Chapter 953

"How did the German army react so quickly this time? Less than a day after we occupied Alexandria, the enemy came from all directions." After listening to wittkov's story, kirilov asked nervously, "is our combat plan also intercepted by the German army?"

"Our battle plan was not issued by radio, but I personally conveyed it to the two division commanders face to face. Only a few of us knew it. How could the German army know?" After thinking for a moment, I came up with a possibility and said directly: "I think the German troops who are rushing to Alexandria should have been sent to reinforce the front line by Manstein from other places. Just when we captured the city, the German headquarters ordered these troops to stop and turn around to destroy us first, so as to completely relieve their worries. "

"Comrade commander, what should we do next?" After we finished, wittkov immediately asked solemnly, "although we don't have any surplus troops, I think we should help them. We can't watch the 308th division be destroyed by the German army."

"Comrade chief of staff, let the business of the 308th division go first." I didn't immediately say whether to reinforce the 308th division. Instead, I asked, "what's the situation with the 22nd division of the guards? Have you found any trace of the enemy?"

After listening to my question, vetkov, though puzzled, truthfully reported to me: "at present, there is no report from general bantailiev. But I don't think there should be any problem with him? "

"Comrade chief of staff, we should take a long view." I could not help frowning at wittkov's carelessness, and then said sternly to him, "although there are a large number of German troops near the defense area of the 308th division, we should not be too careless about kilovgrad, where the 22nd division of the guards is located. Come and see. "

I called wittkov and kirilov to the table, picked up a red and blue pencil, pointed to it and said to them, "you see, occupying the 22nd division of kirovgrad's close guard can effectively cover the side rear of the 308th division, so that general Romanov will not be attacked on all sides. When Alexandria is in danger, we can send troops to reinforce him. However, their situation is not optimistic. The German army in uman, pewomeisk and Nikolayev can advance rapidly along the road and rush under the city of kilovgrad in a few hours. Therefore, we have to order general bantailiev to organize the citizens and workers as soon as possible, together with our army, in the west, Southwest and east of the city Fortifications were built in the three directions of the south to prevent German raids. "

"Is it really that serious?" After listening to my analysis, kirilov asked suspiciously, "why don't the Germans take back kafbas first, but go to kirilovgler and Alexandria first?"

"It's easy." What I doubt about Kirilov is that I explained to him: "if only the 308th division and the twenty-second division of Konoe were eaten by the German army, we would stay in the Kraft bass forces and would be trapped in the German army's heavy encirclement. If we become the meat of their plates, when they want to eat it, they has the final say."

"What are we going to do next?" Kirilov heard me say, "you know, we don't have any extra troops. Can we just watch our troops being destroyed by the enemy?"

Kirilov's question made me silent. My eyes were fixed on the map in front of me, trying to think about the next direction of the army. If we hold still, the troops scattered in the three cities will soon be defeated by the German forces. Crossing the river back to zaborosh? This is the most unrealistic. There is only one German 336th infantry division in the city that has been disabled by us. But as soon as we attack, "skeleton division" and "imperial division" will come like sharks smelling blood. It will be not far from our total annihilation. The only feasible way is to give up kafbas, let the troops take most of the seized materials and move to the area where they were transferred, rely on the cities of kilovgrad and Alexandria to resist, search for an opportunity to cross the Dnieper River, and go north to join the main forces of our army.

Thinking of this, I stood up straight and told wittkov: "Comrade chief of staff, first contact General bantaileiev and tell him that no matter whether there is any trace of German troops around them, we should rush to repair the fortifications."

"What shall we do?" After listening to my order, vetkov stood still and continued to ask, "really don't you go and help the 308th division?"

"Captain, help may be necessary, but the first thing you need to do now is to send a message to general bandeleev, so that he can quickly build fortifications in kilovgrad and prepare for a city defense war." When I saw wittkov's puzzled expression, I specially added: "after you send the telegram, I will give you a detailed description of my deployment."

Wittkov readily agreed and ran to the telephone to arrange for the operator to send the message. As soon as he left, kirilov could not wait to urge me: "Dear Rita, tell me what you think."

When I heard that kirilov's address to me had changed by accident, I was stunned for a moment, but soon recovered and explained to him, "Comrade political commissar, this is how I think about it. Our troops leave kafbas tonight, turn north, and the 171st division moves to Alexandria, under the command of general Romanov. And we and our troops went to kilovgrad. As for the materials in the city, you can take as much as you can. If you can't, you can burn all the fire. You can't leave them to the Germans completely. "

After explaining the contents of the message to the operator, wittkov went back to the desk. He just heard a few words behind me and quickly added: "Comrade commander is right. We must not let these materials fall into the hands of the enemy again. In order to improve the efficiency of transportation, I suggest mobilizing the residents of the city to participate."“ I agree with the chief of staff. " Kirilov echoed wittkov's opinion in time, "we will not get any supplement in the next long time, so we should try our best to transport as many materials as possible."“ By the way, comrade commander. " Wittkov suddenly thought of something and asked me, "we found more than 5000 German winter uniforms in the warehouse. What should we do? Are they all burned? " I didn't know the meaning of wittkov's question, so I didn't immediately express my position. Instead, I asked, "chief of staff, how do you think about these German uniforms?" When I asked, wittkov's face was embarrassed: "Comrade commander, this is how I think about it. Although March is approaching, the weather is still very cold. Instead of burning these military uniforms, it's better to give them to the residents in the city, so that they can have more clothes to protect themselves from the cold. " I was surprised that wittkov gave me such an idea. I thought about it for a moment, and then rejected his suggestion: "no, comrade chief of staff, this is not good. Even if we distribute our uniforms to the residents of the city, they will be taken over by the Germans once they come back. If you feel a little uneasy about letting residents work for us, you can give them more food. For them, food is much more useful than a German uniform. As for this batch of military uniforms, I also think it's a pity to burn them, so we can simply load them together and transport them to kilovgrad. "“ However, comrade commander, there are more than 5000 military uniforms in the warehouse. " Wittkov was stunned by my wonderful ideas. After a moment of silence, he began to persuade me: "if you load a truck, it will take at least thirty trucks, so you can't transport more other materials..." "OK, chief of staff." Without waiting for him to finish, I interrupted him and said to myself, "let the drivers work hard and run twice more in the night. Anyway, this batch of military uniforms must first be transferred to kilovgrad. " With these words, I told wittkov, "chief of staff, call Colonel andreushenko immediately and ask him to come to me immediately. I will assign the task to him myself." I didn't have much time, so andreushenko appeared in my headquarters. Looking at the Colonel standing upright in front of us, I coughed gently and said to him, "Comrade Colonel, after dark, we will abandon kafbas and move north." When I said this, I watched andrewshenko to see how he would react to the news. He did not expect that after listening to me, his face was still calm, so he continued: "the military headquarters and the troops directly under the army will be transferred to kilovgrad, and you will lead the 171st division to Alexandria to strengthen the defense of the area. Is there any problem? "“ No Andreushenko replied loudly: "please rest assured, comrade commander. My troops and I will ensure to complete the task you have given us." Kirilov stepped forward, raised his hand and patted him gently on the shoulder. He said in a friendly way: "Comrade Colonel, since our troops will not be supplemented for a long time to come, your troops should go to the warehouse to get enough guns, ammunition, food and medicine before they leave. You can take as many as you can."“ I understand Andrewshenko replied very briefly“ Well, it's getting late. Go back to the army first and make preparations. " I raised my hand to him, indicating that he could go, "I'll send someone to greet the commander who guards the warehouse later, and ask them to provide you with the materials you need."