Chapter 1337

At dawn the next day, the German attack on Zhitomir began again.

In the streets of Zhitomir, the officers and men of the 67th and 90th divisions of the guards, relying on solid fortifications, fought the German attack tenaciously, making the enemy pay one or several lives for every meter of advance.

Because the elite German soldiers who are good at street fighting almost lost in Stalingrad or Kharkov and other places, these soldiers who have no experience in street fighting still bravely rush forward with weapons and dense bullets in the way of field fighting. They didn't have much Kung Fu. On their way to charge, there were layers of dead soldiers. Because the streets are within the range of our army, no one dares to treat the wounded soldiers. They can only stand on the battlefield and wait to die, or be mercifully shot by the guards who can't bear to watch them wail.

At noon, the commander of the 208th division, seeing that the casualties were too great, ordered to stop the attack and withdraw from the city for a rest. At the same time, call the air force to bombard the buildings on the edge of the city, trying to kill all our army officers and men who stick to these buildings.

However, the German commander soon found out that he had miscalculated. Their bombers had just arrived in the sky of Zhitomir, but before they could dive and drop bombs, our fighters, which had been missing, unexpectedly appeared in the air. After a fierce battle, more than 20 German bombers were shot down, and the rest dropped their bombs casually, then turned around and flew West.

Seeing that the enemy's bombers fled, and our air force was bombing the German troops assembled outside the city, tawalter killazer, who was commanding the troops in the city, was a little restless. He called me and asked for instructions: "Comrade commander, the enemy's bombers were beaten away by our fighters, and the ground troops were driven away from the city by us."

"I know all that." I knew that tavartkilaze must have some thoughts when he said that to me, so I asked, "Comrade commander, what do you think? Let me know?"

"Comrade commander, I want to use the artillery troops that have been snowed recently." Tavartkiraze said frankly: "since the air supremacy of Zhitomir is back in our hands, we don't have to worry about being bombed by the enemy when we use artillery."

"Is it merely the use of artillery to bombard the enemy, comrade commander?" I guessed that he wanted to launch a counterattack against the enemy while the German attack was frustrated, so he jokingly asked, "in that case, the air force commanders and fighters can blow up the enemy, so you don't have to waste shells."

When I said this, tawalter killazerton was in a hurry: "no, comrade commander, it's not what you think. We should not only bombard the German troops assembled outside the city, but also take the opportunity to launch a counter offensive and take back all the lost positions. "

"I agree with you!" Hearing that tavartkilaze was a little worried, I said magnanimously, "Comrade commander, but I want to remind you that even if a comprehensive counter offensive is launched, enough defensive forces will be left in the city, so that the enemy will not launch a counter offensive in unexpected places when we attack. You should consider all these things."

After I finished, tavartkilaze immediately replied, "don't worry, comrade commander, I will let the 90th division of the guards finish this counterattack, while the 67th division of the guards has been greatly reduced in recent battles. I will give them the task of defending the west of the city."

"You are very considerate, comrade commander." I urged him to say, "when the enemy is dazed by our air force, take action immediately."

It must have never occurred to the German army that after the shelling, our army suddenly launched an attack on the positions they occupied, and they were all in a hurry. After a short period of resistance, they fled to the second position and reorganized a new defense.

After reading the battle report on the front line, bzikov said excitedly, "it's wonderful. The soldiers of the guards are really wonderful. I didn't expect that they could take back the positions lost two days ago so quickly. I believe that when it gets dark, our troops will be able to recover all the lost positions. "

Compared with the euphoria of bezikov, I was much calmer. I knew in my heart that the German army was not so easily defeated. Although they were defeated so fast now, it was because they were caught off guard by us. When they recovered, the battle would be stuck.

Seeing that I was silent, chisjakov immediately asked with concern, "Comrade commander, what's the matter with you? Why do we hear that our troops have won? It's also a gloomy look. "

I sighed softly and then asked bzikov, "chief of staff, what's going on north of the city? Is the enemy still attacking the defensive area of the 309th regiment of the guards? "

"Yes, the German army is still attacking." Bezikov was a little puzzled and said: "the enemies in the west of the city have been repulsed by us. What's the matter with the enemies in the north of the city? Not only did they not retreat, but they increased the strength of the attack. General tavartkiraze has transferred one of the two regiments deployed behind the regiment. "

"In the west of the city, the 208th Infantry Division was repulsed, while in the north of the city, it was the elite 7th German armored division." At this time, I did not hide my worries and told them my worries: "although judging from the current situation, the counterattack of the 90th division of the guards is going well, once the German troops put in armored forces, the situation on the battlefield will be reversed. I hope our troops will not be driven into the city by the enemy again. "

"No, comrade commander." Bezikov comforted me and said, "the air supremacy is now in our hands. In the face of our strong counter offensive, the enemy in the west is just surviving."

"The attack in the west of the city should be put aside for the time being. Let's study how to stop the German attack in the north of the city." I pointed to the map and said, "from the situation that the seventh armored division would rather be bombed by our fighters than stop attacking, they are determined to seize the north of the city. Once they break through the north of the city, the garrison in the city of Zhitomir will be divided into two parts. I am afraid that this will cause chaos in the troops. "

"What shall we do?" Don't ask zikov anxiously.

"Call general tavartkilaze and ask the artillery to turn around and fire towards the assembly area of the German army in the north of the city. We must destroy the fighting spirit of the German army with heavy artillery fire to ensure that the north of the city is safe."

