Mixed detachments, which were constantly launching small offensives behind enemy lines, inevitably compressed their area of activity as more and more German units arrived in Yaltsevo. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 After several attempts, Lidyukov painfully found that no matter if he attacked any of the German logistics bases, the enemy's reinforcements could arrive within half an hour and encircle his own troops.

After a week of fierce fighting, the mixed detachment was rapidly reduced from more than 700 to more than 70 men, and all tanks were lost. Under these conditions, Rokossovsky knew that there was no point in leaving the mixed detachment in the rear of the enemy, and ordered them to return to the second line of defense east of Yatsevo for rest.

In the early morning of July 24, the Germans again launched an offensive on their positions west of Yaltsevo. The defensive line was in a precarious position as the 38th Division, which was holding on to the left flank, suffered heavy losses from enemy bombardment and artillery shelling. In this case, Chief of Staff Tarasov proposed to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, at the moment our battles with the Germans are taking place in the west of the city, while in the east it has been calm. Now that the position of the 38th Division cannot be held, why don't you transfer this regiment that they left in the second-line position? ”

Rokossovsky thought for a moment, then nodded and said: "Chief of Staff, I agree with you. After the transfer of this regiment of the 38th Division from the east, they had vacated positions that could be temporarily defended by the mixed detachment of Colonel Lidyukov. ”

"Won't their forces be too weak?" Hearing Rokossovsky's arrangement, Carmela asked with some concern: "You must know that they only have less than a company of troops left, and there are too few troops to defend such a wide position." ”

"There's no way, General Carmela." Rokossovsky said helplessly: "We don't have any extra troops in our hands now, so we can only take this risk." Speaking of this, he instructed Tarasov, who was about to make a phone call, "Chief of Staff, you tell the Colonel of the Startup Minute by the way, and let him do everything possible to replenish his troops when he is regrouping in the rear." ”

Although Rokossovsky did not explicitly say how to replenish the troops, everyone in the command understood that the so-called replenishment of troops meant that all the commanders they met were incorporated into the troops without explanation, and if they met strong young men, they would try their best to mobilize the other side to join the army.

Tarasov "fed" the microphone a few times, and then cursed in a low voice: "Hell, the phone line was blown up." ”

When Rokossovsky heard the news, he couldn't help frowning, because the communication between the command and the troops in the east of the city was all through telephone, and now that the telephone line was blown up, it was equivalent to the interruption of contact. He thought for a moment, then called a communications staff officer and instructed: "Comrade staff officer, you immediately arrange for people to check the line, and you must restore the contact between the command headquarters and the eastern unit in the shortest possible time." ”

"Yes!" As soon as the staff officer agreed, he was ready to carry out Rokossovsky's order. But he didn't take a few steps before he was stopped by Tarasov.

Tarasov ignored the startled communications staff officer, but turned back to Rokossovsky and said: "Comrade commander, the speed of the line check is too slow, I am afraid of delaying the military plane, so I should go there myself." ”

"I think it's okay for the chief of staff to personally convey orders," Carmela interjected: "But the work of checking the line still has to be carried out simultaneously, and we can't send someone to convey every order, because it is easy to make a mistake in doing so." ”

"General Carmella is right." Rokossovsky agreed to Carmela's proposal, and he said to Tarasov: "Chief of Staff, you and this communications staff officer rush to the troops to the east. You're in charge of relaying the order to move the defense, and he's in charge of restoring phone contact between us and the second line of defense. After speaking, he waved at the two of them, "Go ahead!" ”

As soon as the jeep in which Tarasov was riding left the forest and drove onto the road, it was spotted by enemy planes hovering in the air. The enemy plane immediately dived in the direction of the jeep and fired wildly with its on-board machine guns. The first miss, the German pilot pulled the nose of the plane high, circled in the air, and then dived down at the jeep again, while pulling the trigger again.

Tarasov, who was sitting in the jeep, saw the bullets fired by the enemy plane, which smashed the side of the car into a splash of mud, and couldn't help but shout at the driver in a hurry: "Hurry up, drive faster!" The driver didn't finish, pursed his lips tightly, stepped on the accelerator to the bottom, and rushed forward along the road as fast as he could.

But no matter how fast the jeep goes, its speed can't compare to that of an airplane. The pilot couldn't help but be a little anxious, and when he dived for the third time, he did not fire with his machine gun again, but dropped bombs directly in front of the jeep.

The bomb landed on the ground and exploded, and the smoke immediately enveloped the jeep. When the pilot pulled the plane up, he was surprised to find that the bomb had not destroyed the jeep, and that it was still rushing forward as fast as it could. This time, the pilot was enraged, and he had never had three consecutive dives without hitting the target. This time, after circling in the air, he swooped down in the direction the jeep was coming.

The communications staff officer, who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, swooped down from the front of the enemy plane, and hurriedly turned his head to Tarasov and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the jeep can't outrun the plane, we must find a place to hide......

Before he could finish his sentence, a volley of bullets fired from the plane hit him, and half of his body was immediately shattered, and the blood splattered immediately on Tarasov's head.

Seeing the death of the communications staff officer in front of him, Tarasov knew in his heart that if this continued, he and the driver would not escape the same fate, and hurriedly ordered the driver: "Drive the car to the forest on the side of the road." ”

The driver heard Tarasov's order and slammed the steering wheel, and the jeep turned around and rushed towards the forest on the side of the road. After making a turn in the air, the enemy plane in the air unwillingly swooped down from the sky again. This time, the pilot decided to strafe with a machine gun first, wait for the dive to reach a certain height, and then drop the bomb, and be sure to kill the damn Soviet jeep.

