The telegram was sent in the early morning. Fortunately, Yang Mingzhi was sleeping in the lounge of the headquarters, and the guards could easily wake him up.
"Comrade Commander? Comrade Commander?"
"Well, I'm already awake. Is it dawn yet?"
"It's an urgent telegram from superiors, a very important telegram!"
Yang Mingzhi had a premonition that the bloodiest war would break out within a few days. Although a response plan was made at last night's meeting, the troops did not know the movements and possible intentions of the German army. He hurriedly changed his clothes and lit the oil lamp.
office, holding the telegram sent and reading it word for word.
The more he looked at it, the more his scalp became numb and he could not help but tremble all over.
"Germans! You really sent people to attack the city! Guards!"
"Here!" Three soldiers quickly stood at the command post.
"Go and inform the deputy commander, the political commissar of the group army, and the people in the agency. Wake them up boldly, tell them that the heavy German army group is coming to Liechica, and order them to go to the headquarters for a meeting urgently!"
Yang Mingzhi's orders were well implemented. Before everyone arrived, he sat down to wake up and think about countermeasures based on the new situation in the telegram.
The war situation is really changing rapidly. Last night, everyone was still expressing their fantasies about the bright future of the guerrilla republic. The intelligence that came just a few hours later was like a heavy slap on everyone's face, a slap that wiped out the optimistic people.
Wake people up.
All the people who were supposed to be here arrived, and I saw that they were all drowsy and confused. Yes, they all drank some wine last night, and it is understandable that the drunkenness has not disappeared yet.
It's just that the German army's heavy attack is imminent, and they must wake up.
Yang Mingzhi looked around and slammed the table. Even the most confused person was frightened into high spirits.
"Comrades! Just now, Comrade Ponomarenko sent a telegram saying that there is a force..."
He had just spoken when the little girl who was the correspondent on the night shift held up another telegram and rushed into the office without caring about the senior officers and dignitaries who were in the meeting. She shouted in her clear voice: "Urgent telegram! It's Buress.
Telegram from special underground organization."
"Brest?!" Fomin suddenly woke up.
"Yes...it's Brest." The correspondent quickly handed the telegram into Yang Mingzhi's hand, saluted, turned around and left in a hurry.
After this, the telegrams seemed to be unstoppable. Eight telegrams came in at once, with five signatures, proving that they were urgent telegrams from five units.
Yang Mingzhi felt that he had not explained the contents of the telegram in public. Everyone only needed to circulate the telegram and everything would be understood.
Combining all the telegrams, it can be confirmed that the German army dispatched the 100th Army. This unit has three integrated infantry divisions. They were transferred from France. Their ultimate goal is to reinforce the Rzhev front line. So it is the army's responsibility to recover Lechica.
Secondary tasks.
In terms of the level of detail in the information transmitted, none is better than the Brest underground organization. A small number of underground organizations in Ponomarenko and Mozyr learned that a large number of German troops were going to enter Mozyr and deduced that the total number of German reinforcements reached four.
The size of the division must be intended to solve the problem of Lechitsa.
In this way, the news from Brest is crucial.
"Comrades in Brest saw a column of heavy artillery passing by from a distance. They didn't know the caliber. Judging from its description, I was worried that it was a 150mm monster. They also saw some tanks similar to
The armored vehicle, I guess it may be an assault gun." Yang Mingzhi repeated these contents, and those who heard it shuddered.
"The battle is finally here, but this time, who would have thought that the German army would mobilize a large number of heavy artillery?!" Yevlov is belligerent. Hearing these data on paper, he was worried, "The German army is completely
Treat us as regular troops."
"Instead of saying that, it is better to say that the German army is a regular force." Fomin sighed, "Although the superiors did not have more detailed information, the comrades in Brest told us that the German army's destination was Rzhev. Only
Only the front-line troops of the German army will enter that battlefield, and what we are facing are the elite troops of the German army."
"Damn... They have the advantage of heavy weapons. It will be really difficult for us to defend the city. Berekov, I beg you, must come up with a good way."
Looking at Yevlov's anxious eyes, Yang Mingzhi knew that this guy was also scared.
Is there any good solution? Yang Mingzhi can't think of it yet.
"This battle is not as good as before. Our soldiers have been fighting for a month. It is a miracle that we can maintain the current front and maintain good morale. Not only do we seriously lack mobile troops, but we also have to separate troops to take care of the refugees.
However, the German army reinforced more than 40,000 people at once, as well as heavy artillery and armored vehicles. They are fully capable of bombarding Lechica with heavy artillery. Of course, they will not kill all the defenders. We will also be under great pressure in the following battle.
