Chapter 1503

As for tanks, it was only after the end of the battle and when interrogating the captured German commander that they knew that the enemy had grasped the defensive loopholes of the lelushenko troops. Therefore, after the start of the night battle, they were able to quickly pierce our army's lax defense line and successfully rush to the vicinity of lelushenko's headquarters, almost killing the senior commanders of the group army in one pot.

After hearing what I said, Zhukov looked at me for a long time, then said to me with a complicated expression: "I'm sorry, Rita!" His mindless words made me feel extremely surprised. He said, "why did Zhukov suddenly apologize to me? What's the matter?"?

Before I could understand it, Zhukov continued to say: "before, I always thought that your wonderful ideas had a lot of luck when they were put into practice, which made you step by step from an ordinary soldier to today's position. Even when you are the commander of the group army and have achieved a series of achievements, I don't think it's just your good luck. Even if no one else is in your position, you can still achieve the same brilliant achievements.

But after this time together, I find that I don't know you at all. All the actions taken by the German army seem to have been carried out at your command. You said the 48th German Panzer would break through from the front of our army. They did; You said that the direction of the first German tank group army to break through the encirclement was no longer in the south, but in the north of the mountain area. You were right. Even two days ago, he pointed out that there was a huge loophole in the defense established by lelushenko's troops. Once attacked by the German army, the headquarters might be removed. Now it seems that you are right. "

"Marshal," when I saw Zhukov talking so much, I felt an ominous feeling in my heart. It seemed that Zhukov was giving me his last words. I couldn't help asking strangely, "why do you suddenly think of saying this to me?"

Zhukov saw that sokolovsky was busy among a group of staff. He gave a wry smile and said, "I have a bad feeling that when the offensive campaign is over, my position as commander of the front army will be removed by Comrade Stalin himself, and then I will be assigned to those less important positions."

I frowned and tried to recall what Zhukov had held in the early 44 years. But after thinking for a long time, what I remember about Zhukov's taking over the post of vatukin is very brief: "on March 4, 1944, the troops of the first front army of Ukraine under the command of Marshal Zhukov, the troops of the second front army of Ukraine under the command of Marshal konev, and the troops of the third front army of Ukraine under the command of general Malinowski, They all turned to attack And then what I can remember is that Zhukov and Stalin, as well as a group of senior generals, sat in their offices and discussed where the main attack direction of the Belarusian offensive should be chosen.

However, it was June when we discussed the battle of Belarus. I really don't know where Zhukov was, what position he held, and whether he was punished by Stalin for his mistakes in commanding the battle.

Seeing Zhukov's frowning, I quickly comforted him: "marshal, you think too much. If the Supreme Commander himself is not satisfied with you, he will definitely be angry with you when he talked to you not long ago. Where will he talk and laugh with you? "

Maybe my words played a role. The expression on Zhukov's face softened. He nodded and said, "that's true. The first German tank group army is still surrounded by us. As long as we eliminate them, it will be another 'Stalingrad' victory."

…………

The 153rd infantry division of the 1st group of guards strengthened its defence near the headquarters of lelushenko. The German army, who knew nothing about this, still adopted the tactics they had just adopted. They divided their troops to contain the main force of the fourth group army of tanks, and then covered the infantry with an armored force. They continued to rush towards the headquarters of lelushenko along the original route, and they would never give up until their headquarters were removed.

But what they didn't expect was that heavy troops were already gathering around the headquarters at the moment. When the German tanks rushed to more than 300 meters away from the trench, more than 20 anti tank guns were ready to fire at the same time with the order of lelushenko, who was staying in the forward command post. After a round of salvo fire, the seven or eight tanks in the front were torn apart by the armor piercing bullets. After the earth shaking explosion, they stopped and burned.

With the attack of anti tank artillery round after round, more than 20 tanks that opened the way for the infantry gradually became burning torches, lighting the neighborhood like day, exposing the infantry following in front of our army.

When he saw this situation through the lookout, lelushenko immediately ordered all the heavy and heavy machine guns on the position to open fire immediately, so as to destroy the German officers and soldiers exposed to the open ground with intensive fire.

Hearing the order to open fire, the machine gunners who had been holding their strength for a long time immediately pulled the trigger at the German soldiers who had been aiming for a long time. More than 100 light and heavy machine guns fired at the same time. The long fireworks at the muzzle were swinging back and forth like dark red firecrackers. The woven layers of fire net swept away one figure after another, making a gap in the German attack line after another.

The German infantry who lost the cover of tanks had to return to their starting position temporarily after paying a heavy price. Silence returned near the headquarters of the group army in lelushenko.

Zhukov and I were both relieved to learn that the situation here was stabilizing. But after a while, sokolovsky suddenly remembered something that we all forgot: "by the way, what's the position of the tank 18th army of the 1st group army of the guards?"

