Chapter 84 Episode 16
The two jeeps crawled in the dark night in the wind and snow for more than half an hour before they arrived at Soyabrsk. The residents of this small town had all moved away, and only the headquarters of the 3rd Cavalry Army and a direct battalion were stationed here.
Yuri was not familiar with Dovatoor. In his previous life, he had never heard of him. Now Dovatoor commanded a cavalry corps and was at least a major general. If he had not performed well during the war and had not died in battle, then his name should have been recorded in the history of World War II. But the reality was that this person was not well-known. According to Yuri's guess, this guy was probably not very lucky.
In fact, Dovator was not completely unknown. The Soviet Union even used him on the cover of a stamp. It was just that Yuri was ignorant and had never heard of him. However, this guy did die in battle later, during the Battle of Moscow.
At the headquarters of the 3rd Cavalry Army, Yuri not only met Dovator and the main commanders of the 3rd Cavalry Army, but also met the commander of the 316th Infantry Division, Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov. However, the army chief of staff Malinin had already left. He had driven to Pigulino two hours ago, where the commander of the front, Comrade Zhukov, was.
It was not until this time that Yuri learned that just two days ago, Zhukov had replaced Konev as commander , and Konev was transferred to the Kalinin direction with the aim of concentrating the troops in the Kalinin direction to form a new front to resist the breakthrough of the German 3rd Armored Group in the Kalinin direction.
Comrade Zhukov, who has just taken over, is full of energy. In the past two days, except for attending the military parade in Moscow yesterday, he has spent the rest of his time running around the front line to understand the specific situation of the various troops under the Western Front.
It was in the headquarters of the 3rd Cavalry Army that Yuri saw the battlefield situation map of the 16th Army for the first time, and also learned about the current situation of the 16th Army for the first time.
In the previous Battle of Smolensk, in order to prevent the German encirclement attempt, the 16th Army, under the command of Lukin, fought fiercely with the Germans and suffered heavy losses, almost being annihilated. After the war, Lukin lamented: "The 16th Army was not defeated, it was just exhausted."
After the Battle of Smolensk, in order to rebuild the 16th Army, the Supreme Command not only supplemented it with a large number of new soldiers and equipment, but also merged the entire 20th Army, which also suffered heavy losses. At present, among the troops under the entire 16th Army, in addition to the coordinated combat units such as the 3rd Cavalry Army and the Moscow City Defense Army, the troops directly commanded by the headquarters also include: Colonel Mikhailovich's 101st Tank Division, Colonel Livkov's 1st Moscow Motorized Division, Colonel Kirillov's 38th Infantry Division, Colonel Chernyshev's 152nd Infantry Division, Colonel Gryaznov's 64th Infantry Division, and Colonel Orlov's 108th Infantry Division, a total of 6 divisions. In addition, there is the 27th Tank Brigade directly under the Army Command, whose commander is Remizov, a heavy artillery battalion and other logistics and communication attached troops.
To put it bluntly, the current 16th Army is definitely strong in terms of both men and horses, which has also boosted Yuri's confidence a lot.
Considering that he had to catch up with the army headquarters the next day, Yuri did not stay up late and went to bed early in the place arranged by Dovator.
The next morning, Yuri got up before 6 o'clock.
What is maddening is that the heavy snow that has been falling for a day and a night is still falling. The snow in the town is already knee-deep and is nearly half a meter thick.
Looking northwest from a small hill outside the town, everything you see is silver-white. In such weather and road conditions, it would be difficult for even a tank to move, let alone a jeep.
"I haven't seen such heavy snow in many years," Dovator took off his Cossack-style round fur hat on the hill, shook off the snow on it, and sighed.
Yuri recalled the historical materials he had read in his previous life, and vaguely remembered that in the winter of 1941, when the Battle of Moscow was underway, the climate in the areas around Moscow was extremely bad. It seemed to be the coldest weather seen in a century, with the snow depth exceeding one meter, which caused great trouble to both sides of the war.
"I think the snow may continue to fall," Yuri said after a moment of silence, "We should make adequate preparations."
"You don't have to worry about that," Lobachev waved his hand and said nonchalantly, "I've already consulted meteorological experts to make a prediction. The temperature this winter may be very low, but the precipitation shouldn't be very heavy. This snow fell a little suddenly, but it shouldn't last too long."