, it’s a miracle that the city can hold on for 24 hours.”
"If things continue like this, we will lose Lechica in a short time?" Salinchkin asked anxiously.
Yang Mingzhi let out a long sigh. He held the wooden door open with his hands behind his back, his forehead was covered with sweat, and his helplessness was written on his face.
The command headquarters fell into silence for more than ten seconds...
Then came Yang Mingzhi's stern complaints.
"What else can I do, what else can we do? The supplies airdropped by superiors only solved the problem of light weapons. To defend the city, we need heavy weapons. If we still have a large number of rocket launchers and a large number of fuel-air bombs, what else can we do?
With a large number of mobile troops, I am worthy of fighting the elite of the enemy's three divisions."
Yevlov continued: "Some scrap metal from the front line has been transported back. Hasn't the arsenal started manufacturing rockets?"
"The arsenal? The telegram shows that the fastest possible date for the German attack is on the 27th. Including today, we still have three days. I predict that the arsenal will produce at most twenty Catfish rockets on the 27th. However,
It will take at least two days to transport them to Lechica! Besides, the arsenal is now using the captured scrap metal to produce 70mm artillery shells. Our recoilless guns and RPG missiles are the backbone of the army's operations.
.”
With these words, Yang Mingzhi not only failed to come up with a good decision, but the situation seemed to have become more serious.
"Oh, by the way. No matter what, we are going to fight the Germans, and we still have a certain amount of time to think of appropriate tactics.
However, those refugees must leave the city as soon as possible and must all move to Homnage before the war begins. After the war begins, all the refugees in Homnage will also be evacuated to the swamps." "I will arrange this, but they will not.
One person is stranded in the war zone," Salinchkin assured.
"I trust your work very much. Since all the refugees will be evacuated, the next step is the issue of city defense. In order to ensure the survival of the two guerrilla brigades, we must guard Lechica for at least forty-eight hours."
In such a situation where soldiers are pressing down on the border, the most appropriate way is to actively give way to Lechicha in order to preserve the strength of the troops. Even if the city defenders retreat together with the refugees, the two guerrilla brigades must also be asked to follow suit.
Because the destination of the German reinforcements was not Lechitsa, they were going to Smolensk. Once the Lechitsa problem was solved, they would not stay. Combining the contents of the telegram, Yang Mingzhi analyzed the map.
Our own troops and friendly forces have been frantically destroying bridges on the Berezina and Dnieper rivers in the past week. The troops have enough explosives that the bridges were blown to pieces. Especially the railway east of Lechica.
The bridge is completely ruined.
Whether it is the Berezina River or the Dnieper River, in the current flood season, not only the water level is high, but the river surface is also quite wide. There are 40,000 German troops, and it is unrealistic for them to cross the river through Lechica. Two hundred
The Dnieper River, which is several meters wide, is like a natural chasm! Infantry can cross the river in kayaks, but heavy artillery and assault guns can only take a detour.
Yang Mingzhi concluded that as long as the German army was sure that Lechicha was back in their hands, the army would move north along the river.
Theoretically, there is no need for the Soviet and German armies to engage in a deadly fight around the city of Lechica.
He knew very well that this was actually the best decision, but he couldn't say it out loud, let alone execute it arbitrarily.
In the Bialystok pocket a year ago, Commander-in-Chief Pavlov used a similar strategy and did not order follow-up troops to fight the German army. This approach successfully preserved more than 300,000 troops and objectively supported the defense of Moscow.
war. However, this behavior devastated the morale of the army. The German army did pay a small price and captured Smolensk all the way.
Tell Yevlov the tactic of "avoiding the edge", and this guy will definitely get angry and Salinchkin will also be dissatisfied.
However, Salinchin could tell from Yang Mingzhi's back that the man was holding something in his stomach. If it might cause controversy, he simply didn't ask.
Although Yang Mingzhi was under the spotlight, he finally could not figure out a way to defeat the three elite German infantry divisions in a short time.
The wisest people couldn't think of a good way, so everyone had to focus on thinking about how to defend the city. After all, these three divisions were to reinforce the direction of Rzhev. If they arrived at their destination one day late, the Soviet Red Army in the distance would be reduced by one point.
Pressure. The biggest task of the troops operating in the occupied areas is to contain them. If they can make three German divisions linger, it will be a credit.
The meeting lasted until noon, and everyone in the headquarters, headed by Yang Mingzhi, slowly worked out a set of decisions that they believed to be reliable.
