Chapter 1296

I just urged lophov to send a telegram to tavartkilaze, reminding him to keep a close watch on the German movement in the direction of Zhitomir, so as not to be caught off guard and cause the whole defense line to collapse. When the man left the telephone, bzikov, who was sitting at the table, called out to me in a loud voice: "Comrade commander, your number."

When I went over and took the phone from bzikov's hand, he told me in a low voice, "it's commander vatukin himself."

When vatukin heard my voice, he immediately asked, "Comrade oshanina, did your troops stationed in korostwev counterattack the German breakout forces?"

As soon as I heard watujing's question, the first thing I thought of was that he was going to honor our troops. He quickly replied, "yes, Comrade General. After our troops beat back the German charge and destroyed all the tanks, the Cavalry Division launched a comprehensive counterattack against the enemy, led by the Fifth Army of close guard tanks. In the battle, more than 2000 enemies died under the tracks of our tanks... "

After listening to me patiently, vatukin suddenly said, "do you know that your counterattack broke the dream of German retreat safely. Except for a few scattered soldiers who fled into the nearby forest, their main force turned back to Kiev."

The German army found that the way to break through was blocked by our army and was forced to return to Kiev. This is the most normal thing. I can't understand why vatukin asked this question at all. So I hesitated for a moment, and replied, "yes, the enemy found that they could not break through our defense line, so they would have to return to Kiev temporarily, readjust their deployment, and choose a new direction to break through."

"Although your decisive action smashed the German breakout, but..." I heard vatukin's words with "although... But", and I cried in my heart, but I couldn't figure out where the problem was. He continued: "but the enemy, who was defeated by you, rushed to Kiev in desperation and crushed the vanguard of the first cavalry army of the close guard."

If someone else is in front of me and talks about the cavalry being washed down by infantry, I'm sure it's a big fan. On the plain, when the infantry meets the cavalry, it's the lamb to be slaughtered. It's a daydream that they want to defeat the cavalry. But at the moment, this is what watujing said, so I have to consider it carefully. After all, he can't joke with me on this matter.

Seeing that I did not speak for a long time, vatukin continued: "the speed of the cavalry could not be improved because the road was full of bricks and stones. You should know that the cavalry in this case is the enemy's live target. The enemy hid behind the ruins and opened fire on our commanders and fighters on horseback. In just ten minutes, the vanguard cavalry battalion lost two companies. "

When I heard that from watujing, I was more and more confused. I thought that I would be praised by my superiors if I won a big battle, but now it seems that it has become an extravagant hope. I don't know what watujing will say next, so I can only ask stubbornly, "senior general, what shall we do next?"

Watujing sighed and said, "if your counterattack can last a few hours at night, maybe our troops will be able to drive the enemy out of the city. In this way, on the open plain, we can easily wipe them out through field operations. But now, seeing that there is no hope of breaking through, they may have to stay in the city. In this way, it may be difficult for our troops to liberate Kiev in two or three days. "

From what he said, I can see that the Supreme Command hopes that the first front army of Ukraine can liberate Kiev before November 7 as a gift to the great October Revolution. I tried my best to recall this period of history. It seems that Kiev was liberated by vatukin's troops in these two days. However, whether the present history will be changed because of my appearance is in my mind.

The joy of knowing that our troops were to the east of korostwev and had been badly damaged by the breakout of the German army has long gone. I began to think about whether there is any way to prevent a greater degree of deviation in history. After a short time of thinking, I solemnly asked vatukin, "Comrade General, do you think we should let the Fifth Army of the close guard tanks, following the retreating enemy, rush into Kiev and attack the friendly forces back and forth?"

My proposal obviously moved vatukin so much that he was silent for a long time. But at last he sighed again and said, "Oh, No. The tank troops can not play a big role in the city, but are easy to suffer unnecessary losses. They are still allowed to stay in korostwev to ensure that the enemy can not escape to the city through the road between Kiev and Zhitomir, adding trouble to our next attack. "

It's said that vatukin doesn't intend to let the Fifth Army of close guard tanks enter Kiev to fight. I can't help but feel a sigh of relief. If the only tank troops in my hand are really transferred away, it will be difficult to stick to korostwev. So I pushed the boat along the river and said, "well, comrade general, since you say so, I will resolutely obey your orders!"

After I put down the phone, bzikov immediately asked with concern, "Comrade commander, what did commander watujing say on the phone? When I just answered the phone, I felt that he was in a bit of a bad mood."

I gave bzikov a hard look and said to myself, why don't you remind me if you can hear that vatukin is in a bad mood? I thought he called to praise us for our successful counterattack in korostwev. I coughed a little, tried to control my emotions, and said: "the senior general said that the enemy who was defeated by our army in korostwev fled back to Kiev and broke down the first army of the close guard cavalry following them..."

As soon as I said that, chisjakov, who was drinking water, choked and coughed violently. Akhromeyev, who was standing nearby, quickly came forward and patted his back gently. After stopping coughing, chisgakov turned back to ahlomeyev, gave him a smile, then looked at me and said, "Damn, how can cavalry be washed down by infantry? It's a myth. "

As vatukin was not very clear when he mentioned this matter, I could only say vaguely in the face of chisjakov's Questioning: "according to the senior general, the cavalry camp, as the vanguard, encountered the German army when it was passing through the ruins. The enemy hid behind the ruins and fired at the soldiers on horseback. As a result, within a short period of time, the cavalry battalion lost two companies

"What is the task that commander watujing has given our group army?" Then chisgakov asked.

