Chapter 1344

When I heard babajanian say these words with a sense of anger, I restrained my smile and said sternly: "Comrade babajanian, although we have liberated the forces of fastif to the scale of two infantry divisions, one cavalry division and three tank brigades, we still have a long way to go to conquer the city occupied by the German army, So your brigade will be put into battle sooner or later. But you've just gone through a long journey. What you need now is rest so that the commanders and fighters can recover. "

"But, general o'shanina." Babajanian asked anxiously: "can't we make our brigade the main attack? You know, the 48th armored army is our enemy. They owe us countless blood debts. We will let them pay them with blood. "

"Comrade babajanian, good steel should be used on the blade." After babajanian finished, I said to him with a smile, "the battle to liberate fastif will be very fierce. When the war between the enemy and us becomes stalemate, your brigade will play an important role in fighting again. Do you understand? "

"I see, general oshanina." Babajanian said suddenly: "the first thing I do when I go back to the army is to arrange for the soldiers to have a good rest. Only in this way can they maintain their strong fighting capacity in the battle tomorrow. "

"Yes, that's it."

Babajanian straightened up, asked for my advice and said, "now I want to go back to the army immediately. General oshanina, will you allow me to leave?"

I nodded, and then told the driver: "Comrade driver, stop by the side of the road!"

After the car stopped, babajanian raised his hand to salute me, pushed the door open, got out of the car and limped to his jeep.

The forward command headquarters is located at the edge of a forest five kilometers west of farstev, where there is a high ground. The observation post set up above can clearly see the whole battlefield.

When I walked into the headquarters, I didn't know who yelled out: "the commander is here!"

With the shouts, the busy people in the headquarters suddenly stopped their work, straightened up and paid attention to our bank.

I quickly raised my hands and motioned to everyone to continue working. Then I went to berey and povsky, who were standing at the table, and said to them with a smile: "Hello, two general comrades. I didn't expect you to be here so early. "

"Comrade commander, you are not too late." Povsky replied with a smile, "as soon as general bere and I finished building the headquarters, you came."

When I sat down, the first thing I said was, "how's it going?"

"According to the position, the enemy's position was as usual, and there was no sign of any reinforcement or fortification." "Perhaps our attack was not noticed by them, so their defense didn't seem tight," berey replied

I was surprised to hear that. Because up to now, we have not deployed more than one battalion here, which is mainly used to build forward headquarters. It is not surprising that the German army has not found it. So I said to him, "general berey, our army has not been here yet. How can the Germans find us?"

As soon as I finished, I saw bere and povsky look at each other, then turn around and look at me with strange eyes. I felt that something must have happened that I didn't know. I immediately asked, "why, am I wrong?"

"The 22nd brigade of the close guard tank entered the attack position an hour ago." Bielei was a little surprised and asked: "after the troops arrived at the designated position, I asked the staff to report to the headquarters. Comrade commander, didn't you receive my report?"

I calculated the time. When he reported it, I should be on my way“ Oh, I was on my way at that time, so I didn't get your report. " I pause for a moment, then ask a little worried, "the remaining two tank brigades and two or three divisions will enter the attack position in the early morning. Will there be too much movement then?"

"Don't worry." "We are more than five kilometers away from the enemy's position. The enemy can't hear anything," he said

I raised my hand and looked at my watch. Seeing that it was still early, I asked them, "I want to go to the observation station above. Which one of you will go with me?"

"I'll go with you." With these words, berey took a look at povsky and explained to me, "the artillery commander is here to verify the data provided by the artillery observer, so as to provide more accurate firing parameters for the artillery."

"Yes, comrade commander." Povsky then said: "because our artillery shell reserves are limited, it requires our shooting accuracy to be higher. In order to be on the safe side, I will carefully verify the data provided by the observer. "

After listening to what bofsky said, I did not force him any more, but went along the traffic ditch with bere to the observation post on the east side of the hillside.

After entering the observation station, I nodded to the two soldiers who saluted. Then I quickly came to the observation port, raised my telescope and looked into the distance. Here, you can clearly see the buildings in farstev city in the distance, and the long anti tank trench outside the city to block the advance of our tanks. I thought to myself that although I saw the calm on the surface, there might be German troops watching us in the snow covered firepower.

"Comrade commander, what are you thinking?" Don't look at me holding the telescope. I can't help but ask curiously, "are you thinking about the attack tomorrow?"

I put down my telescope and looked sideways. "General bielei, how sure are you to let our tanks cross the anti tank trench and rush to the depth of the enemy's defense in the shortest time?"

Don't think about it, then shrug his shoulders and reply, "it's not easy to say. According to the normal way of playing, at least one hour's artillery preparation should be carried out before the attack, so as to destroy the German defensive positions as much as possible and relieve the pressure for our next attack. " At this point, he shrunk and said rather reluctantly, "but because of the limited reserves of shells, the artillery attack on the enemy's positions can not be sustained for half an hour. I'm afraid that even if our tank troops rush up when the enemy is suppressed by our artillery fire and it is difficult to defend, it will be difficult to achieve any ideal results."

