Chapter 1295

"Eighty tanks, if used for defense, are enough; If it's used to attack, it's too little. " After I said these two words, I officially announced the appointment of bere: "general bere, from now on, you will officially take over the post of commander of the Fifth Army of the close guard tank. At the same time, I will assign my superiors to our two tank brigades and give them to you for command."

"Great, that's great." When bielei heard that he had taken over the post of commander of the Fifth Army of the close guard tank, he immediately expressed his position to me excitedly and said, "as long as these two tank brigades join in, no matter how many enemies come, we can crush them."

"No, don't, General Ray, you misunderstood me." Chisgakov came up to him and said, "the reason why we give you two additional tank brigades is not to let you help the infantry block the German attack near smira. Our artillery can do that. We have called you here today to send your troops to korostrev. "

"To korostrov?" After hearing this place name, berey was shocked. "Comrade deputy commander, it's a small city. Five tank brigades are crowded in a narrow city. As long as they are bombed by German planes, they are in danger of being destroyed."

"Don't worry about that, general ray." In order to dispel his doubts, I gave him a brief introduction of the main force's attack on Kiev from the north, and then said: "judging from the current situation, the Germans can not hold out for a few days in Kiev. Once they can't support it, they will try their best to break through the encirclement to the West and join the garrison of Zhitomir. At such a time, the troops who stick to korostwev will be under great pressure. The reason why I sent the whole tank army is not only for defense, but also for you to organize the tank army to carry out counter attack against the German army when it is appropriate. Do you understand? "

"I see!" Don't ray nodded his head and said with a little pride: "Comrade commander, don't forget that when I used to command a tank brigade, I dared to counterattack the dominant German armored division, not to mention now there are five tank brigades. You can rest assured that I will command the troops to beat the enemy to pieces. "

When bielei left the headquarters, biezikov said to me anxiously, "Comrade commander, do you think general bielei is a little confident? We should know that in the face of the fierce German offensive, all our tank armies were defeated, not to mention that he had only one tank army? "

If bezikov had been in the combat forces for a long time, he might not have asked such layman questions. Chisjakov, the old ginger, grinned when he heard that, and then said to bzikov, "Comrade chief of staff, you are too worried. I admit that the situation you just mentioned does exist. However, in the past, our tank army was defeated by the enemy because the enemy was stronger than us. Now, we are far superior to the enemy in terms of both strength and weaponry. It is very difficult for the enemy to defeat us again. "

"But just a few days ago, the German army also defeated general konev's troops?" Some unconvinced, bzikov retorted: "in terms of military strength, general konev's forces far exceeded those of the German aggressors, but he did not escape the fate of being defeated in the end."

"Chief of staff, you don't know." Seeing that the two continued to talk, it was possible for them to quarrel. I quickly came out to make it over: "it was the elite German troops that defeated general konev. The enemy they are facing, general bere, is nothing more than a rout from Kiev. Therefore, I firmly believe that our troops in korostwev can not only block the enemy, but also teach them a lesson that will never be forgotten. "

The main forces of the front army have made great progress in attacking Kiev from both the north and the south. The 27th group army and the 40th group army, which had always been difficult to form an effective breakthrough in the south, finally broke through the German seven lines of defense and occupied obukeshiv, leaving only the last 15 kilometers from Kiev.

After clearing the German positions on the north side of Kiev, the northern troops rushed into Kiev in several ways and opened a street battle with the German forces in the city. The German army, which held fast to the city, resisted tenaciously by relying on buildings and fortifications, so that our army had to pay a few or even a dozen casualties every time we went further. But even so, the officers and men of the 38th and 60th army who rushed into the city seized buildings and streets from the German hands.

The fighting continued into the afternoon, and the enemy's resistance began to weaken. It's not that their casualties were so great that there were not enough troops to guard the defensive positions, but that they received orders from Manstein, and in order to avoid being encircled, the troops began to retreat to the West in an orderly way.

Shortly after the beginning of the German retreat, the commander-in-chief of korostwev, general TA kiraz, sent me a telegram, which was very simple: "the German army has begun to break through!"

When I saw the telegram, I immediately told akhromeyev, "major, record my orders. General tavartkiraze, I command you, in any case, to hold back the enemy firmly so that they can not rush through korostwev and reach Zhitomir to join the defenders there. Tell the soldiers not to be merciful to the enemy in battle, because they will not be merciful to you. They should resolutely and decisively destroy the enemy... "

When akhromeyev went to send the telegram, I picked up the high frequency telephone on my desk and dialed the headquarters of the front army. In order to avoid repeating the same mistake this time, as soon as I got through the phone, I immediately indicated my identity: "I'm oshanina, commander of the sixth group army of Jinwei. I have something to report to general watujing."

"It's Rita A friendly voice came from the phone. After a few seconds of hesitation, I immediately identified the speaker, Khrushchev, military Commissioner of the front army. He continued: "Comrade watujing is talking to the commander at the front line, and can't answer your call for the time being. Please let me know if you have anything important."

"Yes, comrade military Commissar." Although Khrushchev's tone was very easygoing, I said in a business way: "I have just received a report from korostvev's garrison. The Germans in Kiev have begun to break through."

