Chapter 137 Khrushchev's Proposal
“Hiss, hiss, hiss…”
“Da da da…”
The snowfields along the Aksai River were boiling. The continuous firing of the heavy machine guns caused the barrels to overheat. The gunshots were no longer crisp, but hoarse, like the sound of tearing rags.
On a hill less than 1 km from the river bank, Soviet soldiers wearing white capes and carrying skis launched waves of attacks desperately, braving the hail of bullets from the German army on the hill. A large number of corpses were scattered on the slope in front of the hill. The blood had already dyed the snow red, and then froze into ice, forming pieces of blood-red icicles.
Over the river bank, the black German fighter planes and the green Soviet fighter planes had been fighting fiercely for nearly two hours. The number of fighter planes deployed by both sides had grown from a dozen at the beginning to dozens today. From time to time, somewhere within sight, injured planes would sway and escape, or directly fall to the ground.
On the river beach, thick smoke was billowing everywhere as far as the eye could see. The destroyed tanks and armored vehicles of both sides were scattered over several square kilometers of the plain, like huge bonfires.
The Aksay-Zalievsky Campaign broke out without any preparation from either the Soviet Union or Germany. At the beginning of the campaign , the German army's goal was only to establish a landing field in Zalievsky to open up a passage for crossing the Aksay River. To this end, the German army invested the main force of the 6th Division in this direction, and faced them with the 335th Infantry Division of the 57th Army of the Soviet Army.
The change in the battle situation began with the Soviet army's defeat. After the German army successfully captured the landing site, both the Soviet and German sides continued to deploy troops on this front. Tanks and aircraft successively participated in the battle in this area. The scale of the battle became larger and larger, and more and more troops participated in the battle.
A surprise attack turned into a refueling war. This is definitely not what the German army wants to see. Of course, it may not be what the Soviet army wants to see either. But fundamentally speaking, the situation is obviously more favorable to the Soviet army because in terms of the scale of the war between the two sides, the Soviet army can afford such consumable losses, while the German army cannot.
Less than two kilometers away from the hills occupied by the German army, Kreshko put down his binoculars, glared at his chief of staff with bloodshot eyes and shouted: "Right wing, we must strengthen the offensive on the right wing. Tell Tumenov to take over. Before 11 o'clock, we must take positions 337 and 349!"
The chief of staff was a Ukrainian man in his thirties. Nowadays, there are many chiefs of staff in the Soviet Army’s divisional command system who are of this age group. They all grew up rapidly after the outbreak of the Soviet-German War.
As the commander of the 335th Division, Kreshko had a reason for setting the time at 11 o'clock: the Germans were building three pontoon bridges on the Aksay River, and according to their progress, they should be able to complete it by 11 o'clock. Once all three pontoon bridges were opened, the German armored forces assembled on the west bank of the Aksay River would be able to quickly cross the river and enter the battlefield. Their powerful assault capability would become a nightmare for the 335th Infantry Division.
Although he understood what Kreshko meant, the chief of staff had to say something because he had just received news from the front a few minutes ago that Tumenov, who commanded the 2237th Regiment, had been killed in battle. He was shot in the head by a German machine gun and died on the spot. In addition, the current casualties of this regiment were as high as one-third, and it was obviously impossible for it to take on the task of attacking two high grounds.
In the nearly two days of fighting, the 335th Division suffered heavy losses. The 2237th Regiment was the division's reserve force, but it had suffered one-third of its losses so far. This shows how fierce and cruel the battle was.
However, for Kreshko and his men, there is no better choice than to grit their teeth and hold on. As commanders of the 335th Division, a previous mistake caused them to lose the natural defense line of the Aksai River. Now, if they cannot eliminate this adverse effect, Yuri will not even have to pay attention to them. Naturally, someone will teach them what "not a single step back" means.
Of course, things on the battlefield change rapidly, and the established battle plan is not necessarily immutable. It is normal for commanders to change the battle plan at any time according to the actual situation. As a division commander, Kreshko's rank was limited. He did not know that the passive situation of the 335th Division directly led to the Soviet and German armies fighting a war of attrition in Zalivsky. Therefore, the Don Front Command has temporarily adjusted the battle plan and prepared to use this key point to drag the German troops who tried to support Stalingrad to death in Zalivsky.
Sasinovo is a small village less than . Looking southwest from the village, you can even see billowing smoke in the direction of Zalivsky, and of course, you can also hear the sound of gunfire coming from there.
