Chapter 1210

The grassland front army's attack on Kharkov lasted a whole week. Relying on the solid fortifications, the German army carried out the indomitable resistance, which made general konev's frontal attack suffered a serious setback and fell into a time-consuming and extremely cruel positional war.

Although the situation of our army's attack is not ideal, the four army groups of the grassland front army are still pushing towards Kharkov city. By the 17th, our army had approached Kharkov from the north and the East. Although the attack was completely restrained, the Germans also suffered serious losses. The German divisions on the defensive line were only regiments and battalions, and the number of infantry was seriously insufficient. The tanks and artillery of the 3rd and 6th panzer divisions were also consumed in the battle.

When konev and the Germans were fighting hard, I was not idle. As there are more and more troops to be built, the original defense area certainly can't accommodate so many troops. In order to solve the problem of troop resettlement, I made a special call to watujing. He complained to him: "senior general, because there are too many troops returned recently, our existing defense area can no longer accommodate them."

After listening to me, vatujing was silent for a moment, and then said in embarrassment, "Comrade oshanina, I know that if you let the four infantry divisions return, your defense area will be narrow. Well, I'll call general konev later and discuss with him to see if I can make room for you

"No, Comrade General." I heard that he was going to discuss with konev, so he quickly refused and said his plan: "in fact, I have a good idea of a place and intend to drive the troops one by one. As long as you allow me, I can even transfer the whole army. "

When I said this, vatujing was immediately interested. He asked curiously, "Comrade oshanina, I don't know what you are looking for? If it can really accommodate the whole sixth group army, I will certainly approve it. "

"Jergach!" After talking about the ground, I added: "senior general, I think it is most appropriate to deploy the whole group army in this area."

"What, jergach?" After listening to the place name I said, vatukin almost dropped the phone. It took him a long time to say in surprise, "Comrade oshanina, are you not mistaken? Jergach is to the west of Kharkov, 80 kilometers from your current defense zone. "

"Yes, comrade general, you are right." I explained to watugin, "jergach is 80 kilometers away from our present defense area, but the German defense in this area is also the weakest. If our group army can enter jergach, it can threaten Kharkov from the West and reduce the offensive pressure of the grassland front army in the north and East. "

After I finished, watujing didn't give me an accurate answer immediately. Instead, he said, "I'll discuss it with Marshal first. You wait for a moment. Don't hang up."

I know that Zhukov has been in a terrible situation in the past two days. He even fired at konev several times. If he had listened to my suggestion at such a time, he would have readily agreed.

Before long, the voice came from the receiver again, and the speaker had changed from watujing to Zhukov. He asked in a low voice, "Rita, give me your reasons. Why did you transfer the troops to jergache?"

"Marshal," I immediately said respectfully when I heard Zhukov's voice, "I think our group army's garrison in jergach can not only contain the German forces, but also reduce the pressure of the grassland front army's frontal attack. At the same time, at the right time, they could also attack decisively and cut off the retreat of the German army. "

After listening to me patiently, Zhukov asked, "what can I do for you, Rita?"

"Yes, comrade marshal. I have two requests. " Since Zhukov asked me to make a request and didn't know how to take advantage of this opportunity, I said boldly: "first of all, you have to persuade commander vatukin and commander konev to agree to the change of our group army's defense area."

At this point, I stopped to know what Zhukov's reaction was. Without any hesitation, he immediately replied, "don't worry, Rita. I'm in charge of this matter, and you can mobilize the troops boldly. Go on, what's your second request? "

"Although my group army has eight infantry divisions and a tank army, there are also a number of artillery regiments and close guard rocket battalion." After hearing that Zhukov agreed to my first request, I went on to say the second thing, "but there is a lack of enough air defense forces. So many troops can not be transferred without being discovered by the Germans. If they send out air force to carry out air strikes, we will suffer heavy casualties."

"I see," Zhukov heard my second condition. He was obviously relieved, and then said, "don't worry, I will ask the air force to send planes to provide you with the necessary air cover."

"Thank you, thank you, marshal." Hearing that he readily agreed to my request, I quickly expressed my gratitude to him, and at the same time expressed my position: "after entering the new defense area, I will certainly disturb the German people."

When I finished, Zhukov asked, "Rita, when can you start?"? I'll arrange the fighters to cooperate with you. "

I raised my hand to look at my watch, and then said, "Comrade marshal, it's one o'clock in the afternoon of the 17th. The vanguard is the 67th division of general baksov's guards, who will leave at five o'clock. "

"Good. I'll send the air force out at five. Good luck After Zhukov finished, he hung up the phone decisively.

I put down the phone and immediately told bzikov: "chief of staff, call the division heads and ask them to come to the headquarters immediately for a meeting."

"In addition to informing the commanders of the guard division and the tank army," bzikov, after hearing my order, did not immediately carry out it, but stood in the same place and asked, "do you need to inform the commanders of the artillery regiment and the guard rocket battalion?"

As for the question of bezikov, I frowned and thought about it, then shook my head and said, "forget it, the artillery commander, if general povsky comes to participate, the rest of the people don't need to be informed." There is a reason for me to say that. Recently, all the division commanders have been promoted to major generals because of their outstanding achievements. In a large group of generals, except for a few lieutenant generals or even major generals, it gives people a sense of being out of place.

