Chapter 2249

"So that's how it is." After listening to Sokov's story, Rokossovsky said jokingly, "You are really like a cunning rabbit, not only hiding the Germans, but even me. Keep going, I hope to hear more good news sooner."

  Although Sokov knows that according to Russian tradition, rabbits are the most cunning animals, even more powerful than foxes. But when he heard Rokossovsky comparing himself to a rabbit, he still felt very awkward. After all, in the Chinese tradition, a rabbit has the meaning of being taken advantage of.

But after putting down the phone, Sokov no longer cared about these details, but told Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, Comrade Marshal is very satisfied with the results we have achieved, and he asked us to make persistent efforts to create more brilliant results. Let the engineers speed up the speed of building the bridge, and when the pontoon bridge is completed, immediately send a tank brigade across the river, cooperate with the infantry to advance deep into the German defense, and expand the area of ​​​​our landing field as soon as possible.”

   "Engineers have started erecting the pontoon bridge." Sidolin replied: "The director of the engineering department told me that they will complete the erection of the pontoon bridge within eight hours."

"Eight hours, it's a bit too long." Sokov thought to himself, it's not yet nine o'clock in the morning, if it takes eight hours to erect the pontoon bridge, that is to say, the tank brigade will have to wait until after five o'clock in the evening. Enter the West Bank. The troops landing today are all lightly armed. Except for heavy machine guns, bazookas and a small amount of mortars, there are no heavy weapons. If the German army launches a strong attack, I am afraid it will be more difficult to fight: "It can speed up the bridge-building speed of the engineers. ?"

"It can't be faster, Comrade Commander." Sidolin said with a bitter face: "You know, it takes five or six hours for other pontoon bridge troops to erect a pontoon bridge of 800 meters, and the river in front of us is as wide as 800 meters." Five kilometers, completed in eight hours, is already the limit."

   Hearing what Sidolin said, Sokov immediately realized that completing the erection of the pontoon bridge in eight hours might be an ideal state, and it was simply impossible to complete. If it takes five or six hours to erect an 800-meter pontoon bridge, it would be considered good if our engineering troops can complete the construction within 24 hours.

"Okay." Sokov said helplessly: "Since the completion of the pontoon bridge will take a long time, let's hurry up and send the 109th Infantry Division across the river. The more troops there are on the west bank, the more we can hold the landing site." Bigger."

  The dispatch of the air force destroyed the artillery positions deployed by the German army on the second line, and rescued Batov's troops from the baptism of artillery fire.

When Batov learned that the German artillery was wiped out, that the troops on the west bank were exchanging fire with the counterattacking German troops, and that the troops staying in the shallows crossed the river again, he said with relief: "As long as the German artillery fire no longer interferes with our army's Action, and it won't be long before we have a huge landing field on the West Bank."

   After saying this, he took a sip of water from the teacup on the table and asked Glebov: "Chief of Staff, is there any new movement for the right-wing 48th Army?"

"I don't know for the time being." Glebov shook his head and said, "When our army was being bombarded by the Germans, I sent soldiers who were watching by the river to report to me that the artillery of the 48th Army was bombarding the West Bank. German positions. But what is strange is that they fired smoke bombs instead of ordinary high-explosive bombs. Our soldiers saw with their own eyes that the German positions on the west bank and the river were shrouded in thick smoke."

"Strange?" Batov said strangely after hearing this: "What is General Sokov doing when he fires smoke bombs to the opposite bank? Do he want to interfere with the German artillery fire? But it's not right. Our air force has been targeting the German troops on the west bank since yesterday afternoon." The position has been continuously bombed, no matter how much artillery the Germans have, they dare not expose it easily, what's the point of him firing smoke?"

But the next moment, Batov thought of the reason, and he slammed the teacup in his hand on the table, ignoring the splash of tea on the table, but said emotionally: "If I guessed correctly, They were trying to block the view of the German observation post with smoke, so they could cross the river in confusion."

   "What, taking advantage of the chaos to cross the river?" Glebov expressed doubts about Batov's statement: "I don't think it is possible?"

