Chapter 1275

In the following days, our whole group army did not take any military action, but built fortifications wantonly in the occupied areas, so as to prevent the Germans from jumping over the wall and carrying out possible counterattack against us.

Colonel shejerikov's 51st guard division is now stationed in smira and spola. Two days ago, after receiving my order, he evacuated the crowded spola. Except for the original residents, the rest moved to smira, where only troops were stationed.

The order I gave was approved by all the people in the headquarters. Kirilov was full of praise, and he said to me, "Rita, your order is correct. Spola is a small city with a population of more than 10000, but now it has increased to 80000 due to the German. It is estimated that many residents can only sleep on the streets. Now it's getting colder. If we don't arrange their accommodation as soon as possible, and wait for a few days, then two snows may freeze to death. "

Kirilov was praising me for evacuating the population, but he reminded me that the winter in Russia started in October. Now, several days have passed since October, and it may snow tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, but most of our commanders and fighters are still wearing thin summer uniforms.

Thinking of this, I immediately told bzikov: "chief of staff, please contact the Logistics Department of the front army as soon as possible, so that they can replenish our winter clothes as soon as possible. I don't want to see my troops have unnecessary non combat casualties because they don't have winter clothes. Do you understand? "

"I see, comrade commander." Bezikov replied respectfully, "I'll call the Logistics Department of the front army and ask about replenishing our winter clothes."

When bzikov went to make a phone call, my eyes were looking around the room, and I was surprised to find chisgakov sitting at the table, his eyes fixed on the floor of the table, a look of deep meditation. I went to him, sat down and asked in a low voice, "Comrade deputy commander, what are you thinking?"

When I asked him this, chisgakov immediately woke up in his meditation. He looked at me with a smile, and then said, "Comrade commander, I am considering when the troops of the front army will launch an official attack on Kiev."

His words aroused my curiosity. I looked at him with a smile and asked, "Comrade deputy commander, when do you think we will launch an attack on Kiev?"

"There's still one month left. It's October Festival." "According to our military tradition, the supreme command may take November 7 as the day to recover Kiev to celebrate our great festival," chisgakov said, staring at the map

"Yes, I think Comrade deputy commander's analysis is reasonable." Kirilov said: "in recent years, our army has won various victories in all battlefields of the country. So next, the liberation of Kiev will be a gift to celebrate the great October Festival

"The German army is gathering a lot of troops in Kiev to confront us." I only remember that Kiev was liberated after the end of the Kursk war in history. As for the specific time, I can't remember very clearly. So I can only say vaguely: "if we want to win this heavily guarded City, I think it will take at least half a month, that is to say, the time for the front army to launch an attack will not be later than October 23."

Having said that, I stopped and thought to myself: if the attack on Kiev is really to be launched on the 23rd, then the headquarters of the front army should call for a military meeting ten days before the launch of the campaign to deploy the combat tasks of each group army. But today is the 9th, but there is no movement. Is it my wrong judgment?

Before I could think of a reason, the telephone ring in front of us suddenly rang, which scared me. Just as I raised my hand to grab the microphone, chisgakov grabbed it first, stuck it to his ear and said aloud, "Hello, I'm chisgakov, deputy commander of the group army!"

Then I heard him saying, "yes!"“ I see! "“ OK, I'll follow your orders. I carefully observed his expression and saw that his face was full of eyebrows. Then I guessed that eight out of ten things had something to do with the attack on Kiev.

As soon as he put down the phone, I asked frankly, "Comrade deputy commander, is it a call from the headquarters of the front army telling us to go to the meeting?"

When I asked, chisjakov's smile froze on his face. He hesitated for a moment, and then asked politely, "Comrade commander, how did you guess?"

I laughed and didn't answer his question. Instead, I said to bzikov who came up to me: "Comrade chief of staff, I'll go to the headquarters of the front army for a meeting with the deputy commander and the military commissar later. I'll leave all the work here to you."

"Don't worry, comrade commander." Hearing my work arrangement, though a trace of displeasure flashed on his face, bezikov soon returned to normal. "The work here is up to me. You can go to the meeting safely."

After four hours on the road, our jeep finally arrived at priluki, the headquarters of the front army, in the evening. We passed through the air defense position composed of self-propelled anti-aircraft guns outside the city and entered the city. Although it has been a long time since I left the anti-aircraft artillery position, chisjakov, who was sitting next to me, kept looking back to see those self-propelled anti-aircraft guns in the distance.

"Comrade commander," chisjakov asked curiously, "do you think these antiaircraft guns outside the city can stop the enemy's planes?"

"That's for sure, comrade deputy commander." After glancing back in my rearview mirror, I said to chisgakov, "in the Kursk war, our group army once had a self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery regiment. As long as they are there, it's a nightmare for the enemy's aircraft. In every air defense operation, in the end, except for a few aircraft, the rest were shot down by intensive artillery fire. "

Because the Voronezh front army is strong and has a large organizational structure, there are as many as 40 or 50 commanders attending the meeting. After entering the conference room, the commanders of the army groups were divided into two rows and sat at the long conference table with tea cups.

