Chapter 1088

With the approaching of the battle in Kursk, I was under increasing psychological pressure. In addition to inspecting the front line, I also called every division commander every day to check their preparations. Although I was careful and careful and told the commanders at all levels below, I still couldn't avoid the accident.

Early in the morning of June 21, we received a telegram from vatukin, ordering us to prepare for all battles and prevent possible German attacks.

Danilov, holding vatukin's telegram, said suspiciously, "Comrade commander, do you think the German army will attack our defense area?"

Before I said anything, the deputy chief of staff next to him, Mr. bezikov, gave a preemptive reply and said, "Comrade deputy commander, I think it is absolutely possible. You know, it was on the morning of June 22nd two years ago that the bandits crossed the border and fought against us without a declaration. I think they will definitely make a big move in the near future. "

After listening, Danilov turned his eyes to me and asked with a smile, "Comrade commander, what do you think?"

When I heard his question, I laughed bitterly and said that the German attack was in early July, not now. Your judgment is basically accurate. Just as I was thinking about how to answer him, a man rushed in from the outside. When I looked up, it turned out that it was lieutenant colonel rasmishin, the director of intelligence. Seeing that he looked flustered, I guessed that something might have happened. I quickly asked him, "Comrade commander, what's the matter?"

"Report to commander, we have just intercepted a piece of information. It says that they successfully captured position 4 on our first line of defense at 3 a.m. today. " Rasmishin said, and handed the telegram in his hand.

I glanced at the contents, which were not different from what rasmihin said, and quickly told bezikov: "chief of staff, map."

After bezikov spread out the map on the table in front of us, Danilov looked at it, then pointed to one of the positions, and said in a positive tone: "Comrade commander, position 4 is here, at the junction of the 51st and 52nd divisions of the guards, under the jurisdiction of the 52nd division. Once the German army had established itself, they could use it as a starting point for their attack. In this way, our first line of defense will be separated, forming a situation of fighting on its own, and finally broken by the dominant German forces. "

While Danilov and I were studying the map, bzikov went to the side, picked up the phone on the desk and got through to the division headquarters of the 52nd division through the operator. As soon as the phone rang, bzikov angrily scolded at the receiver: "is that Colonel nikolasov? I'm bezikov. I ask you, is your position 4 lost? "

When we heard that bezikov was asking questions about Nekrasov, Danilov and I also stopped discussing. We listened to bezikov's phone call quietly. We saw bezikov slapping the table and swearing, "I ask you, since the position is lost, why don't we report it? Don't you know the seriousness of the matter and you're not afraid to be taken to court martial? "

When bezikov returned to the table in a rage, I looked up and asked, "chief of staff, what's the matter?"

Bezikov sat down on the bench next to me, and then said angrily, "according to the report of Nekrasov, the German army quietly touched the position around 3 a.m. this morning. Because people in that period were the most tired, no one found the sentry after being solved by the enemy's top soldiers. However, the German army's luck was not good. When their successor troops passed through the minefield, a soldier accidentally touched the mine, exposing the target and waking up the officers and men in the shelter.

Because some of them have gone into the trenches again, it is difficult for our commanders and fighters to form organized resistance. After a lot of fierce fighting, except for a small part of them quitting the battle, the rest of them died with honor. "

"How many men are there in our position?" I asked as soon as bezikov had finished.

"The Garrison has a company, and the company commander is a commander with rich combat experience." Bezikov replied truthfully, "when he saw the strength of the enemy, he commanded the officers and men to fight and retreat and withdraw from position 4."

"When he found that the enemy touched the position and started fighting with the garrison, did he immediately report the situation to his superiors?" I've been to position 4 before, and I know a lot about the fortifications there. Even if the German army rushes into the trench, our garrison can still use several ready-made firepower points to defend and wait for help. How can it be so easy to withdraw from the position? Thinking of this, I asked again, just to find out what kind of countermeasures the garrison company commander took at that time.

Bzikov thought for a moment and replied, "the company commander said that the incident happened suddenly and there was no time to warn. He only reported the situation to the regiment headquarters by phone after knowing that they had retreated to the friendly position."

"Nonsense, it's nonsense." Danilov, after listening to bezikov's story, clapped his case and said, "fortunately, the German army is a small unit of sneak attack. If it comes to a large unit, then our first line of defense may be completely broken through by the enemy."

I waited for Danilov to finish, and quietly told bzikov: "chief of staff, call Col. Nekrasov and shoot the company commander who lost the position on the spot. At the same time, I ordered him to organize forces immediately and take back position 4 to me."

After my words, bzikov hesitated and said, "Comrade commander, is it too much to shoot the company commander? After all, he led the army to resist for a long time before withdrawing from the position. "

Looking at bezikov, I said solemnly, "chief of staff, you must remember that when a large regiment is fighting, military discipline must be strict. If Colonel Nekrasov can't organize the troops to take back the lost positions, I will remove him from his post as well. "

"Yes, comrade commander said it well." Danilov immediately agreed with my treatment, "as a teacher, niekrasov has an unshirkable responsibility. If he can't take back his lost position within the prescribed time, I suggest that he be removed immediately. "

"Comrade commander, since we can intercept this intelligence, the Intelligence Department of the headquarters of the front army must be able to do the same." "Do we need to report this to our superiors?" Colonel rasmishin asked cautiously

"You are right, comrade commander." Rasmishin's words reminded me that although I lost my position and would be scolded by my superiors, if I concealed it from my superiors, the consequences would be very serious. I pushed the boat forward and said, "go and send a telegram to the headquarters of the front army to report the loss of position 4 to the higher authorities. When we break out of the encirclement, we should make it clear that when we learn of the loss of the position, we will immediately organize our forces to fight back, and we will certainly be able to restore the position occupied by the German army in the shortest time. "

Rasmishin went out to send a telegram, while bezikov was still standing where he was. I took a look at him and said, "Colonel, what are you still doing here? Why don't you call Nekrasov and let him know my decision?"

