Burning Moscow

Early the next morning, the German offensive we expected came as planned. ★★★√★

Perhaps the Germans wanted to take Zhytomyr in one go. When they used powerful artillery to bombard the defense positions of the 67th Guards Division, they also dispatched more than forty bombers to bombard the city indiscriminately.

After reading the report from Tavart Kiradze from Zhytomyr, Kistyakov murmured: "The Germans really lost their money in order to take Zhytomyr."

After hearing this, I smiled slightly, and then said: "Comrade Deputy Commander, you are right. Judging from today's posture, the Germans will never give up unless they take Zhytomyr."

Bezikov looked at the map laid out in front of me and echoed me and said: "It seems that Manstein is not reconciled to their defeat in Kiev, so now he has concentrated all the forces they can concentrate and started to fight. Kiev’s counterattack. The first capture of Zhytomyr will enable the Germans to obtain another offensive point besides Fastiv. Once they have completed the occupation of Zhytomyr, they will form a squabble with the Germans of Zhytomyr. The situation, no matter which direction is attacked, they can get timely support."

Kistyakov waited for Bezikov to finish, then looked up and said: "Comrade Commander, we all know the importance of Zhitomir. What I want to say now is whether we should change the original plan. Instead of resisting in the city for a few days and then withdrawing from the city, it turned this place into a strong fortress, containing the main force of the German army here, and after our main force arrived, here would give the enemy a battle of Stalin. Geller-style siege?"

I began to think seriously about this proposal of Kistyakov. Although Zhytomyr’s city size and population are far from being comparable to Stalingrad, because of the city’s residents, the Germans have moved there. When we went to other places, we didn't have too much scruples when we were engaged in street fighting. The only regret is that there are too few stone buildings in the city to establish a complete defense system.

Before I could make a final decision, Akhromeyev walked up to me with a piece of paper and asked me for instructions: "Comrade Commander, General Tavart Kiradze called and said about the enemy’s The bombing caused a lot of casualties to the troops in the city. He asked if we can send out our air force to drive away enemy planes from the sky."

After listening to Akhromeyev’s words, Kistyakov snorted heavily, and then said dissatisfiedly: "Does this Tavart Kiradze think we are the headquarters of the front? You can mobilize the air force at will. The enemy plane over the city was driven away."

Bezikov glanced at me first and saw me staring blankly at the map. Then he cautiously said to Kistyakov: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I think I should report to Commander Vatutin immediately. , Ask him to contact the air force to cover the sky over Zhitomir."

Under such circumstances, I definitely cannot remain silent. So I put aside the idea of ​​whether Zhytomyr would become the second Stalingrad for the time being, and I told Bezikov to say: "Chief of Staff, now you immediately call the front headquarters and report that Zhytomyr is working. Were bombed by more than forty enemy planes. Ask them to contact the air force to provide necessary air cover for our defenders."

After Bezikov left, I picked up the phone on the table and dialed the Artillery Headquarters, and then Povsky who answered the phone said: "Comrade General, Zhytomyr is being bombed by the enemy now. The troops here have suffered considerable losses. I now order you to immediately put the two self-propelled artillery battalions deployed in the city into battle."

"Comrade Commander," Povsky said politely after hearing my order: "The self-propelled anti-aircraft gun is our secret weapon. If we fire in this situation, it will soon be lost."

"Comrade General," I saw Povsky's pushbacks, and my heart suddenly became annoyed: "The self-propelled anti-aircraft guns were originally used for air defense. They were not used when the city was bombed. When do you plan to use them? I order you, immediately. Let the high artillery battalion open fire and drive away the enemy's aircraft from the sky above the city."

Kistyakov watched me hung up angrily, and asked curiously and cautiously: "Comrade Commander, you did not ask the chief of staff to call the front army headquarters and ask them to dispatch the air force to expel the skies over Zhitomir. The enemy plane? How could the self-propelled artillery group risk firing?"

