After listening to sokolovsky's explanation, I can't help feeling a lot. When I was a junior, I was just a little Valet beside Zhukov. I would do whatever he told me to do. As long as there were no big mistakes, he was very tolerant. But since I became the deputy commander of the front army, I really understood Zhukov. Although he was a great military genius, he also had many shortcomings. For example, he was irascible and sometimes headstrong, and could not listen to any objection.
After Zhukov answered the phone, he said to us: "the chief of staff of lelushenko reported that a tank had just rushed to the place only 30 meters away from the headquarters and was destroyed by soldiers with anti tank grenades."
When sokolovsky heard this, he asked nervously, "is nothing wrong with general lelushenko?"
"What can happen to him?" Zhukov glared and said, "as soon as he blew up the German tanks, he led a guard platoon to fight back. According to the chief of staff, they have successfully repulsed the first wave of German attack, destroying 11 tanks and killing more than 100 people. "
"Very good results." After hearing this, sokolovsky said with satisfaction: "if they can keep such achievements all the time, I estimate that in two or three hours, the attacking enemy will be completely wiped out by them."
Zhukov looked at me and asked, "where are glicko's troops?"
"Marshal, please wait a moment. I'll call to ask." I raised my hand and looked at my watch. I saw that more than an hour had passed before I knew it. According to general glicko's initial statement, his reinforcements should have arrived near the headquarters of lelushenko.
I picked up the phone and asked the signalman to connect me to glicko's headquarters. When I heard the other party's voice, I asked, "Hello, general glicko, where is your unit?"
"Report to Comrade deputy commander." Glicko said with some hesitation: "a few minutes ago, I just received a report from the reinforcements. He... They are about 15 kilometers away from the headquarters of lelushenko."
"What?" When I heard glicko's reply, my blood rushed to my head. "Comrade General, you are no more than 20 kilometers away from general lelushenko's command. More than an hour has passed since I gave the order. You have only advanced five kilometers. Are your troops learning to climb snails?"
"No, comrade deputy commander, please listen to me." When glicko heard that I was angry, he explained to me in a flurry: "although from the map, we are less than 20 kilometers away from general lelushenko's headquarters. However, due to the muddy road, our tanks and cannons did not move for long and then fell into the mud. We had to rely on the infantry soldiers to push forward. Besides, it took us about half an hour to assemble our troops. I think we advanced five kilometers in half an hour, and the speed is not slow.... "
I slapped on the table and said angrily, "Comrade General, do you know that because of the slow action of your department, the headquarters of general lelushenko was almost taken away by the German. I order you to arrive at your destination in forty minutes, whatever you want. "
"But the tank in front got into the mud and blocked the convoy full of soldiers." Glicko complained to me: "in 40 minutes, my troops can't get to the headquarters of lelushenko in any case."
"Now that the tank is stuck in the mud, let your soldiers walk, and if the motorcycle can still be used, let them ride it." Although I know glicko is telling the truth, now the military situation is urgent, and the German army is attacking the defense line of lelushenko's troops. If reinforcements can't arrive in time, lelushenko will be in danger. So I said sternly, "in forty minutes, anyway, I want to hear that your troops have arrived at general lelushenko's headquarters."
When I angrily put down the phone, I found Zhukov and sokolovsky standing in front of me. I suddenly realized that what I had just done, and I felt that I was trying to take over my duties. I quickly blushed and apologized to Zhukov: "Comrade commander, I'm sorry, I didn't discuss with you, so I gave the combat order to the first group army of the guards."
But Zhukov turned his back, nodded at me, and said with a smile, "good job, Rita. I'm still saying that if you continue to keep it up, you can be the head of the front army in less than half a year. "
For Zhukov's praise, I just grinned, and then turned to the ongoing battle: "marshal, do you think the German army will attack general lelushenko's defense tonight?"
"That's for sure. Come and see." Zhukov, together with sokolovsky and I gathered around his desk, pointed to the map and said to us, "the German army did not attack the defense area of lelyushenko from one direction, but fierce fighting also took place in the other four areas. That's why when the army of lelyushenko saw the enemy attack on the headquarters of the group army, The reason why we can't deploy troops to reinforce. Because they were effectively restrained by other German offensive forces. "
"Marshal," sokolovsky said with a frown, "from the current situation, we can't judge whether the German army intends to open a gap for Hube's tank 1st group army in general lelushenko's defense area, so our troops from other directions can't be transferred for the time being."
Zhukov sat at the table, chin in his hand, frowning and thinking. After a long time, he looked up at sokolovsky and said, "chief of staff, you call general pokhov of the 13th group army and order him to keep two divisions on guard at the exit of the mountain area. The rest of the troops move to the defense area of lelushenko overnight. At the same time, he ordered several other army groups to go north quickly to pursue the German tank 1st army which was still on the run
"Are the two divisions too small?" As for Zhukov's order, sokolovsky was full of doubts and asked, "you know, there are at least 100000 German troops escaping into the mountain area. If they rush out of the mountain pass, our troops can't stop them."
