Chapter 1255

Although we have been ordered to cross the Dnieper River by force, it is an unsustainable task for us. The 67th division of guards, stationed in the city of karovka to the southeast of Poltava, is the nearest unit to the Dnieper River. Although they were only 150 kilometers away from the river, three divisions of the southwest Front Army stood in front of them.

As the German army suddenly retreated back with great strides, the friendly troops who got the information also took active action and launched the follow-up pursuit. Following the enemy, they rushed to the Dnieper River. It is estimated that the order they received, like ours, would be the best result if they could destroy the enemy on the East Bank of the Dnieper River; If they can not be eliminated, they will immediately cross the Dnieper River by force, seize some landing sites on the other side of the river, and open up channels for subsequent troops to cross the river.

After receiving the call from baksov, I immediately held a meeting with the commanders above the army level for discussion. After glancing at the commanders present, I asked, "comrades, judging from the current situation, our troops are too far away from the river to complete the task of crossing the Dnieper River in one or two days. What should we do next? What do you think? "

"Comrade commander," Kravchenko, commander of the Fifth Army of the guard tank, stood up and looked at me and said, "otherwise, let my sixth motorized regiment of the guard take the lead and follow the retreating German army to the Dnieper River..."

"Retreating German army, where else can we see retreating German army?" After listening to what he said, bzikov immediately complained, "the West and the south of our group army are all southwest forces. We want to pursue, and they want to pursue. When we get to the river, we will have captured all the prisoners. At the same time, the friendly forces have built enough landing sites on the other side of the river. We are just going to follow them with full arms. "

"Chief of staff, what do you think we should do?" Although Kravchenko was not satisfied with the interruption of bezikov, he said patiently out of politeness: "since we have received the order of attack from the superior, we can't stay here, can we?"

Listening to the dispute between bezikov and Kravchenko, and staring at the map on the table, I felt that bezikov had a point. Originally, according to the original plan, we should have been stationed in the priluki region at least half a month ago. However, vatukin said that the German army with its back on the Dnieper river was ready to move. If we moved at such a time, It's easy for the Germans to take advantage. As a result, now the Germans not only did not attack, but also retreated with great strides, which completely disrupted our plan.

I was thinking about where to lead the troops to cross the river when I heard chisgakov calling me. When I looked up, I did not know when the dispute between bzikov and Kravchenko would stop. Then I looked at chisjakov and asked curiously, "Comrade deputy commander, what's the matter with you?"

"Comrade commander, I think we should think about the direction of our next action," chisjakov said briefly

"If there is anything to discuss, just follow the orders of the superior." I said with no expression: "the group army should be ready to start immediately!"

"Set out?" "Where should we start?" asked chisgakov, somewhat puzzled? You know, the order given to us by the head of the front army is to cross the Dnieper River by force. But look at the map. Zaborosh, dnieboropetrovsk, Gongqingcheng and klemenchug are all friendly defense areas. We can't cross the river behind others. "

When he said that, I just laughed, looked around and waved to akhromeyev, who was sitting by the wall, to come to me. When he came up to me and stood still, I asked him with a smile, "Comrade major, do you remember when we were fighting guerrillas in the rear of Manstein at the beginning of the year?"

Akhromeyev was obviously stunned when he heard my question, but he immediately nodded and replied positively, "yes, comrade commander, I remember very well."

The commanders here do not know why I suddenly asked akhromeyev this question, but no one spoke, just looked at me with strange eyes.

I then asked him, "major, since you remember that. Well, you must remember where we planned to break through the Dnieper River before our long-distance attack on Kiev? "

As soon as I finished, a smile appeared on akhromeyev's face. He said with some pride, "Comrade commander, have you forgotten that you used the regiment I commanded in the battle to capture the bridge over the river at kaniv?"

Except kirilov, the rest of the commanders were confused about our conversation. Bezikov asked anxiously, "Comrade commander, what are you two talking about? Why can't I understand you at all?"

