Red Moscow

Before Konev could speak, Shumilov interjected, "Comrade Commander, this is not the place to talk. Let's go back to the temporary headquarters."

"That's right, Comrade Commander." As soon as Shumilov finished speaking, Priaskin continued: "Although we are more than a thousand meters away from the opposite bank, if the German army on the other bank has so many senior commanders If the personnel are here, the artillery will definitely be mobilized to bombard. Once there are casualties, the consequences will be very serious."

"Yes, yes, you are right." Konev agreed with the two of them: "This is indeed not a place to talk about work. Let's go back to your headquarters."

On the way to the headquarters of the Guards Army, Konev asked Sokov: "Comrade Sokov, how is the progress of your troops, have they reached Chigirin?"

"When I left the headquarters and came here, the vanguard of the 84th Division had already rushed into the city and was engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy."

"Oh, has it rushed into the city?" Sokov's report surprised Konev, and he immediately asked impatiently, "Have you got a firm foothold?"

"Due to the limited number of troops entering the city, after occupying two streets, Colonel Belkin ordered the troops to turn to the defense on the spot to wait for the arrival of the main force."

"Why don't you continue to attack?" Knowing that the troops that rushed into the city are now relying on two blocks for defense, Konev felt disappointed in his heart. He stamped his feet and said, "We should continue to advance into the city and wait until the main force When the troops arrived, even if they could not occupy the city, the occupied area would be far larger than it is now."

"Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Sokov saw Konev's lack of greed at the moment, and quickly reminded him: "We have only one regiment of troops rushing into Chijilin City, and they are all light infantry. They did not carry any heavy infantry. Weapons. The enemy has several times more troops than us, as well as tanks and artillery. If they continue to attack before the main force arrives, I am afraid that it will not be long before the effective forces of the vanguard will be exhausted. Commanders and fighters will also be driven out of the city by the enemy."

After being reminded by Sokov, Konev realized that he was a bit too blindly optimistic. If the Germans were really so easy to deal with, the two armies of the 5th and 7th Guards would not be outside Poltava lingered for so long.

"Then what's the situation now?" Konev changed the subject in time: "Has the main force of the 84th Division arrived?"

"Not sure, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Sokov replied: "Before I got on the plane, the information I had was that the vanguard regiment commanded by Colonel Belkin occupied two streets in the city of Chijilin. And rely on the buildings there for defense, waiting for the arrival of the main force of the division."

Seeing that he couldn't ask what he was interested in from Sokov, Konev couldn't help but feel a little disappointed: "Well, Comrade Sokov. After we arrive at General Shumilov's headquarters later, Just make a phone call and ask, how is the progress on Qijilin's side?"

"Okay, Comrade Front Army Commander." Sokov replied readily, "I'll call when I get there."

Shumilov's headquarters is three or four kilometers away from the river. Due to poor road conditions, it is impossible to drive. The group walked for nearly an hour to reach their destination.

The headquarters was a half-buried earthen bunker. Walking down the wooden steps, Sokov entered a dimly lit room. It took him a while to adjust to the light in the room.

"Director of the Communication Corps," Shumilov greeted his Communication Corps Director immediately after entering the door, pointed to Sokov and told him: "This is General Sokov, commander of the 27th Army, he needs to communicate with his own immediately. Get in touch with the headquarters, and you immediately put him through the phone."

With the help of the director of the communications corps, Sokov quickly got on the phone with Sameko, and he asked straight to the point: "Comrade Chief of Staff, how is the situation in Qijilin City?"

"Parts of the 252nd Regiment and the 254th Regiment have already arrived at Chigirin, joined forces with the Belkin Regiment, and are resisting the German attack in the occupied neighborhood."

Hearing this, Sokov couldn't help frowning: "Since the main force of the division has already arrived, why didn't they launch a counterattack, but insisted on sticking to the occupied block?"

"There is no way to fight back, Comrade Commander." Sameko replied with a wry smile: "The enemy has dispatched tanks and armored vehicles, and our troops have no decent anti-tank weapons except for a small number of rocket launchers. If the enemy's tanks and armored vehicles are not destroyed Armored vehicles, our counterattacks are simply not going to work."

"Then when will our heavy equipment reach Qijilin?"

"I'm afraid it will be tomorrow morning at the earliest." Sameko explained to Sokov: "After all, the road conditions are too bad. Whether it is a tank or other military vehicles, driving on such roads may not be much faster than walking."

Sokov knew that he couldn't eat hot tofu in a hurry, so he didn't give Sameko a death order, and asked the troops to arrive at what time, because he knew that even if he gave such an order, the troops below would be very difficult. After completing the task, he simply opened his mouth: "Comrade Chief of Staff, tell the two division commanders Fomenko and Koyda that whether Chijilin can be successfully captured depends entirely on when our army's heavy equipment can enter the city."

When Sameko reported the situation, he thought that the other party would forcibly order the heavy equipment to speed up the march and enter the city before dark. At this moment, after listening to Sokov's words, he immediately relaxed a lot: "Comrade commander, don't worry, although our troops entering the city do not have any heavy equipment for the time being, the two blocks occupied by the two It is not easy for the enemy to seize these areas from their hands if they are defended with a regiment of troops."

"What about the 188th Division in Koida, where is it now?"

"Due to the limited number of bicycles, the 188th Division may not be able to reach Qijilin until noon tomorrow."

After a few more conversations on the phone, Sokov and Sameko put down the microphone and reported to Konev: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, the main force of the 84th Division has basically entered Chigirin. Due to their lack of heavy weapons, The German army, which cannot have tanks and armored vehicles, can only rely on existing buildings to resist the German attack."

