Chapter 1258

Seeing the first landing site built on the other side of the river, I was very happy, but Kravchenko's words cooled my heart: "Comrade commander, our tanks can't climb mountains, at least we haven't learned it yet. I can't deploy our tanks on the cliff

Kravchenko's words made me think deeply. It's very difficult for infantry to climb such a steep cliff, not to mention heavy equipment such as tanks and artillery. It seems that in order for the main force of the group army to cross the river and establish a stable landing site on the other side, it is necessary to have a wharf suitable for parking large ferries so that heavy technical equipment such as tanks and artillery can be transported across the river.

"Comrade commander, what are you thinking?" Maybe seeing me standing in a daze, Kravchenko next to me asked with concern, "are you not feeling well? Do you need to go back to the car and have a rest?"

I waved my hand and then said to baksov, "Comrade division commander, immediately send reconnaissance troops to cherkaser and kaniv to find out the enemy's deployment."

"Yes After hearing my command, barksov said nothing and immediately went to assign reconnaissance tasks to his subordinates.

"Why, comrade commander, do you plan to continue to carry out the battle plan of capturing the two port cities?" Hearing my reconnaissance mission, Kravchenko asked unexpectedly, "we can build a floating bridge in this area and transport heavy equipment such as tanks and artillery across the river. Why attack the German city with heavy troops? Isn't it unnecessary?"

"Comrade commander, look at the terrain here." I pointed to the opposite bank and said to him, "the soil by the river is too soft, so it's easy for our tanks and artillery to sink in and not move. If the enemy plane appears in this situation, our tanks will become the live targets for bombing."

As soon as I said this, Kravchenko, who had intended to persuade me for a second, swallowed what he had said. He thought for a moment, nodded his head and said: "Comrade commander, you are right. The terrain on the other side is really not suitable for the deployment of tank troops. If we really transport all heavy equipment across the river indiscriminately, it may really become the target of German air strikes. It seems that reconnaissance of the upstream and downstream is absolutely necessary. "

After listening to Kravchenko's routine, I was just about to add a few words when I saw a tricycle with its light on coming towards us. I turned to Kravchenko and said, "Comrade commander, it looks like I'm from zolotonosha. Is there something wrong with the city?"

After the motorcycle stopped more than ten meters away from us, an officer jumped down from the sidefight and asked the commander and fighter passing by in a loud voice: "Hello, comrades, who knows where the commander is? Comrades... "

I was surprised to hear that the officer was looking for me. I took a few steps towards him and cried out, "Hello, comrade commander, I'm here. What can I do for you?"

When the officer heard my voice, he immediately stopped yelling, squinted at us, and then trotted all the way. He stood upright in front of me and reported, "Hello, comrade commander, I'm the staff officer of the group army headquarters. On the order of the deputy commander, please go back to the city. The headquarters had been stationed in zolotonosha an hour ago. "

"What, the headquarters is in zolotonosha?" I was surprised by the officer's words. I didn't expect that chisgakov's action was so fast. They were only a few hours later than me when they arrived in zolotonosha. I turned to Kravchenko and said, "Comrade commander, what's your plan? Do you want to stay here or go back to the headquarters with me?"

Kravchenko thought about it and then replied, "Comrade commander, I'd better stay by the river. Maybe after a while, three tank brigades will come one after another. I want to coordinate the garrison locations of all brigades. I can't leave at will. "

I also know that if there is no one to direct and coordinate the tank troops when they arrive, it will be a mess. As the deputy commander of the army, bere is definitely not suitable. After all, he has just served as the deputy commander of the army and has not established his own prestige, so Kravchenko has to stay.

I nodded, agreed with Kravchenko, then got on the motorcycle, escorted by a group of soldiers, and returned to the headquarters in zolotonoshari.

As soon as I walked into the headquarters, I saw that there were still a lot of people inside, but they were all around the table with the map spread out, and no one noticed me. I quickly called out: "comrades commander, Hello!"

Hearing my voice, everyone turned to look at me and said with one voice, "Hello, comrade commander!"

I walked quickly to the table and asked curiously, "what are you looking at?"

Chisjakov took over my topic and said, "Comrade commander, we are studying where the main force of the group army should cross the river from."

"Any results?" I had been standing by the river for several hours and bumping on the motorbike for more than ten minutes. I was already exhausted. Seeing that the seats around the table were empty, I found a place to sit down, looked up at chisjakov and asked, "where are you going to cross the river?"

Chisjakov looked at bezikov and akhromeyev standing on the other side, and then replied, "after our repeated discussions, we think we should choose kaniv as the place to cross the river."

"Give me your reasons." I asked briefly.

"It's very simple. The river here is very narrow. It's only 500 meters wide. The narrowest place is only over 200 meters." "Even if the Germans blow up the river crossing bridge, we can also choose other areas for forced crossing," chisjakov said with confidence

"Comrade deputy commander, since we have chosen the place to cross the river." After listening to this, I asked, "when are you going to start?"

Chisgakov frowned and thought for a moment, then said: "as it takes time for the troops to assemble and prepare the crossing equipment, I think we should choose the crossing time in two days, that is, foxiao on October 1. After the powerful artillery preparation, our troops launched a strong crossing operation... "

"All right, comrade deputy commander." I did not wait for him to finish, then interrupted him, "two days later, it is estimated that the enemy has already built a perfect defense system on the other side, and their artillery and machine gun fire will be able to destroy our river crossing commanders and fighters in the turbulent Dnieper River like shooting targets."

