Before Izvikov decided to organize his guerrillas into the army, he had considered that although his troops had reached 1,500 people, there were only two or three hundred people with real combat effectiveness.
A regular army that has been broken up. After putting on the military uniform, I can be made a company commander and given the rank of captain, which is pretty good.
However, he was still holding on to a bit of luck, thinking that if General Kurishenko felt that he had brought a lot of troops, he would be happy for a while, and it would be entirely possible for him to be the commander of the regiment and be awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel. At this moment, he heard
Sokov appointed himself the commander of the Second Guard Battalion and awarded him the rank of major. Although he felt a little disappointed, he still felt that it exceeded his expectations.
After arranging Izvikov's position, Sokov asked Kurishenko: "General Kurishenko, can you establish contact with General Afnin?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Kurishenko nodded and said, "Our communications troops are very competent. They have laid telephone lines with the military headquarters, and we can directly communicate with the military commander by phone.
"
Sokov was also very happy to learn that he could have a direct phone call with Afunin. He told Sidorin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please let the communications corps get through to the phone of the army headquarters. I want to talk to Afunin."
The general is on the phone."
After the call was connected, Sokov went straight to the point and asked Afunin, who answered the phone: "General Afunin, this is Sokov. Report to me immediately the situation there."
Afuning's relieved voice came from the receiver: "Comrade Commander, thank God, I have finally contacted you."
Sokov was stunned: "Why, General Afnin, can't you get in touch with the army headquarters?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander. No matter how you call, there is no response from the Army Headquarters."
After hearing what Afunin said, Sokov thought about it briefly and guessed that Smirnov must have moved the headquarters with him. Naturally, he was unable to establish contact with the troops below. "I think it may be that the headquarters is moving, so
You are temporarily unavailable."
"Comrade Commander, aren't you at the headquarters?"
"Yes, I am in General Kurishenko's headquarters." After Sokov briefly explained where he was, he continued to ask: "How is the situation there? Report to me quickly."
"Since you are at the headquarters of the 41st Guards Division, you naturally know that Haixin was occupied by our army without any fighting." Afuning said on the phone: "The intelligence we received at that time, regardless of Haixin's
The German troops are retreating, and even the German troops in the city of Jeplik are retreating hastily."
"That's right, the same was true for the intelligence I received at that time." Sokov seemed a little unhappy when he heard Afunin's tone. He guessed that something unexpected might have happened during the battle to capture Jeplik, so he
He asked tentatively: "General Afuning, is there something wrong?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander, there is indeed something wrong."
"what is the problem?"
"The 3rd Guards Airborne Division was the first to arrive outside the city of Jeplik, so after hearing from the refugees that all the German troops in the city had retreated, Colonel Konev sent a battalion into the city." Afunin's tone changed.
He felt heavy: "Unexpectedly, as soon as we entered the city, we were approached by German troops. After a fierce battle, only one company withdrew from the city."
After Sokov learned that two-thirds of the troops who entered the city early had suffered casualties, he was shocked and asked quickly: "Then what are you doing now?"
"I am organizing troops to launch an attack on the city." Afuning said: "However, the current progress is not going smoothly. Our troops have not yet been able to break through the German outer positions."
When Sokov heard this, he couldn't help but frowned. He asked Kurishenko to bring the map. After looking at it carefully, he said into the microphone: "General Afnin, I looked at the map. Jeplik
The terrain on the east side of the city is difficult, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is difficult to deploy offensive troops. If you attack from this direction, you will not invest too many troops at one time, and it will become a fueling tactic. You need to adjust your tactics immediately, otherwise you will just
It will increase the casualties of the troops in vain."
"Comrade Commander," Afnin waited for Sokov to finish and then asked tentatively: "You mean, you want me to send troops to encircle Jeplik from the flanks?"
"Jeplik is a small city, and there won't be too many defenders in the city." Sokov said: "You now have two divisions of troops, and there should be no problem in encircling them."
"However, my troops are not familiar with the terrain here." Afuning said with some embarrassment: "Besides, there are forests on both sides of the city to the north and south. I am worried that the troops performing the roundabout will get lost in the forest, and they may be mistaken.
event."
