Burning Moscow

After finishing the conversation with Cui Koff, I sat down and tried to recall the historical battle of Stalingrad. What happened during this period actually affected the encirclement and annihilation of the German forces by the three fronts. I racked my brains and thought for a long time. I vaguely remembered that Hitler, in order to rescue Paulus’s troops, ordered Marshal Manstein outside the encirclement to launch a counterattack code-named "Winter Storm", using Hote’s tank 4th Army. As a pioneer, he launched an attack on the encirclement of the Soviet army, trying to open an escape route for Paulus troops in the shortest possible time.

Seeing me sitting at the table in a daze, Kirilov came over and asked with concern: "Comrade Oshanina, what happened? Why did the German artillery in the factory area suddenly shelled our offensive troops? Are they not afraid that our army will send out aviation troops to bomb their artillery positions?"

I answered Kirilov with a wry smile: "Comrade Political Commissar, the commander has just notified me that the German army has launched a sudden attack outside our encirclement in an attempt to open a channel for Paulus’s troops. Our troops had to turn around. Deal with them. In this way, the pressure on the German forces trapped in the city will be greatly reduced, so that they can free up their hands to deal with us." Having said that, I stood up and ordered Akhromeev: "Chief of Staff Comrades, order the three regiments of Sergeikov, Oleg, and Kosca to immediately stop the offensive, and seize the time to reinforce the existing fortifications in order to cope with the possible German offensive."

After I gave the order to Akhromeyev, Kirilov asked me in a low voice: "Comrade Commander, I will send a telegram to General Rokosovsky to see what happened over there. What's the matter." After seeing me nodding permission. He got up and walked over to another radio.

Pantaiyev looked at the map in front of him, and asked me with some worry: "Comrade commander, if the German army launches a large-scale counterattack, can the current forces of our division be able to defend the Yerman and Dzerzhinsky districts? ?"

I shook my head again and said regretfully: "Comrade Deputy Commander. Although Commander Cuikov sent troops to take over the area occupied by our division, so that we can concentrate our forces on the offensive against the Germans. After all, the Germans have five divisions, regardless of whether they are in strength or In terms of weapons and equipment, they all have an advantage. Whether we can hold these two zones, we can only bet on luck."

After Akhromeyev gave Sergeikov their orders, they returned to me. I just heard what I said to Bantai Lev. As soon as I finished speaking, he tentatively suggested to me: "Comrade commander, in order to cover the troops of the first and fourth regiments successfully retreating to safety, can we order the two division artillery battalions to fire on the enemy and suppress them? Firepower?"

"No. Resolutely not!" Before I could speak, Pantai Leyev had already said to stop: "The Germans are equipped with large-caliber artillery, and our artillery battalion is medium except for a few captured howitzers. Caliber artillery, both in range and power, cannot be compared with the German artillery. Although our artillery battalion has achieved a lot of results in the early battles. However, weaponry is always the basis for confrontation, and the weapons are too far apart. No matter how clever tactics and how brave our soldiers are, it is meaningless."

"The deputy commander is right," I think Bantai Leyev made a lot of sense. So decisively chose to support him: "The strength of the artillery battalion is too far from that of the enemy. Letting them go into battle is tantamount to letting them die in vain."

While the few of us were talking, Kirilov also came over and put a telegraph behind the table. With a long sigh, he continued: "Comrade Oshanina. Everything is clear. Early this morning, the Germans launched an offensive from the outside of our encirclement. Fighting took place in the direction of Kotelnikovo in the Don front military defense zone. Encircled. The 51st Army, commanded by General Trufanov, who fought in front of the circle, under the frenzied German attack, despite the stubborn resistance, was slightly repelled."

Although Kirilov said it lightly, I understand in my heart that the so-called "slightly repelled a bit" indicates that the Germans have at least wedged our defenses for several kilometers. If Rokosovsky and the others do not turn around in time to meet the enemy, our troops who are attacking Paulus will fall into a situation where they are attacked by the enemy.

