Burning Moscow

I didn't listen to how Askarepov taught street fighting skills to his men. Instead, I took Kirilov and left the division headquarters, intending to visit the 90th Guards Division. After getting out of the building, Kirilov suddenly stopped and turned to me and said, "Lida, shall we go to the division headquarters of Colonel Cherniv like this?"

"Yes." Although I didn't understand why Kirilov asked this, I answered truthfully: "General Shumilov's troops are attacking the east of the city. I plan to send the 90th Guards Division from the rear of the Germans. Go out and cope with the friendly forces so that they can attack the city earlier."

"Can you wait a moment, Lida?" Kirilov said to me pleadingly, "I want to see the street that Colonel Askarepov said."

His request made me hesitate for a moment, but I quickly agreed to his request. After all, there is no need to conflict with him on such trivial matters. I turned my head and asked the officer who led us: "Where is the observation post nearby?"

The officer pointed to a building that was half destroyed by the bombing not far away, and said, "Comrade Commander, there is an observation station on the second floor, where you can clearly see the street you are talking about. "

Under the leadership of the military officer, we successfully arrived at the observation post. The three officers inside saw us entering the door, and after hurriedly raising their hands to salute, they turned sideways to give us a position so that we could observe the situation of the geese outside from the window.

I stood at the window, staring blankly at the road between our army and the German positions. Although the interval is only a short two to three hundred meters, it is like a moat in front of us. Layers of corpses all over the ground. It makes me feel like a knife.

Seeing the commanders and fighters hidden behind various bunkers, there is no offensive action for the time being, I urged Kirilov: "Comrade Military Commissioner, can you leave? We must rush to Colonel Chernov’s division as soon as possible. Otherwise it will be too late."

"Okay. Lida." Kirilov's face was pale after watching the battlefield. Hearing what I said, he immediately replied without hesitation: "Let's pass."

We walked along the street controlled by our army. Came to the radio station building occupied by the 272nd Guards Regiment. Kirilov looked up at the red flag fluttering in the wind on the roof, and couldn't help crying. His voice trembled and said: "Lida, since we last captured Kiev, I haven't seen our flag for a long time, flying over the German-occupied city."

I waited for him to finish, and then said with a smile: "Comrade Military Commissioner, although the occupation of Belgorod today is of extremely important political significance, it is only a medium-sized city after all. It is still waiting for us to liberate Kharkov, When you are in big cities like Kiev and Minsk, please express your feelings again."

Kirilov's face turned red, and then he turned the subject away and said: "Let's go, Lida, let's go to the division headquarters, Colonel Chernov is still waiting for us."

Chernov didn't know that we were coming, and naturally he would not wait for us with great expectations. But I still followed Kirilov's words and said: "Yes, yes, the colonel must be anxious, we will go see him now."

Chernoff was located in a conference room on the second floor, and the officer on duty at the entrance of the radio station led us to the door with a gracious attitude. Then respectfully said: "Commander, military commissar, the division commander is inside, please come in!"

When Kirilov and I walked in. Seeing a group of commanders around the table, no one noticed our arrival. I greeted them loudly: "Comrade commanders, how are you!"

Hearing my voice, everyone stood up straight and faced me and responded politely: "Hello, Comrade Commander."

I walked to the table, sat down on an empty chair, pulled the map on the table in front of me, and then asked, "Colon Chernoff. What are you studying? "

Chernov quickly replied: "Report to Comrade Commander, we are studying the direction of the next attack."

"Comrade Colonel. I want to hear what you plan to do next?" I want to hear how Chernoff thinks before assigning tasks to Chernoff. "Tell me your plan and listen to it."

"That's it, Comrade Commander." Chernoff pointed to the map and said to me: "Our 272nd Regiment is deployed in a few blocks centered on the radio station, to the west and the guards of the 77th Division. Connected. The 271st Regiment is to the north of the radio building, and the 270th Regiment of the Guards of Colonel Xie Liujin stays in the same area. Our 273rd Regiment is to the south of the whole division. I am planning to let them attack south Cut off the German retreat."

