Chapter 1385

The German army not only attacked the position of the Lukin division in the east of the city, but also constantly sent out infantry, under the cover of tanks, to attack the defense area of the sherekin division in the north of the city, in an attempt to recover their lost position at one stroke.

Seeing that all three sides of the city were in full swing, Batov sighed with relief and said to me, "Comrade oshanina, it seems that you have guessed it right. In order to regain their lost positions, the German army is madly fighting back against our army. If it was in the past, in order to beat back their attack, we may pay a great price. But today's situation is different. Our artillery can use artillery fire to intercept the enemy in attack and give them a lot of damage. When their defeated soldiers barely rush to our positions, our soldiers in the trenches can easily defeat them. "

I beamed at him and said, "general Batov, you're a great credit to our troops for playing so well."

"My credit is the greatest?" When he heard my praise, Batov was a little embarrassed. He said with a dry smile, "you are always in charge of commanding the army. I don't seem to have done anything. Where do you start?"

"If you didn't have the shells you lent us," I said with deep feeling, listening to the rumble of artillery from outside the headquarters, "it is estimated that our artillery can only watch the infantry soldiers fighting repeatedly with the enemy in the position at such a time, but can't do anything about it."

After I finished, Batov said politely, "we are all friendly forces. We should have helped each other, let alone thousands of shells. You just want to borrow some divisions from me..."

As for Batov's polite remarks, I'll just listen to them and never take them seriously. Don't ask him to borrow a few divisions, even if he borrows a few regiments, he'll have to push back. After staring at the map for a moment, I raised my head and asked Batov, "general Batov, do you think there is any conspiracy for the other two German armored divisions to withdraw from kalinkovich without fighting?"

"There will be some conspiracy." When I finished, Batov waved his hand and said with disapproval: "I think the German armored division retreated. There are two voices: our air raid two days ago must have scared the enemy. They are deeply afraid that if they let the armored forces stay in front, they will repeat the mistakes of artillery. So the German commander ordered them to retreat. This is one of them. I think another possibility is that after continuous fighting, the German armored division should have consumed almost all the ammunition and fuel, so it chose to retreat, leaving only the infantry division to deal with us. "

Akhromeyev walked up to Batov and said politely, "Comrade General, your liaison officer has called and said that there is something important to report to you."

"My liaison officer?" After repeating akhromeyev's words, Batov suddenly remembered that he had indeed sent liaison personnel to two divisions of the 11th group army in order to cooperate in combat. He stood up and walked quickly towards the telephone not far away.

When I saw Batov answering the phone, I asked akhromeyev in a low voice, "major, do you know if the other party has anything to ask for general Batov?"

"I don't know." Akhromeyev shook his head and answered in a low voice: "although the other side didn't say anything, I think something serious must have happened from his worried tone."

The troops of the 11th group army are setting up defenses in the west of the city. What major event can we encounter? With this question, I watched Batov finish the call quietly. As soon as he came back to me, I couldn't wait to ask, "general Batov, what's the matter?"

"The Scouts of the 11th group army found a large number of signs of German troops gathering in the west of the city," Batov replied solemnly. "According to this situation, the two division commanders judged that the enemy might have signs of breaking through, so they asked us what to do? Is it to fortify and defend, or to take the initiative to attack and completely disrupt the German deployment? "

I heard that there were signs of German troops gathering in the west of the city. My first thought was that the Germans were going to run. Considering that the two divisions came from the North nonstop, it is estimated that they did not carry any heavy weapons. If the German army used tanks to open the way in front of them when breaking through the encirclement, the two divisions could not keep them at all. Thinking of this, I quickly called akhromeyev to him and asked him, "major, where is our tank battalion?"

"In the defense area of general Xie Liujin in the north of the city, they received the task of intercepting with artillery fire when the enemy launched an impact on our army's position..."

Before akhromeyev finished speaking, I raised my hand to interrupt him and said, "major, the two divisions in the West are not carrying any heavy weapons because of the long-distance attack. If the German troops break through the encirclement under the cover of tanks, they will not be able to stop it at all. "

"What shall we do?" Asked akhromeyev nervously.

"Immediately move the tank battalion to the west of the city to cooperate with the friendly forces in defense." After I gave this order, I told akhromeyev, "get me captain shamrih's phone immediately. I want to talk to him in person."

The call to the tank battalion was soon connected. I picked up the phone and said, "Captain, the situation in the west of the city is a little bad. I need you to rush to support me immediately. Is there a problem?"

As a rule, when I ask such a question, all my subordinates will answer it firmly: "no problem, I promise to finish the task!" Who knows that after half a day's wheezing, shamrih stammered, "Comrade commander, we may not be able to complete this task."

"Why?" I almost jumped out of my seat when I heard shamrih's reply. I knew in my heart that shamrih was not a man who was afraid of death. There must be his reason for his saying so, so I asked patiently, "Comrade captain, can you tell me your reason?"

"Comrade commander," after a moment's silence, shamrih clearly reported to me, "after two days of fighting, our battalion's tanks are now seriously short of ammunition and fuel. Even if we start now, we will run out of fuel before we reach the west of the city. But please rest assured that I have sent the tanker back to zlobin to replenish fuel. As soon as the tanker comes back, we can move on again. "

"When will your tanker be back?" I asked discontentedly.

"It's hard to say. Maybe I'll be back at seven or eight in the morning. If I'm a little later, I should be able to arrive at noon." Shamrih assured me, "Comrade commander, I assure you that as soon as the tanker arrives and our tanks are refueled, we will attack the enemy immediately."

