Chapter 1497

When sokolovsky reported the bad news to Zhukov, the air in the room seemed to solidify in an instant, so quiet that he could hear the breathing of the people in the room. After a long time, Zhukov finally broke the silence. He asked in an unbelievable tone: "Comrade sokolovsky, do you confirm that what you reported is the real thing that happened on the battlefield, not the rumors created by the German spies lurking in our army?"

"I'm sure, comrade marshal." Sokolovsky replied awkwardly: "after repeated verification of this news, I have been able to confirm that at least eight to ten German divisions have entered the mountainous area after discarding their heavy equipment."

Zhukov sat in his seat, looking at the map on the wall for a long time. And sokolovsky did not get his instructions before, dare not leave, can only continue to stand in place.

I know it's useless to say anything now. Zhukov deployed all the mobile forces that can be used in the south. If Hu Bei led his troops to the south, they would run into the iron wall made up of guns and tanks and end up in smoke. However, it is a pity that the cunning Hubei led his main force into the mountain area and fled to the northwest where our army's defense was weak.

In order to break the dull atmosphere in the room, I stood up, went to stand side by side with sokolovsky, and asked Zhukov with no expression: "marshal, since the German army has broken through the mountains to the northwest, what measures should we take to stop them?"

Zhukov took a look at me. Though he picked up the high-frequency phone on the desk, dialed a number and said to the microphone, "connect me with marshal konev."

The phone was soon connected and Zhukov asked aloud, "konev? I'm Zhukov. What's the situation there? "

"Comrade marshal," konev replied politely and respectfully on the phone, "when the German army saw that the situation was not good, it left behind the tanks, artillery and vehicles trapped in the mud, took the way of walking, and fled to the northwest mountains."

"Well done, comrade konev." Zhukov said dryly: "because our mobile forces are deployed in the south, it is difficult to mobilize troops to carry out interception in the short term. I wonder if you can send troops to pursue the enemy and keep them in the kamenitz podoliski area to buy us time to mobilize our troops? "

As for Zhukov's proposal, konev was silent for a long time before he replied tactfully: "marshal, you know that the weather is not good recently. It's either raining or snowing. The boundless mud makes our army's T-34 and new tanks often trapped in the mud. It's more difficult for cars and cannons to move forward, so we have to rely on manpower to push them. In this case, the troops with heavy equipment will not be able to catch up with the German army. "

Konev cleverly did not mention the matter of allowing the troops to move forward light, because he knew that without the cooperation of tanks and artillery, even if the troops caught up with the German army, they could not destroy each other, so he would not do anything more.

On hearing konev's refusal of his request, Zhukov's expression did not fluctuate at all. He gave a simple Oh and said, "I see, comrade konev. I wish you good health With that, he hung up directly.

Zhukov leaned back, his back against the back of the chair, his eyes slightly closed, his fingers tapping gently on the table. Sokolovsky and I stood still, waiting patiently for his orders.

After a while, he opened his eyes and sat up straight, looked at me and asked, "Rita, if you were the commander of the front army, what remedial measures would you take in this situation?"

In fact, just when I heard the dialogue between Zhukov and konev, I was quietly thinking about how to deal with this situation. But unfortunately, as soon as the idea of several schemes came out, it was directly denied by me. Although our army is superior in strength, without the cooperation of tanks and artillery, even if we catch up with the fleeing German army, it is not easy to eliminate them.

At this time, when Zhukov suddenly asked me this question, I suddenly blurted out: "since the muddy road makes it difficult for the troops carrying tanks and artillery to move, we might as well send out the air force!"

"Comrade o'shanina, this is not appropriate." Before Zhukov could speak, sokolovsky said in embarrassment: "recently, not only is the weather bad, it's either raining or snowing every day, but the runway of our army's Field Airport has also become * * our pilots have to take great risks every time they take off."

"Rita," Zhukov called me, and from his surname back to his nickname, he could see that his anger at me was gone. He looked at me and asked, "can we stop the German retreat with our air force?"

