Chapter 1492

After I called Zhukov, rebalko led me to the map beside the wall and said, "Rita, although general Panfilov's tank army successfully captured the German first line of defense, it's not so easy to capture the second line of defense. Maybe our army will pay a huge price and it's hard to move forward."

Rebalko has mentioned to me more than once the difficulty of seizing del noble. Instead of showing the slightest impatience with his platitude, I politely asked, "general rebalko, I don't know what you're worried about?"

He pointed to the map on the wall and explained to me, "Rita, tarnopol used to be a fortress of our army. We built all the fortifications outside the city. After the German army occupied this area, they strengthened it on the original basis. According to our reconnaissance, the firepower points of these fortifications can be cross covered. Even if we have the support of tanks, we will pay a huge price every time we go further to win the fortress. "

Although rebalko has put forward a lot of problems that he may encounter in tackling difficulties, I am not worried at all. Because among the many defeats of the Soviet army I know, it seems that there is no such area as jernopol at all. So when rebalko finished, I said in a relaxed tone, "Comrade General, don't worry. We can take the tactics of occupying one place and consolidating one place to nibble away the German defense area a little bit. How big a place tarnopol can be, it will all fall into our hands in a few days

"You have a point, Rita." Rebalko listened to me, nodded, and then said with approval, "as long as we consolidate the occupied positions, the German army will not try to take them back even if it strikes back."

After listening for a while, melinikov asked anxiously, "general oshanina, I want to ask, at present, there are our troops in the north, South and east of tarnopol, but there are no troops in the West. Are you not afraid that the enemy will break out from this direction?"

"Comrade military commissar, I did it on purpose." I explained to melinikov, a military layman: "if the German army finds that the city is surrounded by our army, it is bound to be in a dilemma. Even if their forces are at a disadvantage, our army will pay a huge price to eliminate them.

But now they only surrounded in three directions, leaving them a way to flee to the west, so that when the German army was attacked by our army, the resistance would not be too tenacious. Once they leave the city, we can take advantage of the victory to pursue them. When the fleeing German army is attacked by us, it is bound to be disrupted. The superior can't find the subordinate, and the subordinate can't contact the superior. It will be a relatively easy thing to eliminate the enemy who can't organize effective resistance. "

"So it is." After listening to my explanation, melinikov's face suddenly showed a sudden realization.

I turned to rebalko and said in a deliberative tone, "Comrade General, at present, the progress of general afuning's troops in the north is not smooth. Do you think you can order the mechanized 9th army of the guards in the east to attack the east of the city. In this way, the German defense forces can be dispersed, so that they can only be in a passive defense, and can not carry out counter attacks in some areas. "

Rebarko nodded, called the chief of staff and said, "chief of staff, you call major general MALEKIN immediately and order him to command the mechanized 9th army of the guards immediately to launch an attack on tarnopol from the East."

…………

The plan can't keep up with the change, and the German defense is far beyond our imagination. In the north of the city, the 18th army, the 121st division, and the 61st brigade of the tank of the guards did not work. After losing their troops, they had to withdraw from their original starting point.

The situation in the south of the city is no better than that in the other two directions. The crisscross trenches, anti tank tripods and barbed wire netting all over the place blocked the advance of Panfilov's No.6 guard tank army and No.7 guard mechanized army. Under the attack of intensive German artillery and machine gun fire, our tanks were destroyed from time to time, and the charging infantry fell in front of the German fire point in batches.

Seeing this, rebalko became impatient. He walked back and forth in the headquarters, racking his brains to think about the best way to attack. I sat at the table, staring at the map on the wall, thinking about how to break the current deadlock.

Before we could figure out a good way, Zhukov's call came in again. As soon as he heard my voice, he couldn't wait to ask, "Hello, Rita, how's it going? Where are your troops? "

"Marshal," I replied awkwardly when I heard Zhukov's series of questions, "the current situation is not optimistic. Although our army attacks tarnopol from the north, the East and the south at the same time, it's a pity that, except for the attack team in the south, which broke through the first line of defense of the German army, the other directions are not optimistic, We haven't got any results yet. "

As soon as my voice fell, Zhukov burst into a rage: "Rita, please explain to me what's going on? A few hours ago, in your report to me, you mentioned that the Sixth Army of close guard tanks, which attacked from the south, successfully captured the first German line of defense. Why are your troops still stagnant after a few hours? In addition, what happened to the two troops attacking from the East and the north? Why have they not achieved the slightest success so far? "

Zhukov's series of why, asked me speechless, do not know how to answer him. After he finished, I said cautiously, "well, comrade marshal, the German defense is far stronger than we thought. As you know, the fortifications of tarnopol were originally built by our army in order to prevent Polish attack, and their firmness is one of the few in the whole Ukraine. After the German army occupied here, they reinforced these fortifications again... "

"Enough, no more." Before I finished, Zhukov interrupted me and said angrily, "I asked you why the troops didn't win. What are you doing with those useless things?"

