Chapter 1508 Advance to the Dnieper River (2)

"Ah, what, only two divisions of our army have won the lofty honor of 'Kharkov'?" After hearing this, Sameko said with some disappointment: "I thought we could at least account for half of them. "

Sokov also felt a little uncomfortable. Whether it was the liberation of Kharkov or the liberation of Belgorod earlier, his troops were the first to rush into the city, and the first to plant the flag in the city. commanding heights. But now when the lofty honor of being named after the city is awarded, only two divisions are on the list.

Seeing Sokov and Sameko looking depressed, Lunev quickly comforted them and said: "Comrade Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff, I know that we only have two divisions on the list this time, and the number is indeed too small. , but you must also consider the difficulties of your superiors."

"What's the difficulty?" Sameko asked in a low voice: "You know, whether it is liberating Belgorod or Kharkov, it was the troops of our army that rushed into the city first. The last time the "Belgorod" was awarded When we received the title of Gorod, none of our divisions were awarded the title; this time we were awarded the title again, but we actually only received two divisions. If the commanders and fighters knew about this, they would definitely feel chilled because of this."

"I understand your feelings." Lunev said to the two again: "The reason why we were able to rush into the city first in the battle to liberate Belgorod and Kharkov was entirely because our superiors provided us with They have acquired excellent weapons, and a large number of commanders and fighters with rich combat experience. If these things are handed over to other troops, they can also create the same record..."

When Sokov heard it, what Lunev said made some sense. The reason why the base camp did not award the lofty honor of "Belgorod" to its troops, while the lofty honor of "Kharkov" was only given to I am afraid that I have two places because I have provided myself with a large number of sophisticated weapons and tens of thousands of commanders and fighters with rich combat experience. Judging from the record of the troops, all the division-level organizations of the entire group army can get the lofty honor of being named after the city, but in this way, I am afraid that the friendly army will raise objections, which will cause unnecessary controversy.

"Comrade Military Commissar, you don't need to say any more." After Suokov figured this out, he said to Lunev: "You are right, the superiors did give us a lot of sophisticated weapons, and tens of thousands of soldiers with rich combat skills Experienced commanders and fighters, we can achieve such brilliant results inseparable from the strong support of our superiors. Therefore, it is considered very good that we can get two seats in the lofty honor of being named after the city. "

Seeing that Sokov had figured it out, a smile appeared on Lunev's face: "Comrade Commander, don't worry, although we didn't get the lofty honor of Belgorod, and Kharkov's lofty honor is only two." However, there are still many battles to be fought in the future, and I believe that our troops will definitely create another brilliant record."

For Lunev's statement, Sokov agrees very much. After all, the Germans have not been driven from the land of the Soviet Union. It will take about 20 months to win the final victory. There is enough time to build more meritorious deeds.

Sokov said to Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, according to what we just said, let Colonel Chuvashov's 98th Guards Division board the car first, and the rest of the troops will finish their rest and hurry up to prepare for departure." .”

   "Okay, Comrade Commander." Sameko nodded and said, "I'll call Colonel Chuvashov right away and ask him to gather troops immediately and be ready to board the vehicle at any time."

  Hearing the conversation between Sokov and Sameko, Lunev, who had just returned from the outside, was at a loss: "Comrade Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff, what are you talking about? Are there any new combat missions?"

"Yes, Comrade Military Commissar." Sokov nodded, pointing to the map on the table and said to Lunev: "Not long ago, General Konev, the commander of the Front Army, gave us an order to report to Klein immediately. Menchug set out to capture the city, cut off the retreat of the Poltava defenders, and establish a secure landing site on the right bank of the Dnieper."

   "What, capture Klemenchug?" Lunev was taken aback. As a member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he had naturally been to Klemenchug before and knew the environment there very well. Hearing that the troops were about to launch an attack on Klemenchug at this moment, he said nervously: "We are more than 300 kilometers away from Klemenchug. I wonder how many days the superior has given us?"