"General bielei, I just looked at it. Although the enemy's anti tank trench seems to be an insurmountable obstacle, if we fight, the situation may not be so bad." I pointed to the German position in the distance and continued: "when the tank troops carry out the assault, you can concentrate on destroying all the fortifications and firepower points in a certain area of the enemy, and rush to the depth of the enemy from there to completely disrupt their defense."

At five o'clock in the morning, I heard a rumbling sound from outside the headquarters, and I knew immediately that it was our tanks and trucks full of commanders and fighters, slowly moving towards the final attack position.

After about half an hour, askarebov, sherekin, the cavalry division commander and several other tank brigade commanders entered the headquarters one after another and reported to me that the troops had entered the designated attack position and could attack the enemy at any time.

After they finished their report, I scanned the commanders in the room one by one, but I didn't find any sign of babajanian. I asked curiously, "why didn't I see general babajanian? Where is he?"

After hearing my question, several commanders looked at each other and Xie Liujin reported to me, "Comrade commander, when we set out, general babajanian's troops were still resting. I don't think they will arrive here in a short time."

"Hell, it's time to sleep in the city." After listening to Xie Liujin's report, bielei said a little displeased: "even the reserves should enter the offensive position before the battle starts."

I saw that bere was complaining about babajanian's absence. He quickly raised his hand to stop him and said, "general bere, the mechanized 20th brigade of babajanian's guards, braved the wind and snow all night. The commanders and fighters are very tired. Let them have a good rest. I estimate that even if they want to fight, they will have to wait until the afternoon at the earliest. They will have enough time. "

Then I turned to the commanders and said, "comrades, although you are very clear about your tasks, I still want to repeat them here. Five minutes after the shelling, the three tank brigades formed a battle formation and charged against the enemy's defensive positions; Ten minutes after the departure of the tank brigade, the 77th division of the guard infantry took a truck to get off at a distance of two kilometers from the enemy position, and then rushed to support the tank troops. Do you understand? "

"I see!" Two guards division commanders and three tank brigade commanders replied in unison.

"Comrade commander, what about the tasks of our division?" Seeing that I didn't mention the task of the cavalry division, the cavalry division commander was a little worried. He couldn't wait to ask, "our cavalry can attack the enemy's position before the infantry starts."

"The cavalry division can't attack until our troops break through the enemy's anti tank trench." I was deeply afraid that the cavalry division commander would be emotional and patiently explained to him, "the target of the cavalry is too big. If we rush up before our troops break through the anti tank trench, we will be trapped in front of the anti tank trench. The crowded cavalry is the target of the enemy."

"Well, comrade commander, I see." The cavalry division commander said helplessly: "my troops are ready to go, ready to fight at any time. At your command, we will charge towards the enemy's defensive positions. "

"Comrade division, it's too cold in the forest. If the soldiers are allowed to ride on horseback for several hours, they will be easily frostbitten. After you go back, let them find a place to rest and wait patiently for the attack order. "

At six o'clock in the morning, there was a rumble of artillery in the distance. The commanders who were waiting for orders in the headquarters all stood up. They all looked up to see what was going on. Seeing this, I thought about it, and then said, "comrades, you can't see anything in the headquarters. If you want to see it, you'd better follow me to the observation post on the hillside. "

When we arrived at the observation post, several commanders rushed to the observation port to see what was going on outside. It wasn't bright yet, but we all saw clearly that the sky to the east of farstev was red. "Comrades commander, this is a friendly artillery attack on the enemy's defensive position. In terms of scale, at least two artillery guns have been used," he said

The experienced bofsky is an expert in artillery. I absolutely believe what he said is true. So he nodded and asked, "Comrade bofsky, when do you think it is appropriate for us to start shelling the enemy?" Povsky thought for a moment, and then replied, "I think it will be at least an hour after the friendly artillery attack, when the attention of the German army will be attracted to the East, we will surprise the enemy at this time, which will surely lead them into a short period of chaos. In this way, I don't think they can draw much artillery, Stop and shoot at our tank troops rushing to the city. "“ Well, comrade povsky, since you say so, do as you say. " Povsky raised his hand and looked at his watch. Then he asked me, "Comrade commander, I'm going to go back to the headquarters and give orders to the Artillery Corps and the rocket battalion. Will you allow me to leave?"“ Go, go. " I waved to him and finally told him, "please call me before the shelling starts." Watching povsky leave, some dejected scheliujin came up to me and asked carefully, "Comrade commander, I don't know what we started to bombard the German army?"“ It's going to be an hour at the fastest. " After answering his question, I called all the commanders to me and said, "well, comrades, it's time for you to go back to your respective units. Although the shelling will not start for some time, you should make the tanks and trucks warm up during this period, and then you can quickly attack the enemy's defensive positions after the shelling starts. " After listening to my orders, the commanders raised their hands to salute me, and then left the observation post, rushing back to their troops one after another to arrange the attack. After an hour and a half, the eastern friendly shelling on the enemy of fativ finally stopped. The whole battlefield suddenly became silent, but it lasted only a few minutes, and the silence was broken by the roar of guns behind me. This is bofsky's artillery, the German position in the west of the city began shelling.