Burning Moscow

Upon receiving the order from Villadrie, the chief of staff of the tank brigade immediately dispatched a communicator on a motorcycle to inform the cavalry leading regiment who was fighting fiercely with the Germans.

The communicator sent to send the order finally found a wounded major and notified him of the order to retreat. But at this moment, the organizational system of the first regiment has been completely chaotic. Even if the major wanted to report this order to the head of the regiment, he couldn't find anyone there.

Seeing the bombers flying over the battlefield, the major knew that if he didn't withdraw, all the people in the regiment would explain here. So he gritted his teeth, took dozens of cavalry around him, and followed the send-off communicators out of the battlefield.

The aviation division who was ordered to bomb the German army, saw the densely packed German troops on the ground, immediately lowered its altitude and began to dive and drop bombs on the ground. As fragments of aerial bombs fell from the sky, the German tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and trucks parked on the road suffered. In the fierce explosion, the entire battlefield was filled with dust and fog, and the German army was in chaos.

At this time, the cavalry division commander took the other two regiments and rushed to the battlefield that was being bombed. The brigade chief of staff saw that the cavalry division commander was coming, and immediately left his tank and went forward to meet him.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the cavalry commander saw him, he turned over and got off his horse, rushed over and grabbed his collar, and said viciously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I'm here to ask you, where is my first group? My first group is here. where?"

The brigade chief of staff did not struggle. Instead, he pointed to the battlefield where the explosion sounded and explained: "I have sent a signalman to inform them to retreat, but it is still too late."

"More than two thousand people." The cavalry commander loosened the collar that grabbed the chief of staff of the brigade, looked at the smoke billowing in the distance, and said in pain: "It's all over in this way, none of them ran out!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the chief of staff of the brigade suddenly pointed to the distance and shouted in surprise: "Comrade commander, look at him, there are cavalry coming towards us over there."

The cavalry commander looked in the direction of his fingers, and saw more than a hundred cavalry rushing out of the gunpowder smoke, rushing towards him at the fastest speed. Seeing this situation, the division commander really had mixed feelings. His troops were really miserable today. When they attacked the German outlying positions on the west side of Fastiff in the morning, they were attacked by German tanks, resulting in close to three casualties. One part. And now his first regiment, after the fierce German fighting, only so few people actually withdrew.

Seeing that his teacher was here, the major leading the team hurriedly ran towards him. When there was still five or six meters, the major reined in, then shook off his horse, walked in front of the commander, raised his uninjured left hand and saluted him: "Comrade commander, we are back!"

The cavalry commander first glanced at the major, then looked at the cavalry huddled behind, and then asked blankly, "Where is your commander?"

The major lowered his head and replied in a low voice: "Before the bombing started, we had broken up with the captain. After I received the order to retreat, although I sent someone to find the captain and wanted to pass the order to him, it was a pity. He didn't find him. Seeing the planes began to bombard, in order to avoid greater losses, I led the soldiers around me to retreat."

The cavalry commander waved his hand at the major and ordered: "Return to the team."

The major saluted, turned and led the horse to lead the surviving commanders into the queue that stayed in front.

The cavalry commander asked the chief of staff of the brigade with red eyes: "Comrade lieutenant colonel, I don't understand, who arranged the bombing? Why did he let the air force indiscriminately bomb even our own people?"

The chief of staff smiled bitterly again, and said: "It is said that the commander of the front army personally issued the bombing order. He intends to intercept as many German troops as possible in Fastif so that we can start an annihilation war against them. I am receiving notice. After that, I immediately sent people to notify the head of the first regiment, hoping that he could take the troops down as soon as possible, so as not to be accidentally bombed by our bombers. But people are not as good as the sky, and my communications soldiers were not found on the battlefield. Commander, so the order to retreat was not communicated in time."