Hearing Afunin's rebuttal, Sokov did not have an attack. Instead, he covered the microphone with his hand and asked Izvikov, who was standing not far away: "Comrade Major, I want to ask you, what is your command?"
In what areas do your guerrillas usually operate?"
Sokov asked this because the guerrillas commanded by Izvikov were not small in size. If they did not have a large enough space for movement, they would have been wiped out by the German encirclement and suppression.
Izvikov naturally understood Sokov's intention, and quickly pointed to the map and explained to the other party: "Comrade Commander, look, my troops usually operate in these areas."
Sokov followed the direction of the opponent's finger and couldn't help being secretly surprised. He really didn't expect that the guerrilla area of this guerrilla group was really quite big. Not only Hesin and Jeplik included, but also Uman and Vinnitsa.
In the area where they operate, it is no wonder that the German army has not been able to wipe them out.
"Are you familiar with the terrain of the guerrilla zone?"
"Of course." Izvikov nodded and said: "Not only Jeplik and Hesin, but also Vinnitsa, my troops often go there for activities."
"Let's not talk about Vinnitsa for now." Sokov was worried that the other party would not finish talking, so he stopped him from continuing. Instead, he asked politely: "Now my troops are fighting outside Ceplik. They are being attacked."
When the enemy resists tenaciously, I plan to have them bypass the two wings of the city and form an encirclement against the enemies in the city. What do you think, do you have anyone under your command who is familiar with the terrain and can act as a guide for my troops?"
"No problem." Izvikov nodded and said, "Two of my men are rangers in the forest outside Jeplik City. No one is more familiar with the terrain than them."
"Very good." After learning that Izvikov had a former ranger under his command, Sokov felt relieved. He released his hand covering the microphone and said, "General Afnin, I found it.
These two former rangers are very familiar with the terrain outside the city of Jeplik, I will send them there to act as guides for you."
"What, rangers?" Afuning's voice was full of surprise: "Great, this is great. With them as guides, my troops can easily circle back to the enemy's rear.
Forming an encirclement force against them."
After making the call, Sokov put down the phone, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, gave one to each of Kurishenko and Sidorin, handed another one to Izvikov, and stroked it himself.
The match helped him light the cigarette and asked: "Comrade Major, you just seemed to say that Uman is also your guerrilla zone?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander, not only Uman, but also the vicinity of Vinnitsa is one of our areas of activity." Izvikov said proudly: "We blew up the German railways, bridges and culverts.
, attacked their supply depots and lone German soldiers, and used the captured materials to arm and feed themselves..."
Sokov listened patiently to Izvikov's narration of his guerrilla war experience over the past two years without interrupting him. After the other party's words finally came to an end, he asked: "Comrade Major, I heard that in the forest
Were you the one who liberated the prisoner-of-war camp with the commanders and fighters of the Guards Division?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Hearing Sokov's question, Izvikov proudly replied: "We have noticed this place since the enemy built a prisoner of war camp. This time when our army counterattacked, we
Naturally, I couldn't miss this opportunity, so I led the comrades of the Guards Division to liberate the place and released all the commanders and fighters detained there."
"How many guards are there in the prison camp?" Sokov asked calmly.
"There is about one company." Izvikov replied: "There is a German platoon of about 60 people, and two platoons of puppet troops composed of Ukrainian scum. The total strength adds up to more than 180 people.
people."
"A prisoner-of-war camp that holds more than 2,000 of our army's commanders and fighters is guarded by less than 200 people, and half of them are puppet troops with little combat effectiveness." The expression on Sokov's face became serious: "I want to ask
Let me ask you, why didn't you try to rescue these commanders and fighters to replenish your troops?"
Izvikov's old face turned red and he explained with some embarrassment: "Someone in the guerrillas did put forward this suggestion at that time, but it was rejected during the discussion."
Seeing the surprised look on Sokov's face, he continued to explain: "You know, we are guerrillas after all, not regular troops. We can barely make do by attacking weakly defended military depots or transport convoys of the German army. If we want to carry out offensive operations,
That’s not our strength anymore.”
