Chapter 973

I heard that some troops were surrounded by the German army. I grabbed wittkov's arm and asked nervously, "how many of our troops are surrounded by the enemy. Do they have any hope of getting rid of the enemy?"

After hearing my question, vetkov shook his head and said with regret: "Comrade commander, according to the telegram I received, there are only 33 people left in the company after being cut off, including five communication soldiers who have no combat effectiveness. It is impossible to escape from the enemy's hands several times more than them."

"33 people!" After reciting this figure, I couldn't help sighing for a long time. I knew that this number of troops was not enough for the pursuers. I just hope that they can hold on to the position for a while and gain precious time for the retreating troops. The most urgent task is to build the necessary defensive positions outside the city of smira to resist the attacks from the East and the south. So, after looking at the map, I told Vitkov: "chief of staff, when gedar's fourth regiment and the troops withdrawn from Alexandria arrive, let them take charge of the defense of the south of the city."

"Yes Vetkov promised to turn around and leave, but I stopped him.

"Wait a minute, chief of staff. I have something else to tell you." I reorganized what I had to say in my mind, and then I continued: "send a message to major perskin, so that his tank troops will stop advancing towards Kiev and move towards kaniv, striving to seize the city and occupy the bridge on the river."

"Comrade commander, why did you give such an order?" Upon hearing my order, wittkov immediately reminded me: "since the superior has ordered us to attack Kiev, if our tank troops can approach Kiev and occupy the starting point of attack, our attack distance can be greatly shortened."

"Comrade chief of staff, do you think that the Germans are all fools and will allow us to wedge a nail in their defense area? I can tell you responsibly that as long as the tank brigade seizes any city near Kiev, it will attract the German army's crazy counterattack. With the limited strength of the tank brigade, it can't hold the position at all. " I saw that he didn't understand my intention of giving this order, so I had to tell him my intention: "the reason why I asked them to stop and turn to kaniv is to paralyze the German army and make them think that our goal is not to capture Kiev, but to cross the river for their lives."

"I see, comrade commander." In my words, wittkov finally came to realize, "first, let the enemy have the illusion that we are just going to cross the river for our lives instead of going north. They will relax their vigilance. When our campaign is launched, their resistance will be much weaker."

When Vitkov urged the operator to send a message, kirilov asked thoughtfully, "Rita, we just sent a telegram to the headquarters of the front army and Marshal Zhukov at the same time. Now the Marshal's telegram has been received, but there is no news from commander watujing, and I don't know how he thought about it

I am also very puzzled that watujing has not returned the telegram. But as a subordinate, I can't send a telegram to urge him, so I have to say helplessly: "Comrade political commissar, wait a little longer. I think commander watujing can't make his own decision after receiving our telegram, so I have to ask for instructions from the higher level. I think he is also waiting for orders at the moment."

We were talking when witkov, who was standing next to the telephone, suddenly gave a "Gee" in surprise. Then he came quickly, with a faint and irrepressible excitement on his face.

Seeing the expression on his face, I asked jokingly, "Comrade chief of staff, do you have any good news to tell us when you look so happy?"

Wittkov immediately said triumphantly: "of course, there is good news. It's a telegram sent personally by general vatukin, commander of the front army. Congratulations, comrade commander

After listening to wittkov's words, I was stunned and immediately said, "what commander, chief of staff, are you kidding us?"

Wittkov handed me the telegram and said, "you'd better see for yourself."

While Vitkov and kirilov were whispering, I took the telegram to my eyes. The content of the telegram was only one point: in order to facilitate the beginning of the Kiev campaign, from now on, the 79th infantry army and the 3rd tank group army of Voronezh front army merged to form the Dnieper River Campaign cluster, with major general oshanina as the commander of the campaign cluster.

After reading this telegram, I couldn't help wondering why this promotion order was sent to me by vatukin instead of Zhukov? What's more, watujing is the commander of the southwest front army. He has no right to mobilize the troops of Voronezh's front army?

Seeing that I was depressed, kirilov came up to me and asked with concern, "Rita, why are you so unhappy when your superior asked you to be the commander of the cluster?"

I handed the telegram in my hand to kirilov and answered bitterly, "Comrade political commissar, please have a look. This telegram from general vatukin says that our army and the 3rd tank group army of Voronezh's front army should be merged to form the battle group of Dnieper River."

"What's wrong?" Kirilov took the telegram from me and asked curiously, "it's very clear in the telegram that you are appointed commander of the campaign cluster, so you don't have to worry about the command."

"It's not like that, comrade political commissar." I think kirilov misunderstood my meaning and quickly explained: "general vatukin is now the commander of the southwest front army, while the 3rd tank group army is the Voronezh front army under the command of general Golikov. If only by this telegram, I think I can't command this tank group army. "

Kirilov frowned when I said that. After thinking for a while, he suggested to me, "you see, are we sending a telegram to Marshal Zhukov to implement this matter to him?"

"Well," I said immediately after kirilov's voice, "send a telegram to Marshal Zhukov and report the appointment to him as well."

Before we could send a message, razumeyeva rushed to me with a telegram and said excitedly, "Comrade commander, this is a call from Marshal Zhukov."