"Major, since all the commanders here want to know what's going on, it's up to you to tell us." I saw that everyone was curious, so I handed the answer to akhromeyev.

Akhromeyev turned to the commander sitting at the table and said, "comrades of commanders, at the beginning of the year, the commander was the commander of the 79th infantry army at that time. After she commanded the troops to cross the Dnieper River from zaborosh, the empty rear area of the German army was turned upside down. Later, in order to get rid of more and more German troops, we went north along the Dnieper River and chose two places to cross the river, one is cherkaser, the other is kaniv... "

Hearing two place names, several commanders around the table, except kirilov, crowded their heads together and carefully searched for the two place names they had just heard. Akhromeyev stopped talking in order not to affect them to see the map. Chisgakov was familiar with the map. He just glanced at the two cities. Seeing that akhromeyev stopped talking, he urged him: "Comrade chief of operations, go on, please go on." Akhromeyev agreed and went on to say: "after choosing these two crossing sites, the commander personally went to the field investigation and found that the cherkaser river was too wide and there were not enough ships to cross the river in a short time, so he chose the relatively narrow kaniv to cross the river..." after akhromeyev finished speaking, Chisjakov said thoughtfully, "Comrade commander, I understand your meaning in general. You are going to choose our crossing site in cherkaser and caniv. Do I understand correctly? "“ Yes, comrade deputy commander. " Seeing that chisgakov had guessed his intention, I did not hide my point of view. I said truthfully, "I intend to cross the Dnieper River by two ferries. After the troops have established themselves on the other side of the river, they will attack Kiev along the river. "“ Your plan is very bold, comrade commander "You know, our new defense area is in priluki. It's 150 to 200 kilometers away from the two ferries you mentioned," chisgakov said with some surprise“ I have decided that the troops will not go to priluki. " As I said this, I went to the surrounding areas, pointed to the southwest of priluki with my hand, and said, "the whole army immediately moved to rouble. The distance between this city and the two ferries is no more than 100 kilometers, which is convenient for the movement of the army." As soon as my words came out, the whole room was in a mess. Although no more than ten people attended the meeting, there was a lot of discussion. Chisjakov slapped his hand heavily on the table twice. "Be quiet, please be quiet!" After the house was quiet again, chisgakov looked at me with some worry and asked, "comrades commander, the new residence arranged for us by our superiors is priluki, but now it's in rouble. Is that suitable?"“ Comrade deputy commander, the current situation of the enemy has changed, and we need to make corresponding adjustments. " After I finished this sentence, I thought about it for a moment, and added, "it's up to you to report the change of station to the headquarters of the front army." One hour later, I started with Kravchenko's close guard motorized sixth regiment. For security reasons, Kravchenko invited me to ride in his armored car. On the way, Kravchenko asked me, "Comrade commander, after crossing the river, will our army stay at the landing site to provide cover for the troops, or will we continue to advance in the opposite direction?"“ After all your troops have crossed the river, stay at the landing site and provide the necessary cover for the infantry. " I think that the German army retreated across the Dnieper River in an organized way before we suffered a devastating blow. Let alone one of Kravchenko's tank troops, even if one of my group troops was pulled over, it would be at an absolute disadvantage in terms of strength and equipment. In this case, it's not like attacking the German army rashly. So I told Kravchenko: "before the friendly forces launch an attack on the German army, remember to hold still and never attack easily, otherwise the troops will suffer huge losses." Kravchenko probably didn't expect me to answer like this. After listening to my words, he was stunned for a long time and then said, "Comrade commander, even if there is a suitable fighter plane, don't we take the initiative to attack?"“ Comrade general, "I was deeply afraid that he would disobey my orders, so I said solemnly," don't you know that the German army is retreating to the other side of the Dnieper River on a large scale. As long as they complete their retreat, their troops and equipment on the other side will be in absolute superiority. If we don't get the cooperation of the friendly forces, we will rashly attack the enemy and attract the German forces in several directions to us. At that time, let alone attack Kiev, even if we can keep the landing site, it is also a problem. "