Burning Moscow

After Bezikov posted the two battle reports, he went into the sea like a mud cow without any movement. I waited for a long time and saw no response from Zhukov or Vatutin. He wandered to Lopukhov's body and leaned down and asked: "Major, can you contact the troops below?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Lopukhov quickly got up from his seat and reported with his body straight: "We have a special telephone line here, and you can directly contact the divisions of the following divisions."

Hearing that Lopukhov said this, I immediately told him: "Immediately connect to General Chernoff's division headquarters, and I want to ask him what is going on on the front line."

"Yes!" Lopukhov promised, then walked to the side, picked up a phone hanging on the wall, dialed a number, and said into the microphone: "Get me close to the 9th Division Division of Wei. "

After a while, he handed the microphone to me and said respectfully: "Comrade Commander, the call is connected."

I nodded, took the microphone from his hand, put it on my ear, and then asked loudly, "Hello, Chernoff? How is your situation? Can you break through the German defense?"

"Comrade Commander, the situation is terrible." Chernov shouted loudly: "The Germans behaved very stubbornly, and the battle has entered a stalemate. Now we can neither attack nor withdraw."

"Damn it, how could this be?" I frowned when I heard him say that, and then ordered: "Since I can't make the rush, then first withdraw the troops, readjust the troops, and then attack the enemy."

Chernoff hurriedly said: "Because of the rain, the water in the trenches has passed the knees. When our commanders jumped into the trenches, they were soon covered in muddy water. Now they are stranded with the enemy and we send them. The person who sent the order can't tell the enemy from us at all."

"Okay, comrade commander." Before he was finished, I interrupted his words directly and said in a categorical tone: "No matter what method you use, I have to withdraw the troops as soon as possible. I have ordered the tanks. The brigade has attacked, and when they arrive, you will attack again."

After I finished speaking, Chernoff was silent immediately, and he was probably embarrassed whether he should accept my order. Seeing that he was not speaking for a long time, I raised my voice and asked, "Comrade Master, why didn't you speak? Didn't you hear my order?"

"Yes! Comrade Commander." Hearing my voice so severe, Chernov reluctantly replied: "I will immediately find a way to withdraw the troops."

After I put down the phone, Kistyakov immediately asked with concern: "Comrade Commander, is the situation in the 9th Guards Division very bad?"

I nodded and sighed and said, "Although this torrential rain affected the enemy's vision, it is also detrimental to our army. Now they are entangled with the enemy, and the order to retreat cannot be conveyed at all." After finishing these few sentences Later, I turned my head and asked Akhromeyev, "Major, do you have the latest news from the 52nd Guards Division?"

"Comrade Commander." Akhromeyev handed me a telegram that he had just received and said: "The telegram from General Nekrasov, they once occupied the entire city half an hour ago. However, the German army is not reconciled to defeat, and is fighting back at all costs. Now some of the enemies have stormed into the city. The battle is ongoing!"

The battle is underway! I know that such a simple sentence contains a lot of meaning. Maybe in a while, Nekrasov will report that the Germans have taken the city back again.

Not only did I understand the meaning of this statement, but Kistyakov and Bezikov also understood the meaning of this telegram. Bezikov said to me carefully: "Comrade Commander, the rain is too heavy to use heavy equipment like artillery and tanks. Whether you can win or not depends on the technical and tactical level and fighting will of the officers and soldiers of both sides!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Kistyakov asked unceremoniously: "Chief of Staff, do you think General Nekrasov can defend the city?"

When I saw Kistyakov’s question, Bezikov was speechless, so I stood up and relieved him: "Comrade deputy commander, I believe that our commanders and fighters will definitely be able to defend the city. The performance in the battle over the past few months is a model of tenacity and self-sacrifice in our army."

Seeing that I have already said that, Kistyakov can no longer embarrass Bezikov. The battle in the south was temporarily undecidable, so we turned our attention to the north. After contacting Kravchenko, I learned that due to heavy rain, the German offensive on Koroslav had completely stopped, and the troops were rushing to repair the fortifications in the rain.

I thought about it, and then asked Akhromeyev to send Kravchenko a telegram with only one sentence: "How many tanks are there in the 21st Guards Brigade?"

After about five minutes, Kravchenko replied the telegram. He may have understood the purpose of my question and explained in detail: “The brigade has 31 tanks left. The tanks lost were all lost in enemy shelling or bombing. And enemy armor. In the face-to-face battle of the troops, our tanks achieved a complete victory."

After reading this telegram, I finally feel more at ease, and now it seems that the decision to transfer all new tanks to Korostlev is completely correct. If the tank brigade sent in the past is equipped with T-34, it is estimated that in addition to the part lost in the artillery and bombing, it will also lose a lot when fighting against German tanks.

After reading the telegram before me, Bezikov asked cautiously: "Comrade Commander, how do we call General Kravchenko?"

"Chief of Staff, please tell him that when the enemy attacks next time, let him gather all the tanks and carry out a counter-assault on the enemy. Use the superior performance of our tanks to defeat the German offensive forces."

"Understood!" Bezikov had personally seen the power of the new tank, so after he recorded the order, he immediately reported it to Kravchenko.

In the evening, the rain outside finally subsided.

Nekrasov called me first and reported to me: "Comrade Commander, we have all wiped out the German forces that rushed into the city. The troops are currently cleaning the battlefield."

"How about the casualties of your division?" I didn't ask them in detail about the results they achieved, because they can be seen in the results reported later. I understand their casualties, and I want to judge as soon as possible whether they still have the ability to continue fighting.

