In the evening, in addition to the 89th division of the guards directly under the group army, which stayed in zolotonosha, the other two guards entered the two cities. For the sake of management, I had general sivakov's guard 22nd army stay at kaniv, while general tavartkilaze's guard 23rd division was deployed at cherkaser.
Because the German army intended to hold fast on the other side of the Dnieper River, they did not destroy the city, but they moved all the residents away, so that we could not get additional soldiers from the residents.
As for the headquarters of the group army, I am based in cherkaser. First, the city is big. Second, my next step is to send troops to capture smira nearby. With the headquarters, the Fifth Army of Kravchenko's close guard tanks, two artillery regiments and three close guard rocket battalions of povsky were stationed.
While the communication director lophov was arranging for people to lay out the communication lines, I called the reconnaissance battalion commander travkin and said to him, "Comrade captain, we are going to launch an attack on smira soon. However, we know nothing about the enemy's situation at present, so your reconnaissance battalion should send people to scout the city as soon as possible to find out the enemy's strength and distribution. "
After listening to my instructions, travkin immediately straightened his back and said, "don't worry, comrade commander, if you give me two days, I will be able to make clear the German forces and distribution in smira."
"No, two days is too long. I can only give you 24 hours." After hearing travkin's reply, chisgakov came over and said, "we are now seizing the time of the Germans. Before they recover, we should smash their defense and liberate the city from their hands."
When travkin heard this, his face was embarrassed, so he turned to me for help. I knew in my heart that he was worried that the time was too short to complete the reconnaissance task well, so he took the initiative to round up for him and said: "Comrade deputy commander, the time of one day is too short. If the German defense is tight, the captain will not be able to get close to the city, let alone investigate the situation in the city."
"But two days is really too long." "The enemy in smira must have known that we have captured cherkaser and kaniv and are ready to defend," chisjakov said anxiously. If it is delayed for two days, I am worried that the enemy will build more fortifications to make their defense system more perfect. "
"Comrade deputy commander, it is impossible for us to capture such a big movement in the two cities and try to hide it from the enemy." I understand that if I want to be quick, I will not be able to achieve it. If I blindly rush to attack without waiting to find out the specific situation of the enemy, I may suffer failure. I can't take this risk, so I have to carry out detailed reconnaissance before I can launch an attack on smira. I went on to say: "although the German army withdrew its main force across the Dnieper River, judging from our fighting situation today, the enemy's chaotic organizational system and lack of unified command will not be able to organize effective defense even if they are given two days. Therefore, I think it is absolutely necessary to give the reconnaissance battalion two days to conduct reconnaissance. "
"I agree with Comrade commander." At this time, bzikov echoed: "if the reconnaissance is not meticulous enough because of the rush of time, our troops will suffer unnecessary losses when they attack."
Seeing that my opinions are the same as those of bezikov, chisjakov can not say anything more. He can only nod his head and say helplessly, "well, comrade commander, since you have the same opinions as the chief of staff, I will not insist on my own." After that, he turned to look at travkin and said, "Comrade captain, I hope you will seize the time to complete the reconnaissance of the enemy in smira area as soon as possible. Do you understand?"
"I see!" After a loud reply, travkin raised his hand to salute us, then turned and walked out of the headquarters.
As soon as they had debugged the line, vatukin's call came to my headquarters: "Comrade oshanina, I've read the battle report you asked major akhromeyev to send me. You fought well today, not only successfully crossing the Dnieper River, but also successfully occupying the two port cities of kaniv and cherkaser. I want to ask you, "what are you going to do next?"
When I heard this question from vatukin, I quickly made a sign to bzikov to bring the map. When bezikov saw my gesture, he immediately understood it. He came up with a battle map and put it in front of me. I looked down at the map and began to answer vatukin's question: "Comrade General, I have arranged this: General sivakov's close guard 22nd army is located in kaniv. They will build fortifications in the northwest and due west of the city to block the road of Kiev's enemy going south. The 23rd army of guards deployed in cherkaser is building fortifications in the southeast and due south of the city to block the way for the German army to go north from zaborosh. At the same time, we should be prepared to capture smira city. "
After listening to my report, watujing was silent. He estimated that he was looking at the map according to what I said and weighing my deployment. After a long time, he said, "Comrade oshanina, your deployment is very good. As long as a perfect defense system is built around the two cities, it is equivalent to cutting off the links between the enemies from Kiev to zaborosh and separating their defense lines. In this way, our front army and the southwest front army will be able to separate and eliminate the enemy. "
Originally, I was worried about watujing's opinions on my deployment, so I was always worried. At this moment, hearing his praise, the big stone hanging in my heart finally fell to the ground. I waited for him to finish and asked carefully, "senior general, do you have any instructions?"“ When can you launch an attack on smira? " "If you take this city, you can make kaniv and cherkaser into a whole. It's also very difficult for the German army to eat you or drive you back from across the river," vatukin said anxiously“ Senior general, we have sent scouts to spy on smira. " To his urging, I cautiously replied: "at the same time, we also need time to adjust the defense of the troops. So the attack on smira, the fastest, can be officially launched in two days