Chapter 1555

Due to the time constraint, we were unable to gather all the commanders of the group army for a meeting. Instead, we had to send the orders to all the units by telegraph. These commanders who received two important orders in one day, in order to verify the order, called the headquarters one after another to verify. For a moment, several telephones in the room kept ringing one after another. We all temporarily acted as the operator to explain to the commander who called.

It took an hour to explain to the commanders of the army groups. After confirming the authenticity of the orders, commanders at all levels made preparations to their troops one after another.

After answering the phone, konev asked sokolovsky to set up a communication room in the hut next to the conference room. In this way, we can understand what happened on the front line in the shortest time; At the same time, it can also transmit the orders issued by konev to all units in the shortest time.

Ten minutes before the battle, two commanders of the air force group called one after another and reported to konev, "Comrade marshal, our air force has been deployed!"

After listening to the other party's report, konev nodded casually and said calmly, "well, I see."

When the pointer pointed to four o'clock, konev turned to sokolovsky, nodded at him, and then said, "Comrade chief of staff, let's go!"

After receiving konev's order, sokolovsky, who had been holding the microphone, immediately said loudly to the microphone, "marshal, order, the artillery of the front army to open fire!"

The position of the headquarters is far away from the front line, so we have no chance to see or hear either the air force's bombing or the artillery's artillery preparation. We can only understand the progress of the campaign through the battle reports of the front line troops.

According to the plan, two hours of artillery preparation should be carried out before the ground forces launch an attack. However, due to the limited number of shells in reserve, the actual shelling only stopped after more than half an hour. The troops deployed in the direction of Lutsk, with the strength of one division, launched an impact on the defensive position of the 291st infantry division of the German army.

Although the German army mastered our army's operational plan, they did not expect that we would launch an attack one day in advance, so they were caught off guard. The 120th Infantry Division was the main attacker. It took only ten minutes to break into the German defensive position and launch a fierce battle with them.

When he received the report, konev was still stunned. He shook the report with his hand, frowned and said: "according to our reconnaissance, in addition to the 291st infantry division, the 72nd and 88th infantry divisions are deployed here. But now, with only one division, we can easily break into the German defense. Do you think the German has any conspiracy? "

"I think there's a problem. Our attack went too well." As soon as konev's words were finished, sokolovsky added: "according to the previous wargame deduction, to break through the first line of defense of the German army, we need to invest at least five divisions and spend at least one day. Now we can easily break through the first line of defense of the German army by sending only one division, which is absolutely problematic. I suggest that the 120th division suspend its attack and build a line of defense in place until the following troops arrive. "

After hearing sokolovsky's words, I saw konev's face showing hesitation. He was afraid that on impulse, he agreed to the other side's proposal, ordered the troops to suspend the attack, and said, "marshal, I think the attack can't be stopped, except that the 120th division of the concession army continued to move forward after breaking through the German defense, At the same time, the second echelon should also be put into combat. "

"Rita," konev asked solemnly, turning his head at me, "don't you think the situation on the battlefield is too abnormal? The strength of the enemy's resistance is far lower than we imagined. Maybe they just want to contain our main force and then launch a counterattack from other directions. "

While trying to recall the history I knew, I cautiously replied, "marshal, I feel that the German army, knowing that our army is about to launch a large-scale attack, decisively took measures to deal with it, that is, to withdraw their main forces from the first line of positions, to the second line of Defense, and to deploy counter forces in the front of the defense."

"What shall we do now?" Sokolovsky asked as soon as I finished.

I went to the map on the wall, pointed to koweli to the west of Lutsk and said, "if the German resistance here is very weak, it proves that they have withdrawn the 72nd and 88th infantry divisions to the second defense zone, and the 291st infantry division is the rear army they left behind. What we can do now is to take advantage of the weak German first line of defense to invest more troops and intensify the offensive. In addition to leaving enough troops to eliminate the enemy in this area, the rest of the troops will continue to attack the second line of defense. "

I thought I would immediately get konev's approval for my point of view, but he shook his head and said, "Rita, what you said is your judgment. We can't take risks." He then told sokolovsky: "chief of staff, let the 76th infantry army immediately fight, cooperate with the 120th infantry division to eliminate the enemy in this area, and strengthen the fortifications in this area, so as to make it a new starting point for our attack."

Although konev also put the second echelon into the battle in his order, he abandoned my bold suggestions and adopted a steady strategy. When I heard sokolovsky's order, I could only sigh a little, saying that such an arrangement would let us miss the opportunity.

While the battle in the direction of koweli was fierce, the battle in the direction of attacking Lvov was also in full swing. However, the attack in this direction had long been expected by the Germans, so after a fierce battle in the morning, our troops launched three attacks and were beaten back without even approaching the enemy's position.

The attack in the direction of Lvov is not smooth, we can only place all our hopes on koweli in the north. Fortunately, after the 76th infantry army entered the battlefield, the 291st infantry division of the German army was unable to support. By noon, the 504th and 506th regiments of the division should have been unable to resist the attack of our army and began to retreat to the rear.

