Chapter 1662 Assassination

  In the end, Askel took a step forward. He put the microphone close to his ear and said loudly, "I am Askel, chief of staff of the brigade. Where are you?"

   "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Askel." Sameko's voice came from the phone: "I am Sameko, Chief of Staff of the Army Group."

   "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Group Army." Askel tried to control his emotions and asked in a calm tone: "Are you notifying us to attack?"

  Sameko laughed: "Lieutenant Colonel Askel, I know you have friends in the headquarters. They must have told you about the progress of the 254th and 300th divisions, right?"

"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Army Group." Now that Sameko had guessed it, Askel also said the truth: "Other troops are fighting the Germans in full swing at the front, but we are standing still here, to tell you the truth , Comrade brigade commander and I are very anxious, worried about being trapped in the Mikhaiev camp behind enemy lines."

"Lieutenant Colonel Askel, I can tell you how you feel." Sameko said, "However, only when the 254th and 300th divisions attack smoothly can all the attention of the German army be concentrated on the area where they are fighting, thereby reducing the pressure on the enemy. The resistance you encounter when you attack."

  He paused for a moment, and continued: "Not only you are worried about the Mikhaiev camp, but the commander and I are equally worried. Now the time is ripe, let's launch an attack immediately, and try to join forces with the Mikhaiev camp as soon as possible."

   "Yes, Chief of Staff of the Army Group." After receiving the order to attack, Askel couldn't help being overjoyed, and quickly replied loudly: "We will immediately launch an attack on the enemy's defense line."

  After putting down the phone, Askel excitedly said to Guchakov: "Comrade Brigadier, the headquarters has given us an order to attack, and we can start to do it."

  Although the troops had already made all preparations for the attack, Guchakov asked for safety reasons: "Comrade Chief of Staff, have you figured out how many enemies are facing us?"

"I figured it out." Askel nodded and said, "The position opposite us was originally defended by a battalion, but after the Mikhaiev Battalion occupied the transfer warehouse, they transferred a company; When our army launched an attack on the armored division and the infantry division's defense area, some troops were transferred away. Now the defenders on the entire position have less than one company's strength."

"The German position in front of us is two kilometers wide." After hearing this, Guchakov sneered and said, "A company of the German army has no more than two hundred people, which is equivalent to the front width of each person defending ten kilometers." rice…"

Before Guchakov could finish speaking, Askel interrupted him: "Comrade Brigadier, each soldier in the German army is defending more than ten meters wide. Think about it, their position is not just one trench. There are also many traffic trenches and trenches, so the distance is at least fifteen meters or wider."

"No matter how wide each of their defensive fronts is, they can't stop our army's attack." Guchakov said confidently: "When there was a battalion in the front position, I was more or less worried that this offensive battle would cost a lot. It took a little time, but now they have only one company, we only need to invest in the second or third battalion, and we can easily break through their defense line."

  According to the original plan, in order to break through the German defense as soon as possible, the second battalion, the third battalion and the fourth battalion will go into battle at the same time, so that the enemy whose defense front is too wide cannot concentrate its forces in one place. Now that the enemy's troops are weak, the fourth battalion that originally participated in the attack has thus become the reserve team of the second echelon.

Just when Askel was about to issue an attack order, he suddenly remembered an important matter, and asked Guchakov quickly: "Comrade Brigadier, what about the artillery company? It is to let them approach the enemy's position according to the original plan." Shoot, or stay where you are."

"Let's execute according to the original plan." Guchakov said to Askel: "Comrade Chief of Staff, since we have no artillery preparations before our attack, some firepower points on the enemy's positions will cause great damage to our attacking troops. Obstacle. Pushing the artillery battery forward, the enemy's fire points can be found in time and destroyed."

   "Okay, then I will notify the artillery company commander and let them push the artillery to the forefront to deal with the German firepower."

   The infantry brigade did not encounter much hindrance in the next attack. The machine gun fire points that occasionally appear on the position will be destroyed by the artillery that approaches and shoots in less than a minute after firing.

   In this way, less than an hour into the battle, the offensive troops of the infantry brigade completely occupied the German position and wiped out the defenders on the position.

Knowing that the second and third battalions had successfully occupied the position, Guchakov immediately issued a new order: "Chief of staff, call the commander of the fourth battalion and order their battalion to advance at full speed, and immediately rush to Pavlish and hold on to the ground." Rendezvous at the Mikhaiev camp in the Kurdish area.”