"What, the Germans are breaking out?" Khrushchev was startled by the sudden news. After a moment's silence, he said decisively to me, "Rita, don't hang up. I'll report this important news to Comrade vatukin immediately."

When I didn't have much time, I heard watujing's voice coming out of the receiver: "Hello, comrade oshanina, are all the things you just said true?"

"Yes, Comrade General." I respectfully reported that "it was general tavart killazer himself who sent me a telegram saying that the German army in Kiev had begun to make a great breakthrough westward."

"Did you know the name of the German army that broke through the encirclement?" Then vatukin asked.

"I'm sorry, comrade commander. General tavartkilaze only reported to me that the German army began to rush to korostwev. Since there was no battle yet, we can't figure out the number of the retreating German army for the time being. "

"Comrade oshanina, please tell your officers and men that they should resolutely block the German soldiers who fled to the West and stop them at all costs." "I'll order the first cavalry of the guards to quickly cross the city to hunt down the German troops who have withdrawn from Kiev," vatukin said firmly

After I finished talking with vatujing, I immediately went up to lophov and asked him, "major, is there any way for your communication department to establish a telephone contact with korostvev in the shortest possible time?"

"No, comrade commander." "We can't lay such a long telephone line in a short time because the road to korostvev is too complicated," lophov replied with a sad face

I pointed to the telephone set on the table and asked, "how about this one? Can I talk to general tavart killazer directly?"

When I asked, lophov's tears almost came down. "Comrade commander, we are more than 100 kilometers away from korostwev, which is beyond the effective communication range."

"What can we do? Can we only get in touch with general tavartkiraze by telegram?" "In this way, the communication speed is too slow, and it may delay the fighter plane," I asked discontentedly

"No way, comrade commander." Lophov shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands and said helplessly: "in the present situation, telegram is the only way for us to contact korostwev."

"Well, since you can only contact by telegraph, you should immediately record my order and send it to general tavartkiraze." I see that when lophoff is ready, he begins to dictate the order "... That your department should resolutely block the German troops who are trying to flee to Zhitomir. Commander vatujing will send the first army of close guard cavalry to follow him in the shortest time. As long as you can stop the enemy in the east of korostwev, as soon as the cavalry arrives, your two troops will be able to annihilate the German army completely.... "

Not long after the telegram was sent, tavartkiraze's reply arrived. He wrote in the telegram: "the German breakout forces, under the cover of tanks, are making a fierce impact on the position of the 71st division of the guards. Our commanders and fighters are fighting to the death with the enemy. The tank army and cavalry division are assembling behind the division's line of defense. When the enemy's attack fails, we will launch a comprehensive counterattack. "

"Comrade General, I agree with you." As for the counterattack mentioned by tavartkilazer, I did not hesitate to express my support. I also specially reminded him in the telegram: "while concentrating the main forces to defend the German troops breaking through the encirclement in the East, we should still maintain sufficient vigilance in the west, so that the German dogs can jump over the wall and send out the garrison of Zhitomir to meet the German troops breaking through the encirclement in Kiev."

When the telegram was sent, it was like a dead sea, and there was no more movement. In the middle of the journey, vatukin called several times to ask about korostwev's direction. I could only prevaricate on the ground that I had not received the latest war report for the time being. It was not until late in the evening that general tavartkiraze's telegram arrived.

It was said that it was a telegram from korostvev. Chisjakov rushed over and took the telegram from lophov in front of akhromeyev. After looking at it for a while, his face was full of joy. When I saw his expression, I knew that it must be good news, otherwise he would not be so impolite, so I asked with a smile, "Comrade deputy commander, you are so happy. The telegram must have said good news?"

"Yes, comrade commander." "It's not just good news, it's great news. Our troops have won one battle," he said with a smile“ Come on, comrade deputy commander, don't play the game. " When he heard of the good news, even kirilov, who had always been calm, could not hold his breath at the moment. He urged, "please read the contents of the telegram to everyone."“ Well, let me read to you the telegram sent by general tavartkilaze. "After that, chisjakov read aloud:" after the German attack was repulsed, all the tanks were destroyed. It was in this case that we counterattacked the German army. In the battle, the tanks of the Fifth Army of the close guard tanks were in a dense formation. They did not fire at all, but directly rolled over the German troops. And our cavalry followed. They were responsible for chasing and destroying the German soldiers who had fled. Our tanks were crushing the enemy. The tank knocked over the enemy's truck and rolled it over from the truck and carriage. It was like crushing matchboxes one by one, crushing the enemy's officers and soldiers and flattery into meat mud. " After reading this passage, chisgakov could not help but say with emotion: "it's wonderful. This battle is really wonderful. Seeing such war reports, I can't help but want to go to the front line in person to command an army and fight with the German army General tavartkilaze's report was gratifying, but I didn't take it lightly. Then I asked, "Comrade deputy commander, what's the situation in Zhitomir? Is there any news from the German army?"“ No, comrade commander. " After glancing at the telegraph, chisgakov looked up at me and said, "general tavartkiraze has reported that the enemy on the western front has not moved at all. Perhaps our tenacious resistance a few days ago has deterred the Germans, so that they can only nest in their positions and dare not compete with our army. "“ Although the German army did not move, it could not relax its vigilance. " I said to chisgakov solemnly, "once the Germans rush to korostwev, then our defense line will collapse completely."