The stubborn attack of the two division commanders, Lidyukov and Gryazhnov, completely attracted the attention of the Germans on the west bank of the Wopi River. A large number of German troops www.biquge.info the Pen Fun Pavilion were brought from the banks of the Wopi River and to the north to hold back the Soviet troops rushing into their depths. The movement of German forces was discovered by scouts of the 19th Army. They immediately sent this information back to the army group headquarters by telegram.

Konev was overjoyed when he read the telegram sent back by the scouts, and he raised the telegram in his hand and said to his chief of staff and military commissar: "We are attacking the enemy in front, and now we are moving and preparing to go south to meet Rokossovsky's troops. I thought it was better to send a telegram to the commanders of the offensive positions and tell them to postpone the attack and wait until the enemy had withdrawn before attacking. ”

After hearing this, the chief of staff frowned and said: "Comrade commander, with such a large-scale transfer of the German army, the situation of the assault troops of the 16th Army has become too good, and if they suffer too many casualties in the battle, they will easily fall into the encirclement of the German army, and even be in danger of being annihilated. ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff," said Konev with obvious dissatisfaction, "the possibility of what you are talking about is entirely true, but you should be well aware that their actions are only to cooperate with our counteroffensive. If they can attract more enemies to them, then we will have much less resistance when attacking......"

"But, Comrade Commander." The chief of staff said: "We cannot watch our friendly forces fall into the encirclement of the Germans. In order to prevent this from happening, I advise the troops to immediately go on the offensive and redraw the attention of the enemy who is being mobilized. ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, what's wrong with you?" After Konev waited for the chief of staff to finish speaking, he said in a stern tone: "The assault troops of the 16th Army paid great sacrifices to attract the attention of the enemy to them. If we attack at such a time, won't that make their efforts undone? ”

Konev's words made the chief of staff understand how inappropriate his proposal was, and what an awkward situation this proposal put him. Fortunately, at this time, the military commissar spoke, and he smiled and said to Konev: "Comrade commander, don't be angry. The Chief of Staff had good intentions, and he didn't want to watch my allies fall into the enemy's encirclement in isolation, so he seemed a little impatient. ”

With the military commissar playing a round in the middle, Konev waved his hand and said magnanimously: "I understand the mood of the chief of staff, his intentions are good." But now the friendly forces have managed to draw the enemy's attention to the past, and if we attack at such a time, then the enemy will return to his original position and stop our attack. But if we wait for the enemy's large forces to leave the existing area and then launch an attack, the enemy will just want to turn around and rush back, and it will be too late. The better we fight, the more chaotic the enemy will become, and the allies will be able to turn the corner. ”

After listening to Konev's explanation, the chief of staff nodded and said sincerely: "I'm sorry, comrade commander, I misunderstood you." Don't worry, I'm going to send a telegram to the forward commanders and ask them to postpone the attack. ”

Just as the chief of staff of the 19th Army was sending a telegram to the forward commanders, Rokossovsky also received a telegram from Lidyukov. After reading it, he handed the telegram to Lobachev and asked: "Comrade Military Commissar, what do you think about this?" ”

After reading the telegram, Lobachev frowned and said: "Although I don't know much about military affairs, if the 19th Army does not attack, our two divisions may fall into the encirclement of the German army, and even be completely annihilated." At this point, he hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Look, is it a phone call to General Konev and ask him to immediately send his troops on the offensive to relieve the pressure on our assault force." ”

Rokossovsky shook his head unexpectedly and said: "Even if you make a phone call, it is useless." I can say with certainty that General Konev may have given orders to his troops at the front to postpone the offensive now. ”

"Huh?! Postpone the attack? Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Malinin, who was next to him, opened his mouth wide in surprise and asked puzzledly: "Comrade commander, why is this?" ”

"Come and see." Rokossovsky called several people to the map, pointed to the current location of Lidyukov's troops, and said: "Our troops are fighting fiercely with the Germans in the lower reaches of the Vopi River. The reason why Lidyukov and they felt that the enemy's offensive was becoming more and more fierce was because the Germans transferred the troops upstream. ”

When Ma Linin heard this, he couldn't help but interject and ask, "In this way, won't the upper reaches of the Wopi River become empty?" Then why did General Konev's troops not attack the enemy yet? ”

"Because they're still waiting for the time to strike." Rokossovsky was like a roundworm in Konev's stomach, and analyzed all his intentions, "General Konev wants to wait until the enemy is transferred away, and then launch an attack by surprise, so that they can seize these areas with empty defenses in the shortest possible time." ”

"If he does this, the casualties of the troops of the 19th Army are small, but what about our troops?" Malinin said unconvinced: "You must know that the number of recruits in Colonel Lidyukov's First Motorized Infantry Division accounts for nearly half, and when this battle is fought, it is estimated that many battalions and companies-level formations will be wiped out." ”

"Chief of Staff, the troops are gone, we can still replenish them." Lobachev opened his mouth to persuade Malinin: "It's all for victory, we have to take care of the overall situation." ”

After listening to Lobachev, Malinin stared at the map without saying a word, as if he wanted to see clearly from here how Lidyukov and they fought fiercely with the Germans.

Seeing Malinin's lost expression, Rokossovsky sighed softly, and then instructed him: "Chief of Staff, send a message to the two division commanders, Lidyukov and Ryaznov, asking them to temporarily stop the attack, build fortifications in place, and prepare to resist a more fierce German attack." Seeing that Malinin was leaving, he added, "Chief of Staff, tell them the importance of containing the German troops, so that they can know what it is." ”

A few minutes later, Lidyukov received a telegram from Malinin. After reading the contents of the telegram, he immediately called Shebelyuk, who was directing the battle at the front, and ordered: "Comrade Major, order the troops to temporarily stop the offensive and build fortifications in their place to prepare for the onslaught of the German army. ”

"Comrade division commander," Shebelyuk thought that Lidyukov ordered him to stop the offensive because he was worried that the casualties of the troops would be too great, and hurriedly explained: "Our regiment now has more than 1,000 people, and it is fully capable of continuing to attack the enemy's defensive positions......

