Since the battle in Kursk, I have not conducted large-scale battles once or twice, but I have never been as tense as I am today. The reason is that what kirilov and chisjakov said to me played a role. Their words made me see a golden road in front of me, so that I became worried about gain and loss. It was not until bezikov told me that the battle was on time that my mind was barely at peace.
Because the troops in the east of the city adopt the tactics of sneak attack, the troops carrying out the strong attack are in the east of the city, which is more than ten or twenty kilometers away from our headquarters. In other words, as long as we stay in the headquarters, we can't hear the movement of the battle at all. The whole process of the battle can only be understood through the reports of our division commanders.
As the battle has just begun, it will take some time for each division to receive the battle report. I just use this spare time to think about my future. The more I think about it, the more I feel that what kirilov and chisjakov said is not groundless. After all, when Zhukov assigned us two flying regiments, we can see the clue. Besides the units of the front army, who has heard that the group army can also be equipped with air forces.
I remember that in the post of later generations, I read that if you want to be a marshal, the first thing is that your location must be the focus of the whole battlefield. Such a place, on the one hand, has ample opportunities for you to show your talents; on the other hand, such a place will become the focus of the Supreme Commander himself, so that every victory can be known by Comrade Stalin for the first time. Only the kind of people that Stalin paid attention to would have more room for improvement.
Secondly, we should take part in several decisive battles that determine the victory or defeat of the patriotic war. The decisive battles can be called: the battle of Moscow, the battle of Stalingrad and the battle of Kursk. The Moscow defense war was the first tragic defeat of Germany; After the battle of Stalingrad, the German army never won a strategic victory; The battle of Kursk was the last strategic attack of the German army. Since then, the German army began to decline.
At the beginning of the battle of Moscow, although I was only a humble staff officer in the headquarters of the Western Front Army, by the end of the battle, I had become the division commander of the eighth division of the close guard infantry with my own ability. If he had not been demoted because of the massacre of prisoners of war, he would have been a deputy commander of the group army in the defense war of Stalingrad.
In the battle of Stalingrad, I led a division to stick to the mamayev post, resisted numerous German attacks, successfully stopped the German army from rushing to the port, and ensured that the connection between the city and the other side of the Volga River was not interrupted. So at the end of the campaign, I was promoted to commander of the 79th infantry.
When the battle of Kursk broke out, I took the place of chisjakov, who was injured in a car accident, as the commander of the sixth group army. My team played well throughout the campaign. Especially in the conquest of bergorod and Kharkov, my troops were the first to rush into the city. Although the Supreme Commander took all the credit for recovering the city on konev, as a concrete executor, I believe that the Supreme Commander himself knows this well.
There are some things that I don't think I have paid attention to, but after my deliberation, I am surprised to find that if my performance in this small campaign is satisfactory to the supreme command, there may be a position of commander of the front army waiting for me. As long as I became the commander of the front army, my rank might rise from lieutenant general to general, or even become the first female marshal of the Soviet Union, as Zhukov joked.
I was so paranoid that I didn't even hear when bzikov reported to me. Kirilov, who was sitting next to me, saw that I was staring at the map in front of me and was giggling all the time. He grabbed my arm and shook it a few times. He called me twice: "Rita! Rita
Kirilov's cry woke me from my meditation. I turned to look at kirilov and asked, "Comrade military commissar, what can I do for you?"
Seeing me like this, kirilov laughed, pointed to bezikov standing in front of me with his hand, and said, "I'm not looking for you. It's the chief of staff who reports the current situation of the war to you."
When I heard kirilov say that, I laughed sheepishly. Then I looked up and asked bzikov, "chief of staff, what's the situation?"
"The night attack in the east of the city went very smoothly." Bezikov handed me a piece of paper in his hand and said: "at present, the 51st division of the guards has successfully won another commanding height of the enemy. However, the 67th and 71st divisions of the guards fought with the enemy on the high ground. It is estimated that it will take some time to win these two commanding heights. "
After reading the contents of the paper quickly, I told bzikov: "chief of staff, call major general baksov and Colonel babashin, and order them to send reserves immediately to support the troops in fierce fighting." After I finished speaking, I said in a voice that only I could hear, "what's the matter with these two division commanders? They thought that they would just send a company to carry out the night attack mission, but they didn't even care. Seeing their own troops in a bitter battle, they didn't know to send troops to reinforce them."
"Yes, I'll call the two teachers immediately and order them to send the reserve team to reinforce." Bzikov took out his book and wrote down my orders.
"How are the troops in the west of the city?" Thinking that it's too far away from the west of the city, I can't hear what's going on there at all, so I'm very uneasy. So as soon as I saw that bezikov had finished, I asked, "do they have the latest war report?"
"Yes," bzikov said, taking another piece of paper in his hand, "the 52nd and 90th divisions of the guards are attacking kalinkovic's defenders under the cover of tanks."
After reading these two sentences, he put the paper in front of me. I glanced at the paper in front of me, then looked up at bezikov, who was standing upright, and asked strangely, "why is the battle report of the garrison in the east of the city so concise?"
"Yes, comrade commander." Bezikov replied respectfully: "the telegrams sent by two generals, nikolasov and Chernoff, are so concise. They only mentioned that their troops were attacking the enemy's simple positions under the cover of tanks. They did not report on the situation on the battlefield or the results they had achieved. "
"What about commander Lukin's 375TH infantry division?" After zikov finished, I immediately asked, "why didn't he send a telegram? Is there something unexpected?"
