Chapter 1353

After I finished my conversation with chisgakov, berey began to persuade me: "Comrade commander, the situation here has stabilized. It's only a matter of time to eliminate the German forces in fastif. Major akhromeyev can deal with anything. You'd better go back to the headquarters."

After thinking for a moment, I readily agreed to berey's persuasion. After all, I am very familiar with akhromeyev, and I am very clear about his ability. So I called ahlomeyev to the command and said to him, "major, all the troops in the city of fastiev know what their tasks are. You just need to coordinate well. If there's something you can't handle, call me again. "

"Comrade commander, you can rest assured." Akhromeyev said respectfully: "I know how to deal with the cooperation between the various forces. If there's something I can't cope with, I'll call you for instructions. "

With the assurance of akhromeyev, I went back to the headquarters with confidence and boldness.

When I got back to the base headquarters, I saw a busy scene in the headquarters. And chisjakov and bezikov were standing by the wall, pointing at the map on the wall.

Standing not far from them, I noticed that both of them were frowning. It seemed that something unexpected had happened to them.

I quickly walked towards them and asked in a loud voice, "Comrade deputy commander, what's the matter? What's the matter?"

Chisjakov suddenly turned around and saw that I was the one who was speaking. Instead of answering my question immediately, he asked in surprise, "Comrade commander, why did you come back in silence?"

"Comrade deputy commander, it seems that something serious has happened to you and the chief of staff." I didn't care to ask him why he came back suddenly, but continued to ask the question just now.

On hearing my question, bzikov quickly took a step forward and solemnly reported to me: "Comrade commander, the German army unexpectedly launched a strong attack on Zhitomir an hour ago. Now they have broken through the peripheral positions of our army, rushed into the city, and successively occupied the National Normal University of Zhitomir and the national Agricultural College of Ukraine, And built a solid defense system there.... "

"Why the hell is that?" At this moment, even if a shell falls on my side and explodes, the fright it brings is absolutely not equal to the words bezikov said. I checked the map carefully and found that the two universities were not located in the western suburbs, but slightly close to the city center. I patted the location of the university with my hand and asked in a loud voice, "who can tell me what's going on? How could the enemy burst into our defense so far in such a short time? "

"Comrade commander, please listen to me." "None of us expected that after the withdrawal of the German troops in the north of the city, we would send a small team to sneak into the city from the south of the city to cooperate with the enemy's attack in the western suburbs," bezikov said humbly

I stared at bzikov and said: "Comrade chief of staff, even if the Germans can sneak in from the south of the city, how many troops can there be? At most, one company can hold up the sky. With this force, can we pierce the line of defense established by our divisions?"

Bezikov, who was reproached by me, turned red with shame. After a moment's silence, he explained to me in a low voice: "the enemy disguised as our army, destroyed our communication lines, and created chaos in the city when the German army launched an attack in the west of the city, paralyzing our command system..."

"Come on, don't say any more." When I heard that the German army had rushed into Zhitomir, I was very angry and didn't have the heart to listen to bzikov's explanation. I told him directly, "get me general tavartkilaze. I want to ask him what's going on?"

As soon as I got through, I yelled at tavartkilaze who answered the phone: "Comrade General, what's the matter? There are several divisions in the city of Zhitomir that actually let the Germans rush into the city. How did you become the commander of the army?"

"Comrade commander, please listen to me." When tavartkilaze heard that I was angry, he was out of breath and explained to me, "the German attack launched during the day was successfully repulsed by our army. As a rule, the enemy will not attack again after dark. Under such circumstances, except for a small number of guard forces, the main forces in our positions will temporarily withdraw to the back to rest and re-enter the positions after dawn the next day! "

After listening to tavartkilaze's explanation, I finally understood why the German raid was so easily successful. It turned out that there were no US troops in the positions they attacked. Biting my back teeth, I asked, "Comrade General, can you explain to me why you withdrew the main force from the position after dark?"

"I pulled the troops down for two reasons." Tavartkilaze explained to me with trembling fear: "first, we should prevent the enemy from shelling our positions at night. The number of people on the positions is small, which can reduce casualties; Secondly, I also want to let the commanders and fighters have a good rest, so that they can maintain a good mental state when fighting the next day. Comrade commander, you should know that my starting point is good... "

"Comrade General," I don't want to entangle with him any more. At present, the primary task is to drive the enemy out of the city as soon as possible: "what kind of action did you take after the enemy occupied the university?"

"I'm building up my forces. At present, I've mobilized two regiments and only five tanks of the 20th brigade of the guard tank," tavartkiraze continued to report. "I plan to attack the enemy overnight."

"When will the troops be assembled?" I asked with a straight face.

"In an hour at most, we can attack the enemy." Tavartkiraze replied.

When I was in Moscow, I had been to several colleges and universities. I knew that the terrain in the school was easy to defend and difficult to attack. As long as the garrison occupied several solid teaching buildings, it could block the open area with firepower and eliminate those enemies who tried to approach the buildings through the open area. Thinking of this, I specially told tavartkilaze: "Comrade General, the buildings of the school are relatively strong. Our tanks and guns may be difficult to destroy them. If the troops launch a strong attack, they may pay a huge sacrifice. Before launching the attack, you'd better study with the commanders and fighters to minimize the casualties of our army while destroying the enemy. "

"Yes, comrade commander." Maybe my tone became relaxed, I vaguely heard tavartkilaze sigh of relief, "I will personally come to the front command, and strive to eliminate the enemy occupying the University in the shortest time."

