Chapter 1205

On the evening of the 8th, zaharov, chief of staff of the grassland front army, called me and sent me an order from konev, commander of the grassland front army, to attend a military meeting in Belgorod before 19 o'clock this evening.

When chisjakov and I drove to Belgorod, he asked me curiously, "Comrade commander, do you think general konev will inform us to have a meeting in the city at this time? Is there anything important?"

"That's fair to say, comrade deputy commander." I pointed to the infantry and tanks moving south out of the window and said, "it seems that the attack on Kharkov is about to begin."

"Are you really going to attack Kharkov?" Asked chisgakov suspiciously.

"That's right," I replied in a positive tone. "In two or three days at most, the attack on Kharkov will be in full swing." I am so sure because I know that in real history, konev's troops launched an attack on Kharkov on the 10th.

Although the battle of Belgorod Kharkov launched by the Soviet army was only an integral part of the battle of Kursk, I like to call it a separate Kharkov battle. The Soviet Union and Germany have carried out three battles in this important industrial city of the Soviet Union, each of which ended with the victory of the German army. In the fourth Kharkov battle, the Soviet army will change its fate of losing every battle and become the final winner of the battle.

On the 6th and 8th, respectively, Stalin approved the specific operational plans for the capture of Kharkov reported by the Voronezh front army and the grassland front army to Stalin. In the plan approved by the supreme command, konev's troops attacked Kharkov from the front, while vatujing's troops made a deep detour to Kharkov from the west, trying to eat the left-wing heavy soldiers of the southern group of Mannstein here.

Looking at the passing troops outside the window, chisgakov asked, "Comrade commander, why did general konev inform us to attend such a meeting? You know, although the seventh group army of the guards was incorporated into the grassland front army, we are still subordinate to the Voronezh front army? "

For a moment, I really don't know how to answer this question. Because I didn't receive notice from watujing that our group army would be merged into the grassland front army. After thinking for a long time, I didn't come up with a reasonable answer. I could only say vaguely, "Comrade deputy commander, don't worry. When we get to the headquarters, everything will be clear."

Since most of the buildings in the city were destroyed, konev set his headquarters in the radio building. When I entered the conference room, I saw that the room was almost full. I was going to sit down in a corner with chisjakov, but konev saw me.

Konev stood up, pointed to the vacant seat next to him, and called to me in a loud voice, saying, "Comrade oshanina, you and Comrade chisgakov, come and sit here."

I saw that on the long side of the conference table, close to him, there were two empty seats, which should be reserved for chisgakov and me, so I quickly walked over without hesitation. Thank him politely and sit down.

Seeing that the commanders of all the troops were almost here, lieutenant general susekov, the military commissar of the front army, stood up and said to the commanders on the scene with a smile, "comrades, since we are almost here, let's have a meeting."

Almost as he spoke, the conference room became silent. Only his voice reverberated in the whole room: "today, we are calling a meeting because a few hours ago, the Supreme Command officially approved the plan of our front army to attack Kharkov. Next, general zaharov, chief of staff, will give you a detailed introduction to our combat plan. "

Zaharov stood up, strode to the wall with a huge map, picked up a stick, pointed to the commander and said: "comrades, according to our reconnaissance, the German army defending Kharkov is the battle cluster of Kempf, which governs the 167th, 168, 198, 106, 320, 282, 39, 161 infantry divisions and the remnants of the 6th armored vehicle. In the north of the city, they built a defense position with a depth of 15 kilometers. There were seven lines of defense, each of which was composed of several continuous trenches... The German civil fire points were covered with two or three layers of logs... Almost all the stone buildings were used as strongholds, the lower layers were equipped with artillery, and the upper layers were equipped with machine guns and submachine guns... "

After listening to zaharov's data, chisjakov tilted his body to me and said in a voice that only the two of us could hear: "Comrade commander, what the chief of staff said is basically consistent with your inference." After listening to what chisgakov said, I didn't speak. I just turned back and gave him a faint smile. Then I turned my head and continued to listen to zaharov's explanation.

After introducing the enemy's forces and defense, zaharov put down his explanation stick and went back to the table to sit down. Konev looked around and said with a smile, "comrades, through the explanation given by the chief of staff, you should have known something about the situation of the enemy. Tell us what you think."

After his words, the conference room was silent, and no commander was the first to speak. Seeing that he didn't answer his own words, konev restrained his smile and glanced over the commanders one by one. It seemed that he was thinking about who to call back first.

I gave a quick cough, then said to konev with a smile, "general konev, let our group army take up the main task of attacking Kharkov."

Konev's eyes were fixed on the commanders near the door. After hearing what I said, he didn't look at me. He refused and said, "are you kidding me, general oshanina? Your group army is only attached to our front army. It's not your turn to attack."

His words made me feel a little embarrassed. When I was thinking about what to say to resolve this loss of face, he had turned his head and looked at me. Maybe he thought his tone was too heavy. He explained to me in a low voice: "Comrade oshanina, your close guard Sixth Army does not belong to our organizational system, so your task is to contain the German army and cover the south of bergerord to ensure that the German army can no longer launch attacks on the city."