From the tone of Kistiakov’s speech, I heard that he was questioning my order, which was superfluous. After all, from the end of the Kharkov battle to the present, the production of new antiaircraft artillery was suspended due to special reasons. These self-propelled anti-aircraft guns were lost and one less was lost, so the opportunity to use them in air defense operations is also becoming less and less.

I glanced at Kistyakov, and said sternly: "Comrade Deputy Commander, even if the commander of the front agrees to let the air force dispatch, it will take at least half an hour or even an hour for our fighters to arrive on the battlefield. The longer the city is bombed, the greater the impact on the morale of the troops. Therefore, we have to drive off the annoying enemy aircraft from Zhytomyr in the shortest time."

The German offensive is raging, and if you still have to discuss everything as before, it is easy to miss the opportunity, so I secretly made up my mind, this time I must be arbitrary, and all affairs in the group army are left to me. , It is possible to achieve the final victory of the battle.

The two antiaircraft artillery battalions stationed in Zhytomyr, braved the intensive German bombing and fired. I have to say that the more the equipment of this era, the unexpected effect can sometimes be achieved. Although the anti-aircraft artillery battalion lost more than 20 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns after the fierce battle, the enemy was not pleased. Fifteen enemy planes were shot down and seven were injured. The remaining enemy planes will see you. The ground's anti-aircraft artillery fired fiercely, throwing their bombs indiscriminately, turning their noses and leaving the battlefield.

After the German artillery and bombing ceased, the infantry, under the guidance of the tank, rushed towards the defensive position of the 67th Guards Division. And all this, Tawart Kiradze reported to the headquarters by phone.

After listening to Bezikov’s report, Kistyakov couldn’t help frowning, as if to all of us and saying to himself: “I didn’t expect the enemy’s artillery fire to be so fierce. The snow in front of the position has been exploded|The high temperature produced by the explosion has melted, so will the officers and men staying in the trenches suffer heavy casualties?"

"Relax, Comrade Deputy Commander. I believe that the casualties of the troops will not be too great." I waited for him to finish, and said calmly: "When I presided over the meeting in Zhitomir last night, I told the division commanders. When the enemy is bombarding the position, except for leaving a small number of observation posts, the rest are withdrawn to the second-line position, and the first-line position will be reopened after the enemy’s bombardment is over. In this way, the troops can be greatly reduced when the enemy is shelled Casualties."

After hearing this, Kistyakov asked in disbelief: "Comrade Commander, this method sounds very good, but I don't know how effective it is in actual combat?"

"It's not easy to understand the effect." Then, I told Bezikov: "Chief of Staff, call General Tavart Kiradze and ask about the casualties of the 67th Guards Division."

Bezikov agreed, then picked up the phone on the desk and called Tavart Kiradze. After the two ended the conversation, Bezikov raised his head and smiled and said: "Comrades, comrades, according to the report of General Tavart Kiradze, although the enemy’s artillery fire was fierce just now, it was because General Baksov strictly followed In accordance with the defensive tactics you formulated last night, only 7 people were sacrificed and a dozen injured in the shelling."

"What, only twenty people were killed or injured in such a fierce shelling by the enemy?" Kistyakov was surprised after listening to Bezikov's report, and then looked at me and said, "My God, Commander. Comrade, this is incredible. If it hadn't been verified by the Chief of Staff himself, I would have thought it was a fantasy."

"Comrade Deputy Commander, as long as we use tactics reasonably in defensive operations, we can greatly reduce unnecessary casualties of the troops." After I said these few words, I told Bezikov: "Staff. Long, the Germans will launch a large-scale attack on us next. You have to pay close attention to the movement of Zhytomyr."

"Understood." Bezikov promised: "I keep an eye on the war in the direction of Zhitomir."

From the end of the shelling to noon, the German army launched three consecutive regiment-level attacks, but they were all repelled by the brave Guards commanders without exception. When we heard that another German attack was smashed by us, everyone was relieved. Just in time for lunch, Bezikov called the cooking class and asked them to bring lunch over immediately.

