"But, we have fought like this before." The former division chief of staff replied in a panic: "You must know that the direction we choose is the main direction of attack and cannot be adjusted casually."
After listening to what the other party said, Muzichenko became even more aware that there were many problems in this unit. The first was that the tactics and thinking were rigid. It was strange that they could win the battle. He waved his hand and said: "Colonel Yesenin is outside, you go back with him."
Headquarters."
After sending away the former chief of staff, Muzichenko directly asked the chief of staff he brought with him, Lekashali: "Comrade Major, tell me what you think."
"The mission of the superiors is very clear, which is to break through the German defenses outside the town of Golovanivsik, enter the town to join the friendly forces, and control the entire town." Lekashali quickly fell into his role. He seemed not to
Because several of the regiment commanders had higher military ranks than themselves, they seemed embarrassed and said with expressions like this: "Although our two attacks on the town ended in failure and even cost huge casualties, we still need to
Keep attacking."
Hearing what Lekashali said, the commander of the 701st regiment couldn't help but feel a little in his heart and thought to himself: "If we continue to attack, doesn't that mean that our regiment will also participate in the attack?"
Sure enough, a moment later, he saw Liekashali's eyes resting on him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Liekashali said politely: "In the next attack, your regiment will be the main attacker. It must be done before dawn."
, broke through the German defenses and rushed into the town to join the friendly forces."
"It's very difficult, Comrade Major." The leader of the 701 regiment deliberately spelled the word "major" clearly, as if to remind the other party that his military rank was higher than his: "Our two attacks ended in failure. If we continue to attack
If so, I’m afraid there will be even greater casualties.”
"You are right, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Rekashali unexpectedly agreed with him: "If we continue to attack from that area, even if we barely break through the German defense, I am afraid it will be a disastrous victory. If the troops
If they are all gone, our division will have nothing to do with the rest of the battle."
The commander of the 701st Regiment also felt the same way. If all the troops were wiped out, there would be nothing left to do next. He nodded and asked politely: "Comrade Major, I wonder how you plan to reverse this situation next?"
"Commander of the 700th Regiment," Lekashali said to the commander of the 700th Regiment, "you are setting up an offensive posture in the south of the town to attract the attention of the Germans. As for the 701st Regiment, taking advantage of the Germans' attention,
While the 700 regiments were being attracted, they quietly moved around the east side of the town and entered the town from there."
"Wait a minute, Comrade Major." The leader of the 701st regiment interrupted Lekashali's words and asked: "Why do we need to detour from the east side of the town? Can we break through the German defenses from that direction?"
"I think this possibility is very high." Muzichenko interrupted: "A few hours ago, Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov led a part of the 252nd Division into the town from the east, and along the way
The enemies we encountered were all wiped out without much fighting."
"Then will the Germans deploy heavy troops to the east of the town to defend us at this moment?" The commander of the 701st Regiment said in an uncertain tone: "What if they discover that Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov's troops have entered the town?"
, mobilize troops from other places and build a new line of defense to prevent more troops from entering the town through that gap."
"I don't think so." Muzichenko said confidently: "The Germans must have thought that after we entered the town from the east, in order to prevent a fierce exchange of fire with them, we would definitely choose a new road. But
We decided to do the opposite this time and deliberately re-entered the town from the east to catch the Germans by surprise."
"Yes, the division commander is right." Lekashali continued: "On the way here, I was thinking about whether we should adjust the direction of our attack in order to quickly break through the German defensive positions outside the town. If we want to adjust
If so, which one should I choose? Just when I was having trouble making a decision, I suddenly remembered a story the commander once told me."
Everyone did not interrupt him, but listened patiently to what Sokov said: "He said that a certain famous general led his troops to ambush an enemy force and won.
But after they cleaned the battlefield, they did not leave immediately. Instead, they re-arranged a new ambush circle not far from the ambush point.
When I heard this, I specifically asked the commander: I have just completed an ambush against the enemy and established a new ambush circle near the location of the last battle. Will the enemy not discover it?"
