Since Levchuk came back to save his men, how could he leave them and escape?
"No, Colonel Ryazanov." He shouted at Ryazanov, the commander of the 11th Regiment: "You are my subordinates. Since I brought people to rescue you, how could I abandon you and run away alone?
Stop talking nonsense and gather all your people quickly. We need to move quickly and break away from contact with the Germans quickly."
Ryazanov scratched the back of his head and said with a grimace: "Comrade division commander, the German tanks are following so closely. It may not be easy for us to escape."
Levchuk called the guard battalion commander in front of him and ordered him: "Major, let the guard battalion use the company as a unit to cover the retreat of the 11th Regiment by alternating cover and fighting step by step. Do you understand?"
"Don't worry, comrade division commander." The guard battalion commander, whose submachine gun was still smoking, said to Levchuk: "Even if our guard battalion is wiped out, I will cover the 11th Regiment's safe retreat to the river.
.”
In this way, under the cover of the guard battalion, Levchuk and Ryazanov led the remnants of the 11th Regiment and retreated towards the bank of the Narew River. On the way, Ryazanov tentatively asked: "Comrade Division Commander"
, after we withdrew to the river, should we immediately withdraw to the other side of the river, or should we fight a blocking battle by the river?"
"Comrade Colonel, if we withdraw across the Narew River, the landing site occupied by our commanders and soldiers who made great sacrifices will be given to the Germans in vain." Levchuk said solemnly: "We must rely on
We established a position by the river and carried out a tenacious defense until reinforcements arrived."
As soon as Levchuk and Ryazanov arrived at the position by the river, political commissar Colonel Onega came up to them and asked Levchuk with concern: "Comrade division commander, are you okay?"
"I'm fine." When Levchuk said this, he turned and looked in the direction he came from. The gunshots and explosions over there had become sparse, which meant that the guard battalion covering his retreat was now gone.
The situation is far from hopeless. He sighed softly and said, "It's a pity that not many of the commanders and fighters of the guard battalion can be withdrawn."
"Comrade Division Commander," Chief of Staff Colonel Platon came over and said to Levchuk: "The 3rd Regiment and the 11th Regiment have entered defensive positions. You and the commanders and fighters of the 11th Regiment can go to the back to rest. This place is left to us.
.”
After hearing what Chief of Staff Platon said, Levchuk did not show any pretense, but nodded, and together with Ryazanov, they took the remaining commanders and fighters of the 11th Regiment back to the headquarters on the cliff by the river.
When the commander of the communications company saw Levchuk coming in, he quickly raised his hand in salute and asked respectfully: "Comrade commander, is there anything I can do for you?"
"Can the phone call to the headquarters be connected?" Levchuk asked.
"Yes, Comrade Division Commander, you can get through." The communications company commander asked tentatively, "Do you need me to get through now?"
A few minutes later, Levchuk heard Batov's voice: "Hello, comrade commander, I am Major General Levchuk, commander of the 4th Guards Division."
"General Levchuk," Batov heard Levchuk's voice and became a little excited: "Where are you now?"
"I'm in the reserve position on the left bank near the river."
"What, you all retreated to the reserve position by the river?" Bartov asked with some displeasure: "How come you retreated so quickly without organizing any decent resistance?"
"Comrade Commander," Levchuk heard the dissatisfaction in Bartov's tone and explained to him: "After the sudden attack of powerful artillery fire, the enemy dispatched a large number of tanks to cover their infantry towards ours.
We launched an assault on our position. As you know, there are no permanent reinforced concrete fortifications on our position. Most of the fortifications have been destroyed by the enemy's shelling and cannot stop the enemy's attack at all. We can only adopt step-by-step tactics.
The way of resistance was to retreat little by little to the preset position by the river."
"How many troops do you have left?" Bartov continued to ask.
"It is estimated that there are more than a thousand people." After Levchuk reported the number of troops, he took the initiative and said without waiting for Bartov to ask again: "Comrade Commander, when will the superiors send us reinforcements?"
You know, with our small force, we can’t stop the enemy for very long.”
"The reinforcements will arrive before dark." Bartov said solemnly: "That is to say, you must try every means to persist until the reinforcements arrive at dark. Do you understand?"