"Yes, I'm going to call general tavartkiraze."

The seventh armored division in the north of the city had to temporarily stop its attack on the north of the city because of the heavy shelling of our army and the heavy casualties.

When I heard that the attack of the seventh armored division had stopped, I was relieved. Then I called the commander of the 51st division of the guards, Sergei kirikov, and asked him about the situation in the city. When I heard his voice, I immediately asked, "Comrade Colonel, what's the situation there? Has the enemy really stopped attacking?"

"Yes, comrade commander, the enemy's attack has stopped." "Major shumakov reported to me that in front of his position, there was nothing but burning German tanks and bodies all over the place," shejerikov told me excitedly over the phone

"Well done, comrade Colonel, your soldiers are well done." After praising him, I went on to say, "you should use this time to repair fortifications and treat the wounded and prepare for the next round of German attack."

"We're already starting to do that." "Comrade commander, with the appearance of our air force, I feel that the situation on the battlefield has changed fundamentally. Are we going to launch an attack on the Germans soon?" he asked hesitantly

"Comrade Colonel, who told you this?" As for his hearsay, I was a little dissatisfied and said, "although we have regained the initiative in the battlefield today due to the emergence of the air force, I don't think the time is ripe to launch an attack on the enemy."

"Why?" He was puzzled by my statement. He asked curiously, "now that we have the cooperation of artillery and air force to defeat the German troops outside the city, there should be no problem."

"It's not enough just to defeat the enemy, they will soon regroup in a new place," I thought, "it's better to break one finger than to hurt ten fingers." this is not necessarily understandable for chejerikov. He can only use as simple a word as possible to say: "when they regroup, they will launch a more fierce attack on us, so we are fighting, We should eliminate as many of their living forces as possible. "

"So it is. I see." Shejerikov understood what I meant and then asked, "Comrade commander, what is the next task of our 51st division tonight?"

"Continue to defend the north of the city, like a nail there, not a step back." I was afraid that shijerikov had misinterpreted what I meant, and only let the troops defend passively instead of going beyond the minefield. So I reminded him, "when the conditions are ripe, we can appropriately counter the enemy face to face. In a word, you have to find a way to contain the German elite tank here, so that they can not withdraw, so that when our comprehensive counter offensive begins, we can severely damage or even completely annihilate it. "

As soon as my call with shijerikov was over, bezikov, who received the latest battle report, ran over to me and congratulated me. He was a little overjoyed and said, "Comrade commander, the fighting in the west of the city is really going smoothly. Now the commanders and fighters of the 90th division of the guards have successfully occupied the second line of defense and are preparing to attack the third line of defense occupied by the German army, That's the last line of defense to attack. "

When I heard that the 90th division of the guards had captured two German defense lines in succession, I felt a little less worried. I even thought that I was a little worried. The enemy had been defeated and defeated. Did they still have the strength to launch a counter attack on our attacking forces?

Thinking of this, I can't help regretting that my decision to force tavartkilaze to leave the 67th division of the guards to take charge of the defense in the west of the city may be wrong. If the two guards attacked the German army at the same time, they would have recovered all the positions outside the city. Before the German army launched a counter attack, they should have enough time to reinforce and perfect the fortifications.

However, for the sake of safety, I still told bzikov: "chief of staff, please call general tavartkilaze and ask him to transfer several anti tank companies to the positions outside the city as soon as possible to fight against the German tanks that may appear."

Tavartkilaze was immediately busy after receiving my order. As the anti tank companies were scattered in different blocks, it took a lot of time to gather them. It will take the same time or even longer to reach the positions occupied by our army.

Just when the city was in a mess due to the movement of the anti tank company, the German counterattack began. At that time, I was talking with tavartkilaze. Suddenly, I heard the commotion in his headquarters. I could not help frowning and asked discontentedly, "general tavartkilaze, what's the matter? Why is your headquarters in a mess?" It took a while for tavartkiraze to report to me in a flustered voice: "Comrade commander, I think we are in trouble. While we were attacking the third line of defense, the German infantry of a regiment, supported by more than 20 tiger and leopard tanks, suddenly turned to counter attack. Our commanders and fighters were suppressed in the open ground by the enemy's artillery and machine gun fire, and the casualties of the troops were constantly increasing. "“ What about your artillery? " When I heard that the enemy really launched a counterattack, my guess became a reality. I couldn't help getting impatient. I said loudly to the microphone, "let the artillery fire immediately, intercept the enemy's tanks and infantry with artillery fire, and cover our commanders and fighters to withdraw to the second line of defense."“ Our commanders and fighters are very close to the enemy. "At this time, the speaker in the receiver suddenly turned into povsky. He anxiously said to me," if we fire, we will hurt our own people by mistake. "“ Comrade povsky, the situation is urgent. We can't think so much about it. " I think that with Chernoff's character, after each position is occupied, except for leaving a small number of troops to clear up the remaining enemy, the remaining main forces will continue to attack. If the German counter attack is really successful, the positions we won with blood and sacrifice will be recaptured. Therefore, I decisively ordered: "if we don't fire any more, the enemy's tanks will rush into our positions, and those commanders and fighters who are suppressed by fire will be completely annihilated by the enemy. I order you to fire immediately, block the way of German tanks with artillery fire, and cover the retreat of the officers and men of the 90th division of the guards. You can withdraw as much as you can. "