Chapter 1280

On October 16, Voronezh's front army launched an attack on Kiev.

Hearing the rumble of artillery from the north, chisjakov could no longer sit. He stood up and walked back and forth in the headquarters. From time to time, he stopped and looked out of the window, as if he could see the battle field from there.

"Comrade deputy commander, don't go back and forth. You keep walking back and forth like this, which makes my eyes dazzle. How can I work? " Seeing that chisjakov was out of his wits, kirilov said something jokingly, then pointed to the empty seat beside him and said, "even if you step out a trench in the house, you can't see the battle going on ahead. All right, just sit down. "

After sitting down, chisjakov said to kirilov with some embarrassment, "Comrade military commissar, I'm also worried. I'm worried to see other army groups fighting fiercely with the German army in the front, while we are doing nothing here. "

"Comrade deputy commander," my heart was a little unhappy when I heard what chisgakov said, so I said in a dissatisfied tone, "although we have no combat task now, we are not doing nothing. What we are doing now is preparing for the next battle."

After these words, I called ahlomeyev over and asked, "major, how are the fortifications of the 89th division of the guards in spola?"

Hearing my question, akhromeyev immediately and respectfully replied, "I just called general seleucin. He said that two defensive positions have been built in the West and south of spola, and barbed wire and minefields have been laid in front of the positions."

"Comrade commander, I don't understand." After hearing akhromeyev's report, chisgakov asked a little puzzled: "to know that the main force of the German army is in Kiev in the north and zaborosh in the south, why do we build fortifications in the west of spola?"

Regarding this question of chisgakov, I looked at him and said, "Comrade deputy commander, although the main forces of the enemy are in the two directions you said, they are highly mobile. Manstein may transfer his troops to the weak defensive areas at any time."

After listening to my explanation, chisgakov shrugged his shoulders, shrunk his mouth, and said with a little disapproval: "if I were Manstein, I would never send troops to attack spola. This is a small city, surrounded by forests and swamps, which is not conducive to the expansion of large forces."

"You are right." I waited for him to finish, and then said: "although spola has the characteristics you said, it does not mean that the enemy will not take it as the target of attack."

"Why?" "Can you give me a reason?" he asked

"Very simply, general managarov's forces, starting yesterday, launched an attack on Alexandria." I pointed to the map and explained to him, "after seizing the city, they will continue to go west to attack kilovgrad and threaten uman. The Germans are not fools. They will not wait to die. They will certainly fight back. In addition to facing the 53rd group army from the front, they will also attack from the flank of the group army, and spola is undoubtedly the best starting point for the attack. "

Chisgakov looked down at the map in front of him and pointed at it with his hand. He was probably deducing the situation I said. After about five or six minutes, he pushed the map away, raised his head and said to me, "Comrade commander, I think what you said is reasonable. According to the information we have in the past two days, the German army has several infantry divisions and an armored division in uman. If they really rush to spola, it is estimated that our defense may be broken through by them."

"Comrade commander, a regiment of the 89th division of the guards, originally stationed in zolotonosha, is now crossing the Dnieper." Bezikov asked me, "where are you going to deploy them?"

"That's to say, comrade chief of staff." I looked at bezikov and said, "of course they were deployed in smira. In this way, the entire 89th division of the guards will be deployed in the front line of smira and spola, responsible for ensuring the safety of the west side of our defense area. "

After I finished, bzikov asked, "Comrade commander, do we need to report our attack plan to the higher authorities immediately?"

"Not for the time being." I waved my hand to bezikov and said: "now our army's attack on Kiev has just started, whether the friendly forces can break through the German defense line is still unknown. Our plan may be rejected by the superior if it is reported at this time."

"But all our troops have assembled," bzikov asked anxiously. "Do you want them to stay there all the time?"

I sighed and said with some helplessness: "Comrade chief of staff, judging from the current situation, what they can do is to continue to wait. Only when the enemy's attention is completely attracted by the friendly forces attacking Kiev, is the best time for us to start."

At noon, we received a telegram from the headquarters of the front army, which detailed the fighting in the morning. The 27th group army, as the main attack force, launched a fierce attack, but in front of the German fortifications, the bravery and self sacrifice shown by the commanders and fighters would not help. Their attacks were smashed again and again by the German army.

After seeing the war report, chisjakov said to me with an iron face: "Comrade commander, it seems that you are right. The terrain to the south of Kiev is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Even with the support of aircraft, artillery and tanks, it is not easy for us to conquer the enemy's solid fortifications in one go. "

"Yes," bezikov added after chisjakov finished saying, "judging from the war report, the damage to the enemy's fortifications caused by the artillery preparation before the attack or the air force bombing is very slight. In just one morning, our casualties reached more than 6000, which means that a division has been disabled. If we continue to fight like this, if we want to break through the German defense, the 27th group army will probably be completely wiped out. "

"Comrade Colonel," said bzikov, with an expression of discontent on his face. Unexpectedly, he did not hold any post, but called each other by military rank. We can see how angry he was in his heart: "as long as we can eliminate the enemy, it is worth the price we pay. But please don't overestimate the enemy's strength. No matter how strong they are, we will not break through the enemy's defensive positions until we lose a group army. "

I saw the possibility of a quarrel between them, so I quickly cut in and said, "OK, stop talking. Chief of staff, please report our attack plan to the headquarters of the front army immediately. "

"Will the plan be reported at this time?" Bezikov asked with some surprise: "you know, the battle of attacking Kiev has just started. It will take at least a few days to attract the enemy's attention from other directions."

