Chapter 1660

   "General Blaskowitz," Manstein is deploying troops to strengthen the defense to prevent the Soviet army from landing on the right bank because the Soviet army has launched crossing operations in many areas of the Dnieper River. Knowing that Blaskowitz was looking for him at this moment, he temporarily put down his work, walked over to pick up the microphone, and asked, "What do you want from me?"

   "Your Excellency the Field Marshal," upon hearing Manstein's voice, Blaskowitz hurriedly reported to him: "My troops are being attacked by the Russians."

Manstein heard Blaskowitz say this, but misunderstood, thinking that the other party was talking about the battle in the Chijilin area, so he said disapprovingly: "General Blaskowitz, don't worry. The attack you launched is just a desperate struggle, I believe it will not take long before they will all be driven into the Dnieper River by us."

When Blaskowitz heard this, he understood that the other party had made a mistake, and quickly explained: "Your Excellency, our troops attacked by the Russians are not in the direction of Chijilin, but at the bridgehead on the right bank of Klemenchug." .”

   "What, the bridgehead on the right bank of Klemenchug?" Manstein couldn't help being moved: "Is this true?"

   "Of course it is true, Your Excellency the Marshal." Blaskowitz reported to Manstein: "Now the Russians are using heavy artillery fire to bombard the armored division we left there."

  The 1st Army left an armored division and an infantry division south of the Soviet landing field, which Manstein knew. However, when he first transferred the troops, he repeatedly checked with Blaskowitz and confirmed that the Soviet army there did not have the slightest sign of attack, so he boldly transferred three divisions from the area to participate in the Chijilin In regional battles, try to eliminate or drive away the defenders in Qijilin City.

At this moment, when he learned that the armored division staying behind had been attacked by heavy Soviet artillery fire, Manstein's first reaction was that Blaskowitz must have made a mistake. He asked back: "Blaskowitz General Ci, when I transferred the troops from you, didn't you say that the Russians in front of you were constructing and constructing fortifications, and put on a defensive posture. How could they turn from defense to offense in less than two days? ?”

  Manstein still questioned Blaskowitz's statement when he asked this question. You must know that in the battle of a large corps, it is not possible for the commander to slap his head and decide in which direction to launch an attack. There are too many aspects involved. Among other things, just gathering troops and hoarding supplies requires It takes a lot of time.

"That's right, Marshal." Blaskowitz heard Manstein's doubts and doubts from Manstein's tone, and quickly explained: "The Russians are indeed bombarding the armored division's defense zone. It seems that they are We intend to make a breakthrough in this direction.”

  Manstein quickly unfolded a map on the table and looked it over carefully. In fact, he has already memorized the terrain on both sides of the Dnieper River. Even if he doesn't look at it, he can know that after the Soviet army broke through the defense line of the 1st Army, the next cities to attack must be Alexandria and Kirov. Gullah. Once these two cities fall, it means that the Soviet army has gained a firm foothold on the right bank of the Dnieper River.

  Manstein knew very well in his heart that once the Dnieper River defense line was broken by the Soviet army, it meant that the next battle would start on the right bank of Ukraine. This was something that the German High Command absolutely did not want to see. In order to avoid this worst situation, assisting the troops of the 1st Army to block Sokov's troops is the top priority at present.

"General Blaskowitz," Manstein stared at the map for a while, and found that the troops closest to the defense line would not arrive until the next day. Before that, they could only rely on the troops of the First Army. troops to hold the existing defenses. Thinking of this, he said to Blaskowitz: "Once the Russians break through your defense line, they will then point their troops at Alexandria and drive a nail into our defense zone."

"Yes, Marshal." Hearing this, Blaskowitz nodded repeatedly and said, "You are right, once the Russians break through our defense line, they will be able to quickly find new troops on the right bank. This is very bad for us, so we must block and defeat them."

"However, the troops closest to your defense area are tens of kilometers away. Even if you order them to rush for reinforcements now, I am afraid they will not reach the designated location until tomorrow." Speaking of this, Manstein asked with some concern: "General Blaskowitz, do you think your troops can last until then?"