As the battle had not started, I didn't say anything more. After a few more orders, I hung up.

When I sat down at the table, I was surprised to find that kirilov, who stayed in the headquarters every day, was not there. So I was surprised and asked, "where have the comrades of the military commissar gone?"

"He's gone to hitomir." As soon as I finished, chisjakov immediately replied, "the military commissar said that our counter offensive is imminent, and we should do a good job of political agitation for our commanders and fighters. Some time ago, the political workers of various divisions suffered heavy casualties, so he went to Zhitomir to select suitable candidates to replace those who died. "

I waited for chisjakov to finish, nodded and changed the topic in time: "has general Svoboda's Czech first brigade started?"

"They started two hours ago." As he said this, chisjakov raised his hand and looked at his watch, then said, "if there is no accident on the way, they should have arrived at their destination."

Without what happened in Zhitomir, maybe I would not care about the Czech brigade in a short time after listening to the report of chisjakov. But at the moment, I am anxious to know whether they have entered the position on time, because this is the key to the complete annihilation of the German army of fastif.

I got ahlomeyev on the phone and asked, "major, do you have any information about the Czech brigade?"

"Comrade commander, I'm going to report to you." "I have just received a telegram from general Svoboda that his troops have arrived at the designated position and are building fortifications," akhromeyev said by telephone. He promised that no matter how powerful the enemy is, they will crush the enemy's attack. "

"I see." Although Svoboda said that his troops could hold the position, I still told akhromeyev: "major, whether the Czech brigade can block the inevitable German army is the key to our army's total annihilation of the German army in fastiev, so you must pay close attention to the movement there and report to me in time."

"I see. Comrade commander, I will report the Czech brigade to you at any time." After these words, akhromeyev stopped for a moment, then suddenly said in a surprised voice, "there is one more thing I want to report to you. The transport team has sent a base number of shells to our artillery regiment, so that the artillery can provide the necessary artillery support for the infantry again in tomorrow's battle. "

Chisgakov, who sat next to ahlomeyev, also heard what he had reported. He waited for me to put down the phone and asked with concern, "Comrade commander, since the artillery units in the direction of fativ have been replenished, when can we replenish the artillery units in Zhitomir? If they have shells, then when we launch a counterattack, the infantry can also get the necessary artillery support. "

I shook my head and said with a wry smile, "Comrade deputy commander, if I am not mistaken, general povsky has been supplemented by general rokosovsky himself. After today, when we can get new supplies is still unknown, because the commander of the front army will be replaced again. "

"What, the commander of the front army is going to change again?" On hearing this news, chisgakov suddenly widened his eyes in surprise. After a long time, he asked, "I don't know who will take over the post of general rokosovsky after he leaves?"

Before I could speak, bzikov said hastily, "hell, how long has the commander just changed? It's going to change again. Don't the superiors know that changing the commander of the front army frequently at the critical moment of the campaign will lead the army into chaos? "

"Chief of staff!" Chi Sky Kopf suddenly stopped the other's officers. He looked around and saw that the staff were far away from us. He lowered his voice and said, "do not whine about the matter, and who will be the commander of the front army. We has the final say, but we will decide by the superior."

"General watujing's physical condition has recovered, and he will soon return to command the troops again." I took a look at the two men, and then said, "general rokosovsky, on the other hand, will go back to the front army of Belarus and direct his troops to liberate Belarus." Listen to me, bzikov whispered: "if I have a choice, I still hope to accept the command of general rokosovsky. His level is obviously a long way higher."“ Don't worry, chief of staff. " After listening to bzikov's complaint, I said to him with a smile, "your wish will come true soon." As soon as my words came out, both of them looked at me in surprise. In particular, chisjakov asked nervously, "Comrade commander, you just said that we would still accept the command of general rokosovsky. Am I right?"“ Yes, comrade deputy commander, your understanding is very correct. "“ How could this happen? " Chisgakov said, "don't you mean that general rokosovsky will go back to the front army of Belarus because of the return of general vatukin? How can we accept his command? " Bezikov frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly asked in surprise, "Comrade commander, will we be transferred to Belarus and join the formation of the Belarusian front army?"“ Is that true? " As soon as he had finished speaking, chisgakov could not wait to ask me for confirmation“ Rokosovsky came to my headquarters during the day and talked to me about it. " In order to avoid letting more people know about it, I said in a low voice to chisgakov and bzikov: "after the main forces of the front army have destroyed the German forces of fastif, they will send troops to take over the defense of Zhitomir. Our group army will be transferred to the rear for rest. After the rest, it is unlikely that we will return to the first front army of Ukraine. If we do not go to the front army of Belarus, we will be transferred to the front army of the Baltic Sea. "“ If I had a choice, I would rather go to the front army of Belarus. " After I finished, bezikov said, "I still like the commanding style of general rokosovsky."