Chapter 975

After listening to wittkov's words, I can't help silence. Although Kiev's defenders are weak, the number is far beyond my imagination. It is very difficult for our army to capture a big city like Kiev from the hands of the German army, even though our troops and equipment are not dominant. And even if we do, we will have to pay a huge price. Once the German army launched a crazy counterattack, we simply did not have enough troops to hold the city.

Seeing that I didn't say a word, vetkov might have guessed what was on my mind. After sighing, he said, "Comrade commander, although there are only over 5000 German troops, there are still about 70 tanks left. Even if they only defend but don't attack, we can't do anything with them just by our strength."

"That's right," said Romanov as soon as wittkov's voice was over. "At present, our artillery regiment has only a few big guns left. It's OK to attack and defend. If we want to attack, our strength is too weak. Moreover, the total strength of our army now is only over 13000, of which 4000 are new recruits who have just been replenished. We should use these forces to attack fortified forces... "His words stopped here, and then he shook his head and sighed.

"Yes, comrade commander." Wittkov added: "our troops were replenished after the end of the battle of Stalingrad. The training level and equipment standard were very poor. During this period of time, through continuous fighting, the troops have been greatly reduced, and the addition of new recruits has further diluted the combat effectiveness of our army. Our current situation is that not only the material support is poor, but also the commanders and fighters of the army have not been well trained. It is almost impossible to conquer a big city like Kiev. "

The problems pointed out by wittkov and Romanov are the key to the success of the Kiev campaign. While I was having a headache for these problems, razumeyeva came to me again. When she handed me a telegram, she whispered, "Comrade commander, it's the new telegram from Marshal Zhukov."

As soon as I took the telegram, I could not help but frown. It said: "the logistics forces and bases are too far away from the assembly area, which greatly increases the difficulty of the support work of the combat forces. In addition, the area where the troops are assembled has just been liberated from the hands of the enemy, and there is no condition to accommodate a large number of troops, combat equipment and materials. Building bases, roads and organizing logistics can only be carried out at the same time as preparations for the attack.

At present, there is only one kastornoye Kursk railway branch line, and a very short line along the front line of livne marmeige. The trains on this branch line can only reach the higra station. Continuous snowstorms buried the road, and there was thick snow everywhere. In the section of zolotuchino budanovka, the vehicles transporting materials can only run on the railway subgrade.

Under such conditions, the 3rd tank group army and several infantry divisions under general rebalko's command will not be able to launch an attack on the enemy occupied cities as planned tomorrow, March 2. The new attack will be delayed until noon on March 3, and the existing ammunition and fuel of the tank group army can only last for one day. "

After reading the telegram sent by Zhukov, I am more and more pessimistic about the prospect of the battle in Kiev. I threw the telegram on the table and asked Pugachev, who was standing beside me, "major, how many German troops are there on the other side of kaniv?"

"Report to the commander. According to the report of major perskin of the tank brigade, there are two German companies on the other side." Hearing my question, Pugachev quickly walked towards me, straightened up and replied, "they built Fortifications on the other side of the iron bridge, and were also equipped with war guns. We failed in several attempts to seize the bridge."

When I heard that there were only two German companies on the other side of kaniv, I felt more secure. I immediately told Bantai leiev, "Comrade General, please send a regiment to kaniv overnight to reinforce the weak tank brigade."

"Yes Bantai, who stood up to accept the order, agreed and sat down again.

"Comrade deputy commander," I then gave an order to Romanov: "in addition to leaving a battalion in the 308th division to stick to the ferry, the rest of the troops, together with the 171st division, put on the German uniform and went northward along the road overnight to capture the city of obukeshiv south of Kiev, which will be the starting point of our next attack. Remember, after occupying the city, we should pay attention to blocking the news, so as not to let the enemy know that we are under his nose. "

After listening to my command, Romanov did not immediately reply me. Instead, he turned to andreushenko, who stood up with him, and said, "Comrade Colonel, are the commander's orders clear?"

"Clear, comrade commander." Andreushenko replied loudly.

Romanov added: "the battalion defending the ferry is under the command of captain yevjifeyev, who made great contributions in today's defensive battle. It happened that the commander of the battalion withdrew from the battle because he was wounded in the daytime, so he needed an experienced commander like the captain to take his place. "

When I saw Romanov giving orders to andreushenko, I remembered that he was no longer the deputy commander, nor the commander of the 308th division, but the new commander of the 79th army. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but smile bitterly. Without interrupting him, I continued to listen patiently to his assignment.

After they sat down, kirilov asked me curiously, "Rita, I want to ask you, what are you doing in sending troops to caniv? Are you really going to take the bridge over the river?"

"Yes, comrade political commissar." I answered positively: "the attack of the friendly forces will be delayed for various reasons. Therefore, if our lone army attacks Kiev rashly, it will expose our campaign intention to the Germans. But before the friendly forces begin to attack, we can't stay where we are. We have to make some noise to attract the attention of the German forces. "

"Who are you going to direct this attack, Rita?" Kirilov asked with concern.

"Comrade political commissar, who else can there be?"?! It's me, of course When I said this to kirilov with a smile, seeing his face darken, I hastened to add, "of course, besides me, you have to go with me."

When I said this, kirilov had a smile on his tense face. He said with pride, "Rita, that's right. I'm your political commissar and your partner. No matter where you go, just take me with you."

