Chapter 1493

After my ideas were carried out in the army, they have achieved amazing results. The infantry followed the tanks in groups and approached the German positions. When it reached a distance of about 150 meters, the tank stopped, turned its muzzle and fired a shot at the fire points that were shooting wildly. Taking advantage of the enemy's "dumb" firepower, firemen or shock engineers come forward to spray fire or drop bombs to destroy the enemy in the fortifications.

In the next more than an hour, the three directions of attack were the news of success. First, the troops in the north and East occupied the first line of defense of the German army and continued to develop in depth. The tank army and mechanized army in the south are also progressing smoothly, breaking into the second line of defense of the German army and launching a fierce battle with the enemy.

Seeing the battle report, the chubby rebalko showed a happy expression on his face. He said to me, "Rita, it seems that your method is not bad. The troops in the three attack directions have achieved good results. If we continue to fight like this, the Sixth Army of the close guard tanks will be able to occupy the second line of defense of the German army before dark. "

I just gave him a faint smile. Then I looked at the phone on the table and said, "general rebalko, with what I know about Marshal Zhukov, he will call soon to inquire about our progress."

"No way." Rebalko obviously doubted my statement, "didn't the marshal say that he would call after dark to find out the progress of the army's attack?"

As soon as the voice fell, the telephone rang in front of us. Rebalko looked at me with wide eyes and said in surprise, "no, is it really the call from the marshal?"

"If it's Marshal's call, you'll know when you answer it." I grabbed the microphone and handed it directly to rebalko.

Rebalko put the microphone to his ear and asked carefully, "Hello, is that the marshal?"

As soon as his words were finished, I heard Zhukov at the other end of the phone give a strange "eh", and then asked curiously, "Comrade rebalko, would you have guessed that I would call you?"

"No, comrade marshal." Rebalko replied in a flustered way: "it's not that I can predict, but that Rita analyzes that you may call at this time."

"Give Rita the phone." Zhukov didn't talk to him either. He said, "I want to talk to her."

Seeing the embarrassed expression on rebalko's face when he handed me the microphone, I couldn't help complaining about Zhukov in my heart. Isn't it hatred for me. I answered the phone and asked politely, "Comrade marshal, what instructions do you have?"

"Now that you have guessed that I'm going to call, can't you guess what I'm going to ask?" Zhukov said with some displeasure: "well, report the situation. How is the progress in the three directions now?"

"Report to marshal." Since the Sixth Army of general Novikov's close guard tank had already rushed into the second line of defense of the German army, it was only a matter of time before I occupied it, so when I reported to Zhukov, I became confident: "the offensive troops from the north and the East have successively occupied the first line of defense of the German army and are developing towards the enemy in depth. The troops in the South also broke into the second line of defense of the German army and were fighting for fortifications with the enemy. "

After listening to my report, Zhukov didn't say anything praising. Instead, he asked, "Rita, I always listen to you about the attack from the north, the East and the south, but why is there no report on the west? Which unit was deployed there, and why didn't they attack at the same time? "

"Comrade marshal, it's not that the troops in the West don't attack." Since it was my own decision not to deploy troops in the west, I did not have time to report to Zhukov. Since he asked at the moment, I could only answer truthfully, "but there were no troops deployed in that direction at all!"

"What, you don't have troops in the west?" Zhukov almost roared at me and said, "are you not afraid that the Germans will highlight our defense from that direction?"

I quickly removed the microphone from my ear, and then explained: "Comrade marshal, please listen to my explanation. If we had encircled tarnopol in the beginning, the defenders in the city would have fought hard. But now we only encircled three sides and left the west side. This would give the Germans an illusion that their retreat has not been completely cut off. Maybe after being attacked by our army, they would give up the city and flee westward... "

"Enough, don't say it again." Zhukov angrily interrupted me: "how can you take such a fluke? What should we do if the German army, after causing heavy casualties to our army, uses alternate cover and escapes through the gap you left intentionally? "

After that, without giving me a chance to speak, he said to himself, "I now order you to send troops to the west of tarnopol and set up defensive positions to prevent the German army from breaking through in that direction. You can't delay my order. You have to carry it out immediately. Do you understand? "

I put down the phone, gave a wry smile to rebarko, who was standing next to me, and then said, "Comrade General, Marshal Zhukov ordered us to send troops immediately to the west of the city and use the terrain to build fortifications."

Rebalko's command to Zhukov was very calm. He pointed to the map and said to me, "it's not a problem to build a defense in the west of the city. We can transfer Ivanov's 7th army of close guard tanks. With their strength, even if the German army chooses this direction to break through, it can still resolutely block them. "

After that, he pulled the phone I had just used in front of him, grabbed the microphone, dialed a number, and said to the microphone, "I'm rebarko. Get close to the 7th army of Weitan immediately and find the commander, major general Ivanov."

After he got through the phone, he didn't even care to exchange greetings. He gave a direct order: "Comrade Ivanov, you and your troops have had a day off. Now it's time to find something for you to do."

Hearing what rebalko said, Ivanov was surprised and asked, "Comrade commander, are you ready to let our army take part in the attack?"

"It's not your turn to attack yet. Your task is to turn to defense." Without giving the other a chance to speak, rebalko continued: "you immediately lead your troops around to the west of tarnopol and build up a defense there, so as to prevent the German army from withdrawing from there when it can't stop our attack."