"Five days." Sameko said to Lunev with a slap in the face: "Comrade Commander also raised the difficulties we are facing to General Konev, but General Konev asked us to go by train, saying that we must Klemenchug can be taken from the enemy within five days."

"Damn it, was General Konev still drunk when he gave this order?" Lunev said angrily after hearing this: "We have so many troops, how can there be so many wagons to transport them. If you let The troops marched on foot, and when they arrived at Klemenchug, I am afraid that a week has passed, how can we complete the tasks assigned to us by our superiors?"

  Hearing that the two kept mentioning Konev's name, Sokov suddenly had a strange thought: Konev is not like himself, a time traveler, right?

The reason for such an idea is entirely because Sokov remembered that in the early days of the Moscow Defense War, when Konev was still the commander of the front army, he suddenly issued an order to Rokossovsky, who was then the commander of the 16th Army. A strange order: hand over the troops to Yershakov, commander of the 20th Army, and take the former headquarters members of the 16th Army to Vyazma to receive five new divisions.

But when Rokossovsky arrived in Vyazma, he did not see the shadow of the troops at all. At this time, the enemy tanks rushed into the city, and Rokossovsky could only hastily withdraw from the city. , continue to retreat to the east. Soon after Rokossovsky handed over his troops, his 16th and 20th armies fell into the encirclement of the German army and were finally annihilated by the German army. Lieutenant General Lu Jin, the commander who commanded these two troops, was also captured because of his injuries.

  Sokov thought to himself: If Konev was not a time traveler, how could he give Rokossovsky an inexplicable order at such a moment and let him leave with the entire headquarters. As a result, the 16th Army was annihilated by the German army, but because the headquarters was still fully organized, the new 16th Army was quickly reorganized and made immortal feats in the battle to defend Moscow.

In all fairness, although Lukin and Rokossovsky are both lieutenant generals, Lukin's reputation is much greater. After all, he organized a group of defeated troops and established a The direction, blocked and severely damaged the enemy, left a deep impression on the bearded man.

  At the same time, there was also Petrovsky, the commander of the 63rd Army. Because he decisively led the troops to launch a counterattack, after forcibly crossing the Dnieper River, he dealt a heavy blow to the German army in Belarus, and was directly promoted from colonel to lieutenant general by the bearded man. But when his troops fell into the encirclement of the German army, Zhukov discussed with Marshal Timoshenko, appointed Petrovsky as the commander of the 21st Army, and sent a plane to pick him up from the encirclement. But he refused, and only allowed the plane to leave with the seriously injured.

  If Konev was not a traverser, when he discovered that the 16th and 20th armies might be encircled and wiped out by the German army, the commander he would first think of to save must be Lukin rather than Rokossovsky. But in fact, he made the opposite decision. What's even more outrageous is that he asked Rokossovsky to take all the members of the 16th Army's headquarters with him when he left. will play an extremely important role.

As for why Konev didn’t bring the protagonist to be smooth, Sokov thought to himself: Maybe the other party is not from the same era as himself, maybe from the 1950s and 1960s, so his behavior is different from that of people of this era. There is no difference.

  While Sokov was thinking about the problem, he suddenly heard Sameko calling himself, and quickly raised his head and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, what's the matter?"

   "Comrade Commander," Sameko, who was standing aside with a microphone, asked, "Colonel Chuvashov asks for instructions, besides the equipment of the troops, is there anything else you need to bring?"

"In order to prevent our army from advancing rapidly, the Germans may have damaged the railway." Sokov said to Sameko: "Let them hang a special train next to it, and install rails and sleepers inside. Once found If the railway in front is damaged by the enemy, it can be quickly repaired."

"Understood, Comrade Commander." After Sameko said this, he said to Chuvashov on the other end of the phone: "Comrade Colonel, did you hear that? Comrade Commander ordered you to hang an additional truck next to the truck." , Put rails and sleepers inside, once the road ahead is damaged, it can be repaired in time.”

