Chapter 47 Arrival
“Buzz…”
A huge roar was circling in the dark clouded sky. From time to time, one or two dive bombers would fly over with the roar, and after dropping their bombs, they would quickly soar higher.
The anti-aircraft artillery and anti-aircraft machine guns located in the open area of the jungle had been roaring for nearly half an hour and shot down at least seven or eight unlucky German fighter planes.
The military vehicle, which was covered with lush branches, was running fast on the narrow path opened up in the forest. In the car, Yuri, who had a fixed bracket on his shoulder, bent down from time to time and peeked at the sky above the forest from the car window.
At this moment, Yuri was in the fortified area west of Peskovka and on the east bank of the Teterev River. He received an order from the front headquarters yesterday afternoon and reported to the 37th Army headquarters in Boyarka. Today, he rushed to the fortified area and officially took over the 239th Infantry Brigade of the 147th Division under his command.
Today is August 20th. Four days ago, the German armored forces occupied Korosten and then advanced southeast, pushing the front line all the way to the Malin area. As of yesterday, its vanguard troops were less than 20 kilometers away from the Soviet army in the direction of the Teterev River.
Yesterday, when Yuri reported to the army headquarters, he realized how bad the current situation was. Take the 147th Division for example. The reason why he reported to the army headquarters instead of the division headquarters was because the 147th Division headquarters was no longer contactable. The division commander, political commissar, and many staff officers of the division headquarters were all trapped in the area west of Korosten, along with more than five regiments of troops under the division headquarters.
Because the reserve troops could not be replenished for the time being, in order to prevent the 147th Division from collapsing, the front and army headquarters had to assign another commander to the 147th Division, Colonel Potekhin, who was currently arranging defenses in the Radomyshli area. As a result, a rather unique situation emerged: one 147th Division had two divisional headquarters.
When Yuri was at the army headquarters yesterday, he had some basic understanding of the situation of the 239th Brigade. Perhaps because its mission was to garrison the Peskovka fortification area, the 239th Brigade had not suffered too much loss before, and with the addition of some reserve troops, the brigade's strength was relatively strong. At present, the 239th Brigade has three regiments, including two infantry regiments, one anti-tank artillery regiment, and an anti-aircraft artillery company, with a total strength of more than 3,000 people. For most infantry brigades that only have two infantry regiments, this is already overstaffed.
What made Yuri feel most gratified was that perhaps because of the powerful German armored forces, the headquarters was deliberately strengthening the artillery forces in various fortified areas. The artillery regiment under the 239th Brigade was also strengthened in the previous reorganization. At present, the regiment has 6 artillery battalions, equipped with a total of 24 76mm anti-tank guns, 12 107mm cannons, and 16 85mm anti-aircraft guns for anti-tank use. In addition, the anti-aircraft artillery company also has 16 37mm anti-aircraft guns.
In terms of fortifications, the depth of the fortified area that the 239th Battalion needed to garrison was 4-6 kilometers, including a large number of interconnected artillery fortifications, machine gun-artillery fortifications, machine gun fortifications and two ammunition depots. In the wide depth, there were also a large number of anti-tank obstacles, stakes, minefields and applied minefields, some solid artillery fortifications, and a large number of bunker fortifications, all of which were concrete buildings built to the standard of being able to withstand 152mm artillery bombardment.
Such a fortified area extends from Ivankovo to Fastov region. In order to build this thing, more than 200,000 manpower were mobilized in the entire Ukrainian region .
The military vehicle drove through the jungle for nearly half an hour, and a camp with a hidden net appeared in front of Yuri.
"Comrade Major, we're here," the military vehicle slowly stopped under a big tree that was so thick that three people could hug it. The young man sitting in the front passenger seat turned around and said to Yuri.
The young man's name was Arseni, Arseni Vissarionovich Zenikov, with a military rank of Sergeant. He was also Yuri's current guard, a Ukrainian from Poltava, a handsome and sunny young man, only three years younger than Yuri.
Yuri nodded but said nothing.
The young man jumped out of the car and opened the door for him.
Yuri picked up the military cap on his thigh, put it on his head, then bent down and got out of the carriage.
“Buzz…”
Almost at the same time Yuri got off the car, a German plane roared past the woods. Arseni was startled and instinctively squatted down.
Yuri didn't react at all. He stood by the car door, adjusting his new military uniform and looking around the camp.
