The Germans not only launched an offensive against Lukin's position in the east of the city, but also continuously sent infantrymen. Under the cover of tanks, they launched an assault against the defense zone of the Xie Liujin division in the north of the city, attempting to regain their lost positions in one fell swoop. ◢Щщш.suimeng.lā

Seeing that the three sides of the city are in full swing, Batov sighed in relief and said to me: "Comrade Oshanina, it seems that you have all guessed right. The Germans are going crazy in order to regain their lost positions. It’s like a counterattack against our army. If it were in the past, in order to repel their attack, we might have paid a great price. But today’s situation is different. Our artillery can intercept the attacking enemy with artillery fire and give They killed a lot, and when their remnants were defeated, they would barely rush to our position, and our soldiers in the trenches could easily defeat them."

I smiled at him and said, "General Batov, our ministry (team can play so well, you deserve a great credit."

"My credit is the most?" Hearing my praise, Batov was a little embarrassed. He said with a dry smile: "You have been in charge of commanding the troops. I don't seem to be doing anything, right? Get up?"

"If it weren't for the batch of shells you lent us," I said with deep feeling, listening to the rumble of artillery from outside the headquarters: "It is estimated that our artillery can only watch the infantry at this time. The fighters and the enemy are fighting over and over again on the ground, and they are powerless."

After I finished talking, Batov said politely: "We are all friendly forces. We should have helped each other, let alone thousands of shells. You just asked me to borrow a few divisions..."

With regard to Batov’s polite remarks, I also put my left ear in and right ear out, just listen to it, and don’t take it seriously. Don't even ask him to borrow the strength of a few divisions, even if he borrows a few regiments, it is estimated that he will be pushed back and forth. I stared at the map for a moment, then looked up and asked Batov: "General Batov, do you think the other two German armored divisions suddenly withdrew to Kalinkovic without fighting? What conspiracy will there be?"

"There will be any conspiracy." Bartov waited for me to finish, waved his hand, and said disapprovingly: "I think the German armored division retreats, there are two voices: our air strikes two days ago must have frightened the enemy, they I was afraid that if the armored units stay in the front, they would repeat the mistakes of the artillery, so the German commander ordered them to retreat. This is one of them. I think the other possibility is that the German armored divisions will go through continuous battles. , The ammunition and fuel should be almost consumed, so I chose to retreat, leaving only the infantry division to deal with us."

Akhromeyev walked up to Batov and said politely: "Comrade General, your liaison officer called and said that there are important things. Would you like to report to you?"

"My liaison officer?" After Batov repeated Akhromeyev's words, he suddenly remembered that in order to coordinate operations, he had indeed sent liaison officers to the two divisions of the 11th Army, and stood up quickly. Step by step toward the phone placed not far away.

When I saw Batov answering the phone, I asked Akhromeyev in a low voice: "Major, do you know if the other party has anything to do with General Batov?"

"I don't know." Akhromeyev shook his head and replied in a low voice: "Although the other party didn't say anything, from his anxious tone, I think something must have happened."

The troops of the 11th Army are arranging defenses in the west of the city. What major events can they encounter? With this question, I quietly watched Batov finish the call. As soon as he returned to me, I couldn't wait to ask, "General Batov, what happened?"

"The scouts of the 11th Army found that there were signs of a large number of German troops in the west of the city," Batov replied with a serious expression: "According to this situation, the two commanders judged that the enemy might have signs of breaking through, so they asked us for instructions. What should we do? Should we defend ourselves, or should we take the initiative to attack and completely disrupt the deployment of the German army?"

I heard that there were signs of German forces gathering in the west of the city. The first thought was that the Germans were going to run. Taking into account that the two divisions came from the north without stopping, it is estimated that they did not carry any heavy weapons. If the Germans used tanks to open the way in front of them when they broke through the siege, the two divisions would not be able to keep them. Thinking of this, I quickly called Akhromeyev to the front and asked him: "Major, where is our tank battalion?"

"In the defense zone of General Xie Liujin in the north of the city, the task they received was to intercept with artillery fire when the enemy launched an assault on our army's position..."

I didn’t wait for Akhromeyev to finish, so I raised my hand to interrupt the words behind him, and said, “Major, the two divisions in the west are now on a long-distance raid, so I guess they didn’t carry any heavy weapons. Under the cover of tanks, if they conduct a breakout operation, they can't stop it at all."

"Then what should we do?" Akhromeyev asked nervously.

"Immediately transfer the tank battalion to the west of the city to cooperate with the friendly forces in the defense." After giving this order, I told Akhromeyev: "Immediately answer the call from Captain Shamrich, I will personally Talk to him."

The phone call with the tank battalion was quickly connected. I picked up the microphone and said, "Captain, the situation in the west of the city is a bit bad. I need you to rush to support you immediately. Is there a problem?"

As usual, after I asked such a question, all of my subordinates replied categorically: "No problem, I promise to complete the task!" Who knew that Shamrih had spoken for a long time, but he said hesitantly, "Commander Comrade, we may not be able to complete this task."

"Why?!" Hearing Shamrich's answer, I almost jumped out of my seat. I knew in my heart that Shamrich was not a person who was greedy of life and fear of death. He must have his reasons for saying this, so I patiently asked: "Comrade Captain, can you tell me your reasons?"

"Comrade Commander," Shamrich said clearly to me after a moment of silence: "The tanks in our battalion are now seriously deficient in ammunition and fuel after two days of fighting. Even if we set off now, it is estimated. We will run out of fuel before driving to the west of the city. But don’t worry, I’ve sent a tanker back to Zhilobin to refuel. As long as the tanker comes back, we can continue to move forward."

"When will your tanker come back?" I asked dissatisfiedly.

