Burning Moscow

From the second day Ivanov left, I stayed at the headquarters of the 22nd Guards Corps and urged Sivakov to command troops to cut down trees. ?

Since I did not tell Sivakov the true purpose of cutting down the trees, he complained to me after cutting down the trees for a week: "Comrade Commander, the trees cut by our three divisions are enough for Moji All the residents of Licheng burned it for a winter."

I consider that we have not received new orders from our superiors, and the troops must continue to stay here. If these tens of thousands of people are left to do nothing all day long, no one can guarantee that there will be no harassment of the people. I am deeply impressed by the misdeeds of the Soviet army after the occupation of Germany. After listening to Sivakov's complaint, I asked him to call the commander of the garrison, General Beloborodov, and ask him to send someone out of the city to pull timber.

After Sivakov called Beloborodov, he said to me with a sad face: "Comrade Commander, look, my troops are all lumberjacks, and I don’t know when the superiors will give us an offensive. task?"

"Comrade Sivakov, don't worry." Seeing his frown, I comforted him: "We are about to enter the spring thawing phase. During this period, due to the muddy roads and the difficulty of logistics transportation, it is impossible for us to attack the enemy. Attack. I guess we will not attack the enemy until May or June at the earliest."

"What, I have to wait until May and June." Hearing that I still need to wait so long, Sivakov's face showed a desperate expression: "The soldiers heard that the Ukrainian First Front has won another battle. , I'm a bit uncomfortable."

I know that the victory Sivakov said was the coordinated battle between the Ukrainian First and Second Front Armies, which encircled the two German armies in the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky area. But because Vatutin took it lightly, he actually let the Germans protrude from his line of defense. Fortunately, Konev acted decisively before encircling the Germans again.

Konev's move was appreciated by Stalin. In order to reward Konev, in addition to placing the 27th Army, which originally belonged to the First Front Army, under his command, he also made him responsible for commanding the encirclement and annihilation of the encircled German troops.

Of the 60,000 German soldiers who were besieged, more than 40,000 succeeded in highlighting the siege. However, the SS Viking Division in the encirclement was severely injured. The total number of casualties in the division exceeded 40%, even the eleventh after the break. The commander of the army, General Stemolmann, was also killed in the battle.

Although the scale of this battle cannot be compared with those involving millions of people, it occupies an important position in the entire Great Patriotic War. The German army’s last offensive force in Ukraine was exhausted. In the middle of 1944, the victory in Poland, Romania and the Balkans created favorable conditions.

"I think it's you who can't hold your breath." I saw through his tricks at a glance, and smiled and said to him: "Comrade Sivakov, don't worry, wait until the battle in Ukraine is almost done. It's our turn."

"Really?" Sivakov is a typical soldier born for war. When he heard that there was a battle, his eyes flashed with excitement: "When the fight is almost done on the Ukrainian side, it really should be. Are we on the court?"

"Yes, yes," I nodded vigorously, and said repeatedly: "Wait two or three months, and we should teach the Germans. But before that, the work of cutting trees must continue."

"You want to cut down trees?" Hearing what I said, Sivakov was almost crying without tears. He looked blankly and asked: "Comrade Commander, can you tell me why we should let us both? Does a guard cut down trees every day?"

"The time is immature, I can't tell you yet." In my conversation with Ivanov that day, only Kistyakov and Bezikov knew about it, and even Kirilov didn’t know it. Naturally, I wouldn’t be casual. An army commander under his opponent explained the truth and could only say vaguely: "By then you will understand why I asked you to do this."

As soon as I finished speaking, Sivakov received a call from the headquarters. After listening for a while, he handed me the microphone and said solemnly: "Comrade Commander, your call is from the Chief of Staff."

When Bezikov heard my voice, he immediately said hurriedly: "Comrade Commander, can you come back to the headquarters immediately?"

Based on what I know about Bezikov, if he speaks to me in this tone, then something must have happened. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but frown and asked: "Chief of Staff, what happened?"

"It's hard to tell on the phone." Bezikov didn't say anything, but kept urging me: "You better come back quickly."

Hearing that something major had happened, I confessed to Sivakov and drove back to the headquarters in a hurry. But when I got out of the car, I saw two T-54/55 tanks, two armored vehicles and a dozen trucks with hoods parked outside the church that I hadn't seen for a long time.

With my stomach full of questions, I walked into the church quickly, and Bezikov rushed up to ask: "Chief of Staff, what's the matter with the tanks and armored vehicles outside?"

"Comrade Commander, something has happened." Bezikov mentioned the matter to me again.

"What happened?" I asked as I walked towards the conference table. At the same time, I was still thinking, our defense zone has not been attacked by the Germans in the past two days, so what else can happen?

Kistyakov, who was standing at the table, waited for me to approach, approached me and said in a low voice: "Comrade Commander, there is something wrong with General Vatutin!"

Was there something wrong with Vatukin? Although I knew that something would happen to him, I still felt a little sad when I heard Kistyakov say this. I quickly grabbed Kistyakov's arm and asked nervously, "Comrade Deputy Commander, what happened to General Vatutin?"

"He was ambushed by the enemy's stragglers on the way to the subordinate group army, and unfortunately he was shot and wounded." After introducing what happened to Vatutin, Kistyakov added: "Originally, the army inspected the front. Marshal Zhukov, once suggested that he send his deputy to do this work, but he insisted on doing it by himself. As a result, in a small village, he was ambushed by the enemy."

I have seen the situation of Vatutin’s injury a long time ago in history books, and I know it’s not surprising. But Kistiakov, who briefed me on the situation at this moment, also knew such details, which surprised me a bit. I asked curiously: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I don't know where you learned this information. Is the source of the information reliable?"

Kistyakov nodded vigorously, and then replied: "General Vatutin was injured. Chief of Staff Malinin called us to tell us. He also asked me to tell you that when the command of the troops was handed over to me. Immediately finish Zhytomyr, Marshal Zhukov wants to see you."

"Marshal Zhukov wants to see me?" I was very surprised to hear that Zhukov wanted to see me. I must know that I am not a member of the Ukrainian First Front. What do you mean by running from Belarus to Zhytomyr? In order to find out Zhukov's intentions, I then asked Kistyakov: "Did you say anything?"

"No~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Kistyakov shook his head and replied: "I just told you to rush to Zhytomyr immediately, and didn't say anything else. "

Kistyakov’s words reminded me of the tanks, armored vehicles and trucks parked outside the church, which are probably related to my southward journey, so I continued to ask: "The tanks, armored vehicles and trucks parked outside are intended to **** me. Is it from Zhytomyr?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Kistyakov nodded and agreed with my guess: "For your safety, I transferred two tanks and two armored vehicles from the 2nd Guards Tank Regiment, and from the 10th assault. The engineer brigade has transferred a company, and they will **** you to Zhytomyr, so that we can rest assured."

I am very satisfied with Kistiakov's arrangement. With the new t-54/55 tank, even if I encounter a German Tiger tank, I don’t have to worry about it. The combat effectiveness of the commanders and fighters of the assault engineer brigade is not weaker than that of my guard regiment and other elite units in the group army. With their protection, I believe that Zhytomyr can be reached without incident.

It is already evening now, and it seems that today I can only rush overnight, and strive to reach Zhytomyr before dawn tomorrow. I raised my hand and looked at my watch, and told Bezikov: "Chief of Staff, please call Major Bukov, I am going to let him accompany me to Zhytomyr." To be continued.