Chapter 950

I was a little embarrassed by everyone's eyes. I coughed and cleared my throat. If I were in that mysterious ancient country in the east at the moment, maybe I would say a few modest words, but here, there is no need at all. So I brazenly said: "it's no surprise, I have long estimated that the superior will have such an arrangement in tactics. All my decisions are just to realize the superior's intention ahead of time." After saying this, I felt my face burning. I waved my hand and said to wittkov, "OK, chief of staff, please hurry up and send a message to general gurdyev to learn about the fighting there. Once they succeed in capturing Alexandria, they will immediately report the results to the headquarters of the front army. "

I sat at the table, staring at the map on the table, listening to kirilov and Romanov's chat: "Comrade deputy commander, after general gurdyev has completed the task of seizing the city, he can send people to contact the guerrillas nearby. In this way, the strength of the 308th Division will be improved."

"Political commissar, I think so." Romanov continued: "after the 308th division occupied Alexandria, it can be thought of as a threat to the German occupied Kremenchug and the Communist Youth City. Then the 22nd division of the guards can't be idle. I think they should also move to the northwest to occupy smira. With this foothold, we can pose a threat to Kiev. Even if we don't have the ability to capture Kiev, general bantailiev's troops can attack like cherkaser. Once we can eliminate the enemy here, we will establish contact with the Voronezh front army on the other side of the Dnieper River, which will become a nail for our army to enter the heart of the German army. "

Every time Romanov said a place name, my finger would move to that position, while seriously considering the feasibility of the ideas he said. When he finished, I sighed, straightened up and said to him, "Comrade deputy commander, what you just said is very good. But our present strength is limited. If we use our strength equally on such a wide front, it will be easily defeated by the German forces. "

"But aren't the main forces of the German army all around the Dnieper and held back by the main forces of our army?" Wittkov didn't know when to come over. When he heard what I said, he couldn't help interrupting.

"Yes, comrade oshanina." Kirilov is also in line with wittkov's opinion: "the main force of Manstein has been restrained by our two front forces on the other side of the Dnieper River, and in order to fight against our fierce offensive, the troops on this side of the river have been almost evacuated, that is to say, we can hardly find any organized German troops around us."

After kirilov finished speaking, I nodded and said, "political commissar, deputy chief of army and chief of staff, you are all right and reasonable." Don't underestimate this sentence. It's a very powerful speaking skill. What they said is not the answer I want, but I am affirming what they said. It is very important to know such affirmation, because it is a key step to make them accept my idea.

Even if they were all wrong, if they were denied immediately, the result of the conversation would be either a bad word or an unhappy parting. Although in my capacity, they can't speak ill of each other to me, they still have a bad heart. I don't want to quarrel with them. I just want to reason with them. Of course, it's right to say that I want to brainwash them.

"But," I used a turning point, and then I began to think about what I had in mind: "although the German forces were weak in terms of the places we occupied, we knew nothing about the enemy's strength in these cities, such as uman to the west of kilovgrad, pevomesk to the southwest and Nikolayev to the south, So the 22nd division of the close guard must leave enough troops in kilovgrad to defend. In this way, the number of troops they can use to move northward will be very limited. If there are only a small number of defenders in the area just mentioned by the deputy commander, they still have the possibility of winning. Once they meet the German army's heavy group, they are in danger of losing the whole army. "

After my words, the headquarters fell into silence. After a while, vetkov coughed and asked tentatively, "Comrade commander, if we don't attack these German cities, how can we accomplish the task of containing the German forces entrusted to us by the headquarters of the front army?"

"If we want to contain the German army, we don't have to attack the enemy's cities everywhere. If we encounter a fortified city and our army is short of heavy equipment, it is meaningless except to make unnecessary sacrifices in vain." As for how to contain the German army, I had already made a good calculation in my heart. I just took this opportunity to explain to them: "kafbas is an important hub on the German transportation supply line. If we occupy here, it is equivalent to cutting off the main artery of the German army. If we can't transport food and ammunition and the wounded, I can't see how long Mannstein can support us."

