Red Moscow

"What, all the German troops in Bilie Town have been wiped out by friendly troops?" Chepurkin couldn't help being surprised when he heard the call from the head of the front. According to his experience, to eliminate the enemies entrenched in the town, it would take at least one day to fight, and that was even when the enemies could not get reinforcements.

Therefore, he was dubious about the situation reported by his subordinates: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, is everything you said true?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander, of course it's all true." The head of the regiment thought that his troops were moving fast enough, but he didn't know that the battle was over before they got to the place. If he hadn't heard with his own ears that the gunfire from the direction of the town had stopped, he would have thought he was dreaming. "The commander of the friendly army is here, do you need to talk to him?"

In order to find out what was going on, Chepurkin agreed to the proposal of the head of the regiment: "Okay, let the commander of the friendly army talk to me a few words."

Soon, Chepurtin heard an unfamiliar voice coming from the headset: "Hello, Comrade Colonel, I am Lieutenant Zhelia, commander of the 5th company of the 2nd Battalion of the 124th Regiment of the 41st Guards Division."

"Comrade Lieutenant," Chepurkin asked politely, "have you really wiped out all the enemies in the town?"

"Yes, Comrade Colonel." Gelia replied proudly: "Except for those who were killed, the rest of the enemies have become our prisoners."

"Comrade Lieutenant, as far as I know, there are thousands of enemies in the town, and they are also equipped with tanks." After confirming that the enemies in the town of Bilie were really wiped out, Chepurkin asked curiously: "Did you get any help?" With the support of the air force, it is simply unbelievable to wipe out the enemies in the town in such a short period of time."

"Comrade Colonel," Zelya did not answer Chepurtin's question lightly, but said cautiously: "I think it will be difficult for me to answer your question. You know, in battle, I command It is a company, not all the troops participating in the battle, and I can only see the area where I am, and I don’t know how the rest of the area is fighting.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard Chepurkin's sigh coming from the earphone, and he quickly added: "Comrade Colonel, if you want to know the answer, you can go to the town of Bile to meet our teacher commander, he is waiting for you there Woolen cloth."

Now that the German army in Bilie Town has been wiped out, there is no need for the 379th Division to be mobilized. While asking the chief of staff to inform the troops to stop the assembly, Chepurkin reported to Krylov at the headquarters: "Comrade Commander, the battle in Bile Town has ended, and all the enemies entrenched in the town have been wiped out."

Although Krylov already knew that it would not be difficult for Sokov to annihilate the enemies in the town, he was still surprised to wipe out the enemy army in such a short period of time: "What, the enemy has already Annihilated? Colonel Chepurtin, can you tell me how this battle was fought? How was it possible to annihilate the enemy in such a short period of time?"

"Comrade Commander," Chepurkin replied with a wry smile when he heard Krylov's question, "I don't think I can answer your question either. Before my vanguard reached the town of Bile, I encountered contact from the friendly army. officer, and told them that the fighting in the town was over and the enemy was wiped out."

"Since the enemy in the town has been wiped out, your division doesn't need to be mobilized anymore." After thinking for a moment, Krylov continued: "If Colonel Sukov agrees, you can let the vanguard regiment enter Bile Town , responsible for the defense mission there.”

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Chepurtin quickly replied: "I immediately issued an order to the vanguard to take over the defense of the town, and I will also rush to Bile Town as soon as possible to meet Colonel Sokov .”

An hour later, Chepurkin rushed to the town of Bije and met Sokov in the dispatching room of the station. After the two shook hands and exchanged a few words of greeting, Chepurtin asked straight to the point: "Colonel Sokov, I am very curious, how could your troops wipe out the enemies in the town in such a short period of time?"

"Comrade Colonel, please come here." Sokov gave the other party to the table, pointed to the map spread on it, and began to explain to him: "After I learned about the situation from a commander who is familiar with the terrain of the town, , I learned that the main fortifications of the town are aimed at the west and south, but there are no decent fortifications in the north and east.

So when I made the battle plan, I took these issues into full consideration. The first step was to send a guerrilla-fighting force to go up the railway, but to destroy the railway, so that the trains carrying German officers and soldiers could not continue to enter the railway station.

The second step is to send a battalion to the south of the town, put on an offensive posture, to attract the attention of the enemy, so that they have to leave a part of the troops to monitor and defend our army.

In the second step, I used two infantry battalions reinforced by tank battalions, and attacked from the northeast and east at the same time.

Since the enemy has no decent fortifications in our main attack direction, our offensive troops easily broke through the enemy's defenses and rushed into the town smoothly..."

After listening to Sokov's introduction, Chepurtin couldn't help feeling ashamed. He felt that if he was in charge of the attack, some steps would definitely not be taken, such as sending troops to destroy the railway to prevent the German army from increasing its troops; Will not send troops in other directions to attract the attention of the enemy.

"Colonel Sokov," Chepurkin asked tentatively, "What about the defense of this town? Should your division keep troops to guard it, or hand over the defense to us?"

Before Chepurkin's arrival, Sokov was still struggling with the defense of the town. You must know that my army belongs to the 62nd Army, the defense area to the south is the 21st Army, and the original defenders in the town are troops from the Southwest Front Army.

If the town has been defended by troops from the Southwest Front Army, there will be no problem. But the original troops were basically wiped out by the German sneak attack, and it was impossible for the town to defend without leaving troops, so who would be left to guard it became a headache.

Before Chepurkin appeared, Sokov was discussing with Bely which troops he should keep for defense if the friendly army refused to take over this hot potato. Hearing Chepurkin's initiative to ask a question at this moment, I couldn't help feeling ecstatic: "Comrade Colonel, if you want, I can hand over the defense of the town to you at any time."

Seeing that Sokov agreed to let his troops take over the defense, Chepurkin quickly called a staff officer and told him to notify the vanguard standing outside the town to come immediately to take over the town's defense.