Chapter 1284

Before I could think of a reason, Kravchenko's telegram came again.

After reading the telegram, chisgakov was in a hurry. He came up to me, put the telegram forward, and said, "comrades commander, the situation of korostwev is very bad at present. The German army is not willing to cut off their traffic line by us. They used the forces of two armored divisions to attack the city from both East and west sides at the same time. So far, the enemy in the West has broken through the line of the 51st division and rushed into the city; The German forces from Kiev have broken through the two lines of defense of the 71st division of the guards and approached the city from the East. "

I picked up the telegram, quickly read the above content, looked up at chisjakov, and asked slowly, "Comrade deputy commander, if you were allowed to make a decision, what would you do?"

After hearing my question, chisgakov hesitated for a moment, and then replied unambiguously: "whether we can hold korostrov is the key to whether we can cut off the Kiev Zhitomir traffic line. If I were to make a decision, I would immediately pull out two divisions and a tank brigade from the defense area to reinforce them. "

"If we take away two divisions now, won't our defense line become empty?" When I heard that chisgakov suggested that troops should be sent to support korostev, I said with some displeasure, "when the enemy attacks the flanks of the grassland front army, we will not have enough strength to support them."

Seeing that I was still adamant, and knowing that I would still insist on my own opinion after persuasion, chisgakov said to kirilov, "Comrade military commissar, you see, the German army is attacking korostvev. Our defenders in this area are in danger. If we don't send troops to support them, they will be completely annihilated by the German army tomorrow."

Perhaps kirilov was a little worried when he heard that the troops would be completely annihilated by the German army. He looked at me and asked tentatively, "Rita, since korostrev is the key to cut off the German traffic line, we should think of all ways to keep there. Since the situation there is dangerous, I suggest that two divisions be drawn from the troops in the defence area to support them. "

"Yes, comrade commander." As soon as kirilov finished speaking, chisjakov immediately added: "I don't think you need to worry about the German troops deployed in uman. These troops should only prevent us from attacking the city. They will not take the initiative to attack our troops. As for whether the enemy will launch an attack on our defense area after the troops have been dispatched, I think you need not worry more. There are so many forests, swamps and rivers to the west of our defense area that the enemy's large forces are unable to launch. Our forces are fully capable of blocking and pulverizing their attacks. "

These words of chisgakov almost made me decide to deploy troops to reinforce korostov on the spur of the moment. After repeated thinking, I said firmly, "no, No. If we are not afraid of 10000, we are afraid of just in case. If our defense forces become weak, once the German forces launch an attack from uman, the momentum of this attack will be irresistible. If we are broken through by the German forces because of our weak strength, not only the flanks of the 53rd group army are in danger, but also the flanks and rear areas of several group armies attacking Kiev from the south at the moment will be seriously threatened. "

"But, comrade commander, we can't just watch the troops in korostwev being eaten up by the German army, can we?" Seeing that my oil and salt didn't go in, chisjakov said angrily, "in the future, when the higher authorities investigate, who will take the responsibility?"

Facing the Furious chisgakov, I tried to keep calm and said: "Comrade deputy commander, I am the commander of the group army. If the troops in korostwev area are annihilated by the German army because I refuse to send reinforcements, if the superior wants to investigate, I will bear all the responsibilities."

My tone of voice is very calm, but my meaning is very firm. Now the troops in the defense area can never be mobilized. However, thinking of the telegram sent by Kravchenko, I still told bzikov: "chief of staff, please send a telegram to general Kravchenko, so that when he resists the German attack, he should pay attention to reasonable distribution of forces and not engage in passive defense. Even after dark, don't stop fighting. In the daytime, the enemy will attack and defend us. In the night, we will attack and defend us. We must disrupt the enemy's offensive steps. "

As soon as bzikov had sent a telegram to Kravchenko, he received a telegram from the headquarters of the front army. After reading the telegram, he raised his head high and said to us in a loud voice, "commander, deputy commander, telegram from the headquarters of the front army."

Seeing his cheerful appearance, I knew there must be something good, so I asked with a smile, "chief of staff, you look very happy. Do you have any good news?"

Bezikov quickly walked to the table and said excitedly: "the headquarters of the front army has transmitted the latest order of the supreme headquarters: from now on, the central front army of general rokosovsky will be renamed the first front army of Belarus; Our Voronezh front army was renamed the first front army of Ukraine; The grassland front army of Marshal konev was renamed the second front army of Ukraine; Malinowski's southwest front army was renamed the third front army of Ukraine; The southern front army of general torbhuin was renamed the Fourth Front Army of Ukraine. "

It's common for me to keep the original command system while changing the number of troops, but chisjakov and kirilov are excited. As soon as they had finished speaking, they snatched the telegram, huddled their heads together and read the contents over and over again.

While several people's attention was attracted by the good news, I waved to akhromeyev, called him to the front and asked, "major, what happened to our army's attack from the south of Kiev?"

On hearing my question, akhromeyev shook his head and said with some regret: "Comrade commander, the situation may disappoint you. Although the 27th and 40th group armies continue to launch fierce attacks against the enemy, they only reach the city of obukeshiv as far as they can. Before they have a firm foothold, they are repulsed by the German army."

"It's terrible, comrade major." I sighed and said, "the terrain in the south is easy to defend but difficult to attack. It is impossible to break through the German defense system in two or three months."

"But, comrade commander." "A few months ago, we captured Kiev easily with only one army, but now several group armies are crowded here, with the support of aircraft, tanks and artillery, launching attacks on the enemy's defensive positions again and again, but they have not succeeded. What's the matter?"