"Is there anything impossible?" Batov said with a straight face: "Immediately notify the troops on the left bank and send people along the river to reconnaissance the 48th Army's landing area to find out what the real reason for their smoke release is. .”

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Faced with Batov's involuntary order, Glebov could only say helplessly: "I will immediately call Colonel Teremov and ask him to send scouts to the 48th Army immediately. Conduct reconnaissance at the site where the group army is going to land, and find out what happened."

   "Hurry up and call." Batov urged: "It will be helpful for us to find out about Sokov's and their combat intentions earlier."

"Comrade Commander," Military Commissar Rajecki asked curiously: "If you want to know the real actions of the 48th Army, wouldn't it be better to call General Sokov directly? Why do you have to send scouts to conduct reconnaissance? ?”

"Comrade Military Commissar, if I call General Sokov, he will tell me the truth." Batov explained to Rajecki: "But if he asks about my plan of action, you say I To tell him, or not to tell him?"

   Hearing what Batov said, Rajecki smiled: "Then you tell him, anyway, we are all friendly troops, and we all want to defeat the Germans. What is there to hide?"

"Our troops landed on the west bank shortly after the bombardment started. If I told General Sokov about this," Batov said, looking at Rajecki, "what do you think he would react? ?”

  Rajecki thought for a while, and replied: "I think he may feel that if you don't tell him such a big thing as letting the troops move ahead of time, you are somewhat suspected of stealing credit, and you will definitely have unpleasant thoughts in your heart."

   "That's right, Comrade Military Commissar, that's what I'm worried about." Batov said, "Otherwise, I wouldn't let Colonel Teremov on the West Bank send someone to do reconnaissance."

   An hour later, Teremov on the west bank sent back a reconnaissance telegram: "The 120th Guards Division under the 48th Army has successfully landed and established a landing field three kilometers wide and one kilometer deep."

After seeing the contents of the telegram, Batov slapped the telegram on the table and said dissatisfiedly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you have seen it. I am not wrong. The 48th Army released smoke to the West Bank to block the German army. The field of view of the observation post will allow large troops to successfully land on the west bank without being noticed by the enemy."

Glebov picked up the telegram and browsed it carefully for a while, then raised his head and said to Batov: "Comrade Commander, the telegram did not mention whether the 48th Army had any encounters with the enemy during the period of landing and establishing the landing field. fighting."

"Huh?!" Batov was taken aback for a moment, and then remembered that he did not see such content in the telegram, so he told Glebov: "Chief of Staff, send another telegram immediately and ask Teremov to report. More detailed information."

   Before Glebov sent a telegram, Teremov's second telegram came. The contents of the telegram this time are very detailed. It describes how the 120th Guards Division landed, how to eliminate the enemies in the fortifications, and the whole process of establishing the landing field.

   After reading the telegram, Bartov fell silent.

   Seeing that Batov was silent, Rajecki picked up the telegram and checked it carefully. After reading the above content, he couldn't help saying with emotion: "Comrade Commander, General Sokov is really amazing. He did use smoke bombs to block the view of the German observation post, and the enemy was not aware of it. , quietly boarded the west bank, and quickly cleared the enemy in the river defenses, and established a landing field that can accommodate more troops. This is really remarkable."

"Comrade Military Commissar, you are right." Batov nodded slowly, and said, "We set off earlier than the 48th Army, and as early as a few days ago, we established a pre-emergency mission on the West Bank. The position, it is reasonable to say that we have a greater advantage, but why did General Sokov's troops have established a powerful landing field, while we are still staying in the forward position that was secretly built a few days ago? This point is worth thinking about of."

   "So what should we do next?" Glebov asked.

"Find a way to send part of the artillery to the west bank first, and build new artillery positions there." Batov couldn't help but grin his teeth when he thought of the shelling he suffered not long ago. problem, and if the opponent cannot be hit, the plan to establish a landing field will not be ruined. Thinking of this, he told Glebov: "As long as we establish artillery positions on the west bank, even if we are bombarded by the Germans again, we can rely on our own strength to launch a counterattack, and we don't need to ask the Air Force for help."

