In the next few days, our troops occupied the line of defense near the edge of the city, the Germans occupied the line of defense farthest from the city, and the line of defense in the middle became the battle between the two armies. Focus. ★く★√く√く

Often at dawn, the commanders of our army attacked the areas occupied by the Germans under the cover of artillery fire and fighter planes. After fierce fighting, the trenches were taken over. At noon, the German army would often take advantage of the return of our army's fighter planes, counterattack with the support of tanks and artillery, and then retake the position.

The position changed hands several times in a day. Often Tawart Kiladze had just reported to me that our army had occupied the second line of defense. After a while, he called again and said embarrassedly that the position was being taken by Germany. The man took it back.

The repeated fights in the middle zone caused heavy casualties to both the enemy and ours. So that on the second day of the tug-of-war, I had to transfer Colonel Babahin’s 71st Guards Division to the 9th Guards Division, which had suffered heavy casualties.

When I gave the order to mobilize troops, Bezikov specifically asked me for instructions: "Comrade Commander, do I need to mobilize the 21st Guards Tank Brigade?"

"No, before the counterattack begins, the tank brigade cannot move for the time being." I looked at Bezikov, and emphasized: "Our tank brigade is equipped with T-34, which can't deal with the German Tiger and Panther. Tanks, don’t let them go to death."

Bezikov heard what I said, nodded immediately, and replied: "Well, Comrade Commander, then I will directly order Colonel Babahin to lead their troops to the west of the city."

On the fourth day of our tug-of-war with the enemy, Tawart Kiradze called me early in the morning and said anxiously: "Comrade Commander, do you know if you have a reserve team?"

"Reserve?" I heard Tawart Kiradze say so. I was taken aback for a moment, and then asked: "Comrade Commander, we will not fully counterattack the enemy for the time being. What do you want the reserve team to do?"

"In the battles of the past few days, the 71st Guards Division suffered more than half of the casualties. If they are not supplemented as soon as possible, it is estimated that they will not be able to participate in the next battle." Tavart Kiradze said impatiently: "So I beg you to send another division over, so that I can better consume the vital forces of the German army."

"Comrade commander, my task is to stick to Zhytomyr, not to consume the Germans." After listening to his request, I couldn't help but sneered: "If you follow your style of play, don't say one. Teacher, even if I give you ten teachers, it is estimated that you can consume them in the shortest time."

Tawart Kiradze is silent. He should understand that I am most opposed to fighting such a meaningless war of attrition. It has no practical significance except for letting the commanders and soldiers sacrifice in vain. After a long time, he murmured and asked, "Then what should we do next? Know that there are only less than 10,000 people left in the three divisions in the west of the city, and the 51st division in the north of the city, because of defense The enemy in the north cannot be used at all. Comrade Commander, I really have no soldiers in my hand."

"The attack on the enemy is temporarily stopped." I said to him angrily: "You don't want to think about it. The line of defense in the middle is insecure. The enemy can almost take it off with a charge, and consume our commanders there for nothing. Is it worth it? So in the next few days, you just need to hold on to your current position and stop doing any short assaults. Understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Tawart Kiradze replied feebly. "I resolutely carry out your orders."

After I waited for Tavart Kiradze to express his position, I calmly said to him: "Don't worry, Comrade Commander, Zhitomir is the focus of our defensive battle. We can't give up at any time. As long as I am in my hands. If there are extra troops, I will send them to you immediately."

After putting down the phone, I circled the command post with my hands behind my back, wondering whether I should send Xie Liujin's 89th Guards Division. After all, Zhitomyr is of great importance and must not be captured by the Germans. I walked around the house for a while, then stopped and asked Bezikov: "The chief of staff, the troops from Cherkassy, ​​how many days have you been on the road?"

Bezikov immediately answered me clearly and eloquently: "Five days, the troops of General Nekrasov and Lieutenant Colonel Lukin have been on the road for five days."

"What, they have been walking on the road for five days, and they haven't reached us yet?" Kistyakov heard Bezikov say this, and suddenly became a little irritated: "What are they doing, aren't they afraid of delaying the fighter?"

"Comrade Deputy Commander, the situation is like this." Seeing that Kistyakov was showing signs of anger, Bezikov quickly explained: "In addition to personal equipment, our infantry has to carry light machine guns, heavy machine guns, and 5o mm. And 82mm mortars and supporting ammunition, and the weather is so cold, the road is not easy to follow."

"Even so, they shouldn't have been so long on the road." Kistyakov said nonchalantly: "We should report to them immediately and order the troops to arrive today, otherwise they will have both division commanders. Sent to a military court."

"Comrade Deputy Commander, don't worry." Seeing that Kistyakov became more and more excited, I hurriedly came out to make the rounds: "I guess the troops of the other two divisions should be able to come to us today. After they take a day off, they will Immediately dispatched to Ridumir to assist General Tavart Kiradze in defending the city."

Hearing what I said, Kistyakov's anger subsided, but he was still a little reluctant to say: "I think we should still send a telegram to the two commanders to urge them to speed up the march."

I have no objection to this proposal of Kistyakov. Razumeyeva, who happened to come in to send a telegram, had not left, so I told her: "Captain, you immediately report to the two commanders of the 52nd Guards and the 375th Infantry Division, so that they can speed up their march and arrive as soon as possible. Come and join us here."

"Yes, I'm going to telegram now." Razumeyeva walked outside after speaking, but accidentally bumped into an officer who broke in from the outside.

I saw Razumeyeva fall to the ground, and hurriedly went over to help her, and asked with concern: "Captain, are you okay?"

