Chapter 1230

After getting the firing parameters provided by the artillery observer, the artillery outside the city shelled the German defense zone for half an hour. When the shelling was over, I immediately gave orders to berey, sheriujin and the other commanders to attack.

When there were only me, nikolasov and a few staff members left in the headquarters, he asked cautiously: "Comrade commander, according to the reconnaissance, since the German army recaptured Kharkov from our hands at the beginning of the year, a lot of fortifications have been built in the city. If we want to capture the city, these divisions may not be enough."

In order to reassure Nekrasov, I specially introduced to him the situation of the other three groups of troops, and added: "in addition to these three groups of troops constantly attacking the German peripheral positions to contain the German forces, the 57th and 69th army groups of general konev's Grassland front army and the seventh army group of guards also stormed the German positions from the East and the north respectively, So that the enemy does not dare to draw heavy troops from this direction for reinforcement. "

After listening to my introduction, nikolasov stared at the map for a long time, and finally nodded his head and said, "if the three sided attack on Kharkov can contain the main force of the enemy, then the resistance our troops will suffer will be greatly reduced when they develop in depth."

"The plan I made for this offensive war is: multiple attacks and multiple breakthroughs. But so far, only your fourth Route Army has made a breakthrough and rushed into Kharkov. " Although I heard the fierce fighting outside, I was still extremely disappointed and said, "if we can have another breakthrough at this time, we will be more confident of winning."

Just then, managarov called me from the headquarters. He said excitedly: "Comrade commander, I have good news for you. After the 252nd infantry division arrived at the designated position and occupied several German strongholds, it successfully cut off the Kharkov boltava railway and cut off the retreat of the German army."

"Great, that's great." When I heard such good news, I was overjoyed. As long as the 252nd infantry division could cut off the enemy's transportation line like a "gate", the German troops in the city would soon run out of ammunition and food. In other words, the more fierce the fighting is now, the more ammunition and materials the Germans will consume. When their guns are empty and their guns are empty, we will see how they can compete with us“ Comrade general, all the officers and men of the 252nd division are good. We have to ask for credit for them! By the way, don't forget to report the good news to commander konev and commander vatujing, so as to make them happy. "

"OK, I'll call them right away."

As soon as I put down the phone, he said excitedly, "Comrade commander, this is really wonderful. The German supply line was cut off by us. In this way, their ammunition and supplies can last for three days at most. I'd like to see how they can continue to compete with us when they run out of ammunition and food. "

I raised my hand and looked at my watch. Then I said, "Comrade division commander, our attack has been going on for nearly an hour. Why haven't we received any reports from the tank army and the two divisions? Do you know where they are now?"

"Just a moment, please. I'll ask." With these words, nikolasov went to a nearby telephone, picked up the phone, said for a while, and then came back to report to me: "Comrade commander, according to the report of the observation post, the troops of the 77th division of the guards have successfully occupied the German army field opposite the square after some fighting, and continue to develop in depth after cleaning up the enemies in the area."

As long as the 77th division of the guards can rush through the square full of tank debris and develop towards the enemy in depth, no matter how far it can advance, it will be a great victory. I looked down at the map and said, "Comrade division, please try to contact General bielei or division commander Xie Liujin again to see what's going on on on their side."

"OK, I'll get in touch." This time, he went to a telephone and said to the operator, "Comrade operator, please contact the 89th division of Jinwei for Mr. Xie Liujin."

When Nekrasov went to contact the front-line forces, I began to calculate in my heart which of the other three forces could break through the German defense and move closer to us in the shortest time. Unfortunately, because I didn't know about the German troops, I didn't come up with a clue after watching for a long time.

After nearly ten minutes, Nekrasov came back to me and reported to me solemnly, "Comrade commander, I just learned from general berey about the progress of the battle. As a result of the discovery of new German artillery positions, the tank troops suffered great losses during the assault, with almost half of the tanks destroyed or injured. At present, the tank forces are regrouping and preparing to launch another attack. "

"What about general Xie Liujin's 89th division?" I asked without looking up.

"Due to the German artillery fire and the machine gun fire in the building, the 89th division of the guards suffered a lot of casualties." He pointed to the map and said to me, "they are here now, fighting floor by floor with the Germans who occupied the buildings."

"Do you know the German number?" I asked as soon as he finished.

"It's the 106th infantry division of the 11th German army."

Hearing this, I couldn't help frowning again and asked, "isn't this division to the north of Kharkov? When did you transfer here? "

"After interrogating the prisoners, general Xie Liujin learned that the division had suffered heavy casualties in the early fighting. There were less than 2000 soldiers left in the division, so he was transferred to the west of the city to rest." When he said this, he couldn't help laughing, and then said, "the Germans may never dream that their retreated troops will continue to fight against the main force of our army."

"Tell sergeant serryukin," I heard that the German army in front of the 89th division of the guards was actually the 106th infantry division, which was beaten to the size of regiment and battalion. I immediately raised my head and told nikolasov, "let them speed up their attack, and we must find a way to defeat or annihilate most of this enemy!"

"But the enemy's fire was too heavy for our tanks to advance." "If we only rely on infantry to attack, maybe our attack speed will be very slow," he said with some embarrassment

"No tank, no tank." Anyway, in street warfare, unless it is open land, there are not many places where tanks can be used. On the contrary, it is easy to become the target of the enemy's Anti Tank Firepower. "Let general bielei take a rest in place, destroy those exposed firepower points with artillery fire, and cover the infantry forward attack."

