Chapter 1263

As for whether the coalition of baksov, Lukin and veradelle can successfully capture cherkaser, although I seem very relaxed on the surface, my heart is like 15 buckets of water. I kept thinking: Although baksov told me that cherkaser had only one German infantry, it could not resist our attack. But what if the Germans still have troops nearby, or if our tank brigade just rushes into the city and the enemy's reinforcements arrive? In that case, we will not only be unable to capture cherkaser, on the contrary, the troops involved in the siege will be in danger of being destroyed.

"Rita, Rita!" While I was thinking, kirilov's voice pulled me back from my meditation to reality. Seeing that I was looking at him in confusion, he continued, "what shall we do next? Will the group command be moved to kaniv immediately, or will it stay in the distance? "

"Stay in the distance first." Almost without thinking, I rejected kirilov's proposal and gave my own reasons: "at present, there are only two regiments of the 52nd and 67th guard divisions in the city. If the enemy strikes back at this time, the headquarters will be in danger."

"Well, in that case, let the headquarters stay in place until the follow-up troops arrive." For my statement, kirilov did not express any opinions, but said along with my meaning: "after all, the main force of the German army is on the other side, and it is possible to launch a counterattack against us at any time."

As soon as kirilov finished, gertman asked with a smile, "Comrade military commissar, do you want to go to the other side to have a look?"

Kirilov did not answer, but looked at me, as if seeking my advice. I looked outside and saw that although the tank troops had finished crossing the river, the German position by the river was still full of fire. I shook my head and said, "no, at least not yet. We have just occupied the enemy's position, but we may not have cleared up the remaining enemy. It's too risky at this time. We'd better wait until after noon. "

When I said that, there was a look of disappointment on both Gutman's and kirilov's faces. I deliberately pretended not to see it, turned my eyes to the map, and said in my heart: Although we have occupied the German position, there may still be residual scattered soldiers who have not been eliminated. What should we do if we go out at this time and get shot in the cold? It's not too late to cross the river when the army arrives at noon.

After a while, I looked up and asked Gutman, "Comrade General, I don't know when your motorized brigade and the other two tank brigades will arrive?"

My question made gertman feel embarrassed. After a violent twitch of his face, he replied awkwardly: "Comrade commander, I really don't know that. According to the order, they should have arrived by the river an hour ago. But up to now, I haven't seen any troops. "

"Do you need to call?" I asked faintly.

"I'll call right away." With that, gertman walked quickly to the telephone and told the operator to contact his men.

"What a pity. What a pity." Kirilov came up to me and said in a low voice, "if the other two tank brigades can arrive earlier, they can join forces with colonel villadley and go straight to cherkaser. With so many tanks moving at the same time, even if the Germans ambush the anti tank men on the road, they will not be able to stop them

I nodded and said, "yes, if we can concentrate more tanks and attack the enemy, I believe that cherkaser will soon fall into our hands." I said this, pausing for a moment, then sighing, "Alas, it's a pity that this bad road makes our troops unable to improve the speed of March."

While we were waiting for news from the front line, chisgakov called me and asked, "Comrade commander, what is our next task after we have captured kaniv and cherkaser?"

Staring at the map in front of me, I said, "after the successful capture of cherkaser, except for the 89th division of sherekin's guards, the rest of the troops will cross the river and rely on the cities of kaniv and cherkaser to build the necessary fortifications and establish a solid starting point for the attack."

"Comrade commander, look at the map. We are not far from Kiev." "Aren't you going to try and see if our army group can liberate Kiev again?" he asked tentatively

"Comrade deputy commander, your idea is good, but there is no possibility of implementation." I immediately poured cold water on his whim: "although I led the troops to capture Kiev half a year ago, there was no main force of the enemy in the city at that time, and Manstein was also commanding the troops on the right bank of the Dnieper River, so it was reasonable to capture Kiev. But now, the enemy has accumulated a lot of troops in Kiev, and has built a perfect defense system. Let alone a group army, even with general katukov's first group army of close guard tanks, it is an impossible task to capture Kiev. "

"Well, that's a pity." "I thought you were going to go straight to Kiev after you successfully captured kaniv and cherkaser," chisgakov said with disappointment

"Comrade deputy commander, we have captured Kanev and cherkaser, only to open up a landing site on the other side of the Dnieper River. We can't attack Kiev until we have established a perfect defense system. " I pointed to the map with my hand and then said, "after we have eliminated the enemies of the two cities, we have to divide our forces to capture smira and other cities, cut off the connection between Kiev and zaborosh, so that the enemy can not look at each other head and tail, so that we can concentrate our superior forces to attack Kiev."

After my conversation with chisgakov, I asked Gutman, "Comrade General, when will your follow-up troops arrive?"

Gutman said to me with a sad face, "Comrade commander, due to the poor road condition, my other three brigades will not be able to reach the river until at least after noon."

Although it's still several hours before the follow-up troops arrive, I won't wait here. I looked outside and saw that some troops were passing through the pontoon. I had an idea. I turned to gertman and said, "Comrade General, anyway, your pontoon camp is idle. Let them build two more pontoons on the river, so that when the big troops arrive, they can also improve the speed of crossing the river."

