Chapter 1211

Forests and swamps crisscross the northwest of Kharkov, which is not conducive to the development of large forces. Therefore, the grassland front army chose the main attack direction of the campaign in the north and East. After all, in the last Kharkov campaign, rebarko's tank troops rushed into the city from these two directions and liberated the fourth largest city in the Soviet Union.

It was because I took into account the limited number of German troops deployed in the West that I chose to march towards jergach when konev's front army was hard to separate from them. As long as we can occupy this small city in the northwest of Kharkov, then we have a starting point for attack and will play an important role in the next battle.

After the meeting, chisjakov, who was full of confidence, suddenly asked me anxiously, "Comrade commander, can our troops really successfully occupy jergach?"

Seeing his reaction of worrying about gain and loss, I just gave a faint smile, and then said in an understated tone: "don't worry, deputy commander. The German defense focuses on the north and East. On the west side, according to our reconnaissance, there are only some weak fortifications. I think an infantry division and a tank brigade are enough to clear these obstacles on the way forward. "

"I hope so." Chisjakov raised his hand, looked at his watch and said to himself, "it's still three hours before dark. I don't know if baksov's troops can advance to jergach."

"Don't worry, comrade chisgakov." Kirilov was sitting next to him, looking at the award application forms submitted by the divisions. Hearing the whispers of chisjakov, he raised his head and said to him, "since Rita said don't worry, you can rest assured. I believe that general baksov's forces will be able to occupy jergach's army before dark. "

Kirilov's words surprised chisjakov. He sat down in the vacant seat beside kirilov and asked, "Comrade military commissar, why are you so sure?"

Kirilov put his pen on the table, then looked at chisjakov and said, "Comrade deputy commander, you may not know that when the grassland front army and the Germans are fighting each other, our troops are resting. Seeing that the friendly forces are fighting in full swing, but we have to stay in the rear to repair fortifications and rest, the commanders and fighters always hold a strong feeling in their hearts. Now it's not easy to have the opportunity to let them go to the battlefield. Don't these eager commanders and fighters know how to seize such an opportunity? I can assure you that if we don't fight, we will. Once we open fire with the Germans, they will certainly be able to break out their super combat effectiveness and fight the enemy to the end. "

Kirilov and I firmly told chisgakov that our vanguard troops would certainly break through the various defensive positions established by the German army along the way, but he was still skeptical. After all, the four army groups of the grassland front army fought with the German army for a week, but they only advanced five kilometers, At present, our troops are still ten kilometers away from Kharkov. Within a few hours, our troops will advance to a small city, seven or eight kilometers northwest of Kharkov, which is about seven or eight kilometers away from the city.

After about two hours, barksov, who was the vanguard, sent a telegram saying that the troops had met the German defensive position seven or eight kilometers away from jergach and that the troops were launching an attack.

After reading the telegram, I raised my head and asked lophov standing in front of me, "major, can I speak to general baksov directly?"

Hearing my question, lophoff's face showed a bit of embarrassment: "Comrade commander, because the 67th division of the guards is advancing too fast, we can't lay the cable telephone for the time being." At this point, he nuzui toward a phone placed on the wall, "although you can talk to the front of the wireless, you can call the content will be German eavesdropping."

"Get in touch with baksov on the phone immediately." Although I know that there is a danger of being eavesdropped by the German army when I use the telephone to talk to baksov, in order to know the situation on the front line in time, I can't care so much. Besides, we swagger towards jergach during the day. If the Germans can't find out, they are a group of blind and deaf people.

Lophoff saw that my attitude was very firm, and he did not dare to refute it. He immediately ran to the telephone and contacted the outpost. After a while, he got in touch with baksov.

I went over, grabbed the earphone and put it on, although I asked baksov loudly: "Sir, comrade, report the situation there. What kind of enemy are you fighting with? "

"The enemy's forces are not many. It's only like a company. Except for two or three machine guns, no heavy weapons have been found." "However, as they cleared the shooting range, the first attack launched by the first battalion failed and retreated after more than 70 casualties," baksov told me by telephone

"Comrade division," I heard that barksov had been stopped by a small force without heavy weapons, and the first attack they launched was easily repulsed by the Germans, which made my heart worse. I said in a loud voice to the microphone: "since the Germans have no heavy weapons, let the tanks charge in front, tear a gap in the enemy's defense line, and then let the infantry go up to destroy the remaining German troops."

After I finished talking with baksov, chisjakov and bzikov gathered around and asked curiously, "Comrade commander, has our vanguard been blocked by the enemy?"

"Yes, comrade deputy commander." I said indignantly, "the vanguard battalion of the baksov division was blocked by a small group of German troops. They launched an attack immediately, but unfortunately it didn't work

"Is the enemy's fortification too strong?" "If this is the case, the time for our army to enter jergach will be greatly extended," chisgakov asked anxiously

"The reason for the failure of the attack was not that the German fortifications were too strong." Thinking of baksov's way of playing, I was full of anger: "because the enemy cleared the shooting range, our army officers and men had no shelter in the open field, so our attack was easily defeated by the Germans. But don't worry now. I've ordered baksov to let the tanks charge first. After tearing up the gap in the enemy's line of defense, the infantry will rush to clean up the remnant enemy on the position. "

After listening to me, chisjakov habitually raised his hand and looked at his watch. Then he raised his head and said to me, "Comrade commander, we have nothing to do with staying in the headquarters anyway. Why don't we go to the front line while it's still dark?"

