Chapter 207
The front command had just moved here, and the destroyed building had not been repaired in time. When Yuri walked into the first-floor lobby where half of the wall had collapsed, four or five Soviet soldiers were carefully carrying out a bomb that had failed to explode.
The spacious hall was filled with noise. Signalmen were laying cables, while the front's staff were discussing something around a large, lame table. As for the front's top commanders, none of them could be seen.
"salute!"
Seeing Yuri and his group walking in from outside, someone shouted at the top of his voice, and everyone in the hall suddenly stood up straight and saluted towards the entrance.
Yuri casually returned a military salute, took off his military cap, and said to the nearest captain: "Go get some food."
"Yes! Comrade General Yuri Arkhipovich!" the captain said loudly.
Yuri looked at him in surprise, feeling a little surprised that he could call out his name.
"Comrade General Yuri Arkhipovich, I used to be a communications soldier in the 328th Division and served under your command," the captain seemed very excited. He maintained the salute and said loudly.
Yuri nodded in understanding. He had once commanded the 328th Infantry Division under Rokossovsky. At that time, the 328th Division was a mere empty shell. The entire unit was disbanded. He took over from Rokossovsky only a reinforced artillery battalion and a communications team. The captain in front of him should be from that communications team. Now, he has been promoted to captain. It is really not easy.
Of course, when he had this feeling , Yuri obviously forgot what level he was at that time and what level he is now.
"Well, let's go get something to eat, we're all hungry," Yuri said, smiling and patting the captain on the shoulder.
"Yes, I'll go right away," the captain put down his hand and ran away.
After watching the captain run out of the hall, Yuri walked to the big table with his hat in hand. He first glanced at the battlefield situation map spread out on the table, then threw his military hat on the table and asked, "Is this the latest progress?"
"Yes, Comrade Yuri Arkhipovich," a staff officer replied.
Yuri looked up at him, nodded, and looked back at the map.
The map was very large, covering the entire long table. At some key locations, there were small red flags representing the Soviet army and small black flags representing the German army.
The first thing Yuri looked at was the attack direction of the 51st Army. He was most concerned about the attack in this direction.
"When is this progress?" After finding the location of the 51st Army, Yuri bent down , picked up a pencil on the map, drew a circle in the direction of the attack, and asked without raising his head.
"Twenty minutes ago, Comrade Yuri Arkhipovich," a staff officer replied.
"Where is the German 9th Tank Army?" Yuri looked at the map carefully and asked angrily.
It's no wonder he was angry. The key point was that with the transfer of the 19th Tank Army to the southern front, the 51st Army's offensive capability was greatly weakened, and their offensive was delayed by the German army at the Baltsevo line. The 9th Assault Army, which launched an offensive from the left wing of the 51st Army, had already achieved a breakthrough from the rear of Baltsevo. However, according to the original battle plan, the 9th Assault Army's offensive direction was Gorlovka.
As a result, the initial pincer attack was disrupted, and the original "乂" shape was changed into a "匕" shape. The key point was that the two offensives had not been combined, leaving a gap of 5 kilometers wide between the attack direction of the 51st Army and the direction of the assault of the 9th Army.
This gap was fatal because the offensive launched by the Third Ukrainian Front on the right wing of the 51st Army was stubbornly blocked by the German Fourth Infantry Army, and the offensive was not very smooth. At the same time, the main force of the German Ninth Tank Army was discovered by the Air Force earlier. They were advancing southeastward from Kramatorsk. According to the speculation of the Front Command, their purpose might be to support the German troops on the Northern Donets River line to prevent the Third Ukrainian Front from breaking through in the Donets direction.
This guess makes sense, but no matter how reasonable it is, it is just a guess. No one can know what the Germans are thinking.
According to Yuri, if the German 1st Tank Army did not go to the Northern Donets River line, but detoured to the direction of Baltsevo, then the 9th Assault Army would face the fate of being surrounded by the German army, and the gap west of Baltsevo would cost them their lives.
Such a big threat has been ignored. The German 1st Tank Army is still 40 kilometers east of Kramatorsk, as marked on the situation map. Have they not moved for nearly three hours? Are they squatting there to take a shit?