After all, Yuri had participated in a real fierce battle, so he was very clear about the characteristics of German aircraft. Just like just now, when the plane passed by the treetops, there was no danger, after all, its cannon was not firing, and at such a low altitude, it was impossible for it to drop bombs.
The camp was built very simply, with only a few dilapidated sheds made of logs. However, this was just the position of the anti-aircraft artillery company, so it was normal for it to be so simple.
Yuri glanced around briefly, then started walking towards the outskirts of the woods, where there was a passage leading to the fortified position.
There is a distance of two to three hundred meters from the parking place to the passage to the fortified position. Along the way, you can see numerous craters caused by bomb explosions in the woods, as well as a large number of broken trees. Of course, there are also some bodies of Soviet soldiers and the wreckage of destroyed anti-aircraft guns.
Yuri ignored the bloody scenes and just walked through the anti-aircraft position until he reached the entrance of the fortified position.
The German air bombing had apparently come to an end. The roar of fighter planes in the sky had become much quieter. Through the mottled shadows of the trees above the forest, some black spots of planes could be seen flying away.
When they were about to reach the passage, a dozen soldiers poured out from the passage, each of them walking in a hurry, and the leader was a second lieutenant.
"Comrade Major!" Seeing Yuri coming over, the second lieutenant stopped and saluted.
"Hello, Comrade Lieutenant," Yuri returned the salute and asked, "Where are you going?"
"Comrade Major, we are preparing to search for the German pilots," the second lieutenant replied, "We just shot down a German plane, and we saw the pilot parachuted. He should have landed in the woods in the southeast direction."
"Go ahead," Yuri nodded and smiled.
The second lieutenant saluted him again and then hurried away with his men.
After watching the lieutenant and his group go into the woods, Yuri was about to continue walking when another person came out of the passage. This time it was a person, a guy wearing a blue hat and blue pants.
"Is this Comrade Major Yuri Arkhipovich Kulyokov?" The man looked to be about thirty-four or thirty-five years old, with a well-proportioned figure, thick eyebrows and big eyes. He looked like a Kazakh from Central Asia. He stood in front of Yuri, stretched out his hand, and smiled, "I am Vitim, Vitim Vasilyevich Bashtsky, the political commissar of the 239th Brigade."
"Oh, hello, Comrade Vitim Vasilyevich Bashtsky," Yuri shook hands with him and said with a smile, "I heard your introduction at the army headquarters before. I'm very happy to meet you."
"Thank you," Vitim seemed very reserved, unlike most political commissars who were serious. "I received a notice from the headquarters saying that you would come this afternoon. I didn't expect you to arrive so early."
"The situation on the road is better, so we started working earlier," Yuri said with a smile. "How is the situation of the troops? I heard that Comrade Major Hermann was injured?"
Major Hermann was the deputy commander of the 239th Brigade. Before Yuri came, the 239th Brigade was temporarily under his command. However, when Yuri was at the army headquarters yesterday, he heard that this man was injured, and it was for this reason that the headquarters urged him to take over the troops.
"Comrade Major Hermann has died," Vitim's smile froze instantly. He was silent for a moment and said, "He died early this morning."
Yuri was speechless. When he was commanding the 209th Battalion, the political commissar who worked with him was shot. This time he came to the 239th Brigade, just after taking office, his deputy brigade commander died again. What kind of luck was this?
After asking about the details, according to Vitim, the unfortunate Major Hermann was killed by a German plane. A piece of wood debris blown up by the bomb hit his right eye and injured someone else. He died less than 6 hours after the injury.
Just after taking office, a deputy brigade commander was killed, which cast a shadow on Yuri's heart.
Following Vitim into the hidden passage of the fortified position, along the tunnel that was wide enough for three people to walk side by side, Yuri walked all the way into the hidden command post, where he met the commanders of the 239th Brigade with whom he would need to cooperate in the future.
Of course, the combat units of the brigade are not as simple as the 209th Battalion. In addition to the sacrificed deputy brigade commander, the command also has two political commissars, including Vitim, one principal and one deputy. Vitim is the principal political commissar, and the deputy is Daniel Danielovich Grechko , who is mainly responsible for the brigade headquarters and logistics.
In addition, there are three brigade-level staff officers, including an operations staff officer, an artillery chief, and a communications chief.
These people constitute the backbone of the entire 239th Brigade's command system, and in principle, Yuri is the leader of these people. However, he can only be responsible for combat command. The party affairs and personnel work within the brigade are Vitim's business, and he cannot interfere.
In fact, for a commander, the higher the level, the more restrictions he will face, which is inevitable.
