Chapter 1079

"The army can only be equipped in late May?" When I heard this time, I could not help frowning slightly, wondering whether katukov's men could skillfully use the new tanks in a month's time?

Katukov noticed my slight frown, leaned over to get closer to me, and asked in a low voice, "Rita, I see you frowning. Are you worried about something?"

I first glanced at the two tank major generals sitting next to katukov and said in a low voice, "Comrade General, please tell me truthfully, if you are equipped with the new tanks displayed at the parade ceremony, how long will your subordinates be familiar with and skilled in operating these technical equipment?"

My words made katukov silent. I watched him meditate. Instead of disturbing him, I waited patiently for him to give me a satisfactory reply.

Just then, a middle-aged Major rushed in from the outside. After entering the door, he looked left and right, then walked quickly to Danilov's side, leaned down to his ear and whispered something.

I saw the major standing next to Danilov whispering and asked dissatisfied, "Comrade deputy commander, who is he?"

The major who was talking was startled by me. He stood up straight and stood beside us at a loss.

Before I could wait for Danilov to speak, I asked again, "major, who are you? Don't you see that we are in a meeting? Why didn't you report it and break in without permission? " Since I took office on my first day, I couldn't give my subordinates the impression that I was weak and easy to bully, so I spoke in a very strict tone.

The major straightened up, put his hands on the seams of his trousers, and answered in a loud voice, "Comrade report commander, I'm major lophoff from the Communications Department of the headquarters." Then he took a step forward and said in a low voice, "Comrade commander, I have just received an important telegram from my superior. I think it is necessary to report it immediately."

After listening to him finish, I still kept the original posture, looking at him, discontentedly asked: "major, do not know what is the important telegram?"

"Report to commander," major lophov replied somewhat flustered, "it's a transfer order just given by the superior, ready to transfer the 326th infantry division. That is to say, from now on, this division will no longer belong to the combat sequence of the 6th group army of the guards..."

His words surprised all the people in the room. Even katukov, who was frowning and thinking, opened his mouth wide in surprise. I was surprised that the order came so suddenly, but I tried to keep calm so as not to cause panic.

I put a smile on my face and said to my subordinates who are staying in the room: "comrades, there is nothing to worry about. You know, this is just a normal transfer..."

"I'm sorry, comrade commander." Major lophoff, who had returned to normal, broke in suddenly and said, "I haven't finished relaying all the contents of the telegram."

When I heard the major say that the contents of the telegram had not been finished, I could not help but thump in my heart. I said in secret that besides the 326th infantry division, the superior was going to transfer other troops to leave. Zhukov, isn't this my platform? In order to find out what was going on, I interrupted lophoff and said, "then, in front of everyone, tell me the content of this order."

"Comrade commander," the calm lophov replied clearly, "the order says that due to the needs of the war situation, the 326th Infantry Division will be transferred from the 6th group army of the guards and put under the command of the central front army from now on. At the same time, in order to strengthen the defensive forces in prohorovka area, it is decided to put the 89th and 90th divisions of the close guard infantry under your command. "

"That's great. That's great!" As soon as lophov's words were finished, Danilov exclaimed excitedly, "two more close guard divisions have been added at once. In this way, the defense strength of our group army has been greatly strengthened."

After listening to lophov's words, I was also secretly relieved. I thought that Zhukov could not give me a cut from the bottom. In that case, would he like us to keep Prokhorovka. I looked at lophoff, who had just been wronged by me, and said to him with a smile, "OK, comrade major, thank you for the good news. There's nothing more to do here. Go back to your job. "

"Yes With a promise, lophove turned and walked out of the room.

Looking at lophov's back disappearing from the door, katukov said thoughtfully: "Rita, it seems that Marshal Zhukov thinks highly of you. In addition to adding the 77th guard division to you, he added two more powerful guard divisions to you today. In this way, the strength of your army will go up to a higher level."

With these words, he seemed to think of the question I just asked him, then he turned the topic and said: "by the way, my tank soldiers can fully master the operation of new weapons in two weeks if they hurry up after receiving new equipment. To ensure combat effectiveness, it will take at least one and a half months or more. "

As I spoke to katukov, the corner of my eye caught a glimpse of Danilov standing up, going to the door and waving to the outside. An officer quickly came up to him and listened to his orders.

Without waiting for me to see what happened, major general Guttman, commander of the 6th tank army of our command, came with katukov and suddenly asked, "general oshanina, please allow me to ask a question."

"Go ahead, Comrade General." I didn't know what he would ask, but I said politely.

"When do you think the German army will attack us?" Gertman asked cautiously: "or, I should ask another way, when should our troops be ready for war after they are equipped with new weapons?"

"General Guttman," I replied politely to his question, "I don't know when the German army will attack our defense area, but I don't believe they will leave us too long to prepare for the war. I think the troops equipped with new equipment should have a strong fighting capacity before the end of June. "

"But, comrade general," asked general Guttmann, "from all the signs we have, the most likely area for German attack is the area under the jurisdiction of the central front army. I think the base camp deployed US in the oboyan area to serve as a strategic reserve for general rokosovsky's forces. "

"General Gutman, you may have dealt with the Germans more than once or twice?" After that, I stopped for a moment. When I saw him nodding, I continued to say, "we and hundreds of thousands of German troops are gathering in Kursk. If the German army wants to defeat us, do you think he will attack from only one direction?"

"Rita, what direction do you think the German army will attack from?" Katukov was very interested in what I said. As soon as I finished, he couldn't wait to ask, "or do the German forces attack our defenders from two directions at the same time?"