Gutman raised his telescope and looked out, then said: "Comrade commander, although the river is not wide, the current is too fast. It is difficult to build two more pontoons. Otherwise, I'll let Zhouqiao camp build another floating bridge, which should be more than enough. "

"Well, comrade general, as you say, there will be one." I said with disapproval: "anyway, there is more than one place for us to cross the river. At that time, we will just set up a few more in other places."

As soon as Guttmann gave Zhouqiao battalion the task of building a floating bridge through the telephone, veradelle sent a message. Hearing the Colonel's voice, Guttman asked excitedly, "Hello, comrade Colonel, where are you traveling?"

"Report to the commander." There was a huge roar of tank motors in the headphones, and veradelle was reporting in his voice: "we've reached three kilometers from cherkaser. There is no trace of the German army along the way. I repeat, there is no trace of the German army along the way. "

Gertman was stunned when he heard the report. He turned to me and asked, "Comrade commander, Colonel villadley has reported that the tank brigade has arrived only three kilometers away from cherkaser, and there is no trace of the enemy for the time being. What should they do next, please tell me! "

When Guttman finished, I frowned and thought: there was no sign of the enemy along the way, and there was only one regiment in the city. Where was the main force of the German army? As Gutman was waiting for my reply, I didn't think about it any more, so I said to him directly: "Comrade General, order the colonel to lead the tank troops on. If you arrive at the outskirts of the city, you will rush directly into the city without being attacked by the German army. "

"I understand." Gertman agreed, and then he said in a loud voice to the transmitter, "the commander orders us to move on. If we are not stopped by the German army in the suburbs, we will rush directly into the city."

As soon as the call between Guttman and veradelle was over, I told the operator, "operator, get in touch with general baksov. I want to talk to him."

Kirilov walked up to me quickly and reminded me in a low voice, "Rita, when making a wireless call with the army, it's easy to be eavesdropped by the enemy. This will..."

"Comrades of the military commissar," I interrupted kirilov's words before he finished, "I know that such calls are easily eavesdropped by the German army. But there's no way. Now we have to compete with the Germans to seize cherkaser decisively before they recover. "

As soon as I finished, the operator handed me the earphone and transmitter. He also said, "Comrade commander, the line is connected. You can talk to general baksov."

I put on my headphones and said to the transmitter, "Hello, barksov? What's the situation with you there? Have commander Lukin's troops arrived yet? "

"Here we are. A leading group of Colonel Lukin has arrived." Barksov said very quickly: "the rest of the troops will arrive in 20 minutes. Comrade commander, when are we going to attack? "

"What's the situation in the city?" I then asked, "did the enemy increase its forces?"

"No, the main force of the enemy was basically concentrated on the defensive positions by the river, and the garrison in the city was limited." After a short pause, baksov replied, "according to the latest report of the scouts, there are only about two companies of infantry in the city, no heavy weapons."

"Great, that's great." It was said that the number of defenders in the city was limited, and there were no heavy weapons. The big stone hanging in my heart fell to the ground. I immediately gave an order to barksov to attack: "Comrade division, a friendly tank brigade is rushing to cherkaser along the road. In a few minutes at most, they can rush into the city. You also immediately lead your troops to attack, and use some of your troops to contain the garrison by the river, so that they can't send troops back to the city. When the enemy forces in the city are eliminated, you are commanding the troops to destroy the German troops by the river. "

When I returned the earphone and the transmitter to the operator, kirilov, who was talking with baksov, was surprised and said, "Rita, the situation is really good for us. As long as we occupy the city, we will cut off the retreat of those enemies by the river. As soon as the rest of Lukin's troops arrive, the two divisions will join forces and launch a final attack on the enemy under the cover of the tank brigade. It is estimated that the battle will be solved in a short time. "“ The situation will not be as optimistic as you think. After all, the German army has a regiment in cherkaser. " "Even if we are caught by surprise, we have to support it for half a day or even longer," Gutman said anxiously I didn't answer his concerns immediately. Instead, I raised my hand and looked at my watch. I couldn't stop staring at the second hand above, and turned round and round. It was five minutes before I let go, sighed softly, and said, "Colonel villadley's tank brigade should have rushed into chercasse." When I said this, kirilov learned from me, looked at his watch, and then said, "baksov's and Lukin's troops are infantry. Their speed is slower than that of the tank brigade, but within ten minutes, they should also rush into the city." As soon as he had finished, he heard the operator exclaim excitedly, "Comrade General, Colonel veradelle wants to speak to you." Gutman heard that the operator was calling for the general, and knew that he was calling for himself. He quickly took the earphone and the transmitter from his hand. He asked in a loud voice, "Hello, comrade Colonel, what's the situation there?" I tilted my head and stuck it to the earphone that Guttman was wearing. I heard veradelle clearly say, "Comrade commander, our brigade has rushed into the city. Although the enemy set up sandbags at the intersection, they couldn't stop our attack because they didn't have heavy weapons. We have rushed into the city from the northwest and are moving towards the center of the city. "“ Well done, comrade Colonel, you and your men are well done. " When he heard that the tank brigade had rushed into cherkaser, gertman couldn't help but get excited. He said loudly to the transmitter, "keep on attacking. We must eliminate all the German troops in the city in the shortest time." A few minutes later, I received a phone call from baksov, who excitedly reported to me: "Comrade commander, our troops have rushed into the city to join the friendly tanks. I put some infantry in tanks and went down the street to wipe out the remaining German troops in the city. I believe it won't be long before we can control the whole city. "