Lekashali's words aroused everyone's curiosity. Being near the same place twice sounded like a fantasy. It was strange that it could succeed. "What happened next?" The leader of the 701st Regiment was a little sad.
He asked angrily: "Did the second ambush succeed?"
"Yes, it was successful." Lekashali nodded and said: "The newly arrived enemies, as the general judged, thought that their friendly forces had suffered near here before, and they would not be there when they came over.
There was danger. Unexpectedly, we ran into the general's ambush and suffered huge losses in the end."
"Is this a real war example?" asked the 701 regiment leader: "Why have I never heard of it?"
"This combat example was told to me by Comrade Commander." Lekashali said in a positive tone: "Although he did not clearly explain where this combat example occurred, I believe that the commander will not lie to me."
"Comrade commanders," Muzichenko said again: "Whether this battle example is true or not is not a question we want to discuss. I just want to tell you one thing, that is, entering the town from the east, there is a high probability that you will not be attacked by the German army.
Interception. Therefore, I decided to launch another attack on the town after a quarter of an hour. The 701 regiment feigned a frontal attack, while the 701 regiment detoured back to the east of the town, entered the town from that direction, and joined forces with the friendly forces in the town."
After the combat missions were assigned, the three regiment leaders returned to their respective regiments.
"Major Lekashali," Muzichenko asked Lekashali curiously: "Is the case of two ambushes at the same place you just mentioned true?"
"Comrade Division Commander, I just said that this is what Comrade Commander personally told me." Out of his trust in Sokov, Lekashali said in a positive tone to the question raised by Muzichenko: "I
I think it can’t be fake.”
Muzichenko nodded and then got back to business: "Can you get in touch with Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov?"
"Yes." Lekashali replied: "But if you talk in plain language, I'm afraid it will be eavesdropped by the Germans. I think it's better to send a telegram to Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov."
"I think it's okay." Muzichenko nodded and agreed to Lekashali's proposal: "Immediately send a telegram to Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov and tell him that I plan to send troops to enter from the east of the town and ask him to send someone there.
Respond."
After receiving the telegram from Lekashali, Kirillov immediately called Victor to him and said to him: "Victor, I have good news for you. Lieutenant Colonel Muzichenko has taken over
As commander of the 233rd Division, troops will be sent to reinforce us soon."
But after hearing the news, Victor didn't show much joy. On the contrary, he said with a straight face: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you won't be happy for nothing, right?"
Victor said this for a reason. Originally, the mission he received was to assist the 233rd Division in capturing the town. As a result, his troops rushed into the town, while the 233rd Division, which was supposed to attack the town, was still lingering outside the town.
Damn, he had no intention of attacking at all. Later, Sokov personally called Army Commander Chumakov, and Yesenin reluctantly ordered the troops to launch an attack. But what effect would this kind of prevarication attack have? If not
Kirillov arrived with reinforcements, but his army might have been wiped out long ago.
"Victor, don't worry." Hearing that Muzichenko had taken over the position of the 233rd Division, Kirillov suddenly felt more at ease: "I knew General Muzichenko before the war.
I know very well what kind of person he is. Since the telegram he sent us said that he was about to launch an attack, it must be true."
In order to make Victor believe in his judgment, he continued: "You see, he planned to use the 700th Regiment to conduct a feint attack on the front to attract the attention of the Germans; and then ordered the 701st Regiment to detour to the right and enter the town from the east.
.”
Having said this, Kirillov looked up at Victor and said: "Except for the church in the center of the town, most of the areas to the north and east of the town have been controlled by our army. You will wait a moment
Bring a few people to the east to meet the troops. With their help, we won't have much of a problem liberating this town."
"That's right," Victor nodded and said, "Although most areas in the east and north directions of the town are already under our control. Unfortunately, due to the lack of attack weapons, some fire support points are not yet available.
Take it down. If the 701st Regiment is attacked by these firepower points when entering the city, it will definitely cause huge casualties."
Kirillov raised his hand and looked at his watch and said: "It's getting late, Victor, you should leave now."
