After receiving the order from veradelle, the chief of staff of the tank brigade immediately sent a messenger, riding a motorcycle to inform the cavalry vanguard regiment who was fighting with the German army.
The signalman who sent the herald managed to find a wounded major and informed him of the evacuation order. But at the moment, the organizational structure of the vanguard regiment is in complete disorder. The commander can't find the battalion, and the battalion can't find the company. Even if the major wanted to report the order to the commander, he couldn't find anyone.
Seeing the bombers flying over the battlefield, the major knows that if he doesn't withdraw, all the people in the regiment will be here. So he gritted his teeth, with dozens of cavalry around him, followed by the messenger to leave the battlefield.
When the German aviation division was ordered to bomb the ground, it immediately lowered its altitude and began to dive to the ground. As the air bombs fell from the sky, the German tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and trucks on the road suffered. In the fierce explosion, the whole battlefield was filled with dust and fog, and the German army was in a mess.
At this time, the cavalry division commander and two other regiments arrived at the battlefield where they were being bombed. When the chief of staff of the brigade saw that the cavalry division commander was coming, he immediately left his tank and went forward to meet him.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the cavalry division commander saw him, he immediately turned over and dismounted, rushed to him, grabbed his collar, and said: "Comrade commander, I've come to ask you, where is my leader group? Where is my vanguard? "
Instead of struggling, the chief of staff of the brigade pointed to the exploding battlefield and explained, "I've sent the signalmen to inform them to withdraw, but I still didn't have time."
"More than 2000 people." The cavalry division commander loosened his grip on the collar of the chief of staff of the brigade, looked at the smoke in the distance, and said bitterly, "it's all over. No one has run out!"
As soon as his words were finished, the chief of staff of the brigade suddenly pointed to the distance and exclaimed in surprise: "Comrade division commander, look, there are cavalry coming towards us over there."
The cavalry division commander looked in the direction of his fingers and saw that more than 100 cavalry soldiers were coming towards him at the fastest speed. Seeing this situation, the division commander really had mixed feelings. His troops were really full of disasters today. In the morning, when they launched an attack on the German peripheral positions to the west of farstev, they were attacked by German tanks, resulting in nearly one third of casualties. But now, after the fierce battle of the German army, only such a few people have withdrawn.
The major in charge of the team saw that his division commander was here, so he raced to him. Five or six meters apart, the major stopped the reins, then threw the reins off the horse, walked up to the teacher, raised his uninjured left hand and saluted him: "Comrade teacher, we are back!"
The cavalry division commander took a look at the major first, then looked at the cavalry who were crowded behind, and then asked without expression, "where is your commander?"
The major bowed his head and answered in a low voice, "before the bombing, we broke up with the commander. After receiving the evacuation order, although I sent someone to look for the commander and wanted to convey the order to him, it was a pity that I never found his person. Seeing that the plane began to bomb, in order to avoid greater losses, I led the soldiers around me to withdraw. "
The cavalry division commander waved to the major and ordered, "come back."
With a salute, the major turned around and led the surviving officers and men into the queue.
The cavalry division commander asked the brigade chief of staff with red eyes: "Comrade commander, I don't understand. Who arranged the bombing? Why did he let the air force blow up even our own people, regardless of what happened? "
The chief of staff gave another wry smile and said, "it is said that the order of bombing was given by the commander of the front army himself. He intends to intercept as many German troops as possible in fativ so that we can launch a war of annihilation against them. After receiving the notice, I immediately sent someone to inform the head of the vanguard regiment, hoping that he could take his troops down as soon as possible, so as not to be accidentally bombed by our bombers. But man is not as good as nature. My signalman didn't find the commander at all on the battlefield, so the order of retreat didn't go on in time. "
Just when the cavalry division commander and the tank brigade chief of staff were talking about the sudden bombing, a German division commander on the way to retreat, seeing that his troops had been heavily bombed by the Soviet army and were in a mess on the road, gave a direct order to speed up the southward advance. He tried to let tanks and armored vehicles, relying on their own advantages of thick armor, rush through the firepower circle of Soviet bombers at the fastest speed and escape to safety as soon as possible.
But to his surprise, the bombed German army was already in chaos. The road did not work, the bridge on the only way was broken again, and the German tanks turned to the roadside forest, trying to open up a way to escape in the forest. Seeing the tanks hiding in the roadside forest, the remaining armored cars, self-propelled guns and trucks follow behind the tanks, hoping that the tanks in front can open up a passable road for them in the forest.
Because our army holds the air supremacy of the battlefield, and the German army in chaos has no air defense firepower, our bombers can attack the German infantry and technical equipment on the ground like practicing shooting.
Although the front armor of the German Tiger tank is thick, the armor on the top of the tank is helpless when facing the bombs dropped from the air. Tiger tanks, which once swaggered on the battlefield, were quickly turned into piles of burning scrap iron under the bombing of our military aircraft.
The German army was not willing to wait for death. Some machine gunners set up their machine guns and fired at the air in an attempt to shoot down our bombers and cover the transfer of troops. If there were only a few bombers, the enemy's attempt might succeed. But now there are dozens of bombers in the air, diving and bombing in turn. These anti-aircraft firepower soon became the focus of bombers. After being hit by more than a dozen bombs and thousands of airborne machine gun bullets, these enemies were wiped out.
With the coming of night, our planes could not fly away from the battlefield. The German division commander saw that in addition to the craters, there were countless burning tanks, armored vehicles, trucks and artillery, blocking the road to death. In addition, the scouts came back to report that all the bridges had been destroyed and could not move on, so he had to order the troops to return to fativ.