"Well, comrade deputy commander. Since you say so, let's go and have a look. " After I said this, I turned around and told bzikov: "chief of staff, you and the military commissar will stay. When our main force has occupied jergach, you will come with the 89th division of general Xie Liujin's guards."

After receiving my order, bezikov nodded and then said with concern, "Comrade commander, we don't know how many German positions will be encountered on the road to jergach. You and the deputy commander should pay more attention to safety."

"Don't worry, chief of staff." Although I also know that the danger on the battlefield is not small. No matter how high-level a commander is, he may be killed by a bullet flying from nowhere or by the enemy's cold artillery, but I don't worry about these at all. No matter how much I say, I also have the aura of the protagonist. Before I came to this world, I had never seen the protagonist in that book after crossing, The loss of one's own life. So I said triumphantly, "the bullet that can kill me has not been made yet."

After an hour and a half, our jeep arrived at the fighting area of the 67th division. As soon as I entered the area, I could smell the smoke in the air, and the strong smell of blood. I asked the driver to stop in front of the German position, then pushed the door open and got out.

Standing in the position occupied by our army, I can't help feeling a lot when I look at the damaged MG34 machine gun beside the collapsed sandbags, the wooden piles obviously cut by the bullet skin, the broken guns, the overturned helmets, and the dead bodies of our army and German soldiers stacked not far away.

Not long after I stood in the trench, major general sivakov, commander of the 22nd army of the guards, and Colonel babashin, commander of the 71st division of the guards, came in a hurry.

After they saluted us, I asked sivakov, "Comrade commander, where is the 67th division of general baksov's guards?"

Sivakov thought for a moment, and then replied to me, "Comrade report commander, I just contacted general barksov half an hour ago. Now his troops have arrived outside the city of jergach and are fighting with the German army."

"Do you have the latest report?" Chisgakov, who had been silent, suddenly asked.

Looking at chisgakov, sivakov replied: "according to general baksov's report, there are many anti tank trenches in the fortifications outside the city of jergach, blocking the way of the tank brigade. There is no progress at present."

When sivakov finished speaking, I severely criticized him and said, "jergach is a small city. Since the tank brigade can't attack from the front, why don't we detour back to the side of the enemy?"

Sivakov listened to my question with a trace of bitterness on his face. He replied with a complicated expression: "there are forests and swamps on the East and west sides of jergach. Tanks can't get around, they can only attack from the front."

"How many German troops are there in jergach?" I continued.

"According to the prisoner's confession, there was a battalion in the city, a battalion in the outer position and a company outside." Sivakov mechanically replied: "because the front of the attack is too narrow, we can not expand too many troops, so we can only attack the enemy with the battalion as a unit."

After looking around, I asked Colonel babahin, "Comrade division commander, are your divisions all around at present?"

"Yes, comrade commander." The new division commander replied nervously: "at present, the whole division is stationed nearby. When the friendly forces behind come up, we can move on after we hand over our positions to them."

I looked up at the darkening sky, and then told sivakov, "Comrade commander, apart from leaving a regiment here to wait for the follow-up troops, the rest of the troops will continue to move forward and join general baksov's troops as soon as possible."

Before sivakov could mobilize his troops, chisgakov and I drove on. After walking about two kilometers, we saw another line of defense that our army had broken through. The commanders and fighters were seizing the time to clean up the battlefield. Seeing this scene, chisgakov's face showed a satisfied smile, and he said to me in a relaxed tone: "Comrade commander, I didn't expect that our soldiers are still great. In less than two hours, it broke through several German lines. I believe it is not a difficult thing to capture jergaci When I saw the third position broken through by our army, my heart suddenly became heavy. Because I was 50 or 60 meters away from the trench, I saw a burning tank of my family. Around the tank, there were several bodies of tank soldiers“ Comrade commander, what are you looking at? " Maybe I've been staring out of the window for too long, which makes chisgakov curious. "I think you have something on your mind." I pointed to the tank surrounded by fire and smoke and said to chisgakov, "Comrade deputy commander, do you see the destroyed tank?" Seeing that he nodded to show that he saw it, I went on to say, "from the position where the tank was destroyed, the enemy should have anti tank weapons. I am worried that the more we go forward, the stronger the enemy's defense will be. In this way, we will pay a considerable price when we capture jergach. " Perhaps it was seeing several positions broken through by our army in succession that made chisgakov confident. After listening to these words, he comforted me and said, "Comrade commander, even if the German army has anti tank weapons, their positions are broken through by us, aren't they? What's more, they only destroyed one of our tanks, which can't hurt the vitality of the tank brigade. I believe general baksov's forces will soon be able to take jergach from the enemy. " I listened to the more and more clear sound of guns coming from the window, sighed secretly, and said helplessly, "I hope so." As soon as I finished, the jeep suddenly stopped without warning“ What's going on? " As soon as the car stopped, chisjakov asked aloud, "Comrade driver, why did you stop?" The driver pointed out the window and said helplessly: "the two commanders are the soldiers who came out of the roadside forest and stopped us."