"I don't think so." Bezikov said in an uncertain tone: "after all, our army has an advantage near kalinkovich. Under our attack, the enemy has no fighting power at all. "
"Comrade chief of staff," as this campaign is related to my future, I dare not take it lightly, so I said to bzikov in a stern tone, "immediately send a report to lieutenant colonel Lukin to find out what happened there, and why he did not take part in the attack on kalinkovich?"
Ten minutes later, bzikov came back to me with Lukin's call. From his frosty face, I knew something important had happened. As soon as he stood in front of me, I asked solemnly, "Comrade chief of staff, is there something serious going on with Lieutenant Colonel Lu Jin?"
"Comrade commander, your judgment is correct." Bezikov handed me the message in his hand, and said: "the reason why commander Lukin's troops didn't take part in tonight's attack is because there was an accident before the battle started."
"What accident?" Before I picked up the message to see exactly what was going on, the nearby chisgakov could not wait to ask.
"According to lieutenant colonel Lukin's report." On hearing chisjakov's question, bzikov turned to him and answered truthfully: "five minutes before the attack, they accidentally found a small group of German troops behind them. He couldn't report to us in time because we gave orders to keep radio silent. He sent out a battalion of troops to get rid of the enemy. However, when the battle started, he found that it was only the German vanguard who exchanged fire with our army, and there was at least one regiment behind. In order to prevent the troops in the west of the city from being taken back by the enemy, he left one regiment behind to stick to the attack starting position, and the remaining two regiments turned around to deal with the sudden emergence of German troops. "
"At ten o'clock, why didn't lieutenant colonel Lukin report the situation?" After listening to bzikov's report, I was filled with anger at Lukin's old subordinate: "instead, I reported to us that the army had launched an attack on kalinkovic on schedule?"
Seeing that I was angry, bzikov and chisgakov looked at each other, but no one said anything. They just happened to turn their eyes to kirilov, who seemed to want him to persuade me.
When kirilov saw that both of them were looking at him, he immediately understood each other's meaning. He nodded and said to me, "Rita, don't worry. Although Lt. Col. Lu Jin did not report the situation of the enemy found in their rear to us in time, it was his mistake. However, it is commendable that he can take the initiative to command the troops to stop the unknown German troops and ensure that the friendly forces can launch attacks according to the original plan when he is unable to ask us for instructions. "
Although I was a little dissatisfied with Lukin, I didn't intend to deal with him. When I heard kirilov say that, I said, "where did this enemy come from?"
As soon as my words came out, chisgakov, kirilov and bzikov crowded over. The four of us put our heads together and looked at the map in front of us, trying to figure out where these enemies came from as soon as possible.
After watching for a while, chisgakov first said, "Comrade commander, you see, moziri is on the right bank of the pripyaji River, while kalinkovich is on the left bank. Could it be that moziri's enemies found that our army was going to launch an attack on kalinkovic, so they quietly came up from behind our army and prepared to cooperate with the defenders in the city to severely damage or destroy our attacking troops? "
I carefully looked at the two cities on both sides of the pripyaki River, and felt that chisgakov's analysis was very reasonable, so I nodded and said, "that's right. The German army has no solid fortifications in the west of kalinkovich. It will certainly not be able to withstand our fierce attack. But if the German forces from puzilli attack from the rear of our army, our forces in the west of the city may suffer huge losses, which will lead to the failure of our attack plan. "
"Comrade commander, what should we do now?" After finding out where the enemy came from, chisjakov asked me solemnly: "if we need to send troops to reinforce us, first, we have only a limited number of troops that we can use, and only the sherekin division can use them; Second, the distance is too far. Before the reinforcements arrive, the enemy from moziri may have broken through the defense of lieutenant colonel Lukin and exchanged fire with the other two divisions. " Don't say that I have only one division of major general Xie Liujin in my hands now. Even if there are four or five divisions, it's not easy for me to drive ten or twenty kilometers overnight. If so many troops are mobilized in the dark, the slightest carelessness will lead to chaos. It seems that we can only think of other ways to solve the current problems. I stare at the map in front of me, tapping my fingers gently on the table, trying to figure out how to deal with it. Although chisjakov and bezikov were very anxious, no one dared to speak casually for fear of interrupting my train of thought. If it had been yesterday, I might have ordered the troops in the east of the city to stop attacking, to monitor the enemy of kalinkovich with the strength of one division, and to deal with the enemy from moziri with the strength of two divisions. But now that I have guessed the intention of the supreme command to let me direct this attack, I dare not take it lightly any more. I must take this campaign seriously“ Comrade commander, have you thought about it? " Maybe it was because I didn't respond for a long time. Bezikov was a little upset. He asked: "should we let the troops in the east of the city temporarily stop attacking kalinkovic? Otherwise, they will be attacked by the German army from moziri. " Bezikov mentioned moziri again, which made me think of a good way immediately. "Chief of staff, get me through to the headquarters of the 61st army immediately. I want to talk to general belov," he said At my command, bzikov frowned and seemed to want to say something. But his mouth opened. Before he could speak, he immediately guessed where I was going to call and readily agreed, "OK, comrade commander, I'll call the 61st army headquarters immediately."