I clearly understood in my heart that in the early days of the Kharkov offensive, the troops of the grassland front fought very hard. Although they caused a lot of casualties to the German army, they only advanced a few kilometers in a week. Therefore, it is not a bad thing for konev not to give me the main task. When his troops suffer heavy casualties and are unable to attack again, my group army will take part in the battle again, and the honor of being the first to rush into the city will still belong to us.

After konev finished his conversation with me, he turned to zaharov and said, "chief of staff, let's announce the combat tasks of all units to the commanders."

Zaharov picked up a folder in front of him, opened it, took out a document, stood up and began to read to everyone: "the task of frontal attack will be undertaken by the 53rd, 57th and 69th army groups; The seventh group army of general shumilov's guards will launch a full-scale attack from the east at the same time as launching a frontal attack. "

Since our group army was a soy sauce player in the early stage of offensive operations, after listening for a while, I began to lose my mind, thinking about how the four infantry divisions, two tank brigades with several artillery regiments and the close guard rocket battalion of tomarovka could be built. With these troops, even if I launch an attack on Kharkov alone, I am sure that I will capture the city, but only if the troops of the grassland front army contain the main force of the German army in the north.

I don't know how long after that, I suddenly felt that chisgakov, who was sitting next to me, touched my arm lightly, turned to him and asked him with his eyes, "what's the matter?"

"Comrade commander," he whispered to me, "is it true that our group army will not take part in this attack?"

I turned to zaharov and saw that he was still assigning tasks to the troops. He put his body close to chisgakov again and said in a low voice, "Comrade deputy commander, if the superior does this, it must be their consideration. We'd better obey their orders honestly."

When zaharov read out the order, he finally said: "artillery will prepare for the German defensive position for two hours at 5 a.m. on the 10th. At the end of the shelling, the main attacking force should not hesitate to attack the enemy's positions... "

After the meeting, chisjakov and I followed the crowd out of the conference room. After getting on the jeep, he couldn't help asking me, "Comrade commander, have you listened to general zaharov's last words?"

As I thought that the offensive war the day after tomorrow had little to do with me, I was almost distracted in the second half of the meeting. Therefore, I didn't understand what chisjakov was asking, so I asked, "Comrade deputy commander, I don't know what you mean by the chief of staff?"

When chisgakov heard what I said, he was full of doubts, but he said truthfully: "general zaharov said that when the attack on Kharkov began, he would divide the whole artillery into parts and distribute them to the infantry divisions to help them break through the German defense in the alley war. Do you think that's appropriate? "

"It's hard to say. What should we try before we can come to a correct conclusion After I finished these two sentences, I patted the driver on the shoulder and said, "drive!"

When the jeep drove out of the city, I said, "Comrade deputy commander, I also like to divide the artillery into parts and give them to the shock troops in the lane fighting. In this way, we don't have to worry about the German fortifications in the street battle, because our artillery can easily destroy them at close range. However, I don't know what effect can be achieved by assigning all artillery to infantry divisions like general konev

"Comrade commander, when you say that, I remember that you once put forward a tactic called" bayonet on cannon ", which is to assign artillery to infantry for use in lane fighting in wartime. If not, commander konev borrowed your tactic." Chisgakov said here thoughtfully: "in the face of Kharkov, who was heavily defended by the German army, will such tactics achieve ideal results?"

Instead of taking up his topic, I digged off the topic: "we should pay close attention to the reconnaissance in the West and southwest of Kharkov. We must let the scouts know the number of the enemy's troops and the detailed deployment situation..."

Before I finished, chisjakov couldn't help interrupting, "Comrade commander, the grassland front army will launch three group armies to attack the German army in the front of Kharkov. Do you still think the enemy can block their attack? Besides, the seventh group army of general shumilov's guards launched an attack from the east of the city. Even if the frontal attack is frustrated, the attack in the East is likely to succeed. "“ Comrade deputy commander, you are too optimistic. " As soon as he finished, I immediately retorted, "Kharkov is not only a strategic point, but also an important industrial city. Once our army liberates this city, we will be able to resume the production of tank factories here in a few months. However, if the Germans do not want to see an endless stream of new tanks entering the battlefield from here, they will certainly carry out the most tenacious resistance. " After listening to my explanation, chisjakov finally came back. He nodded his head and said, "I see. The reason why the Germans want to build a tenacious defense in Kharkov is that it is not only a strategic point that can directly attack Kiev, but also an important tank production base in China. Even if they destroy all factories and facilities, we can resume tank production in a few months. It seems that the battle in Kharkov will be extremely cruel. "“ Comrade deputy commander, although our group army was only making soy sauce in the early stage of offensive combat... "When I was halfway through my words, I suddenly remembered that Russia had no soy sauce, and quickly changed my words and said," it's just a bystander, but we can't relax. We must pay close attention to the reconnaissance of the West and southwest of Kharkov to prepare for the later war. "“ Is the current strength sufficient? " "You know, we only have four close guard divisions, and all of them are infantry divisions. There are no tanks and artillery units. It seems that our offensive strength is not enough," he asked“ Don't worry, comrade chisgakov. " After listening to his worries, I said to him with a smile: "I don't think it will be long before the four infantry divisions in tomarovka, as well as the tank brigade Artillery Corps and other units, can be built one after another. After all the troops are built, even if we attack Kharkov alone, we will still be sure to win. "