Red Moscow

Although the distance from the village to Qijilin is three or four kilometers away, to the soldiers on bicycles, this distance is nothing at all.

In less than ten minutes, the commanders and fighters riding at the front had reached the edge of the city. Before the German sentries recovered their senses, the Soviet soldiers who jumped out of the car pointed their black muzzles at them.

When the Soviet commanders and fighters of the brigade entered the city mightily on bicycles, the Germans finally came to their senses and shot to intercept them, and the battle in the city officially started.

Since Qijilin was occupied by the German army, there has been no battle for two years, and the original fortifications in the city have been dismantled. Today, when it was learned that the next target of the Soviet army might be Qijilin, the city defense commander hastily issued an order for the officers and soldiers in the city to build barricades at various intersections.

Due to time constraints, lack of materials, and the private information received by the German officers and soldiers, the Soviet army will not be able to reach the outskirts of the city until noon tomorrow, so they are not very active in building fortifications, so that the Soviet army's vanguard When they rushed into the city, the barricades that should have been repaired long ago were just a prototype.

Without decent fortifications, how could the German officers and soldiers resist the flood of Soviet commanders and fighters, and for a while, they were beaten back steadily. In less than half an hour, the commanders and fighters of the 258th regiment occupied two blocks.

Although the attack of the Soviet army was swift and violent, due to too few troops, after occupying two blocks, only the second battalion was left to continue to attack. blocks, and established several solid fire points to prevent possible counterattacks by the Germans.

Although the German army in Qijilin City was caught off guard, they were well-trained after all. They quickly woke up from the chaos, and troops stationed everywhere rushed to the battle site to prevent the Soviet army from advancing further.

At this moment, Belkin was staying on the second floor of a building with his chief of staff. He held up the binoculars to observe the combat area outside, and he found that his troops were weak in attack due to the reduction of troops. On the contrary, the Germans have gradually shifted from the original defense to the counter-offensive due to more and more reinforcements coming from everywhere.

He put down the binoculars, turned to ask the chief of staff who was standing behind the radio operator, and asked sharply, "How is it, have you contacted the follow-up troops?"

"No, Comrade Colonel." Hearing Belkin's question, the chief of staff hurriedly replied, "They may be on the march and cannot receive our telegram."

Knowing that he hadn't been able to get in touch with the follow-up troops, Belkin couldn't help but sighed softly, and then ordered the chief of staff: "Chief of staff, immediately contact the commander of the second battalion and order him to stop the attack. The troops retreated alternately to cover the first battalion and the second battalion. A block defended by three battalions, here to resist the German attack."

"What, stop the attack?" The chief of staff said in surprise after listening to Belkin's words: "I think it is entirely possible to order the second battalion to continue to move forward and try to take another street. If there are insufficient troops, the first battalion and the The third battalion dispatched manpower to reinforce it, leaving one company in each street is more than enough."

"No, Comrade Chief of Staff, our troops are limited. Even if we take down the third street, we may not be able to hold it." Belkin shook his head and rejected the proposal of the Chief of Staff: "It is better to draw back our troops as soon as possible and stick to the existing Two streets occupied, awaiting the arrival of the main force."

Hearing Belkin's words, the chief of staff of the regiment could only agree, and then ordered the operator to call the commander of the second battalion, and asked him to take the troops back to the defense areas of the first and third battalions, preparing to fight the German attack in these areas.

…………

Not long after Chijilin's offensive started, Sokov received a call from Konev: "Comrade Sokov, I'm Konev."

"Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Knowing that the other party had nothing important to do, Sokov would not take the initiative to call him, so he hurriedly asked respectfully, "Do you have any instructions?"

"Immediately hand over the work you are doing to the chief of staff, General Sameko." Konev said on the other end of the phone: "Then you take the plane I sent and come to New Orlik."

Although Sokov has a sense of fear for the aircraft of this era, since it is the order given by Konev, he will definitely not disobey it, so he can only bite the bullet and reply: "Understood, Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I will follow The plane you sent, headed for New Orlik."

Sokov put down the phone and explained to Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, General Konev just called me and ordered me to go to New Orlik immediately. I don't know why he suddenly sent me there. , but during my absence, you will handle all matters in the headquarters."

Knowing that Sokov was recruited by Konev to New Orlik, Sameko hurriedly looked down at the map on the table. After looking at it for a while, he raised his head and said to Sokov, "Comrade Commander, I understand that General Konev It's my intention."

"What's the intention?" Sokov asked.

"Look here," Sameko said to Sokov, pointing at the map, "across the river from Novorlik, exactly between Chigirin and Cherkasy. It can successfully cut off the connection between the two cities."

"Not long ago, General Fomenko reported to me," Sokov said disapprovingly after reading the map, "Their division has launched an attack on Chigirin, and I believe it will not take long before they can take this city. He tapped the empty space between the two cities with his fingers, "Since we have captured Qijilin, it doesn't make much sense for the friendly forces to set up a landing field here."

"I think so too." Sameko agreed. "Although the river flows slowly in this section of the river, its area is also the widest, about 1,200 to 1,300 meters wide. The assumption of the pontoon bridge is a big problem." Said At this point, he shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said helplessly, "But an order is an order. Since General Konev asked you to go to New Orlik, you should go and have a look, maybe you can persuade me He changed his mind."

About half an hour later, the pilot who drove the plane appeared in Sokov's command post. Sokov saw that he was an acquaintance. He was the one who sent his group to the headquarters for a meeting not long ago. He hurriedly stepped forward to shake hands with the other party, and said in a friendly tone: "Hello, comrade pilot, I didn't expect to see you again so soon." You."

The pilot said politely, "General Sokov, are you ready?"

