Chapter 1413

Although the German troops from moziri knew that the city of kalinkovich had been lost, they did not retreat in a hurry. Instead, they concentrated all their strength and launched a fierce attack on the defense area of the Lukin division. They tried to make our defensive forces suffer heavy casualties by attacking, and they were unable to pursue them when they retreated.

When I received a telegram from Lukin, knowing that the German army had launched a crazy attack on their division's position, I saw through the enemy's attempt. I sneered twice with the telegram, and then told akhromeyev, "major, call commander Lukin back. He told him that the enemy was trying to withdraw quickly from the battlefield after inflicting heavy damage on our army. In order not to let the enemy escape back to moziri smoothly, they must delay the enemy at all costs and wait for the arrival of reinforcements. "

When akhromeyev went to send the news, I told bzikov: "chief of staff, urge the 52nd and 90th divisions of the guards, as well as the troops of the 11th group army in the north of the city, to quickly approach the LuKin department in the west of the city. And try to detour back to the enemy's rear and cut off their retreat. "

"Comrade commander, the remnant enemies in the city have not been completely eliminated," chisjakov carefully reminded me after listening to my orders and said, "what if the enemies who are tenacious in the corner see the emptiness in the north of the city and escape from here?"

I only thought about chisgakov's worries for a moment. Then I told him, "Comrade deputy commander, you should immediately call the three division commanders, Sergeant chejerikov, Sergeant baksov and sergeant babashin, and inform them to immediately deploy their troops and search for the enemy in the city. If we encounter enemies who refuse to surrender, we will resolutely eliminate them. "

Because the south of the city is Batov's army, I can only negotiate. So I picked up the phone, dialed Batov's headquarters and asked anxiously, "general Batov, can your troops still speed up the March?"

"Comrade oshanina," Batov replied with some tears and laughter when he heard my urging, "our troops have rushed to the west of the city as fast as possible. Five or six kilometers of road, soldiers carrying weapons and ammunition, at least take an hour to complete

After he said this, he worried that it would hurt my face and asked with concern, "is there something wrong?"

"Yes, general Batov." I did not intend to conceal the situation faced by Master Lu Jin, just as I said on the spot: "according to the feedback from the frontier, the Germans are planning to escape. In order to prevent them from being pursued by our army, they launched a preemptive attack in an attempt to make our army unable to pursue them because of heavy casualties, so that they could return to moziri calmly. "

When he heard me say this, Batov gave a cold snort, and then said, "now that they are here, they can't go back to moziri. Don't worry, comrade o'shanina. I will let our troops speed up their march, and the rest will support the troops under attack. "

I put down the phone, sat around and thought about it, though there were so many troops speeding up to the west of the city. However, it can not be ruled out that the German army would abandon the car to protect the commander, leaving a regiment of troops to feint at the defense area of Lukin division, while the main force took the opportunity to escape.

Thinking of this, I turned to kirilov and asked him, "Comrade military commissar, has our air force entered zhylobin?"

Kirilov thought about it, and then replied, "I find it a bit difficult for our air force to fully enter zhylobin. But there is a fighter squadron escorting me at the airport. If you want to use the air force, you can put them into combat. "

There are only four planes in a squadron. Although it is a little less, it is better than nothing against the German army which has no air supremacy. Thinking of this, I quickly nodded and said to kirilov, "Comrade military commissar, please call the airport in zhylobin and ask them to send all the fighters that can be used in the airport to the west of kalinkovich to support our ground combat."

"OK, no problem." Kirilov agreed to my request without hesitation: "I'll call the airport and ask them to send the air force immediately."

I calculated that although it will take half an hour for the air force to take off and get to the battlefield, it will be much faster than our ground forces.

Just as I was thinking, the phone in front of me suddenly rang. I thought it was bartov or belov, so I grabbed it, stuck it to my ear and said in a loud voice, "Hello, I'm oshanina. Where are you?"

"Is that Rita?" What came out of the receiver was not bartov's or belov's voice, but a familiar and deep voice.

Hearing this sound, I immediately jumped up from my seat, stood at attention and raised my chest, then said respectfully, "yes, I'm o'shanina. Hello, comrade Stalin

As soon as I spoke, the whole headquarters became silent. The staff who were talking with microphones also stopped talking and, like others, turned their eyes on me. They all want to find out what's important about Stalin's call at this time.

"Rita." Stalin said slowly in the microphone: "I just got a report from rokosovsky that your troops have occupied kalinkovich, right?"

I raised my hand, wiped the cold sweat from my forehead with my sleeve, and answered with a stiff head, "yes, comrade Stalin, the city of kalinkovich has now fallen into the hands of our army. I'm going to redeploy my forces to besiege moziri. "

"Although kalinkovic is a small city, it is a great victory for you to capture this kind of city in so much time." Stalin was pleased to hear me reply in a positive tone. He continued: "just a few days ago, I was angry because general Batov's troops were beaten to the ground by the German army. Unexpectedly, only a few days later, the whole war situation was reversed by you. Yes, you are

When I heard Stalin's praise, I was very excited, but I didn't know how to answer him. I had to hold the microphone and wait for his next instructions.

