Chapter 1566

Although we are facing the German army which has already begun to decline, they still retain their skilled technical and tactical level and tenacious combat effectiveness. Seeing our tanks rushing into the urban-rural fringe one after another, the anti tank weapons deployed in the streets and houses opened fire.

The tanks in the front were destroyed by the German anti tank fire, blocking the way of the tanks following. Seeing that the situation was unfavourable to his own side, the commanders of the tank troops were afraid that many tanks would stay in the street and become the targets of German anti tank fighters. They immediately ordered the troops to withdraw from the city.

Seeing that the attack on Lvov was not smooth, konev was anxious to turn around in the headquarters, while sokolovsky stood beside him in a daze. I got up from my seat and faced konev, who was pacing back and forth, said, "Comrade marshal, please allow me to go to the front line of Lvov."

"To the front of Lviv?" Konev stopped, gave me a strange look, shook his head and said, "no, it can't. Rita, don't forget that the two former commanders and Deputy commanders of the first front army of Ukraine were both accidents while inspecting the front line. I absolutely can't let you take the risk. "

"Comrade oshanina, marshal konev is right." As soon as konev's words were finished, kleinukov echoed: "the front line is too dangerous. If you have any mistakes, how can we explain them to our superiors?"

As soon as my proposal was put forward, it met with opposition. Although I knew in my heart that they were all thinking about my safety, I was still unwilling to say to konev, "Comrade marshal, I have been staying in the front line these years and know how to protect myself. If I go to the front line this time, I won't have any problems. You can rest assured. "

After I said this, konev did not immediately express any opinions, but fell into meditation. When I saw his reaction, I knew that there was room for things to turn around. I said while the iron was hot: "when the troops attacking Lvov are distributed under four army groups and lack unified command, it's easy to go their own way. Therefore, I feel that I can go to the front line and personally command these troops, so as to win Lvov as soon as possible. "

"Marshal," sokolovsky interrupted as soon as I finished my words, and before konev made his statement, "I don't think we should let oshanina go to the front line. It's too dangerous there. We don't have the right to let her take this risk."

After listening to sokolovsky's words, konev fixed his eyes on him for a long time and then said, "Comrade chief of staff, you should be very clear that we have been directing the battle according to the information reported by the front line. And some of these intelligence, in the process of layer upon layer reporting, have lost their timeliness, so that we sometimes make wrong decisions. Under the current situation, the front line really needs a commander who can coordinate the joint operations between the various forces. This person is not suitable for me, nor is it suitable for you. Therefore, we can only hand over this heavy burden to Rita to complete. "

Seeing that konev had agreed to let me go to the front line, sokolovsky did not raise any objection. Konev came up to me, put his hands on my shoulder, patted me twice, and said, "Rita, you're going to leave all night, to the fourth group army of tanks in lelushenko, where you're going to direct the attack of several groups on Lvov."

Originally, I planned to take advantage of the jeep, but konev said that he was worried that he would meet the enemy's scattered soldiers on the road, so he sent three armored vehicles to escort me to the group army headquarters in lelushenko overnight.

It's more than 200 kilometers from Rovno to the south of Lvov. It took us eight hours to get to our destination because the road was not easy to walk. However, in the headquarters of the group army, I did not see lelushenko, only his chief of staff. The chief of staff respectfully reported to me that the commander was in the headquarters of the 10th army of the close guard tank.

When I arrived at the headquarters of the 10th army of the guard tank, lelushenko, who got the news, came out with a group of commanders to welcome me. After a simple greeting, he began to introduce the commander who came out with him: "Comrade deputy commander, I'd like to introduce you to major general belov, commander of the 10th army of close guard tanks."

"Hello, general belov." When belov and I finished shaking hands, we fixed our eyes on a tall commander nearby and asked curiously, "I don't know who this commander is?"

Hearing my question, the tall commander quickly stepped forward, straightened up and reported to me, "report to the deputy commander of the front army, I am Colonel yefemov, commander of the 29th brigade of the motorized infantry of the guards."

When I shook hands with yefimov, lelushenko added: "Comrade deputy commander, last night, Colonel yefimov's troops once successfully stormed into the city. Although they finally withdrew from Lviv under the counterattack of the German army, there are still several combat teams still fighting fiercely in the city

"Oh, how many combat teams are there to fight fiercely in the city?" Lelushenko's words surprised me a little. I thought that the army had failed to attack the city. All the troops were driven out of the city by the German army, but a small part remained in the city.

"Comrade Colonel, tell me about the situation." I asked, looking at yeffimov, who was a head taller than me.

Without waiting for yefemov to speak, lelushenko said, "Rita, this is not the place to speak outside. Let's go into the headquarters."

After we got into the headquarters, I couldn't wait to ask yefemov, "Comrade Colonel, now please give me a detailed report."

Yefemov hesitated and turned his eyes to one side. After seeing the other side nodding slightly, he began to report to me: "Comrade deputy commander, this is the situation. After the attack of the 63rd guard tank brigade was repulsed by the German army, I soon organized the first and second motorized battalions and launched another attack on the city. The troops who rushed into the city were attacked by the German army and were driven out, but the two platoons of the second battalion remained in the city. Half an hour ago, our observers in front of us also called, saying that we could vaguely hear the sound of guns coming from the city. "

"How many people are left in these two platoons?" I continued.