"Yes, general katukov." As soon as katukov finished, I immediately agreed with him and added: "if the German central army group is attacking general rokosovsky and the other directions are not moving, our army may continue to replenish the forces of Voronezh's front army to the central army. According to my estimation, in order to ensure the success, the German army will certainly launch attacks from two directions at the same time, so as to make our army unable to support each other, so as to defeat our troops individually. "

"Your analysis is very reasonable." Katukov also nodded his head and said: "if Manstein's troops really attack our defensive zone from the front line of Belgorod Kharkov, then the first group army of our close guard tanks will become the main force to fight against the German attack."

"General katukov," I said politely to him, "so I can't command your troops, but I strongly suggest that once the troops are equipped with new tanks, they must master the use of new technology and equipment in the shortest time, and form combat effectiveness in the shortest time."

After chatting with katukov, I got up again and deployed the task of speeding up the construction of fortifications and improving the defense system to the division commanders attending the meeting. When I feel that everything has been explained, I will announce the end of the meeting and let everyone go back to their respective teams.

When there were only me, Danilov and katukov left in the room. I asked Danilov curiously, "Comrade deputy commander, I just saw you come to the door and call an officer in front of you. It seems that you are commanding something?"

"It's like this, Rita." Danilov replied politely: "the officer you see is lieutenant colonel rasmishin, the intelligence director of the group army. I told him to look up the 89th and 90th divisions of the guards

"Well done, comrade deputy commander." Seeing that Danilov had considered things so carefully, I couldn't help feeling grateful to him: "since these two troops were sent to us personally by Marshal Zhukov, then I believe their combat effectiveness must not be weak. Let's put it this way. These two divisions will be deployed near the headquarters of the group army as the reserve forces of the group army, which is very convenient for us to command. "

"Well, your proposal is very good." Danilov really cooperated with me. As soon as my voice fell, he immediately said, "I don't have any opinions. Just follow what you said."

After Danilov finished speaking, katukov took out a folded map from his briefcase, opened it and spread it out in front of us. Then he looked up and said to me, "Rita, general Danilov, it's time for us to study how to cooperate."

Seeing that both of us nodded in recognition, he pointed to the map and said to me, "Rita, you see, from kilovsky in the north to Yakovlev in the south, which is only ten kilometers away from Belgorod, they are the defense areas of the sixth group army of the guards. I think you need at least three lines of defense to block the German attack

The first line is Yakovlev - the North donetz river. On this line of defense, you need at least two divisions

The second is Kostroma Prokhorovka, where the terrain is open and there are few hills, which is very conducive to the deployment of German armored forces. If you want to keep this place, besides deploying two or three infantry divisions, you need at least one tank brigade and two or three artillery regiments

The third line of defense is priskin kirovsky, which will be the last line of defense of your group army. Once it is broken through by the German army, then the German army can rush directly to the city of Kursk... "When katukov introduced the situation, I kept silent, just listening quietly, while thinking about how to arrange the defense of each division. Only Danilov broke in from time to time to share his feelings with katukov. After introducing our defense situation, katukov talked about the deployment of the first group army of close guard tanks: "my headquarters is located in oboyan, and the troops are mainly distributed in ifnia, pene, bogatoye and other areas in the south. Once the German troops rush into this area, we will launch a large-scale tank decisive battle with them." Before katukov finished, another officer came in. He came to us, raised his hand, and stood still. I looked at him carefully, recognized that it was commander rasmishin, the director of intelligence, and asked him with a smile, "Comrade commander, what can I do for you?"“ Report to commander, "Lieutenant Commander rasmish replied respectfully," the deputy commander has just ordered me to look up the information of the 89th and 90th divisions of the guard infantry. After inquiry, we have basically made clear the situation of the 89th division of the guard... "" general katukov, please wait a moment, ”I said to katukov apologetically, "we'll wait for you to talk about the current situation of the enemy and ourselves in a moment. Now let's listen to Comrade Lieutenant Colonel's introduction about the situation of the 89th Jinwei division." After that, without waiting for katukov to say anything, I told rasmishin, "commander, you can start reporting." Rasmishin agreed, and then began to report "... The 89th division of the guard infantry was established in July 1940 in Gorky state, under the name of 160th infantry division. There are 443rd, 537th and 636th infantry regiments and 566th artillery regiments. During the war, the division took part in the war for the first time in kerichev and joser regions on July 13, 1941, within the formation of the 13th group army of the Western army. After fierce fighting, the advance of the German army was temporarily stopped. However, the German army made a fierce attack with superior forces, and the division fought and retreated, and was forced to withdraw to Gomery. From September 1941 to July 1942, the division fought tenaciously against the German army in the direction of xinjibukov, Kursk, Voronezh and waluyiki rososh within the formation of the Bryansk front army and the southwest front army. In August 1942, he fought with other regiments of the sixth group army of Voronezh's front army and successively took part in the battle of seizing the landing site on the West Bank of the Don River in korotoyak area, recovering Voronezh and clearing the German landing site on the West Bank of the Don river. In August 1942, he fought to the death with the German army on both sides of the Don river. From January to March 1943, he fought successively in the direction of ostrogozhsk rososh and Kharkov in the formation of the 6th group army of the southwest front army, the 3rd group army of Voronezh front army and the 69th group army of tanks. " After listening to rasmishin, I immediately praised him: "yes, comrade commander, your information is very comprehensive, thank you!"