The expressions on their faces became serious when both Bantai Leyev and Akhromeyev heard Kirilov's words. They don’t know the final outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad, so when they heard that the Germans attacked from the periphery of our encirclement, they became more and more troubled. They were probably worried that our main force would fall into the German army like the latter part of the Kharkov campaign. The encirclement.

Seeing the expressions of the two of them, I couldn’t help but smile and asked, “Hey, I said that the deputy commander and the chief of staff, you both have a frowning face, what’s wrong? Are you worried about the situation in front of you? , Paulus, who is in our encirclement, still retreat with his whole body?"

Hearing how confident I was, Akhromeyev, who knew me well, suddenly brightened his eyes. He held the edge of the table with both hands, leaned forward slightly, and asked me excitedly: "Comrade Commander, what do you mean, German Army? Will the attack launched from outside the encirclement be quickly repelled by our army? Then our troops can turn around and continue to encircle Paulus’s troops in the encirclement?"

In order to dispel Pantai Leyev’s concerns, I nodded vigorously and said affirmatively: “Don’t look at the enemy’s artillery fire so fiercely, but I believe that such an intensity of the blow will not last long, because Paulus’s troops have been taken by our regiment. Surrounded, the needed supplies can only rely on their airdrops from the air force, and their artillery dare not use up precious shells unscrupulously."

After about half an hour, Sergeikov first called and reported to me on the execution of the order: "Comrade commander, most of the commanders in our regiment have successfully withdrawn from the starting position of the morning offensive and are nervously Construct fortifications to prevent possible German counterattacks."

"How about the casualties of the troops?" Although I heard that the regiment had been withdrawn, I was very concerned about their casualties, so I continued to ask: "Are all the wounded evacuated?"

Because at the recent military meeting, I repeatedly stressed to the heads of the regiments that my division might not be able to receive soldiers from the East Bank in the near future, and can only rely on wounded wounded to supplement the troops. So as long as conditions permit, all the wounded on the battlefield must be rescued.

Sederikov understood what I meant, and quickly reported: "Report to Comrade Commander, our regiment killed 51 people in the German shelling just now. 73 people were injured. All the wounded were snatched, yes. A battalion commander, Captain Nicholas, personally led the people, braving the gunfire to carry them down."

I uttered an "um" on the phone, and then said to Sederikov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please convey my gratitude to Captain Nikolai. I thank him on behalf of the wounded!" . I thought that Nikolai, like Karpov, was a person in need of key protection, so I told Sederikov, "For the safety of Captain Nikolai, in the next battle. Try not to arrange for him. Camp, what dangerous mission to perform. Do you understand?"

"Understood, comrade commander." Sederikov replied loudly on the other end of the phone. After a brief pause, he cautiously asked: "Comrade commander, I don't know what the mission of our regiment will be next?"

"While your regiment sticks to its existing defensive positions, it must continue to send small units to harass the German army and consume their viable strength." Thinking that Sederikov is very good at replenishing troops, I added: "If possible. Try to make up for the ball."

After the report of the first regiment, the reports of the second and fourth regiments followed one after another, and the two heads of the regiment reported to me over the phone. It is said that the troops suffered heavy casualties during the shelling, and it may be difficult to organize a large-scale attack on the Germans in the short term. Regarding the two men’s concerns, I said lightly: "Comrade lieutenant colonel, your next task is to hold on to the existing defensive positions and prevent the Germans from retaking these areas. When the enemy’s vital power is almost exhausted. We. Then consider the issue of counterattack."

Although the commander of the third regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Kosca, did not call, I thought that his Yellmann district might also be attacked by the Germans. Therefore, he specifically called to remind him, in addition to letting him organize the residents and militias in the area to strengthen the fortifications. At the same time, more patrols should be sent to patrol the defense area around the clock to avoid surprise attacks by the Germans.

