Chapter 1336

"Rita, it seems that you are not sure about the 27th army." Rokosovsky said to me with a smile, "I'll tell you the truth. Initially, tomorrow night, in addition to mortars and 76.2 mm cannons, there will be more than 300 122 mm howitzers, 152 mm howitzers and self-propelled guns, all of which will be deployed in smira line. At the same time, 180 T-34 tanks, 40 new tanks and 80000 combat troops are moving cautiously westward and quietly entering the final attack positions. "

When I heard a series of data reported by rokosovsky, I couldn't help but glare and say with emotion: "Comrade General, your deployment is a big one. I believe that as long as you launch a thunderbolt, several German divisions deployed in the direction of uman and venica will be vulnerable. "

After I finished, rokosovsky said with a smile: "Rita, you don't have to deal with me for one day or two. Do you think you can crush the main German forces in Kiev and Zhitomir just by relying on the 27th army?"

His words confused me. In my heart, is the 27th group army just a partial division, not the main force to encircle and annihilate the German army? Thinking of this, I tentatively asked: "Comrade General, if I understand correctly, the 27th group army is not your trump card?"

"That's right." Rokosovsky replied positively: "we should still take Kiev as the starting point of attack. After defeating the 48th German Panzer Division in the southwest of Kiev and in fastyv, we should continue to push westward to eliminate the main German forces besieging Zhitomir and capture berkichev, echoing the forces occupying Vinica, Establish a wide defensive area on the right bank of the Dnieper River. "

"Comrade General, I don't know when our great counter offensive will begin?" Thinking of the frenzied German attack on Zhitomir in the past two days, I was so angry that I wanted to launch an all-round counterattack immediately and wipe out the elite German divisions that besieged Zhitomir.

"The fastest way to counter attack is to wait a few days." Rokosovsky said this, suddenly changed to the tone of discussion: "Rita, I know that your troops are fighting fiercely with the German army in Zhitomir, but I beg you to hold on for more than a week anyway, so as to gain valuable time for us to assemble our troops."

Whether it's fighting in positions or in streets, it's all fighting for consumption. Although I have four divisions in the city of Zhitomir, the strength of the German army's attack is so strong that if we want to hold on for a week, we may still have a little less troops.

Seeing that I didn't speak, rokosovsky raised his voice and asked, "Rita, why don't you speak? How do you think about it, answer me? "

"Comrade General, if you want me to stay in Zhitomir for a week, you need to promise me two conditions." I know very well that it would be very difficult for us to keep Zhitomir without the help of rokosovsky. In the end, we can only stick to the city for a few days as much as possible according to the original plan, and then give up the city.

"Come on, Rita." "As long as it is within my ability, I will promise you," rokosovsky said in a smooth tone

Seeing that rokosovsky agreed, I began to put forward my own conditions: "first, since the 27th group army has been stationed in cherkaser, I want the 52nd guard division and the 375TH infantry division left there to withdraw and go to Zhitomir to strengthen the city's defense."

"No problem. Anyway, there are 80000 people in the 27th army. Even if you withdraw your two divisions, it will not have much impact on the war situation." Rokosovsky very readily agreed to my first request: "say your second request, I believe I should be able to do it."

"Comrade General, the current air supremacy over Zhitomir is in the hands of the German army. They send out hundreds of planes every day to bombard our defensive positions, causing great casualties to the troops. " The second condition I put forward is to ask rokosovsky to help improve the air supremacy over the city: "if you can send two or three groups of fighters to patrol and drive the German bombers out of the city, then I think you will be more sure to hold Zhitomir."

Listen to me, rokosovsky can't help but wonder: "why, Rita, during your defense of Zhitomir, vatukin never sent fighters to support you?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Although vatukin has left his post and I am not willing to speak ill of him behind his back, it is absolutely true that he has never sent fighters to support us“ While attacking Zhitomir, the enemy also launched an attack on the southwest of Kiev. The forces of the second group army of the air force were all contained by the enemy. Maybe it was for this reason that the superior did not provide us with the necessary air support. "

After listening, rokosovsky was silent for a long time. Then he asked, "Rita, if I send two pilots to cover the sky over Zhitomir, are you sure you can hold the city?"

I was overjoyed to hear that rokosovsky could provide us with air forces of two aviation divisions. I immediately replied, "don't worry, comrade general, as long as the air supremacy over the city can be controlled by our army, the combat effectiveness of the army will be greatly improved. Recently, because the German bombing is too frequent, it is difficult for us to use tanks and artillery in combat, because once these technical equipment are exposed, it will attract the enemy's indiscriminate bombing. "

I put down the phone, I and rokosovsky's call content, to the next few deputies said, everyone was immediately elated. After he was happy, bzikov took the initiative to say, "Comrade commander, I'm going to send a message to general sivakov, so that he can gather the troops of the two divisions as soon as possible, hand over the defensive positions to the friendly forces, and then move quickly to us."“ Well, chief of staff, go and send a message to general sivakov. " Seeing that bezikov turned to leave, I quickly stopped him and added: "if possible, let the troops come with the convoy carrying the next batch of materials. After all, with two more divisions, the consumption of materials will increase greatly." After bezikov left, chisjakov and I began to analyze which troops would attack from Kiev: "the enemy's current area of Zhitomir and Kiev has used seven or eight hundred tanks. If we want to defeat the German armored forces, we must at least send out tank troops at the group level."“ Yes, comrade deputy commander, your analysis is quite right. " As for this judgment of chisgakov, I immediately agreed: "if there are no equal number of tanks, it is an impossible task to destroy or defeat the German armored forces of fastiev."“ Comrade commander, since you also think that the troops to attack from Kiev will be mainly tank group army, let's analyze which tank army may undertake this task in the end. " Chisjakov enthusiastically analyzed to me: "at present, the only tank group army near Kiev are general katukov's first group army of close guard tanks and general rebarko's third group army of close guard tanks. I think it must be one of them who will lead the troops to attack from Kiev and give a head-on blow to the German 48th armored force in fativ. "“ Whether katukov or rebarko, they are old acquaintances with Rita Kirilov interrupted with a smile: "at the beginning of the year, general rebalko's troops cooperated with us to successfully capture Kiev, which severely hit the arrogance of Manstein. And general katukov's troops, during the Kursk war, also fought side by side with us. I believe that no matter which unit it is, it will certainly coordinate with us in the next battle. " Chisjakov and kirilov are laughing and talking while staring at the map. However, I am thinking that if only katukov or rebarko's troops are deployed from Kiev, it is obviously not enough, because although there is a mechanized army in the formation of the tank group army, the strength of the infantry is still relatively weak. At that time, because of a week of fierce fighting, our group army will certainly be greatly weakened and will not be able to undertake the main task. If rokosovsky wants to expand his achievements as soon as possible, he will at least have to send another group army“ Comrade commander, what are you thinking? " Chisgakov, who was talking to kirilov, suddenly found that I was staring at the map instead of speaking. He asked curiously, "why don't you speak? Don't you have any confidence in the counterattack we are about to launch?" I waved my hand, then told them what I thought, and finally added: "if general rokosovsky wants to send another group army to assist the tank group army in the war, which one do you think is most likely?" After looking at each other, chisjakov and kirilov turned to look at me and said, "Comrade commander, can't our group army take charge of the task of cooperating with the attack of the tank group army?"“ This is unrealistic, comrade deputy commander. " I flatly retorted: "from the fighting in these two days, I can analyze the situation of our troops after a week of holding on to Zhitomir. At present, the number of casualties of the four divisions in the city is at least more than half, and many of the battalion and company level organizational systems will be wiped out. How can they take on the main task under such circumstances? "