"This is hard to say. Maybe you will be back at 7 or 8 o'clock in the morning. If you are later, you should be there at noon." Shamrich assured me: "Comrade Commander, I assure you, as long as the oil tank As soon as the car arrived, our tanks filled up with fuel and immediately launched an attack on the enemy."

Seeing that the tank battalion could not count on it, I had no choice but to focus on the self-propelled artillery regiment of Major Shuklin. I know that they are now stationed in the east of the city, so without asking Akhromeyev to help, I dialed the group's phone directly.

The chief of staff of the regiment answered the phone. After he heard my voice, he said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, our regimental commander is not in the headquarters."

"Where is he going?" Seeing that I hit a wall twice in a row, my mood became a little bad, "How can I contact him?"

"There was something wrong with two guns in one battalion, and the mechanical maintenance staff were unable to fix the problem, so the regiment commander was asked to go over and deal with it personally." The regiment chief of staff respectfully said: "Comrade commander, I don't know when he can Come back, if you have anything urgent, you can tell me. I will help you deal with the things that I can handle immediately; if it is something beyond my ability, I will report to him immediately after the head of the group comes back."

"That's the case, Comrade Chief of Staff of the regiment." I think since the other party is the Chief of Staff of the regiment, then many things should be clear, and the tasks I deployed to him are the same. Before giving the order, I would like to ask: "What is the ammunition and fuel situation of your regiment?"

“Before we came here, the regiment leader organized a lot of trucks to transport fuel and ammunition to follow our regiment.” The regime’s chief of staff reported to me: “This way, our regiment can be in battle anytime and anywhere. Replenish fuel and ammunition to ensure that the mobility of the troops will not be affected."

"It's great, Comrade Chief of Staff of the regiment. This is really great." The words of the Chief of Staff reminded me of the self-propelled artillery regiment on the first day of the battle. It stopped to let the tank truck that was accompanying them refuel. . If Shu Klin can really guarantee the logistics supply of the troops at any time, then it is more appropriate to send them to the west of the city for reinforcement. I hurried to the subject and gave him orders: "Now the west of the city is in urgent need of reinforcements, I plan to transfer your regiment over to assist the friendly defense."

The chief of staff of the regiment was also silent for a moment when he heard my order. Just when I thought they would also find reasons to reject these tasks from Shamrih, the regiment chief of staff suddenly asked: "Comrade commander, where should our regiment go to accept orders after we get to the west of the city?"

His remarks reminded me. After all, the troops over there are not under my control, and the commander of the troops and I don't know each other. If the self-propelled artillery is rushed over, it might be counterproductive. When I was hesitating whether to cancel this operation for the self-propelled artillery regiment, I heard Batov’s question: "Comrade Oshaninna, I want to work in coordination with the 11th Army’s troops. The officer is good."

"You are right." To Batov's proposal, I immediately responded with kindness: "I will send a liaison officer to bring the self-propelled artillery regiment to the west of the city. Remember to call the liaison officer you sent in the past. Call, let him lead someone to answer it."

The selection of the liaison officer was easy. I asked Akhromeyev to arrange a staff officer to rush to the self-propelled artillery regiment as a liaison officer and take them from the north to the west to support the 11th Army.

Soon after the liaison officer was dispatched, Shu Kelin led his self-propelled artillery regiment to the north of the city to the west, but he strengthened the firepower of the 11th Army. But before they rushed to the west of the city, Batov’s liaison officer sent bad news: "The Germans have begun to break through!"

When Akhromeyev reported this to us, Batov and I looked at each other, eyes full of surprise. Because the behavior of the German army is really abnormal. At this moment, their troops are engaged in fierce battle with our army in the three directions of the north, east and south of the city. Now there are still enough troops to break through to the west.

"These Germans are crazy." Batov shook his head and said, "It's dozens of kilometers from here to Kalinkovic. Except for a few areas with forests, the rest are all plains with unobstructed views. , The German army retreats westward without air cover, it is no different from sending to death. Our artillery and air force can exhaust the German army exposed on the wasteland."

Based on the intensity of the battle, I judged that the German army fighting outside the city should be about two divisions, and it was the infantry division that suffered heavy losses under the constant attack of our army. However, there is only one division stationed in the city, and it seems unreasonable to use two divisions to cover the retreat of one division.

But now is not the time to consider these issues. I called Akhromeyev in front of him and told him: "Major, get in touch with Major Shuklin immediately. Tell him if the German army has successfully broken through when their regiment reaches the west of the city. , They must immediately bombard the retreating enemy with artillery fire. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Akhromeyev replied loudly, "I will immediately convey your instructions to Major Shuklin ~lightnovelpub.net~."

In the ensuing time, while waiting for news from the west of the city, I stared at the map carefully thinking about the purpose of the German army breaking through the encirclement in the dark. After watching for a long time, I didn't think of a reason, so I looked up and asked Batov who was standing next to him: "General Batov, do you think the Germans have any conspiracy to break through at this time?"

Batov thought for a while, and then shook his head to deny my guess: "I don't think it's possible. According to our reconnaissance, except for the German troops surrounded by us, the rest of the troops have retreated to Kalinkovic. I am. I feel that the reason why the Germans chose to break through at this time was because they saw that the city was surrounded by our army, and knew that if they held on, it would be hard to escape the destruction of the entire army, so they broke through the siege to the west desperately. Trying to join their main force as soon as possible."

When Batov and I were studying the real purpose of the German breakthrough, Akhromeyev, who had just received a phone call, suddenly walked up to us and said loudly, "The two commanders, the situation is not good. The German army’s Under the cover of the tank, the troops pierced the 11th Army in two directions, and now it has withdrawn to the west."

After listening to Akhromeyev's words, Batov and I couldn't help but exclaimed in unison: "What, the defense of the 11th Army was breached by the Germans?" (To be continued.)