Chapter 1288

After listening to akhromeyev's report, all the people present turned their eyes to me, waiting for me to make a final decision. I picked up two telegrams, looked at them, and then said without hesitation: "we have three divisions in such a small city. The troops are too dense. Every shell fired by the German army and every bomb dropped by the German army may cause more than 20 casualties to us. The withdrawal of the 77th division does not mean that our defensive strength has been weakened. "

"What shall we do now?" "Do you want them back?" bezikov asked me

"No, no," I said with a wave of my hand, "let them stay near korostwev and support the other two divisions if necessary. As for the emptiness of uman, whether we should send troops to sneak attack, "I said decisively, raising the telegram in my hand." I don't think we can take risks. Although there is only one battalion in the city, we still have to consider that maybe when we launch the attack, new German troops will arrive. Once the attack is not smooth and the German forces attacking general konev turn around again, our troops may fall into encirclement. Therefore, I still mean that the original plan remains unchanged, and the soldiers will attack the German side rear in two ways to relieve the pressure on general konev. "

Although I made the decision not to attack uman, which made everyone feel sorry, they still faithfully conveyed my attack order to all divisions in time.

There was an unexpected storm. When the troops started to move, it suddenly began to rain cats and dogs. Looking at the dark sky outside, bzikov asked anxiously, "Comrade commander, will the heavy rain outside affect our attack in the evening?"

I look out of the window at the heavy rain, my heart has become not practical. After all, the road construction in the Soviet Union has not been very successful. The roads in the city are still better, and the roads outside the city are in terrible condition. Not to mention now, even 70 years later, in many areas, it is still sunny, rainy and muddy. If the road becomes muddy, the movement of tank troops will be limited.

Seeing that I was staring at the outside and didn't speak for a long time, chisjakov kindly reminded me: "you also know our road conditions. After such a heavy rain, the place will soon become muddy. Not only will the tank troops fall into the mire and be difficult to move, but also the speed of our infantry will be affected when they attack. And judging from the current situation, the rain can't stop completely in a day or two. "

I thought to myself: the troops have begun to move. If the order to cancel the attack is given to them at this time, the troops may fall into chaos. Thinking of this, I casually said, "I'll go outside and have a look." With that, he went out on his own.

The sentry outside the headquarters saw me go out and handed me a raincoat. After I put on my raincoat, I rushed into the rainstorm. Basmanov did not worry about my safety, but also followed up with two soldiers.

It wasn't long before we came to the side of the road where there were troops passing by. Basmanov looked around for a moment, then pointed to the side and said, "Comrade commander, let's go to the front of that house, where the terrain is high and we can see more clearly."

I nodded, and then under his guidance, walked up the roadside steps, came to a four story building, looking down at the troops passing by.

In this sudden rainstorm, teams of officers and soldiers in raincoats, carrying flags and weapons, lined up in neat lines, slowly passed through the road below me.

Basmanov came close to my ear and asked in a loud voice, "Comrade commander, is it going to rain so hard for our troops to attack the Germans?"

When I heard his question, I turned around and asked, "needless to say, since the combat order has been issued, how can it be revoked at will. Not to mention the rainstorm, even if it's hail, they have to attack on time. "

"But, comrade commander, look at the heavy rain. You can't see clearly from a little distance. Won't our troops lose their way when they attack?" After that, basmanov murmured in a low voice: "when the Germans see such a heavy rain, they are probably hiding in their own fortifications."

The speaker didn't mean it, and the listener meant it. I grabbed his arm and asked excitedly, "major, what did you just say? Say it again

Basmanov, who was caught by my arm, was stunned at first. Then he repeated his words carefully and asked me: "Comrade commander, did I say anything wrong?"

"No, no," I said repeatedly, "major, not only did you not say something wrong, but you reminded me of one thing. Well, it's useless for us to stand here. Go back to the headquarters first. "

When I heard that I was going back to the headquarters, busman novton was very happy. After all, it's windy and rainy outside. If I stay here all the time and don't go back, I guess the people who stay in the headquarters are not at ease. He doesn't have to worry if he can send me back earlier.

As soon as I got back to the headquarters, I immediately called bzikov over and asked bluntly, "chief of staff, according to our operational plan, should we prepare for the enemy's defensive positions before attacking?"

"Yes, comrade commander." "According to the plan, we will prepare the German defensive positions for about an hour, and then the infantry will launch a fierce attack on the enemy's defensive positions under the cover of tanks," he said

After answering my question, he hesitated for a moment, and then resolutely said, "but Comrade commander, if this rainstorm does not stop in the evening, our offensive forces will not be able to get any artillery support."

"Don't worry, chief of staff." I took off my raincoat and handed it to busmanov who followed me. I said, "since it's raining so hard, we'll cancel the artillery preparation before the attack."

"What, cancel the fire preparation before the attack." On hearing my decision, chisgakov said with some hesitation: "Comrade commander, if there is no artillery preparation, the price our troops will pay when attacking the enemy's positions will increase exponentially."

I pointed to basmanov, who had not yet left the headquarters, and said, "just now I was outside and heard the major say something casually. I thought it was very reasonable, so I changed my decision temporarily and cancelled the artillery preparation before the attack."

"What did he say?" Kirilov, who had never spoken, asked curiously.

