Seeing that the bridge on the Dnieper River was successfully occupied by our army, I stayed in kaniv for a while, then returned to smira with kirilov to learn about the situation of the troops on the left bank of the Dnieper River.
On returning to the headquarters, I saw the thick stack of telegrams in Vitkov's hand. In order to let me know the situation on the battlefield as soon as possible, wittkov put the most important telegrams on it, so that I can browse them first.
At the top is a telegram from general rebalko. "After arriving near priluki, the 30th tank brigade of the 12th tank army and the 13th motorized infantry brigade found that there were only less than one battalion of German infantry in the city, so they resolutely launched an attack. After two hours of fierce fighting, they successfully defeated the defenders and occupied priluki.
The 96th tank brigade of the 15th tank army, outside the city of Preti, joined the 27th division of the advance guard infantry and successfully captured Preti. At present, the battle is developing in depth. "
After reading rebalko's telegram, I raised my head to wittkov: "Comrade chief of staff, what does general rebalko mean when he said that our army has occupied pretti and the battle is developing in depth?"
"Comrade commander, please have a look." Wittkov picked up the map on the table, unfolded it in front of me, pointed to the position on it and said, "according to the follow-up telegram from deputy commander rebalko, we can see that our 27th division of the close guard infantry is heading south to attack hrebinka. Once they occupy the city, they only need to push another 80 kilometers south to join our forces in kaniv. "
After staring at the map for a while, I found rebalko's playing method very interesting. He eliminated the enemy on the flank of the attack Road, and at the same time, he also made us isolated behind the enemy establish contact with the main force of the campaign cluster. Even if the next war doesn't go well, we can follow this path and retreat smoothly towards Moscow.
I picked up a second telegram from general Romanov, who led the attack on obukeshiv. He reported to me that the troops had successfully occupied the city. The Germans in the city never dreamed that our troops would disguise and sneak attack. When thousands of troops quietly arrived at the city of obukeshiv, how could the sleeping hundreds of German troops resist?
According to the general shovel provided by general Romanov, the battle went smoothly. Under the guidance of the scouts, the officers and men came out with cold weapons such as bayonets and spades, but they did not even fire one shot. After the settlement of the sentry in the city, the German troops in the barracks became lambs to be slaughtered. After the battle, except for the smell of blood in the air, the whole city of Li Ming was quiet, and the residents never dreamed that the original garrison in the city had been replaced by our own troops.
After reading this inspiring telegram, I handed it to kirilov and said excitedly: "Comrade political commissar, look, general Romanov has done a great job. They won obukoshev quietly, so we are very close to Kiev."
While kirilov was reading the telegram, I asked wittkov, "chief of staff, how did you reply to general Romanov's telegram?"
When witkov listened to my question, he quickly replied: "in my reply to the general, I asked them to continue to disguise as German troops, and strictly block the information. The whole city was under martial law. The enemy could only enter but could not leave. We would never let them know that our troops had been under their noses. In this way, as soon as the friendly forces on the left bank of the Dnieper arrive, they can launch an attack on Kiev immediately. "
After reading the telegram, kirilov said excitedly, "Rita, general Romanov has done a great job. We won't hurt a soldier, we won't cost a shot, and once we do, we will occupy obukeshiv near Kiev. "
As soon as he finished, I immediately added: "general rebalko's tank army also performed very well. Without waiting for all the troops to be in place, his commanders decisively launched an attack on the two targets of priluki and pretti, and successfully captured the two cities."
"Comrade commander," vetkov asked respectfully after I finished, "what do you think the German army will do next to deal with our attack?"
I took the map in his hand, put it on the table with the telegrams in my hand, and then said, "you see, if there is no accident, general rebalko's troops and the troops of the other three divisions will be able to push forward to bruvalli in a large scale tomorrow, which will put a kind of pressure on Kiev's garrison. In this way, in order to keep the east gate of Kiev, bruvalli, the enemy may transfer the garrison of the city to the East. As long as the garrison in the city airstrikes, then our chance will come. "
"However, comrade commander, the enemy now knows that our army has captured smira and kaniv," wittkov pointed to our location and expressed his worry: "can the enemy send troops to bruvalli with confidence?"
"Chief of staff, you don't have to worry about that." Looking worried, I quickly comforted him and said, "I believe that our army's battle to seize the bridge over the kanyvodenibo river today must have attracted the attention of the German army, coupled with general rebalko's active military action. I believe it has created an illusion for the German army that the intention of our army's action is to break through the encirclement and join the friendly forces on the left bank. In this case, the enemy may only send a part of its troops to see where we are going, while the majority of the garrison will be transferred to bruvalli to strengthen its defensive forces there. "
"Chief of staff," kirilov, who had just finished my words and read the telegram, suddenly asked, "what's happening to the enemy who occupied kirovgrad and Alexandria in our south?"
Witkov shook his head and replied: "according to the report of the scout, the German army may have stopped after occupying the two cities because of its limited military strength, but at the same time, it cleaned up the residents who had dealt with our army in the city, as well as the families of the commanders who had just joined the team."
"Are there German planes bombing today?" Thinking that the German army bombed smira yesterday, causing heavy casualties to the residents who did not evacuate from the city, I couldn't help asking with concern: "there are also those residents who withdrew from outside the city last night, many of whose houses have collapsed in the bombing, have they been properly installed?"