Seeing that the tank battalion could not be expected, I had to turn my attention to major shuklin's self-propelled artillery regiment. I know that they are now stationed in the east of the city, so without akhromeyev's help, they directly called the regiment.

The chief of staff of the regiment answered the phone. After hearing my voice, he said apologetically, "I'm sorry, comrade commander, our commander is not in the headquarters."

"Where is he going?" See oneself run into a Wall twice in a row, my mood becomes a little bit bad, "how can I contact him?"

"Two guns of the first battalion had some problems, and the mechanical maintenance personnel were unable to solve the problem, so they asked the head of the regiment to deal with them in person." The chief of staff said respectfully, "Comrade commander, I don't know when he will be back. If you have something urgent, you can tell me. I will help you deal with what I can do immediately; If it is something beyond my ability, I will report it to the commander immediately after he comes back. "

"Well, comrade chief of staff." I think since the other party is the chief of staff of the regiment, many things should be clear, and it's the same for me to deploy tasks to him. Before giving the order, I would like to ask, "how about your regiment's ammunition and fuel?"

"Before we came here, the commander organized a lot of trucks to transport fuel and ammunition to follow our regiment." The chief of staff of the regiment reported to me that "in this way, our regiment can replenish fuel and ammunition at any time during the fighting to ensure that the mobility of the troops will not be affected."

"Very good, comrade chief of staff. This is very good." The chief of staff's words reminded me that the self-propelled artillery corps had stopped to let the accompanying oil tank trucks refuel them on the first day of fighting. If shuklin could guarantee the logistic supply of the troops at any time, it would be most appropriate to send them to the west of the city for reinforcement. I quickly went straight to the theme and issued orders to him: "now the west of the city is in urgent need of reinforcement. I intend to transfer your regiment to assist the defense of the friendly forces."

When the chief of staff heard my order, he was silent for a moment. Just when I thought that they would also seek reasons from shamrih to refuse these tasks, the chief of staff of the regiment suddenly asked, "Comrade commander, when our regiment arrives in the west of the city, where should we go to accept orders?"

What he said reminds me that after all, the troops over there are not under my command. I don't know the commanders of the troops at all. If the self-propelled guns are used rashly, it may be counterproductive. When I was hesitating whether to cancel the operation for the self-propelled artillery regiment, I heard Batov ask: "Comrade oshanina, if you want to cooperate with the troops of the 11th group army, it is estimated that you need to send liaison officers in the self-propelled artillery regiment."

"You are quite right." As for Batov's proposal, I immediately followed suit: "I'll send a liaison officer to take the self-propelled artillery regiment to the west of the city. Remember to call the liaison officer you sent first and ask him to take care of it. "

The choice of liaison officer is very easy. I asked ahlomeyev to arrange a staff officer to go to the self-propelled artillery regiment as liaison officer and take them from the north of the city to the west of the city to support the troops of the 11th group army.

Soon after the liaison officer was dispatched, shuklin led his self-propelled artillery regiment around the north of the city to the west, but strengthened the firepower of the 11th army. But before they got to the west of the city, Batov's liaison officer sent a bad news: "the German army has begun to break through!"

When akhromeyev reported this to us, Batov and I looked at each other, eyes full of surprise. Because the German army's behavior is really abnormal. At the moment, their troops are engaged in fierce battles with our army in the north, East and south directions of the city. Now there are enough troops to break through the encirclement to the West.

"These Germans are crazy." Batov shook his head and said: "it's dozens of kilometers from here to kalinkovich. Except for a few areas where there are forests, the rest are plain with a clear view. It's no different for the German army to retreat westward without air cover and to die. Our artillery and air force will be able to exhaust the German forces exposed in the wilderness. "

According to the intensity of the battle, I judged that the German army fighting outside the city should be about two divisions, and it was the infantry division that suffered heavy losses under our constant attacks. However, there is only one division stationed in the city. It seems unreasonable to use two divisions to cover the withdrawal of one division. But now is not the time to consider these problems. I called ahlomeyev to him and told him: "major, get in touch with major shuklin immediately. He told him that if by the time their regiment arrived in the west of the city, the German army had made a successful breakthrough, they must immediately bombard the retreating enemy with artillery fire. Do you understand? "“ I see, comrade commander. " Akhromeyev replied loudly, "I will immediately convey your instructions to major shuklin." In the following time, while waiting for the news from the west of the city, I stared at the map and thought carefully about the target of the German army's breakout in the dark. After watching for a long time, I didn't think of a reason, so I had to look up and ask Batov standing beside me, "general Batov, do you think the Germans have any conspiracy to break through at such a time?" Bartov thought about it, then shook his head and denied my guess: "I don't think it's possible. According to our reconnaissance, except for the German troops surrounded by us, the rest of the troops have retreated to kalinkovich. I think the reason why the Germans chose to break through at this time is that they saw that the city was surrounded by our army, and knew that if they persisted, they would not be able to escape the end of the whole army. Therefore, they were desperate to break through to the west, trying to join their main forces as soon as possible. " When Batov and I were studying the real target of the German army's breakthrough, akhromeyev, who had just received a phone call, suddenly came up to us and said in a loud voice: "two comrades, the situation is not good. The German troops, under the cover of tanks, cut through two directions of the 11th army, and now they have retreated westward. " After hearing akhromeyev's words, Batov and I could not help but exclaim with one voice: "what, the defense line of the 11th group army was broken by the German army?"