Guarding a city is not just about guarding the city streets and fighting street battles with the Germans. Of course, if the German infantry takes the initiative to enter the city and fight street battles with the defenders, this is what Yang Mingzhi is very happy to see. Because as far as street fighting is concerned, the 63rd
The soldiers of the group army have advantages in tactics and automatic weapons.
The German army definitely intended to fight quickly, and those who came were front-line field troops. Their attack on Lechica was a warm-up before entering the "Rzhev Meat Grinder."
The German army will definitely concentrate its heavy artillery first and bombard the city indiscriminately. Then it will use tank assault guns and a large number of infantry to capture Lechica in one fell swoop. In this way, too many troops will be invested in the city, which will not only increase casualties, but also cause serious damage to the city.
It is of no use to defending the city.
Yang Mingzhi moved some soldiers to the left bank of the Dnieper River to set up defenses. Because the railway and road bridges all collapsed, they had to cross the river on rafts and kayaks.
Although the number of barges was too small, the Soviet army still had enough time. It would be no problem to transport a regiment of troops across the river in two days.
In the battle to defend the city, the troops of the 284th Guards Division were responsible for the battle, specifically, Lavrenti and Roshakov, as well as Doronin's troops. Currently, Doronin's artillery soldiers who lost their heavy artillery were classified as
Roshakov's infantry regiment and Lavrenti's headquarters also removed some people from the independent regiment to supplement them.
Those nearly fifty-year-old male militiamen who came from the swamp never thought that one day they would guard a city. Whether they were willing or not, they were men after all, and they were forcibly detained to guard Lechica.
The two infantry regiments have returned to full strength, but their combat effectiveness has truly declined.
Yang Mingzhi ordered these two regiments to set up defenses in the city, build firepower points in various streets, and use all cellars as anti-cannon holes. The soldiers guarded one or several buildings in the form of infantry squads and fought a pure street battle.
The First Independent Regiment and the Second Independent Regiment were the troops of Peronisky and Medvedev. During the battle, they suffered a lot of casualties. Like the 284th Division, they also detained some militiamen and forcibly replenished their troops.
However, these nearly 4,000 people will not stay in the city to fight to the death. They will be deployed on the left bank of the river. Once the defenders in the city cannot hold on any longer and begin to retreat south, they will conduct a covering artillery attack on the city and push the German troops back to the city.
Lure him to the riverside to contain him.
The Third Independent Regiment and the Fourth Independent Regiment, that is, Vasilyev and Tchaikov's troops. They have not received additional troops. The combined combat strength of the two regiments is only 2,800 people, which is equivalent to a large establishment.
infantry regiment. Their combat effectiveness is still good, especially after a batch of ammunition was seized in the city, their combat effectiveness was further improved. They were deployed in the forest south of Lechica. When the German army began to attack the city, they took the initiative to attack.
In order to defeat the enemy from the flank.
At the same time, their location is also the retreat route for the troops in the city. Once Lechicha cannot hold on any longer, everyone will retreat south into the swamp.
Yang Mingzhi and others had already done their research. After arriving at Loev, Kovpak's troops went directly south to Misi Ferry. The war was urgent, and they had to forcibly cross the river from Loev and head to Homnich as quickly as possible. Eliminate
To protect the refugees who have not been evacuated there, they also serve as a tactical reserve.
In order to make it easier to cross the river in Kovpak, Anatoly's troops, who were responsible for guarding the Misi ferry, removed all the ferry ropes and took rafts to re-establish the ferry system in Loev.
Joshua's and Sashanova's two female corps, each adding two female battalions, immediately went to the forest north of Homnich to ambush.
Warmansky's troops still arrived at Homnich in advance as cavalry, but when the battle broke out, the cavalry had to dismount and fight as infantry.
Together, these troops have a total strength of 15,500 people. They are combat troops, and many of the soldiers have sufficient combat experience. However, the fact that they lack heavy weapons makes the troops inevitably face a passive position in the next battle.
.
In addition to the paratrooper brigade that had been forcing the German troops under the city of Gomel to not attack Lechica, more than 17,000 people from the Guerrilla Republic participated in the battle.
If all the militiamen in the rear are forcibly sent to the battlefield, it is also possible to send another 20,000 people, but doing so will undoubtedly commit suicide.
Of course, the Guerrilla Republic also has two powerful guerrilla brigades as friendly forces, with a combined combat strength of 25,000 people, but they will not fight the German 100th Army. There are also 6,000 people from Kovpak, and they are about to
Enter the combat zone.
Calculated in this way, the Soviet army’s combat strength reached 49,000!