Chapter 1243

As soon as my order was given, lophoff reported to me with a sad face: "Comrade commander, have you forgotten that the headquarters of the group army is in the process of transferring and can't get in touch for the time being?"

After listening to what lophov said, I immediately remembered that I had ordered bezikov to lead the headquarters of the group army and the 22nd group army of the guards to arrive at chuhuyev quickly. I patted my forehead with my hand and said with self mockery, "major, you see, I have forgotten such an important thing." When I saw lophoff's dumbfounded smile, I asked, "can I talk to the front command directly from the phone here?"

Lophov shook his head again and said, "unless the headquarters of the front army takes the initiative to call us, we can't make the call." Seeing that I looked disappointed, he quickly added: "although I can't talk on the phone, I can send a telegram. Maybe the commander of the front army will call us when he sees the telegram we sent."

Lophov's words brightened my eyes, and my heart said that it was really a good way, so I immediately told him: "major, you should send a telegram to commander vatukin now to tell him that we have launched an attack on ijum, but our progress is not smooth due to the tenacious resistance of the German Army."

Seeing lophov sending a telegram, akhromeyev asked me anxiously, "Comrade commander, is it appropriate for you to report our defeat to the headquarters of the front army?"

"There is nothing inappropriate, comrade major." From what akhromeyev said, I could tell that he was trying to persuade me to hide from my superiors that the attack was not going well for the time being. After seizing the German defense line, I would report it to my superiors. Then I said to him with a straight face, "Marshal Zhukov hates the commanders below very much and conceals the news of the defeat of the attack from him, if he knows who does this, He will certainly give each other the most severe punishment. "

After akhromeyev found out that he had given me a bad idea, he blushed and apologized to me, saying, "sorry, comrade commander, I'm wrong."

I waved to him and said magnanimously, "well, comrade major, please remember that as long as you are a commander, then at any time, you should not try to conceal unfavorable information from your superiors, or you will cause yourself a lot of unnecessary trouble."

Although I wanted chisgakov to show his ability, when he left, I became uneasy, always worried that he could not follow my ideas to organize the attack on the German defense line north of ijum. I raised my hand, looked at my watch, and said to myself, "I don't know where chisgakov is. Why didn't I call back?"

After listening to what I said, akhromeyev quickly explained, "Comrade commander, you are too worried. The deputy commander has just left for a short time. It is estimated that he has not arrived at the front line yet. How can he call you?"

Chisgakov's call didn't come, but after receiving the telegram, vatujing called me directly from the headquarters of the front army. "Hey, comrade oshanina," he asked bluntly on the phone, "what's the matter? Why is your attack repulsed by the German army?"

Before answering his question, I carefully asked: "Comrade General, is Marshal Zhukov in your headquarters?"

"No, comrade Marshal has gone to general konev's headquarters in Kharkov." After answering my question, vatujing urged impatiently, "Comrade oshanina, I'm asking you why the army's attack is frustrated, and what do you do for Marshal's whereabouts?"

When I heard what vatukin said, I immediately understood that because Zhukov had gone to Kharkov's konev headquarters, he certainly did not know the news that trakov's attack from the southwest of ijum had failed. After a quick cough, I asked, "senior general, do you know the current situation of the southwest front army?"

Watujing was stunned by my question. After a while, he replied, "isn't general trakov's army playing very well? Before the departure of the marshal, I saw in the telegram that they had torn a huge gap in the German line of defense, and that the German forces were drawing forces from all over the country in an attempt to fill the gap. "

"Comrade General, the situation of the southwest front army is not as optimistic as we think." Seeing that vatukin knew nothing about trakov's defeat, I had to say tactfully: "before we took the initiative to attack the defensive positions north of ijumu, general trakov's troops really made great achievements. Unfortunately, because the tank commander of the front army died in the German artillery attack before the tank troops launched the attack, the tanks that were supposed to guide the infantry to launch the attack did not go into battle. In addition, the German tanks, under the cover of the air force, launched a fierce counterattack against the trokov troops at the breach. So far, many of their achievements have been turned into nothing. "

Although I didn't mention a word about our group army in my words, vatukin was also a smart man. He immediately understood what I meant. As soon as I had finished, he immediately asked, "did the German army contain general trakov's attack and move the armored forces in your direction?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Seeing that he had guessed the truth, I quickly explained to him, "when I learned that general govorunanko's 375TH infantry division had been defeated, I immediately sent General sherekin's 89th guard division to reinforce them. However, they were still on the March when they were attacked by German armored forces. The first regiment of the division was caught unprepared and suffered heavy casualties. If general Xie Liujin had not led the other two regiments to arrive in time, it is estimated that the first regiment would have been in danger of being destroyed. "

"If I remember correctly, besides the 89th and 375TH divisions, there should be two more divisions in the city?" Watujing knew the number of our group army very well. He asked in a serious tone, "did you immediately put these two divisions into the battlefield?"

"Comrade General, I have put the whole 23rd army of the guards into the battlefield. First, general tavartkilaze, the commander of the army, was sent to command. Later, because I was not at ease, I sent Comrade chisjakov, the deputy commander In order to make vatujing feel that I have done my best, I also specially explained the situation in front of me: "now, there is only one security company in the whole city of chuhuyev, which is responsible for the security work of my temporary headquarters."