  The commander of the fourth battalion has been extremely depressed since he learned that his troops had been changed to a reserve team and would not participate in the attack. After receiving the call from Askel, the whole person suddenly became excited. He immediately ordered the three company commanders to come to him, and said to them emotionally: "Comrades company commanders, the second battalion and the third battalion are in front of you. The enemy is fighting, and we are here as a bench, everyone must be very aggrieved.

   Now, the time has come for us to feel proud. Our superiors ordered our battalion to immediately advance to Pavlish City and join the Mikhaiev Battalion standing in the inner city's reservoir area. Are you all ready to go? "

   "Yes, Comrade Battalion Commander." The three company commanders replied in unison: "We are all ready."

"Now that we are all ready, let's act in the order of the original numbers." The fourth battalion commander waved his hand violently, and said vigorously: "Let's go, comrades company commanders, let the friendly troops see how fast our battalion is moving." quick."

  The commanders and fighters of the fourth battalion, who had already been ready to go, immediately formed a three-way column after hearing the start order, trotted away from the stationed position, and headed towards Pavlish.

Askel, who was staying in the command post, saw the fourth battalion set off, and said to Guchakov with a smile: "Comrade brigade commander, it can be seen that the commanders and fighters of the fourth battalion are full of energy in their hearts, trust them I will rush to Pavlish in the shortest possible time."

"It's not enough just to get to Pavlish. If you want to enter the city, the German army in the city has to start a fierce battle." After Guchakov expressed his opinion, he told Askel: "The chief of staff Comrade, order the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Battalion and Artillery Company to seize the time to clean up the battlefield, and after finishing all this, rush over to support the 4th Battalion as soon as possible.”

"clear."

  ...

   Seeing that the troops were progressing smoothly, Sokov couldn't sit still anymore. He was thinking about finding some reason to go to the front to have a look. It so happened that Sameko answered a call and reported to him: "Comrade Commander, I just received a call from the chief of staff of the 69th Army. Their headquarters will be here in an hour."

The arrival of Kryuchenkin means that the defense of Klemenchug will be handed over to the 69th Army. Sukov dislikes dealing with these handover tasks the most, so he took the opportunity to push all these things to Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you are in charge of receiving General Kryuchenkin and his headquarters. I will take people to the front to have a look."

Sameko understood Sokov's character, and did not persuade him, but suggested to him: "Comrade Commander, since you are going to the front, why not take Lieutenant Samoilov with you, he is your old man." My subordinates, know how to ensure your safety."

   "No need," Sokov said, waving his hands, "Lieutenant Samoilov is leading a special company to maintain order in the city. Let's talk about it after we hand over the defense to our friendly forces."

  Although he did not bring Samoilov and his subordinates with him, in Sokov's current capacity, there is still a platoon of guards around him when he travels to protect his safety.

   A small convoy of two jeeps and two trucks left Klemenchug and headed towards the landing site on the right bank.

  The convoy passed the Dnieper Bridge and entered the right bank area.

  The staff officer sitting in the co-pilot position turned his head and asked Sokov: "Comrade Commander, we have entered the right bank landing site area now, where should we go next?"

Sokov thought for a while, felt that he hadn't contacted Fomenko after he withdrew from the Chigirin area, so he just took this opportunity to visit his division, and replied: "I want to go to Take a look at the headquarters of the 84th Division."

The staff officer knew the location of the division headquarters of the 84th Division. After pointing out the exact direction to the driver at a fork in the road, he half-turned and said to Sokov: "Comrade commander, drive along this road for at most twenty minutes. , you can reach General Fomenko's division headquarters."

  The convoy drove forward not far, and stopped at an abandoned railway crossing.

   Seeing the car stop, Sokov couldn't help but frowned: "Why stop?"

   "Comrade Commander, I'll go down and ask."

   The staff officer who got out of the car to find out the situation soon returned with a second lieutenant. He reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, there are mines on the road ahead, and our engineers are clearing them."

As soon as the staff officer finished speaking, the second lieutenant who followed raised his hand to salute Sokov, and said respectfully: "Comrade General, there are many landmines laid by the Germans on the road ahead. For your safety, before completing the mine clearance, Your convoy is temporarily impassable."

   Sokov opened the door and got out of the car. Looking forward, he saw five or six soldiers holding metal detectors, checking whether there were landmines on the road.

