Chapter 974

Before major Pugachev came back to report his findings to us, another telegram from Zhukov came first.

The telegram officially announced: "I agree." As soon as I spoke, kirilov immediately agreed, "I'll arrange for them to be decorated after the meeting."

"Well, I've said everything that needs to be said." After kirilov finished, I said, "next, we should discuss how to take Kiev."

"Comrade commander," vetkov interjected, "but the report of the scout has not yet been sent back. We have no idea about the enemy's troop deployment. We can't make a specific operational plan at all."

I raised my hand, looked at my watch, and continued, "I believe it may not be long before we receive the report from the Scout. However, before that, in order to confuse the enemy, they could not understand our operational intentions. First of all, we need to send more troops to kaniv area and put on the illusion that we are ready to cross the river and flee to the north, so that the enemy can not focus on Kiev area, so that we can take advantage of it. "

"Comrade commander, which unit are you going to send to reinforce the tank brigade of caniv?" After witkov asked these questions, he scanned the commanders present and said in embarrassment: "at present, our three divisions are seriously reduced. If there are fewer troops sent to kaniv, it will not be able to confuse the enemy; If we send more soldiers, then our defense strength in smira and cherkaser will be weakened. "

As for wittkov's worries, I hastened to explain: "Comrade chief of staff, you need not worry. I estimate that the German forces on the right bank of the Dnieper River are limited. After they have reoccupied kilovgrad and Alexandria, they may stop for a while and wait for new forces to arrive before they can advance to the area we are occupying. "

As soon as I finished, I saw that almost all the people were relieved. Seeing this, I was deeply afraid that they would underestimate the enemy. I quickly said, "comrades, don't think we can take it lightly if the German ground forces stop advancing. At present, the air supremacy of the battlefield is in the hands of the German army. They can send out air forces at any time to bomb the cities we occupy and the lines in the March. Therefore, the air defense work of all units can not be relaxed at all. "

"Comrades commander," Romanov suggested to me, "do we take advantage of the opportunity when the German ground forces stop advancing to gather the troops of the three divisions together, and with the exception of a few remaining to hold on to smira and cherkaser, the rest are quietly moving towards Kiev. Once the time is ripe, we can attack Kiev in the shortest time. "

As for Romanov Russia's proposal, I thought about it for a moment. Just as I was about to nod my head, I heard razumeyeva sitting by the wall calling me: "commander, comrade commander."

Although I have been appointed commander now, people in the headquarters still call me commander. I saw razumeyeva holding earphone and transmitter in her hand. Knowing that it must be another important commander who wanted to talk to me, I hurried over and asked, "what's the matter, Lieutenant?"

"Comrade commander, a commander wants to talk to you."

"Who?"

Razumeyeva shook her head and replied, "I don't know, but he said he's rebarko. You can know who he is just by name."

It was said that rebalko was looking for me. I hurriedly took the headset from razumeyeva and put it on. Then I nervously said to the transmitter, "general rebalko, Hello! I'm oshanina

"Hello, comrade commander. I'm reporting to you. My troops and I are willing to accept your command. "

When I talked with rebalko, I was very nervous. I was afraid that he would have any dissatisfaction because he didn't become commander. When I heard him say this, I was even more upset: "Comrade General, look what you said, my rank is lower than you, how can I command you. I think it is more appropriate for you to take up the post of commander. "

"To appoint you as commander is the meaning of the supreme commander. As a soldier, I will give orders from my superior unconditionally." After hearing what I said, rebalko may have guessed my worry and explained immediately: "our tank group army only cooperates with you in fighting. We should know that it is infantry, not tanks, who decide to win the battle in the end. So I think the appointment of the superior is completely correct. "

After listening to what rebalko said, I feel completely at ease. As long as he is willing to obey my orders and does not disobey the law, then we are quite sure that we will win the Kiev campaign. After a pause, I suddenly remembered that I didn't know the organizational structure of the tank group army. I quickly asked, "Comrade General, can you tell me the number of your troops and the name of your commander?"

