Chapter 1236

In every city, village and residential area in Russia, there will be a large or small church. Because these churches are stone buildings, they are much stronger than the surrounding houses. As long as they are not directly hit by shells or bombs, there is almost no danger of collapse. In addition, the high bell tower has a wide view and can see the whole city clearly, so almost all commanders like to set up the headquarters in the church.

As soon as I entered the city, I had tavartkilaze set up the headquarters in a strong church. While the signalman was pulling the telephone line and setting up the radio antenna, I sat at my desk and looked at the map to study the next battle plan.

Zhukov's task is very general. Let's go south to cooperate with the southwest front army. To be exact, let's cooperate with trakov's eighth group army to completely break the German defense. As the commander of the group army, I need to consider how to turn Zhukov's order into a practical and effective operational plan.

Maybe I was so absorbed in the map that I didn't even notice when tavartkiraze came to me. It was not until he stood behind me and coughed heavily twice that I woke up from my meditation. He stood up straight and turned his head to ask him, "Comrade General, have the troops been settled?"

"The whole division has entered the city." According to the regulations, tavartkiraze reported to me: "in order to prevent the possible counterattack launched by the German army, I deployed the 309th regiment with the strongest combat effectiveness in the south of the city."

As for his arrangement, I didn't want to interfere too much. I just nodded noncommittally, and then said, "Comrade General, please sit down. I'm thinking about our next action. Please give me your advice."

After he sat down, I pointed to the map and said to him, "Comrade General, you see, if we are going to join the eighth group army, there are two routes we can take. One is to move eastward and occupy the cities of kupyansk and swato one after another; The second is to move southeast to occupy ijum. These two places are 50 kilometers away from chuhuyev, where we are. Which route do you think is more suitable for us? "

After staring at the map and frowning for a long time, tavartkilaze finally replied, "Comrade commander, I think we should take the direction of attack and the east route."

"Why?" I asked briefly.

"You see," tavartkilaze politely explained to me the reason for choosing this route: "although we need to attack two German cities in a row when we go eastward, there will be no cities to attack further, only some German field fortifications. I believe we can fight more easily. Moreover, after occupying these two cities, we can turn the three cities, including chuhuyev, into our supply points and military stations, so that we don't have to worry about the Germans coming back to our rear and cutting off our transportation lines. "

"Comrade General, your analysis is very reasonable." I agree with his proposal. But then he asked, "can you tell me again why you didn't choose the southwest route?"

"The reason is simple." Tavartkilaze spread out his hand, patted on the line I said, and then said with disapproval: "the enemy who was repulsed by the 309th regiment retreated along the Southwest Road, that is to say, the German army probably deployed heavy troops in this direction. If we attack and advance in this way, not only the casualties of our troops will be great, but also the speed of advance will be very slow. Moreover, even if we occupy ijum, we still need to attack a lot of cities to join the eighth group army. To tell you the truth, I don't think we can capture so many enemy cities in a short period of time with our existing ability. Therefore, I think we should also choose the main attack direction in the East

After listening to his reasons, I didn't make any comments. Instead, I asked him, "Comrade General, have you set up the telephone with the headquarters of the group army?"

"We're ready to talk to the headquarters." Tavartkiraze replied with a smile, "I just came here to tell you this."

It was chisjakov who answered the phone in the headquarters. When I heard his voice, I immediately couldn't wait to ask, "Comrade deputy commander, how are the troops in the city coming together?" The reason why I am so anxious to ask about the situation of the troops is that there is only one dissatisfied guard division in my hand. To attack the German troops blocking the road of the southwest front army with such a force is tantamount to hitting the stone with the egg.

"Comrade commander," chisjakov said with some embarrassment, "the present situation of the army's collapse is very unsatisfactory. Some troops suffered more than half of the casualties, while others suffered less losses, but they were scattered and stationed in many enemy units. It is very difficult to gather them up in a hurry. "

I didn't have enough troops, so I couldn't carry out the next battle plan. So I asked anxiously, "Hello, deputy commander, how many troops can you send to chuhuyev before dawn?"

After hearing my question, chisjakov thought for a while and replied, "Comrade commander, from the current situation, before dawn, I can send you at most the 52nd guard division and the 375TH infantry division, plus the 21st tank brigade and two artillery regiments. If you need more troops, there is nothing I can do. If we want to gather all the troops in chuhuyev, we should at least wait until tomorrow evening or the morning after tomorrow. "

"No, no, comrade deputy commander, the speed of troop assembly is too slow." Although I also know that it is not easy to gather tens of thousands of scattered troops and transfer them to other cities, at least not in a day, I still urge chisgakov: "soldiers are precious and fast. I just want to beat the Germans hard before they recover. If we spend two or three days assembling our troops, then when the attack is launched, the German army, who is waiting for work, will be able to beat our troops into a mess. "

For this reason, if chisjakov doesn't understand, he is not qualified to be my deputy. After a moment's silence, he replied, "well, comrade commander. I'll send major general Xie Liujin's 89th division to chuhuyev to strengthen your forces. As for the rest of the troops, I will ask the commanders below to speed up their operations. "

"Well, comrade deputy commander." When I heard what chisgakov said, I knew that under the current situation, it would be the limit of his ability to send me the 89th division of the close guard first, and send me the 52nd division of the close guard and the 375TH division of the infantry tomorrow. It would be useless to ask more. So I had no choice but to say, "let the three divisions come here first. With the strength of four divisions in hand, I can barely afford to attack the German army."