"Yes." Victor agreed, turned around and walked outside.
But after just a few steps, he was stopped by Kirillov. The latter stepped forward to hold his hand, shook it hard twice, and said earnestly: "Victor, you must come back alive."
"Don't worry, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Victor said carelessly: "I have a good chance of coming back alive. I also promised the commander that I would rush into Berlin with him and destroy the lair of Faxi Temple. I
I don’t want to keep my words unanswered.”
After seeing Victor off, Kirillov received a telegram from the headquarters. The content of the telegram was simple: "Report immediately on the situation there."
Seeing that Sokov was eager to know the situation here, Kirillov did not dare to neglect, and quickly called the telegraph operator over, drafted a telegram, and reported everything that happened here in detail. Even Victor
He did not hesitate to take people to meet friendly forces.
After receiving the telegram, Sokov read it for a while, raised his head and said to Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it seems that our decision to replace the commander of the 233rd Division is completely correct. Lieutenant Colonel Muzichenko noticed that the front
It was difficult to break through the German defense line during the attack, so a regiment was sent to feint from the front, while the regiment responsible for the main attack detoured back to the German left flank and entered the town from the east, preparing to give the Germans a surprise blow."
Shtemenko took the telegram from Sokov's hand, read it carefully, then nodded and said: "It seems that the battle to liberate the town of Golovanivsik will be over soon."
"I believe that Kirillov and Muzichenko will definitely be able to eliminate the enemies in the town of Golovanivsik if they join forces." Ponedelin said with emotion: "The last time they joined forces, they were still fighting.
During a military exercise before."
After hearing this, Smirnov said casually: "That happened several years ago."
"I hope their cooperation this time is just the beginning." Sokov was thinking in his mind that after the Battle of Uman, the commanders in his army would definitely have to make some adjustments, like Kirillov and Muzychin.
For capable commanders like Ke, we must arrange suitable positions for them.
At this time, the phone on the table rang. Sokov thought it was Muzichenko calling to report the situation, so he picked up the phone and said, "This is Sokov."
"Hello, Comrade Commander." The voice of Chumakov, commander of the 57th Army, came over the phone: "I am Chumakov."
"What's the matter, Comrade Commander?"
"Comrade Commander, the situation is like this." Chumakov said cautiously: "I remember you once said that after removing Colonel Yesenin from the position of division commander, Lieutenant Colonel Muzichenko became the acting commander of the 233rd Division. At the same time, let
Yesenin continues to stay in the division and serves as deputy division commander."
"Yes, I said that."
"However, after Lieutenant Colonel Muzichenko took over the position of division commander, he not only drove Yesenin out, but also drove back his division chief of staff." Chumakov said angrily: "I want to ask
Ask, what does this mean?"
"It's very simple. It turned out that I didn't think well, so I made a hasty decision to appoint Yesenin as deputy division commander." Sokov said into the microphone: "But after my observation during this period, I feel that Yesenin does not have the qualifications at all.
He has the ability to command division-level troops, so he changed his mind and asked him to report to my headquarters."
Sokov thought that since Chumakov asked about this, it meant that Yesenin had arrived at his army headquarters, so he asked tentatively: "Is Colonel Yesenin at your place?"
Chumakov on the other end of the phone glanced at Yesenin standing in front of him, and replied bravely: "Yes, he is in my headquarters at the moment." After a brief pause, he asked tentatively,
"Comrade Commander, can you tell me how you plan to arrange for him?"
Sokov was originally very dissatisfied with Yesenin's performance on the battlefield. Unexpectedly, after he was dismissed, he went directly to Chumakov's headquarters and tried to get Chumakov to seek an explanation from him.
He suppressed the anger in his heart and said into the microphone: "General Chumakov, please tell Colonel Yesenin and ask him to rush to the army headquarters immediately. Otherwise, I will send Lieutenant Koshkin to bring him here.
.As for how to deal with him, that is a matter for the Army Group Headquarters, and it is not your turn to ask."