"Commander, political commissar," witkov saw that kirilov and I reached an agreement in a moment, and quickly advised: "kaniv is too dangerous, let me command it."

"Chief of staff, you still have more important work to do." I raised my hand to stop the words behind wittkov, pointed to Romanov and said to him, "your job is to assist Romanov commander to get familiar with and command the troops. Do you understand? "

"I understand." Listen to me, vetkov had no choice but to agree very depressed, and sat down again.

After explaining the rest of the tasks, kirilov and I left the headquarters and went to kaniv together with the three regiments of akhromeyev who were transferred by bandeleyev.

When I got to kaniv's command post, I met major perskin, the temporary top commander of the tank brigade. When he saw me coming, he looked a little flustered. After he raised his hand to report to us, he put his hand on his forehead because he was nervous.

I raised my hand, pulled his hand down from my forehead, and then asked in a flat tone, "major perskin, I heard that you failed in your battle to seize the bridge today. Can you tell me what happened?"

Kirilov also said: "yes, comrade major, you and Comrade commander are old acquaintances. If you have anything to say, we will not blame you even if you are wrong."

"Comrade commander?" When he heard this address, he had a strange expression on his face. He even slightly turned his head and looked behind me to see if he was still following a commander he didn't know.

Seeing his action, akhromeyev, who came in with us, said to him with a smile, "Comrade major, what are you looking at? Aren't we all in front of you?"

"I've just heard the commissar talk about the commander," Perls muttered. "I want to see if he's following you into the command post."

As soon as his voice fell, it caused a burst of chuckles from several of us. After laughing, akhromeyev pointed to me and said, "apart from us, what other commanders are there. To tell you the truth, the higher authorities have just set up the battle cluster of Dnieper River Based on our army, and our commander is the commander of this cluster. "

On hearing the unexpected news, peregrine was stunned. Then he raised his hand and saluted me. At the same time, he said to me sincerely with a smile: "Comrade commander, please accept my congratulations to you."

When the four of us sat down, I asked the question again. "It's like this, comrade commander," he replied When he told me, he didn't realize that he still called me the former commander rather than the current commander, but I didn't correct him. I just listened quietly to him describe today's fighting situation: "after fighting, the enemy was driven out of the city by us, major Prikhodko personally drove a tank and led hundreds of soldiers, Followed the enemy up the bridge. At that time, I was on the top floor of a building, and I saw this scene with a telescope. I was optimistic that we had completely occupied the bridge which could lead to the other side of the river, but an accident happened.

We rushed to the troops on the other side. As soon as we left the bridge, we were ambushed by the German troops who had already ambushed behind the fortifications. Our commanders and fighters immediately fell into the German firepower network composed of machine guns, mortars, and defensive guns, and those who rushed in front of them fell under the enemy's muzzle.

In order to cover the infantry's retreat, major Prikhodko drove his tanks to the enemy's positions. He wanted to crush the enemy's machine gun positions with crawlers and destroy the enemy's mortars with tank guns, so that more commanders and fighters could escape from the enemy's ambush circle. But unfortunately, when his tank was more than 30 meters away from the enemy's trench, it was hit by a defensive gun and caught fire. He escaped from the burning tank and was killed on the way back to our military base. "

When perskin said this, he might have seen the serious expression on kirilov's face and me, and then he quickly explained: "there are more than 120 commanders and fighters rushing across the bridge, most of them are fighters of the shamrih guerrillas. Due to lack of experience in regular warfare, there are a lot of casualties, and only a dozen of them finally returned to our square."

As soon as he said that, suddenly the people outside the door were shouting excitedly: "Comrade major, good news, good news." Then a commander in a political uniform rushed into the house. The people who came in obviously didn't know that there would be so many people in the room. After a short period of confusion, he came up to us, raised his hand to salute me and reported, "Hello, comrade commander. Vajim, the instructor of the first battalion of the 22nd brigade of the tank, reports to you. I'm at your command. Please give me instructions! " I recognized that it was wajim, the political worker I had brought to the tank battalion. I stood up, laughed, reached out to him, and politely said, "it's you, comrade wajim." After shaking hands, I asked curiously, "Comrade instructor, you just said there is good news. I want to know what the good news is that can make you happy like this. "“ Well, comrade commander. " When I asked him this question, wajim got excited: "during the day, we launched an attack on the other side of the river, but the troops rushing across the bridge were ambushed by the enemy, resulting in heavy casualties." When I heard this, I nodded and said with regret, "yes, comrade instructor, major perskin was just telling us about it. Unfortunately, major Prikhodko, the deputy commander of the tank battalion, died in vain“ No, comrade commander, major prihodko did not sacrifice. " Before I finished, I was interrupted by the emotional wajim: "he's just injured, he's just come back, and now he's outside."“ What, comrade instructor, what do you say? " When perskin heard this, he rushed over and grabbed wajim by the shoulder, shaking hard, and asked aloud, "I saw him fall by the enemy's gun. How can you say he didn't sacrifice? You must be mistaken. "“ Yes, comrade major Although wajim was almost shaken apart by Perls, he said in a positive tone: "Comrade deputy battalion commander didn't die. He's still alive. After he was wounded, he fell into a crater to avoid the enemy's intensive fire. As soon as it was dark, he crawled back secretly. And not only did he come back alone, but three other wounded people crawled back together. They're out there now. "“ Then why are you still standing here? Take me to have a look. " Because of his excitement, he even forgot that we were still on the field and pushed wajim to walk outside.