Chapter 1277

Chisgakov had always been worried that we could not take part in the war directly. When he heard that I had taken part in the war, his eyes suddenly brightened and he couldn't wait to ask me, "if only general Moskalenko's 40th army attacked from the south, could the head of the front army put our army into battle once they were defeated?"

"Don't worry, comrade deputy commander." Looking at the eager chisjakov, I replied with a smile: "as soon as the battle starts, maybe the 40th group army will be defeated, and the superior will put us into the battle."

After I said this, chisgakov was unexpectedly silent. After a while, he tentatively asked: "Comrade commander, you just said that if you attack from the south, the big troops can't be launched, so you can only use the tactics of refueling to put one division after another into battle?"

"Yes, I said so." When I heard this question from chisgakov, I immediately nodded my approval.

"In the face of Germany's solid defensive position, if we only attack with one division, will our ability of attack be too weak?" "In this way, our attack on Kiev, even with heavy casualties, will not be able to achieve the desired results," he asked with some concern

It turned out that chisjakov was worried about this incident, which made me feel much more confident. "Don't worry, comrade deputy commander, even if our group army goes into battle, it won't launch an attack from the south. In addition to increasing casualties, it won't help much in the fighting process."

"What direction are we going to attack from?" My words aroused great interest of chisjakov, and he was about to take out his pocket

"Wait a moment, comrade deputy commander. Please wait a moment." I took a look at the driver who was concentrating on driving, and said that although this is a trustworthy soldier, I still can't talk about such a confidential matter in front of him. So I deliberately digged off the topic: "even if I have analyzed the situation for you now, I will have to analyze it again with chief of staff bezikov when I get back to the headquarters later. But in this way, when we get back to the headquarters, we will explain to you. How are you

After hearing this, chisgakov saw the special glance I threw at the driver. He immediately put down his picture bag and said, "well, comrade commander, let's wait until we get back to the headquarters."

After a few hours of bumping on the road, we crossed the Dnieper and returned to our headquarters in cherkaser. As soon as we entered the door, bzikov came up and asked with a smile, "the meeting is over so soon. I don't know what tasks the superior has assigned us?"

"Chief of staff, we are going to launch an attack on Kiev in a while. At today's meeting, we will arrange the order of attack of each group army. " Chisgakov explained to bezikov as he walked towards the table in the middle of the room. Seeing the surprise on the other side's face, he stopped and added coldly, "but our group army will not take part in this attack."

"What, we don't take part in the attack?" Bzikov trembled when he heard this, then looked at me in surprise and asked, "Comrade commander, why? Why don't we take part in the attack? "

"Chief of staff, sit down first, and I'll explain it to you slowly." I made a please sign and whispered.

Bzikov frowned, then sat down at the table honestly, his eyes fixed on me, waiting for me to give him a reasonable explanation.

I called ahlomeyev over and told him, "major, from tomorrow, the 40th army will enter our defense area and assemble northwest of kaniv. You call commander sivakov of the 23rd army and ask him to send someone to do the coordination work

"Yes, I'll do it right away." Akhromeyev then turned and left.

"Comrade commander, can you tell me now why our superior did not let us take part in the attack?" As soon as akhromeyev left, bzikov asked impatiently, "we have won a lot of battles recently. These superiors should know about it, but it's really strange why they didn't let us take part in the war?"

"Chief of staff, it's no surprise. In such a big offensive campaign, the higher authorities must have an overall arrangement. They can't let all the troops participate in the offensive without leaving the troops to defend. " In order to let bzikov understand the real intention of the superior, I told him the general situation and added: "please remember, if our army's attack is frustrated and the enemy turns into a counter attack in a certain area and tries to rush to our rear, what will be the consequences if there are no troops sticking to our defense line to stop them?"

After I finished, bezikov nodded his head vigorously, but still said wrongly: "Comrade commander, other troops are going to take part in the attack, but let us stay in the original defense area for defense, which will have a negative impact on our morale."

"Chief of staff, don't worry about that." After listening to bzikov's worry, I just gave a faint smile. Then I looked at kirilov and confidently said, "this can be entrusted to Comrade military Commissar. He will personally go to the army in the near future to conduct political agitation work for the commanders and fighters. I believe that with his ability, we can avoid unstable morale. "

"Comrade commander, there is no outsider here. You can talk about your analysis." As soon as I finished my analysis, chisgakov, who had been waiting impatiently for me, urged: "you know, I've thought about all kinds of possibilities in the past few hours, and I haven't figured out which direction we will put our troops into before the friendly attack is frustrated."

Instead of answering his whole question directly, I asked, "Comrade deputy commander, I want to ask you, if the German army were driven away from Kiev by us, where would they retreat?"

Hearing my question, chisgakov put his head close to the map. After looking at it for a moment, he pointed with his hand and said confidently, "that's fair to say. It must be Zhitomir retreating to the West. It's a big city."

"You are quite right. Once the Germans are expelled from Kiev by us, their troops will certainly retreat to Zhitomir along the road. After all, the distance between the two places is only more than 100 kilometers." After echoing chisgakov's opinion, I patted the map with my hand and continued, "if you look at the map more carefully, you can find a place called shepetovka to the west of Zhitomir."

