Chapter 1218

Since only one third of major general berey's tank troops took part in the battle, the two attacks on the forest areas failed to achieve ideal results. It seems that there are quite a number of forty or fifty tanks placed together. Once they are scattered to the front of the attack, which is four or five kilometers wide, they will be a little insignificant.

Moreover, during the one hour long shelling, the German fortifications built inside and outside the forest were rarely directly destroyed. Even if most of the fortifications are seriously damaged, as soon as our soldiers enter the effective range, these fortifications will come back to life, causing us great casualties.

After reading the battle report of Colonel babahin, the commander of the 71st division of the guards, I threw it on the table. After turning around the table full of people for two times, I stopped and asked, "commanders, the two attacks launched by the 71st division of the guards against the forest area under the cover of the tank brigade have ended in failure. Please tell me your views."

The answer is silence.

I waited patiently for a while. Seeing no one spoke, I sighed in my heart. I went to the wall, looked at the huge map above, and quietly thought about how to adjust the attack tactics so as to drive the German troops out of the forest area as soon as possible.

"Comrade commander," I was suddenly called by someone behind me. I quickly turned to look. Managarov got up from his seat, picked up the war report on the table, and said, "I think although we failed in two attacks, the German troops in the forest were almost consumed. As long as we launch another attack, the enemy's defense line will collapse. "

I didn't say anything about managarov's suggestion of no nutrition, but shrunk my mouth. Chisgakov, who was sitting in front of me, saw my little action and quickly stood up and said, "Comrade commander, it is absolutely necessary to launch a new attack. But before attacking, we must first study the reasons for the failure of the previous two attacks, otherwise even if we launch a new attack, we will also fail. "

"Comrade deputy commander, please go on." As soon as he finished, I politely said, "what do you think?"

After thinking for a moment, chisgakov frowned and said, "the main reason why our two attacks failed was that the early artillery preparation was not enough and the German fortifications were not completely destroyed. Secondly, the number of tanks is insufficient to provide sufficient artillery support for infantry when attacking... "

"General chisgakov." Before he finished, managarov retorted: "when we attacked Belgorod, the infantry were not supported by tanks. The tanks were blocked by the German anti tank trench. Even so, we managed to break through the German defense from the north and rush into the city. "

Hearing what managarov said, I gave a faint smile and said to myself: if my troops had not taken the lead in attacking the city to contain the German forces, plus the close guard seventh group army, you would not have been so easy to break through the German defense. Although my heart was filled with disdain for his statement, the apparent politeness still had to be maintained. I tried to say in a smooth tone: "general managarov, there is an open area from jergach to the forest area, which is three kilometers long and five or six kilometers wide. When our troops attack, they are almost within the coverage of German firepower. If there are not enough tanks to provide cover, our infantry will not only be killed by German artillery, but also suffer heavy casualties under German light fire. "

With these words, I turned my eyes to the silent bielei and asked with a slight dissatisfaction: "general bielei, when will the remaining tanks of the tank army arrive?"

Belay quickly got up from his seat and said with a look of shame: "Comrade commander, although I have ordered the remaining tanks to speed up, because the roads are damaged, the troops can only cut down trees and pave the roads while they are advancing, so they are very slow."

"Comrade commander, what general berey said is completely accurate after my understanding." Then came the chief of staff, Mr. bezikov, who took a look at Mr. berey and continued to defend him: "the road was damaged because our 100000 troops rushed to jergach. The roads here are already poor, and there are hundreds of vehicles of all kinds passing through, which makes the road condition worse. I went to see it in the afternoon. In many places, except for infantry, vehicles can't move forward at all. "

Bezikov's introduction made the commanders in this room suddenly realize that it's no wonder that the tank troops can't reach the designated position for a long time. It turns out that it's all caused by this damn road.

"Even if the tanks can't get to the designated position on time, our attack must continue, and we can't give the Germans a breathing space." After I got to know the truth, I didn't blame bielei, but continued to ask the commanders here, "do you have any good ideas?"

"Comrade commander, I have a good idea. May I talk about it?" Povsky, who had been ignored by me, suddenly stood up and said cautiously.

"Go ahead, comrade povsky." Although I don't spend too much time with him, I know clearly that if he doesn't speak, he will be able to get to the point.

"Since there are not enough tanks to cover the infantry attack, we will strengthen the artillery fire to suppress the German firepower." After povsky expressed his opinion, he saw that everyone looked at him blankly, and then went on to say: "we can concentrate our artillery in one place, aim at a certain defensive zone of the German army, carry out heavy shelling, and destroy as many defensive works of the German army as possible. When the shelling is over, concentrate all the tanks and guide the infantry to attack the area. As long as we tear a hole in the German defense, they will collapse as a whole. "

"Yes, comrade artillery commander, your proposal is very good." As soon as he had finished his speech, chisjakov even praised it. At the same time, he raised his head and said to me, "Comrade commander, I think we should adopt general povsky's proposal to concentrate all the artillery and tanks to attack a certain point of the German defense line. I believe that no German army can resist our fierce attack. "

After listening to what he said, I did not immediately express my opinion, but simply asked, "when can our attack be launched again?"

After povsky and bere looked at each other, povsky replied, "Comrade commander, because we need to rebuild a new artillery position, I think the attack can start in an hour at the earliest."