Yuri smiled and didn't say much. There were no satellites back then, and the weather forecasts made by the so-called meteorological experts were actually not very credible. Even if there were satellites in the future, it would be difficult to say that the weather forecasts were 100% accurate.
"Even if the snow falls to this extent, it will cause us great trouble," Dovator said with a worried look on his face. "My cavalry is not capable of large-scale combat in such weather."
This was the truth, and everyone present knew it. Knee-deep snow not only hindered the horses' running, but also easily broke their legs when they accelerated on such roads. In addition, horseshoes with horseshoes on them were prone to slipping on the snow.
The truth is the truth, but no one present has a solution to this problem. However, such weather is not good for the Soviet army, and it is also not good for the German army. At the very least, their already troubled logistics will be made worse.
"I think that the German army will not launch an offensive in the direction of Gzhatsk for at least the next two or three days," Lobachev thought for a moment and said, "So, although your concerns are true, you don't need to worry too much. And as far as I know, the Ninth Army commanded by Comrade Govorov is heading this way, and his troops will cover you."
After hearing this, the worried expression on Dovator's face faded a lot. Yuri also knew that the 9th Army was on the left wing of the 16th Army, and the 30th Army commanded by Khomenko was on the right wing, that is, in the direction of Rzhev in the north. The defense line from Rzhev to Gzhatsk was the defense position of the 16th Army. However, among the three armies, except for the 16th Army, the remaining two armies had not yet entered the position.
The commanders of the 16th Army were very worried that if the two friendly forces were still unable to arrive when the Germans launched an offensive against the Mozhaisk Line, the entire 16th Army would face a three-sided attack from the Germans. Fortunately, according to Lobachev, the possibility of this risk appearing was not great.
After a few words on the hill, Yuri said that he had to set off. After all, it was still a long way from here to Osuga, where the army headquarters was located. With such road conditions, jeeps were not needed. If he did not set off early, he might not be able to reach Osuga until the evening.
It just so happened that Lobachev had already conveyed the latest order of the army headquarters to Dovator, and at the same time, he also learned about the situation of the 3rd Cavalry Army. Therefore, he was also ready to rush to Osuga, so the two of them set off with their respective guards - they did not take a car, but rode horses.
Leaving the headquarters of the 3rd Cavalry Army, Yuri and Lobachev first marched westward, and then began to turn northwest along the road from Kaluga to Rzhev.
Because of the strong wind and snow and the extremely cold weather, the team led by the two had to stop and rest every half an hour, mainly to keep warm and prevent people from freezing.
We kept walking and stopping until almost noon, when we saw the Vazuza River, which had already frozen on its surface. Here, the road began to turn north along the direction of the Vazuza River. It was estimated that if we walked a few kilometers further, we would reach Sychevka.
Along the way, Yuri and his companions were freezing cold. Seeing the coniferous pine forest beside the Vazuza River, Lobachev suggested that they rest in the forest for a while, light a bonfire to keep warm, and then walk all the way to Sychevka.
Yuri agreed to Lobachev's proposal, and the two of them took a few guards into the woods. Arseny and his men found a dead pine tree, got some firewood, and built a bonfire in a place in the forest where there was less snow.
"It would be great if we could hunt some game," Arseni took out a few potatoes from the bag of dry food on his back and stuffed them under the campfire. He lit a lighter and muttered, "Then we can improve our situation..."
Before he could finish his words, one of Yuri's guards suddenly stepped forward, stopped his hand holding the lighter, and said, "Something's going on!"
Just such a simple sentence made everyone present suddenly feel nervous.
Yuri hurriedly stood up from the wooden stake he was sitting on and listened carefully. Sure enough, the faint sound of a motor was coming from far away, and it sounded like the sound of tanks moving, and there were quite a few of them.
"What's going on?" Lobachev looked a little nervous. He asked casually and began to listen to the direction where the sound came from .
"On the other side of the river," the guard said, turning and looking outside the woods.
Outside the woods, to the west, more than thirty meters away, is the road from Kaluga to Rzhev, and on the west side of the road is the frozen Vazuza River. The guard was right, the sound came from the other side of the river.