While the cavalry division commander and the tank brigade chief of staff were discussing the sudden bombing, a German division commander who was retreating saw that his troops had been violently bombed by the Soviets and became chaotic on the road, so he directly issued an order to accelerate. The order to advance south. He tried to allow tanks and armored vehicles to take advantage of their own thick armor to rush through the circle of fire of the Soviet bomber group at the fastest speed and escape to safety as soon as possible.

But to his surprise, the bombed German army was already in chaos. The road was impassable, and the bridge on the only way was blown up again. German tanks turned to the forest by the roadside in an attempt to open an escape route in the forest. Seeing tanks hiding in the forest on the roadside, the remaining armored vehicles, self-propelled artillery and trucks also followed suit. I hope that the tanks in front can open a passable road for them in the forest.

Since our army holds the air dominance on the battlefield, and the chaotic German army has no anti-aircraft firepower, the waste oil of our bombers can be used to attack the German infantry and technical equipment on the ground like a practice shooting.

Regardless of the thick frontal armor of the German Tiger tank, the armor on the top of it is powerless to face bombs dropped from the air. The Tiger tanks that once flaunted the battlefield quickly turned into piles of burning scrap iron under the bombardment of our military aircraft.

The Germans were not reconciled to death. Some machine gunners set up machine guns and fired in the air in an attempt to shoot down our bombers and cover the transfer of troops. If there are only a few bombers, the enemy's attempt may still succeed, but now there are dozens of bombers in the air, diving and bombing in turn. These anti-aircraft firepower soon became the focus of the bomber's attention. After a dozen bombs and thousands of airborne machine gun bullets, these enemies were wiped out.

As night fell, our planes were not allowed to fly away from the battlefield. The German commander saw that in addition to large and small craters, there were countless burning tanks, armored vehicles, trucks and artillery on the road ahead, blocking the road ahead. Desperately. In addition, the sent scouts came back and reported that all the bridges had been blown up and could no longer move forward, so he had to order the troops to return to Fastif again.

When the bombers carried out air strikes on the German army on the road, Rokosovsky left my headquarters and returned to the front headquarters in Kiev. Before leaving, he mentioned the matter to me again: "Lida, after destroying Fastiv’s enemies, I guess Vatutin will withdraw your army for rest and recuperation. Even if you don’t go to my Belarus The front army, the possibility of returning to the Ukrainian first front army is also very small. Because other fronts are also in urgent need of troops, chances are you will be transferred to the Baltic coast front army. Therefore, you must carefully consider this matter!"

Although I was a little moved when Rokosovsky raised this matter to me for the first time, but in front of so many of my subordinates, I couldn't agree too readily. There are only two of us at this moment, and I must give him an accurate answer: "Comrade General, I was your subordinate during the defense of Moscow. If possible, I still hope that I can return to yours. Under your command, accept your command."

Hearing my answer, Rokosovsky's face showed a relieved smile. He nodded and said with a smile: "Lida, I knew you would answer me this way. After the battle is over, contact me again, and then you can be sure that you and your troops will leave questions. "After that, he took the initiative to reach out to me and said kindly, "Then, we will see you again now, and I hope we will have a period soon."

I held his right hand with both hands, shook it gently twice, and said politely: "Comrade General, I wish you a good journey, we will have a period of time later!"

After Rokosovsky left, I returned to the command post. Bere took a look at the door, then approached me and asked in a low voice: "Comrade Commander, General Rokosovsky is talking to you again. What happened?"

Although he didn't say it explicitly, I knew in my heart that what he said was about whether he was willing to go to the Belarusian Front, so I nodded and said that Rokosovsky had mentioned it to me again.

Seeing me nodding, Bie Lei immediately asked anxiously: "Comrade Commander, I don't know how you answered him? You must know that you are now a member of the Ukrainian First Front. If you suddenly propose to go to another front, General Vatugin What do you think? You have to know that he has a good relationship with the Supreme Commander himself. If he complains about this matter about you when he is in Moscow, it will have a great impact on your future."