"Comrade commander, please rest assured. Those who have lost their houses, I have placed them in several schools in the city. Although the conditions in the school are worse, it's better than freezing in the open air. " After giving an account of the resettlement of the refugees, he stopped for a moment, and then said, "at dawn, there were several reconnaissance planes, which made two turns over the city and then flew away. Judging from various signs, if the German Army wanted to bomb, it would have done so long ago. It's afternoon. I don't think the enemy's plane will come again. "
Seeing that there is no possibility of a large-scale battle around us at the moment, I told wittkov: "chief of staff, after dark, immediately hand over smira's defense to commander gedar's fourth regiment. We went to obukeshiv overnight and were there to direct the next battle. "
"What shall we do if the enemy finds that there are not many defenders in smira and mobilizes a large army to attack us?" As the chief of staff, Vitkov almost every time he hears an order from me, he has to consider the whole situation: "if we can't take Kiev for a long time, and the German forces attack from behind us, then we are in danger of losing the whole army."
"Chief of staff, don't worry. As long as we make good preparations in the early stage, the next battle will go very smoothly." After I had said this, I ordered him to say, "you should send a telegram to general Romanov, telling him that while blocking obukeshiv, we should not hold still. We should quickly divide our forces, take the battalion as a unit, and clear all the German forces around obukeshiv and the surrounding towns, so as to lay a good foundation for our next action."
"Chief of staff, please wait." Kirilov saw that wittkov turned around and was about to send a telegram. He quickly stopped him and added: "after clearing up the German troops around, we should quickly form several guerrillas that can cooperate with us by transferring trustworthy people from the local residents." Maybe he was afraid that I would object to his opinion. After that, he turned to me and said, "these newly formed guerrillas are all local people. No matter how poor their combat effectiveness is, they can help us deliver materials or guard prisoners, so that we can use more forces for front-line operations."
I agreed to kirilov's consideration almost without thinking. I nodded and said to wittkov, "chief of staff, have you heard what the political commissar said? Add this part to the telegram, let general Romanov try his best to eliminate the German forces near Kiev and mobilize our people. "
But in the evening, when we were preparing to transfer smira's defense to lieutenant colonel gedar, razumeyeva suddenly came up to me with a telegram and said solemnly, "Comrade commander, this telegram from deputy commander rebarko."
When I saw her expression, I knew that the telegram would not be so good again. It said that the 97th brigade had just left priluki when it was bombarded by German dive bombers. After half an hour of bombing, the brigade lost 20 tanks, as well as a dozen ammunition and fuel tanks, and more than 200 officers and soldiers were killed or injured. As the brigade lost one third of its living strength in the air raid, it had to stop for the time being and rest in a forest near the road.
When I read the telegram, vetkov craned his neck from the side and came to read it with me. After reading the above content, he snorted heavily, and then said indignantly: "damn the Germans, because they have the air supremacy, they bombard our troops in advance. Sooner or later, we will take revenge."
After reading the telegram, I folded it and put it in my briefcase. Then I said to wittkov, "Comrade chief of staff, we must take revenge on the German for this revenge. But now, what we have to do is to move immediately and rush to obukeshiv overnight, where we will command all the troops in the campaign cluster. The political commissar and I will go first, and you will be responsible for the rest of the aftermath. " With these words, I waved my head to kirilov standing beside me and said, "Comrade political commissar, let's go first."
Our jeep bumped on the road for more than two hours and finally arrived in the southern suburb of obukeshiv. Here, we met a group of leaders who have been waiting for us.
When our jeep stopped steadily by the side of the road, Xie jerikov quickly ran out of my window, raised his hand to salute me, and reported, "Comrade commander, Lieutenant Colonel Xie jerikov, head of the first regiment of the 22nd division of the guard infantry, has been ordered to meet you and the political commissar. I'm waiting for your order, please give me instructions!"
After his report, I didn't talk too much nonsense, just said a short word: "get in the car!" When xiejerikov sat in the co pilot's seat, the driver blew the gas, and our jeep continued to move forward. Looking at the German uniformed patrols outside the car window, I asked the front row sergeant, "Comrade commander, have you been seen through by the residents of the city?" On hearing my question, xiejerikov quickly shook his head and said, "Comrade commander, please rest assured that our disguise has never been seen through by the residents. They seem to be very afraid of the Germans. When they see our army patrol on the street, they stay away. "“ Comrade commander, "kirilov heard the dialogue between me and chejerikov. He emphasized that it was business, so he quickly came out and said," did your regiment send troops to participate in the action of cleaning up the German troops in the nearby towns? "“ Yes, comrade political commissar. " Xiejerikov quickly turned his eyes to kirilov and truthfully replied, "the shereblenny battalion I sent, which is named after the battalion commander, has the strongest combat effectiveness. It is not only the leaders of our regiment, but also the teachers themselves who are at ease to let them carry out such a task. This afternoon alone, they wiped out the German troops in two villages and one town in the south of the city, and wiped out about 60 people. Except for five minor injuries, none of them died. " Kirilov, after listening to the report, turned to smile at me and said happily, "Rita, lieutenant commander, they are worthy of the old foundation of the independent division. In such a small-scale battle, their performance is better than other troops. If we can win Kiev with more troops like this, there will be no problem at all. "