Chapter 1234

Managarov put down the phone, came over and said to me in a regretful tone: "Comrade commander, I'm sorry, because of the new combat mission, according to the order of the superior, my group army and I must return before dark today. If it brings you any inconvenience, please forgive me

"Never mind, general managarov." I said to him in an official voice: "we are all soldiers, and it is their bounden duty to obey orders. Since you are in a hurry to go back, I won't keep you. Good luck. See you later! " With that, I reached out and shook hands with him politely.

After shaking hands with kirilov and bezikov one by one, managarov raised his hand to salute us and said to us enthusiastically, "comrades, we'll see you later!" Then he left the headquarters with his men.

As soon as the commander of the 53rd army left, the headquarters suddenly became much more empty. Chisgakov looked at me with a worried face and asked, "Comrade commander, many of the areas we are occupying are the commanders and fighters of the 53rd group army. Now they are suddenly pulling away. What troops should we send to take over the defense of the vacant position?"

I know what chisgakov is saying is the truth. As soon as several divisions are removed from the defense area, the area under our control will appear empty. Especially in the south of the city, if all the troops there are deployed, the remaining small German troops in the city may escape from that direction.

Just when I was in a dilemma, a heavy sound of footsteps came from the door. When an officer walked into the headquarters, a familiar voice sounded in the room: "Hello, comrades, commanders!"

After seeing the visitor clearly, they stood up from their seats and raised their hands to salute each other. At the same time, they politely called out: "Hello, marshal."

It's not someone else. It's Zhukov who called me not long ago. He went straight to the table and sat down. He looked down at the open map in front of him. He raised his head and asked, "what are you doing, comrades commander?"

"Comrade marshal, please allow me to report to you!" After looking at me, chisgakov straightened up and reported to him: "as commander konev of the grassland front army has just transferred the 53rd army, we are discussing what troops should be sent to take over the defense areas vacated by the friendly forces."

After listening to the report, Zhukov showed a look of astonishment on his face. He turned to look at me and asked, "why, you were discussing this just now?"

"Yes, comrade marshal." I saw a trace of discontent on Zhukov's face. He was afraid that he would get angry. He quickly replied, "our group army suffered a lot of casualties in the fighting from yesterday to today. We may not be able to spare so many troops to replace the defense area vacated by the 53rd group army."

"Who told you that the 53rd army would be transferred from your existing defensive zone?" After listening to me, Zhukov raised his face and voice and asked, "who, who gave you this wrong message?"

Hearing Zhukov's question, everyone was immediately dumbfounded. You look at me and I'll look at you. You're all at a loss. No one knows what's going on. Finally, chisgakov summoned up courage and asked, "marshal, commander konev personally called managarov to return the 53rd army."

"Yes. It was my idea to return the 53rd army. " Zhukov readily agreed with the first half of what chisjakov said, but disagreed with the second half: "after all, managarov's army belongs to the grassland front army. Originally assigned to you, just to strengthen the power of attacking Kharkov. Although the troops returned the organizational structure of the grassland front army, I did not ask them to withdraw from the existing defense area. "

When Zhukov said that he would not mobilize the 53rd army, everyone was relieved. After all, tens of thousands of troops were deployed in many areas of the city in a hurry, which would easily cause chaos. At this time, I heard Zhukov say leisurely: "although the 53rd group army does not need to be transferred, your group army needs to change its position."

"Comrade marshal, what's going on?" I glanced at my dull colleagues and asked cautiously, "don't you mean to let our group army rest in the city, and say that it will replenish the soldiers lost in the battle for us in the shortest time?"

"The current situation has changed," Zhukov sighed. He stood up with his hands on the edge of the table, looked at me and asked, "which unit in your hand is relatively complete?"

After hearing Zhukov's question, I quickly went through the situation of all the troops in my head, and then I replied, "the 51st division of the close guard infantry of general tavartkilaze is the latest unit to fight, and their organizational structure should be the most complete of the whole group army at present."

"Tavartkiraze?" After repeating the name, Zhukov asked somewhat puzzledly, "isn't he the commander of the 23rd army of the guards? Why, hasn't his position as a teacher been handed over yet? "

"Marshal," chisjakov explained with a smile: "most of the commanders above regimental level of the 51st division of the guards died in the battle of defending Yakovlev, and there was no suitable person to take over the post of division commander for the time being, so general tavartkilaze continued to take over the post of division commander."

"Rita, come and see," Zhukov said, pointing to the map on the table. "Our southwest army is near the North donetz River, and the battle with the German army is in a stalemate. After crossing the northern Donets River, the 6th and 12th army groups established a landing site on the right bank. But it is a pity that their attacks from this area have all met with failure. "

"Comrade marshal," when Zhukov said that he was lagging behind, he tentatively asked, "are you going to pull out our group army and go south to attack from the enemy's rear and attack the enemy with the 6th and 12th group army?"

"You're half right." Seeing my blank face, Zhukov specially explained to me: "at noon today, the southwest front army started from the landing site again and launched a fierce attack on the enemy's defense. The offensive force is not the 6th and 12th army, but one you are familiar with. "

"An army I'm familiar with?" Zhukov's words confused me. Although I had been in the southwest front army before, I belonged to the army that had been in the army. I hardly had any contact with other troops. How could I have a familiar army? Thinking of this, I shook my head and replied stupidly, "I'm sorry, marshal. I really can't remember which army I'm familiar with in the southwest front army."