"Yes, comrade commander, I'll do it now." With a flustered promise, bzikov turned to the phone, picked up the receiver and began to dial.

When he got through, bzikov said aloud to the microphone, "Colonel Nekrasov? This is bezikov. The commander ordered that the company commander who lost his position be shot on the spot. And you, immediately organize troops to take back the lost positions, otherwise you will be sent to the military court... "

Before bzikov had finished speaking, I went to him, grabbed his hand and took the microphone out of his hand. Listening to the slightly flustered voice of Col. Nekrasov coming from the earphone, I deliberately slowed down and said, "Col. Nekrasov, I'm oshanina. I order you to organize the troops immediately and launch a counter attack on position 4 as soon as I arrive."

When I put down the phone, bzikov whispered nervously, "Rita, are you really going to the front?"

I was deeply afraid that bzikov and Danilov would stop me, so I made it clear to them the reason for going: "deputy commander, chief of staff, if we simply give an order to Colonel nikolasov to take back the position, he may make a wrong decision because he is too nervous, resulting in heavy casualties and unable to take back the position."

After I explained, I asked the artillery commander of the group army povsky, who was sitting beside me, "Colonel povsky, how many artillery can we use near the first line of defense?"

The newly appointed artillery commander quickly stood up from his seat, straightened up and reported to me, "Comrade commander, we have deployed a cannon regiment, a mortar regiment and a close guard rocket battalion in the first line of defense, which can provide sufficient artillery support for the troops attacking position 4."

"Very well, comrade colonel." I am very satisfied with what povsky said. As long as we have enough artillery support, it will be very easy to eliminate the enemy in position 4. So, I said, "you will go with me to the 52nd division headquarters of the guards, where you will command the artillery to cover the German troops."

With a smile on his face, povsky replied, "I see. Comrade commander, I'd like to go to the front with you."

Just as we were ready to leave, lieutenant commander rasmishin hurried into the headquarters again, solemnly handed me a telegram, and said, "Comrade commander, call back from the headquarters of the front army."

The message was very short, with one sentence: "take back, take back the lost position for me." The signature is the name of watujing.

I can't help but feel funny when I look at this telegram. It seems that watujing is also a very cultured person. How can he give such vulgar orders? But I didn't care about his tone. Instead, I raised the telegram in my hand to Danilov and bzikov and said, "see, commander vatujing sent a telegram himself. Let's take the position back immediately. So I'm going to rush to the front line immediately. As for here, I'll leave it to you. "

On the way to the 52nd division headquarters of Jinwei, Colonel povsky, who was sitting next to me, suddenly said, "Comrade commander, you have done the right thing!"

On hearing these words, I could not help but ask in a misty way, "Comrade Colonel, I don't understand what you mean."

"Well, comrade commander." The middle-aged artillery commander explained to me: "as far as I know, the Supreme Commander himself will never condone any attempt to hide any adverse news, even if it is not decisive, from his superiors. He will punish those who hope to succeed next time without reporting the current defeat to his commanders. That's why I think it's completely correct for you to report to your superiors in time. "

Povsky's words surprised me in a cold sweat. If rasmishin didn't tell me that the Intelligence Department of the headquarters of the front army might also intercept the German telegram, maybe I will report this matter to vatukin after the recovery of position 4. I didn't expect that I was so lucky that I could avoid a disaster. As we get closer to the first line of defense, our team of four jeeps will be stopped more and more times. On the road paved with cinders, we can see the checkpoints set up by our army commanders and fighters from time to time, and I have to show my certificates again and again to let the commanders and fighters in the checkpoint check. Not far from the division headquarters, we were stopped by another checkpoint. Judging from the scale of sandbags on both sides of the checkpoint, there is at least one platoon stationed here. A second lieutenant reached out and stopped our car. When it stopped, he and two soldiers came to my car. After checking the certificate, he raised his hand to salute, returned the certificate to me, and then said: "Hello, comrade commander, please forgive me for not recognizing you just now."“ Have you seen me before? " I asked politely as I put the document back in my pocket“ Yes, comrade commander. " The second lieutenant replied respectfully, "I have seen you several times before when you visited our division's defense area." With that, he turned and waved to the checkpoint behind him, indicating that the soldiers there would remove the barrier in the middle of the road. Before our car started, the second lieutenant also kindly reminded me: "Comrade commander, the front is the front. We don't know whether there are small groups of German troops lurking nearby, so you must pay attention to safety."“ Thank you, comrade lieutenant For the second lieutenant's concern, I nodded gratefully: "I'll pay attention." When we came to the division headquarters, it was the chief of staff of the division who came out to receive us. He told me that the division chief had gone to the regimental headquarters of 223 regiment, where he would command the troops to launch a counterattack against position 4.