"What, there's only one guard company in town?" After hearing this, vatujing immediately asked with concern, "besides the guard company, are there any troops of your group army nearby? You should know that although you captured chuhuyev yesterday, the remaining enemies in the city may not have been eliminated. It is estimated that there are a lot of scattered German soldiers outside the city. If they unite and cooperate with each other, you will be in danger. "

"Don't worry, Comrade General." Seeing that he no longer mentioned the failure of the army's attack, I felt a lot more relaxed. I said with a smile: "although there is only one guard company, it is not so easy for the German stragglers to capture my temporary headquarters. Besides, bezikov and kirilov are leading the 22nd army of the guards from Kharkov. I think they will arrive in a little while

"That's great." Vatujing heard that the troops of the 22nd guard army led by bezikov were about to arrive. He also secretly relieved himself, and then said to me, "Comrade oshanina, when the 22nd guard army arrives, let them also want to leave iqumu after a short rest." At this point, he listened, but I heard the sound of turning the paper in the receiver, and I thought he was looking at the map.

Sure enough, after a while, his voice came out from the receiver again: "Comrade oshanina, I've looked at the map carefully. There are dense forests to the West and south of ijum. Do you think you can send an army around to the flank of the German army and give them a good beating? "

"Excuse me, senior general." His suggestion made me headache, and I said with some tears and laughter: "even if you give us the order to detour to the enemy's rear, I don't think I can carry it out."

"Why?" Watujing asked coldly, with a puzzled tone.

"More than an hour ago, I received intelligence from the forward scouts." I picked up the reconnaissance report on the table, moved it to my eyes, stared at the contents, and said, "the enemy opened the sluice, flooded most of the forest in the west of the city, not to mention the mechanized troops, even the infantry could not pass."

"Damned Krauts, as soon as the water is released, the whole forest becomes a swamp, and our troops can't get through." Watujing scolded angrily, and then asked me, "Comrade oshanina, what's your plan? If there's anything I can do for you, just ask, and I'll try my best to do it for you. "

I've been waiting for this sentence from watujing. Since he offered to ask me, if I don't know how to grasp this opportunity, I'm a fool. But I will not be too straightforward to make a request, otherwise watujing will certainly push back. I deliberately hesitated for a long time, and then slowly said: "Comrade commander, I intend to send troops to carry out a positive attack."

"Frontal assault?" After repeating what I said, watujing hesitated and said, "then your troops will pay heavy casualties in the attack, which is contrary to your tactical idea of reducing casualties and exchanging the minimum cost for the maximum victory."

What vatukin said surprised me. But on second thought, it's not surprising that he knows my usual tactical thinking. After all, Zhukov, who is familiar with me, has been staying with him all this time. When they are free, they certainly talk about me.

"Comrade General, the German army now has not only armored forces but also air force. If we want to break the enemy's three-dimensional defense from the front, we are bound to pay a heavy price." After I said these words, I felt that I had done almost all the foreshadowing in advance. Then I said my real intention: "if the front army can provide us with the necessary air cover when we attack, then I think our casualties will be greatly reduced."

Watujing couldn't help laughing when I said that. He joked: "Comrade o'shanina, you are really cunning. You have been circling with me for a long time. You are waiting for me here." Then his tone became serious again. "Don't worry, I will immediately send out the air force to bomb the enemy in the ijum area to cooperate with the frontal attack launched by your army. Later, I will ask general krasovsky, commander of the second group army of the air force, to contact you and discuss how to coordinate the air and ground. "

"Great, Comrade General. That's great." "With the cooperation of the air force, I believe that it will not be long before we can rescue the city of ijum from the clutches of the Communist Party," I repeatedly said

As soon as I put down the phone, lophoff over there reported to me, "Comrade commander, the deputy commander has called from the front line. Do you want to answer it?"“ Call me right away. " Then I picked up the phone on the desk again. Soon, a voice came from the receiver: "Hello, comrade commander, I'm chisgakov."“ Hello, comrade deputy commander. " I asked politely, "are you at the forefront now?"“ Not yet. My headquarters is about three kilometers away from the front line where the fighting is most intense. " Chisgakov said to me solemnly, "the enemy is constantly fighting back against our troops. At present, the troops of the 375TH infantry division and the 89th guard division are entangled with the enemy and are engaged in fierce fighting."“ What is the situation of our army? " Hearing his tone so serious, my heart could not help hanging up, "can they stop the fierce German attack?"“ It's not very good, comrade commander. " "Although our officers and men are very tenacious, they are retreating step by step under the attack of the enemy due to the lack of a firm preset position," chisjakov said aloud When I heard that the situation was so severe, I couldn't help raising my voice and asking, "where is general tavartkilaze, commander of the 23rd army of the guards?"“ Tavartkiraze is not in the headquarters at the moment. " Feeling that I was on the verge of violence, chisgakov explained to me the whereabouts of tavartkilaze: "I asked him to go to the back to command the 51st and 52nd divisions of the guards, to find suitable areas to build fortifications, so that our troops could resist the more fierce German offensive."