   Seeing this situation, Sokov asked the second lieutenant: "Comrade second lieutenant, how long will it take you to complete the demining work?"

   "It's hard to say, Comrade General." The second lieutenant shrugged his shoulders and said with a bitter face, "If you're lucky, it will take an hour. If it doesn't go well, it might take four or five hours."

  Sokov didn't have the patience to wait on the road for four or five hours, so he turned his head and asked the staff: "Is there another way to go around?"

   "No, Comrade Commander." The staff officer shook his head and replied, "This is the only passage."

   "Comrade General," the second lieutenant took the initiative to say to Sokov: "There is a squad room next to it, you can rest in it, and we will clear the mines as soon as possible."

   Let Sokov sit in the car for hours, he must not be able to bear it. But with the Taoist room, the situation is better, at least the legs and feet can be stretched out when sitting. So he said to the second lieutenant: "Let's go, comrade second lieutenant, take me to the Taoist room."

  The road shift room has two rooms, one is the sleeping place for the workers watching the crossing, and the other is the room for the workers on duty.

  The second lieutenant directly led Sokov to the duty room, and said apologetically, "Comrade General, the sleeping room is too messy, so I can only wrong you to sit here for a while."

  Sokov saw a chair by the table by the window. It was clean and there was no dust on it. It must have been wiped by someone, so he went straight over and sat down.

  After seeing Sokov take his seat, the Second Lieutenant said apologetically, "Comrade General, I'm sorry, we just arrived here too, and we don't have any tea to entertain you. Please forgive me."

  Sokov just wanted to find a comfortable place to sit, and he didn't care about it with the second lieutenant. He waved his hand at him and said, "Comrade second lieutenant, you have nothing to do here. Go ahead and get busy."

"Comrade General," the second lieutenant said with a smile, "I will order our subordinates to speed up and try to clear the landmines on the road as soon as possible, so that you can pass as soon as possible." After speaking, he raised his hand and saluted Sokov. Turned around and walked out of the classroom.

   "Comrade Commander," the staff officer looked at the back of the departing second lieutenant, and said with emotion: "This commander looks quite young, but he has very good military qualities. He seems to have graduated from a military academy."

"Comrade staff," Sokov didn't pay attention to what the staff said, he just wanted to pass here as soon as possible and rush to Fomenko's division headquarters, so he casually ordered the staff: "We don't know how long we will stay here, you Let the soldiers in the car get out of the car and go to the surrounding area for activities."

  After the staff officer left, Sokov stood up and stood in front of the window, looking at the soldiers who were detecting mines in the distance. After watching for a while, he found that something was wrong. Two of the soldiers holding metal detectors seemed a little absent-minded, moving forward too fast, not at all like the engineers Sokov had seen before when they cleared mines cautiously. And the second lieutenant who had just left the dormitory was walking towards his subordinates without any worry about stepping on a landmine.

  Sukov suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart. He felt that something was wrong with what he had encountered, so he turned around and prepared to leave the class room, and asked the staff to find out the situation.

   Unexpectedly, as soon as he turned around, he kicked a hard object with his toes. Sokov looked down and saw that it was a leather suitcase. He bent down and was about to open the suitcase to see what was inside, when he suddenly heard a faint ticking sound, which seemed to be the sound of a stopwatch, and this sound came from the suitcase under his feet.

  An instinctive reaction to danger caused Sokov to widen his eyes. He realized that there might be a bomb in the suitcase, so he hurriedly turned around and dived out the window. But before his body fell to the ground, the suitcase under the table flashed with flames, and then there was an earth-shattering bang, the ground convulsed violently, and the windows of the cars parked at the crossing were shattered. The commanders and fighters were also knocked to the ground by the shock wave of the explosion.

  Although Sokov responded in time, his body was still like a dead leaf blowing in the wind under the violent explosion shock wave.

The Taoist building collapsed in the sound of the explosion, black smoke mixed with flames rose from the ruined Taoist building, like a huge black dragon twisting its huge body in the air, constantly expanding and swaying .

   Lying on the railroad tracks, Sokov felt that the bones around him seemed to be shattered. The shock wave of the explosion and the force of the impact from the high altitude made him feel the pain. Blood spewed from his mouth, his eyes were bloodshot, he opened his mouth wide and panted sharply, his heart was full of despair.

  (end of this chapter)