Chapter 989

The new headquarters is located on the first floor of the tallest LADA building. The spacious conference room is divided into two parts. It is usually the place where we command operations, while the other half is the place where communication equipment is placed. Maybe rebalko was worried that our communication situation would not be able to meet the requirements of commanding campaign cluster operations. He also brought two communication companies and supporting communication equipment.

As soon as we arrived at the headquarters, the division commanders called one after another, saying that the German remnant enemy had been eliminated in the area they occupied.

Hearing one good news after another, rebalko said with emotion: "Comrade commander, I didn't expect you to capture Kiev so soon. In my imagination, we can't conquer Kiev with solid fortifications in 10 days and a half months with only one tank group army, one infantry army and three infantry divisions. "

"Comrade deputy commander, everything is possible." Hearing that Kiev had been completely occupied by our army, kirilov was in a very good mood. He said to rebalko with a smile, "don't you see that our commanders and fighters are all wearing German uniforms? It is precisely because our attacking troops are all wearing the enemy's uniform that we are unprepared when the enemy is attacked, which greatly increases the probability of successful sneak attacks. "

After listening to kirilov's words, rebarko turned his eyes to me and said in an appreciative tone, "Comrade oshanina, tell me the truth. When I heard Marshal Zhukov put my tank army under your command, I was very unconvinced. I think that a woman can't command an infantry army at most. If she is allowed to command a campaign group, then the possibility of failure in this campaign will be very great. " At this point, he shrugged his shoulders, "but it turns out that I was wrong. I apologize for my doubts about you." Then he reached out to me.

When I held hands with him, I politely said, "general rebalko, your rank is higher than mine. It is reasonable to say that this battle cluster should be under your command. I am very happy to be your deputy..."

"Don't say that," rebarkolen said sincerely, waving his hands. "If I were in charge of this battle, our troops would not be able to resist Kiev, let alone liberate this enslaved city from the enemy for nearly two years."

"Well, two comrades in command," kirilov reminded us when he saw the mutual modesty between rebalko and me, "next, shall we discuss what to do after we capture the city?"

On hearing kirilov's warning, I called Pugachev over and told him, "major, send a telegram to Marshal Zhukov immediately, telling him that we have joined forces with general rebalko's troops and successfully captured Kiev."

As soon as Pugachev left, kirilov reminded me, "Rita, is it necessary to set up some air defense positions in the city to prevent the enemy's possible crazy bombing of Kiev?"

"Yes, the military commissar is right." As soon as kirilov finished speaking, rebalko continued: "we have no air supremacy. When the Germans know that we have captured Kiev, they will send planes to bomb. If we don't make preparations in advance, there will be heavy casualties."

"Kiev is too big. With our existing strength and equipment, we can't give consideration to all areas at all. Therefore, we can only set up air defense positions in important areas." It's an indisputable fact that the enemy's air force is stronger than ours, so the preparations must be made ahead of time. "In addition, there are 21 captured airplanes of various types at the airport in the north of the city. Unfortunately, there are no suitable pilots in our troops who can fly these airplanes, so we have to wait patiently for the arrival of the pilots sent by the marshal to us."

Speaking of this, Pugachev, who came back from the direction of the telephone, reported to me: "Comrade commander, the garrison of the airport called and said that the two transport planes from Moscow had landed smoothly. There were 30 pilots on board, led by an air force lieutenant commander, who came to accept the plane. At the moment, they are waiting for your order at the airport. "

When I heard that the pilots sent by Zhukov had arrived, I felt a lot more confident. As long as there were pilots, the planes parked at the airport could be used. We would not only be attacked by German bombs, but at least had the air counterattack ability. I quickly told Pugachev: "major, call the commander of the airport and ask him to take the pilot to receive the plane. It is necessary to be familiar with the performance of the aircraft as soon as possible, and be able to take off in time when an enemy aircraft is found. "

When rebalco heard that the pilot assigned to us was in place, he was very excited: "great, really great. As long as we have a plane, we won't get bombed on the ground. " Speaking of this, he looked dejected. "In yesterday's battle, if it wasn't for the heavy losses of our tanks caused by the indiscriminate bombardment of enemy planes, bruvalli might have been taken down in the daytime. When the tanks saw the words of Venus medal and" Soviet hero "in the telegram, my heart beat faster. My God, I won Kiev by chance, It gives me such a high honor. I was so excited that I didn't even know when kirilov took the telegram from me.

"Rita, please accept my congratulations to you and general rebalko for winning the Venus medal and the title of" Soviet hero. " Kirilov's excited voice awakened me from my meditation. Seeing his hand in front of me, I quickly reached for it and said thank you. After kirilov and rebalko shook hands and expressed their congratulations, I coughed, cleared my throat, and tried to say in a calm voice, "next, we'll wait for Manstein here, and we must let his troops meet under our Kiev City to break the blood flow."