I looked around first, and saw that except Akhromeyev was near us, the others were quite far away from us, so I confidently said to Bele: "General Bele, our army is passing by. After a long period of fighting, the reduction in the number of troops was very serious, especially the several divisions that stuck to the city of Zhytomyr. Almost all of them had more than half of the casualties. They are no longer able to participate in the next battle. The superior will definitely transfer us to the rear. Rest."

"From the current situation of the battle," Bie Lei, after listening to me, unexpectedly analyzed the situation to me: "Even if our group army is transferred to the rear for rest, it will only take half a month to a month at most. Transferred to participate in the next stage of the battle, so I don’t think there is any need to go to the Belarusian Front."

I can’t help but smile again and again at Beley’s view, and secretly said in my heart: If it weren’t for the existence of a traverser like me, the group army would have been transferred to the Baltic Front Army by the headquarter to participate in the liberation of the Baltic Sea after the liberation of Kharkov It is impossible for the coastal countries to fight such a tough battle with the German army here in Zhytomyr.

But these words, I can only think about them in my heart, and absolutely cannot say them. In order to persuade Belé, I frowned and thought for a long time, and then said to him: "General Belé, let me ask you, if the enemies of Fastiv are eliminated, Uman, Vinnytsia and Biel are liberated. After Kichev, these important cities on the right bank of the Dnieper River, will our front army launch new offensive campaigns in a short period of time?"

Bie Lei thought for a while, then shook his head and replied, "I guess not. After all, during the liberation of Kiev and the battle that followed, not only was the number of troops reduced, but even the consumption of weapons and ammunition was very alarming. If you wait for this time After the battle is over, to launch a new offensive on the enemy, it will only be possible to replenish a large number of soldiers and stock up on ammunition. I estimate that it will take at least a month to prepare."

"Yes, General Bele, your analysis is correct." Seeing that Bele is already thinking about the problem according to my thinking, I went on to say: "I guess it will wait until the enemy in the direction of Zhitomir retreat at the latest. Our group army will be transferred to the rear for recuperation. After we have recuperated, the entire battle will be over, and the Supreme Command will certainly not let us such an army of military merits sit idle, and will send us at that time. Go to the place where the fighting is most intense. And this place, according to my analysis, may be the Baltic Sea area."

"Baltic area?!" Bere heard the place name I mentioned, frowning and thinking. After a while, he said carefully: "Comrade Commander, what do you mean is that as long as our group army is transferred to the rear and rests, there may be very little chance of returning to the right bank of the Dnieper?"

"Yes, General Belei, that's the situation." Seeing Belei's tone loosened, I hurriedly said, "Rather than being transferred to the Baltic Front Army and led by an unfamiliar superior, it would be better to go directly to Belarus. The front army gets along better with the familiar Rokosovsky."

"Comrade Commander, maybe you are right." After listening, Bie Lei nodded thoughtfully: "Instead of going to a unit that has never been familiar with his superiors and colleagues~www.wuxiaspot.com~, it is better to go directly. General Rokosovsky’s Belarusian Front, at least we are all familiar with his command style."

After discussing the future whereabouts of the troops, I asked Akhromeyev: "Comrade Major, how is the situation of the tank brigade and the cavalry division, have they blocked the enemy?"

"Report to Comrade Commander," Akhromeyev walked over to me with a battle report and reported to me: "A pioneer regiment of the cavalry division was mistakenly bombed during a bombardment by our army, and almost the entire army was destroyed. Because of this. All the bridges on the retreat road were destroyed by our army, and the remaining words have given up the plan to withdraw south and returned to Fastif.

"Has the German armored division been intercepted?" As soon as Akhromeyev finished speaking, Bere asked impatiently.

"No," Akhromeyev shook his head and said with regret: "Since the armored divisions are not very useful in the street fighting of the city, when the Fastiv is evacuated, the first troops to be evacuated It is the German armored division. Before our tank brigade arrived and destroyed the bridge, most of the armored units had already withdrawn. Only one of the 82nd, 198th and 75th Infantry Divisions was surrounded by our army in France. Steve area." (To be continued.)

...