Chapter 1160

"Comrade deputy commander, you are so optimistic." "Don't you see the weakness of the belay tank unit?" said bzikov

"Weakness, what weakness?" Danilov said blankly, "I think it's a good fight like them. The German troops attacked by them can't stop their assault without the cover of planes and artillery."

Bezikov grabbed the map on the table, took it in his hand, went up to Danilov, pointed at it and said to him, "Comrade deputy commander, you see, Colonel bere's troops can only operate in the defensive area of the group army. If they cross Yakovlev to the south, they will be unable to replenish fuel and ammunition, And was killed by German aircraft and artillery like a target. "

Danilov took the map from bezikov's hand, looked at it several times, shrunk his mouth, and said: "I thought that as long as we organize more such tank units, we can greatly weaken the strength of the German army. I didn't expect that we would still be restricted by logistics. It's a great joy."

"Comrade deputy commander, you can't say that." Seeing Danilov's dejected face, I quickly picked up a telegram that I had just received and put it into his hand. At the same time, I comforted him and said, "from the situation of daytime reconnaissance, the German army originally planned to transfer the 19th armored division and another infantry division to prokholovka, but after being attacked by Colonel berey, the German army stopped moving, It's still in place. "

Danilov, listening to me, picked up the telegram, scanned the contents carefully and quickly twice, then breathed a sigh of relief and said, "in any case, Colonel berey, their action was very successful. At least some of the German forces were restrained, so that they could not concentrate their superior forces to attack a certain point in our defensive zone. "

"At present, the German army has not gained any advantage in our defense area and has paid a great price." I said bitterly: "but they have succeeded in breaking up our defense line, putting the three guards in the first line of defense into a situation of fighting on their own, disrupting our original plan. At present, these three divisions can only reluctantly protect themselves, but can not launch an effective attack on the German army. "

"What shall we do?" "If we don't change the status quo as soon as possible, even if we start a major counterattack, it is estimated that the three close guard divisions in front of us, like the 62nd group army in Stalingrad's wartime defense, will only be able to stick to the existing positions and rely on tenacious defense to consume the enemy's effective strength," bezikov asked briefly

"Comrade deputy commander," after hearing bzikov's question, I turned to Danilov and asked him modestly, "do you have any good idea?"

Danilov put the map in his hand on the table, shook his head and said in an affected deep voice, "it's very difficult to put all our strength together. Unless... "

"Except for what?" When Danilov wanted to show off, don't zikov yelled, "Comrade deputy commander, you can say whatever you think. Don't make us feel like this, OK?"

"Come and see," Danilov called us to the table, pointed to the map and said to us, "Why are our three most advanced close guard divisions now in the situation of fighting on their own? It is because the troops are too weak that they are separated by the superior German forces."

"Comrade deputy commander," kirilov, who was writing the report, put down his pen, looked into his head and asked tentatively, "if I am not mistaken, what you mean is that we should send living forces to strengthen these forces, strengthen their existing strength and restore all the positions lost in the first line of defense. Right? "

After listening to kirilov's analysis, I immediately turned to Danilov to see his reaction. Unexpectedly, he nodded his head and said, "yes, comrade military commissar, you are right. That's what I mean." He turned to look at me and said, "Comrade commander, I still don't understand that you have a complete guard division in your hand, but why don't you put them into the battlefield?"

"Now it's just the primary stage of the campaign. We'll put all our forces in. When we get to the later stage, we still have mobile forces that can be used?" What I didn't tell them is that in a few days, the Soviet army will launch a comprehensive counter offensive. I don't want to put the main force of the counterattack on the position to fight a war of attrition with the German army. Sometimes I know something that others don't know, but I can't say it. It's very uncomfortable.

After I finished, Danilov gave a scornful smile, and then asked in a sarcastic tone, "Comrade commander, may I ask you when we can use the mobile forces you said?"

I thought about it, then I pointed out a finger to Danilov and said, "a week, a week later, no matter what the situation is on the battlefield, I will put all the guards who have not been used into the battle."

"Well, since you say so, I believe you." Danilov said reluctantly: "during this period of time, I will fully cooperate with you to prevent the German army from further deepening our defense."

We were talking when lophoff, who was standing by a telephone, called me: "Comrade commander, you have a call."

I stopped talking to Danilov, went over to take the call from the major, and casually asked, "do you know who's calling?"

Lophov nodded and said with certainty: "it's the phone call from tank lieutenant general rotmistrov, commander of the fifth group army of the close guard tank. He said that he has something important to discuss with you."

When I heard the name of rotmistrov, I guessed that it would have something to do with the decisive battle of the tank. I quickly put the earphone to my ear and politely said, "Hello, general rotmistrov. I'm oshanina. Do you have any instructions?"

"Comrade oshanina, how dare I give you any instructions? You know, we all have the same rank. I'm calling you today to ask for your help. "

"If you have anything, please tell me, Comrade General."

