Chapter 1638 Ground-Air Coordinated Defense

   A quarter of an hour later, the transport plane that Konev was on, under the **** of four fighter planes, flew towards the area where the headquarters of the 7th Guards Army was located.

After half an hour's flight, a pilot left the cockpit, came to Konev, bent down and reported loudly to him: "Comrade commander, we will reach our destination in a few minutes. You still have Any instructions?"

Considering that this place is very close to the battlefield, Konev should go to the skies above the battle site to check it out. When he gives instructions to Shumilov, he can also have a score in his mind, so he ordered the pilot: "Fly to the right bank of the Dnieper River. I want to see what the Germans are doing on the ground."

  The pilot agreed, turned and returned to the cab, to carry out the order given by Konev, turned around and flew towards the right bank of the Dnieper River. Konev waited for the pilot to leave, closed his eyes and began to rest his mind, prepared to wait for the pilot to call him, and then looked at the battlefield below from the window.

   Then, just two or three minutes later, the fuselage suddenly shook violently, and there was a huge explosion sound outside the cabin. The pilot just now stumbled to Konev, and reported to him in a panic: "Comrade commander, our plane is being intercepted by German anti-aircraft fire. If we continue to fly forward, we will be killed." Risk of being shot down."

  Hearing what the pilot said, Konev turned his head and glanced out the porthole, only to see that the ground was full of gunpowder smoke and burning fire heads, and the officers and soldiers on both sides were as small as ants. After observing the situation on the ground for a while, he sighed softly, and then told the pilot: "Comrade pilot, find a suitable place to land on the left bank."

  After the pilot returned to the cockpit, he and his deputy controlled the plane, left the blockade area of ​​​​the German anti-aircraft artillery fire, and flew towards the safe zone on the left bank.

   Just as Konev's plane was returning, it was spotted by two enemy planes hovering over the Dnieper River. The enemy planes immediately turned around and rushed over, trying to shoot down the transport plane that was defenseless. The escorting fighter formation saw the enemy plane flying towards Konev's plane, and immediately sent two to meet it, while the remaining two continued to **** Konev's plane.

   A few minutes later, Konev's plane landed next to a hillside near the headquarters of the 7th Guards Army.

   Before the plane stopped, a small army of more than 20 people rushed over. The leader was a second lieutenant. He saw an unknown plane landed near the headquarters. Worried that the Germans were coming to destroy it, he quickly ordered his subordinates to surround the plane.

  The plane stopped quickly, and then the door opened. A pilot appeared at the door. Without looking at the officers and fighters outside, he directly lowered the gangway, then got off the plane, and stood upright by the gangway.

   After he finished all this, a person appeared at the hatch door again. The second lieutenant next to the plane saw the opponent's appearance and military rank clearly, and was taken aback immediately. He wondered why Comrade Commander of the Front Army came here?

  The second lieutenant trotted forward and raised his hand in front of Konev to salute: "Hello, Comrade General. I am the second lieutenant of the security force of the Army Group Command. I obey your orders, please instruct!"

   After the second lieutenant finished speaking, Konev asked casually: "Comrade second lieutenant, where is your headquarters, take me there immediately."

  The second lieutenant didn't dare to neglect, he hurriedly agreed, and then acted as a guide in front, leading Konev the way.

   Soon, Konev arrived at the headquarters of the Army Group. Perhaps for the convenience of commanding the battle, Shumilov moved his headquarters closer to the river.

   When Konev walked into the headquarters, Shumilov was taken aback. He thought that Konev was just talking casually, and he might not come to his headquarters. He hurried forward and asked nervously, "Comrade Commander, why are you here?"

"General Shumilov," Konev said, seeing that Shumilov didn't seem to be talking about his absence, said a little displeased, "I didn't tell you that I would fly over to meet you and discuss how to deal with it. The enemy's. How is it, your troops haven't retreated, have they?"

"No, Comrade Commander." The chief of staff next to him replied in a panic: "The commanders and fighters of our 24th Guards Army are still fighting tenaciously with the enemy on the right bank of the Dnieper River. Although many lines of defense have been breached by the enemy, our The soldiers still held their ground and did not retreat a single step."

