Chapter 916

After determining the troops to serve as the flank cover, in order to avoid long night dreams, I ordered gurdyev to lead his troops that night to move to the northeast of the airport, find suitable areas and build necessary fortifications.

Although the main force of the group army did not launch an attack on zaborosh until the 19th, in order to check the construction of the 308th division's defensive positions, I decided to go and see for myself rather than stay in my own army headquarters and listen to boring reports. That's not my style. So at noon the next day, I took Yushchenko and the special guard company and rushed to the temporary defensive zone of the 308th division.

Learning of my arrival, gurtyev came out of his tent with a group of commanders to meet him. After shaking hands with him, I looked at the tents behind him. These dark green military tents are particularly dazzling in the boundless snow. I couldn't help but snort. Then I asked angrily, "general gurdyev, why don't you set up the headquarters in the semi underground hidden department according to the regulations?"

In the face of my reproach, gurdyev laughed two times, and then replied awkwardly: "Comrade commander, the 25th army of tanks will cooperate with our infantry to attack tomorrow. Look at the vast plain of Ukraine, which is very suitable for the assault of tank troops."

"Yes, I've known for a long time that the plains here are suitable for armored assault operations." Although I didn't understand the reason why he said that, I followed his words and then asked, "but what does this have to do with your failure to establish a headquarters according to the regulations?"

"Well, comrade commander." Seeing that I was still aggressive, gurdyev's face turned red. He tried his best to explain: "I think the enemy is vulnerable under the strong attack of our army. Maybe it will only take two or three hours for our troops to rush into zaborosh. Since the fighting time will not last too long, I don't think it is necessary to build a semi underground concealment department at all. "

"General gurdyev," I heard his overconfident reply. Suddenly, I felt an unnamed anger and raised my voice. "Is it because you think our troops can attack the city in two or three hours, so you didn't let them build fortifications according to the regulations? In that case, why is it necessary to put your division here to defend the flanks of the friendly forces? "

"But, comrade commander..." gurtyev wanted to explain something, but I interrupted him impolitely. I said with a straight face, "general gurdyev, tomorrow on the plain ahead, our army will launch an attack on the German army. Don't say that the battle will take two or three hours or even longer. Even if the whole battle is only two or three minutes, you have to repair the fortifications for me according to the regulations. Do you understand? "

"I see, comrade commander." Seeing that I was angry, gurdyev knew that it would be no good not to build the shelter of the headquarters according to the regulations. He quickly promised, "I will immediately arrange people to build the semi underground shelter, and strive to complete it before dark."

Seeing gurdyev's initiative to be soft, I was no longer aggressive, but slowed down and said, "Comrade General, where is your defense line? Take me to have a look. I hope the field fortifications of your division were built in accordance with the regulations. "

Gurdyev left his political commissar and staff behind to build a new division headquarters. He took me to the front to check the construction of the position.

Although gurdyev's division headquarters was very convenient, only a few tents were set up in an open area, the positions built by the two regiments in the front of the division were in order. A regiment's position is built according to the mountain. In addition to the trenches and trenches, there are also many shelters and civil fire points. The regiment headquarters built according to the regulations is located on the reverse slope of the hill. Even if the front position is heavily shelled by the German army, it can ensure the normal operation of the command system here.

The other regiment was further north. They dug several long trenches on the broad plain and connected them with traffic trenches. And when I stood at a high place, I could see that the commanders and fighters in the position were not idle. They were still digging shelters and building firepower points.

When I saw this scene, I nodded with satisfaction and said to gurdyev: "Comrade General, the two regiments in the front of your division have done very good work. Even if the German army attacks our defensive zone, we believe our commanders and fighters can stop them. "

Gurdyev nodded and then said to me, "Comrade commander, the defense positions of the friendly forces are not far from us, less than five kilometers away. Do you want to have a look?"

"Where is it?" I heard that I could see the friendly defense zone on this hill, which aroused my curiosity. So I urged gurtyev to say, "Comrade General, take me to see it quickly."

Gurdyev led the way and led us along the long trench. After walking for a while, he pointed to a crude bunker on the hill and said to me, "Comrade commander, that's our observation post, where you can see the situation of friendly positions."

When we entered the observation post, the two soldiers who were observing the battlefield turned their heads and saw a group of commanders coming in. They stood up straight and saluted us. Gurtyev waved his head, and they immediately walked into the observation post with deep understanding.

I came to the retractable mirror in front of the observation port, leaned down and looked out towards the lens. Soon saw a lot of trucks parked in the wide plain, thousands of officers and men are digging several long trenches, it seems that they intend to use here as their starting position for attack.

I looked at it for a while, straightened up and asked gurdyev, "Comrade General, which friendly army is building fortifications?"

For my question, gurtyev shook his head and replied awkwardly: "Comrade commander, I haven't sent someone to contact them, so I can't find out the number of the opposite party. But one thing is clear. They are definitely one of the main forces of the sixth group army. "

When I heard him say that, I couldn't help chuckling. I said in my heart that what you said is not nonsense? Since we have been ordered by the headquarters of the group army to cover the flanks of the friendly forces, the troops directly ahead must belong to the sixth group army. The idea of sending someone to contact me just flashed through my mind and then I left it behind. Because I think from the current situation, our army will not stay in the 6th group army for a long time, so there is no need to deal with these friendly forces, lest those division commanders will think that I want to fight for the command of the army.

