Chapter 972

"What about the tank brigade?" After waiting for bantaileiev to finish, wittkov asked coldly, "Comrade General, where are you going to deploy the 22nd brigade of the tank?"

Hearing wittkov's question, bandeleev quickly turned to him and replied, "chief of staff, I sent them along highway H01 towards Kiev. If we find that the enemy's defense along the way is slack, we will find the right fighter to fight."

"What, you let the tank brigade move towards Kiev?" When witkov heard this, he was a little worried: "general bantailiev, you are just making a fool of yourself. The 22nd tank brigade is said to be a brigade, but they only have six tanks, and there are about 200 tank soldiers without tanks. With such strength, you will let them rush to Kiev? This is for them to die. " Speaking of the excitement, vetkov could not help clapping the table.

When I saw witkov's anger, bantaileiev's face was always smiling, so I guessed that he had his intention to do so. As soon as wittkov's voice dropped, I came out to make a round: "Comrade chief of staff, don't get angry first, let's listen to Comrade Bantai leiev's words." Then he made a sign to Bantai leiev to tell him what he really thought.

Bandeleev took out the map, spread it out in front of us, pointed to the position marked with the red arrow on it, and said, "please see, from smira north to Kiev, except obukeshiv is a big city, the rest are small towns, so the enemy's garrison must be very limited, With the strength of the tank brigade, these enemies can be easily solved. " Maybe it was to reassure us. At the end of the day, he looked up at Vitkov and explained, "chief of staff, you don't know that the tank brigade has a lot of troops. Besides six tanks, there are more than 800 infantry, most of them are guerrillas under captain shamrih. They are very familiar with the terrain because of their long-term activities in this area, In addition, they have just been changed and their combat effectiveness has been greatly improved. "

After listening to bantailiev's explanation, wittkov looked at the map again, and then said: "although it's a bit risky, on the whole, your deployment is quite good. If the tank brigade can successfully eliminate the German troops in the towns along the way and create the situation that we are about to attack Kiev, it will disrupt the overall deployment of the German forces. "

At this time, kirilov, who had been acting as a bystander, turned to me and suggested, "Rita, do you think we should send a telegram to the headquarters of the front army about the movement of our army?"

To tell you the truth, since our army was incorporated into the sixth group army of the southwest front army, I have never met the commanders of the two command organizations, the front army and the group army. Because I was afraid that if I acted according to their command, I would die in the end, so I was almost alone. Not only did I not ask for instructions before taking action, but I would resolutely refuse orders from my superiors as long as I felt they were unreasonable.

In the past, it could also be used as a reason for confidentiality. Instead of sending a telegram for instructions before the operation, it could only report the results after the battle. At present, my troops are only more than 100 kilometers away from Kiev. It seems that there is still a great chance of seizing the city. If such an important matter is not reported, no one will be able to protect me when I am sent to the military court.

Thinking of this, I told wittkov: "chief of staff, immediately draw up a telegram to report to the headquarters of the front army, saying that we have successfully occupied smira, and that some troops have gone out to the vicinity of obukeshiv, asking them to direct our next action." After witkov put his notebook on his knee and sorted out a telegram according to my meaning, he added, "send another telegram to Marshal Zhukov."

After listening to this, wittkov was stunned. Then he gave a loud promise and tore the page off the notebook. He got up and went to the telephone and handed it to razumeyeva, who was on standby.

While witkov was supervising razumeyeva's report, bantailiev asked quietly: "Comrade commander, if we don't report to our superiors, once we find that the battlefield situation is unfavorable to us, we can cross the Dnieper River from cherkaser or kaniv and retreat to Moscow. If we report it to the higher authorities, I think it is very likely that they will let us attack Kiev... "

"Yes, general bandeleev." Before he finished speaking, I interrupted his later words, "your analysis is very correct. After receiving our telegram, general watujing will report to the higher authorities immediately; After receiving the telegram, Marshal Zhukov will report directly to the Supreme Commander himself. As long as you can understand the importance of Kiev, you can imagine that the last instruction they got was to take back Kiev at all costs. "

"Comrade commander, the scouts sent to Kiev have not yet sent back the information." Wittkov came over and said anxiously, "even if we receive orders from our superiors to recover Kiev, we can't make a plan to attack Kiev without knowing the enemy's deployment."

"Wait a little longer, chief of staff." I said with disapproval: "even if the superior really gives the order to attack Kiev, we have to wait for our scouts to find out the deployment of the German forces. Moreover, if we want to capture Kiev, it is impossible to rely on such a light armed force as ours, which is not full and has no heavy weapons, without the cooperation of friendly forces and the support of the air force. "

Seeing that wittkov seemed to continue to ask, I raised my hand to stop him and told him directly: "chief of staff, please contact the deputy chief of the army immediately and ask if they have taken cherkaser. And where are the troops from kilovgrad and Alexandria now? "

"Kiev, Kiev." Kirilov repeated the place twice and said, "if I remember correctly, when Marshal Zhukov was still the chief of the general staff, he was transferred to the reserve commander because he proposed to the Supreme Commander himself to give up Kiev. This shows how important Kiev is in the eyes of the supreme commander. What I am worried about is that once the higher authorities give us the order to recover Kiev, and we are unable to complete this task, will it bring serious consequences? "

As soon as kirilov's words came out, the air in the tent seemed to solidify. There was no sound except the ticking of razumeyeva's message. We all began to think about this serious problem raised by the political commissar. Once we receive the attack order from the higher authorities, and we are unable to complete the task in the end, what kind of fate will be waiting for us.

