing wittkov's familiar voice coming from the earphone, I felt a lot more at ease. I asked nervously, "Comrade chief of staff, what's the situation in the city?"

"Report to the commander, the German infantry, under the cover of tanks, launched a fierce attack on the city from two directions at the same time. Within a quarter of an hour of the battle, many defensive positions of the 171st division were declared lost, and the regimental leaders had to order their troops to withdraw to the reserve positions and continue to fight against the German attack. "

From wittkov's report, I know in my heart that the lost positions are all field fortifications outside the city. Although there are many civil fire points in the trenches, it's OK to block the attack of enemy infantry without enough anti tank weapons. For tanks that even anti tank guns can't penetrate the front armor, In addition to sending anti tank grenades or flasks to blast up, the defenders have no way to deal with it. But there are infantry behind the German tanks. It is estimated that our soldiers who rush out of the trench will suffer a lot. Instead of letting them fight with the German army on the plain, we should let them retreat into the city and let our commanders and soldiers fight close combat with the German soldiers. In this way, the enemy's tanks and artillery will lose their use.

Thinking of this, I said to the transmitter, "Comrade chief of staff, order Colonel andreushenko to withdraw his troops to the city. Take advantage of the fortifications in the city to fight street battles with the Germans. Now there is still a battalion of Godunov's new third regiment in the city, which is a special unit for street fighting. With their cooperation, the 171st division can spend more time with the enemy in the city. "

Hearing what I said, wittkov asked cautiously, "Comrade commander, as far as I know, the situation on your side is not very good. Do you think I'll lead the 171st division to stay in the city for a few more days? "

I understand wittkov's intention is to hold back the main German forces, so that we can have more time to consolidate the occupied position on the West Bank of the Dnieper. If we really follow his proposal, we will have a lot more time to consolidate our occupied positions on the West Bank, but the troops remaining in the city are in danger of being annihilated. In view of this, I coughed and said to him tactfully, "Comrade chief of staff, it is the elite German troops who attack zaborosh. It is very difficult for our garrison in the city to resist their attack for a long time. Anyway, after dark today, you and the political commissar will lead the remaining troops out of the city and cross the river to join us. "

"But our troops are entangled with the German army, and will not be found by the enemy when they retreat?" Vitkov asked with some uneasiness. He seemed a little worried that the army would not be able to get rid of the German army.

"Chief of staff, don't worry about that." Although I also know that our transfer may be discovered by the German army, I still comfort wittkov at the moment, saying: "you can let the troops break into parts and cover the evacuation alternately in batches, which can greatly reduce the risk of being detected by the German army." Speaking of this, it suddenly occurred to me why I didn't hear kirilov, so I asked, "by the way, where has the political commissar gone?"

"Well, comrade commander." When I asked about kirilov's whereabouts, wittkov quickly explained to me: "the casualties of the 115th regiment were large, and even the commander was seriously injured. When the political commissar heard the news, he took several soldiers to the station of the 115 regiment. After seeing the injured commander, he appointed a temporary regiment commander. "

"Well, I see." With these words, I specially told him: "chief of staff, please tell andreushenko and the following commanders that it is not good to fight with the enemy in the city. On the one hand, our weapons and equipment are not comparable to those of the enemy; on the other hand, the technical and tactical level of our commanders and fighters is not comparable to that of the German elite infantry. Therefore, it is decided that our fight in the city is only to delay the enemy, not to destroy him. So don't make unnecessary sacrifices. The most important thing is to keep yourself

After learning about the situation in the city, Pugachev also came in from the outside and reported to me the situation of bantaileiev division and gurdyev Division: "Comrade commander, according to the information fed back by the two divisions, the German army dispatched 12 planes to bomb HAMA city occupied by the 22nd division of Jinwei. Only a few small German troops were found near the defense area of the 308th division. "

When I heard that the enemy situation faced by the two divisions was not serious, I ordered Pugachev: "Comrade major, immediately inform the two division commanders to come to my headquarters, and I will discuss with them the next battle plan."

The two teachers came faster than I expected. It took 20 minutes from Pugachev's notice to the two teachers' arrival at my headquarters. As soon as they arrived, I didn't talk much nonsense. I took them to the map on the wall. At this moment, the German map has been removed and replaced with our own map, and the difference between the enemy and ourselves has been re marked. I pointed to the map and said to them, "two general comrades, please have a look. As the main force of the German army was crossing the river in Dnepropetrovsk, it attempted to go north from here to attack the Voronezh front army that occupied Kharkov. According to the documents we captured, the enemy did not have many troops left on the West Bank of the Dnieper, that is, their rear was empty. " When I said that, I stopped, looked at gurtyev with an excited face and asked, "general gurtyev, what do you think of the current situation?"“ Comrade commander, please allow me to talk about my own ideas. " "Since there are no German troops near the main force of our army, we are free to attack any city occupied by the German army and let them take care of one thing and lose the other," gurdyev said excitedly“ That's a good idea. " After praising him, I asked, "which German occupied city do you think we should attack first?"“ Comrade commander, please have a look Gurtyev took a step forward towards the position of the map, pointed to it and said: "Dnepropetrovsk is nearly 200 kilometers away from us. I can send a regiment to find a suitable position in the middle to build a defensive position to prevent the German army from suddenly stopping crossing the river and turning south to attack us. The nearest city to us is kafbas, about 130 kilometers away from us. It is a big city in Ukraine and a transport hub for the German army. Once we seize this place, we can not only capture a large amount of urgently needed materials, but also cut off the German supply. " Seeing the position of his finger, I frowned and thought for five minutes. After thinking about the available forces and the possible difficulties, I finally made up my mind and said decisively, "well, general gurtyev, I agree with your suggestion. Our next target is kafbas, the German transport hub. "