After Konev hummed, he turned his gaze to the table. He saw that besides Serdyuk, the military commissar of the army group, there were two unfamiliar generals here, so he pouted at them and asked Shumilo Husband: "Comrade Shumilov, who are these two generals?"

   Before Shumilov could speak, two generals in air force uniforms took two steps forward, raised their hands to salute Konev, and at the same time identified themselves.

   "I am Major General Ryazanov, commander of the 1st Army of the Assault Air Force."

   "I am Major General Podgorny, commander of the 4th Fighter Aviation Army."

After hearing the two air force generals reveal their identities, Konev couldn't help frowning. He was very dissatisfied with the two generals in his heart, because according to his observation, the two generals failed to organize the air cover for the ferry and landing field. What a waste of such good weather for flying.

With a straight face, he first challenged Podgorny: "General Podgorny, what did you do with your fighter plane? Why did you allow the enemy's bombers to bombard our army's crossings and pontoon bridges indiscriminately? Troops inflicting huge casualties?"

   Podgorny, who was reprimanded by Konev, dared not speak, because he knew very well in his heart that what the other party said was the truth. Before Konev appeared, he was discussing with Shumilov how to use fighter jets to drive away the raging German bombers over the Dnieper River.

  Konev came here not to curse, but to solve the problem. After reprimanding Podgorny for a few words, he said in a slow tone: "Comrade General, immediately dispatch a sufficient number of fighter planes to conduct uninterrupted patrols over the landing field on the right bank to intercept and destroy enemy bombers in the air. Do you understand? "

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." Podgorny waited for Konev to finish speaking, and immediately replied loudly: "I will immediately arrange a sufficient number of fighter planes to patrol the air above the landing field to provide the ground troops with necessary cover."

   Regarding Podgorny's answer, Konev nodded with satisfaction, and then said to Ryazanov: "And you, General Ryazanov."

  Hearing Konev call his name, Ryazanov quickly straightened his body, waiting for the other party's reprimand. But unexpectedly, Konev did not reprimand him, but said to him: "Your army immediately dispatched attack planes carrying anti-tank bombs to attack our landing site wave after wave in a dense assault formation. German tanks attacked."

   "Understood!" Ryazanov replied loudly.

"As for you, General Shumilov." After assigning tasks to the two air force commanders, Konev turned his attention to Shumilov again: "Your task is to inform the commander of the battle at the landing field on the right bank. The commanders of the armies and divisions at the level understand the measures we have taken to resist the German ground assault and air attack."

   "Okay, Comrade Commander." After listening to a series of orders issued by Konev, Shumilov couldn't help but burst into ecstasy. The reason why the troops on the right bank fought so hard was entirely because the German army used powerful armored forces and air force, which gave them an absolute disadvantage in terms of firepower. However, with the participation of the two units of the Fighter Air Force and the Attack Air Force Army, they will definitely be able to reverse the unfavorable situation on the battlefield in a short period of time: "I will immediately notify the commanders on the right bank to let them know that they will soon receive air support from the Air Force. To boost the morale of the troops."

  However, Konev's combat missions were not yet completed. After he nodded slightly, he turned to the side and asked, "Where is the artillery commander?"

   "I am here, Comrade Commander." A medium-sized, gray-haired general took two steps forward, straightened his back and reported to Konev: "I am the commander of the artillery of the group army."

   "Gather your artillery immediately." Konev told the other party: "And deploy them on the bank of the Dnieper River to assist the air force and the defenders at the landing site, and use artillery fire to destroy the German tanks."

   "Is it all the artillery?"

"Of course." Konev nodded: "As long as it is the artillery of your group army, whether it is cannon, howitzer, mortar or rocket launcher, they are all deployed on the shore. We will use powerful artillery fire to cause huge losses to the enemy. .”

   "But, Comrade Commander." Hearing Konev's order, the Artillery Commander said with some embarrassment: "I'm afraid it will take some time to gather so many artillery pieces."

"I'll give you one hour." Konev said in an unquestionable tone: "If the time is up and your artillery has not fired at the enemy attacking the landing field on the right bank, then I will replace you with someone else. .”