Seeing the solemn expression on everyone's face, I coughed quickly, turned around and asked leiev, "I said, comrade general, there's something I haven't had time to ask you, why can't your division's radio station contact you?"

My question immediately attracted everyone's attention. Seeing that we were all looking at ourselves, Bantai leiev blushed, then admitted his mistake to me and said, "I'm sorry, comrade commander. To prevent exposure, I ordered the division radio to remain silent. After the German bombing, I was busy checking the troops and residents hidden in the forest, and I forgot to cancel the order for a moment. "

"Nonsense, it's nonsense." Kirilov was the one who criticized Bantai leyev. "Do you know how worried the commanders were about your safety when we lost contact with your division. To this end, the commander also sent a large number of signalmen to the city at risk to find your whereabouts. Who knows, who knows... "At the end, kirilov was so angry that he couldn't speak, only the hand pointing at Bantai leiev kept shaking.

"Come on, comrade political commissar, stop talking about it." I stretched out my hand to pull kirilov's raised hand down, and then said, "general bantaileiev didn't do it on purpose either. He was also negligent for a moment. I believe he won't make this mistake again." After that, I turned to Bantai leiev and asked, "Comrade General, am I right?"

Bantai leiev wiped the sweat on his forehead and nodded to me again and again to admit his mistake: "yes, comrade commander, I will pay attention to it in the future. I will never make similar mistakes again."

"Well, there's nothing for you here. Go back to the army first." I don't want to get entangled in this matter any more, so that the communication officers in the division will not be punished at last, so I closed my eyes and let it go: "when I get back to the division, I will immediately send troops to the city to organize the residents, put out the fire and treat the wounded. You have to ask yourself about these things. Do you understand? " Then, without waiting for him to speak, I waved to him, "go!"

"Yes Bantaileiev agreed, raised his hand to salute us, looked at kirilov who turned his back because he was angry, turned, lifted the curtain and went out.

As soon as bantaileiev left, I could not persuade kirilov, so I turned and asked wittkov, "chief of staff, have you got in touch with general Romanov? Have they occupied the city? "

Wittkov nodded and said with certainty: "there are no German troops in the city. Only a few areas have sporadic resistance. The German troops at the ferry took a bad turn and drove all the ferries to the other side of the river. That is to say, our main force can't cross the river from here. "

"If there is no ferry, there will be no ferry. It's no big deal." The river here is too wide to have enough ferries. It will take us a long time to cross it with more than 10000 people and equipment“ I think the most suitable river crossing area is kaniv. Not only the river is narrow, but also the water flow is gentle, which is suitable for large troops to pass through. "

"The call back from comrades in chief and Deputy commander-in-chief has come." Just at this time, there was razumeyeva's voice: "I haven't received a reply from the headquarters of the front army yet."

When I picked up the telegram from Zhukov, it read: "at present, the main forces of the German army in Ukraine are being held down on the left bank of the Dnieper River by our Voronezh and southwest front forces, and the garrison in Kiev is limited. Your ministry should seize this favorable opportunity to launch a decisive attack on Kiev and strive to seize this important city in the shortest time. Make a good attack plan, report to us immediately, and I will arrange the ground troops and air force to give you enough support. "

Witkov stood beside me and watched Zhukov's reply with me. Then he said with some helplessness: "Comrade commander, it seems that your judgment is correct. The superior really gave us the order to seize Kiev. But with our present strength, can we accomplish this glorious and arduous task? "

Kirilov came over and asked for the telegram from my hand. After reading it, he looked up and said to Vitkov, "chief of staff, have confidence. In the past, when our independent division stuck to the mamayev post, the situation was no better than it is now. But with our tenacious defense, the enemy will never be able to occupy the highlands. "

The speaker did not mean it, and the listener meant it. Kirilov just wanted to cheer wittkov up. He took the brilliant deeds of the independent division as an example, but it made me suddenly think of a problem. In real history, mamayev post was a place repeatedly contested by both sides. Until the end of the campaign, the highland was still half occupied by both sides. However, with my appearance, history has shifted here, and the mamayev post has become an insurmountable gate for the German army. Since the history of the battle of Stalingrad has changed because of me, will the next attack on Kiev be another opportunity to change the historical track? Thinking of this, I interrupted kirilov, who was still cheering for vetkov, and said to himself, "political commissar and chief of staff, when it gets dark, our scouts should have already grasped the situation of the enemy near Kiev. At that time, we will call together the three division commanders and jointly make a plan for seizing Kiev." The expression on the two faces became relaxed again because of my words. I quickly asked wittkov, "chief of staff, how are the two regiments withdrawing to smira?"“ Commander Gaidar's fourth regiment, which has cleared the guerrillas of the harassing forces, is speeding towards us. At present, it's less than five kilometers away from here. In about an hour, we can meet. " At this point, he suddenly said with some embarrassment: "but the situation of withdrawing from Alexandria is not so good."“ What's the matter? " Listening to what he said, I asked nervously, "are they entangled by the enemy?"“ Yes, comrade commander, your judgment is very accurate. " Vetkov pulled the map up to me, pointed to znaankaduha on it and said, "here, their guards and German pursuers are on fire. At present, fierce fighting is going on. "