Chapter 1186

As time goes by, all the soldiers and weapons and equipment supplied to us have been in place. At the same time, we have stored enough weapons and ammunition for one month

On the evening of the first day of the implementation of the "rumenzev" combat plan, I called the commanders of the divisions and divisions under the group army, as well as the commanders of the tank brigade and artillery regiment, to the headquarters to have a meeting, to tell them the combat plan in detail, and to assign tasks to the units.

Looking at the well seated commanders at all levels below, I decided to introduce the German army to you personally. Because I can not only use the information provided by my superiors, but also add what I learned from later history books.

Standing in front of the big map, I held the explanation stick in both hands and said to you, "comrades commander, we all know that tomorrow is the day for us to implement the" rumenzev "plan, so today I will first introduce to you the situation of the enemy and ourselves in the south of Kursk."

At this point, I turned to my side and pointed to the map on the wall with my stick: "in front of our Voronezh front army, we are mainly facing the German fourth armored group army and the seventh army. Among them, the 7th army was deployed in the Sumei area to cover the joint part of the German central front army group and the southern group army group and deal with our 38th group army. Although this is not the main attack direction of our army, from July 26, the 38th group army began to create a series of illusions of concentrating heavy troops, including arranging 450 tank models and running back and forth with eight real tanks, hoping to achieve the purpose of confusing the German judgment. " After I said this, I saw a commander below shrunk his mouth. He seemed to think that the 38th army's action was a little too trivial. He hastily added, "as early as in the Moscow defense war, general katukov used this tactic to deceive the enemy, and wiped out a large number of enemies with minimal casualties."

I coughed, cleared my throat, and went on: "the German fourth armored group army mainly covers the front line between East sume and Belgorod, and its front is the main force of Voronezh's front army: the 27th and 40th group army, the 5th and 6th close guard group army, the 1st close guard tank group army, the 5th close guard tank group army, At the same time, there are more than 1800 tanks and self-propelled artillery support.

However, the strength of the fourth German armored group army has been greatly weakened due to the large number of troops being transferred to the central and southernmost front of the eastern line and Italy. On July 20, the total number of troops dropped to more than 130000, accounting for only one third of our troops. There are the 48th armored army and the 52nd army. According to the latest intelligence we have detected, the main 52nd army's sequence as of yesterday includes the 6th, 11th and 19th armored divisions, and the 57th, 167th, 255 and 352 infantry divisions.

The grassland front army was the 11th army on the left of the German "Kempf" campaign group. The army mainly defends the Belgorod area and has 106th, 168th, 198th and 320th infantry divisions. The 42nd army on the right wing of the campaign cluster is responsible for covering the direction of Kharkov, mainly against our 57th army.

To sum up, the German army launched three armies in front of our Voronezh front army, namely the 7th army of the 2nd group army; The 48th and 52nd armored forces of the 4th armored group army; In front of the grassland front army, the 11th and 42nd armies of the "Kempf" campaign cluster. There are 18 German divisions with a total force of about 310000.

In terms of equipment, there are only about 500-600 tanks and self-propelled guns available for the entire German southern army group. "

When I explained it here, I found that some commanders were relieved and relaxed. In order to prevent them from belittling the enemy, I hastened to add: "although the German army is at a disadvantage in terms of strength and equipment, we should not take it lightly. We should know that after a long period of operation, the German Fortifications on the front line were relatively strong. On the basis of a series of fortresses, dikes and fortifications built in the 17th century, they established defensive positions. It is about 90 kilometers deep, including seven defense areas and two lines of defense around Kharkov. "

After my words, the expression on everyone's face became dignified again“ As far as I know, "after a brief silence, in order to ease the atmosphere in the room, Danilov stood up with a smile and said," comrades, no matter how strong the German defense position is, it is not enough to defend the Belgorod Kharkov area with less than one third of our troops. So please rest assured, comrades, that their fortifications can not stop our attack at all, and the final victory must belong to us. "

"Yes, the deputy commander has a good point." Bezikov continued: "according to intelligence, Manstein's main energy was tied down by us in the direction of dunbas and MIUs River, and he had to withdraw a considerable number of troops to cope with the attacks of our southwest and southern front forces. Next, I will give you a detailed explanation of the offensive routes of the divisions of our group army. "

As I sat in my seat and looked at the commanders at all levels sitting below, I thought to myself, "it's not the first time for some of the division commanders who are in charge of the attack to understand the information, but it's probably the first time for them to hear all the information, like me and bezikov

After assigning tasks to the division commanders, bezikov finally added: "in order to maximize the artillery fire in the direction of attack, the headquarters transferred the 13th, 16th and 17th breakthrough artillery division and the 3rd rocket division from the Bryansk front army to our Voronezh front army and replenished them with sufficient ammunition.

In the positions of the 5th and 6th group armies, the density of artillery and mortar reached 113 and 129 per kilometer respectively; The 53rd army had 242 artillery and mortars per kilometer.

At five o'clock tomorrow morning, the front army will first bombard the German front and defense depth with guns, mortars and rockets for five minutes. Then check and test the fire with the gauge of large caliber artillery for 35 minutes; "Katyusha" was used to put pressure on the German targets in a planned way to control, destroy and salvo fire, which took 1 hour and 20 minutes; It takes 20 minutes for artillery and mortar to accelerate to the maximum firing speed; It took 45 minutes to carry out planned artillery fire on the resistance hub in the depth of German defense.