As soon as nikolasov left, the special line to the headquarters of the group army rang. Originally, I thought that the phone was opened by chisgakov or managarov, but I didn't expect that the voice came from vatukin: "Hello, comrade oshanina, what's the situation there?"

"Report to the chief General that the 252nd infantry division of the 53rd army has successfully cut off the Kharkov Poltava railway." I first reported to him the good news that our army had cut off the retreat of the German army. Then I went on to report that "the 77th and 89th divisions of Jinwei are developing westward from liubojing area. Now I have rushed to... "After looking down at the map, I reported the position of the troops to watujing.

"Well done, comrade o'shanina, you've played well." "The harder you fight in the city, the faster our friendly forces can break through the German city defense..." said vatukin excitedly

Before he finished, I heard Zhukov's voice. He asked in a low voice, "Rita, where is your army now?"

I didn't expect Zhukov would come out suddenly. I was startled, but I soon recovered calm, and then I reported the place name to Zhukov again.

I didn't expect that after he heard it, his voice suddenly became serious: "Rita, it's too slow. Your attack speed is too slow. How many hours have passed since we broke through the German perimeter, but what about your troops? Only less than two kilometers forward... "

Zhukov taught me a lesson, which made me laugh and cry. It's not a real-time strategy game. I can push the whole map in ten or twenty minutes. The tenacity of the German army in Kharkov city is far beyond our imagination. Almost every step forward, we will fall one or several commanders and fighters. But I can't refute his lesson. Even if I feel aggrieved, I can only listen to it.

After he finished, I quickly said: "marshal, please rest assured that I will urge the other three siege forces to speed up the attack..."

"It's been almost a day, and the other three troops have not yet broken through the German peripheral positions." Zhukov said discontentedly: "if you still have troops in your hands, don't invest in these three directions. All of them will be transferred to liubojing area. Then you can have enough strength to quickly expand the occupied area."

"I see, comrade marshal." Hearing his instructions, I immediately readily agreed: "I immediately transferred the remaining troops from outside the city to liubojing area."

"That's right, Rita." After hearing my answer, Zhukov's tone softened again. "Then I'll mention that I wish you an early victory!"

I put down the phone and thought about it. It seems that there is only the 51st division of guards left in the army under my jurisdiction. Do you want to transfer them? As soon as I started this idea, I was immediately denied by myself. In any case, the reserve team should be placed behind the Third Route Army. Otherwise, when we lose the attack, the German army will fight back, and my hometown will be in danger of being attacked by the German. So I can only find a way to mobilize the reserve team from other places.

I dialed the headquarters of the group army and asked bzikov who answered the phone to find managarov. After hearing managarov's voice, I immediately asked, "Hello, comrade general, do you have any troops in your hand?"

"Yes, comrade commander." Managarov was startled by my sudden question and replied in a hurry: "at present, the 29th guards division and the 107th infantry division are not fighting. Where are you going to use them? "

When I saw that managarov had guessed my intention, he did not beat around the Bush and said directly, "Comrade General, please send these two divisions to the liubojing area immediately. I intend to launch another fierce attack on the Germans from here and completely disrupt their defense system."“ Well, comrade commander. " "I will immediately lead two divisions to liubojing area to fight side by side with you," said managarov For his kindness, I didn't refuse, just politely expressed my thanks. Finally, he said: "Comrade General, please let the troops come by truck. The earlier we launch the attack, the better it will be for us."“ Yes, comrade commander. I'll get the troops together immediately. As for trucks, I have to turn to Colonel bzikov for help. I hope he can find enough trucks for me. " More than an hour later, just as I was in a hurry like an ant on a hot pot in the headquarters, a man suddenly rushed in from the outside and loudly reported, "Comrade commander, division commander Xie Liujin asked me to report to you that we have successfully occupied the headquarters of the 106th German division."“ That's great. That's great. " Because I was a little dizzy when I heard the news, I didn't think about why Xie Liujin didn't report the good news to me by phone, and sent a commander to report it to me. After my mood calmed down, the officer took out a stack of maps from his satchel and handed them to me. At the same time, he said, "Comrade commander, this is what the division commander asked me to give you." I took the map, put it on the table, looked at the other side and asked, "Comrade commander, did you catch the other side's teacher?"“ No, The enemy is very cunning. After our commanders and fighters rush in, they run away from behind. " After reporting to me with some regret, the commander, seeing that I put the map on the table, turned a deaf ear to it. He pointed to the map and reminded me carefully: "Comrade commander, that's the city defense fortification map we seized from the German division headquarters. Don't you have a look at it?"“ What, city fortification map? " When I heard the officers say that, I almost hit the ground. The news was really shocking. I didn't expect that Xie Liujin and them had captured the German city defense map. I can't wait to open the map and see that although I don't know any of the letters on it, I'm familiar with the terrain of Kharkov. It is marked with the distribution of German forces and the positions of artillery and tank troops. After reading it, I slapped the table and said excitedly to nikolasov, "Comrade division, with this city defense map, we only need one day at most to capture Kharkov in an all-round way."