"He said that in such weather, the Germans are hiding in the fortifications for shelter from the rain." I went to the table, sat down, and continued: "as long as the heavy rain continues, even if we bombard the German defensive positions, it is difficult to achieve the desired results. Therefore, I feel that instead of carrying out such meaningless shelling, it is better for the troops to sneak close to the German positions in the heavy rain and then launch a fierce charge. When the enemy discovers our attack and wants to defend, it's too late. Our troops have rushed into their line of defense. "

"Well, is that ok?" After listening to my wonderful ideas, chisgakov asked unexpectedly, "even if it's a rainstorm, there must be sentinels on duty in the German army. It's not so easy for our main forces to avoid their ears and eyes and approach the position quietly?"

"Chief of staff, call the two division commanders involved in the attack." I directly told bzikov: "tell them that they don't have to wait until evening. As long as the attacking troops enter the position and have a rest, they will immediately attack the enemy's position in the rain. In order to prevent the target from being exposed, they will not get artillery support before the attack. At the same time, they need to send small troops to clear the Sentinels on the German positions... "

After recording my series of orders, bezikov asked, "what about the two tank brigades that were originally scheduled to fight?"

According to the original order, two tank brigades belonging to the Fifth Army of the close guard tank will cover and guide the infantry charge in this evening's attack. But now, the original frontal attack has been changed to sneak attack, and the battlefield road is muddy, so the movement of tank troops has been greatly restricted. When I heard this question from bezikov, I only thought about it for a moment, and then I replied, "forget it, let them stop for a while and wait until the heavy rain stops."

A few hours later, the commander of the 52nd division and the commander of the 90th division of the guards, nikolasov and Chernoff, respectively, called to say that all the troops had entered the offensive position and asked me if I would launch the attack now.

I looked out the window at the increasing rain and nodded to bzikov, who was holding the microphone, indicating that I could start attacking. Seeing my expression, bezikov, who understood me, immediately said in a loud voice, "the commander ordered the troops to attack immediately!"

After bezikov gave the order, the headquarters fell into silence again, and no one was in the mood to speak. I don't know how long it took for chisjakov to cheer up, try to squeeze a smile on his face and say, "comrades, what's the matter with you? Why don't you talk? I think the attack plan made by Comrade commander, though it seems very risky, can surprise the Germans. "

Chisjakov's words improved the mood of bezikov and kirilov, but I was still worried. For this attack, in fact, I have no bottom in my heart. This is a kind of gambling and a kind of risk. I bet that when it's raining so heavily, the Germans will stay in the fortifications, but our soldiers can take advantage of the heavy rain to approach their fortifications quietly, and then make a sudden attack and take them by surprise. But such a big action, let alone my hasty decision, even after careful planning in advance, if there is any mistake in the middle, the attacking forces will suffer heavy casualties in front of the German well defended positions, and the attack will end in failure.

Before the report of the offensive troops arrived, Zhukov's phone call arrived first. When he heard my voice, he immediately asked, "Hello, Rita, it's very windy outside now. Can your troops launch an attack on the German position on time in the evening?"

Hearing that the caller was Zhukov, I quickly stood up from my seat, straightened up and reported, "Comrade marshal, my troops have launched an attack on the German army."

"What, the attack has begun?" Zhukov was surprised to hear me say that. He was surprised and said, "it's only three o'clock in the afternoon, isn't it

"Comrade marshal, it's raining hard outside." I explained to Zhukov, "the Germans must be hiding in their fortifications. I never dreamed that our army would launch an attack on them in this weather. Therefore, I temporarily changed my operational plan, which not only changed the attack time, but also cancelled the artillery preparation before the attack, allowing the troops to take advantage of the favorable opportunity of heavy rain and low visibility to quietly approach the German positions and carry out unexpected attacks on them. "

When Zhukov heard that I had sent troops to attack, his tone became relaxed. He asked with concern, "is there any news coming back from the front line?"“ No, comrade marshal. " I looked at akhromeyev and lophov, who were sitting beside the wall's telephone, and saw that they both sat there without any reaction. I knew that there was no latest war report coming back, so I truthfully reported to Zhukov, "there is no news yet." Fortunately, Zhukov was very reasonable: "well, if you have the latest war report, report it to me immediately." First of all, the 52nd division of the melee guards in nikolasov sent back the news. They secretly touched the German position and launched a surprise attack on the enemy after killing the sentries. After half an hour of fighting, they managed to break through the German perimeter defense in malawiska and rush into the city. However, the report of the 90th division came much later. Due to the fact that their detachment failed to clear all the German sentries, a hidden secret sentry gave an alarm, resulting in a sneak attack turned into a strong attack. Without artillery and tank cover, the commanders and fighters fell in pieces in a fire net interwoven with dense bullets from the German positions. Seeing that the situation was not good, general Chernoff immediately ordered the artillery battalion of the division to bombard the exposed firepower points of the enemy with mortars to protect the troops from continuing to attack. However, due to the tenacity of the German army, even if they saw our army officers and men rush into the trench, they still fought to death, and even opened a cruel white-edged war with us. After reading the battle report of the 90th division of the guards, I told bzikov: "chief of staff, order the 22nd tank brigade of the guards to act immediately, and try every means to push forward in the direction of kilovgrad to support the attack of general Chernoff's troops." After delivering my order, bzikov asked carefully, "Comrade commander, do you need to report these war reports to Marshal Zhukov and the headquarters of the front army immediately?" Looking at the two reports in front of me, I felt that although the attack of the 90th division was not smooth, the results of the 52nd division were remarkable. If they were reported together, Zhukov would not blame me. So I nodded and said, "chief of staff, please report these two war reports to the headquarters of the front army immediately."