"Why cut off the German army's retreat, comrade colonel?" I waited for him to finish, but only asked indifferently.

Chernoff may have never dreamed that I would ask such a question suddenly, and he was stunned. After a while, he murmured: "Comrade Commander, I think we can cut off the German army's way back to Kharkov by attacking southward along the street. That way, our troops will have a chance to be wiped out. German troops in the city."

"Maybe before you cut off the German army's retreat, your troops were eaten up by the Germans." I said unceremoniously, "Your division may have more than 5,000 people left now, and if a regiment is full, it will cost 1,000. , And the logistics personnel are added. With this force, you can attack an enemy several times more than yours. Do you think it will succeed?"

My words left Chernov speechless. He turned to look at his men, and then nervously asked, "Comrade Commander, what should we do?"

"The task of your division at the moment is to consolidate the defense line of the 272nd Guards Regiment and defend here at all costs." I pointed the map with my finger and began to assign tasks to Chernoff: "At the same time, transfer the 273rd Regiment to the city. Attack in the east."

"Initiate an offensive to the east of the city?" Chernoff's chief of staff said puzzledly: "Comrade Commander, there is the offensive area of ​​the Seventh Guards Army. If we go to attack there, will we make peace by crossing the border? Are there conflicts between friendly forces?"

I stared at the division chief of staff fiercely, wishing to kick him. But I still tried to control my emotions, and tried to say in a calm tone: "I asked you to attack east to help the troops of the Seventh Guards Army enter the city. Think about it, as long as they enter the city, Then the comparison between the enemy and our forces in the city can develop in a direction that is beneficial to our army. As for the cross-border problem that you are worried about, you don't have to worry at all. After the friendly forces enter the city, you can retreat to the original defense zone."

Chernoff's brain is not too dumb. Hearing what I said, it suddenly dawned on me. Slap the table hard. Excitedly said: "Comrade Commander, I understand, I understand everything. You let us attack the east of the city. You want to prevent the enemy there from looking at each other, so that the friendly forces can break through the German defense as soon as possible and rush into the city. We join together. As long as our army rushes into the city more troops, then the initiative on the battlefield is completely in our hands."

I waited for him to finish and nodded. Then he said lightly: "Comrade Colonel, now that you have understood my combat intentions, why not hurry up and arrange it?"

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Chernoff agreed, turned and called a lieutenant colonel, and began to assign tasks to him: "Lieutenant colonel, apart from leaving two companies in place as guards, the rest of your regiment The troops immediately turned to the east to help the friendly forces break through the German defensive positions."

"Yes!" The lieutenant colonel agreed, turned and walked out of the headquarters quickly.

When only me, Kirilov, Bernov and his chief of staff were left in the headquarters. I asked curiously: "Comrade Colonel, where is your political commissar?"

"He went off to the army." Chernov finished speaking, seeing me blankly. Quickly explained: "Every time there is a big battle, the political commissar will go to the grassroots unit to do political agitation work. He said that doing so will boost morale and improve the combat effectiveness of the unit."

"Yes, Comrade Colonel, it is like this." Kirilov continued: "We were able to defeat Stalingrad in the first place, and the politicians were indispensable. Without them, they were in the army all the time. Conduct political agitation to the commanders and fighters. Inspire everyone's confidence that they will win, and what the outcome of the final battle will look like. It's really hard to say."

"By the way, Comrade Colonel." Chernov spoke to Kirilov. I suddenly remembered something. When they finished speaking, I quickly asked: "Did you find any residents in the city in the place occupied by your division?"

Chernoff heard my question and shook his head first, then nodded a moment later, frowned and said: "Comrade Commander, I have also noticed the question you asked. In the dozen or so streets we occupy. Here, only no more than 50 local residents were found, and the whereabouts of the rest are unknown."

"Have you ever interrogated German prisoners?" Kirilov asked curiously: "Did they confess that they had taken all the residents of the city?"

