Chapter 1333

Although I've been quite mentally prepared, it will be a vicious battle until I stick to Zhitomir. But the real fight, the situation is far more serious than I thought.

The aviation division that watujing promised did not appear on the battlefield for a long time. However, under the cover of aircraft and artillery, the German army launched another charge against the 309th regiment of Jinwei, which stuck in the abandoned processing factory in the north of the city.

Tavartkilaze called me from Zhitomir. He asked anxiously, "Comrade commander, I don't know when the aircraft of the second group army of the air force will appear. Our commanders and fighters suffered a lot of casualties in the enemy's bombing. If they don't come again, I'm afraid the 309th regiment will be unable to withstand it."

Although I know that there are still some self-propelled anti-aircraft guns in the city, using them in this case is tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg, so I can only harden my head and say to ta ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

After listening to my obviously perfunctory reply, tavartkilaze sighed and said helplessly, "well, comrade commander, I will tell your words to the commanders and fighters."

As soon as the call with tavartkilaze was over, I couldn't wait to tell akhromeyev, "major, get me the call from the headquarters of the front army. I need to see the senior general for something urgent."

As soon as I got through the phone, I heard the voice of watujing coming from the receiver, and immediately said to him, "Comrade General, the situation in the north of the city of Zhitomir is very serious. The enemy is bombarding the garrison there with heavy casualties. If our air force doesn't go out any more, I'm afraid they will not be able to defend it."

Vatukin hesitated for a moment, and then apologetically said to me, "Comrade oshanina, I'm really sorry. There have been some unexpected changes in the situation on the battlefield. The enemy of fativ is rushing madly to Kiev, and now the battle is unfolding in the south of the city. Our air force is engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy's air force in this area. We are unable to send forces to reinforce you for the time being. Please tell the commanders and fighters that when the situation here is a little more stable, I will send an aviation division to reinforce you. "

Seeing the lost expression on my face when I put down the phone, chisgakov knew that I had hit a wall in vatukin. He immediately asked with concern, "Comrade commander, what's the matter? Is the headquarters of the front army still not willing to provide air cover for us?"

"That's right," I replied feebly. "It's said that the air force's attack ability has reached the limit at the moment, and it can't provide air cover for us. It seems that our commanders and fighters can only continue to insist."

"Comrade commander, although the German bombing and shelling caused some casualties to the officers and men of the 309th regiment of the guards." Bezikov pushed the city defense map in front of me, pointed to the location of the abandoned factory and said to me, "however, due to the limitation of the terrain, the enemy's superiority in military strength and technical equipment can not be fully exerted, so we still have no big problem sticking to the factory area for two to three days."

I didn't think about what would happen in two or three days, but rather focused on the more practical question: can the 309th regiment of the guards block the German attack today? Is it necessary to ask sjerykov to send some troops for reinforcement? Or organize the only remaining guard tank brigade 21 in the city to counterattack the attacking enemy?

Just as I was thinking about it, tawalter killazer called again. He said excitedly on the phone: "Comrade commander, I just got intelligence. A few minutes ago, a German shell directly hit the regiment command post of the 309th regiment of Jinwei. The commander who was commanding the battle and the two battalion commanders who were going to report their work were all martyred."

"What, the commander died?" Tavartkilaze's words made me a little confused, "how about the troops? Are they still fighting?"

"Yes, comrade commander, the troops are still fighting." Tavartkilaze continued: "the news of the commander's sacrifice has not yet been sent to the grassroots commanders and fighters, so the current mood of the troops is relatively stable."

At this time, I remembered that tavartkilaze said that the commander and the other two battalion commanders had died, which proved that there was at least one battalion commander in the regiment. I quickly asked, "Comrade commander, who is the remaining battalion commander?"

"It's major shumakov who just took office two days ago. He is the only surviving battalion commander of the regiment." Tavartkilaze asked me, "do you want to immediately transfer a commander from another regiment to take over the post of head of the regiment?"