By the time I left the 308th division, the semi underground shelter for the division headquarters had been basically completed. I pointed to the shelter department and said to gurdyev sincerely: "Comrade General, no matter how long the battle will be tomorrow, we must first ensure the safety of your headquarters, so that the army will not be in chaos due to the paralysis of the command system."

"I see, comrade commander." Obviously, gurdyev also realized that he had made a mistake because he was lazy for a while. He quickly assured me that "in the future, no matter what scale of fighting, I will build fortifications according to the regulations to ensure the safety of the division headquarters."

I nodded, waved to him, boarded the waiting jeep with Captain Yushchenko, and returned to the army headquarters at the airport with a truck full of soldiers from the guard company.

When I entered the command post in the special plane, kirilov met me and asked with concern, "Comrade oshanina, what's the situation with general gurdyev?"

"Not bad, comrade political commissar." Although I had just fired at gurtyev because the division headquarters didn't meet the regulations, I said in a light tone in front of kirilov: "the two regiments of the 308th division in the front line built good fortifications, which should be able to withstand the German attack."

"Need more reinforcements for them?" It was wittkov, the chief of staff, who just arrived last night, who asked, "they don't seem to have any heavy weapons. Except for simple defense, they don't have the ability to attack the German army."

After thinking about it, I nodded my head and agreed. At the same time, I told wittkov, "Comrade Colonel, please bring Colonel bere here. I want to ask about the situation of the tank brigade."

"OK, I'll call him right away." Witkov finished, and went to the position of the telephone.

After a few minutes, Colonel berey appeared at the headquarters. After he raised his hand to salute us, he asked respectfully, "Comrade commander, please come to me. Do you have any instructions?"

"Sit down first, comrade Colonel!" After I asked him to sit down, I asked frankly, "how many tanks do you have in your tank brigade?"

When he heard my question, bielei immediately stood up and answered in a loud voice: "report to the commander, after this period of fighting, there are still 47 tanks left in the brigade. Ten of them broke down and couldn't move. We had to put them in the north of the airport as a fixed fort. "

"Comrade Colonel, we will leave the ten tanks that are out of order and continue to use them as fixed batteries." I don't know what scale of battle will take place on the open plain tomorrow. Just in case, I decided to transfer Colonel berey's tank brigade to be a reserve team, so that I could cope with any accident.

The attack on the German army began at 9 a.m. Due to the recent supply difficulties of the southwest front army, the artillery preparation before the attack was cancelled. Nearly a hundred tanks of the 25th tank army formed a five way column and came in a mighty way from behind the friendly defensive positions.

Gurdyev and I were standing in the observation post. When we saw our armored forces advancing toward the southwest, we could not help but feel our blood boiling. Guldyev said excitedly: "Comrade commander, look at our armored forces. With their momentum, they can't be resisted by the German men who were beaten by us."

With these words, he leaned down, put his eyes close to the lens of the gun mirror, and said triumphantly: "our armored forces have begun to attack. Let me see what kind of reaction the German guys have..." he stopped at the middle of his words.

I saw the twitching expression on his face, and I couldn't help asking strangely, "Comrade General, what's the matter with you? What do you see in the camera?"

Seeing that he didn't reply, I couldn't help being anonymous again, so I pushed him away and put my eyes close to the lens to look inside. At that time, I was shocked in a cold sweat. High dust also appeared from the southwest. German tanks also used five way columns to rush towards our positions. Although there were not as many as our tanks, there were at least 70 or 80 of them. Behind the tank array, there is a team of motorcycles and armored vehicles, followed by black infantry.

We are just in the middle of the two troops. Looking at the two approaching armored forces, my heart goes up to my throat. I asked myself in my heart: Although the number of German tanks is less than ours, how many tanks will be left when our troops rush to zaborosh? Thinking of this, I immediately went to the middle of the room, picked up the phone from my desk and dialed Colonel berey's brigade headquarters. As soon as I heard his voice, I immediately said, "Comrade Colonel, I order you to take your tank brigade to the defense area of the 308th division. You are needed here."“ Yes "Don't worry, commander. I'll lead the troops there right away," said Colonel berey in a loud voice on the phone When I put down the phone and came back to look in front of the mouth, I found that the tanks on both sides were less than two kilometers apart. Instead of grabbing the observation mirror with gurdyev, I directly raised my telescope to check the situation on the battlefield. Five of our tanks, which were in front of us, slowed down. Then there was a burst of gunfire, and they flew directly towards the German tank line. I quickly turned my telescope around and looked at the German tank array. Except for one shell that missed and landed on the ground and exploded, the remaining four shells hit the German tank accurately. Seeing the smoke of gunpowder rising from the German tank body, I applauded in my heart. At the same time, I heard gurtyev also yell: "great, our tankers are great, five shots and four hits. Let these damned Germans go to hell." But we seemed to be happy too early. When the smoke of the gunfire cleared away, the four German tanks still drove forward at the same speed. Just when I was surprised, the German tanks stopped for a short time, and then their bodies were shocked, and the tank shells roared towards our tank array.