"We caught a few SS prisoners," Chernoff said word by word: "According to their confession, the leader of the SS Himmler issued a new order to impose scorched earth on us. Policy. They were ordered to take everything and destroy everything. As early as July 29, the Germans set out to move the residents of Belgorod and blew up all the factories and civilian facilities in the city, destroying almost All the buildings..."

Hearing Chernoff said this, I was shocked in my heart. I didn’t expect that the Germans had just lost the battle in Kursk, and they actually started to use this scorched earth strategy to deal with our army. Do they think that the trend is over? Only began to use this extreme method. I began to pray secretly in my heart, hoping that the 273rd regiment could move swiftly and receive the 7th Guards Army into the city soon, so that we can quickly expel the Germans from the city.

From the time the head of the 273rd regiment left to when he called us, it only took a short forty minutes, but for me, it was as long as a century. On the phone, the lieutenant colonel reported to Chernov emotionally: "Comrade Commander, the 15th and 36th Divisions of the Seventh Guards Army have successfully rushed into the city and are moving south."

Chernoff covered the microphone, and after reporting this information to me, he asked: "Comrade Commander, what shall we do next?"

"Ask the lieutenant colonel," I asked thoughtfully, "Did the friendly forces send troops to take over his defense zone?"

Chernoff released his hand covering the microphone and said loudly: "Comrade Commander asked, have the friendly forces entered your defense zone?"

"No, the friendly forces did not enter our defense zone, and then they turned south and attacked the German defensive positions." Perhaps the gunfire over there was so loud that the lieutenant colonel had to report loudly. , "Comrade commander, what is the next task of our regiment?"

"Let them stay where they are!" This time, before Chernov asked me again, I gave the order first. "Make sure that the gap opened by the friendly forces will not be blocked by the Germans again." My order was immediately passed on by Chernoff.

The fighting continued for more than four hours, and the sound of guns outside finally became thinner. Kirilov listened for a while, and curiously said: "Why the sound of guns gradually weakened? Could it be that the German troops in the city have been almost wiped out?"

After listening to his speculation, I smiled and said: "Comrade Military Committee, the situation may be as you guessed it. As the main force of our army enters the city, the stubborn enemy is gradually being wiped out by us, so I think it is necessary. It won’t be long before the battle is over."

As soon as I finished speaking, an officer hurriedly walked in from outside, and after raising his hand to salute us, he reported: "Report to Comrade Commander, a general came outside. He said he was the commander of the Seventh Army of the Guards. General Shumilov."

"General Shumilov is here?!" Upon hearing the news, I immediately jumped up from my seat and walked quickly toward the door, intending to meet my old superior in person.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he walked to the door, he saw the dusty Shumilov coming in from outside. When he saw me, a smile appeared on his face~www.wuxiaspot.com~ After he reached out and shook my hand, he said triumphantly: "Comrade Oshaninna, when I heard the head of the 273rd regiment said you were here Here, he rushed over immediately." He inadvertently raised his head and saw Kirilov, then smiled and stretched out his hand to him, "Hello, Comrade Kirilov, I didn't expect us to meet here. "

"There is nothing unexpected, General Shumilov." Kirilov also smiled and replied: "I was originally Lida's military commissioner, so it is not surprising that I and her appear in the same place. Why? So, have all the troops entered the city?"

"Yes, they have all come in." Shumilov said relievedly: "After the 15th and 36th Guards Divisions rushed into the city, the 78th and 81st Guards Divisions also entered the city one after another and were heading south. The German army launched a fierce attack. I believe it won’t take long before we can wipe out or drive away the enemies entrenched in the south of the city."

The German troops standing south of the city received the order to retreat from Mainstein. Except for a small number of troops to cover, the remaining large troops orderly withdrew from Belgorod and retreated to Kharkov.

With the withdrawal of the main German forces, the battle in the south of Belgorod lasted for more than an hour, and ended with a complete victory of our army. Shumilov and I sent a joint telegram to the front army headquarters to report the good news to Zhukov and Vatutin. (To be continued.)