As soon as I put down the phone, tavartkilaze couldn't wait to ask, "what's up, comrade commander, when will our main force come?"

"Before tomorrow morning, all the troops of the 23rd army of your guards will be able to kill chuhuyev." After I had said these words to taraze, I told him to say, "Comrade General, call commander Lukin over. I have a task for him to complete."

After ten minutes, Lu Jin, who received the order, arrived at the headquarters. Since I haven't seen Lu Jin for a long time, I am very happy to see him appear in the headquarters. I shook hands with him first, then asked him to sit down and asked in a friendly tone, "Comrade commander, tell me about your fighting information today?"

Lu Jin was stunned when he heard what I said, and then murmured, "Comrade commander, I have already reported to you the detailed course of the battle in the form of a written report."

"However, comrade commander, some of the contents in the report can not be seen." In order to let him know what I want to know, I added: "for example, what combat characteristics do you find in the war and how do you deal with them? These things are not visible in your report."

After listening to my explanation, it dawned on lukington. After calming down, he began to report to me: "Comrade commander, when our regiment rushed into the city and fought with the Germans in the lane war, we did not adopt the tactics of intensive formation charge, but let the tanks open the way in front of us, and our soldiers hid behind the tanks and slowly pushed towards the enemy's stronghold."

Tavartkilaze heard Lukin's report and said with some displeasure: "Comrade commander, have you ever thought that if the tank rushing in the front is destroyed by the German anti tank hand, the tank following will be blocked in the street and unable to move, and finally become the target of the enemy."

"Division commander, no, comrade commander." Hearing the criticism of tavartkilaze, Lukin quickly got up from his seat, straightened up and reported to his commander: "before using tanks, I usually observe the terrain. If the street is narrow and the tanks will block the road after being destroyed, I will not use tanks. Instead, I will let them stay at the entrance of the street and cover our infantry charge with artillery fire. As long as that kind of spacious street, even if the tank in the front is destroyed by the enemy's anti tank hand, the rest of the tanks can also pass by

"Comrade commander, you are very considerate." After listening to Lu Jin's story, I nodded with a smile and said with satisfaction, "it seems that your fighting experience has become more and more abundant in the past year. Well done, I believe that after the liberation of the whole territory of Ukraine, you can get a higher position and military rank. "

After praising him, I went on to ask, "Comrade commander, I heard general tavartkilaze say that he deployed your regiment to the south of chuhuyev. What's the matter? Have you taken any actions to strengthen your defense after you entered the defense zone? "

"Yes, comrade commander." Lukin replied positively: "in addition to strengthening the fortifications, I also sent several reconnaissance teams. Some of them went south to ijum to scout the enemy's deployment. The other part will stay at the periphery of the defense area to monitor the movements of the Germans. Whenever there is any disturbance, they will immediately give warning to the front positions. "

"Very well, commander Lukin. You've thought it all out." When Lukin finished speaking, tavartkilaze immediately gave him a thumbs up compliment and said, "today you won the battle, but you are not proud. You have also taken the initiative to send scouts to carry out reconnaissance. It seems that Comrade commander is right. With your ability and experience, you are fully qualified for a higher position. "

Seeing a smile on Lu Jin's face, he added: "of course, meritorious service must be rewarded, and those who have had it must be punished. If your regiment does not perform as well as it did in the early stage in the next battle, then you will be punished! "

"Don't worry, comrade commander." Lu Jin replied with a smile: "our regiment will not discredit the honor of the 51st division." Then he stopped for a moment and tentatively asked tavartkilaze, "may I go back to the army?"“ No, comrade commander, not yet. " Tavartkilaze immediately stopped him. "To call you to the headquarters is what the commander meant. She has important tasks to assign to you." When Lukin heard what tavartkilaze said, his face showed a look of surprise. He quickly turned to me and asked respectfully, "Comrade commander, commander of the 309th regiment of the guards, Lieutenant Colonel Lukin is waiting for your order, please give me instructions!"“ Comrade commander, "I saw that he reported to me in accordance with the regulations and said in a business way," I know that you have sent scouts to the south, but that is not enough. Because we don't necessarily choose this direction in the final attack route. So when you go back, immediately send scouts to the east to find out the enemy's deployment in kupyansk and swato in the shortest possible time. " After I finished, seeing that Lu Jin frowned and seemed very embarrassed, I raised my voice and asked, "Comrade commander, are you confident of completing this task?"“ However, comrade commander, "Lu Jin asked a little confused," shouldn't our main direction be south? Why go and spy on the east? "“ Whether it's south or East, we should send scouts. " In order to make Lu Jin really pay attention to this matter, I patiently explained to him: "only after we have a clear understanding of the enemy's troop deployment can we make a targeted plan for the next step. Do you understand? " Hearing my question, Lu Jin thought about it, then nodded his head vigorously and answered decisively, "I understand, comrade commander. I'll go back and arrange scouts to conduct detailed reconnaissance on the enemy in the East."“ That's right, comrade commander. " Seeing that Lu Jin understood my intention, I nodded with satisfaction, then waved to him and said, "well, there's nothing for you here. Go back quickly and arrange for the scouts to start."