Chapter 49 Route
"...Jalka huddled behind the rocks of the battlefield, tears still hanging on her eyelashes from crying just now..."
In the stuffy troop accommodation point that was like a steamer, a gentle and emotional female voice flowed from the loudspeaker hanging from the wooden ceiling. On the ground where the water was still ankle-deep, thirty or forty soldiers, with disheveled clothes or even naked, gathered in twos and threes, holding their guns, and listened quietly to the broadcast.
"I still can't believe it. Sonya died without a sound ? That's too bad," a young soldier muttered impatiently, "Comrade Commissioner shouldn't have let her go back alone... Damn the Germans!"
"Stop talking!" The muttering sound aroused dissatisfaction among several soldiers around, and someone turned around and scolded.
The young soldier shrank his neck, closed his mouth reluctantly, and continued to listen to the story on the radio.
Throughout late August, the front-line fortified area of Peskovka fell into a deathly calm. A heavy rain turned the plains on both sides of the Teterev River into a swamp. The poor road conditions plunged the German armored forces into despair. They encountered the largest enemy since the war began, other than the Soviet army, and an enemy they could not defeat.
Out of desperation, the German army that launched the attack from northern Ukraine came to a complete standstill. From the 26th to the 30th, a full four or five days, except for sporadic gunfights and sniper shots, there was not a single large-scale battle in the Peskovka fortification area.
Starting from the morning of the 27th, the soldiers in the 239th Brigade's position in the fortified area, whose morale was low due to the heat and depression, suddenly had a new pastime: listening to the broadcasts from the brigade's communications platoon.
As long as there is no fighting, this broadcast will start at 8 am and continue until 5 pm. The content is also varied, including news broadcasts, music, story broadcasts, etc. However, for the soldiers of the 239th Brigade, their favorite part is the story broadcast program broadcast by Ustinia Terentyevna Razdonova, a female soldier in the communications platoon.
This is the program being broadcast on the radio now. As for the story in the program, which has been broadcast for two consecutive days, it is called "The Dawns Here Are Quiet". It tells the story of a political commissar named Vaskov who leads a group of female anti-aircraft machine gunners to guard a railway station.
It goes without saying that a good story is always attractive. In the past two days, all the soldiers in the brigade have been fascinated by this story. The people in the story are no longer just cold codes to them, but rather like people they are familiar with.
Just yesterday afternoon, when the radio broadcast reported that Sonya was killed by the Germans, the entire position was in an uproar. Some impulsive soldiers on the front line even violated the ban and fired at the German positions opposite.
Fortunately, the brigade did not deal with these impulsive soldiers seriously, but only gave them a warning.
That's right, this battlefield broadcast was officially started at Yuri's suggestion and after consultation with the brigade headquarters.
At first, Daniel, the deputy political commissar, was very disapproving of this. He believed that it was a sheer waste to consume the troops' already insufficient resources and engage in these useless activities. However, since Vidim also nodded in agreement, he was a person of little influence and therefore did not strongly object.
As a result, after a few days, especially after what happened yesterday, Daniel's attitude made a 360-degree turn. He believed that this form of battlefield broadcasting was very good. It could not only instill revolutionary ideas into the soldiers, but also boost the morale of the troops and increase the soldiers' hatred towards the fascist German army. It was necessary to promote and maintain it.
To this end, Daniel is preparing a report summarizing the 239th Brigade's experience in this regard and submitting it to the front's military committee.
Although the plan to broadcast battlefield radio was proposed by himself, and even the story that caused a great response, "The Dawns Here Are Quiet", was plagiarized by him from his previous life, Yuri did not stop Daniel from wanting to make a fuss about it and to attract attention. After all, this was supposed to be the job of the political commissar.
The broadcast could also be heard in the headquarters, but unlike the soldiers who were in high spirits, no one in the 239th Brigade, including Yuri, was in the mood to listen to any stories.
On the long table in the command center was placed the latest battlefield situation map. All the generals of the 239th Brigade, including Yuri, were gathered around the map. It could be seen that everyone's face looked unhappy.
Although it is the latest situation map, the actual date is the 24th. It can be seen from the map that the German pincer attack has become very obvious, and their combat objective has also been clearly revealed - to encircle Kiev and annihilate the entire Southwestern Front is their combat objective.