"No problem, comrade commander." Rebalko readily agreed: "in order to prevent leakage, I will send you the number of the army and the name of the commander by telegram." After that, he was silent for a moment, and then went on to say, "I'm in touch with you at this time because I want to inform you of something."

Rebalko's words, let my heart thump for a while, the heart said bad, may be something. But he still insisted: "Comrade General, if you have anything, please let me know."“ Well, comrade commander. " "Due to the transportation problem, the infantry divisions cooperating with our attack have not yet entered the combat position, so the scheduled attack may not start on time," rebalko said with some embarrassment Although I knew for a long time that tomorrow's attack could not be carried out on time, when this possibility really became a reality, my heart was still particularly lost“ When can it start? " I asked weakly. After a period of silence, rebalko replied in a positive tone: "the time of attack is delayed for 24 hours at most. Our troops will be able to attack the German forces in the designated area. "“ Well, in that case, comrade general, I'll wait for your good news. " Because Zhukov's decision to launch the Kiev campaign was too hasty, all preparations had to start from scratch. It would be very difficult for the troops to enter the designated area and launch an attack the day after tomorrow, that is, March 3“ I wish you good health“ I wish you good health When rebalko said that, he cut off contact with me. When I returned to the conference table, kirilov quickly asked, "what did general rebalko say, Rita? Why did they delay the attack?" I shook my head and replied, "although general rebalko didn't say the specific reason, I believe the commanders here can guess it. It was only during the day that the Supreme Command made the decision to set up the battle cluster of Dnieper and launch the Kiev campaign. It is not true that the troops participating in the war will be able to be in place. It may take two or three days for some troops to arrive at the designated offensive position even if they set out now. Under such circumstances, we need to speed up the deployment of troops to kaniv so that the enemy can think that our goal is to cross the river and join the forces in the north. Maybe they will deploy the existing garrison in Kiev to attack our flanks. "“ As soon as the defenders in the city leave, Kiev will become an empty city. " Before I finished my words, almost all the commanders guessed the result. Wittkov said excitedly, "as long as we are in the city, Kiev will fall into our hands like a ripe apple." With that, he cried out to the door, "Pugachev, major Pugachev!" With his shouts, Pugachev came in flurried from the outside, faced him and asked, "chief of staff, what instructions do you have?"“ The scout to Kiev, have you got a report back? " Vitkov asked. Pugachev nodded and replied, "yes, chief of staff, the scouts are sending information, but they haven't received it yet. I'll report to you as soon as I finish receiving the telegram. " After listening to his reply, wittkov glared: "since the situation of the Scout is sending information, what are you still doing here? Don't go to the communication room to guard. As soon as the telegram is received, you will report to us immediately." Pugachev agreed in a loud voice, turned and ran out. At this time, razumeyeva came up to me, handed me a message, and said: "Comrade commander, this is a telegram just sent by general rebalko." I took the telegram and nodded to her. After she left, I took it to me and read it carefully. According to the telegram, the establishment of the third group army of tanks is as follows: the 12th army of tanks, including the 30th, 97th and 106th brigades of tanks and the 13th brigade of motorized infantry. The commander of the army is the colonel of Mitrofanov's tank soldiers; The 15th tank army is composed of 96th, 105th and 113th tank brigades and 17th motorized infantry brigade. The commander is major general kopzov. After reading the message, I handed it to Vitkov and said with a smile to everyone, "I didn't expect that there were two infantry brigades in general rebalko's tank army. In this way, in the next battle, even if they were not equipped with infantry units, they could attack and occupy the city alone." As soon as I finished, Pugachev came in again from the outside and handed the message in his hand to wittkov. Wittkov quickly brought the telegram to his eyes and watched it carefully. After watching it, he looked up at me and said, "Comrade commander, according to the report of the scouts, the German army in Kiev has two infantry regiments, a motorized infantry brigade and a tank regiment, with a total force of more than 5000 people and 70 tanks."