Since the 57th Army captured this area, an infantry battalion commanded by Captain Kuchenko has been stationed here. Their mission is to eliminate any German paratroopers that may appear in the area.
Today, Captain Kuchenko was very nervous. At 5 o'clock in the morning, when it was still dark, he ordered the troops to gather urgently, and then asked the soldiers wearing thick cotton clothes to put on white cloaks and hide in the snow around the village to keep alert at all times. The reason for this was not because of the appearance of Germans nearby, but because the village where he was stationed had big shots, and many big shots.
Yes, there were indeed many big names, representatives of the General Staff and the Supreme Command such as Vasilevsky, the representative of the Military Commission Khrushchev, some members of the Don Front Command headed by Rokossovsky, some members of the Stalingrad Front Command headed by Yeremenko, the commander of the 24th Army Galanin, Zadov who had just replaced Malinovsky as the commander of the 66th Army, the commander of the 51st Army Trufanov, the commander of the 2nd Guards Army Yakovlev and the commander of the 57th Army Yuri, and so on.
The meeting was convened by Vasilevsky. The purpose of the meeting was to finalize an operational plan aimed at crushing the German Kotelenikovo combat group and forcing it away from the Stalingrad encirclement.
Vasilevsky believed that the war of attrition in the Zalivsky area created an opportunity for the Soviet army to concentrate superior forces to break the German offensive. He decided to use the 57th Army to clamp down on the German army head-on in the area, and at the same time, use rapid corps to attack the two wings of the German army group.
According to Vasilevsky's plan, the troops responsible for the two-wing assault were the Second Guards Army and the Sixty-sixth Army. The Second Guards Army was responsible for the assault on the German left wing, mainly an auxiliary attack, while the Fifty-first Army was responsible for the assault on the German right wing, which was responsible for the main offensive mission.
The 51st Army Group included the 13th Mechanized Army and the 4th Mechanized Army. After the offensive was launched, the 13th Mechanized Army set out from the Aksai railway station area and advanced westward, while the 4th Mechanized Army launched an offensive against Jankovsky from the Dorofeevsky direction.
Before the two armies launched the attack, the 57th Army commanded by Yuri had to block the German offensive on the front battlefield along the Aksai River.
Considering the lack of effective anti-tank equipment in the 57th Army, Vasilevsky, after consultation with Rokossovsky and Yeremenko, allocated the 234th Independent Tank Regiment, the 235th Flame Tank Brigade and the 20th Independent Fighter Brigade to Yuri. At the same time, the 9th Air Army will also allocate some fighters and attack aircraft to support the defense of the 57th Army.
Before convening this meeting, Vasilevsky had apparently communicated with the commanders of the two fronts. Therefore, the meeting went smoothly and did not take too long. It mainly involved issuing orders to the commanders of the participating army groups.
"Yuri, you did a great job in Stalingrad," Khrushchev, whose hair was becoming increasingly thinner, walked slowly on a path covered with thick snow, his hands behind his back. His standard military boots were already covered in mud, and there was a sign of stitching on the upper part of the boot, which must have been torn and repaired.
Yuri followed behind him, head slightly lowered, his eyes having been looking at the seam for a while - he had to admit that in this era, the entire Soviet Union was positive, at least that was the main tone, and people like Khrushchev also maintained a simple style in this era.
"Are you interested in being transferred to the General Staff?" Khrushchev suddenly stopped talking, turned sideways and looked at Yuri and asked.
"General Staff?" Yuri was a little distracted, but when he came to his senses, he asked subconsciously.
"The General Staff," Khrushchev gave an affirmative answer, and then said, "After the battle of Stalingrad is over, I would like to recommend you to serve in the General Staff. Well, now I am considering giving you the position of Chief of the Operations Department of the General Staff."
Yuri's heart trembled violently. This position was really attractive to him.
Today, the Chief of Operations of the Soviet General Staff is a very important position. The reason is very simple. He is not only responsible to the Chief of the General Staff, but also directly to Stalin. To put it bluntly, in the entire Soviet military system, the person who has spent the longest time with Stalin himself is neither the Chief of the General Staff nor the Military Commissars, but the Chief of Operations.
As the Chief of the Operations Department of the General Staff, he had to report the latest situation in various war zones to Stalin at irregular intervals every day and be ready to accept Stalin's consultation at any time. In addition, he had to provide effective suggestions for the military plans of the headquarters, and sometimes even had to personally participate in the formulation of the plans.
Of course, such an important position is definitely not something that ordinary people can do, because the person in this position needs to have very strong comprehensive abilities.
