Chapter 1379

After less than an hour, I could not see the battle going on when I stood on the bell tower of the church. I could only know that the battle was still going on fiercely according to the distant rumble of guns and the smoke rising into the air.

I went back to my own headquarters and learned about the progress of the fighting according to the telegrams from the divisions.

Through the telegram that akhromeyev put in front of me, I know that the 51st and 89th guard divisions of sheijerikov and sheiliujin have advanced 15 kilometers, broken through the German defense line in the forest area of the southwest line of zhylobin, occupied a number of villages and settlements, and are now cleaning up the remnant enemy.

However, the 52nd guard division and the 375TH infantry division, under the cover of the tank battalion and the self-propelled artillery regiment, are continuing to advance towards the southwest. Because the enemy has not formed a decent resistance, they are only one step away from the two larger settlements guarded by the German army.

Seeing such war reports, I nodded silently, then raised my head to akhromeyev and said, "from the current situation, the German resistance is very weak, so the progress of the divisions is very fast."

Akhromeyev replied with a smile, "yes, comrade commander. The 52nd guards and the 375TH infantry division are now 23 kilometers away from zhylobin. If our troops can maintain this speed of attack, we will be able to restore the original posture of the 65th group army the day after tomorrow. "

I was still immersed in the joy of the smooth progress of the troops. When I heard akhromeyev's advance of Batov's troops, my face immediately darkened. You should know that Batov's troops were attacked by the enemy and lost their helmets and armor when victory was in sight.

I stared at the map for a moment, then frowned and asked akhromeyev, "major, what is the distance between the two echelons at present?" When the troops launched a counter offensive, for convenience, akhromeyev and I called the 51st and 89th divisions of the guards the first echelon, while the other two divisions were the second echelon.

When akhromeyev heard my question, he probably realized the seriousness of the problem. After a pause, he replied, "the first echelon is now 15 kilometers away from the city, eight kilometers away from the second echelon in front of him."

"Send a message to the two teachers, nikolasov and Lukin, to slow down their attack." After I said this, I saw ahlomeyev's face in surprise, and added: "because of the speed of advance, now the two echelons are out of touch. If the German army carries out a counterattack, they may be divided and surrounded."

"It's impossible, isn't it?" For me, akhromeyev said a little inconceivably: "in the face of our fierce offensive, the Germans should not be able to withstand it."

"Major, please don't take the German as a fool. If they are so vulnerable, after two years of fighting, they should have been driven out of the country by us." I said solemnly: "as a commander, we should have a clear understanding of the whole war situation. We should not overestimate ourselves or underestimate our enemies. We have to know that the enemy has seven divisions, including two armored divisions, while we have only four infantry divisions participating in the counter offensive. "

"But, comrade commander." Akhromeyev reluctantly retorted: "our superiors sent us two divisions of the 11th army. As a result, our total strength increased to six divisions, and we are fully equipped to compete with the German army..."

"Comrade major, don't place the hope of victory on others." I criticized akhromeyev impolitely and said, "if we think that there are friendly forces cooperating with us from the flank, we will blindly rush forward. Once the enemy detours back to our flank and the friendly forces are not in place, have you ever thought about what will happen then?"

Akhromeyevton, who was criticized by me, blushed with shame when he said, "Comrade commander, it's my thoughtlessness. The main reason is that our troops are fighting so smoothly, so I can't help feeling a little bit flustered. "

"Well, major, stop talking." I don't want to blame akhromeyev too much. After all, he is one of my most effective subordinates, so I slowed down and said to him, "go and send the news quickly, let the second echelon slow down the attack speed. At the same time, the first echelon not only left a small number of troops to eliminate the enemy, but also continued to push forward and shorten the distance between them and the second echelon."

When akhromeyev went to the communication room to send a message, I received a phone call from Batov by accident. As soon as he opened his mouth, he first congratulated our department on its achievements in counterattack, and then said, "Comrade o'shanina, I have another good news to tell you."

When Batov said that he had good news to tell me, I couldn't help frowning and saying that your troops were all defeated by the Germans. What good news can you tell me? Do you still have the skill of turning a soldier into a soldier, and turn out tens of thousands of people to cooperate with our counter attack? But out of politeness, I asked flatly, "general Batov, I don't know what good news you have?"

"Well, comrade oshanina." Batov a little embarrassed to say: "my troops, in a few days ago, not because of negligence was repulsed by the German army?"

"Yes, comrade general, I know that." If his troops were not defeated by the German army, I think my troops would have to wait a few months before they could enter Belarus“ What does this have to do with your good news? "

"At present, the three divisions of our group army are rushing to svelogorsk at the fastest speed," Batov said with a little emotion. "They can launch an attack on the city at noon tomorrow as soon as possible, so as to make a complete retreat for the German army who rushed to zhelopin."

I found on the map what he said about svelogorsk, and found that the city was 60 kilometers southwest of zhylobin. If the city was in our hands, the German troops who rushed to zhylobin would be cut off. But as for where Batov found the troops, I was puzzled: "general Batov, I don't know the troops attacking the city. Where did you find them?"