After hearing me say this, chisjakov's face muscles twitched violently for a few times, and some of them said reluctantly, "but Comrade commander, even if he crossed the river two days later, he seemed a little too hasty. After all, our main force is too far away from here. When the soldiers come here after a long journey, it is not realistic to ask them to fight across the river immediately. "

"Yes, comrade commander." After chisjakov finished, bzikov added: "before dawn tomorrow, in addition to the 67th division and the motorized sixth regiment, there will be at most one 52nd division, and the rest of the troops will arrive at noon or evening. I don't think it's wise to use such a limited force to fight across the river. "

"Be careful, Rita!" After their words, even kirilov, who seldom talks at military meetings, unexpectedly expressed his own opinion: "if the exhausted troops are allowed to attack the enemy, even if they barely cross the river, it is estimated that the troops will suffer heavy casualties."

When kirilov spoke, I kept silent. I just glanced at akhromeyev, who was standing opposite and didn't speak. When I saw his mouth open, he seemed to want to say something, but he didn't say it at last. However, from his expression, I can guess that he must also be on the same front with the first few people who spoke. They all wanted to dissuade me from taking any rash action before the troops finished preparing to cross the river.

After the room was quiet, I coughed softly, stood up with my hands on the table, leaned forward slightly, and said, "comrades, before we discuss the capture of kaniv, I'd like to tell you some good news. An hour ago, the 67th division of general baksov's guards successfully crossed the Dnieper River and established a landing site on the other side. "

"What? The 67th division of Jinwei has crossed the river? " Hearing the news I announced, everyone opened their mouths wide in surprise with an incredible expression on their faces. After a long time, chisjakov stammered and asked me: "Comrade commander, are you... Are you telling me the truth?"

"Yes, comrade deputy commander." I nodded to chisgakov and said with certainty, "I saw the division's troops cross the Dnieper River and build a landing site on the opposite cliff."

Chisjakov grabbed the map and dragged it to me. He asked impatiently, "Comrade commander, where is the 67th division of Jinwei successfully crossing the river?"

"Here," I said, pointing to the crossing place on the map, "there are no German defensive positions here, only minefields. But in the first group of river crossing troops, there were engineers. It didn't take long for them to open up a passage in the minefields after they went ashore."

Chisgakov looked here for a long time, then unexpectedly called akhromeyev over, pushed the map in front of him and asked, "Comrade chief of operations, what do you think of this crossing place?"

Akhromeyev looked back and forth for a while, then shook his head and said, "if it's a small group of light troops crossing the river here, there should be no problem. But if large forces, especially those with heavy equipment, cross the river, they will become hesitant and unable to advance rapidly and deeply to the enemy's defense. " After that, he immediately raised his head and looked at me nervously to see what I had to say.

"The major is right. The current crossing site is not conducive to the development of large troops." In order not to make akhromeyev nervous, I walked around the table to him, raised my hand, patted him on the shoulder, gave him a smile of approval, and then said, "so we have to choose other directions as the main crossing site of the group army."

"Where should we choose to cross the river?" Asked chisgakov.

When I heard his question, I immediately focused on him and asked strangely, "didn't you choose kaniv as the place to cross the river?"

"But, comrade commander." After listening to what I said, chisgakov's face again showed a embarrassed expression: "from the current situation, after dawn, the only one who can fight in this area is the 52nd division of the close guard. Compared with the enemy's forces, it's too big a gap."“ If we only get close to the 52nd division of Wei, I think it's hard to succeed. However, we can let the 67th division of the guards who have successfully crossed the river go up along the river to attack the flanks of the German army, so that they can't look at each other head and tail. In this way, the success rate of crossing the river will be greatly improved. "“ If that is the case, I think there should be no problem in capturing kaniv. " After these two words, chisgakov turned around and said to bzikov, "chief of staff, please send a telegram to the 52nd division of the guards immediately, so that they can speed up their march and get to the other side of kaniv before dawn, and be ready to cross the river."“ No problem. I'm going to send a message to general Nekrasov After finishing this sentence, bzikov said on his own, "I also asked him to collect more crossing equipment along the way, so that more troops can cross the river at one time." As soon as bezikov left the headquarters to send a telegram next door, the telephone rang in the room. The phone call was from vatukin. When he heard my voice, he asked directly, "Hello, comrade oshanina, where are you and your troops?"“ Report to the general I respectfully replied, "I'm in zolotonosha now."“ Zolotonosa? " After hearing this place name, watujing immediately looked it up on the map. A moment later, his voice came out of his headphones again: "Damn, how did you get to the Bank of the Dnieper?"“ That's right, Comrade General. " I thought that I had temporarily changed the direction of my March, but I didn't report it to my superiors in time, which was an unorganized and undisciplined behavior. If my superiors wanted to investigate, I thought it would be too much for me, so I quickly and sincerely replied, "I think it's good for us to carry out the river crossing operation to gather our troops in the zolotono sandy area." After listening to what I said, watujing did not go into the matter of my unauthorized deployment of troops in zolotonosha, but asked, "o'shanina, when do you plan to start the cross river battle? As far as I know, individual units of the southwest front have now set up landing sites on the other side of the Dnieper River. Your group army is the main force of Voronezh's front army. You can't fall behind them in action. "“ Please rest assured, senior general. "Thinking that baksov's 67th guard division is currently building Fortifications on the other side of the Dnieper River, I feel proud to report to vatujing that" my 67th guard division successfully crossed the Dnieper River an hour ago and established a landing site on the other side of the river. "