"Report it!" I didn't explain why, I just gave a brief order.

When bierzikov went to send a telegram, chisjakov curiously asked: "Comrade commander, I think this sneak attack plan should be reported at least two to three days after the attack on Kiev, because the war situation at that time was clear, and it was easy for the superior to make a correct judgment."

"Comrade deputy commander, our sneak attack troops have assembled near Kesong." I smile at chisgakov and say in his tone, "we can't have so many troops huddled together and doing nothing."

Half an hour after our plan of sneak attack was reported, watujing's phone call arrived at the headquarters. He asked me on the phone, "Comrade oshanina, why do you suddenly think of making such a plan?"

"Yes, Comrade General." From his tone, I can tell that he is not interested in this plan. After all, there are four army groups gathering in the south of Kiev to launch attacks on the German defensive positions in turn. Launching a sneak attack plan at this time will add to the story. I quickly explained to him: "at the last meeting, I once proposed to you and Marshal Zhukov that the terrain south of Kiev is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Even if our troops pay heavy casualties, it may be difficult to break through the enemy's defense, so we must think of other ways to deal with the Germans."

"So that's why you thought of this sneak attack?" Watujing asked faintly.

"Yes." I definitely replied: "as long as our sneak attack forces can cut off the traffic line between Kiev and Zhitomir, the enemy in Kiev will soon run out of ammunition and food, and then the main force of the front army will be able to achieve twice the result with half the effort, whether it is attacking from the South or the north."

"When are you going to start?" Then vatukin asked.

When I heard what he said, I knew that he had acquiesced in my plan and quickly replied, "as the battle against Kiev has just started, the enemy's attention has not been fully attracted by the friendly forces. If they attack at this time, they will be easily detected by the enemy, and then the sneak attack will turn into a strong attack. So I plan to wait another two days until more German troops are transferred from some small cities of no importance to the south of Kiev, and then let the troops set out to carry out the sneak attack. "

When I finished, there was no sound in the receiver. After waiting for a long time, I didn't hear vatukin's voice. I was worried that the line was broken. I was about to tell lophoff to check the telephone line. Suddenly, a familiar voice came out of the receiver: "Hello, is that Rita?"

"Yes, it's me. Comrade Marshal Suddenly I heard Zhukov's voice from the receiver, which really surprised me. After a short period of confusion, I stabilized my mood: "I'm glad to hear your voice!"

"I've just seen your sneak attack plan," Zhukov said slowly. "The plan is very detailed. It seems that this Colonel bzikov is really the material for the chief of staff."

Seeing that Zhukov did not show his attitude, but was asking irrelevant questions, I quickly replied, "Comrade marshal, the operational plan was jointly formulated by the chief of staff, Colonel bezikov, and the chief of operations, major akhromeyev."

"Three guard divisions and a tank army," I heard the sound of turning the paper from the receiver. It was estimated that Zhukov was looking through my plan. "Rita, according to your judgment, how long will it take for so many troops to pass through the area full of forests and swamps?"

When I heard Zhukov's question, I thought about it, and then replied, "marshal, although it's only about 120 kilometers from korson to korostevev, it's hard to get there because of the road. Even if I start tomorrow, I can't get to my destination until at least the 20th."

"More than 100 kilometers, four days walking?" Zhukov said in a discontented tone, "it's too slow, Rita. You're too slow. If so, even if the attention of the German army is attracted by the friendly forces attacking Kiev, your slow marching speed will be noticed by the German. In such a long time, they can set up several defensive positions on your way forward, and then you will have to march in the way of attacking and advancing. " Zhukov's words surprised me in a cold sweat. Ginger is still spicy. He pointed out the shortcomings of the sneak attack plan. If we don't overcome them, our sneak attack may turn into a strong attack. But on second thought, even if the speed of infantry can be raised, it will take at least a few days for the 200 tanks of the fifth tank army of the close guard to completely pass through this area of deep forest and swamp. Thinking of this, I said to Zhukov with a sad face: "however, marshal, due to the limitation of the terrain, the tanks of the tank army are unable to move forward quickly, which inevitably affects the speed of the whole army."“ Rita, I think you used to be smart. Why are you so confused this time? " Zhukov said angrily: "you can let the three guard divisions take the lead, but seize those empty German defense cities, and then the tank troops follow slowly. When they arrive at korostwev, they believe that the city has long been attacked by the guards." Zhukov's words made my eyes bright. When making plans, I fell into a misunderstanding. I always thought that infantry should get the cooperation of tanks, so I decided the marching speed of infantry according to the moving speed of tanks in forest and swamp areas“ I see, marshal. I'll let the two guard divisions March fast towards korostev, leaving one guard division to assist the tank army. In this way, we can reach our destination in two days at most. "“ That's right. " Zhukov's tone became gentle again, and then he asked, "the 53rd army of general konev has launched an attack on Alexandria yesterday. You must ensure the safety of their flanks. Don't let their flanks be exposed to the enemy." After Zhukov finished, I grinned silently, and then replied, "don't worry, marshal. At present, I have placed major general Xie Liujin's 89th guard division in the area of smira and spola, and built the necessary defensive positions, which can completely resist the German forces from uman. "“ It seems that you are very considerate. " Zhukov said with a smile, "in that case, I will wait for the good news of your victory in the headquarters of the front army."