Chapter 1200

Vatukin's telegram will come soon. In his telegram, he not only praised the tenacious fighting spirit of our two group armies in the battle of liberation of Belgorod, but also informed us that according to the order of the supreme command, after our two group armies handed over their defense to the grassland front army, they immediately launched their subordinate troops in the south of the city towards the direction of Kharkov, To prevent a possible German counterattack.

After seeing this telegram from vatujing, shumilov asked me thoughtfully, "Comrade oshanina, how do you see this telegram and why do you want to give bergerode to the grassland front army? You know, it was the first to attack the city, but our two army groups. "

Listening to schumilov's words with resentment, I knew that he was unconvinced by this command, and also felt unworthy of those officers and men who died in the process of crossing the northern Donets or attacking the city. But in this case, if I agree with him and attack the superior's orders, I may be calculated by people with ulterior motives. Therefore, I pondered for a while and used a reasonable reason to persuade him: "Comrade General, I think the reason why the superior issued such orders may be to give the grassland front army a place to rest, To know that they are in this period of attack, can always be charged with the task of frontal attack. You can see that our two army groups have paid such a high price just for assisting. We should be able to judge the casualties of general konev's troops. "

After listening to my analysis, shumilov's anger weakened. He asked in an uncertain tone, "is that so?"

"General sumilov, I think Rita's analysis is very reasonable." Kirilov also helped me to analyze to shumilov: "as far as I know, the 53rd and 69th army groups of the grassland front army are newly formed troops. They have a large number of recruits and relatively weak combat effectiveness. Therefore, it is entirely possible to pay a higher price in the battle."

"But the casualties of our two army groups are not small," shumilov said in a depressed mood. "Why do you order us to go to the south of the city to launch the troops without even giving us time to rest?"

"Comrades general," I organized the words in my mind, and then said, "although the German army was driven out of the city by us, they will certainly have a good heart. Maybe they will fight back against Belgorod at any time. Think about it. In the face of the frenzied counterattack of the German army, do you think it is the 53rd and 69th army, which suffered heavy casualties, or our two army groups

After what I said, shumilov fell into a deep meditation. After a while, the expression on his face became relaxed: "so it is. It seems that I wronged commander watujing. By the way, comrade oshanina, when do you think the superior will order us to attack Kharkov? "

"Why, comrade general, you can't wait to liberate Kharkov as soon as you liberate Belgorod?" Seeing that he no longer cared about vatukin's order, I laughed at him and said, "you know, in the last military meeting, the superior only mentioned that the most important task recently is to liberate Belgorod. As for the liberation of Kharkov, it may take two days before the higher authorities make a new decision. "

"In that case, it's time for me to go back and carry out the order to mobilize the troops." Shumilov stood up from his seat, reached out to kirilov and me, and politely said, "then we'll see you later. I wish you good health!"

As soon as shumilov left, I immediately dialed the headquarters and asked bzikov who answered the phone, "chief of staff, do you know what the fighting situation is like over there in tomarovka?"

"According to the telegram sent by the headquarters of the front army," I heard the sound of turning the paper from the receiver. It should be that bezikov was reading the war report he had just received: "our army has taken the initiative in tomarovka. Three infantry divisions and one armored division of the German army have fallen into our encirclement. At the moment, the encirclement and annihilation is in progress, It is estimated that the final battle will be solved by tomorrow morning. "

"Then we have four infantry divisions and two tank brigades in the city of tomarovka." Although I now have three close guard divisions, I still feel that my troops are too weak. It's enough to talk about such a small number of troops, and it's not enough to talk about it. If it is used to stick to the line of defense, strength is enough; But if we want to launch an attack on Kharkov, it is estimated that such forces will be lost in the three-dimensional defense of German planes, tanks and artillery before they rush into the city“ Do the superiors have any up-to-date arrangements for them? "

"No, comrade commander." "Although our army is in the upper hand, the battle is not over yet. In order to prevent uncertain factors from affecting the final result of the battle, I don't think our superiors will let us randomly mobilize these troops for the time being. "

When I heard bzikov's reply, my heart was cold. With the strength in my hand, I could only fight a defensive war. It seems a little unrealistic to take part in the attack on Kharkov.

As I am about to mobilize the troops in the city, it is obviously inappropriate for me to go to the south of the city and make the headquarters of the group army stay alone far away from the troops. So I told bzikov: "chief of staff, the troops in bergorod have moved to the south of the city, and the headquarters should move as soon as possible."

"Yes, comrade commander." "We are ready to move at once," he promised

"No hurry, chief of staff." Seeing that he was so active, I stopped him immediately: "we haven't determined the new garrison, so the transfer of the headquarters should be carried out in the daytime tomorrow."

"OK," bzikov said on the phone, "I'll use this time to see if I can gather more troops and follow us to the south of Belgorod."

If he didn't talk about collecting troops, I would have forgotten rodimzev's close guard 13th division. When he said this, I could not wait to add: "chief of staff, when you move tomorrow, it is estimated that the battle in tomarovka will be over. At that time, the 13th division, which is responsible for cutting off the connection between tomarovka and bergorod, should have finished their task. Since they have nothing to do for the time being, you can take this unit with you when you transfer. "

Bezikov may have been thinking about this army for a long time, but as my deputy, he is not good at many things. At the moment, when I heard that I had proposed this matter on my own initiative, I immediately agreed: "don't worry, comrade commander. I'll bring you the 13th division tomorrow. "

Kirilov and I were moving to the south of the city in a jeep. Seeing that there were only US and the driver in the jeep, he worried and asked, "Rita, is it really appropriate to transfer the No.13 division into our group army without asking for instructions from the superior?"