Looking at akhromeyev, the commander who had been in Kiev with me, I smile and then say: "when we attacked Kiev last time, the main force of the German army was still on the other side of the Dnieper River, confronting our two front forces. Kiev was almost a lonely city. In addition, our offensive troops were disguised as German troops, which caught the enemy by surprise and forced them to give up the city. But now, the Germans have been prepared for a long time. It is almost impossible to imagine seizing cities as easily as last time. " After a pause, I asked, "do you know what kind of forces the German army has deployed to the south of Kiev?"

Akhromeyev took out his notebook, looked at it, and replied, "according to the information we have, the 48th armored army is holding fast to the south of Kiev. The enemy is using the 72nd infantry division, the 112th infantry division, and the 255th infantry division to fight our attack on the front line. At the same time, they are also using the 11th armored division, the 19th armored division, and the 20th armored infantry division, Counter attack our army from the front. "

"After fighting for such a long time, our army certainly paid huge casualties. What about the enemy?" I waited for him to finish, then asked: "I guess their casualties must be not small."

Akhromeyev didn't look at his notebook this time, so he answered my question directly: "yes, comrade commander, the 48th armored army of the German army consumed a lot in the battle, so the Germans transferred the imperial armored division from other places to strengthen their defense forces."

Although I knew that I could not get more detailed information from akhromeyev, I tentatively asked, "which two armored divisions of the German army do you think are attacking korostvev?"

He thought for a moment, then shook his head. As I expected, he replied, "I'm sorry, comrade commander, we haven't got any more valuable information from the friendly forces yet."

As Kravchenko could not get any additional troops from me, he could only use his existing forces to carry out tenacious defense in korostwev area to ensure that the city would not fall into the hands of the Germans again. After a day and night of fierce fighting, the 51st division and the 77th division finally eliminated all the German troops in the city.

We have eliminated the enemy in the West and consolidated our defence. Kravchenko also commanded the new guard tank 21st brigade, so that they launched a counterattack against the German troops from the East. Although the number of tanks in our army is absolutely inferior to that of the German army, the good character of tanks makes up for this deficiency.

After more than an hour of fierce fighting, the German army dropped more than 40 damaged tanks in front of our position, and then retreated to their starting point.

Seeing such war reports, chisgakov was relieved at last. He looked at me and said with some embarrassment, "Comrade commander, the movement of the 77th division and the tank brigade of the close guard is too slow. They are two days behind the troops in front of them. If they can arrive earlier, the situation of korostwev may be better than it is now."

"Now we have three more close guard divisions and a tank brigade in korostwev. With their strength, even under the double attack of the German army, we should be able to hold the city." As soon as he finished, I immediately added: "our attention should be focused on the Wurman area. After all, several German divisions are assembled here, so we should not take it lightly."

Perhaps it was because of seeing the korostwev region turn the corner, chisgakov was in a good mood and unexpectedly did not compete with me on the uman issue. He even called ahlomeyev over and asked with a smile, "major, does captain travkin have the latest intelligence?"

"No, comrade deputy commander." Akhromeyev politely replied, "I haven't received a telegram from the captain today, but in his intelligence two days ago, he said that he saw a large number of tanks coming to the railway station outside uman city."

"What, a lot of tanks coming?" These words of akhromeyev immediately made chisjakov nervous. He immediately asked, "Captain, have they found out how many tanks the enemy has and in what direction are they deployed?"“ In addition to the skull division, it seems that there is a new tank division, but the number of the unit has not been made clear Akhromeyev clearly reported: "the captain said that he would seize the time to find out the enemy's number in the next two days."“ Major akhromeyev, please come here As soon as akhromeyev's report was over, lophov, who was sitting in the corner, turned and called to him, "it seems that the telegram from captain travkin has arrived."“ OK, I'll come right away! " As he spoke, akhromeyev walked quickly over. After a minute or two, akhromeyev came back with the telegram. Seeing the serious look on his face, I knew something must have happened. I asked in a hurry, "major, what's in captain trafkin's report?"“ Comrades commander, the captain reported that the German forces in the uman region had begun operations. " Akhromeyev then handed the telegram in his hand: "you see, the German armored forces are driving along the road towards kilovgrad." After reading the contents quickly, I thrust the telegram into chisgakov's hand, walked quickly back to the table and looked down at the map lying on it. It's only more than 70 kilometers from uman to kilovgrad. If there is no accident, the German vanguard can resist kilovgrad in two hours at most. After reading the map, I raised my head and said to akhromeyev, "major, go and send a message to captain travkin so that he can find out the number of this armored force as soon as possible."“ All right Akhromeyev, who received the order, turned around and ran to lophov, urging him to send a telegram to travkin in order to find out the number of the German army as soon as possible. While akhromeyev was going to send the news, I told bzikov: "chief of staff, this situation is very important. You should report it to general vatukin immediately and ask him to pass it on to general konev."“ Comrade commander, time is pressing now. If the intelligence is relayed through the headquarters of the front army, time will be wasted. " After hearing my order, chisgakov stopped bzikov, who was preparing to make a phone call, and mildly said to us, "why don't we call the 53rd army directly to make them ready for battle ahead of time."“ It's no use, comrade deputy commander. " I waved to bzikov to call the headquarters of the front army and said to chisgakov, "maybe it's a series of victories that have made some commanders of the friendly forces confused, so even if they get such a situation, they won't be taken seriously. If we turn this situation around through the headquarters of the front army, they will pay more attention to it. "