Chapter 1600

I lived in the room that Popov had arranged for me, and I didn't sleep all night. I was deeply aware that the job Stalin had arranged for me was not easy at all. The airborne plan put forward by Vassili, chief of staff, is purely to ignore the life and death of the tank commanders and fighters. Not to mention now, even in another 50 years, it is also dangerous for man-machine integrated airdrop.

As I was worried that there would be similar wonderful commanders in the 47th army of lieutenant general Gusev, I left Popov early the next morning and prepared to rush to the 47th army's defense area immediately.

Popov took me to the door. Before I got on the bus, I suddenly thought of an important thing. I stopped and asked, "general Popov, I have something to ask you."

"Comrade deputy commander, if you have anything, just ask." Popov respectfully said: "as long as I know, I will answer truthfully."

"On my way here yesterday, I passed Brest fortress, and saw a sentry outside the gillespins." I looked at Popov and asked, "I wanted to go in and have a look, but I was turned out by the sentry. I want to ask why you don't allow outsiders to approach the fortress. What's the matter? "

"The situation is like this," Popov said in a flustered way when he saw that I was asking for a crime. "Some time ago, two regimental officers entered the fortress to inspect, but they were killed by the enemy hidden in the ruins. In order to prevent similar tragedies, since then, I have ordered irrelevant personnel to enter the fortress. "

After I found out why Popov closed the fort, I nodded and then said to him, "general Popov, I want to make a suggestion to you."

"Go ahead, please." Popov said respectfully.

"After the outbreak of the war, Brest fortress was the first target of the German army. The garrison stationed there fought hard for nearly a month and wrote a page in the history of our great patriotic war." I said to Popov solemnly, "you can continue to send people to defend the fortress, but as long as someone goes to visit, whether he is a soldier, a worker, a collective farm or a student, he should send people to receive him warmly, so that they can understand what happened here, and let them know how hard our commanders and fighters are in the situation, A tenacious battle with the Communist aggressors. So as to achieve the goal of arousing patriotic enthusiasm, gathering people's strength and cultivating national spirit. "

After listening to what I said, Popov was silent for a moment, and then replied decisively, "Comrade deputy commander, I remember what you said. I will lift the blockade of the fortress as soon as possible, and at the right time, let those sympathy teams from the rear go to visit this famous fortress."

I nodded with satisfaction at Popov's attitude. Then I got on the bus and told the driver, "drive!"

Gushev's group army headquarters is located in a city called shederce, which is only 60 kilometers away from Popov's station. However, due to the charred craters all over the road, which is not conducive to the passage of vehicles. In addition, the marching troops and convoys blocked the road, we didn't arrive at shederce until noon.

This is a medium-sized city in Poland. When our army attacked here, the German army gave up the city without any fierce fighting, so most of the buildings in the city are still intact.

I came to the headquarters of Gusev. Unfortunately, I didn't see him. I only saw the chief of staff and the military commissar of the group army. After greeting them, I asked curiously, "where has general Gusev gone?"

The chief of staff quickly replied, "Comrade commander has gone to inspect the defense area of the 77th division of the guards."

"The 77th division of Jinwei?" When I heard the name of the army from the chief of staff, I felt cordial. After all, this is the army I once commanded. But for the sake of safety, I asked: "at present, the division commander is still major general askarepov?"

Hearing my question, the chief of staff nodded his head like a chicken pecking at rice. Fortunately, he asked me strangely, "Comrade deputy commander, do you know Mr. askarepov?"

"Yes, of course." I saw that not only the chief of staff, but also the military commissar was curious about this issue, so I explained to them: "long before the battle of Kursk, division commander askarepov was my subordinate. Later, he took part in the battle of liberating Belgorod and Kharkov and crossing the Dnieper River. It was not until my troops were stationed in Belarus that his division was transferred. "

Seeing that both of them were nodding their heads, and their faces were suddenly enlightened, I quickly asked the chief of staff, "Comrade chief of staff, tell me about your situation here."

"At present, the three divisions of our group's military in front defense all have German defense positions opposite. The nearest one is only 300 meters. From time to time, the enemy can fire machine guns at our trenches." Speaking of this, the chief of staff stopped for a moment and observed my expression. Seeing that I didn't express any opinions, he continued to say: "as the 77th division of guards is the farthest forward unit of our department, their defensive positions have always been the targets of German artillery and bombers."

I waited patiently for the chief of staff to finish, then I asked, "Comrade chief of staff, what measures have you taken?"

"Measures, what measures have been taken?" When the chief of staff heard my question, he was a little flustered: "because our troops are severely reduced and lack of ammunition, we can no longer attack the enemy. We can only temporarily turn from attack to defense."

As for the chief of staff's wrong answer, I said discontentedly: "Comrade chief of staff, I asked you what measures you took when you were bombarded and bombed by the German army. But you told me that because of the shortage of soldiers and ammunition, the troops can only temporarily turn from offensive state to defensive state. "

The chief of staff raised his hand and wiped a cold sweat that did not exist on his forehead. He replied, "we have built a lot of gun holes in the fortifications. Once they are bombarded or bombed by the enemy, the commanders and fighters will hide inside."