After the deployment of the defense work of each regiment, as it was temporarily okay, a few of us sat down and chatted and commented on the performance of the three fronts after the start of the counter-offensive. I took my notebook and pencil out of my briefcase, and when I was about to hear something valuable, I could write it down.

But after listening for a while, they all talked about how brave our commanders and fighters were, and how vulnerable the Germans were. They didn't even touch on the problems of our military in counter-offensive battles. The more I listened, the more things were wrong, but it was Kirilov who was talking. I could not interrupt him casually, so as not to hurt his self-esteem. I could only put down the pen in my hand, lean back, and continue to bite the bullet and listen. .

Kirilov was talking vigorously, when he saw my performance like this and guessed that I might have something to say, he stopped quickly and said with a smile: "I will stop here for the time being. I invite Oshanina. Comrades say a few words to everyone."

I was not polite. After sitting upright, I expressed my opinion on some of the problems I discovered: "...When our division and the Don Front Army joined forces, I found all the members of their military committee, all senior commanders, and political work. The personnel are directly integrated into the battle sequence. In the battle, many commanders even took the lead in personally taking part in the attack in order to boost morale. But I think this approach is brave and is not worthy of promotion. Doing so will lead to unnecessary sacrifices. Once the senior commander is sacrificed, the command system of the unit will fall into chaos. In this case, let alone destroying the enemy, it is even a question of whether you can save yourself.

The intense fighting over the past half month has shown that it is impossible to annihilate the besieged enemy with just one or two assaults. Just wish is not enough. It is necessary to carefully prepare for a new battle and to study in detail the coordinated actions between the various forces. ..."

Since it was just a private chat, I was thinking of what to say, and the whole content seemed a bit messy and unstructured. When I spoke a while behind, Pantai Leyev asked carefully: "Comrade Commander, what do you think can be done to improve the command efficiency of the troops and achieve the goal of annihilating the enemy as soon as possible?"

I turned my head and glanced at Pantai Leyev. After a long silence, I cautiously said: "The better solution is to give the command of the campaign to one person, so that the commanding force can be more comfortable."

After hearing this shocking remark from me, everyone was silent, because this issue was a matter of consideration by the Supreme Commander himself, not to mention my little teacher, even Yeleymenko and Rokosovsky. None of the front commanders have a say.

After being silent for a long time, Kirilov asked carefully: "Comrade Oshanina, if what you said will become a reality, to whom do you think the Supreme Command will transfer the final command of the troops? It is now. Is one of the three front commanders, General Zhukov or General Vasilevsky, Chief of Staff?"

"Comrade Political Commissar, based on the analysis of the current situation, only the Don Front Army and the Stalingrad Front Army ~ www.wuxiaspot.com ~ may be merged, and General Vatutin's Southwest Front Army may remain unmoved." Although I am very I know the situation after the merger of the two fronts, but in front of my subordinates, he still pretends to be thinking about it for a long time, and then said for a long time: "As for the commander of the merged front, I will definitely not let General Cuikov or The chief of staff of Ji can only be selected from the two existing commanders."

"The new commander will be born from the current commander?!" After listening to my so-called analysis, Kirilov couldn't help but fall into contemplation: "Who would it be?"

"Does this still need to be said?" Akhromeyev said without hesitation: "Since we are fighting under Stalingrad, then the newly formed front must be the commander of General Yelyomenko. Don't hesitate. Forget it, Comrade Khrushchev, his military commissar, is a member of the Central Committee. If he is not a commander, who can be a commander?!"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I don't think it is necessarily." Bantai Leyev sang a counter-tune with him: "I don't deny that General Yeleomyenko is more senior than General Rokosovsky, not to mention his military commissar. It’s Comrade Khrushchev. But don’t forget, if the two fronts really merge as the commander said. In the selection of the commander, the Supreme Commander considers who is more capable of serving as the commander. , Rather than simply considering his qualifications and who his deputy is. So I think the possibility of General Rokosovsky being a commander is greater.” (To be continued)