Chapter 1113

The explosion from the receiver made me realize that maybe the situation in the front line is much more serious than I thought, so I nervously asked tavartkilaze, "Comrade General, can you hold the position?"

My words made tavartkilaze silent for a long time, and then said one word at a time: "Comrade commander, I can only tell you that my subordinates and I will defend three important positions to the death, while in other areas, we have to bear the pain and give up."

"Even if you want to give up those unimportant areas, it's after the battle." I was deeply afraid that tavartkilaze would give orders to withdraw casually, so I stressed: "let the commanders and fighters give up their positions in the open field after consuming the enemy's living strength, quickly withdraw to the highlands on both sides, and strengthen the defensive strength of the main defensive positions."

As soon as I finished, I heard another violent explosion, and then the deafening sound became so loud that I couldn't hear what tavartkilaze was saying. A moment later, the voice in the microphone suddenly disappeared.

"Why is the microphone suddenly silent?" Holding up the microphone, I asked major lophov, the director of communications standing not far away, "major, what's going on?"

Lophov quickly came over, took the phone from my hand, listened to it for a while, and then reported to me, "Comrade commander, the line must have been blown up."

"Can it be fixed?" Kirilov asked with concern: "if we can't recover quickly, we won't be able to keep abreast of the situation in time."

When lophov heard kirilov's words, he showed a embarrassed expression on his face. He murmured: "Comrade military commissar, it's tens of kilometers away from the front line. We can't be sure which section of the telephone line was broken and who should be responsible for the repair. Therefore, it's unrealistic to restore the telephone communication in a short time." At this point, seeing that our faces were not good-looking, he felt that he continued to say, "of course, if you want to know the situation of the frontier in time, you can also send a telegram. As long as the radio stations of the divisions are not destroyed, the communication will not be interrupted. "

I saw major lophoff standing in the same place talking to kirilov all the time. He put the receiver on the stand and said impatiently, "major lophoff, what are you doing here? If I didn't call the guards quickly, I called the headquarters of the tank group army, but katukov was not in the headquarters. I asked the chief of staff who answered the phone anxiously, "do you know where the commander has gone?"

After a moment's silence, the other side faltered and said, "general oshanina, because there is no war in the defense area, the commander has gone on holiday these two days."

"What, on vacation?" When I heard the words of the chief of staff of the group army, I could not help but be surprised. If katukov could not return to his headquarters quickly, the mechanized third army would not be able to provide us with the necessary help while our headquarters was under fierce attack from the German army. So when I heard that katukov was going on holiday, I got a little confused and asked, "do you know when he will be able to return to the headquarters?"

"Comrade General, please don't worry. We have issued a battle alarm within the scope of the tank group army and sent someone to inform the commander. I believe that before long, he will be able to... "His words came to a sudden stop, and then I heard his surprised voice in the earphone:" Comrade commander, you are back! "

"Back," I heard katukov say with great dignity, "I came back as soon as I heard your battle alarm. By the way, chief of staff, who are you talking to? "

"It's general o'shanina of the friendly army. She seems to have something important to tell you." The chief of staff quickly replied, "she's still waiting for you on the line."

When katukov's voice came out clearly from the earphone, I couldn't help cheering up and said excitedly, "Hello, general katukov, I'm looking forward to your return."

Katukov was also a smart man. Knowing that I was calling him at this time, I was not talking about the past, but for more important things. I didn't beat around the bush with me. Instead, I said frankly, "Rita, we won't talk about polite words. Does your army need our support?"

"Yes, general katukov, the commander of the 51st division of the guards, tavartkiraze, reported to me that the German army was charging towards his position." Because I need katukov's support, I didn't hide from him what happened on the battlefield: "I was talking to him when the phone suddenly stopped, so we can't find out the current situation on the battlefield for the time being."

"Wait a minute, Rita. I'll ask the chief of staff what kind of situation we have here." Then, without waiting for my reply, he murmured to the chief of staff next to him in a low voice. Although I tried to listen to what they were talking about, I didn't know a word.

After a while, katukov's voice became clear again: "Rita, I just asked the chief of staff. The situation of the mechanized third army is not optimistic. Some defensive areas are being attacked by the German army. Therefore, I can only draw out 20 tanks and a battalion of infantry to support your 51st guard division and jointly defend the road between Belgorod and Kursk to prevent the German army from passing here. "

I heard that the reinforcements were equipped with 20 tanks, but my face did not show joy. Instead, I asked cautiously, "general katukov, I don't know what types of these 20 tanks are?"

"There are 15 t-34s and five kv-1s, and the drivers are excellent tank soldiers."

"Why are there no new tanks?" I can't help but be secretly disappointed to hear the tank models reported by katukov. The two tanks mentioned by him can be destroyed at a distance of 1000 meters or more by Tiger tanks, Panther tanks or the latest No. 4 tanks equipped with 88mm tank guns and 75mm long barrel guns. Our tanks, even if they enter a distance of 500 meters, are equipped with 76mm tank guns, which are difficult to pose a threat to tiger and Panther tanks. I asked in a complaining tone, "Comrade General, as far as I know, your group army is equipped with nearly 500 new tanks. Why not use them today?"