Just when I heard the chief of staff's reply and wanted to attack, I suddenly heard someone behind me say, "Comrade deputy commander, when did you come here?" I turned to see that it was general Gusev who appeared at the door. He didn't wait for me to speak, then he quickly came to me, and while holding out his hand to me, he complained about his chief of staff

Gusev's two understated words immediately resolved the tense atmosphere in the room. When he was seated again, he began to complain to me: "Comrade deputy commander, what you don't know is that after the fierce fighting some time ago, not only the troops were seriously reduced, but also the weapons and ammunition were seriously insufficient. Due to the slow arrival of the superior's replenishment, our troops have lost the ability to continue to attack fortified positions and have to turn to defense. "

I know what Gusev said is true. In the just concluded battle of Belarus, although the Soviet army advanced 600 kilometers and wiped out hundreds of thousands of German troops, its own casualties were not small. In addition, in order to leave troops to defend the occupied cities, almost all the troops advancing to the East Bank of the visva River have lost their assault ability. Although the higher authorities have not yet issued orders to let the troops turn to defense, most of the group armies have stopped their active attacks on the German troops and started to build and reinforce defense facilities in the occupied areas, To prevent a possible German counterattack.

I did not continue to pester on this issue, but casually asked: "general Gusev, I heard that you just went to the defense area of the 77th division of the guards?"

"Yes, comrade deputy commander." Gusev replied truthfully: "last night, I received an order from the front army to take over the defense of the west coast puwai landing site from the hand of the eighth group army of trikov's guards. I'm going to ask three divisions, including the 77th division of Jinwei, to cross the river at night. I just went to the river to study the choice of crossing points with you. "

Hearing that the 47th army will cross the river on a large scale tonight, I can't help but frown and ask, "Comrade General, do you have enough ships in your hands?"

"There are probably more than 50 wooden boats that can cross one regiment at a time." Without waiting for Gusev to speak, the chief of staff said, "we once proposed to the headquarters of the front army to send engineers to help us build a floating bridge on the visva River, but we still have no reply."

"Comrade chief of staff, I now tell you that it is impossible to build a floating bridge over the visva river." Seeing the expression of amazement on several faces, I continued: "the day before yesterday, Polish engineers helped trakov build a floating bridge on the visva river. Only two hours later, they were destroyed by German bombers. It also caused huge losses to the air defense forces responsible for protecting the bridges and the convoys transporting materials. "

It is said that the floating bridge built by trakov's headquarters was destroyed by the German plane, and their faces became serious. After a while, Gusev frowned and said, "Comrade deputy commander, according to the order, we will cross the visva river with the troops of three divisions in one or two days. If there is no pontoon, I am afraid that we will not be able to complete the task of our superiors."

"You'd better deliver troops and materials to the West Bank's pwawi landing site as planned." I know that under the current situation, our army can't build a new floating bridge on the wiswa river. In order to avoid Gusev's failure to deliver, I can only take all the things reported to rokosovsky“ Let me handle the communication with the headquarters of the front army. "

Seeing the steps I gave him, Gusev was very happy. He nodded his head and said, "yes, we can't build a floating bridge on the visva River, but we will still use the existing ships to transport as many troops as possible to the West Bank of the visva river."

I stayed in the headquarters of trakov a few days ago, and I knew something about the situation on the West Bank of the visva River, so I reminded Gusev: "Comrade General, when your troops arrive at the West Bank, they will definitely be attacked by the German army. Are you able to block their attack?"

"Comrade deputy commander, you don't know that the artillery shells of the group army are almost exhausted, but when the troops on the West Bank are attacked by the German army, they can't provide artillery support at all. If we want to keep the landing site, we are bound to pay huge casualties. " At this point, he suddenly sat up straight and assured me, "but please rest assured that no matter how much we pay, we will firmly hold the pwawi landing site and never let the Germans occupy it again."

If I didn't come to the front line in person, I really didn't know that the ammunition and materials of these main attack forces were so scarce. It seems that, let alone the attack, even the defense is quite difficult, because they are about to face the most elite German "skeleton division" and "Viking division". I have no doubt that they have the strength to defeat our group army. After thinking for a moment, I resolutely said to Gusev, "don't worry, comrade general, I will let the rear service units of the front army deliver the shells needed by the artillery of your group army as quickly as possible."“ That's great. That's great. " Gusev was so excited that he burst into tears when he heard my statement. He repeatedly repeated to me, "as long as our artillery supply shells, no matter what scale of attack the enemy launches, our commanders and fighters can smash it." I waved to Gusev and said, "well, comrade general, don't say any more. Now that you have only about 50 wooden boats, it's time to study the crossing sequence of the troops. " While a few people were discussing the order of the troops crossing the river, I called rokosovsky to find him to deal with the shells urgently needed by the 47th army. Rokosovsky was surprised to hear that I was in the headquarters of the 47th army at the moment: "Rita, according to the order, shouldn't you be in the women's health company now?"“ Marshal, please listen to me. When I went to the women's health company, I found that the company commander and instructor were all my old subordinates. I believe that their ability is enough to handle everything well. " I was deeply afraid that rokosovsky would order me to go back to the health company, so I sped up and said, "I want to come to the two army groups ahead of time to understand the actual situation, so that I can work out a reasonable combat plan."“ Have you gained anything since you arrived at the group army? " Rokosovsky asked at the other end of the line“ Of course, there are gains. " When I heard rokosovsky's question, I immediately repeated to him the man-machine integrated airdrop plan I heard in Popov's headquarters yesterday“ Nonsense, this is nonsense After listening to this, rokosovsky said angrily: "if you want to air drop from the rear of the German army, light tanks are definitely not good. They are not the opponents of German Tiger and leopard tanks; But not only the T-34, but also some of the new tanks we installed last year, which exceeded the carrying capacity of the transport aircraft. The person who makes such a suggestion is just a jerk. "