Chapter 1331

After learning the bad news, the first thing to lose his temper was bzikov, who said in a hurry: "Comrade commander, should we immediately send the 90th division of the guards to reinforce and plug the gap opened by the enemy?"

After listening to bezikov's statement, chisjakov nodded and agreed: "yes, we should let the 90th division of the guards meet us and block the German advance, otherwise they will rush to the city of Zhitomir soon."

However, I was thinking: there are no solid fortifications in the west of the city. With the field fortifications built in a short period of time, in the face of such a powerful three-dimensional offensive of the German army, even if I fill them in with human lives and fill up the 67th and 90th divisions of the guards in the west of the city, I can not stop them. Since our troops are faced with the German army which is superior in quantity and weaponry, it is difficult to support them indefinitely, so it is of little significance to stick to the field fortifications in the suburbs.

So I announced to them, "there are no solid fortifications in the defense zone outside the city. In the face of enemy shelling and bombing, our officers and men suffered a lot of casualties. If the resistance continues, I am afraid that the 67th division of the guards will soon be wiped out, so I decided to give up the positions outside the city, withdraw all my troops into the city and continue to fight in the streets with the enemy. "

"What, give up the position outside the city? Comrade commander, the officers and men of the 67th division of the guards have shown great bravery. They can continue to fight. " On hearing my command, chisgakov did not speak, but frowned and pondered. But bzikov said anxiously, "once we give up the position outside the city, the German army will rush into the city soon. If we fight in the street, I don't know whether we can still hold the city."

When I saw such a strong reaction from bezikov, I shook my head with a bitter smile and said, "chief of staff, you don't know enough about the current situation. I don't deny that the officers and men of the 67th division of the guards fought bravely and tenaciously and wiped out many enemies. However, their fortifications are too simple. In the face of German shelling and aircraft bombing, such fortifications will not last long, but cause unnecessary casualties. Let our commanders and fighters stick to their positions under such circumstances. In three days, there will be no living people in the whole position. "

"In the morning's battle, didn't the 67th division play very well? He beat back the enemy's attacks several times, and his own casualties were not great. " Kirilov, who was sitting next to him, asked in a somewhat puzzled way, "how come in the afternoon, the situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse?"

When I heard kirilov's question, I couldn't help saying bitterly: "Comrade military commissar, the reason why the fighting was easy and the casualties were small in the morning is that when the German troops shelled our army, our commanders and fighters withdrew from the first line of defense covered by fire to the relatively safe second line of defense, thus minimizing the enemy's fire damage.

The German might have been aware of our tactics, so when they attacked in the afternoon, their attack methods were adjusted accordingly. On the one hand, we sent out ground troops to launch attacks, on the other hand, we sent out a large number of bombers to carry out indiscriminate bombing of our positions. Our officers and men know that if they stay in the trenches, they will suffer heavy casualties because of the enemy's bombing, but they can no longer retreat to a safe area as they did in the morning, because it's easy for the German army to take advantage of the situation... "

"Oh, so it is." After listening to my explanation, kirilov finally came to realize it, but he still asked in a puzzled way, "can we get better if we withdraw to the city?"

"As long as the street battle begins, we are intertwined with the enemy's defense lines. In order to prevent accidental injuries, the enemy will not dare to use aircraft and artillery on a large scale. In this case, our officers and men will be able to rely on the fortifications in the city to launch a close street battle with the enemy. " In order to persuade kirilov as soon as possible, I also gave a special example in the battle of Stalingrad, "Comrade military commissar, you should remember that in the battle of defending Stalingrad, general trakov borrowed our regiment to participate in the defense of the factory area, but in the fierce shelling and bombing of the enemy, it took less than one day for 3000 troops, It's almost gone. "

After my explanation, the headquarters soon reached a consensus, agreed to let the troops give up the defensive position to the west of Zhitomir and withdraw to the city to prepare for street fighting with the German army. However, when I asked bezikov to give an order to the troops, there was a slight accident. Tavartkilaze resolutely refused to let the troops withdraw. He said excitedly on the phone: "Comrade commander, the troops can't withdraw. We can continue to fight. Although the German army broke through many lines of the 67th division, the soldiers were still fighting bravely. Every time the enemy advanced one meter, they would suffer heavy losses... "

"All right, comrade commander." Although I knew in my heart that tavartkilaze was telling the truth, in order to defend Zhitomir, I had to put the enemy into the city and fight with them in the street, so that the enemy could not exert the power of the air force, artillery and tanks. So before tavartkilaze finished, I cut him off without any hesitation, and then said coldly, "this is an order. There's no room for bargaining. Go ahead now."

Maybe it was the first time that tavartkilaze saw me take such a tough attitude. After a long pause, he replied difficultly, "I see, comrade commander. I will order the 67th and 90th divisions of the guards to withdraw to the city as soon as possible and start street fighting with the enemy relying on fortifications. "

As soon as I finished my call with tavartkilaze, I received a call from general bere from korostev. "Comrade commander, the German forces of fativ, launched a fierce attack on the defensive position of the 77th division of the guards," he said excitedly by telephone

As I listened to his report and looked down at the map in front of me, I thought to myself that the German forces of fastiev might have been inspired by the friendly forces' breakthrough in the defensive position on the west side of Zhitomir before they suddenly launched an attack on korostev and prepared to March East and West with the troops from the west side, so as to achieve the goal of seizing Zhitomir.

