Chapter 1601

After waiting for rokosovsky to finish complaining, I didn't beat around the Bush and said directly, "marshal, I'm calling to ask the logistics department to give priority to replenishing shells for the artillery of the 47th army."

I thought rokosovsky would take care of my face when he heard my request and agreed without hesitation. But after a long silence, he said slowly, "Rita, it's not easy."

"Ah, why?" What he said surprised me.

"Rita, you should know that marshal konev's forces are cleaning up the remaining enemies in Ukraine. They now have priority in supply." Rokosovsky may be afraid of me and specially explained to me: "it is for this reason that the ammunition supplied to us by the superior is less than one tenth of the plan. Tell me, in this case, if I supply artillery shells to the 47th army, what should the artillery units of the front army do? "

"Marshal," thinking that I have just boasted to Gusev, if I can't get artillery shells urgently needed from rokosovsky, it will have a bad impact on my prestige. So I went on and said, "the 47th army will soon cross the viswa River to replace the 8th Army in the west coast of the pwawi landing site. The troops crossing the river will soon be attacked by the German army. If there is no artillery support, I am afraid that even if the troops pay a huge price, they will not be able to defend the landing site. "

Rokosovsky was silent after listening to me. I knew that he was weighing the pros and cons, so I didn't disturb him rashly, but waited for his reply quietly.

"Well," I don't know how long later, rokosovsky's reply finally came from the receiver: "I will inform the logistics department and send you a base number of shells first."

"That's very good. That's very good, comrade marshal." It's said that I can get a base number of shells, and I'm more confident. These shells are not enough for attack, but they are more than enough for defense“ Only the artillery units of the group army have these shells. I believe they will be able to hold fast to the landing site on the West Bank. "

I put down the phone, went back to Gusev and said with a relaxed expression, "Comrade General, marshal rokosovsky has promised to replenish a base number of ammunition for you as soon as possible. I expect it will arrive this evening."

"Comrade deputy commander," Gusev asked me with a smile after I finished saying, "the 77th division of general askarepov's guards will be the first force to cross the visva River tonight. Would you like to have a word with him?"

When I was the commander of the sixth group army, the 77th division of askarepov had the least success. I still don't know the reason. Is it because of the low level of the division's commander, the weak combat effectiveness of the unit, or I used this unit too little? This time, it's a severe test for them to cross the river first and stick to the puwai landing site on the West Bank. Before the troops leave, I think it's necessary to talk with askarepov. Therefore, I nodded to Gusev's proposal and said with certainty: "well, general Gusev, since you say so, Then please ask Mr. askarepov to come here. I have something else to tell him

Half an hour later, askarepov arrived at the headquarters. He strode up to us, glancing back and forth at Gusev and me, hesitating who to report to first. Seeing his dilemma, Gusev shook his head at him and ordered, "this is your old superior, general oshanina. Now she is the deputy commander of the front army. You can report to her directly."

Upon hearing what Gusev said, askarebov quickly faced me: "report to Comrade deputy commander of the front army, commander of the 77th division of Jinwei, major general askarebov has been ordered to come, please give instructions!"

After giving a salute, I took askarepov to the table, pointed to the map and asked him, "Comrade division commander, your division will be the vanguard of the group army this evening. First of all, it will cross the visva River and take over the defense work of the puwai landing site from the 8th group army of the guards. Tell me, how do you plan to deploy the troops? "

Although askarebov should have seen the map of the puwai landing site on the table for a long time, he still looked at it carefully for a while, then pointed to the map and said to me, "Comrade deputy commander, I plan to deploy the 215th regiment of the close guard at the front of the defensive position, while the 217th and 219th regiments of the close guard will be placed in the second line position as reserves. The 979th artillery regiment remained on the east coast. "

After he finished his deployment plan, he might be worried that I asked why we didn't let the artillery cross the river. He quickly added: "at present, our artillery have no shells, and there is no ship that can transport the artillery to the other side, so we can only keep the artillery regiment on the east bank."

After he finished speaking, I nodded and said, "Mr. askarepov, general Gusev has given your division the honor of being the first to board the West Bank. This is his trust in you I hope you and your men can make new contributions in the battle of holding fast to the landing site of puwai! "

Askarepov straightened his back and replied loudly, "don't worry, comrade deputy commander. I report to you that my troops will never live up to the expectations of you and commander Gusev."

I reached out and shook his hand: "since you are so confident, go back to the army as soon as possible!"

Askarepov raised his hand to salute us, then turned back, strode forward and walked out of the headquarters.

……

The 77th division of askarepov's guards boarded the west bank one after another after dark, and took over the defense from the 39th division of askarepov's guards who had quietly withdrawn. The retreated troops, on the other hand, went down the south of viswah to the landing site of magnushev to strengthen the defense in that area.

After daybreak, I called askarepov and asked him about the situation there.

Askarepov said in a low mood: "Comrade deputy commander, near the line of defense of the 215th regiment of the guards, there is a Polish village, but they seem to reject our commanders and fighters very much. As soon as our people enter the village, they will hide in the house and will not come out, and they will not communicate with us at all."

