Burning Moscow

After dark, more and more troops rushed into Chernivtsi and engaged in fierce street fighting with the Germans. According to the plan that Katukov and I discussed in advance, in order for the commanders and fighters who attacked Chernivtsi to maintain sufficient physical strength, the full-scale offensive ceased from the beginning of the night, and most of the commanders and fighters rested in the occupied areas. , With only a small number of troops and the defenders continue to maintain contact, so that the enemy officers and soldiers have to bite the bullet and fight at night.

The chief of staff who was commanding the staff to set up a new headquarters, rushed over to us and said: "Comrades, comrades, the method you are thinking of is good. Let us use part of our forces to keep the city on the offensive. The enemies in here didn’t dare to sleep and had to fight hard to fight with us at night. After dawn, when we re-enter the troops that had been rested for the night, it is estimated that the enemy would have been exhausted long ago, and we have the confidence to win. It's even bigger."

Katukov just smiled faintly after hearing what the Chief of Staff said, and then asked: "The Chief of Staff, where is the headquarters of General Guttmann now?"

With the troops of the 11th Guards Tank Army, most of them entered the city of Chernivtsi. Not only the division headquarters of the 24th Infantry Division moved to the city, but Guttmann also moved the headquarters to the north of the city. The headquarters vacated by the infantry division became the location of Katukov's new headquarters.

The chief of staff placed a map on the table in front of us, pointed to it, and said, “Because most of the troops of the 11th Guards Tank Corps have entered the city, in order to facilitate the command, General Guttmann gave his command The Ministry is located at the north gate."

As soon as the Chief of Staff finished speaking, I immediately asked: "Where are General Dremov’s troops?" Because Dremov’s command during the day left a bad impression on me, I am very concerned at the moment. Their progress.

"The 1st Guards Tank Brigade, the 49th Tank Brigade, and the 20th Babajanyan Motorized Infantry Brigade have rushed into the city from the west of the city at this moment." Although the chief of staff felt that my question was abrupt. However, he reported to me truthfully: "General Dremov sent the mechanized 1st and 3rd brigades to the south of the city along the edge of the city..."

"Wait a minute, Comrade Chief of Staff." Before the Chief of Staff was finished, I raised my hand and interrupted what was behind him, and then turned to ask Katukov: "General Katukov, I don't understand, Dryomo Why did General Husband send troops back to the south of the city?"

"Don't you understand?" The chief of staff shrugged his shoulders and said blankly: "General Dremov might want to go to the south of the city, block the German army's retreat, and try to wipe them all inside the city. "

"What do you think, General Katukov?" After listening to the Chief of Staff’s analysis, I did not make any comments. Instead, I pushed the contradiction to Katukov: "You don’t think Dremov did this, it’s a bit redundant. ?"

The chief of staff was stunned by what I said, while Katukov frowned for a moment, and then said thoughtfully: "Lida, do you mean that you want to kill the enemy? Drive out of the city?"

"Yes, that's what I thought." Seeing that Katukov understood my intention, I nodded with a smile, and then said: "There are a lot of residents in the city, if there is a street fight between us and the Germans. If it goes too long, it will inevitably cause a large number of civilian casualties. Therefore, we must find a way to drive the enemy out of the city."

When I said this, the Chief of Staff suddenly realized, he said with a look of surprise: "Oh, it turns out that's the case. I understand, now I understand it. Since we have surrounded the city, the guards of the city The army sees that there is no retreat, and they will definitely fight with us. But if they find that their retreat has not been cut off by us, then they will not be too desperate in the fight."

"Yes, yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, you guessed a lot." After hearing what the Chief of Staff said, I smiled and said: "So please send a telegram to General Dremov immediately and order him to immediately stop the implementation towards the south of the city. The detour, concentrate the main forces, and eliminate the German forces in the west of the city as soon as possible.

As soon as our order was issued, Zhukov's call came in. He hurriedly said to Katukov who was answering the phone: "General Katukov, how are you doing?"

"Report to Comrade Marshal," Katukov happily reported: "The 11th Guards Tank Corps is in the north of the city, and the Eighth Guards Mechanized Corps is progressing very smoothly in the west of the city."

"When will you take Chernowitz?"

Zhukov was so eager for us to capture Chernovich. Katukov was very surprised. He stuttered and said: "Comrade Marshal, because the German army has a relatively strong defense system in the city, we may be the fastest. Tomorrow evening, the city can be completely liberated."

"What? Tomorrow night?" Zhukov was obviously very dissatisfied with Katukov's answer. He said slowly: "According to the latest information we have obtained, the German army is in order to prevent their defense from being split by our army. , Some reinforcements were transferred from Germany, France, Romania and Yugoslavia, including the 2nd SS Tank Corps; Hungary also transferred the 1st Hungarian Army..."

"Ah, the Germans have increased their troops?" This unexpected news made Katukov a little confused. He asked Zhukov in surprise: "Comrade Marshal, how much time do we have now?"

Zhukov was silent for a moment, and then solemnly said: "I suggest capturing Chernivtsi before noon tomorrow, so that you can have enough time to build a strong defense in the south of the city."

After finishing the conversation with Zhukov, Katukov sat at the table, holding his head in his hands and thinking hard. And his chief of staff said next to him: "Comrade Commander, I think it is better to let the troops in the city stop rest and reorganization and put all of them into battle, so that maybe within the time set by Comrade Marshal, the entire Chernowitz can be completely occupied. city."

Regarding the Chief of Staff's proposal, Katukov was silent for a long time before asking: "Lida, how did you think about it? I want to hear your opinion."