Just then, Stalin called from Moscow and asked konev about the battle. I was standing by konev's side at that time, so I could hear Stalin's question clearly: "Hey, comrade konev, your offensive campaign has been going on for eight hours. I don't know what kind of results you have achieved now?"

I saw konev raise his hand to wipe the sweat on his forehead, and then cautiously replied, "Comrade Stalin, the situation is not ideal. The attack in the direction of Lvov was met with tenacious resistance from the German army. So far, our army has not been able to approach the German defensive position for the time being. "

"What about the covelli direction?" When Stalin heard this, he asked in an emphatic tone, "can't and haven't been close to the German position?"

"The situation on the koweli side is slightly better," konev said with a relaxed expression on his face when referring to koweli: "the 120th infantry division and the 76th infantry of the 3rd group army of the close guard who participated in the attack have broken through the first line of defense of the German army and are trying to expand the breakthrough."

"Comrade konev," Stalin asked discontentedly, "can you put the echelons behind you into battle at this time?"

"I don't think that's going to work." Konev replied somewhat flustered: "because our attack is 24 hours ahead of schedule, many troops are unable to reach the designated attack position for the time being. In this case, we can only rely on the existing forces to fight for the first line of defense of the German army. "

"So it is. I see." Stalin said faintly, "I hope to hear your good news soon." With that, he hung up without waiting for konev to speak.

Konev put down the phone and asked sokolovsky, "chief of staff, how long will it take for the right-wing forces to clear the first line of defense?"

"Comrade marshal, it's hard to say." Sokolovsky replied with some embarrassment: "although our attack has forced the two German regiments to withdraw from the fighting, it may take several hours or even longer to eliminate the enemy in this area."

After listening to sokolovsky's reply, konev walked back and forth in the room, then stopped and said, "chief of staff, give an order immediately. Except that the 120th Infantry Division will continue to stay in place to eliminate the enemy, the rest of the troops will attack the second German defense line westward."

"That's not good, comrade marshal." Hearing this order from konev, sokolovsky immediately gently reminded: "although there is only one German regiment left in the position, if we don't annihilate them all, we will directly attack the second line of defense. Once we are attacked by the German army, our retreat may be cut off by this German army."

"Isn't there the 120th infantry division? I believe they have the ability to eliminate this enemy." As for sokolovsky's worry, konev waved his hand and said in a somewhat dispirited manner: "if I had just adopted Rita's suggestion and left a part of my troops to deal with the 291st division of the German army, and the main force directly rushed to the enemy's second line of defense, maybe the situation would be different from what it is now."

It's a pity that there is no regret medicine in the world. At this moment, konev found that my original proposal was very effective. His new decision can only try his best to remedy the mistakes in front. We all hope that the German army has no time to build a stronger defense in the second defense, so that we still have the chance to break through their second defense.

The results of the 76th infantry army, which rushed to the second line of defense, were almost negligible. Before the commanders and fighters could get a firm foothold, they were driven out by the enemy who fought back madly. Seeing that the situation was unfavourable to him, the commander of the army asked for instructions from his superiors. He temporarily stopped the attack, established a defense in place, and waited for the opportunity to launch another attack.

Soon after the news of the defeat came, the 120th infantry division cleared the first line of defense and the enemy's battle report came back. After reading the war report, sokolovsky gave a wry smile and said with a strong smile: "Comrade commander, although we said that today's attack in the direction of Lvov was not smooth, we have achieved a lot in koweli. Our troops overcame the main German defense zone and cleared the remnant enemy in the area, advancing eight kilometers in 16 hours, It's a great victory. "

After sokolovsky finished speaking, konev said, "chief of staff, our commanders and fighters have been fighting for a whole day. They should be very tired. Let them stop attacking for the time being and rest in place. It's not too late to attack the enemy tomorrow." When I heard konev's command, I thought to myself, if I were the commander of the front army, what should I do in this situation? It is like konev, let the troops pause the attack and rest in place; We should organize another attack to see if we can break through the second defense of the German army. After commanding sokolovsky, konev saw me silent and asked curiously, "Rita, what are you thinking? Do you have different views on my command?"“ Marshal, "after a fierce ideological struggle, I felt it was a bit too bad to give up the attack at this time, so I spoke decisively to konev and said," according to the report of the Artillery Force, they have replenished two bases of ammunition during the day. Do you think it is possible to order them to bombard the second line of defense of the German army, What about another wave of attacks by the troops that cover us? "“ Tell me your reason, Rita "Why continue to attack the German army?" konev asked noncommittally“ Comrade marshal, although the attack we launched today caught the Germans by surprise, we have not achieved any ideal results today because of their tenacious defense. " I looked at konev and solemnly explained my reason, "if we don't attack all night, we will give the Germans a breathing space, and they can use the night time to mobilize troops and reinforce fortifications. In that case, when we attack again tomorrow, we will encounter more tenacious defense."“ Yes, marshal. I think the deputy commander is right. " As soon as I finished, sokolovsky echoed: "if the Germans really use the night to mobilize troops and strengthen defense, it will cause more trouble to our attack tomorrow, so I think we should launch another round of attack on the German defensive positions."