"That's enough, Major Shebelyuk." Without waiting for him to finish, Lidyukov interrupted his later words and said loudly into the microphone: "The Germans are frightened by our fierce offensive, and they are mobilizing forces from all over the world to press on us. If you blindly fight and rush and run out of troops, what kind of troops will you use to resist the enemy's attack when the enemy's main force rushes up? ”

Shebelyuk was silent for a moment, and then said unwillingly: "We have received the task of cooperating with the troops of the 19th Army to launch a counteroffensive against the enemy. But the battle has been fought so far, except for our two divisions fighting stubbornly, the 19th Army has not even moved at all, they will not lie to us. ”

"I just received a telegram from the chief of staff from the headquarters." Lidyukov felt that at such a time it was impossible to hide his subordinates, at least to make them aware of them, so he said: "According to the analysis of Comrade Commander, the offensive of the 19th Army may have to be postponed. They will attack only when the enemy has moved to our direction and the frontal guards have become empty. ”

"Hell, hell here." When Shebelyuk heard Lidyukov say this, he suddenly became anxious: "We were only fighting with them, but now it turned out to be good, our feint turned into a strong attack, and they hid by the side to watch the lively ......"

Although Lidyukov was dissatisfied with the delay in the action of the 19th Army, in this situation he had to stop his subordinates from continuing and saying, "Alright, Major Shebelyuk, don't say any more." I order you to immediately build fortifications, preferably with mines in front of your positions. ”

"Comrade division commander, since there is no choice now, we can only try." Shebelyuk replied with a gloomy face: "But I don't think it's wise to lay mines under the noses of the Germans, whose artillery fire can detonate all the mines we have planted." ”

"Major Shebelyuk, I know that it will be very difficult for you to lay mines in front of the position," Lidyukov said in a tough tone, "but in any case, you must lay mines in front of the position. We didn't have many mines with us in this sortie, and I'll send someone to send them to you later. Remember, it is necessary to defend stubbornly and keep the enemy's forces in our direction, so that friendly forces can calmly attack the enemy's weakly armed areas. Got it? ”

The 1st Mobu Division was building a position and laying mines in front of it. The Gryaznov division was doing the same thing, and since this unit was almost all veterans, as soon as the telegram was received, the commanders and fighters stopped the attack on the German positions, returned to the starting point of the attack, took advantage of the terrain and began to build fortifications, and hurried to lay mines and draw barbed wire in front of the positions.

No sooner had the fortifications of the 1st Motor Infantry Division been dug than the German infantry, guided by tanks, charged. Looking at the enemy rushing towards his position, Shebelyuk shouted into the microphone: "Comrade division commander, the enemy's infantry, under the cover of tanks, charged us. ”

Hearing that his subordinates were a little panicked, Lidyukov hurriedly raised his voice and said: "Major, don't panic, even if your fortifications are not completed, it will not be so easy for the enemy to rush in." Tell your fighters not to rush the tanks and let them concentrate their fire on the infantry following the tanks. Tanks aren't a big deal as long as they're wiped out, and even if they're not blown up in a minefield, you can use anti-tank guns or cluster grenades to get close to your position. ”

As soon as he said this, he suddenly heard a loud rumbling sound coming from the headphones, and he hurriedly asked, "Major Shebelyuk, what happened to you there?" ”

Amid the loud explosion coming from the earpiece, Shebelyuk could be faintly heard saying: "It was an enemy shell that landed next to my command post and exploded." ”

"Major, it's not been a day or two since you participated in the battle." Hearing that the shell had landed next to Shebelyuk's command post and exploded, although Lidyukov was a little worried, he still pretended to be calm and said: "You should have encountered such a situation often. Remember, order your fighters to fire at the enemy's infantry to separate their tanks from the infantry. ”

"Understood!" Shebelyuk replied loudly.

The lower reaches of the Wopi River are in full swing, while the upper reaches are deserted. On the front of the 19th Army's attack, there was a wooden bridge over the river, which was originally extremely important due to the transfer of a large number of troops, and now only five or six German soldiers are guarding it.

Konev, who was in the rear, heard the report of the commander of the front, raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then said to the chief of staff: "Comrade Chief of Staff, at present in front of our attacking troops, the enemy's forces are very weak, and we can launch an offensive for our troops. ”

The chief of staff, who had long been anxious, immediately jumped up from his seat when he heard Konev's order, and ran to send a report to the forward commander.

Without artillery fire, the commanders and fighters, who were hiding only seven or eight hundred meters away from the Wopi River, rushed out from their hiding places shouting "Ula" with their weapons in their hands and rushed towards the wooden bridge by the river.

The German soldiers guarding the bridge were stunned when they suddenly saw thousands of commanders and fighters rushing towards them in the distance. The machine gunner, who reacted the fastest, immediately pounced on his firing position after a brief panic, straightened his machine gun and opened fire on the rushing Soviet commanders and fighters.

Hearing the gunshots, the panicked German soldiers also calmed down, and they all lay on the ground, raised their weapons in their hands, and shot at the Soviet soldiers in the distance like machine gunners.

Many of the commanders and fighters who rushed to the front fell under enemy fire, but the remaining soldiers still bravely rushed forward. Just a few tens of seconds later, a number of soldiers rushed to the side of the bridge, raised their bright bayonets, knocked over the recalcitrant German soldiers, and then rushed across the wooden bridge in one go. (To be continued.) )