"Ready, ready to go at any time."

"Then please come with me." The pilot said, "I came from the airport in a jeep, and now the car is parked outside the door, we can go to the airport anytime."

Before leaving, Sokov specifically told Sameko to say: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the 84th Division is now attacking Chijilin. I am worried that their strength is insufficient. You must urge the 188th Division to speed up the march, and it must be before dawn tomorrow." , rushed over to join the 84th Division."

Sokov boarded the plane at Klemenchug's North Airport, and it took less than half an hour to land in an open space in New Orlik.

Near the place where the plane landed, an open jeep was parked, and a captain and the driver were chatting in the car. After the plane stopped and Sokov got off the plane, the captain quickly ran up to him, raised his hand in salute and asked, "Is this General Sokov?"

"Yes, I am Sokov."

"Hello, Comrade General." The captain said respectfully: "Comrade Commander ordered me to come pick you up, please get in the car, I will take you to see Comrade Commander."

After getting into the car, Sokov saw many Soviet commanders and fighters active nearby, so he asked the captain curiously: "Comrade captain, can you tell me the numbers of the nearby troops?"

The designation of the nearby troops does not involve confidentiality, so the captain will naturally not hide it from Sokov, and said casually: "It is the 7th Guards Army of General Shumilov." Then he patted the driver's shoulder with his hand, "Drive !"

On the way, Sokov asked curiously again: "Comrade Captain, so the 7th Guards Army plans to cross the Dnieper River from here?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Regarding this point, the captain also didn't hide it, because even if he didn't say it, Sokov could still get the answer from Konev in a few minutes at most. If he told him in advance, he might still be able to Gained his favor: "The troops of the 7th Guards Army intend to cross the river from here and establish a landing field on the opposite bank. Now Comrade Commander and General Shumilov are going to check the terrain."

The driver drove the jeep to an area where many jeeps were parked and many soldiers were on guard. When the car stopped, the captain turned to Sokov and said, "General Sokov, we are here."

Sokov looked around, and found that almost half the height of the river was growing with weeds. A group of people stood in the grass fifty or sixty meters away, and half of them were wearing big-brimmed hats. Analyzing this point, Konev and Shumilov are there. However, before getting out of the car, Sokov asked the captain specifically: "Comrade Captain, where is Comrade Commander of the Front Army?"

"Yes, General Sokov." The captain nodded and replied in an affirmative tone: "Comrade Commander is right there, hurry up, he's probably in a hurry."

After thanking the captain, Sokov quickly walked towards where Konev was. Although a soldier stepped forward to stop Sokov, after seeing his rank clearly, he immediately took a step back, made way for him, and raised his hand to salute.

After seeing Konev in the crowd, Sokov raised his hand to salute him, and reported in accordance with the regulations: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, Major General Sokov, Commander of the 27th Army, is here under your order..."

Before Sokov finished his report, Konev raised his hand and pulled his hand down, held it tightly, shook it vigorously a few times, and said with a smile: "Welcome, Comrade Sokov, you Your troops performed well in today's battle."

Hearing Konev's compliment, Sokov grinned. Just as he was about to start a conversation, a familiar voice came from beside him: "Hi, General Sokov, I didn't expect us to meet again so soon."

Sokov turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound. It turned out that the person who was talking to him was Shumilov. He hurried over to salute him, shook hands, and said enthusiastically: "Hello, General Shumilov, it seems that you want to It won't be long before our two forces will fight side by side again."

"You are right, Comrade Sokov." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Konev on the side interrupted and said, "I called you here to discuss with General Shumilov. A matter of cooperating."

"Coordinated operations?!" Sokov heard Konev say this, and murmured in his heart: "What kind of coordination method, can I let my troops occupy the opposite bank and help them build a pontoon bridge on the wide Dnieper River?"

"By the way, before assigning the task, let me introduce you to someone." Konev called a middle-aged general who was standing not far away, and introduced him to Sokov: "Come and get acquainted, this The first is Major General Priaskin, chief engineer of the 7th Guards Army."

"Hello, Comrade General." Sokov stepped forward to shake hands with the other party, and asked in surprise, "I'm afraid it will not be an easy task to build a pontoon bridge on such a wide river?"

Sokov was just saying something casually, but Pulyaskin nodded after hearing this, and said with a sad face: "General Sokov, you are right, it is indeed a very important task to build a pontoon bridge here. Difficult things."

Without waiting for Sokov to ask again, Priaskin took the initiative to say: "According to our measurement, the width of the river here is 1,230 meters. The enemy on the other side has not yet built a continuous defense. It is the best place for us to cross the river. Unfortunately, if you don't count a few rubber boats, there is almost no crossing equipment. On both sides of the river is a grassland, there is no forest, so there is no auxiliary material for raft building and bridge building. There is nothing on the shore except willow bushes. No."

Sokov never dreamed that the difficulty mentioned by Pulyaskin was actually the problem of bridge-building materials. He hesitated for a while, then asked back: "Comrade General, didn't your troops collect the necessary boats or planks from abandoned villages when they advanced towards the Dnieper River?"

"General Sokov," Priaskin continued, "the things you mentioned, some foresighted commanders and fighters did collect a lot during the march. But for the entire army, it is too much. Less. We are thinking about where to go to collect materials for the pontoon bridge."

"Don't worry, Comrade General." Sokov just arrived here, and he didn't know where nearby materials for bridge construction could be collected, so he could only vaguely comfort the other party and said, "Let the commanders and fighters expand the search area, and I'm sure we'll be able to find what you're looking for." needed bridging material."

After saying this, Sokov turned to face Konev, and asked respectfully: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I would like to ask, do you have any new combat missions for me?"