"Let's continue to control the road between Kiev and Zhitomir, and never let the enemy escape to Zhitomir through the road." After I said this, I immediately asked akhromeyev: "major, I'll send a phone call to tavartkiraze and tell him to do everything possible to resolutely cut off the contact between Kiev and Zhitomir. In order to be on the safe side, a tank battalion was immediately drawn from the Fifth Army of the close guard tanks to strengthen the direction of Zhitomir. "

Then I said to chisgakov and bezikov, "deputy commander, chief of staff, after the liberation of Kiev, I estimate that our next combat target is Zhitomir, so I plan to send reconnaissance troops to investigate the deployment of German forces in the region. Do you have any different opinions?"

They shook their heads neatly, then said in one voice, "no, I totally agree with you."

Seeing that they did not object to my proposal, I told bzikov: "chief of staff, I will give you full responsibility for sending the reconnaissance team to Zhitomir. We must find out as soon as possible the German forces in Zhitomir and their defensive deployment, so that we can work out a comprehensive offensive plan based on these intelligence. "

As far as I know later, while I was arranging the deployment, vatukin was not idle. In order to win Kiev as soon as possible and pay a tribute to the October Revolution, he put general rebalko's guard tanks, the reserves of the third group army and the main force of the 38th group army into battle, and asked them to eliminate the German army in Kiev as soon as possible.

Under the strict order of vatukin, the troops who rushed into the city of Kiev launched a fierce attack on the German army, who resisted tenaciously relying on the fortifications. From the map marked by akhromeyev according to the war reports he received, I can see that our army is nibbling away at the German defense area from the East and the north. By the late night of November 5, Kiev was still under the control of the German army except in the southwest. The rest of Kiev had been occupied by our army.

After staring at the city defense map in front of him which can reflect the latest war situation for a long time, chisgakov raised his head and asked in surprise: "Comrade commander, if I remember correctly, you led the 79th infantry army and a tank unit of general rebalko to take Kiev overnight, right?"

"Yes, comrade deputy commander." I nodded my head and answered positively, "although our troops are much smaller than they are now, the number of defenders in the city is much smaller. They are scattered in all parts of the city, and the troops become even weaker, so that we can defeat them individually."

"Even if it's like this, it can liberate a big city like Kiev overnight," chisgakov said with a smile. "It's enough to go down in history."

"In fact, we can liberate Kiev overnight because of a lot of luck." When I heard chisjakov's praise, I was not overjoyed. Instead, I analyzed to him the reason why we were able to capture Kiev quickly at that time: "before the attack, our army made preparations to cross the Dnieper River from kaniv to join the main forces of the front army, which also made the enemy relax their vigilance, so that our defense was lax and gave us an opportunity to take advantage of it, That's the easy way to take Kiev.

The situation in this battle to liberate Kiev is much more complicated. In order to prevent our army from attacking, the German army not only accumulated heavy troops in Kiev, but also strengthened the original fortifications. That's why our army has been attacking from the south for half a month in a row, and still has not made any progress after making great sacrifices. "

After I finished, chisjakov looked at the map again and asked thoughtfully, "Comrade commander, do you think our troops can take Kiev tomorrow?"

"Comrade deputy commander, I think there is no problem." Before I finished, kirilov broke in and said, "although I'm a layman in military, judging from the situation of the enemy and ourselves marked on this map, our troops will be able to liberate Kiev before noon tomorrow."

"Tomorrow at noon?" "Comrade military commissar, although the area occupied by the German army is only a small area in the southwest of the city, it is not so easy for our army to nibble at this area," chisjakov said in surprise Staring at the area still occupied by the German army, I said slowly, "I think what the military commissar said is reasonable. The area controlled by the enemy now is only so large. Even if we don't send troops to attack and cover it with artillery fire, we can clear all the enemies here." Although I said that, I was worried about the residents in this area. If watujing really covered this area with artillery fire, it would be the result of burning jade and stone. According to our estimation, the troops fighting in Kiev will not be able to liberate the largest city on the Dnieper River until at least noon. Unexpectedly, as dawn broke, akhromeyev came up to us with a telegram and said excitedly, "good news! hot wire! The battle report just came from the headquarters of the front army. At five o'clock this morning, Kiev was occupied by our army, and the remaining German troops laid down their arms and surrendered to us. Among the thousands of captives, there were 17 officers above the regiment level in the 7th and 13th infantry armies. "“ That's great. That's great! " Hearing the good news, bezikov immediately slapped the table, stood up and said excitedly, "we have finally liberated Kiev from the hands of the Germans." After walking back and forth two times in the room, he stopped and said to me, "Comrade commander, we should report this good news to the commanders and fighters of the whole group army, so that this great victory can boost their morale."“ I agree. " Kirilov, who is in charge of political work, first expressed his support: "I'll ask the political commissars of divisions to call and ask them to arrange political workers to tell every soldier the good news."“ Comrade military commissar, about informing the whole army of our liberation of Kiev, "when I saw kirilov volunteering to take charge of this matter, I said to him with a smile," I will give you full responsibility. " Then I said to chisgakov and bezikov, "Kiev has been liberated, so the next city we want to liberate is Zhitomir. If I guess correctly, our group army will be the main force in this offensive. You should seize the time to work out a combat plan. As soon as the superior's operational order is given, we can launch an attack on Zhitomir. "