"According to general glicko's report, after the 153rd infantry division entered the defensive position near general lelushenko's headquarters, the 18th tank army detoured back to the enemy's rear from the north side of the defensive zone, preparing to encircle the enemy." I pointed to the map and explained to sokolovsky, "if nothing happens, they will be able to get around the enemy's rear successfully before dawn."

"That's what I said, but I'm still worried." Sokolovsky said anxiously: "if the tanks of the tank army fall into the mire on the road, will it affect our encirclement plan soon?"

"I don't think so." Hearing sokolovsky's worry, Zhukov pointed to the map and said confidently: "as long as our tanks pass this area, they can launch a battle formation and launch an assault on the German side and rear."

Sokolovsky looked at the map, looked up at Zhukov, and continued to express his opinion: "this section of the road is about eight kilometers, all of which are impassable forests and fields. I am afraid they will not be able to complete the task of detouring back to the German rear before dawn. In this way, our plan to annihilate all the German troops will be in vain. "

"Now that you know there are forests in this area, you should know that our soldiers can cut down trees to pave the way, so that our tanks and trucks can pass through this area smoothly." Zhukov looked at sokolovsky and said solemnly, "if the tank commander can't think of such a way to make the tanks pass through this area smoothly. Then, as soon as the battle is over, I will remove him from his post. "

…………

At daybreak, the commander of the 18th tank army sent a telegram directly to the headquarters, reporting to us that he had successfully arrived at the rear of the German army and had successfully cut off the rear of the German troops who attacked the lelushenko defense area at night.

Then general pokhov, commander of the 13th group army, also called to report to Zhukov that his main force had joined the 18th tank army and completed the encirclement of the two German divisions. He asked when he could launch an attack.

Zhukov raised his hand and looked at his watch. Then he said to the microphone, "general pokhov, it's half past four. The attack will officially start at five. Let your soldiers be ready for the attack."

After Zhukov put down the phone, he called sokolovsky and said, "give krasovsky a call and order him to send out an aviation division to carry out air strikes on the German troops trapped in our encirclement."

For Zhukov's order, sokolovsky did not return to his senses for a moment, but asked in a puzzled way: "marshal, didn't he give an order to general krasovsky last night that he should take the tactics of four aircraft formation to carry out air strikes on the German army troops marching in the mountains after dawn?"

"Comrade chief of staff, it's not to let the air force attack the German army in the mountains," I saw Zhukov's brow wrinkled. I was afraid that he would get angry. I quickly interrupted, "it's to let them bomb the German army surrounded by the troops of general lelyushenko and general pokhov. Last night they launched a crazy attack on general lelushenko's defense area. Now it's daybreak, it's time for them to bear our thunder. "

"I see," sokolovsky said with a grateful smile to me after hearing this. Then he turned to Zhukov and said, "marshal, I'm going to call general krasovsky and ask him to send air force immediately to cooperate with our ground forces to wipe out this besieged German army."

Half an hour later, the fighters and bombers of the 2nd air force group passed over our headquarters and rushed directly at the besieged German army.

Seeing the planes flying from the top of his head, sokolovsky was still whispering: "the German army has no air defense force. How can they send so many fighters to escort?"

I didn't expect that Zhukov's ears were sharp, and what sokolovsky said was heard by him. He looked away from the map, looked at sokolovsky and said sternly, "chief of staff, let me remind you that even if the German army is a wounded beast, it is also a beast that can hurt people. It will become more fierce when it bites people. As a commander, if he neglects or belittles the enemy when organizing a battle, he may make the army pay a huge price. Do you understand? "

"I see, comrade marshal." Although sokolovsky was a general, after being criticized by Zhukov, he still admitted his mistake with a red face: "I will pay attention to it in the future, and I will never make such a mistake of belittling the enemy."

The report from the air force was on Zhukov's desk in a few minutes. According to general krasovsky's report, when his bombers were bombing the German army on the ground, a dozen German fighters suddenly appeared in the sky. The fighters escorted by our army immediately came forward to meet the enemy and started fighting with the enemy's fighters. After five German fighters were shot down and three wounded, they fled out of the battlefield. Four of our bombers were shot down and two of our fighters were lost.

I thought Zhukov would be angry when he saw such a battle report. After all, we have more fighters than the German army, but after a battle, the loss is even greater than the other side. But after reading the war report twice, Zhukov's face was unexpectedly smiling. He put down the war report and said to both of us, "our air force is playing very well. The German pilots are old birds who have experienced many battles, and our pilots fly far less than them, and they don't have much combat experience. It's very good to achieve such a record. " After these words, seeing that we were still standing in front of him and did not move, he glared at sokolovsky and said, "chief of staff, what are you still doing here? Don't you call lelushenko as soon as possible and order him to attack the whole line immediately, and make sure to annihilate all the German troops surrounded by them in the shortest time. "