Half an hour later, a dozen generals gathered in the headquarters, greeting each other and talking loudly about the performance of their troops in the recent period. For a moment, the whole headquarters was as lively as a vegetable market.

When I saw that everyone was coming, I winked at bzikov and signaled that the meeting was ready. Bezikov nodded, then stood up and yelled at the commander on the spot, "be quiet, comrades, be quiet, please!"

The first two voices didn't work, so he raised his voice and called out a few more words. All of these people heard it, stopped talking in a hurry and sat down in their seats. The whole headquarters became quiet again.

I stood up and faced the division leaders who attended the meeting and said, "comrades, in the recent week, the troops of the grassland front army launched an attack on Kharkov from the north and the East. Although we have inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, we have also paid a huge price for ourselves. Just today, the friendly attack on Kharkov has completely stopped. "

As soon as I finished my words, the following immediately became lively again. The teachers murmured: "what, the attack on Kharkov has stopped?"

"Didn't it go well yesterday? How can we say it stopped?"

……

Bezikov stood up and tried to stop their discussion, but I stopped him. I know that teachers' reactions are normal, so instead of interrupting them immediately, I stood at the table with my hands behind my back and waited patiently for the end of their discussion.

After about four or five minutes, the teachers' discussion finally came to an end. I then asked with a smile: "comrades, you just had a lively discussion. Who can tell us what you think of our army stopping attacking Kharkov? "

After I asked, commander sivakov of the 22nd army of the guards stood up. He asked puzzledly, "Comrade commander, I don't understand that since the front line is so hard, why is our new force here indifferent? Is it the commanders of friendly forces who think our combat effectiveness is too weak and will drag them down? "

Sivakov's words were like sprinkling a handful of salt into a hot oil pan, and the atmosphere in the room became lively again. I heard a man saying aloud, "the first one to attack Belgorod rushed into the city, but our 89th guard division, and the 272 regiment of the 90th guard division put the red flag on the top of the radio station building..."

Seeing the fierce emotions of the group, I felt that when I announced the plan of the troops going south later, I would not be opposed by everyone, so I looked at them with a smile and allowed them to express their opinions.

After I finally calmed down again, I said to everyone with a smile, "OK, teachers and comrades. It is not up to others to say what the combat effectiveness of the sixth group army is. We should use our actions to tell our friends who have misunderstood us how strong our fighting capacity is. "

Sivakov, who was still standing, asked me solemnly: "Comrade commander, I don't know what the task of the 22nd army is? As long as you give us an order, no matter whether we go up the mountain or down the sea of fire, all our commanders and fighters will never turn back. "

"And the 23rd army of our guards." As soon as sivakov finished, general tavartkiraze, who was sitting next to him, stood up and said in a loud voice, "Comrade commander, please give us an order. If our army can't take Kharkov, you can remove me from my post. "

When they saw that all their commanders came out to fight for the task, the rest of the division commanders could not sit still. They stood up one after another. Seeing that the headquarters would become a vegetable market again, I quickly raised my hand to stop all those who wanted to speak: "well, comrades, you don't have to say anything. I see what you mean. Let's all sit down first, and then I'll assign you tasks. "

When everyone sat down, I officially announced: "comrades, after I asked for instructions from my superiors, the superiors agreed that our group army would adjust the defense area from its present position to jergach..." I was afraid that someone would interrupt me, so I stopped for a moment. Seeing that everyone was listening to me carefully, we continued to say, "it's 80 kilometers from here to jergach. Although the German defense forces along the way are weak, we have to go through continuous fighting before we can reach jergach and build a new defense zone there."

"Comrades commander," tavartkiraze asked as soon as I finished, "I don't know which division you are going to send as the leading force to march towards jergach?" I turned my eyes to baksov, who was sitting behind sivakov, and then said without hesitation: "after much deliberation, I decided to let general baksov's close guard 67th division, as the vanguard of the whole regiment, take the lead in advancing towards jergach. Meanwhile, general bere sent the 82nd brigade of tanks to work with general baksov. Before it gets dark, we must push on to jergach. " Berey and baksov stood up and replied neatly, "we promise to finish the task." Then, I arranged for the second echelon, the third echelon, and the troops for the mission after the termination. After equal distribution of all tasks, I habitually asked: "who has any questions?" As soon as my voice fell, povsky stood up. He frowned and said, "Comrade commander, it's impossible for us to move on such a large scale without being noticed by the Germans. What should we do if the German Air Force sends air strikes on our marching troops?" His words resonated with everyone, and the teachers sitting below began to whisper. I clapped two times on the table and yelled, "be quiet, be quiet, comrades, please be quiet." When all the people stopped talking, sat down again and looked at me, I continued, "as for air defense, you don't have to worry. Marshal Zhukov said that he would send the air force to provide air cover for our transfer. "“ There's air force support When I said that, a smile appeared on bofsky's face, and he said happily, "in this way, I can rest assured." Then he said to me, "Comrade commander, I will let the artillery move into the jergach area as soon as possible."