"We have two divisions in Shankou, and we can't just defend." Zhukov pointed at the map with his hand and said with displeasure: "we can order the soldiers to cut down trees, block the mountain path, slow down the German March, so that our pursuit troops can catch up with them."
Before crossing, when I saw the scenes of putting down trees to block the road in the film and television works, I always doubted whether this method was effective. When I arrived at this era and experienced it myself, I realized how effective it was to block roads with trees. It is no less difficult for marching troops to pass a section of road blocked by trees than to climb a big tree of the same length.
Sokolovsky was obviously very proficient in this. After listening to Zhukov's instructions, his face immediately showed a happy expression: "yes, marshal, this method is really effective. I'll call general pokhov and ask him to send someone to cut down trees and block the roads out of the mountain. As long as we set up the blocking positions nearby, it will be more difficult for the German army to pass through this area than to reach the sky. "
When I saw sokolovsky leave, I suddenly remembered the phone call from szemenko and said to Zhukov, "by the way, marshal, there is another important thing I forgot to tell you."
"What's the matter?" Zhukov thought that something big had happened, and his brow could not help frowning again.
"General szjmenko, the chief of operations of the general staff, called," I organized some words in my mind, and then reported: "the supreme command, in recognition of our troops and marshal konev's achievements in defeating the German troops at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains and going out to the border between Czech Slovak and Romania, solemnly celebrated this great victory. At 9 o'clock tonight, Use 324 guns to salute us with 24 shots. "
My new report made Zhukov smile. He tried to control his emotions, but the corners of his mouth were still slightly upturned. He asked, "did Comrade shjemenko call in person?"
"Yes, comrade marshal." I nodded my head and gave Zhukov a positive answer: "the minister said that he and his deputy kratzrov drafted the order to ring the first level salute in person."
When Zhukov heard me say this, his smile became more intense. He must have understood in his heart that everything I said was true, because I didn't know shijmenko and kretzrov at all. Even if I wanted to make up, I couldn't make up such a thing that was easy to be torn down. He nodded with a smile and said: "from the end of the Kursk battle to now, the number of salutes on the red square has become more and more frequent. I believe that this series of victories will greatly inspire the whole army and people and make them firm in our belief that we will win and that we will lose."
Sokolovsky came back from the phone call. After sharing the good news I said, he reported to Zhukov, "Comrade marshal, according to the report from the front, the German army seems to be gathering forces again, ready to launch a new attack on our defense area."
"Are there any tanks?" Zhukov had long been psychologically prepared for the German attack. He was only concerned about whether the German army would use tanks on a large scale before the new attack. So he asked nervously, "is there enough anti tank weapons in lelushenko?"
"Don't worry, comrade marshal." As for Zhukov's question, sokolovsky answered with confidence: "according to what I have learned, the 4th group army of tanks is equipped with a considerable number of 40 rocket launchers. The effect of that weapon against tanks is really excellent. Even if the German Tiger tank, within the range of 200 meters, our rocket can also penetrate their front armor... "
When sokolovsky introduced some parameters of the 40 rocket launcher to Zhukov, I couldn't help muttering to myself: the 40 rocket launcher is a weapon from later generations. If even the German tanks can't cope with it, florin, a senior engineer in the military industry, would have gone through in vain.
"That's good," Zhukov said contemptuously after sokolovsky finished saying, "as long as our troops can support until dawn, no matter how many tanks the German army has, as long as our air force attacks, they will all become a pile of scrap iron."
At zero, the German army attacked the defense area of lelushenko from several directions at the same time. Before the attack, they prepared for heavy artillery fire to destroy our officers and men in the fortifications, and then their tanks could guide the infantry to attack again.
Unfortunately, the German army's wishful thinking failed again. How could Zhukov have watched his own defense area be shelled by the German army without asking? He immediately ordered the artillery of the front army to return fire and suppress the long-range artillery fire of the German army. Just a few minutes after the German Army started firing, several artillery positions were measured by our artillery observers. Several close guard rocket barracks and self-propelled artillery regiments were bombarded, which immediately made these artillery positions dumb. The artillery preparation before the attack was interrupted by our army. Unwilling to lose, the German stopped the shelling immediately, and let more than 100 tanks as the leader to guide the troops of two divisions to launch a new round of attack on the defense area of lelushenko in the front with a width of 30 km. Hearing the news that the German attack was in full swing, Zhukov asked sokolovsky solemnly: "chief of staff, what's the defense situation near the headquarters of lelushenko? If the German forces attack again, can they stop it? "“ Don't worry, comrade commander. An infantry division of the 1st group army of the close guard has built a defense near the headquarters of lelushenko, and the German army can't get past it at all. " After the report, sokolovsky sighed and said with regret: "the terrain in the west is very conducive to the expansion of German tank troops. The area occupied by our army is not only narrow, but also makes it difficult for our tank troops to move." After hearing this, Zhukov frowned again, and I quickly turned away from the topic: "we now have several troops moving towards the rear of the German assembly area. If we're lucky, after daybreak, this wave of Germans will fall into our encirclement. With the support of the air force, our troops are fully capable of annihilating all the invading enemies. Then we will be able to turn around and concentrate our forces to solve the remaining German forces trapped in the mountains. "