"Where else? My troops, of course." In order to make me understand what happened, Batov was ready to explain: "the reason why my troops were defeated by the German army is not only the reduction of troops and excessive consumption of weapons and ammunition, but also because my main forces are concentrated on the left wing, while the German army attacked my weak right wing, resulting in the collapse of the whole defense line. But fortunately, my troops on the left have not lost much. Just now commander rokosovsky called and said that he would send troops from the 61st group army to take over the defense of our department in kalinkovich. In this way, I had mobile troops in my hands, so I ordered one of them to take the German back as fast as possible. "

Batov's words surprised me a little. I thought that the 65th group army was almost exhausted under the attack of the German army. I didn't expect that the main force of the group army was still there. I could even easily deploy three divisions to assist our army in fighting.

I calculated the distance between the second echelon and the city, and then said to Batov, "general Batov, my offensive troops are still more than 30 kilometers away from svelogorsk. Even if the German resistance is weak, it will take at least one day to get near the city."

"That's great." I don't know if Batov had thought about it long ago, or had a temporary idea. He said excitedly: "since the time for our two troops to arrive at svelogorsk is almost the same, it's not like a joint operation to seize the city together and make it the starting point for us to attack kalinkovich."

Although I don't know how the German troops are deployed in the city, I know in my heart that it's not easy to capture the city. The Germans have been operating in this area for more than two years, and they must have built a lot of fortifications. However, the number of tanks and cannons I can use at the moment is very small, which leads to the lack of offensive ability of the troops, Even if we besiege the city with Batov's troops, we won't win it in a short time.

"What do you think of my proposal?" Perhaps I haven't heard my reply for a long time. Batov asked anxiously, "Comrade oshanina, what do you think? You should always show your attitude."

I pondered for a moment, thinking that tomorrow, there should be new troops arriving, and even tanks or artillery arriving here, then our firepower output will be improved. Thinking of this, I said decisively, "general Batov, I agree with your proposal that we should discuss joint operations when our troops arrive at the approach of the city."

When I put down the phone, I saw akhromeyev standing by and asked casually, "major, have all the telegrams been sent?"

"Yes, comrade commander, the telegrams have been sent out." Akhromeyev asked me tentatively after saying this: "the phone call just now is from general Batov. What did he say?"

"What else can you say? Talk to me about joint operations." Anyway, akhromeyev is not an outsider. I pointed to the map and said to him, "major, come and see. General Batov said that he had dispatched troops near kalinkovich to the city, and that if our department continued to move forward, it would be here soon. He suggested to me that our two army groups should work together to seize this place and use it as the starting point for attacking kalinkovic. "

Akhromeyev tilted his head and looked at the place I pointed out to him. After a long time, he asked: "Comrade commander, the proposal of joint operations is good, but what I am worried about now is that our two army groups do not have any guns and tanks, so it may be very difficult to capture this city."

Seeing that akhromeyev's point of view coincided with mine, I nodded, and then said, "if we want to capture this city, we need a lot of artillery and tanks. Unfortunately, our heavy equipment is still in Smolensk, and we can't get by for a while. If we only use infantry to attack the city, in addition to increasing casualties, I am also worried that this battle will fall into a stalemate, so that the enemies of moziri and kalinkovic will have a breathing space. "

"Comrade commander, I am about to report this to you." As soon as I finished speaking, akhromeyev immediately went on to say, "our artillery troops have actually moved along the road to zhylobin since last night. If there is no accident, they will arrive here before noon tomorrow."

When I heard that the artillery would arrive soon, I could not help raising my eyebrows. Unexpectedly, I asked, "did general povsky say how many artillery will arrive here tomorrow?"“ Four close guard rocket battalions, two cannon regiments and one howitzer regiment. " Akhromeyev was very familiar with the data. Without looking at the Notepad, he directly said the data I was interested in: "because they were ordered to get here as soon as possible, they only carried one base ammunition. It will be at least a week before their ammunition supply returns to normal. "“ Why After listening to akhromeyev's words, I couldn't help frowning. If the artillery didn't have enough ammunition, I couldn't even compare with the infantry. So I asked discontentedly, "if the ammunition is not enough, what's the use of sending so many artillery here. Can I get in touch with general povsky? " Akhromeyev thought about it, and then replied, "povsky is already on the road. I have to try to send him a message to see if I can get in touch with him."“ Let's go. " I waved to akhromeyev and urged, "maybe his radio is on during the March, so that I can get in touch with him." When akhromeyev left, I suddenly remembered one thing, and felt as if I had thought of a simple problem as complicated. Since this is Batov's territory and he was able to provide us with tank fuel last time, he must be able to solve the problem of artillery shells. When I thought of this, I immediately picked up the phone from my desk and got through to Batov's headquarters. As soon as I heard someone talking in the microphone, I said straightforwardly: "Hello, I'm general oshanina, commander of the sixth group army of the guards. Please find general Batov. I have something important to discuss with him." Batov was very surprised that I called him shortly after the end of the call. He was surprised and asked, "Comrade oshanina, don't you know what's important about you?"“ Yes, general Batov, it's a very important thing. " Instead of beating around the bush with him, I asked frankly, "do you have enough shells in your hand?"“ Shells, what shells? " Bartov was confused by my mindless question. He asked, "what do you want these things for?"