"One of the platoons has 15 people left. The platoon leader is sergeant hujiakov." "There is another platoon that has lost contact with us for a while, but as far as we know, they are still fighting tenaciously," yefimov said dryly

"What kind of person is that platoon leader?" It's said that there are only two platoons in the city with incomplete organizational system. My heart is cold again. Under the heavy siege of the enemy, the two platoons can play a limited role. But in order not to let them see the disappointment on my face, I still pretended to be calm and asked: "in the face of the enemy's siege, will he not waver?"

Yefimov looked at lelushenko again, and then replied positively: "don't worry, comrade deputy commander of the front army, I dare to guarantee with my own life that no matter how many enemies besieged me, Sergeant hujiakov will not show any wavering."

After listening to yefemov's reply, I couldn't help but be happy: "Comrade Colonel, do you have such confidence in your subordinates?"

"Yes." Hearing that I had doubts about his own subordinates, yefimov's face showed an expression of displeasure, but he politely said to me: "Comrade deputy commander, you may not know that in March, Sergeant hujiakov destroyed four German tanks, killed 30 German soldiers, and was awarded the title of Soviet hero."

When I learned that Hu jiakov had won the title of Soviet hero, I suddenly felt a lot more confident. As long as there are such soldiers, they will continue to fight in the most difficult environment. I turned to look at lelushenko and asked, "general lelushenko, what are your plans?"

"Of course, the attack continued." Lelushenko quickly replied: "before you come, we are studying the attack plan."

"Have you found anything?"

"I intend to order the 62nd and 63rd brigades of the guard tanks to attack again from the south of the city." Lelushenko pointed to the map in front of me and introduced to me: "as long as we capture the entrance of Liberty Avenue in the south of the city and set up an offensive starting position here, our tanks can push directly along the street to the north of the city."

Fortunately, before I came here, I learned something about Lvov from konev and kleinukov. Otherwise, the plan proposed by lelushenko at this moment will definitely make me confused. I waited for lelushenko to finish, nodded his head and said: "it's reasonable that the north and South lines of freedom Avenue run through the north and south of Lvov. As long as we can establish offensive positions here, we can only smoothly advance to the north of the city. But you should pay attention to, "I pointed in the middle of livov with my hand and stressed," in the middle of the city, there are the opera house and the memorial of Shevchenko. Try not to destroy them in the battle. "

"I see, comrade deputy commander." "We'll pay attention to it in battle," said belov

"General belov, time is up." Lelushenko raised his hand and looked at his watch, urging belov: "we can let the troops attack Lvov."

While belov was arranging an attack on several brigade commanders under him, I pulled lelushenko aside and asked, "Comrade General, I want to ask, where is general Moskalenko's 38th army?"

"It's still in the Nikolayev area, 30 kilometers from Lvov." With a wry smile, lelushenko replied: "the German army set up defense in depth on their way forward and resisted very tenaciously, which led to their slow advance."

Although Moskalenko's 38th army can not be counted on, it still needs the help of the 60th army in the east to successfully capture Lvov. So I asked, "Comrade General, can I contact the 60th army here?"

"Yes." With that, lelushenko went to the table, grabbed the crank of a telephone and shook it a few times. Then he grabbed the earphone and stuck it to his ear and said to the microphone, "Hello, signalman, this is general lelushenko. Connect me with the 38th army headquarters."

After the call, lelushenko handed me the phone and said, "Rita, it's through. General kurotchkin is waiting for your order

"Hello, general kurotchkin." I first politely said hello to the other side, and then directly gave the order: "in a little while, general lelushenko's troops will attack from Lvov's side. Now I order you to gather your forces immediately and attack from the east side of the city. "

"Yes, comrade deputy commander." When kurotchkin heard my order, he didn't say anything, but simply replied, "I'll give an order to the troops to attack immediately." After I introduced the call, I put the microphone on the base of the phone. When I was about to speak, I suddenly saw lelushenko grasp the crank of the phone and shake it a few times. Seeing that I looked at him with strange eyes, he explained with a smile: "this is an old-fashioned telephone. No matter before you make a call, you need to shake the handle a few times after the call, otherwise the phone will always be connected." When I listened to the introduction, my face turned red, because when I used to use this kind of old-fashioned telephone in the offices of lelushenko and rokosovsky, I never shook the crank after hanging up, and I didn't know whether I had delayed important things. As soon as the attack on Lvov by the 10th army of the close guard tank started, konev's phone call came in. "What's the situation, Rita?" he asked bluntly. "Has the attack on Lvov begun?"“ Yes, comrade marshal. " Listening to the roar outside, I quickly replied, "general lelushenko's 10th army of close guard tanks has launched an attack from the south of Lvov. And the 38th army of general kurotchkin will attack from the east later. "“ What about Moskalenko? " After listening to my report, konev asked, "where are his troops?"“ General Moskalenko's troops are now being blocked by the German army in the Nikolayev area, 30 kilometers away from Lvov. " I repeat what lyushenko just said: "they can't take part in the attack launched this morning."“ Oh, I see. If there is any progress, call me in time. " Konev murmured and hung up. I put down the phone and thought about it. Then I said to lelushenko, "Comrade General, Lvov is a big city. Only two tank brigades close to the 10th army of tank guards attack. The strength is a little too weak. You should transfer other troops as soon as possible to strengthen our army's strength. " Lelushenko nodded his head and said, "OK, I'll give you an order. Let the other troops gather here immediately and try to occupy Lvov as soon as possible."