   "Then when can we leave?"

  Hearing Chuvashov's question, Sameko quickly turned his questioning gaze to Sokov again.

Sokov originally wanted to say that he would set off after dark, so that it would not be easy to expose the target, but after thinking about it, the Soviet Air Force has already occupied the air superiority, and the shadow of the enemy plane has been seen in the sky, so there is no need to worry about the whereabouts of the troops. When the German reconnaissance plane found out, they changed their words decisively: "I think the train leaves at seven o'clock, so that before dark, they can almost approach the Poltava area. discovered."

After delivering Sokov's order, Sameko put down the phone and continued to ask: "Comrade Commander, the troops of the 98th Guards Division are lightly armed and do not have any heavy weapons. If the sneak attack turns into a storm, what will we do?" Worried that they are not strong enough to attack."

   "Isn't there still a wagon?" Sokov said: "You can load tanks and artillery into the car and follow Chuvashov and the others. Once we need to attack a fortified position, our tanks and artillery can be used."

   Hearing what Sokov said, Lunev on the side interjected: "It's a pity that there are no armored trains, otherwise the powerful firepower on the trains would be enough to smash the resistance of the Germans."

   Although Sokov didn't say anything about Lunev's statement, he disagreed in his heart. The armored train looks powerful, but its limitations are also very strong. Once the enemy destroys the rails, the armored train can only stop on the railway and become the target of the enemy's long-range artillery fire or aircraft bombing. Besides, after the Battle of Stalingrad, armored trains were rarely mentioned, and they probably won't be found here.

Sameko thought the same as Sokov. He refuted Lunev and said: "Comrade military commissar, despite the powerful firepower of armored trains, once the railway line is destroyed by the enemy, our armored trains cannot continue to operate. An armored train that cannot move, placed in the middle of the railway, is the target of enemy artillery fire or aircraft bombing."

"Well, Comrade Chief of Staff, what you said makes sense." After Lunev finished speaking, he turned his gaze to Sokov and asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, do you think it is only close to the 98th Guards Division?" And some tanks and artillery, can you take Klemenchug?"

"There is a certain chance." Sokov was not clear about Klemenchug's situation. Hearing Lunev's question, he could only reply in an uncertain tone: "If the 98th Guards Division cannot take Klemenchug Chug, I will put more troops into battle one after another."

"Also," Sameko pushed the map in front of Sokov: "I am worried that once we capture Klemenchug and establish a landing site on the right bank of the Dnieper River, we will definitely be met with a crazy German counterattack. "

"That's for sure, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov said to Sameko: "A few months ago, the little beard didn't even think that our army would have the strength to go out to the Dnieper River before, so he banned Manstein. Because of the establishment of a line of defense on the Dnieper River. According to him, once the German soldiers knew that there was a solid line of defense behind them, in the face of a strong offensive from our army, the soldiers would flee back to the line of defense with oil on their feet and throw the vast land Give us.

  Now with our army's successive victories, the Germans realized that it was only a matter of time before our army crossed the Dnieper River, so they began to work overtime to repair the offensive along the river. However, due to the short time, they did not complete many lots. Once a certain place is broken by our army, they will concentrate their superior forces to carry out a counterattack, trying to recover their lost positions.

  I can imagine that once our troops establish a landing field on the right bank of the Dnieper River, they will be attacked again and again by the German army. The battle will be extremely tragic, and the troops may suffer considerable losses. "

   "So how do we block the German counterattack?" Sameko asked.

Sokov looked at him and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't worry, we can deploy the artillery on the left bank and hide the tank troops on the landing field on the right bank. Once the Germans attack the landing field, we will stop them with artillery fire." Shoot; wait for the enemy to approach our position, and then let the tank troops cover the infantry attack to smash the German offensive."

  (end of this chapter)