"Another hour?" After listening to this, managarov said somewhat unwillingly: "after the artillery entered the position, they would bombard for about half an hour, so it would be dark before the attack began. I don't think our troops can achieve any ideal results in the forest after dark. "

The speaker has no intention, and the listener has intention. Managarov may be just a word of complaint, but it's another thing in my ears. Yes, night fighting is the most important test of the quality of the troops. When the two sides meet unexpectedly in the dark forest and almost bite each other, the casualties caused by the instant exchange of fire will be so tragic.

When our commanders and fighters are in the dark forest, they have no way or time to identify the situation a few steps away. At most, they can only judge the number of opponents and the position of the next step by the shadow of the initial firefight. Especially when the enemy and ourselves are fighting together, we can only judge whether the shaking shadows that are a little far away from us are enemies or friends by our own feelings, or by the combat experience accumulated in years of fighting.

When I expressed my concern, the headquarters was silent again. We all know that even if we walk into the forest during the day, people's vision will be affected, not to mention the dark night? And even if we keep firing flares into the air, we can't make our commanders and fighters see more clearly.

Major general volgeng stood up from his seat as he saw that the plan of the night's attack was about to come to an end. Looking at me, he said, "Comrade commander, please allow me to talk about my views."

I looked at the chief of staff of the 53rd army, nodded with a smile and said, "please go ahead, comrade chief of staff. Since at noon, you can see that I ignored the loophole of cutting off the German transport line in my offensive deployment. Well, I believe the suggestions you put forward now must be very constructive. "

After I finished, volgeng expressed his own suggestion flatly: "Comrade commander, since it is a night battle, not only our troops have the problems you are worried about, but the Germans are also facing the same problems. So we may be able to achieve unexpected results by attacking all night. "

"General volgeng." "You may forget to consider that in such a night battle, it's easy to be injured by mistake due to misjudgment," chisjakov retorted At this point, he stopped for a moment, gave me a meaningful look, and then said, "our commander comrades, in the past, when commanding the troops to carry out night attacks, had repeatedly used the favorable opportunity of limited German vision to let the enemy kill each other in the dark. The enemy in the forest is one of the most elite troops in the German army. Maybe they will use the same tactics against us... "

What chisgakov said made volgeng shut up. He should know in his heart that what chisjakov said is not nonsense, and it is possible that it will become true in tonight's battle. When the headquarters fell silent again, everyone focused on me, as if waiting for me to make the final decision.

At this moment, the telephone rang on the wall, which attracted everyone's attention. I thought silently in my heart: I don't know who is calling? If the call comes from the headquarters of the front army, maybe they will inquire about the fighting situation here, so I can ask for their opinions and see what they say.

Lophoff, who was sitting by the phone, picked up the earphone. After listening for a moment, he stood up, covered the phone, reached out to me and said, "Comrade commander, it's commander watujing."

When vatukin heard my voice, he immediately asked with a smile, "Comrade oshanina, what's the situation there? After seizing jergach, they didn't drive the Germans out of the forest together? "

Although he said it lightly, I was shocked in a cold sweat after listening to it. I guess he asked. It's very likely that Zhukov wants to know when we will officially attack Kharkov. After taking two deep breaths, I replied respectfully, "Comrade General, we have launched two successive attacks on the forest areas. But unfortunately, it all ended in failure. At present, we are discussing whether we should continue to attack... "

"Why discuss it, comrade oshanina." Vatukin's voice suddenly became severe. "You should attack the enemy all the time, and don't give them any breathing room."“ But, Comrade General. " I said with some embarrassment: "it will be dark soon. The troops will encounter many difficulties when fighting in the dark forest..." "what difficulties will they encounter?" Without waiting for me to finish, watujing impolitely interrupted me, "can't you just worry that the forest is too dark and you can't tell the enemy from us in the scuffle? Don't forget that many trees in the forest will burn up as soon as a fight starts, and many parts of the forest will be illuminated like day. Do you still have to worry that you can't tell the enemy from the enemy? " Watujing's words made my mind suddenly clear. Yes, I didn't expect that the trees would burn after being shelled. As long as there are burning trees everywhere in the forest, do I have to worry that I can't tell the enemy from me in the night? So I quickly said: "understand, comrade general, I'm going to arrange the troops to fight the German army in the forest at night."“ That's right, comrade oshanina When I said this, vatukin's voice softened again. "Once you drive the Germans out of the forest, report to me immediately. Do you understand? "“ I see, Comrade General. " After I put down the phone, I went back to the table and announced loudly to the commanders on the scene, "comrades, I have decided to launch an attack on the German troops in the forest overnight and drive them away before dawn."“ However, comrade commander, how can we solve the problem of lighting? " Seeing that my attitude was changing so fast, chisjakov was a little puzzled and asked, "even if we keep firing flares in the air, it's hard for our commanders and fighters to quickly distinguish ourselves from the enemy in the dark forest?"“ Don't worry, comrade deputy commander. " As for his doubts, I explained with a smile: "after being shelled, many trees in the forest will burn. Then our commanders and fighters will be able to fight with the enemy in the forest under the light of these fires." Chisgakov listened to me, nodded and said with relief, "that's good, that's good, so that our attack can continue." I don't think you have any more objections, so we began to arrange the task: "general povsky, adjust the artillery position immediately, and prepare to carry out intensive shelling on the German position; Commander berey, gather the existing tanks and attack the enemy's positions as soon as the shelling is over. " After giving orders to the two men, I told bzikov, "chief of staff, call Colonel babashin and let him prepare for another attack."