"I agree with the Chief of Staff's opinion to stop the troops and let them go into battle." Before I finished speaking, I saw the Chief of Staff turn around and plan to give orders, so I hurriedly stopped him and continued: " Chief of Staff, don’t rush. Wait for those commanders to rest and wait until two o’clock in the morning before entering the fight. At that time, the German army has become exhausted after a night of fighting. At this time, we can join the new force and can quickly They are defeated."

"It makes sense. At that time, even if our army did not engage in night combat, the people were the most exhausted and the least vigilant. If we were to join the new force at that time, I believe we would be able to beat the enemy by surprise." Katukov echoed. After taking my opinion, I then asked tentatively: "In order to make the Germans lose their vigilance, we need to make the movement bigger. I don't know what to do at this time?"

I thought to myself that it might not be easy to attract the main force of the German army and put them in a state of high tension during the night battle without increasing the input of troops. When I was worried, I suddenly heard the Chief of Staff muttering to himself: "Chernovic is an old city in Ukraine. It is filled with buildings from the ages. It would be a shame if it was destroyed by the war. "

The speaker was unintentional and the listener was intentional. The chief of staff was whispering, but in my ears, he immediately thought of a good way. I quickly looked at Katukov and asked, "General Katukov, do you know the tradition of capturing medieval cities?"

"Tradition, what tradition?" Katukov was at a loss when I was ignorant, but he quickly understood what I was trying to express, and immediately widened his eyes and asked tentatively: "Lida , Are you talking about the tradition of putting the red flag on the municipal building?"

"Yes, General Katukov." Seeing that he had guessed what I meant, I nodded and affirmed: "We can order Guttmann and Dremov to focus on the attack. The municipal building in the city center."

For this proposal of mine, Katukov thought about it, and finally shook his head and put forward an objection: "Lida, no. If we have enough time, send someone to put the red flag on top of the municipal building. It is understandable to announce that we have occupied this city. But now the superiors want us to completely liberate the city and establish a defensive position in the south of the city before noon tomorrow."

"General Katukov, you misunderstood what I meant." Seeing that Katukov was wrong, I quickly explained to him: "I asked General Guttmann to use the municipal building as the focus of their offensive, not simply In order to plant a red flag on the roof to declare our sovereignty over this city. This approach may be correct in other cities, but it does not apply here."

After listening to what I said, Katukov became even more confused. He frowned and asked me: "Lida, I don't understand. If you think this tradition is not applicable in Chernivtsi, why do you want to bring it up?"

"If we take the municipal building as the focus of the attack, then the German army will concentrate their main forces in this area." After he finished speaking, I slowly said my thoughts: "In this way, other The military strength of the region will become relatively weak, and when we enter the new force, it will become easier to seize these areas."

After Katukov figured out what was going on, he nodded, and then instructed the chief of staff next to him: "The chief of staff, immediately report to Gertmann and Dremov, so that they can concentrate their forces on the city center. The hall launched an attack and disrupted the German defensive deployment." Seeing that the chief of staff turned to leave, he added, "Such an attack must be completed on the basis of existing combat forces."

…………

Gertmann and Dremov, who received the order, used a regiment of troops to attack the municipal building located in the city center from the north and west respectively.

In order to keep abreast of the offensive situation, Katukov asked the Director of Communications to send someone to lay a telephone line leading to the front so that he could get the latest battle report from the two commanders in the shortest time.

After fighting for an hour, Katukov called Gertman first. He ignored the greeting and asked straightforwardly: "General Guttmann, how is the situation? How far are your troops from the municipal building?"

"Report to Comrade Commander," Guttmann yelled, "The German firepower was too fierce. Although my troops launched two charges, they were both repelled by the enemy. The casualties of the troops were not small."

"Damn it, how could this be?" After listening to Guttmann's report, Katukov asked dissatisfiedly: "Didn't you send tanks to help?"

"I sent two tanks and they were destroyed by German anti-tank fighters. As a result, the burned tanks blocked our way forward." Guttmann said aggrievedly: "My troops are still a Russian army away from the municipal building. Here, we were bombarded by German mortars, causing great losses to the offensive troops. When we finally entered the 200-meter range, the Germans fired at the four concealed firepower points at the same time, and at the same time sent a small group of troops to implement The counterattack made our commanders unable to stand firm at all, and they were beaten back."

Katukov covered the microphone with his hand, turned his head and asked me: "Lida, you have more experience in street fighting, what should you do?"

Attacking the municipal building would cost huge casualties. I expected it a long time ago. After all, the buildings there are not only tall ~ www.wuxiaspot.com~ but also very strong, and the damage caused by tank fire is limited. Hearing Katukov asking me, I quickly reached out to him and said, "General Katukov, give me the phone. I personally tell General Guttman what tactics should be used to seize the municipal building."

I took the microphone and put it in my ear, and said loudly, "Hey, General Guttmann, this is Oshanina!"

When Guttman heard my voice, he was still a little stunned for a while, and then said politely: "Hello, Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army, what instructions do you have?"

"General Guttman, listen to me!" Because of the tight time, I didn't talk nonsense with him, but said straightforwardly: "You move a few cannons to the street, at the starting point of the attack, facing the municipal building. At the firepower point of the country, direct shooting. Do you understand?"

"Using a cannon to destroy the German firepower at close range?!" Guttmann repeated what I meant, and asked tentatively: "This is the legendary'Bayonet on a Cannon.' Am I correct?"

"Yes, General Guttman." When I saw that he also knew some of the tactics I had promoted before, I further emphasized: "The closer the artillery is to the enemy's firepower, the greater the result. The time is tight, you guys. Act now!"