   "No, Your Excellency Marshal." Blaskowitz replied simply, "Let's not talk about tomorrow. Under the crazy attack of the Russians, it will be very difficult for my troops to persist until dark."

   "Then what are your plans?"

   Blaskowitz called Manstein just to get help from him. Since the other party asked, he would naturally not be polite: "I hope to get air support."

   "Air support?" In fact, Manstein had long considered sending the air force to bomb the attacking troops to ease the pressure on the defenders. But at this moment, because he is organizing troops to attack the landing field established by the 7th Guards Army, a large number of planes have been thrown in that direction, and it seems a bit powerless to support Blaskowitz again. "General Blaskowitz, I'm afraid I cannot grant this request of yours."

   "Why?" Blaskowitz was taken aback by Manstein's reply, and he asked inexplicably, "Why can't we provide air support for us? Where has our huge air force gone?"

Hearing Blaskowitz's questioning, Manstein showed a painful expression on his face. There is indeed a large number of air forces in his army system, but this air force is now above the Dnieper River. More Soviet fighter planes competed for air supremacy on the battlefield.

"General Blaskowitz, you also know that we are attacking the Russians in the Chijilin area and the bridgehead they built." After thinking for a while, Manstein felt that he should explain to Blaskowitz Just to avoid misunderstanding: "But the ground is attacking, and at the same time a lot of air power has been invested. But it is a pity that in just two years, the Russian air force has become large enough to be evenly matched with ours. .The reason I say I can't provide you with air cover is simply because our main air force is engaging Russian fighter planes over the Dnieper right now."

"Then what should we do, Your Excellency Marshal." Manstein's words made Blaskowitz desperate: "You can't provide us with air support, and the ground reinforcements will have to wait until tomorrow at the earliest. Come on. Shall we just watch the Russians take our positions?"

After some painful thinking, Manstein made a difficult decision: "General Blaskowitz, if the Russians have a strong offensive force, I think that if necessary, they can give up some unimportant things. position."

Perhaps because he was worried that Blaskowitz would not understand himself, he added on purpose: "Abandoning some unimportant positions and concentrating our forces can make our local forces stronger. As for the Russians, as they occupy territories More and more, they have to divide their troops to guard. As a result, the troops they use to attack will become thinner..."

Listening to Manstein's narration, Blaskowitz began to ponder in his heart: It seems that Manstein had adopted this tactic at the beginning of the year. Facing the Russians pouring in from all directions, he decisively ordered The troops abandoned large areas and retreated towards the banks of the Dnieper. After occupying the territories abandoned by the Germans, the Soviet army had to deploy a large number of troops for defense, which led to the dispersion of forces. As a result, they were completely defeated in the German counterattack.

Although Blaskowitz clearly remembered the battle example that Manstein was proud of, but at this moment he had no idea in his heart. You must know that what he was facing was not an ordinary Soviet army, but Sokov's army. Troops, that is the nightmare of most German officers and soldiers. After pondering for a moment, he said slowly: "Your Excellency, Marshal, do you think we can deal with Sokov's troops with this tactic?"

"I think it should be possible." Manstein also said without confidence: "But I think that no matter how powerful Sokov is, it is impossible for him not to send troops to defend the position we voluntarily gave up, right? That's it. As a result, in some areas, we can form an overwhelming advantage in terms of military strength and firepower."

"Okay, Your Excellency the Marshal." Since Manstein said so, Blaskowitz knew that he would not be able to change anything if he continued, so he might as well try the method that Manstein said, maybe there will be no surprises The harvest may also be: "I will carry out your order right now."

After putting down the phone, Blaskowitz called his chief of staff in front of him, and said to him with a wry smile: "Chief of staff, Marshal Manstein told me that it is temporarily impossible to provide us with air support. Because I A large number of fighter planes of the Chinese Army are competing with Russian planes for air supremacy on the battlefield over the Dnieper River.”