What Sokov said seemed to have been expected by Konev. After hearing this, he just nodded slightly and said: "Although the role of tanks in cities is greatly reduced, our army does not have enough anti-tank weapons. , to destroy the enemy's tanks will cost a great deal of casualties."

After saying this, he called Sokov to the table, pointed to the map on it, and continued: "Comrade Sokov, now let's discuss the coordinated operations between your two armies."

Sokov thought that if the 84th Division had not been divided into several parts in its assault today, it might have occupied most of the city by now. When the heavy weapons arrive tomorrow, the city will be easily taken. But now only two streets are controlled. If you want to pass through these two streets and expand the occupied area, you will definitely encounter crazy resistance from the German army, and the troops will definitely suffer huge casualties.

He asked cautiously, "I don't know what we can do?"

"Come and see here." Konev pointed to the Dnieper River on the map, and said to Sokov: "We inspected here just now, and the purpose is to prepare to cross the river from here."

"Although the river here is very wide, the current is gentle and there are not many enemies on the opposite bank. Even if we try to cross by force, I'm afraid we can easily break through the enemy's fire blockade and land on the right bank smoothly." Sokov finished speaking. Finally, he looked up at Priaskin who was standing across the table: "I think you can build a landing site on the right bank first, and after you gain a firm foothold, there is still time to build a pontoon bridge on the river."

"Comrade Sokov," Shumilov said as soon as Sokov finished speaking: "Because we have limited equipment for crossing the river, the first batch of troops to cross the river will definitely be very limited. The amount of ammunition will not be too much. It is not a big problem to just disperse the enemies by the river, but if the German army discovers our intentions and launches a counterattack, these landing troops may be driven into the river."

"How can we help?" Sokov looked at the map and found that the landing site chosen by the 7th Guards Army was about 50 kilometers away from Qijilin. After leaving the city, with such a long distance, there is also a feeling of being beyond reach.

Konev tapped his fingers on the table and said to Sokov: "Once the German army finds that General Shumilov's troops have landed on the right bank, they will definitely mobilize troops to attack them. The only city where the enemy can mobilize troops today is the Cherkasy and Chigirin. As long as you make more noise in the Chigirin area, the enemy will not dare to draw troops from there to attack the landing field of the Guards Army."

"What about the enemy in the direction of Cherkasy?" Sokov asked tentatively: "Even if the enemy does not send troops from Chijilin for reinforcements, could it be that the enemy in Cherkasy chose to stand by when they discovered that our army had established a landing field on the right bank? ?"

"You don't have to worry about this," Konev said confidently. "We still have other troops, which are advancing towards Cherkasy right now, threatening the safety of the city. If the Germans were smart, they would never dare to use them." Defenders of Cherkasy."

According to Konev, Sokov found that after the 7th Guards Army established a landing field on the right bank, the enemy who threatened them the most was really Chijilin, who was fighting fiercely. He quickly expressed his position to Konev and said: "Comrade Front Army Commander, please rest assured that after General Shumilov's troops establish a landing field on the right bank, we will do our best to contain the enemies of Chijilin so that they cannot send a group of troops to the landing field." One soldier at a time."

After listening to Sokov's statement, Konev nodded with a smile, then turned to Shumilov and asked, "General Shumilov, when are you going to forcibly cross the Dnieper River?"

However, Shumilov did not answer this question. Instead, he raised his chin at Priaskin and said, "Comrade Chief Engineer, it is up to you to answer this question."

Seeing that Shumilov called his name, Puliaskin was not stage-frightened, and pointed to the map on the table and began to introduce his plan: "I plan to order the divisions to go nearby to find wood, and to make infantry and weapons. Equipped with a raft for crossing to the opposite bank. Although we will choose the time to cross the river before dawn, it is not easy to be spotted by the enemy on the opposite bank, but we still have to prepare for the worst and deploy artillery and anti-aircraft firepower by the river to ensure the crossing operation. It went well."

"Comrade Priaskin," Sokov waited for Priaskin to finish speaking, and said, "Before I came here by plane, I found that there was no forest within a radius of tens of kilometers. It may take a long time to collect wood. In this way, if you want to complete the river crossing before dawn tomorrow, the time is very tight."

"You're right, General Sokov." Pulyaskin agreed with Sokov's concerns: "In order to make the raft as soon as possible, we have two plans: one is to send people to The nearby forests go to cut wood to make rafts; another way is to collect all the things that can be used in the nearby settlements, including wooden sheds, door panels, roofs, barrels, fences, etc., and use these materials for Make a raft."

When Sokov heard it, it was not difficult to collect materials that could be used to make rafts from nearby villages and settlements. It is estimated that many rafts could be made before dawn.

The rest was about how Shumilov and the others established a landing field on the right bank. Sukov felt that as an outsider, he couldn't intervene at all, so he tentatively asked Konev: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I don't have anything to do here, can I leave?"

"It's getting dark, it's not safe for you to go back by plane." But Konev did not agree to let Sokov leave, but said to him: "For your safety, you should stay here for one night. "

Sokov really had no way to refute the reason Konev put forward. If the other party doesn't send a plane to him, he can't walk back alone, right? After all, no matter how far away it is from his headquarters, there is still a German defense zone in the middle. Sokov doesn't think he can return to Klemenchug smoothly by himself.

So he could only say helplessly: "Okay, Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I obey your order and return to Klemenchug after dawn tomorrow."

"Comrade Sokov, don't leave in a hurry." Shumilov also asked to keep Sokov: "After our army has established a landing field on the right bank, there are still many places that need your help. Since you are here, how about we Use this opportunity to have a good discussion on the coordinated operations of the two forces."