"Report to Comrade Commander," Nekrasov said in a relaxed tone: "In the battle that just ended, the entire division suffered more than 800 casualties, annihilated a German battalion, and captured the battalion commander. Currently in Within a few kilometers of our radius, apart from a few stragglers in the German army, we can't see any formed units."

Listening to Nekrasov’s understatement, I couldn’t help reminding him: “Comrade Master, the Germans are very cunning, you can’t take it lightly. In addition to consolidating the existing defensive zone, you must also send people around. Conduct reconnaissance to prevent possible counterattacks by the Germans."

"Don't worry." Nekrasov said confidently: "As soon as the battle is over, in addition to arranging manpower to clean the battlefield, I also dispatched a large number of reconnaissance squads all around, all with radio stations, as long as there are German troops nearby Appears, I can know it the first time."

"Good job!" After listening to Nekrasov's report, I praised him and hung up the phone.

Then, the Chernov division commander who attacked the periphery of Kirovgrad also called. He said relievedly: "Comrade Commander, after a fierce battle, we finally seized the first line of defense of the German army. Now commanders and fighters. We are strengthening the fortifications to prevent possible German counterattacks."

I looked out the window and saw that the rain outside had basically stopped, and then said into the microphone: "Comrade Commander, now the rain has stopped, maybe the German counterattack will soon begin. I immediately and Bofus General Ji made contact and let his troops conduct artillery interception when the enemy attacked."

After Chernov listened, he replied ecstatically: "I understand, Comrade Commander, I will contact Povsky now."

After I put down the phone, I directly instructed Akhromeyev: "Major, call General Povsky and say that Chernov, the commander of the 9th Guards Division, will call him soon and ask him to Fully cooperate with the division's defense on the periphery of Kirovgrad."

When the headquarters was busy, Vatutin called. He said to me: "Comrade Oshanina, I want to tell you something. Because of your decisive action, the German army has completely disrupted the German offensive. I just received a call from General Konev from the west. The German troops who attacked them have stopped their attack, giving them a rare respite."

"It's great, this is great." I was overjoyed when I heard Vatutin say this. It seems that I let the troops attack in the heavy rain and really achieved results. I said smugly: "Comrade General, you Don't worry, in the time to come, we will try our best to contain the German forces so that they can't attack the friendly forces with all their strength."

Unexpectedly, when Vatutin heard me say this, his tone suddenly became cold: "Comrade Oshanina, do you think I called you to praise you?"

I was stunned. After a while, I asked in confusion, "What does that mean?"

"According to the information we have." Vatutin said calmly: "The Germans have drawn two regiments from the vicinity of Alexandria and are turning to the west, towards the outskirts of Kirovgrad that you just captured. Pounce. You have to let the troops hurry up and prepare for defense. I don't want to see your troops being defeated."

"Don't worry, Comrade General." I no longer felt nervous when I heard that this was the case. I assured Vatutin: "The troops occupying the positions outside Kirovgrad have been strengthened by the artillery of the group army. But when the enemy attacks them, the artillery will block and shoot the attacking enemy. Moreover, in their I also placed a division at the back. If they can’t support it, I will immediately put this division into battle.”

"Since you are prepared, then I can rest assured." After Vatutin finished this sentence, he suddenly changed the topic: "Marshal Zhukov asked me to tell you that the troops have assembled to the north. It can be restarted in about two days. For the offensive, he asked your army to make the movement as loud as possible during the two days, and draw the attention of the Germans to you, so that the troops south of Kirov could not be detected by the Germans. Next, move quietly to the north. Do you understand?"

"Comrade General, it is not impossible to attract the attention of the enemy, but..." Attracting the attention of the German army is simple to say, but it is not so easy to do. Besides, I don't have much available troops at the moment. To perform this task, the coefficient of difficulty is very high. So I promptly raised my difficulties, "It's just that I have limited forces now. I don't know if you can increase or decrease me even one or two divisions so that I can complete this task again."

Vatutin thought for a moment, and then said: "The strength of the front army is also very tense now, and it may not be possible to draw you out in the short term. This matter, you still have to figure out a solution by yourself."

When Vatutin hung up, I was still holding the microphone. Seeing that my expression was so strange, Kistyakov couldn't help asking: "Comrade Commander, what happened?"

I put down the microphone and said to the people standing in front of me: "Comrades commanders~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Because of our decisive attack, we completely disrupted the German offensive plan. Now they are attacking General Konev’s troops. , Has completely stopped..."

"It's great, this is great." Before I could finish my words, Bezikov exclaimed excitedly: "As long as we contain the enemy near Kirovgrad, then General Konev's troops You can get a respite."

"Chief of Staff, I haven't finished my words yet." Seeing this half-heard Chief of Staff, I was a little bit dumbfounded: "Although the enemy has stopped attacking General Konev, they have now moved from Alexandria. Delia drew his troops and rushed directly to Kirovgrad. It seems that they wanted to clear out our troops on the periphery of the city before continuing to attack General Konev's troops."

Kistyakov asked blankly: "Comrade Commander, what shall we do next?"

I glanced at Bezikov and motioned to him to record my order. Seeing that he was ready, I began to give orders: "Order the 375th Infantry Division of Lieutenant Colonel Lukin to move forward and deploy behind the 9th Guards Division. Once the division cannot be supported under the German attack, they will It must be put into battle immediately. The 89th Guards Division of General Xeriujin sent a regiment to move westward, posing as a threat to Uman, to attract the attention of the Germans." (To be continued.)