Burning Moscow

That night, Rokosovsky and Kolpakic went to Puławy on the other side of the Vistula River. Before leaving, he asked me to take charge of the daily affairs of the front army.

I thought there would be a lot of work, but when I took over, I found that this job was also very easy. The artillery unit of the front army is under the jurisdiction of Kazakov and the artillery commanders of the various armies; the tanks and armored units are managed by Orel; the communications of the front army are handled by the old general Maximenko; the specific affairs of the front army, The chief of staff, Ma Lining, has always been in charge of it. All I have to do is center scheduling. But the fly in the ointment is that until Rokosovsky returns, I have to stay in the headquarters every day to deal with emergencies.

In the early morning of the next day, I was asleep when I was awakened by Ma Lining. When he saw my eyes opened, he immediately said hurriedly: "Lida, General Batov is calling, there seems to be something wrong at the Serotsk landing site!"

I was lying on the camp bed in my clothes. Hearing Malinen said that there was an urgent matter, I immediately turned over and got off the boat, rushed to the table and grabbed the earphones placed on it: "Hey, General Batov, I am Oshanina, what's the matter?"

Hearing my voice, Batov hesitated for a moment, and then asked: "Is Comrade Marshal not here?"

"Comrade Marshal has gone to the Puławy landing site. I am responsible for handling the daily affairs of the front army." After briefly explaining Rokosovsky's whereabouts, I asked anxiously: "What emergency happened to you? "

"That's it, Comrade Deputy Commander." Batov said over the phone: "According to reconnaissance, the German forces in Naschelsk are gathering. There are various signs that they may launch to the Serotsk landing site at dawn. attack."

"General Batov," I said after a quick glance at the map. "Now our army has two groups of troops at the Serotsk landing site. Even if the Germans deploy one or two divisions, don’t think about it. Capture the landing field in your hand. What you have to do now is not how to defend, but to choose the right opportunity to attack first. If possible, your troops can directly take down the city of Naschelsk."

"Take Naschelsk down?" Batov heard me say this, and said in a flustered tone: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I don't think you understand what I mean. What I report to you is that the German army is taking care of it. Shiersk assembled his troops and prepared to attack our landing site..."

"General Batov, I can hear your report clearly." Although the battle of the day before yesterday enlarged the area of ​​the Serotsk landing site, I still feel that it is a bit crowded to place two armies here, so I have been Thinking about how to continue to expand the landing field, now an excellent fighter plane appeared in front of me, so I decisively ordered: "I will give you combat orders now, with two tank brigades and a guard division as the first echelon. , Proceed along Highway 622 towards Naschelsk. Try to launch an attack on the city at dawn."

"But now there are only four hours left until dawn. I am worried that it will not be too late to gather troops." Batov said hesitantly: "I think we should discuss this battle plan with Comrade Marshal first to see what he means before making a decision. Right!"

"General Batov," I couldn't help feeling a little unhappy when I saw Batov's push back and forth. I sternly said into the microphone: "Now I have full responsibility for the affairs of the army, and there is no need to discuss it with anyone. Just follow the order. , I will send artillery and air force to support your offensive."

After putting down the phone, I said politely to Malinin who was standing by: "Chief of Staff, go and invite the two generals Kazakov and Orel here. I have important things to announce to them."

The two generals lived in a house not far away and rushed to the headquarters immediately after being notified. As soon as Kazakov entered the door, he asked me anxiously: "Comrade Deputy Commander, are you looking for us in such a hurry, is there anything important?"

"That's it, comrade generals." I looked at them and said lightly: "I intend to let General Batov's troops attack Naschelsk. You need to provide them with the necessary support."

As soon as my voice fell, Kazakov asked in amazement: "What, to attack Naschelsk, when is this the battle plan formulated, why don't I know?"

"I just made this decision." I said with a normal expression: "According to General Batov's report, the enemies of Naschelsk are gathering. It looks like they are preparing to attack our landing field, so I plan to Take preemptive action and attack the city before the enemy sets off."

"Is it possible to do this?" Orel asked worriedly.

"Two comrades," Ma Lining saw that the two generals were not very supportive of my preparation for a preemptive action, so he stood up and helped me: "Leda has ordered General Batov to send two tanks. The brigade and an echelon of guards rushed to Naschelsk and prepared to take the lead in launching an attack on the enemy at dawn."

Hearing what Malinin said, Kazakov knew that the matter was irreversible, so he changed his tone and asked, "I don't know what the mission of our artillery is?"

I motioned to Kazakov to come to the map and pointed to the location of the Serotsk landing site and said to him: "Comrade Artillery Commander, if I remember correctly, you have an artillery division deployed here, right?"

"That's right," Kazakov said, nodding his head: "It is the 21st Breakthrough Artillery Division. It has the 103rd Powerful Howitzer Brigade, the 64th and 94th Heavy Howitzer Brigade, the 55th Howitzer Brigade, and the 66th Light Howitzer Brigade. And the 25th Mortar Brigade."

After receiving Kazakov’s confirmation, a smile appeared on my face, “You immediately transferred the 64th and 94th Heavy Howitzer Brigade and advanced along the highway to the northwest, ten kilometers away from Naschelsk. Build artillery positions to provide artillery support for General Batov’s siege troops."

Kazakov did not immediately accept my order, but cautiously asked: "Is there an infantry cover? If there is no infantry cover, the enemy would only have to attack our position and our artillery would be ruined."

"The infantry will have it, Comrade General." After I said this, I turned to Orel and said, "General Orel, please transfer the 24th and 37th regiments of the Guards Tanks, along with Kazakov. The general’s artillery units are working together. Although I know that the two tank regiments are still on the east bank of the Narew River, I think there should be no problem in getting to the designated position before dawn."

"Don't worry, UU reading www.uukānshu.com, deputy commander comrade." After listening to my order, Orel hurriedly stepped forward and vowed to me, "I will definitely let the Guards Tank Regiment stipulate Within time, reach the position you specified."

Seeing that the artillery and tank units to cooperate with the 65th Army’s offensive have been arranged, I said to Malinen: "Comrade Chief of Staff, we must also consider that we may be attacked by the Luftwaffe during the offensive, so you will wait a moment. Call General Porenin and ask him to dispatch the air force after dawn to provide necessary air support to the 65th Army."

"Okay, I will call General Porenin later and ask him to dispatch the air force to provide air support for our ground forces." After saying this, Ma Linin asked me carefully: "Lida, we Do I need to report this offensive plan to Comrade Marshal?"

Regarding Malinin’s proposal, I thought about it, and finally shook my head decisively: “No, this is just a small-scale battle. You don’t need to alarm Comrade Marshal, let the troops below prepare.”

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