My words made Zhukov's face look disappointed. He sighed and said, "well, if Comrade trakov knew you said that, how sad would it be?"

"Trekov?! General trakov's guards, the Eighth Army Zhukov's words surprised me, and then I asked curiously, "isn't his army in the central front of general rokosovsky? When did they be transferred to the southwest front army again? "

"What about the central front army? Is it good that the eighth group army of the guards has been in the southwest front army?" After a brief explanation, Zhukov stopped talking nonsense with me and gave a direct order: "gather the 51st division of Jinwei immediately, march toward chuhuifu in the southwest after dark, and occupy the city before dawn."

I looked in the direction of Zhukov's finger and found that the distance was not too far. It was about thirty or forty kilometers. Let the commanders and fighters of the 51st division of the guards take a truck and arrive in an hour at most. However, although I had the strength of a division in my hand, my strength was seriously insufficient. So I said to Zhukov tactfully, "Comrade marshal, although our infantry commanders and fighters were very brave in the battle. However, without the support of heavy technical equipment, it is estimated that it will be difficult to win chuhuifu before dawn. "

After scanning the room, Zhukov stopped at Kravchenko, commander of the Fifth Army of the close guard tank. He asked with a smile, "Comrade General, how many tanks do you have in your tank army?"

Seeing Zhukov's name, Kravchenko quickly stepped forward and replied respectfully, "report to marshal, there are 156 tanks of various types left in the army. After a short period of maintenance and repair, they can be put into battle."

After listening to him, Zhukov turned to me and asked, "Rita, if I remember correctly, you should have a 33rd tank army in your hand. The commander is major general berey. Is that right? "

"Yes, comrade marshal."

"I don't think he's here," Zhukov glanced at all the commanders in the room again, and then decisively gave me an order: "call him immediately and let him report here."

The chief of staff, bezikov, is naturally responsible for such a small matter as informing bere to the headquarters. But I took this opportunity to review my mistake to Zhukov: "I'm sorry, marshal. Because we have too few troops deployed in the south of the city, we let the German army escape. I ask you for punishment! "

"Rita, since the Germans have run away, let them go. You don't have to blame yourself." In order to comfort me, Zhukov also patiently explained to me: "Comrade Stalin once said: if a frightened coward is surrounded, he will immediately lay down his arms, or even not check whether there is a way out to break through the encirclement; If surrounded by a fierce enemy, then he will fight to the last person. In the history of war, there are few examples of the enemy being surrounded in a tight circle. Kutuzov, the great commander-in-chief in Russian history, tried to encircle and divide the French army, but why didn't he succeed? Just because the French run faster than Kutuzov's pursuit. Since we annihilated Paulus's sixth group army in Stalingrad, the enemy has become more cunning. The German general always withdraws from the areas where their troops are in danger of encirclement, so as to preserve their strength. In this way, our plans to encircle the enemy frequently fail. "

After Zhukov said these words, he saw that I seemed to have some scruples, and then he said, "if the Germans are determined to break through, you don't have to release one division, even if you release two or three divisions or even four or five divisions, you can't stop the fierce German breakthrough. In addition to increasing unnecessary casualties for our army, this is of no help to the whole war situation. "

After listening to Zhukov's words, I finally let go of my heart. He said to him with a smile: "I understand everything, comrade marshal. I understand everything when you say that. As long as the Germans find it possible for them to escape, they will not fight desperately. In this way, we will greatly reduce the resistance when we attack Kharkov. "

"Yes, that's it." We were talking when berey came in from the outside in a hurry. Seeing Zhukov sitting at the table, he quickly walked over, raised his hand and politely said, "Hello, marshal. Major general bielei, commander of the 33rd tank army, has been ordered to come. I'm waiting for your order. Please give me directions Zhukov, who had just sat down, saw bielei standing in front of him, stood up with a smile, reached for his hand and shook it with him, then asked friendly, "Comrade bielei, how are you doing?"“ I'm fine, comrade marshal. " Although berey and Zhukov were old acquaintances, he put himself in a subordinate position at the moment, straightened up and replied briefly: "but our troops paid a lot of casualties in the attack. There are only 34 tanks left in the army. " When I heard the number reported by berey, my heart felt as if I had been pulled by something. I had no idea that there were only so many tanks left in the tank army. Zhukov frowned slightly after listening to bielei's report, and then announced decisively, "well, comrade bielei, since you are going to carry out a new combat mission, you will be incorporated into the Fifth Army of the guard tank before you have time to supplement it. You're going to be deputy commander of general Kravchenko for the time being. Don't you mind? " When I heard Zhukov's arrangement, I was stunned at first, but when I thought about it, I was relieved. At such a time, for the sake of the needs of the war situation, major general bielei would not have any objection, let alone be the deputy commander of the tank army or the company commander of the tank company. Sure enough, bielei immediately and loudly replied, "Comrade marshal, I will resolutely obey your order!"“ General Kravchenko, "said the tank commander beside Zhukov," now you and Comrade bere are going to gather the tank troops and prepare to go south with the 51st division of the guards. "“ Yes, I'm going to assemble the troops at once. " Kravchenko readily agreed, and then left our headquarters with general bere. After Kravchenko and his family left, Zhukov said to me solemnly: "Rita, I hope you will start with the 51st division of the guards. After all, you are familiar with Comrade trakov, and you can form a tacit understanding if you want to cooperate in the battle. As for the rest of the troops, after a brief reorganization, they will follow you southward as the second and third echelons. "