"There is no latest intelligence about this German army yet," the staff officer who spoke just now answered cautiously after hearing Yuri's unfriendly tone.
Yuri ignored him. He turned his head and found a ruler. Starting from the position of the German 1st Tank Army three hours ago, he measured towards the direction of Baltsevo. Based on the maximum marching speed of the German Tank Army, he did a calculation and quickly drew a circle with a radius of about five centimeters on the map with a pencil.
"Go contact Air Force 8 and have them immediately arrange a reconnaissance of..." Yuri looked carefully at the location of the circle and said, "Conduct reconnaissance in the area of Litchevyan Village. I want to see the results within half an hour!"
"Yes!" The staff officer stood up and saluted, then turned around and ran away.
The situation on the battlefield was changing rapidly. Yuri was also guessing that the reason he chose the Litchevyan area was because if the German army really wanted to take advantage of the situation and prepare to encircle the 9th Assault Army, then its 1st Tank Army would definitely move quickly towards Baltsevo. In three hours, minus some surplus points, its vanguard should have arrived in this area by now.
Note that this is not a question of attacking the Ninth Army, but a question of the direction of the entire southern battlefield. Once the Ninth Army is defeated, the German army can launch a counterattack in the direction of Baltsevo, directly threatening the right rear wing of the 28th Army, thereby breaking the Soviet army's southern front.
Commanding a battle is actually gambling. Before the result comes out, no one knows whether the dice cup is showing big or small, so caution is the best option.
Although Yuri had not been in command for a long time, he had experienced life and death countless times in the past two years, so he had long been accustomed to being cautious. In every battle, he did not consider the situation of his own side first, but the movement of the German army. He wanted to find out the movement of all the German troops around the battle so as to avoid being surrounded by the German army at the last moment.
Now, the front had such a big gap on the front line, but ignored a large German troop group whose whereabouts were still unclear. This made him feel very uneasy, and he always felt like there was a guillotine hanging over his head.
The captain who was sent to get food soon came back. He brought two orderlies and brought bread, sausage, macaroni, three canned meats, and a large pot of cabbage soup to Yuri and others.
The bread tasted pretty good. It was made from egg powder, which was very common in Soviet troops. The egg powder was donated by the Americans in large quantities. Soviet soldiers called it "Roosevelt's eggs."
Because of the map, Yuri was in a bad mood. He was almost silent during the meal except for the sound of slurping. He didn't speak, and the huge hall was very dull. Everyone was cautious. Only Biryuzov occasionally said a few words to try to ease the atmosphere, but it didn't work.
The meal took about twenty minutes. Although Yuri was in a bad mood, he had a good appetite. He ate a large piece of bread, a portion of canned meat, and drank a bowl of cabbage soup. At the end, he even picked up a piece of vegetable leaf left in the bowl and put it into his mouth to chew.
Seeing how ugly he ate, Biryuzov couldn't stand it anymore. He pushed his untouched bowl of cabbage soup over to him, but was pushed back by Yuri.
"No more eating," Yuri stood up, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, lit one, and just took a puff when he saw the staff officer who had gone to contact the Air Force rush into the hall.
"Comrade Yuri... Comrade Yuri Arispovich," the staff officer had an unpleasant expression on his face. He handed over a piece of manuscript paper and said breathlessly, "Comrade General Timofey Timofeyevich personally sent the latest reconnaissance intelligence. A German tank unit was found 12 kilometers west of the village of Litchevyan."
Timofey Timofeyevich, also known as Air Force Major General Hryukin.
Buzz!
Despite Yuri's imposing presence, the entire hall was in an uproar in an instant, and everyone knew what this meant.
Yuri's face turned pale in an instant. He reached out to take the manuscript and glanced at it.
The above is Khryukin's reply, which roughly means that he has issued a combat mission and the Air Force will launch an air strike on the German troops in the direction of Litchevyan village in the following period of time.
Yuri crumpled up the manuscript paper and threw it directly on the table where the map was placed. Then he lay down on the map again and looked at it carefully.
"Where is Comrade Fyodor Ivanovich now?" he asked, standing up after about three or four minutes.
"Comrade Commander is on his way," replied the staff officer who delivered the intelligence. Apparently, he had contacted Tolbukhin before.
"Contact Moscow for me," Yuri said immediately.