"Build a defense in the west of the city?" After hearing this order from rebalko, Ivanov said with some difficulty, "Comrade commander, if the German army breaks through from the west before we have time to build a defense, what should we do?"

"What to do? Do you still need to ask me, tank commander? " "Don't forget, you command a tank army, there are dozens or hundreds of tanks," rebalko said to Ivanov. If the enemy wants to break through, you line up the tanks and sweep them with artillery machine guns. When the enemy is defeated, you charge with infantry again. "

Ivanov heard that rebalko was teaching him strategy and tactics. Before he finished, he even said, "I understand, comrade commander, I know how to do it. You can rest assured that I will never let a German escape from our defense zone. "

Seeing that rebalko had finished the call, melinikov was still a little worried and said, "Comrade commander, is it too late to transfer Ivanov's troops at this time?"

"Not too late, not too late." In order to reassure melinikov, I specially explained to him: "Comrade military commissar, according to my observation in the city, General von naindor, commander of the German fortress, is a traditional German soldier. He values his honor more than his life. If the fortress is lost, he will never run away, but will defend the honor of his soldiers by living and dying together with the fortress. "

"What? Will General von naindor defend his military honor by living and dying with the fortress? " After listening to what I said, melinikov could not help but say with half a doubt: "I think German officers are greedy for life and afraid of death. Why else can the headquarters of our military division commander be located only 300 meters away from the front line, while the headquarters of the German army are usually several kilometers or even more?"

"Comrade military commissar, I think Lida is right." Rebalko echoed me and said: "although the Germans are our enemies, there are many traditional German soldiers who are no worse than our commanders and fighters in defending the honor of soldiers. I think that since von naindor did not surrender, maybe he really intended to stick to tarnopol and fight with us to the last soldier. "

Although I guessed that von naindor would not surrender, I didn't think that he might end up burning all the stones. So I hastened to say to rebalko, "Comrade General, please inform the troops at the front that besides military attack, they can also take appropriate political offensive to break up the German defense and try to let the enemy in the fortress voluntarily lay down their arms and surrender to us."

"What if our political offensive doesn't work?" With a worried look on his face, melinikov asked, "what measures should we take then?"

"If the enemy does not surrender, we will resolutely destroy him." After I finished this sentence firmly, I urged rebalko: "Comrade General, please give orders to the troops immediately."

…………

After dark, Novikov's tank army and mechanized army completely occupied the German second line of defense. After a little rest, they continued to attack the third line of defense. The East and the north of the city were also attacking the second German defense line.

After three o'clock in the morning, the troops on the South Road broke through three lines of defense and finally arrived at the foot of the city of jernopol. After learning the news, I said to rebarko, "Comrade General, let Novikov's tank army and mechanized army stop attacking, stay in place, and wait until daybreak to launch a new attack."

Rebalko was confused by my inexplicable order. He asked, "Rita, since our attack is very smooth now, why should we stop all of a sudden?"

"Although the peripheral positions in the South have been cleared, if we continue to attack, the wall in front of us will block the way of our tank troops." When I saw rebalko's blank face, I explained to him, "it's better to wait until daybreak and let the artillery prepare for heavy fire before continuing to attack the city."

"Well, since you say so, I will immediately order Novikov to stop attacking." After that, rebalko asked, "what about the other two directions? Let them stop, too? "“ No I waved my hand and said what I thought: "in addition to continuing to attack in the East and north of the city, the troops in the west of the city should also attack the enemy's positions."“ At this time, let the troops in the west of the city attack? " Rebalko was more and more confused about my deployment“ Yes, the forces in the west of the city will launch an attack at this time, and part of the German defense forces can be transferred. " I pointed to the map and said, "we stopped attacking in the south of the city, but the other three directions are still going on. If the German army wants to keep the fortress, it is bound to send troops from other directions. If they can send troops from the south of the city, our attack after daybreak will be much smoother. "“ Yes, it's a good idea. " After listening to my explanation, he immediately ordered the chief of staff to inform the troops in the south of the city to suspend the attack, while the troops in the west of the city immediately switched from defense to attack. Maybe I confused the German army in the city with my unrestrained way of playing. In order to prevent our army from breaking through from the other three directions, they had to mobilize some troops from the south of the city to strengthen the attacked areas. All these information were obtained from the documents we seized after we occupied the fortress. After daybreak, after an hour of heavy artillery preparation, the tank army and mechanized army in the south of the city rushed into the city from the gap. It began to slowly and effectively nibble off one position after another of the German army, and gradually retreated to the German Defense Center. In the evening, as the troops from the other three directions broke into the city one after another, the situation became more favorable to our army. Although the German army showed great tenacity in defense, when they ran out of bullets, they would rush out with bayonet rifles to fight with our army. Even the wounded soldiers who were seriously injured would ring grenades when our soldiers rushed up, and they would die with our soldiers. However, under the strong offensive of our army, the dying struggle of the German army could not recover their defeat. At seven o'clock in the evening, the gunfire in the city finally stopped. General Novikov and general Ivanov called one after another to report the good news that they had successfully captured the fort. According to the statistics of the results of the war, the 5000 German defenders in the city were all brave soldiers except for the 50 wounded. General von naindor also shot himself when he saw that the situation was over.