"Well, according to our reconnaissance, the German forces of the Hitler division, the imperial division and the skull division are gathering in the Prokhorovka area, and seem to be preparing for a large-scale tank battle with us." "Although we have more tanks than them, it doesn't matter if we have a large-scale tank war with the German army because the tankers are not proficient in the control of the new tanks," he said

"Comrade General, you can say whatever you want." When I heard that he had been circling around for a long time without talking about business, I interrupted him and said to him directly, "as long as I can help you, I will not refuse."

"Really? That's great. " Rotmistrov didn't expect that I offered to help him when I didn't know what he was going to say. He became excited immediately: "Comrade oshanina, my request is very simple. When our army and the German army launch a large-scale tank war, you can send a team to attack and harass the German camp where fuel and ammunition are stored. As long as the German logistics is cut off, no matter how many tanks they have, we will destroy them all in the end. "

"Do you know the exact location of the German stockpile of fuel and ammunition?" I can't wait to ask, because once we know the location of the German warehouse, our air force can make them suffer a lot even if the tanks can't kill them. But first of all, we have to find out where the German warehouse is before we can take the next step.

"I'm sorry, comrade oshanina." Rotmistrov said apologetically: "although we have sent people to carry out reconnaissance, we have never been able to find the enemy's warehouse. So I can only ask you to provide us with the necessary help to harass the enemy's rear so that they can not concentrate all their forces to launch a comprehensive attack on the prokholovka area. "

After listening to him, I said solemnly, "well, comrade general, since you have made such a request, as your friend, I will certainly help you as much as I can."

After putting down the phone, I pointed to Danilov and bezikov and said, "lieutenant general rotmistrov said on the phone that they may launch a large-scale tank battle with the German army in the near future and need our assistance."

"But, comrade commander." Before I finished, Danilov interrupted me and said to himself, "the number of tanks we have is limited. It's almost impossible to support general rotmistrov on the battlefield."

"Comrade deputy commander, how can you say that?" As soon as his words were finished, bzikov glared back at him and said, "since general rotmistrov is our friend, how can we stand by while they are fighting with the German army? Even if the number of tanks is limited, we have to find a way to put together a tank force to reinforce them. "

"Deputy commander, chief of staff, stop arguing." I saw that the two men had signs of quarreling, and quickly stopped them, saying: "general rotmistrov did not ask us to send tanks to fight with him, but hoped that when the tank war between them and the German army began, we would send troops to harass the oil depot and ammunition depot in the rear of the German army, so that there was no fuel in the tank and no shells in the bore of the German army's tanks, Then they can easily take out all the German armored forces. "

"So what should we do?" Danilov and bezikov asked in unison.

Seeing the rare tacit understanding between the two men, I couldn't help laughing and then said: "for the German warehouse for storing fuel and ammunition, whether we send tank troops to attack, or plane bombing and artillery bombardment in the future, the primary task at present is to find the specific location of the enemy warehouse. Otherwise, where can we find such a wide area? "

"Yes, comrade commander, you are right." He grabbed the phone on the desk, turned to me before dialing and said, "I'm going to call captain travkin over and ask him to take people to carry out this task himself."

Among many of my subordinates, Captain travkin is a person I value very much. I like to entrust him with many important reconnaissance tasks because I believe he has the ability to complete them. However, his performance was outstanding. He never failed to live up to my trust and successfully completed the task I assigned him every time.

When he stood upright in front of me, I repeated general rotmistrov's request, and then asked him, "Comrade captain, I'll give you the task of looking for the enemy's warehouse. But time is very tight. I can only give you two days. That is to say, you must finish the task before 0:00 on July 11. Can you do it? " After listening to my command, travkin frowned. After thinking for a long time, he nodded his head and replied firmly: "Comrade commander, please rest assured that I will complete the task you gave me within the specified time." Travkin's answer made me feel at ease. Since he said that he could do it, I believe that he would certainly accomplish the task. I said to him with a smile, "since there is no problem, comrade captain, you should go back and make preparations. Bring two more radio stations to get in touch with the headquarters at any time. Remember, it's very important for us to get information back even one minute earlier. Do you understand? "“ Understand After a loud promise, travkin saluted me and turned out of the headquarters. After travkin left, Danilov asked curiously, "Comrade commander, how can we destroy the enemy's warehouse after we find it?"“ Comrade deputy commander, it's very simple. There are two ways. " I held out two fingers to him and said, "first, let Colonel berey's tank unit sneak into the enemy's warehouse at night and destroy it with tank fire. The second way is to let bofsky's artillery cover with rockets according to the coordinates provided by Captain travkin. I don't believe that the German warehouse can survive under such artillery attack. "“ It's good, it's good in both ways. " After hearing this, Danilov nodded in excitement and said, "if the German warehouse is not guarded by heavy troops, we will send tank units to sneak attack; If the defense is tight, use rockets for long-range attack. I don't believe that even if the enemy's heavy troops can block our ground attack, can they still block the rocket shells falling from the sky? "