Razumeyeva stood up with my support, rubbed her chest with her hand, shook her head with a wry smile, and said, "Thank you, the commander, I'm fine, I'll report back." "

At this moment, I had already seen that the officer who broke in was Major Yushchenko, head of the guard regiment, so I scolded him straightforwardly: "Comrade Major, you are the head of the guard regiment. You are still so irritable in what you do. Look, what happened to Comrade Razumeyeva?"

Yushchenko, who was blamed by me, smiled awkwardly, apologized to Razumeyeva, and then said to me: "Comrade Commander, good news. The troops of General Nekrasov and General Lukin are here, I Let Major Bukov lead someone to arrange a place for them to camp, and the two commanders are coming here, and they will be there in a few minutes."

"What, Nekrasov and the others have arrived?" Yushchenko's words suddenly made me overjoyed. I was talking about these two units just now, but I didn't expect them to arrive so soon. I immediately ordered: "Major, you go out to meet them, and when they arrive, you will bring them here."

After I gave the order, I unexpectedly found that Yushchenko was standing still. I guessed that he must have something to say, so he quickly asked, "Major, do you have anything else to say to me?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Yushchenko nodded and said, "It is not only Nekrasov and the two commanders who are here, but another one is..."

"Report, can you come in?" Before Yushchenko finished speaking, a voice calling for a report suddenly came from the door. Since members of the headquarters have never called for reports when they enter and exit, my first reaction is that Nekrasov and the others have arrived, so I shouted at the door: "Come in!"

As soon as my voice fell, three commanders walked through the door. I immediately recognized the two people walking in the front, Nekrasov and Lukin, and hurried to meet them. When I shook hands with the two of them, I still struck two fists gently on their shoulders, and said emotionally: "You are finally here, and now our Sixth Guards Army is gathered again."

After I said hello to the two of them, I was shocked when I saw the strange commander standing behind them. The uniform this man was wearing was obviously not the uniform of the Soviet army, and when he glanced sharply, it looked a bit like the style of the German uniform. If it were not for the general star of his epaulettes, I must have thought this was a German officer who had just surrendered.

When the other party saw me staring at him, he raised his hand to salute, then stretched out his hand to me, smiled and said: "Hello, General Oshanina, I am glad to meet you."

"Hello, Comrade General." Although he spoke very blunt Russian and had an accent of a certain place or country, I understood what he meant, and said politely: "I can know you. very happy."

"Comrade Commander," Nekrasov shook hands with the strange general, and quickly introduced: "This is Major General Svoboda, the commander of the Czechoslovak First Brigade. His troops are with us. Came here from Cherkassy."

Czechoslovakia? ! Hearing the name of this country, I couldn't help but shine. I didn't expect Rokosovsky to send me a foreign friendly army. Although I don’t know the combat effectiveness of this unit, I still expressed my due enthusiasm to Svoboda. I shook his hand while shaking, and said friendlyly: "Hello, General Svoboda, My comrades and I welcome you."

Then Kistyakov, Kirilov, Bezikov and others all stepped forward to shake hands with Svoboda.

After we all sat down, I smiled and asked Svoboda: "Comrade General, can I ask why General Rokosovsky sent your troops here?"

Hearing my question, Svoboda shrugged and said: "What else can be done, of course, is to fight side by side with the Soviet army and drive German fascism out of Ukrainian territory."

I heard from Svoboda’s words that he seemed to know a little bit about Rokosovsky’s offensive plan, so I asked curiously: "Comrade General, Rokosovsky will soon be attacking the Germans. A full-scale counterattack has been launched. You know something, can you tell us?"

Svoboda did not answer me immediately, but looked around. I knew he was worried, so I quickly comforted him and said, "Don't worry, Comrade General, this is my own person. If you have anything to say, I will never let the wind go."

"That's right, General Svoboda." As soon as I finished speaking, Kistyakov went on to say, "You didn't know that we have been suffocating fire all this time, and we are expecting to teach you a lesson. Germans, tell us about the big counterattack."

Svoboda seemed to be a real person. Seeing that Kistyakov and I were both facilitating him to introduce the plan of the big counterattack, after hesitating for a while, he asked tentatively: "General Oshanina, what I said , Will it really not be leaked out?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Kistyakov was eager to know Rokosovsky's battle plan, and said first: "Our headquarters, everyone can be trusted. If you have any words, don't worry. Speak boldly."

After getting Kistiakov’s guarantee, Svoboda nodded ~lightnovelpub.net~ and then said: "As far as I know, General Rokosovsky intends to move from Cherka this time. At the same time, in both directions, Serge and Kiev launched a full-scale offensive against the Germans. Now the 27th Army has moved into Cherkassy..."

"Comrade General, we all know about the 27th Army." Hearing this, the impatient Bezikov interrupted him eagerly and asked curiously: "We want to know what scale the front army has assembled in the direction of Kiev. Troops."

Svoboda thought for a while, and then said: "I don’t know the specific deployment of troops in the direction of Kiev. The other three army groups are also preparing to put two tank army groups into battle."

"My God." Hearing this, Bezikov couldn't help but exclaimed: "General Rokosovsky is such a masterpiece, he invested three armies and two tank armies in one fell swoop. The strength of the army is enough to crush any German defense."

Svoboda’s words gave me great shock. I thought that the troops participating in the counterattack, except for our group army and the 38th and 6th army groups that were about to be crippled, Rokosovsky would send at most two army groups. , Taking a tank army out to the sky, he did not expect that he was actually preparing to invest so many troops, it seems that Manstein is in trouble. (To be continued.)