"There should be no problem." I said with some guilty heart: "since commander watujing has given general rojmzev's troops to my command, I think he also has plans to let them join our group army."

When kirilov heard me say this, he did not entangle with me on this issue, but asked about his concerns: "when do you think the superior will let us attack Kharkov?"

For kirilov's question, I don't think it's easy to answer. Because in my memory, it was after the victory of the liberation of Belgorod that vatukin and konev reported their specific campaign plans to Stalin, and they were approved on August 6 and 8. When I think of these two dates, I think of the two atomic bombs that the Americans dropped in Japan two years later. These two atomic bombs and the subsequent declaration of war by the Soviet Army greatly accelerated the surrender speed of the Japanese pirates.

I was thinking about the spectacular scene of tens of thousands of Japanese pirates disarming the Soviet army in the documentary when the jeep suddenly stopped. I recovered from my meditation and asked the driver discontentedly, "why did you stop?"

The driver turned his head and looked at me, and said wrongly, "Comrade commander, there is a car in front of us blocking our way."

"Do you know who it is?" Kirilov asked.

The driver shook his head and said, "I don't know. It doesn't look like our army people anyway." All of a sudden, he pointed to the front with his hand and said in a loud voice: "a commander came out of the car and was coming towards us. Maybe something is wrong."

I saw the officer go to our car and narrate. He bent down and looked into the car. At the same time, he asked, "excuse me, general oshanina of the sixth group army, is he in the car?"

I pushed the door open, leaned out, glanced at his rank, and asked, "Comrade commander, what part of you are?"

The commander immediately stood at attention, raised his hand to salute me, and reported, "Hello, Comrade General. I am the adjutant of lieutenant general managarov, commander of the 53rd army. Our commander has a few words to say to you. "

It was said that the commander of the 53rd army was blocking our way, so kirilov and I got out of the car. Walking towards the front, busmanov in the car behind also got out of the car and followed up with several guards.

Before I got to the jeep, another general in a brand-new uniform came down. He said to me with a smile: "Hello, general o'shanina. I'm managarov. "

"Hello, Comrade General." Seeing that the other party didn't salute me, I directly extended my hand to him and politely said, "nice to meet you here."

After shaking hands with me and kirilov in turn, managarov, without beating around the Bush, said frankly, "general oshanina, we have been ordered to take over your defense. I have a special request. I hope you will agree to it. "

Special request, his words made me frown. Xin said, does he want me to leave all the captured German prisoners and weapons and ammunition to him? When I think about it, my voice naturally becomes cold: "Comrade General, if you have any request, just put it forward. As long as I can do it, I will satisfy your wish."

"Well, general oshanina." Managarov may have noticed the change of my attitude and said with embarrassment, "I heard that the city radio station was captured by your close guard 272th regiment, right?"

"Yes, it is." I replied briefly.

"Since they occupied the radio building, I want them to keep this honor." Managarov said unexpectedly, "I don't know if you want to keep this group and stick to the radio building. What do you think?"

"This..." managarov's proposal left me at a loss, and I had to turn to kirilov, the narrator: "Comrade military commissar, what do you mean?" Kirilov thought for a moment, then nodded with a smile and said, "since it's general managarov's good intentions, I'll make the decision. The 272th regiment of guards will stay in the city for the time being and continue to be responsible for the security of the radio station building." When we broke up with managarov and moved on, kirilov, who was sitting beside me, said with deep feeling: "this general managarov is not simple. Knowing that our superiors asked us to hand over the defense of Belgorod to them, there would be some emotion. Now he has made his own decision to let us leave the 272th regiment of the guards behind and stick to the radio station building, which has easily solved the contradiction between our two army groups. It's not simple. This man is really not simple. " Our temporary headquarters is located in a fortification two kilometers southwest of Belgorod. This is an underground structure made of reinforced concrete, which can resist the bombardment of heavy artillery. As for whether it was built by the German army or our army, we can't make any research in a hurry. When we arrived at the new defensive zone, the division commanders were busy deploying troops, and it was late, so I didn't call several division commanders for a meeting. I think it's not too late to call a meeting when all the other members of the headquarters arrive. As soon as we arrived at the new headquarters, we sent a telegram to bezikov informing them of our location. Bezikov was also an acute man. Although the headquarters did not transfer for the time being, many personnel and equipment of the communications department were sent by him first. By one o'clock in the morning, the communication equipment in the new headquarters had been installed and could be put back into use. Just as I was considering whether I should contact the troops staying in tomarovka, the director of communications, lophov, suddenly came up with a telegram and said to me with a look of joy on his face: "Comrade commander, this is the telegram just received. This is a news report. It says that one hour ago, at 0 o'clock on August 6, on Moscow's Red Square, 120 salutes were fired 12 times in unison to celebrate the victory of the recovery of Orel and Belgorod on the same day. This is the first time since the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War that the people of the Soviet Union celebrated victory by firing salutes. " Kirilov took the telegram from lophov's hands, trembling with excitement. After a quick scan, he excitedly said to me, "Rita, this message should be sent to all divisions immediately, so that all commanders and fighters can know such inspiring good news."