"Yes, I know this place. At the beginning of the war, it was the main warehouse of our army." Chisjakov didn't know why I suddenly mentioned shepetovka, but he told me what he knew: "the materials stored there are enough to meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of troops of the southwest front army. Unfortunately, due to the enemy's fast advancing speed, most of the materials in the warehouse did not have time to transfer, and finally fell into the hands of the German army. "

Seeing that chisgakov knew more about the Ukrainian cities near Kiev, I did not explain any more, so I said my analysis directly: "I think that after the attack on Kiev, it is very difficult for the troops of the front army to break through the defense built by the German army in a short time. In this case, the superior may order us to attack from the flank of the German army to cut off the road and railway from Zhitomir to Kiev. As long as we control this traffic line, it is equivalent to cutting off the main transport artery of the German army. In this way, the weapons, ammunition and materials needed by Kiev cannot be transported in, and the wounded in the battle cannot be evacuated to the rear. As long as this situation is maintained for about a week, the morale of the German army in Kiev will be shaken, and the friendly forces may break through those solid defensive positions. "

With this analysis, I turned to look at chisgakov. But he sat there without expression, staring at the map in front of him in a daze, as if thinking about something.

"Comrade deputy commander, comrade deputy commander." I called several times to wake chisgakov from his meditation.

"Ha ha, I'm sorry, comrade commander. I was thinking about the situation you analyzed, but I was distracted for a moment." Chisgakov said to me with a smile, "please go on."

I nodded, pointed to the map, then analyzed and said: "I estimate that when the battle starts, general Moskalenko's 40th army will engage in repeated tug of war with the German army in the two regions of obukeshiv and baitzerkovi. If we want to finish cutting off the connection between Kiev and Zhitomir, the commando forces must bypass the two cities, first go west to capture the small city of skovya near baitserkovi, and use it as a supply point, and then attack north to occupy korostoviv in the north, making use of the favorable terrain with numerous forests and swamps, Cut off the link between Zhitomir and Kiev. "

"Zhitomir, Zhitomir." Kirilov, who had been listening, repeated the name twice and then shut up.

Kirilov's inexplicable remark aroused my curiosity. I looked at him and asked, "Comrade military commissar, why are you so interested in the city of Zhitomir? Have you been there before?"

Kirilov nodded and affirmed: "I used to be a city leader in Zhitomir for a period of time. I didn't transfer to Moscow until 40 years ago. By the way, when I was transferred, comrade rokosovsky, then commander of the ninth mechanized army, was transferred to the garrison commander of Zhitomir. "

"It is a pity that the central front army of general rokosovsky did not take up the task of liberating Kiev this time." After listening to what kirilov said, bezikov said with some regret: "otherwise, it must be a very meaningful thing for him to command the troops to recover Zhitomir."

"Although general rokosovsky's troops can't participate in the battle to liberate Kiev this time, they will enter Belarus and eliminate the bandits who are there," chisjakov said

"Since the end of the battle against Kursk, our army has changed from the original strategic defense to strategic attack." What has the final say, "I am also interested," is that the initiative of the battlefield is in our hands, where we are going to attack and what kind of forces to attack.

After I finished, bzikov said cautiously, "Comrade commander, I have a question. I don't know whether to ask or not."

"Ask, chief of staff." I said with disapproval: "since you are my chief of staff, you can ask any questions you think of. As long as I know the answer, I will give you a satisfactory answer."

"Will our troops attack from the south not succeed?" Although I have just said time and again that the attack from the South will not achieve any effect, bezikov is still unwilling to ask: "you know, in our South, there are strong grassland front army and southwest front army. Can't we break the German defense?"“ If we want to attack the enemy's defensive positions at all costs, we will certainly be able to break through the enemy's fortifications. " To bezikov's doubts, I answered with certainty: "but at the same time, we will pay a heavy price. Maybe when the troops rush into Kiev, the organizational structure of many troops will no longer exist. "“ Since this is the case, why did the superior choose the main attack direction in the south of Kiev? " Bezikov puzzled to ask: "is it really ready to use the sea of people tactics to break through the German solid defense?" As it was Stalin's intention to attack from the south, even Zhukov could not disobey it. Because of this, I didn't elaborate on this matter when I was just introducing the situation, but just passed it by. At this moment, I can't help hesitating when I hear bzikov ask this question reluctantly. If I don't tell the truth, I can't make bzikov feel at ease; To tell you the truth, there is a suspicion of slandering the supreme commander. However, after pondering over it for a while, I still said to bzikov, "the choice of attack direction is the decision of the supreme command, and no one has the right to modify it." I threw out the supreme command because there were seven people in it, including Stalin and Zhukov, so that they would not be given a handle. Sure enough, after hearing what I said, bzikov sighed with disappointment, and then said, "if the headquarters can adjust its strategic deployment according to the actual situation of the battlefield, it can reduce a lot of casualties." At this time, akhromeyev suddenly cried out to me: "Comrade commander, your phone number!"“ Who's calling? " I thought it was a teacher, so I asked casually“ He is commander konev of the grassland front army, "akhromeyev reported respectfully." he said that he had something important to discuss with you. "