   "The pontoon bridge from the shoal area to the west bank may not be able to be transported to the west bank in a short time." Glebov said to Batov: "Why don't we build a group of rafts first and use the rafts to transport the artillery to the opposite bank?"

   "It seems that this is the only way to go." Batov said helplessly: "Notify the engineering troops and let them seize the time to build rafts so that our artillery can be transported to the west bank."

  The scout sent by Teremov was able to obtain detailed information because he met Major General Nikitin, the commander of the 120th Guards Division. After the scouts left, Nikitin felt that the matter was very important, so he reported to Sokov by telegram.

After receiving the telegram from Nikitin, Sokov smiled and said to Sidolin and Lunev: "Chief of Staff, Comrade Military Commissar, General Batov has noticed that our troops have successfully crossed the Sidolin Dehe, very surprised. I think he may think that his troops were the first to land on the west bank, and should be the first to set up a landing field, but we didn't expect that we took the lead. I think he must be very depressed at the moment Bar."

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Sidolin said with a smile: "They started to cross the river when the front army's guns were preparing to fire on the enemy on the west bank, and they moved very quickly. It didn't take long for them to land on the west bank. , and joined the advance battalion that took the position before occupying the position. But what they didn't expect was that after our army's artillery preparations were over, the Germans would actually use the artillery fire from the second line of defense to carry out long-range strikes against them, forcing his troops to stop. By not staying in place to avoid shelling, they had to delay the establishment of the landing field."

   "Misha, what do you think?" Lunev asked, "Will you lend a helping hand to the troops of the 65th Army?"

To Lunev's question, Sokov thought for a while and replied: "If they were attacked by the enemy and couldn't hold on, I might send troops to reinforce them. But the situation is different now. We have to use The enemy has not had a chance to recover, and has rapidly expanded our landing field, and we cannot easily disperse our forces. After the landing field is consolidated, maybe I will order the troops to develop to the south to reduce the pressure on the 65th Army."

"Well, your idea is correct." Lunev agreed with Sokov's statement: "If we want to help others, we must first have such abilities. If we do not establish a stable landing field, we will Hastily sending troops to support the friendly army weakened the defensive strength of the landing field. Once the enemy attacked, maybe in the end, not to mention not helping the friendly army to repel the enemy, even losing your own base, how can you fight in the future. "

  Before Lunev expressed his views, Sidolin was thinking in his heart that the situation of the 65th Army Group is not very good now, should he suggest to the commander to send troops to help them. But after listening to Lunev's words, Sidolin immediately realized that he thought the problem too simply. If he easily sent troops to help the friendly army before establishing a stable landing field, it is entirely possible that the friendly army did not help in the end. On the way, and the landing field that I have worked so hard to build is also lost.

"Comrade Commander, I agree with you and the military commissioner." At this time, Sidolin could only choose to stand on the same front as Sokov and Lunev: "Our current task is to establish A stable landing site, and then consider whether to send troops to support friendly forces."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I think of one thing." Sokov waited for Sidolin to finish speaking, and then said: "The director of the engineering corps said that the erection of the pontoon bridge can be completed within eight hours, but I seem to feel a little bit suspended." In my opinion, how about asking the engineers to help us build a batch of rafts and transport some of the artillery to the west bank first? This way, when the enemy launches an attack on our landing field, our infantry can receive artillery support."

"I think it's okay." Sidolin said: "In addition to artillery, I think more of the new type of rocket launcher should be sent to the opposite bank. After all, this thing is better than artillery. It's fine if the enemy doesn't attack. Offensive, we'll give them a taste of the new bazooka."

  When the 120th Guards Division crossed the river, Sokov worried that they would be intercepted by German artillery fire. If they were allowed to carry new rocket launchers, many of them would be lost during the river crossing. Now that the troops have established a firm foothold on the West Bank, if they transport new rockets there, they don't have to worry about being sunk by German artillery fire in the river. He nodded and said, "Okay, then send a batch of new rocket launchers over as soon as possible to strengthen the firepower of the troops on the landing site."

  (end of this chapter)