"This is very normal, comrade teacher." As for the performance of Polish villagers, I know very well in my heart that it may be the result of Su Bo's gratitude and hatred in recent decades. Although there is a Polish interim government in Lublin, the majority of poles do not agree with our army. In their eyes, we are the aggressors. Therefore, I sounded the alarm to askarepov: "after all, we are fighting abroad, Coupled with years of enmity with Poland, the Polish people have no sense of identity with us. I suggest you, in order to avoid the leakage of secrets, transfer these Polish villagers and never let them stay near the front line positions, understand? "

"I see, comrade deputy commander." Askarepov replied very frankly: "I will immediately arrange the manpower to place them in new places, so that our army will not suffer innocent people when it is shelled or bombed by the German army."

Askarepov's words were very appropriate. I couldn't help nodding my head with satisfaction, and specially stressed: "Comrade division, after all the villagers are moved to other places, we must strengthen the fortifications as soon as possible, so as to trigger a possible German attack. Do you understand?"

On hearing my advice, askarepov replied, "since we entered the defensive position last night, our troops have been fortifying the position to prepare for the next battle."

"Very good, sir. You have done a good job." After praising his practice, I added: "if you need any help, just call."

After I put down the phone, I immediately asked Gusev, "Comrade General, are your artillery deployed in place?"

Instead of answering me, Gusev turned to look at his chief of staff, who quickly stood up from his seat and voluntarily replied, "yes, comrade deputy commander, one of our agricultural artillery regiments, two howitzer regiments and two close guard rocket barracks are all deployed in place and have marked the firing data. As long as the enemy charges into general askarepov's position, we can intercept them with artillery fire. "

I don't care how many cannons there are, but if there are not enough cannons, these cannons will become furnishings. So as soon as the chief of staff finished, I asked, "are there enough cannons?"

The chief of staff was silent for a moment, then replied decisively, "enough. The artillery shells with one base number provided by the superior were prepared according to the standard of two artillery divisions. But now we only use the artillery of one artillery division, that is to say, each artillery has two base numbers of ammunition. To provide the necessary artillery support for the defense on the other side, I think it is enough. "

As soon as we finished talking about the artillery here, rokosovsky called me again. He said in a hurry, "Rita, I have something urgent to tell you. The troops led by major monakov will withdraw from pwavi this evening. Please ask Gusev to arrange for the troops to take over."

If rokosovsky didn't mention monakov, I almost forgot that this plane landed behind the enemy a few days ago to destroy the troops of the "Kaminsky brigade". At this moment, hearing him mention it, I can't help but ask nervously: "Comrade marshal, their task has been completed for several days. How come they haven't withdrawn from behind the enemy?"

"Kaminski's disappearance aroused the suspicion of the German army." Rokosovsky explained to me the reason why the troops failed to withdraw in time: "according to the telegram we intercepted, the German Army thought that Kaminsky had defected with his troops, so on the one hand, they sent troops to collect the weapons of Kaminsky brigade officers and soldiers in other areas, on the other hand, they strengthened their defense on the road leading to our defense line. In this way, it virtually cut off major monakov and their retreat. "

"Comrade marshal, can you get in touch with major monakov?" I waited for rokosovsky to finish, then asked: "I need to know the specific time when they pass through the German defense line, so that we can arrange the troops to take over."

"I don't think I can do anything for the time being." "After they sent us the telegram, they completely lost contact. They only know that they will break through towards pwawi tonight. It's not clear when they will break through," rokosovsky said dejectedly

It is conceivable that it is difficult to take over a force that has temporarily lost contact with us. But I didn't worry about it. Instead, I passed it on to Gusev: "Comrade General, we have an army that will break through in the direction of puwai tonight. I hope you can send troops to take over."

"Our troops break through towards pwawi?" After listening to me, Gusev was stunned for a moment and asked, "I don't know how many troops they have and what time are they going to break through? I'll mobilize the troops according to the actual situation. " As for the series of questions he asked, I gave a wry smile and answered, "Comrade General, this unit landed behind the enemy some time ago. At that time, there were about 400 people. After this period of fighting, it is estimated that there will be a certain degree of reduction in personnel. As for when they will break through to puwai, we have lost contact with them at present, so we can't know the exact time. But please call general askarepov and ask him to prepare for the reception. " He asked his department to take over an unknown force and didn't know when it would break through. Gusev's face muscles twitched violently, but he said with a stiff head, "well, comrade deputy commander, I'll arrange this properly. Just relax." It was Gusev who told askarepov to take over the breakout troops. I called Popov, commander of the 70th group army, and asked, "Comrade General, are your troops assembled?"“ Two infantry divisions have been assembled, "Popov replied by telephone." it will take at least one to two days to assemble all the troops. "“ General Popov, first transfer the two divisions assembled. " I am very clear that there are a lot of things to deal with in the mobilization of the army, not to say that we can go, so I can only say helplessly: "general Gusev has transferred several divisions to the West Bank of the visva River, and many parts of the defense area are empty. Please let your troops take over the defense." When I put down the phone, I saw that Gusev was still on the phone, so I asked anxiously, "Comrade General, have you finished explaining the task to division commander askarepov?" Gusev quickly covered the microphone with his hand, and solemnly reported: "Comrade deputy commander, the German army is launching an attack on the puwai landing site."