"Understood, Comrade Commander." Levchuk knew very well that according to the current situation of his division, it would be difficult to hold on until dark, let alone until the afternoon. But in order not to disappoint Batov, he still
He bit the bullet and replied: "We will fight the German attack with all our strength and prevent them from approaching the Narew River."
As soon as Levchuk put down the phone, political commissar Onega came in from outside and said: "Comrade division commander, the troops are ready for battle. Do you have anything to add?"
"Comrade Political Commissar," Levchuk looked at Onega and asked, "I want to hear the truth from you. If the German army launches a powerful offensive against our defense line, how long do you think we can sustain it?"
Facing Levchuk's question, Onega thought for a long time, then stretched out two fingers and said: "Two hours, no more, this is already the limit of our army."
"What, we can only hold on for two hours?" Levchuk's head was pounding after hearing what Onega said: "How can this be done? You know, the order given to us by the headquarters is to hold on until dark.
Only then can the troops transferred from the landing site on the left bank return to us."
"There is nothing we can do about it." Onega said helplessly: "There are only more than a thousand people left in the division, most of the commanders and fighters are wounded, and there is a serious shortage of ammunition. In such a severe situation,
Next, we can hold on for two hours, which is considered an extraordinary performance."
"We have to find a way, comrade political commissar." Levchuk walked back and forth in the headquarters with his hands behind his back and said: "If the landing site on the left bank is lost before the reinforcements arrive, this means that our army will be in trouble in the future.
It will take huge sacrifices to re-establish the landing field on the left bank, and I absolutely cannot let this happen."
"But we only have so few people now, and we simply don't have enough strength to resist the enemy's attack."
Levchuk thought for a while, then turned to ask the communications company commander: "Comrade commander, can you get through the phone of the 40th Guards Division? I want to have a good chat with Colonel Artyom."
"Yes, comrade division commander." The communications company commander nodded and said, "I can help you get through the phone right now."
But this time the call was not as easy as before. The other party's line was always busy and the call could not be made at all. The communications company commander could only say to Levchuk regretfully: "I'm sorry, comrade division commander, the phone number of the 40th Guards Division is
The connection is temporarily unavailable, who are they busy talking to at the moment?"
The reason why the phone could not be connected was because the division commander, Colonel Artyom, was talking to Bartov at the moment. Although the situation in the 4th Guards Division was not good, Bartov was lucky and felt that the 40th Guards Division
The situation here may be better.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he asked, Artyom began to pour out his bitterness to him: "Comrade Commander, as soon as the enemy's shelling stopped, they dispatched several echelons of tanks and a large number of infantry to attack our division's defense area.
A fierce attack.
Although we put up a heroic resistance, due to the disparity in strength, the position of the 111th Regiment in the middle was broken through first, thus causing our army's defense line to be separated by the enemy. In order to prevent the troops from falling into a tight encirclement, I could only order three
The regiment used alternate covering methods to retreat towards the preset position by the river, preparing to continue resisting the German attack here."
When Levchuk originally heard that the troops could not withstand the German attack and were forced to retreat to the preset positions by the river, Batov still had a little illusion in his heart about the performance of Artyom's 40th Guards Division.
It should be better. Unexpectedly, after calling and asking, the two people's situations were similar, which means that the situation at the left bank landing site is not optimistic.
"Comrade Commander," seeing that Bartov stopped speaking, Artyom added: "Our strength has been severely weakened. If we cannot receive reinforcements as soon as possible, we may not be able to hold the only position at the landing site."
Bartov's intestines were filled with regret at this moment. Not to mention Rokossovsky, even Sokov had reminded himself that the Germans had concentrated their efforts on attacking Chuikov's 8th Guards Army during this period, while in Naray
There was no movement in the Fuhe area, and there might be some conspiracy brewing. However, he could not listen to these persuasion at all, and even thought that the other party was being alarmist, so he went his own way and transferred the main force of the landing site on the left bank to the right bank, which put the landing site in danger.
"Don't worry, Colonel Artyom." Bartov said into the microphone: "You are not fighting alone. I will send reinforcements to you. The reinforcements will be able to cross the Narew River by dark at the latest."