I raised my hand to wipe the cold sweat. While I was thinking about how to answer Zhukov's question, I suddenly heard the chief of staff next to me exclaim. I turned to see that he was holding the microphone and whispering something to rebalko. I quickly covered the microphone and asked the chief of staff, "what's the matter?"

When the chief of staff heard my question, he did not immediately answer me. Instead, he looked at rebalko for consultation. When the other party nodded and indicated that he could report to me, the chief of staff solemnly reported to me: "the tank on which general Panfilov was riding was destroyed by German artillery fire in the battle."

After a cold war, I asked, "how is general Panfilov? Is he still alive?"

The chief of staff nodded hard and then replied, "yes, the soldiers have rescued general Panfilov, but he is so badly injured that he may not be able to command the battle any more."

"Hello, Rita, what's the matter with you?" Zhukov may not have heard my voice for a long time. He seems a little impatient. "Are you still here? Why don't you speak?"

I quickly released my hand covering the microphone and reported to Zhukov, "marshal, something happened. General Panfilov, commander of the 6th army of the guard tank, was wounded in the battle."

Zhukov was silent for a moment, then asked, "can he still command the battle?"

I quickly looked at rebalko. Although he didn't speak, he understood what I meant. With a wry smile, he waved his head to me, indicating that Panfilov could not continue to command the battle. So I said to the microphone, "Comrade marshal, he is seriously injured and can't continue to command the battle."

"Then find someone to take over his command." Zhukov muttered, "before dark, I must take down the second German line of defense."

After I put down the phone, I asked rebalko directly, "Comrade General, who are you going to take over the command of general Panfilov?"

"Let the deputy commander of the army, major general Novikov, tank soldier." To my question, rebalko answered with confidence: "he is also a tank commander with rich combat experience."

"Well, let him take over." I sat down at the table again and said feebly, "let them continue to attack the German second line of defense, and make sure to occupy the German second line before dark."

However, after the chief of staff announced his appointment to Novikov, I personally explained to the new commander of the tank Army: "general Novikov, the headquarters of the front army gave us a death order to take the second German defense line before dark. Now it's four hours before dark, if you can't take the position on time... "

"Don't worry, comrade deputy commander of the front army." General Novikov, who had never met him before, replied confidently: "we will certainly take the enemy's position within the prescribed time. If you can't finish the task, you withdraw me. "

"Wait a minute, Comrade General." Hearing that the other party was ready to hang up, I quickly added: "remember, you are the commander, not the company commander. Your position is to command the troops at the back, not to take the soldiers to the front like a company commander. Do you understand? "

"I understand!" Novikov gave a loud promise and hung up.

"Comrade oshanina, will it affect the morale of our army if the tank commander stays behind to command the troops?" When melinikov heard what I told Novikov, he said something worried: "will this make our soldiers feel that their commander is a coward?"

"Comrade military commissar," to tell you the truth, I don't like melinikov very much. He's old-fashioned, and sometimes he's a muscle. But at the moment, I have to patiently explain to him: "the commander is a commander, not a fighter. His post is to plan and strategize in the headquarters, not to attack and trap. If he is killed or wounded in the battle, the army will lose unified command and fall into chaos. "

As soon as I explained to melinikov, rebarko suggested to me, "Rita, the German fortifications are almost all reinforced concrete. When tanks and shells hit them, they don't work at all. Do you think we should move the artillery forward and bombard the German fortifications with heavy artillery? "

"No matter how strong the German fortifications are, they will not last long in front of our heavy artillery." As for rebalko's proposal, I agreed without hesitation: "you immediately give the artillery an order to move forward and bombard the German fortifications at close range."

"Comrade deputy commander of the front army," after hearing the decision made by me and rebalko, the chief of staff reminded me cautiously, "the periphery of tarnopol is almost open plain. If we put our artillery here, will it be attacked by the German air force?"“ Don't worry, "I said dismissively to the chief of staff's groundless thought." how many times have you seen German planes in the air since the beginning of this offensive campaign? Now the air supremacy of the battlefield is firmly in the hands of our army. If it wasn't for the bad weather today, I could have asked the air force to send out and bomb the German defensive positions, so as to reduce the resistance our army will encounter when attacking. " When the chief of staff called the artillery commander, I suddenly thought of some tactics used by the German army to attack the Soviet fortifications, and said to rebalko: "Comrade General, I remember that when the German army attacked our defense area, it was a defensive gun or a tank that guided a class of infantry to attack. After discovering the fortifications of our army, we will fire a gun first, and then send engineers or firemen up to throw grenades or spit fire at the shooting holes to blow up or burn the defenders inside. Today we can use the same tactics against the German army After hearing this, rebalko nodded and said, "there are some firemen in our army, but they usually cooperate with infantry, and they have never cooperated with tanks. I think you have a good idea. You can try it. " After that, he took out a pen and paper and wrote down all the tactics I just said. After the chief of staff called the artillery, he handed the note to him and said, "call the commanders of the participating troops and let them take this tactic to attack the German defense." After reading the note, the chief of staff nodded and said, "in the 9th army of mechanized guards in the east of the city, there is a company of firemen. They can try it first. I'll call general MALEKIN right now."