"No, comrade commander, it's very inappropriate to transfer commanders from other regiments to serve as regiments' commanders at such times. It is impossible for him to be familiar with the regiment in a short time. " As for tavartkilaze's proposal, I rejected it without thinking, and expressed my own opinion: "isn't there a major shumakov at present? Let him take over the post of commander and continue to command the troops against the German attack. "

"But Comrade commander," tavartkiraze was a little worried when he heard my order. He carefully reminded me, "major shumakov has only been in the 309th regiment of the guards for a few months, and his qualifications are too shallow. What's more, he was promoted just two days ago, and now he is appointed as the commander. Is that appropriate? "

"There's nothing wrong, comrade commander." Tavartkilaze's attitude has long been expected by me, because I said very impolitely: "during the war, we can't talk about seniority in the army. As long as we have the ability, we should try our best to put him in the right position. If according to what you said, then I am only worthy to be an ordinary soldier in the anti-aircraft machine gun company all my life. "“ Comrade commander, you have misunderstood me. I don't mean that. " Tavartkilaze was flustered by my words, and he quickly explained: "I'm just worried that if major shumakov is promoted too fast, other commanders will have opinions. Since you say so, I will immediately give Comrade shumakov this latest appointment. " Seeing that tavartkilaze was very witty, I nodded with satisfaction, and then asked, "what's the situation in the West and south of the city?"“ Because the terrain in the south of the city was not conducive to the deployment of the armored forces, the German army stopped the attack after the failure of the exploratory attack, leaving only a small number of troops in front of our defensive positions for surveillance. " After hearing my inquiry, tavartkilaze immediately told me: "the first armored division of the German army launched an attack in the West. Due to the tenacious resistance of the commanders and fighters of the 67th and 90th divisions of the guards, their attack did not work." I thought the war in the West would be the most fierce. After all, the main force of the German army was in that direction. However, in tavartkilaze's report, I found that the fighting was not warm and the most fierce area was the abandoned factory area defended by the 309th regiment of the guards. I looked down at the city defense map and found that the German army's intention of attack seemed to be to open a breakthrough from the north of the city, to cut off the narrow terrain of Zhitomir, to divide the garrison in our city into two parts, and then to destroy it. After understanding the intention of the German army, I told tawalter killazer in front of the microphone: "Comrade commander, from the current situation, the German army is in the west of the city, using their main force to maintain the offensive pressure on our army, holding our 67th and 90th guard divisions in place. At the same time, he used heavy troops to launch a fierce attack on the north of the city, trying to open a gap here and rush into the city to divide our garrison into two unconnected parts. Therefore, whether we can keep the north of the city is the key to the defense of Zhitomir. "“ I see, comrade commander. " Tavartkilaze assured me: "I will send some troops to reinforce the 309th regiment of the guards to make sure that our defense line is solid."“ Good. As long as we can hold on to the abandoned factories, we can keep on defending Zhitomir for a longer time. " After I finished these two sentences, I suddenly thought of the German troops in the south of the city, and quickly ordered: "by the way, comrade commander, since there are not many German troops in the south of the city, let the defenders who stick to the south of the city launch a counterattack, even if they can't be completely annihilated, as long as they are driven away from our city." Tavartkilaze replied very readily, "I understand. I'll fight back immediately." I put down the phone and said to them, "comrades commander, the current situation is very clear. The abandoned factory in the north of the city is the main target of the German army. As long as we hold this place, we can smash the enemy's attempt to rush into the city. "“ I think we should immediately send troops to the north of the city for reinforcement. " Bezikov pointed to the city defense map and said, "since there is no war in the east of the city for the time being, we can deploy no less than two regiments to strengthen the defense of abandoned factories."“ No, chief of staff. That's not going to work. " As soon as bzikov's words were finished, chisgakov retorted, "you put all the troops in the abandoned factory, didn't you let them go to be bombed?"“ However, comrade deputy commander, "seeing that his opinion was rejected, bzikov was not willing to show weakness and retorted," if we don't send troops to reinforce, can we just watch the 309th regiment of the guards be destroyed by the enemy and our defense line be broken through by the enemy? "“ Come on, you all stop talking. " Seeing that they would fight for this matter again, I quickly stopped them, and then said, "my opinion is to deploy two regiments here and here respectively." I pointed to the map with my hand. "These two places are a few blocks away from the abandoned factories. Even if the German bombed, they had enough space to hide. Well, it's so decided. The chief of staff should contact with the two division commanders, shijerikov and babahin, to see which regiment they can transfer to the north of the city for reinforcement. "