"No I didn't want to give him a vain hope, which eventually affected his position in his mind, so I truthfully replied: "the terrain of the mountain area is complex, and the German army can't crowd together to march forward, so it's impossible for us to achieve great results in our air raid."

"Since you think our air force can't win absolute victory in the air raid on the German army, why do you propose to let the air force out?" When Zhukov saw that I knew that the air force would not be able to achieve any results, he made such a suggestion. He asked curiously, "if you want to know that our air force is going to take off, you have to take some risks."

"It is almost certain that the German army will escape from our encirclement." After putting forward the air raid plan, my thinking gradually became clear. "Due to the muddy road, our armored forces can't move quickly. We only rely on troops without heavy weapons to pursue the enemy. Even if we catch up, we don't have the ability to eat them. So I think we should send planes to bomb the German troops who are passing through the mountains, delay their progress, and gain precious time for us to mobilize our troops. " After I finished my proposal, Zhukov did not immediately express his opinion. Instead, he turned his eyes to sokolovsky and asked, "Comrade chief of staff, what do you think?" Sokolovsky has been dealing with Zhukov for a long time. He knows the character of the Deputy commander-in-chief very well. He knows that as long as he doesn't oppose the proposal immediately, he agrees with it. Therefore, he pushed the boat forward and said, "marshal, I think the deputy commander is very reasonable. Since our troops can't slow down the retreat of the German army, we can use air strikes to create some trouble for the Germans."“ Since you two have the same opinion, "Zhukov's face finally showed a little smile when he saw that sokolovsky agreed with my proposal," then I'll inform krasovsky and ask him to send out the air force to bomb the German troops who fled into the mountains. " With that, he picked up the high frequency phone on the desk again and began to dial. When krasovsky's voice came out of the receiver, Zhukov's face returned to a calm expression: "general krasovsky, I'm Zhukov!"“ Marshal, "Zhukov was the one who heard the words. Krasovsky seemed a little flustered:" do you have any new instructions? "“ Comrade krasovsky, when the crafty German army saw their doomsday approaching, they left the heavy equipment trapped in the mire and fled into the northwest mountains with light clothes. " After a brief introduction, Zhukov began to give orders: "you immediately order the formation of bombers to go out and bomb the fleeing German troops in the mountains." Krasovsky was startled by Zhukov's words, and he said in surprise: "marshal, don't you know that the runways of our field airport have become a mess? In this case, our plane can't take off at all. "“ Due to the muddy road, our mechanized troops are difficult to move quickly, so they can't catch up with the fleeing enemy. After your air force is dispatched, it will carry out air strikes on the enemy in the mountainous area, delaying their retreat, so that we can mobilize our troops in time to carry out the front blocking and back intercepting, so that they can't escape from our encirclement. Is there any difficulty? " Krasovsky hesitated for a long time before he reluctantly replied, "Comrade marshal, we will make every effort to keep the enemy in the mountains." Zhukov raised his hand, looked at his watch, and then said, "Comrade krasovsky, it's still three and a half hours before dark. I hope your air force can take off in half an hour to bomb the retreating German troops." After giving the air force an operational order, Zhukov raised his head and said to sokolovsky, "chief of staff, I gave the guard a slip, but when I saw the officer, my eyes focused on him. Along the way, Zhukov and I all took the initiative to give way to the side of the road and saluted us. And the lieutenant, not only did not salute, but also he was smoking and looking around, looking a little flustered. The officer soon found that I was watching him, so he threw the cigarette in his hand and walked quickly towards us. No! Seeing the officer's abnormal behavior, an ominous feeling suddenly surged in my heart. I quickly dodged in front of Zhukov. At the same time, I put my hand on the holster, raised my left hand, pointed at the officer, and said loudly, "Hey, that commander, stay where you are!" My voice did not fall, the other side has quickly pulled out the pistol, the black muzzle at me. Almost as soon as I pulled out my pistol and aimed it at him, I could see his fingers pulling the trigger. But fortunately, I heard a gentle "click" from the opposite side, which seemed to be stuck. I caught each other's stupefied moment and pulled the trigger decisively. The bullet hit the Lieutenant's right shoulder impartially. The huge inertia made him fall back and fall into the mud.