Besides vatukin, Zhukov and vasilevsky presided over the meeting. After watujing's brief opening remarks, he began to get down to business. Major general korgenevich, chief of staff, pointed to the map and said to everyone: "according to the plan of the headquarters, our front army should seize liujieri landing site north of Kiev and buklin landing site south of Kiev. Then, the troops from priluki launched a strong attack on Kiev from three directions at the same time. "

During the narration of the chief of staff of the front army, I was acutely aware that there were some differences in the direction of the attack. For example, Zhukov advocated a breakthrough from liujieri landing site in the north to the south, which is his style. Stalin, on the other hand, believed that the assault direction of our front army should be close to konev's forces, so that the four front armies currently fighting in Ukraine could attack side by side. Therefore, he ordered our front army to gather the main forces and technical equipment at the buklin landing site and launch an attack on Kiev's defenders.

Major general korgenevich turned his eyes to my position at the end of the speech, and then said: "because of general oshanina's close guard, the sixth group army successfully occupied kaniv and cherkaser, which played a role in restraining the German army. Because of this, when we set up the liujieri landing site to the north of Kiev, the resistance we suffered was far less than our estimate, so we successfully set up the landing site to the north of Kiev at a minimal cost.

However, with the successful crossing of the river by the sixth group army, the buklin landing site in the South became insignificant. " At this point, korgenevich again picked up the explanation stick, went to the big map on the wall, pointed to it and said to us: "now our main forces can enter our attack starting position from the kanevdu river. Therefore, the headquarters of the front army has made a decision to let general Moskalenko's 40th group army hand over the existing defense area to general konev's troops, and then go northward as a whole. After passing through the defense area of the sixth group army of the close guard, they can enter the offensive position secretly. "

During the one hour long meeting, I heard that watujing had assigned tasks to the 27th army, the 40th army, the 47th army and the 3rd army of the close guard tank, but it seemed that he had forgotten us.

Chisgakov, who was sitting behind me, was a little uneasy. He leaned forward slightly, approached my ear and said in a low voice, "Comrade commander, what is the task of our group army?"

Under the gaze of Zhukov and vatujing, I didn't have the courage to go back and whisper to chisgakov. I could only shake my head gently to show that I didn't know.

Just then, I heard vatukin calling my order: "Comrade oshanina."

I quickly stood up from my seat, straightened up and said loudly, "here it is!"

"Do you know why I have assigned tasks to almost all the troops, but not to you?" watujing asked with a smile

"Sorry, comrade general, I don't know." I replied loudly

After looking at each other, vatukin and Zhukov, who were sitting next to him, turned to look at me and said with a smile, "at present, your close guard sixth group army controls the landing site in the south of Kiev. Our main forces will continue to drive to the other side of the river through you and get ready for all battles. Your task is not only to arrange the accommodation for these troops, but also to protect the landing site. "

"Protect the landing site?" I was stunned when I heard vatukin's question. I said to myself, can the Germans still spare their forces to attack our kaniv and cherkaser in the face of our powerful offensive? I muttered in a low voice: "our group army first crossed the Dnieper River and destroyed so many enemies. Now let's turn to passive defense. I'm afraid it will affect the morale of the troops."

Zhukov's ears were sharp. He heard my complaints and saw a look of disapproval on my face. He restrained his smile and said to me with a straight face: "Rita, the Germans will never be willing to be eliminated by us. They will certainly fight back madly. If we do not stay in the kaniv area and leave a strong and trustworthy force, then when our offensive forces are frustrated, they may be driven back to the other side of the Dnieper River by the Germans. "

When he saw that I was blushing with shame, he slowed down and said, "Rita, when you go back, tell the soldiers that although you didn't take part in the main attack, you didn't take part in the war passively. Your purpose of sticking to your present position is to build a solid rear for our offensive forces, so that they can confidently and boldly attack the Kiev garrison until the enemy is eliminated and the great city of Kiev is liberated from the enemy's clutches. " As soon as Zhukov finished, I quickly and loudly replied, "please rest assured, marshal. When I go back, I will convey your words to the soldiers, so that they can understand the importance of sticking to the existing defensive zone, and ensure that the friendly forces can successfully liberate Kiev."“ That's good. " After I finished, Zhukov nodded his head and added: "in addition, the troops of your group army suffered a large number of casualties in the early fighting, so we can take advantage of this time to rest and let the troops form combat effectiveness as soon as possible, so as to play a greater role in the next fighting." When Zhukov finished, he raised his hand and pressed down, indicating that I should sit down. Then he turned around and asked vassilevsky, "Comrade chief of general staff, do you have anything else to add?"“ No, comrade marshal. " Vasilevsky said politely to Zhukov, "you and the chief of staff of the front army have just finished what you should say. I have nothing to add."“ Now that we have finished what we should say, "Zhukov said to vasilevsky with a smile. After finishing this sentence, he turned to scan the whole room with his eyes and announced," let's finish the meeting. " With his command, the commanders who attended the meeting stood up, raised their hands to salute him, turned around and left the meeting room slowly. As I was about to leave, I heard Zhukov calling me from behind, "Rita, you stay. I have something else to tell you." On hearing Zhukov's words, chisjakov, who was walking beside me, quickly approached me and said in a low voice: "I'm waiting for you outside with Comrade military Commissar." Then, without waiting for me to say anything, he quickened his pace and left the conference room with other commanders.