Hearing that reinforcements would have to wait until dark to arrive, Artyom couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart. He secretly thought that it would take such a long time, and he didn't know whether his troops could hold out until dark under the powerful German offensive. But he
He also knew that no matter how difficult he tried at this moment, Batov could not change his troops. He could only say with a wry smile: "Comrade Commander, we will hold our position with all our strength until the reinforcements arrive."
After Batov put down the phone, he looked at Glebov standing in front of him and said with a wry smile: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it seems that I was wrong this time. If I hadn't been stubborn, I would have transferred those three divisions."
If we leave, the situation at the left bank landing site will not be as critical as it is now."
"Comrade Commander, you don't have to blame yourself." Glebov comforted him and said, "No one knows that there is such a huge conspiracy hidden behind the German army's standstill."
"Actually, Comrade Marshal reminded me last time that the German Air Force suddenly strengthened patrols on the traffic arteries from the west to the north of Warsaw, and did not allow our reconnaissance planes to approach. There might be some conspiracy." In front of Glebov,
On the other hand, Bartov did not hide his true thoughts: "Also, when I spoke to General Sokov last time, he also reminded me that the German army was aggressively attacking Chuikov in the south, but there was no trace of it here.
There must be some conspiracy planned among them. But I was so obsessed at the time that I couldn’t listen to their advice..."
"Comrade Commander, don't blame yourself anymore." Glebov said: "Although our army has suffered a lot of losses, the landing site on the left bank is still in our hands, and there is still room for recovery."
"So what do we do now?"
"The artillery director just called to report that two artillery regiments have moved to the bank of the Narew River." Glebov said: "If the troops on the left bank are in need, they can provide artillery support at any time."
Hearing what Glebov said, Batov immediately became energetic, "The artillery has arrived at the Narew River. That's great. With their support, I believe the landing site on the left bank can be saved."
"Comrade Commander," Glebov asked Batov for instructions: "How should we use these artillery units?"
"Let them establish an artillery position by the river." Batov said without thinking: "Use direct-aimed shooting to destroy the tanks that rush towards our preset positions."
Sokov knew about the sudden attack by the Germans on the 65th Group Army shortly after the bombardment started. He quickly ordered people to call Ponejelin and Sidorin over and discuss countermeasures with them to see how to help the friendly forces survive.
Difficulties at hand.
"Comrade Commander," Sidorin waited for Sokov to finish and then expressed his true thoughts: "Now we only have three Guards Divisions on the left bank. No matter which division is sent for reinforcements, it will weaken the entire landing site.
Defense force. Therefore, I think it is not advisable to send troops to reinforce."
But after hearing this, Ponejelin shook his head and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I think your statement is incorrect. You know, the only troops building a landing site on the left bank now are us and the 65th Army. If they
If we really lose the landing site on the left bank and are driven back to the right bank area by the Germans, then we will have to independently face attacks from several directions at the same time. Do you think we can stop the Germans at that time?"
Sokov did not expect that Ponedelin also understood the truth of the cold, so he couldn't help looking up at him and echoed: "I think Comrade Deputy Commander is right. If the 65th Army is lost at the landing site of Puutusk,
Then we will become an isolated army, and then we will have to face attacks from several directions at the same time, which will make us exhausted."
Ponedelin heard the implication of Sokov's words, and his face showed joy: "Comrade Commander, so you are planning to send troops to reinforce friendly forces?"
"Yes, Comrade Deputy Commander, we cannot just watch our friendly forces being defeated by the enemy, so rescue is necessary." Sokov said: "But before taking action, we must first seek instructions from the Front Army Headquarters. As long as Comrade Marshal allows it,
, I can immediately arrange to mobilize troops for reinforcements."
Say Cao Cao, and Cao Cao is here. As soon as Sokov said he wanted to report the matter to Rokossovsky, the other party had already called in first: "Misha, this is Rokossovsky."
"Hello, Comrade Marshal." Hearing Rokossovsky's voice, Sokov secretly rejoiced: "I have something to ask you for advice."
"We'll talk about your matters later." Rokossovsky said, "I have something important to tell you."
"Please speak, Comrade Marshal."
"The landing site established by Batov's troops was under fierce attack by the German army. Due to insufficient strength and equipment, the troops had to choose to retreat. Now they have retreated to the preset position by the river," Rokossovsky said.
: "I hope you can help them and send troops to reinforce them immediately."