When I said this, kirilov hit the table excitedly and said happily, "yes, instead of dispersing his forces to attack other cities, it's better to build fortifications in kafbas to cope with the possible German counterattack."

"By the way, chief of staff," I suddenly thought of something. Without hearing kirilov finish, I turned to Vitkov and asked, "what's the situation in the north of the city? Is there a German convoy?"

Vetkov shook his head and replied, "before you came back, I called travkin who was still laying ambush on both sides of the road. He said he didn't find anything from the enemy. He suspected that the prisoner had lied to us."“ Since no enemy has been found in the north, let the captain keep them on guard. " After I said this, I looked at Romanov and said, "Comrade deputy commander, we have seized a lot of materials. I think we should seize the time to build fortifications in the city and arm workers and citizens to defend kafbas. I'm going to leave this matter to you. Do you have any objection? "“ No problem, comrade commander. " Romanov agreed to stand up, clasped his belt with both hands, and readily agreed: "you can trust me to take charge of this matter." Just as Romanov was about to go out, major Pugachev suddenly rushed in with a look of panic, and at the same time, he cried out: "Comrade commander, it's not good, it's not good!" Vitkov, who was nearest to him, grabbed his arm and asked nervously, "major, don't be so flustered. Tell us quickly. What's the matter?" Pugachev took a deep breath, looked at me, and reported to me: "Comrade commander, I just received a telegram from commander svelin, political commissar of the 308th division. They had just captured the city and were cleaning up the battlefield when the German planes bombed the city, and two battalions rushed to Alexandria from the North. About one of the German companies, with their familiarity with the terrain, rushed to the side of the division headquarters. General gurdyev immediately organized the staff of the division to fight back. As the enemy's firepower was too fierce, Comrade General had to lead more than 20 Division staff officers to retreat while fighting. At this time, a German plane dived from the air and shot at them. The general held up a machine gun and fired at the air. The enemy plane was hit by the fuel tank and exploded in the air. At this time, a shell from a distance fell on his side. With an explosion, Comrade General died on the spot“ what? General gurdyev died? " This sad news made me as if I had been struck by thunder. I was stunned on the spot and kept thinking: "no, no, how could gurtyev have sacrificed so easily? It must be the person who sent the telegram who made a mistake. I can't. I need to find out about it right away. " When I recovered my sanity, I found that everyone's eyes were on me, as if waiting for me to make the final decision. Under such circumstances, I coughed and said to Pugachev, who brought the bad news: "Comrade major, please send a telegram back to lieutenant commander sveling to confirm whether the telegram just sent is wrong. I don't believe that general gurdyev would sacrifice like this?" With that, he pushed him with his hand and raised his voice abruptly, "go and find out this matter quickly, go quickly!" Then I told wittkov: "Comrade chief of staff, immediately send power to the headquarters of the front army and report to commander vatukin that our army has successfully captured kafbas, an important transportation hub of the German army, yesterday, and sent troops to capture kilovgrad and Alexandria one after another today."“ Comrade commander, "vetkov looked at me, looked at kirilov and Romanov standing nearby, and carefully reminded me," is it right to send this telegram to the headquarters of the front army after the news of whether general gurdyev has died or not has been implemented? "“ Comrade chief of staff, "perhaps because I heard the news of gurdyev's sacrifice, I was very upset. I couldn't help yelling at wittkov:" whether general gurdyev's sacrifice or not is not in conflict with our report to the headquarters of the front army. As a soldier, don't you know that the orders of the superior can only be obeyed? " After yelling at wittkov, I felt a little regret, so I said to wittkov, "sorry, chief of staff, I'm in a bad mood now, so I'm angry with you. Please forgive me." Seeing that I was a little out of control, kirilov quickly came out to be a peacemaker. He patted wittkov on the shoulder and said, "chief of staff, please listen to oshanina and report to the higher authorities the achievements of our army."