"I've just heard from you, Rita, that I'm going to mobilize my forces to besiege moziri." When Stalin said this, he stopped for a moment and seemed to be thinking about how to choose words and sentences: "how many days do you think you can take this city?"

Stalin's question makes me a little difficult. Originally, according to the current strength of our group army, as long as the ammunition is sufficient, it only takes one or two days at most to win a medium-sized city like moziri. But now, after continuous fighting, the army's ammunition consumption is huge, and it is unable to launch a large-scale offensive war until it is replenished. But it's not that I can't attack the city. If my superior gives me a death order and asks me to seize this city in a few days, I can still launch an attack, but I can only carry out the order by using the tactics of filling with human life.

"Rita, why don't you talk?" Stalin was a little worried when he heard that I didn't reply. He raised his voice and asked, "are you still there?"

"Yes, comrade Stalin," he said. "I'm still here."

"Since it's still there, why don't you talk?" After criticizing me, Stalin charged the question again: "if I order you to take moziri, how many days can you take this city?"

"Comrade Stalin, it's a bit hard to say." Although I know that Stalin is easier to speak than he was before the war, I still have a lack of confidence in mentioning the difficulties facing the army in front of him. So I replied with fear: "after continuous high-intensity operations, our army's ammunition consumption is very serious. The artillery, for example, was unable to take part in the offensive because all the shells were consumed. If we don't get artillery support when we attack moziri, then the siege forces will certainly pay a high price. "

"Pay a high price?" After repeating my last sentence, Stalin said with a sneer, "I don't know how high the price you said is?"

"Comrade Stalin," I said to Stalin in one breath, but I was not as nervous as I had just been. At this moment, when I heard Stalin's query, I replied calmly, "I deployed a division in the west of the city. In order to block the German army from moziri, after a day and night of fierce fighting, the casualties of the whole division have exceeded half. This is still in the case of defense. Without the support of heavy technical equipment, we have paid such a high price. If we still can't get artillery support when we launch an attack on moziri, the casualties of the troops may reach two-thirds or even higher. "

After listening to my explanation, Stalin unexpectedly did not get angry, but asked as usual: "when do you think it is most appropriate to launch an attack on the German army?"

"It will take at least three more days." After I said this, I was deeply afraid that Stalin did not know why I had to mention the three-day time limit, and specially added: "the ammunition stored in Smolensk of our army group will reach the moziri kalinkovich area in three days. As long as the artillery supply enough shells, we can launch a comprehensive attack on moziri and liberate the city from the enemy's clutches in the shortest time. "

"Well, since you say so, let's make this the deadline for attack." After I finished, Stalin said calmly, "there is one more thing I want to inform you. From now on, in addition to the 11th army, the 61st army of belov and the 65th army of Batov will be under your unified command for the time being. After seizing moziri, you will defend the area and prevent a possible German counterattack. "

Let me command the other two army groups. When I heard the news, I couldn't help losing my mind for a moment. I turned to look at kirilov and chisgakov next to me, and then replied decisively, "Comrade Stalin, please rest assured that as soon as our troops have replenished their ammunition, they will immediately attack moziri."

"Very good!" When Stalin finished the word, he hung up.

When I put down the receiver, I found that my vest was soaked with sweat. I sat back in my seat with my back against the wall and felt my strength drained. When I saw kirilov and chisgakov around, I knew they wanted to find out what had happened. But now I just felt lazy and didn't have the strength to open my mouth, so I waved my head slightly to them, indicating that they would not ask me for a moment.

Seeing my action, their faces couldn't help showing a disappointed expression, sighed gently, and then turned to continue to do the work I assigned them. Five or six minutes later, when I saw that my spirit had recovered, chisjakov and kirilov came to me again, and even bzikov and akhromeyev followed me. In this case, I did not hide anything from them, so I repeated to them the contents of my conversation with Stalin. At first, a few of them could keep calm, but when they heard that Stalin had decided to hand over the 61st and 65th army to me, they could not help but cry out in a low voice. "Comrade commander, it seems that the analysis made by the deputy commander and the military commissar a few days ago is correct. Although general konev gave us a group army to command when we liberated Kharkov, there was only one group army after all. But now it's three group armies, plus ourselves, that's four. It seems that as long as we succeed in winning moziri, then our Comrade commander will be promoted to the commander of the front army. " Although bezikov's words pleased me, on the surface, I waved my hand as if nothing had happened, and then asked, "Comrade chief of staff, these are all things in the future. It's too early to say now. By the way, how is Master Lu Jin? " When bizikov heard my question, he rushed to akhromeyev and said, "it's better for the major to report to you. He knows the specific situation." Akhromeyev saw that I had turned my eyes on him. He quickly stepped forward and said in a loud voice, "Comrade commander, Mr. Lukin reported that the German attack troops had rushed into their defensive positions and launched close combat with the commanders and fighters. But because a regiment of the 52nd division of the guards arrived in time, the enemy fell into our encirclement. Now the battle is unfolding in the defense area of Lu Jin division. Our army has absolute superiority. I believe that the enemy will be destroyed by us in a short time. "