I thought that katukov would say that we should maintain our strength and wait until the counterattack, and then put the main forces equipped with new tanks into combat. Unexpectedly, he said: "Rita, you don't know that most of our tank soldiers are lack of training because of the great loss of early personnel and the constant consumption in the war. Moreover, the new type of tank troops have been equipped for some time, but there are not many tank troops who may be proficient in it. If, in this case, the tankers are allowed to drive tanks that are not yet fully familiar with the performance and engage in a battle with the German armored forces under the condition of lack of terrain cover, they may be slaughtered on one side. "

At this time, a communication staff officer appeared at the door. He quickly walked up to me, raised his hand and handed me a newspaper from a folder under his arm. When I took it over, it turned out that it was a telegram from general tavartkilaze, which read: "the German army has sent out air force to support the attack of ground forces. They are bombing our army in a formation of 20 to 50 planes At present, in our division's position, the commanders and fighters have launched a fierce and tenacious battle with the enemy. They use 40 rocket launchers and anti tank grenades to deal with the enemy's tanks, and use machine gun fire and mortars to fire at the attacking enemy.... "

Danilov stood beside me, tilted his head, read the telegram, and said to himself, "our commanders and fighters have played well, they have been very tenacious."

Maybe I was patronizing telegrams and ignoring katukov, so that he asked anxiously at the other end of the line, "Hello, Rita, Rita, are you still there? Why don't you talk? "

"I'm here, general katukov." After I answered in a hurry, I explained the reason to him and said, "I'm reading the telegram from the front line. At present, in addition to sending out a large number of tanks to cover their infantry to attack our positions, the German army also sent out a large number of bombers to bombard our positions indiscriminately. Our officers and men are still holding fast to their positions and have launched a fierce battle with the invading enemy. "

"What, the German air force?" Hearing this unexpected news, katukov could not help worrying, "if I don't control the air, no matter how many tanks I send, I will be the target of German aircraft.". No, I'm going to call commander vatukin and ask him to let the Fifth Army of the air force attack and drive the German planes out of the airspace of our defensive zone. "

I thought katukov's proposal was good, and quickly agreed: "general katukov, please negotiate with commander vatukin about asking the air force to dispatch."

After less than ten minutes, bezikov, who went outside to observe the situation, returned to the house and reported to us: "our air force has been dispatched. According to my observation, the first flight formation is composed of six to eight fighters and bombers. It seems that they are not only preparing to drive German aircraft out of the battlefield, but also planning to attack German tanks, artillery and infantry. "

After listening, kirilov said in a suspicious tone: "we have a limited number of planes. Even if we target German tanks, how many can we destroy?"

"Comrade military commissar, you are ignorant." Danilov's face was always smiling when he heard our air force move out. At the moment, he heard kirilov say this and interrupted: "as far as I know, our air force has just been equipped with a new type of anti tank bomb. Although the weight is only 1.5-2.5 kg, it will not bounce away when it is thrown on the German tank, it will stick to the tank body and explode, making the enemy's tank burn instantly. "

My heart was still wondering whether this antitank bomb was another masterpiece of engineer florin, when another communications officer came quickly and handed a new telegram to bzikov, who was nearest to the door.

After taking a look at it, bzikov went back to the table and read the telegram aloud to us: "our soldiers have the will of iron and steel to defend their positions. In the battle to defend position 4, the fortified company on the high ground launched a fierce battle with the German infantry covered by 28 tanks Although there were only 17 people left on the highland after the battle, they stubbornly blocked the German attack and destroyed 18 German tanks and more than 300 soldiers. "

Every word in the telegram represents a bloody battle, and every word means the death of hundreds of people. When bezikov handed me the telegram, he said in a low voice: "Rita, your speech at the pre war meeting is like an exercise. It seems that you have estimated everything..." before bezikov finished his words, Kirilov broke in and said, "Rita, it seems that your judgment is completely correct. Position 4 is the key point of German attack. You should immediately order Colonel nikolasov to send reinforcements to position 4." The report of nikolasov made my heart ache as if I had been seized by something. I thought that there was a perfect defense system in position 4. It was more than enough to strengthen the company for ten days and a half months. In less than an hour, only one tenth of the company was left. If we continue to fight like this, it will become a "flesh and blood mill" sooner or later. Danilov looked at me and asked, "it seems that we can't just use infantry to defend our positions. There are too many casualties. Comrade commander, do you think we can use artillery to intercept the enemy in the next German attack, and send tank battalions to attack from the flank of the German army to destroy their tanks After thinking about Danilov's proposal, I still shook my head and refused. At the same time, I explained my reasons to him: "Comrade deputy commander, wait a moment and see how our air force performs. If there is no air supremacy, even if our new tanks are heavily armored and bombarded by the enemy's air force, it is not easy to survive. "“ However, comrade commander, if we only rely on infantry to hold our position, we will pay huge casualties. " Although his proposal was rejected by me, Danilov was still unwilling to say: "do we just watch our commanders and fighters, use our flesh and blood to resist the enemy's attack?" Before I could speak, bzikov took a telegram from the communication staff who came in and quickly came to me. At the same time, he still said, "Comrade commander, at last, we have some good news."