   "What, you can't provide us with air cover?" The chief of staff was shocked when he heard this: "Your Excellency, without the support of the air force, how can our troops block the Russian attack?"

"Marshal Manstein said," Blaskowitz said helplessly, "if the Russians' offensive is fierce and our defenses are seriously insufficient, we can consider giving up some irrelevant positions and adopt The method of shrinking troops is to resist the Russian attack."

When it comes to shrinking troops to resist the Soviet attack, the chief of staff naturally thought that this must be Manstein's idea. After all, he used this method to defeat the troops and equipment on the banks of the Dnieper River. The main force of the Soviet army, which had the upper hand, completely reversed the situation of the battle.

  The chief of staff asked Blaskowitz tentatively: "Your Excellency, Commander, what insignificant areas do you think should be given up and skillfully thrown to the Russians without arousing their suspicion?"

   "Yeah, which lots should I give up?" Blaskowitz stared at the map in front of him, lost in thought.

   Just as Blaskowitz was thinking about which unimportant positions should be abandoned in order to achieve the purpose of concentrating forces, the Soviet army's shelling of the armored division was coming to an end.

  Sameko looked up at the time, and then introduced to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the shelling will end in three minutes."

  Sokov hummed lightly, and then asked: "Have the troops started to move towards the enemy's position?"

"Yes, the vanguard of the attack has quietly moved towards the enemy's position five minutes ago." Sameko said with some shortness of breath: "The first troops should be no more than two feet away from the German position at this moment." 100 meters."

  Using the favorable opportunity of bombarding the German army to observe the battlefield situation, the offensive troops moved to the enemy's position in advance, and after entering the designated position, made all preparations for combat. This is an offensive tactic commonly used by Sokov's troops. In order to prevent the artillery fire from accidentally injuring his own people, Sokov once ordered the troops to stay at a distance of 300 meters away from the shelling area, but today's commanders and fighters are eager to fight, and they directly advance the offensive position to 200 meters away from the German positions, or even more. In order to attack the enemy's position as soon as the shelling is over, the enemy will be caught off guard.

Regarding the risky actions of the commanders and fighters, Sokov originally planned to stop them, but he was worried about hurting their self-esteem, so he turned a blind eye and closed his eyes. As long as he didn't get accidentally injured by his own artillery fire, he didn't intend to ask. this matter.

   "Comrade Commander," Lunev, who seldom came to the headquarters recently, appeared in front of Sukov at this moment, and asked tentatively, "Do you need to send a radio van?"

Lunev asked this because he had just equipped a batch of propaganda vehicles. The loudspeakers on the vehicles could not only promote the German army, but also play various impassioned songs for the Soviet army when they attacked to boost morale. role.

  Although Sokov knew that Lunev's new radio vehicle could play a huge role in boosting morale in offensive battles. However, after careful consideration, he felt that the broadcast vehicle should not be used for the time being. If it was destroyed by German artillery fire, it might have a negative effect on morale.

   It was precisely because of this consideration that he shook his head slowly and said: "Comrade Military Commissioner, I think that in today's offensive battle, we will not use radio vehicles to boost morale for the time being."

   "Why?" Lunev asked puzzled.

"The reason is very simple. We are about to attack the German fortifications in the countryside. If we use radio vehicles, they will easily become the target of the German artillery on the open ground." Seeing Lunev, Sokov was a little disappointed , then added: "Don't worry, Comrade Military Commissar, these radio vans will come in handy when we attack Alexandria. They can hide in the blind spots of German fire and broadcast the morale booster non-stop. or shout out to the stubborn German troops, urging them to lay down their arms and surrender to us."

   Lunev thought about Sokov's words, and felt that they were quite reasonable. Letting the radio truck broadcast in an open area is tantamount to letting the people in the car die. It would be different if it was a siege operation. The broadcast vehicle could hide in a place where the German guns could not reach, and carry out propaganda and agitation work non-stop.

  (end of this chapter)