I took it over and saw that the above contents first included my appointment as commander of the newly formed battle group of Dnieper. Then, it lists the number of the troops that the campaign cluster belongs to: the 79th infantry army; The 3rd tank group army, which has jurisdiction over the 12th and 15th tank armies; Major general grebov's close guard infantry division 27; Major general wachuk's close guard 79th division; Major general Makarenko's commander of the 321st infantry division.

Finally, the telegram also said: the 12th tank army and the 321st Infantry Division will launch an attack on priluki in the early morning of March 2; At the same time, the 15th army of tanks and the 27th and 79th divisions of close guard infantry will attack pretti. Once the two places are successfully captured, the two forces will join forces and continue to attack bruvalli. And the 79th infantry army, which arrived in the south of Kiev, formed a double attack.

After reading Zhukov's telegram, I handed it to wittkov, and then said, "in the evening, no matter how the fighting goes, all the division commanders must be called together for a meeting to study how to play Kiev."

Witkov read the telegram at a glance, and said with some worry: "Comrade commander, although our superiors have equipped us with so many teams, they are too far away from us. Can they arrive within two days from a distance of several hundred kilometers?"

"Yes, it's a problem." When I finished reading the telegram, I thought about it. But when Vitkov asked this question, I didn't think of any measures to deal with it, so I could only say vaguely, "let's study this matter slowly when we meet in the evening."

Before dark, our army headquarters moved to a church in the city that had not been bombed down. Meanwhile, all kinds of information came back one after another. The 171st and 308 divisions had firmly controlled cherkaser and built the necessary fortifications at the river ferry; The main forces that had withdrawn from Alexandria and the four regiments of Gaidar were now building fortifications in the city; Major Godunov, after completing the interdiction mission, is leading the remaining troops to smira.

When the three division commanders I called arrived at the army headquarters one after another and were about to start the meeting, major Pugachev suddenly rushed in from the outside with a telegram, and at the same time, he yelled out: "Comrade commander, good news, good news."

Seeing his face full of joy, I knew that he must have brought a lot of good news, so I asked with a smile, "major, what's the good news? Just when the three teachers are here, they will say it to make everyone happy. "

"Well, comrade commander," said Pugachev, standing upright, but still smiling on his face, "the troops that withdrew from Alexandria this morning were not pursued by the German army?" Seeing that I nodded, he continued, "the telegram is from the small army after it was cut off."

"Oh, a telegram from the small unit?" After listening to Pugachev's words, I got excited and asked, "what's the situation, comrade major? How many of them survived? "

When Pugachev heard me say this, he was stunned at first, then shook his head and said, "Comrade commander, they have all come back safely, without any sacrifice."

"What? No one died? " When I heard Pugachev say this, my first reaction was that he must have made a mistake. The German army was several times the size of the garrison and was also equipped with tanks and artillery. If we want to stop the enemy's attack like this, even if all the troops are not destroyed, at least there will be heavy casualties. Maybe not even one of them has been sacrificed.

Apart from me, the commanders in the military headquarters who attended the meeting also had incredible expressions on their faces, as if they had heard something out of the blue. Seeing that everyone didn't believe it, Pugachev quickly raised the telegram in his hand and said to us, "comrades commander, when I just received this telegram, I thought it was a mistake, and I'm going to send a telegram to check it. After confirmation, I came to report it to you."

"Don't worry, comrade major." Kirilov saw Pugachev's gaffe and quickly comforted him, saying, "read the contents of the telegram to everyone, so that we can understand what's going on."

Pugachev nodded, unfolded the telegram in his hand, and read to us: "we have occupied a small unnamed highland by the side of the road, where we are tenaciously fighting against the German attack.

The German sent out 30 tanks and a battalion of infantry to encircle our highlands. In the face of the dominant enemy, Captain Ji Mufu, commander of the company, was fearless in the face of danger. He called all the people together and cheered everyone up: "calm down and get closer." The German army was getting closer and closer to our position. At the command of the company commander, the soldiers with anti tank grenades rushed out and blew up several tanks in front. Although the German army lost the tanks at the beginning, the remaining tanks still rushed up regardless. The tank quickly rushed to the front of the position. Our warrior rushed out of the bunker again, threw a burning bottle at the right angle, and then rolled into the bunker. One of the German tanks was hit and drove for a while in thick smoke, but it did not move. Then the soldier destroyed two tanks in the same way. Watching the German tanks destroyed one by one, our commanders and fighters who were holding fast to the position immediately gained confidence, picked up the flasks one after another and smashed them at the enemy's tanks. Even the five most ineffective signalmen picked up the flasks and threw them at the enemy's tanks. During the whole day, we killed 150 invaders and destroyed 27 tanks. When Pugachev finished reading the telegram, kirilov nodded and said to me, "Rita, it's a great victory. We'll give these warriors credit." For kirilov's proposal, I immediately expressed support: "yes, not only to record merit, but also to promote." Later, I turned around and told Pugachev: "Comrade major, go back immediately and find out the names of these commanders and fighters. We will honor every commander and fighter who has participated in the battle. For those who have made outstanding performance, we will also promote their ranks. Go ahead. "“ Yes After receiving the order, Pugachev agreed and ran out of the headquarters happily. As soon as Pugachev left, I turned to look at Romanov and andriyushenko, and said to them with a smile, "comrades, it won't be long before we know which one of you belongs to this heroic army."