From the map, the German offensive in the Uman direction had advanced to Kirovograd, but they encountered firm resistance from the Southern Front there. Then, on the 23rd, they turned north and launched an offensive towards Kremenchug in the northeast. In this way, this southern German force had actually penetrated into the rear of Kiev.
On the northern front, in addition to the German 51st Army launching an offensive in the direction of Peskovka, in a deeper place, there was also Guderian's group moving rapidly southward from the direction of Moscow. On the 23rd, this route of German troops had launched an offensive in the direction of Gomel, while the 21st Army of the Western Front and most of the newly formed Bryansk Front were responsible for the defense.
Corresponding to the German offensive was a series of changes in the Soviet high-level. First, the former Chief of Staff Zhukov was dismissed and transferred to the reserve front. Then, the former Chief of Staff of the Western Front Purkayev was also dismissed and transferred back to Moscow. Soon after, the headquarters was reorganized again. The entire front was divided into three major war zones: Northwest, Southwest, and West. The Southwest Front and the Southern Front were incorporated into the Southwest War Zone, and the commander-in-chief of the war zone was Comrade Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny.
Now, no one explained why Zhukov was removed from his post as Chief of the General Staff, and no one explained why Purkayev was removed from his post as Chief of Staff of the Southwestern Front. Of course, as brigade-level commanders, Yuri and others had no right to interfere in these matters, but what about the two completely contradictory orders?
That’s right, just this morning, along with the delivery of the latest battlefield situation map, two completely different orders from higher authorities appeared in the headquarters of the 239th Brigade.
Of these two orders, one was issued by the Supreme Command via the Front Command, and the recipients of the order were all the defensive forces in the fortified area, including the 239th Battalion. The other was issued directly by the 147th Division Headquarters.
The main content of the first order was that all defense forces in the Kiev fortified area must hold their positions in the following battles and not retreat a single step. In the absence of orders, any form of retreat would be considered an act of treason and surrender to the enemy, and would be brought to court-martial.
The order issued by the 147th Division Headquarters conveyed the latest combat plan of the theater command. This order required the 239th Brigade to launch an artillery offensive against the German positions on the east bank of the Teterev River at 9 pm on September 4, and to withdraw from the existing positions in the early morning of the 5th and move towards Berezan.
Berezan was located 40 kilometers east of Kiev, and moving to that place was obviously a retreat, which was completely contrary to the orders of the Supreme Command.
Well, this kind of weird thing is not the first time that it has happened since the war began, so there is nothing to be surprised about. But the problem is that the Supreme Command is the superior unit, and the theater command is also the superior unit. So whose orders should be obeyed?
Yuri was more willing to obey the second order to retreat, because he knew that if he didn't leave now, it would depend on luck whether he could retreat safely. But the problem was that he knew that before the day of retreat on the 5th, a new order would be issued, and the result would most likely require the 239th Brigade to continue to hold its position.
The German campaign to encircle the Southwestern Front has already begun. So for Yuri, what he has to do now is to plan the best breakout route for himself and his troops. Therefore, while other people in the command are still considering which order to obey, he has already begun to formulate the best breakout plan.
Judging from the current southward trend of Guderian's group, once this German army captures Gomel, its roundabout route will definitely be along the Dnieper River lowlands, through Chernigov all the way to the Priluki area, in order to meet up with the German troops on the southern front and form an encirclement.
At this time, it was obviously unwise to choose to join the large forces of the Southwestern Front, because in that case, most of them might be sent out as cannon fodder, and a large force meant a big target, which would definitely be difficult to escape from German aerial reconnaissance.
Since it was unsafe to follow the main force, who else could he follow? It was simple. Of course, he would follow those who had successfully broken through in the previous life, such as Yuri's immediate superior, Comrade Vlasov, who had been rapidly promoted after the Battle of Kiev.
At present, Comrade Vlasov and his 37th Army Command are located in Beshev, only 35 kilometers away from Peskovka. Yuri's current plan is to lead the troops to move towards Beshev as soon as he receives the retreat order.
Of course, plans are always just plans, and often, plans cannot keep up with changes. In order to deal with unexpected events, Yuri also developed another alternative plan, which was to break out to the north, through Demel and Chernobyl, and detour to Liubechi in the north of Chernigov, and from there enter the primitive jungle at the border between Ukraine and Russia.