The artillery commander was frightened by Konev's words, and he quickly expressed his position to the other party: "Don't worry, Comrade Commander, I assure you. An hour later, the artillery deployed on the Dnieper River will move towards the offensive. The enemy on the landing ground launched a heavy shelling."

  When he said this, he was thinking to himself that it was obviously impossible to gather the artillery of the entire army within an hour. The only way is to first assemble all the artillery units that can be assembled, and let them bombard the German army attacking the landing site on the right bank within the specified time. The remaining troops can use this time to continue to gather on the banks of the Dnieper River.

  After assigning tasks, Konev took a cup of tea from a staff officer, took a sip, and waved to everyone, saying, "Since your tasks are clear, let's start executing them immediately."

   Ryazanov has a radio station, which is placed in Shumilov's headquarters. He turned around and came to the radio station, and dictated various combat orders to the radio operator, asking him to send them to the various aviation divisions immediately, so that they could take off to fight as soon as possible to destroy the German tanks, so as to reduce the pressure on the defenders at the landing site.

   Seeing this, Konev couldn't help but nodded slightly. When Ryazanov returned to his face, he smiled and said, "General Ryazanov, it seems that you are very thoughtful, and you actually set up a radio station here..."

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Ryazanov rushed to say without waiting for Konev to finish, "In order to facilitate the command of the troops, I always carry a radio with me wherever I go. Come, not only can I convey my orders in the shortest possible time, but also accurately guide the strike fleet to attack the enemy's target according to changes in the situation on the battlefield."

   After chatting with Ryazanov for a few words, Konev turned his attention to Podgorny not far away, thinking that he would also issue combat orders to his troops through the radio. But what he didn't expect was that Podgorny was on the phone while wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, and his behavior seemed a little flustered.

Seeing his behavior, Konev immediately understood that the other party was not like Ryazanov, who carried a radio everywhere, so that now he could only send calls to unknown people through the phone in Shumilov's headquarters. The fighter group deployed there gave the order to attack. If he did so, the attack of the fighter group would become extremely slow.

   Not long after, Konev's guesses became reality. The attack aircraft under General Ryazanov's command used a nine-aircraft formation to attack the German tanks attacking the landing field on the right bank. After several rounds of bombing, burning German tanks could be seen everywhere in front of the Soviet positions, and the enemy's attack was forced to stop.

When Shumilov received the report from his subordinates, he immediately reported to Konev happily: "Comrade commander, good news, good news. Because of General Ryazanov's attack aircraft group, the effective ground attack The attack destroyed a large number of German tanks and temporarily halted the German attack on the right bank landing field."

   After hearing this, Konev did not get carried away. He nodded and said to the artillery commander: "Comrade artillery commander, is your artillery ready?"

  Hearing Konev ask himself, the artillery commander quickly replied: "Report to Comrade Commander, we have assembled more than 300 artillery pieces on the banks of the Dnieper River and are ready to shoot."

   Knowing that the artillery had more than 300 artillery pieces of various calibers deployed on the banks of the Dnieper River in a short period of time, Konev showed a satisfied smile on his face. He rushed to the other side and said: "Since the enemy's attack has been temporarily repulsed by our air force and infantry, you can wait for your shelling. Wait until the German army dispatches a large number of tanks to attack the landing site, and then use your powerful artillery fire. Teach them a lesson."

  Due to the effective tactics, the German army successfully prevented the attack on the landing field, and the smiles returned to the faces of the commanders. Just when Konev was about to say a few more words, the phone on the desk rang. The chief of staff picked up the phone and listened to it, then handed it to Konev: "Comrade Commander, it's your call!"

   "My phone?" Konev asked casually while reaching for the receiver, "Who is calling?"

   "It's General Zakharov, Chief of Staff of the Front Army."

   "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff." Konev pressed the microphone to his ear and asked, "What happened?"

   "Comrade Commander, I have something to report to you."

"whats the matter?"

   "After my repeated consideration, I plan to send General Kryuchenkin's 69th Army to take over the defense of the 27th Army's landing site on the right bank of Klemenchug."

  (end of this chapter)