After taking off, the air force will first bomb the German command post, communication hub and communication line to destroy its command system. Then it will carry out the second, third and fourth successive bombing of the German artillery positions, troop assembly sites and reserves in the defense depth.

Just half an hour after the first five minutes of shelling, we're going to send out soldiers and start clearing the obstacles in the attack path and opening the way from the minefield. When the artillery fire increases to 7:55 of the maximum firing rate, our infantry will follow the tanks and self-propelled or artillery to launch an impact!... "

Every short sentence that bezikov said represents a bloody battle; Every word said means the death of hundreds of people. Perhaps because of this, he took the trouble to explain to you the complicated difficulties that may be encountered in each attack route.

After bidzikov finished, I asked the commander, "do you have any questions?"

After I asked my questions, the room fell silent again. Sometimes people are like this. When you don't ask questions, you feel like you have a lot of questions to ask; Can really let you ask questions, but often do not know what to ask.

But then the commanders who took part in the first attack began to ask questions to bezikov. Before the meeting, we estimated all the possible problems and specially discussed how to answer them to the lower commanders. At this moment, bzikov, who had been prepared, calmly and patiently answered each commander's questions.

After the meeting, when there were only a few of us left in the headquarters, Danilov suddenly asked me, "Comrade commander, I don't understand why the data you gave at the beginning of your explanation were different from the data we had? Are these data true and reliable, and will not mislead the army? "

Seeing that everyone's eyes are focused on me, of course, I can't tell them that many of the data I mentioned are history books from later generations. I can only answer vaguely: "I came to a conclusion after comprehensive analysis based on the intelligence of the superior and the reconnaissance office. Even if there is a little error, it will not have any impact on the war that is about to begin. "

Speaking of this, I suddenly thought of tomarovka. This city was the first one captured after the start of the "rumenzev" campaign. Although we captured this city many times a while ago, it was lost again under the crazy counterattack of the German army. Therefore, in this campaign, the task of seizing the city fell on katukov.

I looked at Danilov and asked, "Comrade deputy commander, the battle will officially begin tomorrow. Shall we go to the front forces to see if we can avoid the lesson of the failure in capturing tomarovka last time?"

Speaking of tomarovka, everyone's face became ugly. I'm afraid this is the most humiliating battle of our group army since the battle in Kursk. After hearing of the failure of several attacks on tomarovka, vatujing was furious. He announced in public that he would remove Colonel barksov from his post of division commander and let me find someone else to replace him. Fortunately, I thought that under such circumstances, the change of division level leadership would have a bad impact on the army. Therefore, with my efforts, vatujing finally agreed to let baksov commit crimes.

Kirilov said: "the failure of the last attack on tomarovka is a disgrace to our army. Only by achieving brilliant results can we wash away this disgrace. I think we should also send troops, at least a division, to take part in the attack on tomarovka. "

"Which division will you send?" Asked bezikov, looking at me.

"How about the 52nd division of Jinwei?" Although I knew that the 52nd guard division of Col. Nekrasov was the first to attack tomarovka, I still said to you in a deliberative tone: "after the German army broke through our first line of defense, the 52nd guard division played well behind the enemy. It not only contained a large number of German troops, but also achieved brilliant results. "

"I agree!" As soon as I had finished, kirilov immediately echoed and said, "let the troops of nebrasov go."

"But, comrade military Commissar." Danilov said with a little worry: "like the 51st division, the 52nd Division has just added a large number of recruits. And these soldiers have not received any military training before, so the combat effectiveness of the division may be diluted, right

"My comrade deputy commander." After listening to what he said, bzikov was a little worried and immediately retorted, "which division of the group army has not added new recruits? We can't wait for the recruits to become veterans before they go to fight, can we? So I still think we should put them into battle immediately, let the blood and fire on the battlefield temper their will and improve their technical and tactical level. " Danilov opened his mouth as if to say something else, but I raised my hand and interrupted. I followed bzikov's meaning and said, "Comrade deputy commander, I have decided that the chief of staff has made a lot of sense. Do we have to wait for the recruits to get familiar with the troops and master the necessary technical and tactical level before they can go to fight? "“ Several commanders, I think your worries are totally unnecessary. " Akhromeyev interjected: "although our attacks on tomarovka failed several times. However, we should also consider the objective reasons for the failure. There are two reasons for the failure: first, we used too few troops to attack, and the number of German regiments in the city was larger than that of one of our divisions; 2、 Without artillery fire and necessary air support, and without hard weapons, our commanders and fighters can only use their lives to fill the gap. "“ What are you trying to say, major? " Danilov didn't wait for akhromeyev to finish, he impolitely interrupted his words and said: "is it because of the attack failure of the 67th division of the close guard some time ago“ No, it's not like that, comrade deputy commander. " Seeing that Danilov was angry, akhromeyev quickly explained, "I mean, the reason why the attack failed at that time was because of insufficient troops and insufficient firepower. But now that all these problems have been solved, the troops involved in the attack have at least three infantry divisions and one tank army. With the support of strong artillery and air force, it is easy to wipe out the enemy of tomarovka. "“ Well, comrade major, since you say so, I believe you for the time being. " After Danilov had said these words, he turned to me and said, "Comrade commander, I agree to send the 52nd division of Colonel pinekrasov's guards to take part in the battle to capture tomarovka."