When the bombers carried out air raids on the German army on the road, rokosovsky left my headquarters and went back to the front army headquarters in Kiev. Before he left, he mentioned to me again what he had just said: "Rita, after the destruction of the enemy of fativ, I think vatukin will withdraw your army for rest. Even if you don't go to my Belarusian front army, the possibility of returning to the first front army of Ukraine is very small. Because other front forces are also in urgent need of troops, maybe you will be transferred to the front forces along the Baltic Sea. Therefore, you must consider this matter carefully! "
Although I was a little excited when rokosovsky first proposed this matter to me, I couldn't agree too readily in front of so many subordinates. There are only two of us at the moment, so I have to give him an accurate answer: "Comrade General, I was your subordinate during the Moscow defense war. If possible, I still hope to return to your command and accept your command. "
There was a happy smile on rokosovsky's face when he heard my reply. He nodded, laughed and said, "Rita, I knew you'd answer me that way. After the battle, contact me again, and then you and your troops can be determined. " Then he reached out to me and said, "well, we'll see you now. I hope we'll see you soon."
Holding his right hand in both hands, I gently shook it twice and politely said, "Comrade General, have a nice trip. See you later!"
When rokosovsky left, I went back to the headquarters. Berey looked out the door, then came close to me and asked in a low voice, "Comrade commander, general rokosovsky mentioned that to you again?"
Although he didn't say it clearly, I knew in my heart that what he said was whether he was willing to go to the Belarusian front army, so I nodded, indicating that rokosovsky had mentioned it to me again.
When bielei saw me nodding, he immediately asked anxiously, "Comrade commander, how do you reply to him? You are now a member of the first front army of Ukraine. If you suddenly proposed to go to another front army, what would general vatukin think? You know, he has a good relationship with the Supreme Commander himself. If he complains about you when he comes to Moscow, it will have a great influence on your future. "
I first looked around and saw that all the people were far away from us except akhromeyev. So I said boldly to bere, "general bere, after such a long time of fighting, our group army has been seriously reduced, especially the divisions in the city of Zhitomir. Almost all of them were killed or injured, We are no longer able to take part in the next battle. Our superiors will certainly send us to the rear for rest. "
"Judging from the current situation," said berey, after listening to me, he unexpectedly analyzed the situation to me: "even if our group army is transferred to the rear for rest, it will only take half a month to a month at most, and then it will be transferred to the next stage of fighting, so I don't think it's necessary to go to the Belarusian front army."
I couldn't help laughing bitterly at berey's view, saying in my heart: if it wasn't for me, the group army would have been transferred to the front army along the Baltic coast by the headquarters long after the liberation of Kharkov, to take part in the battle to liberate the Baltic coastal countries. It would not have been possible to fight such a tough battle with the German army here in Zhitomir.
However, I can only think about these words in my heart and can never say them. In order to persuade bere, I frowned and thought for a long time. Then I said to him, "general bere, I come to ask you, if we eliminate the enemy of fastif and liberate the important cities on the right bank of the Dnieper River, such as uman, venica and berkichev, will our army launch a new offensive campaign in a short time?"
Don't think about it, then shake your head and answer, "I don't think so. After all, in the liberation of Kiev and the subsequent battles, not only the troops were seriously reduced, but also the consumption of weapons and ammunition was astonishing. If we want to launch a new attack on the enemy after the end of this campaign, we must replenish a large number of troops and accumulate ammunition before we can carry out it. I estimate it will take at least a month to prepare. "
"Yes, general berey, your analysis is correct." Seeing that bere was already thinking about the problem according to my thinking, I went on to say, "I expect that our group army will be transferred to the rear for rest after the enemy retreats in the direction of Zhitomir at the latest. When we have finished our recuperation, the whole campaign will come to an end, and the supreme command will certainly not let us, such a highly meritorious army, idle and idle, and then send us to the place where the fighting is most intense. And this place, according to my analysis, may be the Baltic Sea area. "
"The Baltic region?" When bielei heard the place name I mentioned, he couldn't help frowning and thinking. After a while, he said carefully, "Comrade commander, do you mean that as long as our group army is transferred back to rest, there will be very little chance of returning to the right bank of the Dnieper River?"“ Yes, general berey, that's how it is. " When I saw that berey's tone was loose, I quickly struck while the iron was hot and said, "instead of being transferred to the front army along the Baltic Sea and led by an unfamiliar superior, I'd better go directly to the front army of Belarus and get along better with the familiar general rokosovsky."“ Comrade commander, perhaps you are right. " After hearing this, berey nodded thoughtfully: "instead of going to the troops that are not familiar with his superiors and colleagues all the time, it's better to go directly to general rokosovsky's Belarusian front army. At least we are familiar with his commanding style." After discussing the future of the troops, I asked akhromeyev, "Comrade major, what's the situation of the tank brigade and cavalry division? Are they blocking the enemy?"“ Report to commander, "ahlomeyev came up to me with a war report and said," a pioneer regiment of the cavalry division was mistakenly bombed in the bombing of our army and almost completely destroyed. As all the bridges on the road of retreat have been destroyed by our army, the remaining words have given up the plan of southward retreat and returned to fativ. "“ Has the German Panzer Division been intercepted As soon as akhromeyev finished speaking, bere couldn't wait to ask“ No, "said akhromeyev, shaking his head with regret." as the armored division can't play a very important role in the city's street fighting, the German armored division will be the first to withdraw from fastif. Most of the armored forces were evacuated long before our tank brigades arrived and destroyed the bridge. Only the 82nd, 198th and 75th infantry divisions were surrounded by our army in the fastif area. "