Perhaps because he was worried that Sokov would continue to ask, he actually took the initiative to mention a past incident: "Comrade Commander, to tell you the truth, there were many regular troops who were dispersed in the guerrillas at first. They looked down on our guerrilla warfare and still used to use
The regular army’s style of play resulted in heavy losses.”
Izvikov's words aroused Sokov's interest: "Comrade Major, what is going on? You might as well tell me."
"The situation is like this, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Sokov was more interested in past events, Izvikov said to him: "My former deputy captain was a company commander of the Southwest Front Army. He once
While leading the troops near Uman, they accidentally discovered an open-pit mine in which tens of thousands of our military commanders and fighters were imprisoned..."
Hearing Izvikov mention the open-pit mine, Sokov couldn't help but his eyes shone. He was eager to know the specific situation, so he urged: "Go on, comrade major, continue talking. After you discovered the mine, what measures were taken to
What measures were taken?”
"After some reconnaissance, we found that there were only more than a hundred German troops guarding the open pits..."
"Wait a minute, Comrade Izvikov." Kurishenko couldn't help interrupting Izvikov when he heard this. He asked curiously: "You just said that there are tens of thousands of people in the open-pit mine.
Commanders and fighters of our army?”
"Yes, Comrade General."
"There are only more than a hundred Germans guarding them?"
"Yes, it is indeed like this."
"This is really strange." Kurishenko asked with some confusion: "The German army has only more than a hundred guards, but our army has tens of thousands of prisoners of war. Even if they are unarmed, they can trample all these Germans."
died."
"Comrade General, you don't know something. The open-pit mine is more than a hundred meters deep, and the road spirals down the rock wall." Izvikov explained to Kurishenko: "Just put two rockets on it.
Machine guns can completely block the road out of the pit. Even if the prisoners of war at the bottom of the pit riot, they will not be able to pass through the blockade formed by German machine gun fire."
"General Kurishenko," Sokov saw that Kurishenko seemed ready to continue asking, so he quickly stopped him, and then said to Izvikov: "Comrade Major, please continue, your deputy captain
After discovering the mine, what measures were taken? Did you lead people to rescue the captured commanders and fighters?"
"You guessed it right, Comrade Commander." Izvikov nodded and said: "The deputy captain led more than 80 soldiers who were also from the regular army and launched an attack on the guards of the open-pit mine. According to his idea
, as long as he controls the exit of the mine and rescues the captured commanders and fighters inside, he will have an absolute numerical advantage. It will be very easy to eliminate more than a hundred Germans.
But what he didn't expect was that the Germans, who appeared to have only over a hundred people on the surface, actually built a lot of firepower points and shelters around the mine, with a full battalion of troops hidden around. The deputy captain led
When the people rushed up, the Germans deliberately opened a way for them. After they entered the ambush circle, they immediately launched a siege. In less than a quarter of an hour, the deputy captain and his guerrillas were all sacrificed.
"
"Cunning Germans." After Sokov gritted his teeth and cursed, he asked Izvikov: "Comrade Major, you have a psychological shadow because of this incident, so you saw the prisoners of war in the forest.
During the camp, I didn’t dare to try to rescue them easily. Am I right?”
Izvikov nodded and agreed with Sokov's statement. He paused for a moment and then said: "It is precisely because of that lesson that after discovering the prisoner of war camp, I did not dare to take action easily, lest I
The whole army was wiped out again. This time I saw the main force of the Guards Division coming, so I took them to the prisoner-of-war camp. I believed that with their strength, they could completely get rid of the guards guarding the prisoner-of-war camp. Unfortunately,
By the time we arrived at the prisoner of war camp, the guards inside had already been polished off."
"Actually, this is not bad." Although Sokov felt that it was a regrettable thing to let the guards of the prisoner of war camp escape. But at the same time, it was also a good thing. At least the commanders and fighters detained in the prisoner of war camp could have more
People survived. "If the guards in the prisoner of war camp escape, you can avoid unnecessary casualties when you liberate the prisoner of war camp."