As soon as he finished, I immediately made a decision: "general bere, immediately send out two tank brigades to fight back against the German offensive forces. Now it's dark, and the enemy's air force can't send out. It's just the advantage of our tank troops to smash the German attack. "

"I understand." "I will teach the German a painful lesson, so that he will not think that we are easy to bully," he promised loudly

"By the way, has kanevka got it back?" As soon as I was ready to put down the phone, I suddenly remembered that the German army had occupied kanevka, a small town in the middle of the road from Kiev to Zhitomir, and I immediately asked.

"It was recaptured from the enemy." To my question, berey replied awkwardly: "but before we reported to the headquarters, we were taken back by the enemy. At present, the two battalions of the 77th division of the guards, with the cooperation of a tank battalion, are fighting repeatedly for the town with the German army. "

I understood the importance of this small town to the war situation, so I especially stressed to berei: "Comrade General, please tell the commanders and fighters that we should seize the small town at all costs."

I put down the phone, picked up the map on the desk, looked at it carefully, and continued to study how to fight the German siege. My eyes were fixed on Zhitomir, and I thought to myself, this is the place where rokosovsky was the garrison commander before the war. I don't know if he can provide any useful suggestions for our defense?

Thinking of this, I put down the map, looked up and asked, "who knows where general rokosovsky is now?"

Akhromeyev quickly replied: "report commander comrade, general rokosovsky is commanding the Belarusian front army to fight with the enemy in Belarus. According to the latest information, they have eliminated the German army in a large area of Belarus and are besieging Gomery, a strategic place. It is estimated that the city will be liberated in one week at most. "

Chisjakov asked me curiously, "Comrade commander, why do you suddenly think of asking general rokosovsky?"

I pointed to the position of Zhitomir and said, "he was a garrison commander in Zhitomir for a period of time. Compared with being quite familiar with the terrain here, I want to hear some suggestions from him on how to defend the city."

After understanding what was going on, chisgakov couldn't help laughing twice. Then he said to me, "Comrade commander, even if general rokosovsky is here, he may not be able to give you any good advice." When he said this, he stopped for a moment, and saw a surprised expression on my face. Then he said, "the Germans have occupied Zhitomir for two years. In such a long period of time, maybe the defense facilities in some areas have been demolished, and new fortifications have been built in other places. In a word, Zhitomir has changed a lot from two years ago. It's easy to lose money if we make defensive measures according to the memory of the past. "

After thinking about it, I found that chisgakov's words were very reasonable, so I turned my attention to the anti attack that berey's tank brigade was about to launch. I called ahlomeyev over and said to him, "major, go to the telegraph room and tell razumeyeva that as long as the telegram comes from the 77th division of the guards or korostev, it will be sent to us at the first time."

Attacking the enemy of korostwev from fativ, I never dreamed that the defenders in the city would suddenly launch a counter attack under the cover of two powerful tank brigades. Although there were Tiger tanks in the German offensive units, they became lambs to be slaughtered against the only t-5455 tanks left in the 22nd brigade of the guard tanks.

When we looked at the war report from razumeyeva, tavartkiraze called from Zhitomir just a few minutes after we were happy. As soon as I heard the tone of his voice, I knew that something had happened again, so I asked solemnly, "Comrade commander, what's the matter again?"

"Well, comrade commander." Tavartkilaze reported to me: "after the 67th and 90th divisions of the guards gave up their defensive positions outside the city and retreated into the city, one part of the German army followed. They tentatively launched an attack. After being repulsed by us, they came to the north and south of the city in two directions. It seems that they intend to launch another attack from there. "

I took out the city defense map of Zhitomir, which was under the map, and put it on the table. After looking at it for a moment, I found that because the north and south of the city were close to the forest, the defense in these two directions was relatively weak. If the German Army started from these two directions, it might have hit us more than seven inches. Therefore, I hastened to order tavartkilaze: "Comrade commander, strengthen the defense in these two directions immediately. We must not let the enemy rush in."

"What's the matter?" Seeing that I took out the city defense map of Zhitomir, chisjakov had a bad premonition. After my call with tavartkilaze, he quickly asked, "is there any unexpected change in the situation?"“ Yes, comrade deputy commander. " I didn't hide him, but I told him the truth: "the enemy sent troops to the north and south of Zhitomir. In this way, the enemy's attack changed from East-West to encirclement, and the situation of the garrison in the city became more severe."“ Don't worry too much, comrade commander. " "We have four close guard divisions and a tank brigade in the city of Zhitomir, and several artillery regiments and close guard rocket barracks are deployed in the forest to the east of the city," bezikov said. As long as the German army does not send air force, it is not easy for them to attack and occupy Zhitomir as soon as possible. " We were talking about the defense of Zhitomir when a telephone in front of me rang. Before I could raise my hand, bzikov had picked up the phone first. After listening for a moment, he immediately handed me the phone. At the same time, he said in a low voice, "it's the phone of the commander of the front army. He seemed very angry." As soon as I put the receiver close to my ear, I was almost deafened by the roar of vatujing. I quickly took the microphone away a little, and then politely said: "Hello, comrade general, what instructions do you have?"“ Comrade oshanina, I come to ask you, why did you order the troops to give up the defensive position in the western suburb of Zhitomir and allow the enemy to rush out of the city? " "Do you know what kind of danger this order will put Zhitomir in?" watujing asked angrily“ Comrade general, because the enemy's counterattack has come so fast, our troops have not had time to build solid permanent firepower points. They can only build simple fortifications. " In order to appease vatujing's anger, I patiently explained to him, "our troops will be killed and killed as long as they are bombarded and bombed by the enemy in such fortifications. I can't watch my commanders and fighters die in vain in the enemy's artillery and bombing, so I asked them to give up their positions outside the city and retreat into the city to fight a defensive war with the enemy relying on the existing fortifications. "