While everyone was immersed in lunch, I unexpectedly saw Razumeyeva coming in, and raised my brows, and asked, "Captain Razumeyeva, what do you want?"

"Comrade Commander," Razumeyeva walked to my side and said respectfully: "I just received a telegram from the 77th Division of the Guards stating that the Germans in the direction of STEVE have changed."

"What's the matter?" As I said, I reached out to pick up the telegram in Razumeyeva's hand. I took it and saw that the telegram came from Askarepov, the commander of the 77th Guards Division. He said that the German army was building fortifications five kilometers east of Koroslav, and seemed to be preparing to cut off Kiev— -The traffic line of Zhytomyr.

Hearing that the German army near Korostweiv had changed, although everyone did not know the content of the telegram for the time being, everyone who was eating was stopped, and they focused their attention on me, waiting for me to do it. Make the final decision.

I placed the telegram in front of Kistyakov, then stood up and walked around the room with my back on my back, thinking about how to deal with this sinister German plan.

After reading the telegram, Kistyakov handed it to Bezikov next to him, and asked me in a panic: "Comrade Commander, what should we do? The Germans did this, obviously trying to connect us here and Kiev. The liaison was severed and our ammunition supplies were cut off, leaving us unable to hold on to Zhitomir."

Kirilov took the telegram in Bezikov's hand and looked at it, and then said to himself: "If the German army really cuts off the line of communication between Kiev and Zhytomyr, then our ammunition supply will be It can only be done in the direction of Cherkassy."

"But, Comrade Military Commissioner." Bezikov heard Kirilov's words and said with a wry smile: "Although we have two divisions near Cherkassy, ​​they are both dissatisfied divisions. The 225th Regiment of the 52nd Division is still shouldering the defense mission of the base."

"Then let the 225 Regiment (Yersov Regiment) be built!" As soon as Bezikov's words fell, I said in unison with Kistyakov. When we heard the other person talking, we stopped immediately, looked at each other with a smile, and then continued to say at the same time: "Let them be responsible for the safety of the transportation line."

Kistyakov and I were unexpectedly and completely unanimous on the matter of defending the transportation line, which surprised the commanders present. Everyone looked at each other and couldn't help but smile.

Bezikov got up from his seat and said to me: "Comrade Commander, I will call Lieutenant Colonel Yersov and prepare him to lead his troops back to Cherkassy."

After Bezikov came to call, I sat back in my seat again, and when I was about to continue eating, I unexpectedly found that Razumeyeva was still standing there. I couldn't help asking curiously, "Comrade Captain, is there anything else?"

"Comrade Commander~www.wuxiaspot.com~ there is another telegram, indicating it is'Top Secret'." Razumeeva handed me another telegram in her hand, and said carefully: "I want to ask you, do I need to call the other party back immediately?"

I heard that it was a top-secret telegram, and I couldn't help but frown, because it was usually a telegram from the front army headquarters that had something to do with top-secret. However, we now have a telephone line with the front army headquarters, and we communicate everything through the telephone, and we rarely use telegrams. When I read the content of the telegram clearly, I handed it to Kirilov at any time and said to him: "Comrade Military Commissioner, I have been busy commanding operations in the recent period. There is no time for this matter. I will just Leave it to you to handle it at all. How should you call Trafkin and the others, you can make your own decisions without asking me for instructions."

When Kistyakov first heard the word top secret, he couldn't wait to figure out what was going on. Hearing I mentioned Telfkin, he immediately understood what the telegram was about. He picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea, pretending to be casual, and asked casually: "Did they get the person they should pick up?"

Although he was a little bit ignorant of what he said, but those of us who knew about it all knew that he was asking Trafkin if they had received a German photographer. Since there were several staff officers who had insufficient confidentiality authority and Razumeyeva who had just returned to the team among the people who were eating in the same room, I didn't say it clearly, but just slightly nodded, indicating that his guess was correct. (To be continued.)