Just as Tarasov's jeep was about to rush into the forest, a bomb fell on the right side of the car and exploded. The huge shock wave from the air wave rolled the jeep several times and stunned Tarasov.

I don't know how long it took for Tarasov to come to his senses. He noticed that the jeep was tilted to the side, and both himself and the driver were thrown out of the car. He crawled to the driver, who was lying on the ground, and pushed the other party with his hand, but found that the other party did not react. He turned the driver over, only to see that there was a large hole in the other man's chest, and blood was pouring out.

He knew that the driver was hopeless, and the task of delivering orders could only be completed on his own. He looked up at the sky, and seeing that the enemy plane had flown away without knowing when, he got up with difficulty, and after briefly identifying the direction, he walked in the direction of the city of Yaltsevo.

He was lucky, walking about two kilometers before he came across a motorcycle coming out of town. The motorcyclist, after confirming his identity, drove him to the headquarters of the second line of defense in the east of the city.

Seeing Tarasov walk into the command, Lidyukov, who was staying here, and the commander of the 38th Division were taken aback. Lidyukov looked at the somewhat embarrassed Tarasov and asked: "Hey, I said Comrade Chief of Staff, where did you come from, why are you so embarrassed?" ”

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Tarasov didn't care about catching up with Lidyukov, so he directly issued an order to the regiment commander: "The position on the left flank currently held by Colonel Kirillov is almost impossible to support because the troop attrition is too great. The commander ordered your regiment to immediately set off to the positions on the left flank to strengthen the defenses there. ”

"But, Comrade Chief of Staff." The regiment commander asked with some embarrassment: "If we leave, who will be responsible for the defense here?" ”

Tarasov pointed his hand at Lidyukov and said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, after your troops leave, the defense here will be taken over by Colonel Lidyukov's mixed detachment. ”

This time it was Lidyukov's turn to be worried, and he said with a sad face: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you don't think that I can do witchcraft, and you can conjure up a force out of thin air to hold this defensive line with a front line up to five kilometers wide, right?" ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Colonel." Tarasov comforted Lidyukov and said: "Judging by the current situation, the German army will not attack here in the short term. You can use this time to contain the sporadic detachments that pass through here and integrate them into your troops. ”

While talking to Lidyukov, Tarasov, who had finished calling his subordinates, interjected and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, can I leave?" ”

"Please wait a minute." Seeing that the regiment commander was in a hurry to leave, Tarasov hurriedly stopped him and kindly reminded him: "At present, the enemy occupies air supremacy on the battlefield, and the troops must pay attention to air defense during the march. As he spoke, he pointed to the dried blood stains on his military uniform and added, "On the way here, I was attacked by enemy planes, and my communications staff officer and driver were unfortunately killed. By the way, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you have any signal corps in your regiment? If there are any, leave two and let them fix the phone line from here to Command. ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I still have a communications platoon under me, and when I leave later, I will leave you a squad." After the regiment commander finished speaking, he raised his hand and saluted, then turned around and walked out of the headquarters.

After the regimental commander left, Tarasov said to Lidyukov: "Comrade Colonel, as far as I know, although sporadic detachments retreat from the front every day, their number is still very limited, and to replenish the strength of this line of defense as soon as possible, we can only find other ways. ”

"Figured out?" After repeating Tarasov's words, Lidyukov asked puzzledly: "What else can I think of other than to contain the troops who have retreated from the front?" ”

"Colonel, come and see." Tarasov pushed the map on the table in front of Lidyukov, pointed to the middle of Yatsevo and Vyazma and said to him: "On both sides of the road from us to Vyazma, there are quite a few towns and collective farms. Did you see that? ”

"See," Lidyukov nodded, and then asked rhetorically, "so what?" ”

"As far as I know, in these towns and farms there are some small militias, as well as a lot of young people who have not moved to the rear." In order to give Lidyukov enough troops to hold the second line of defense, Tarasov gave him advice: "You can send people to take over these militia units, and recruit the young men who have not been transferred, and then bring them here to fight." ”

"However, Comrade Chief of Staff, not to mention these residents and collective farm members who have not undergone any training, even such a militia has no fighting power." Lidyukov said with a wry smile: "In a war, you can't win just by having a large number of people, what we need is people with combat effectiveness." ”

"It's actually very simple," Tarasov said with a relaxed expression, "You can mix these people with the combat backbone of your troops, and let experienced commanders and fighters train them." If nothing happens, they will be able to form initial combat effectiveness within a week. ”

Tarasov's words made Lidyukov's heart pound. But instead of making a final decision at once, he called his two right-hand men, Major Sakhno and Major Shebelyuk, and told them to come to the headquarters immediately and have important matters to discuss.

As soon as the two majors walked into the headquarters, Sakhno asked strangely: "Comrade Colonel, when we came, we saw that the friendly troops were gathering, as if they were ready to move. ”

"That's right," replied Lidyukov, nodding his head, "they will soon be in the defensive position west of Yaltsevo, and here we will be in charge of the defense in mixed detachments." ”

Lidyukov's words startled both Sakhno and Shebelyuk, and after the two looked at each other, Sakhno asked: "Comrade Colonel, we only have more than seventy people, how can we defend such a large defensive position?" Even if one person guards 100 meters, we don't have enough manpower. ”

"That's what I called you two over for." After repeating what Tarasov had just said, Lidyukov asked the two majors for their opinion: "I wonder what the two of you think?" ”

Shebelyuk stepped forward and replied: "Comrade Colonel, I think the method mentioned by the Chief of Staff is feasible. After a long battle, although there are not many of us left, all of them are experienced elites. If they train the recruits who are integrated into the ranks, I believe that the troops can form a certain combat effectiveness in a very short period of time. ”

Turning his gaze to Sakhno, Lidyukov asked noncommittally: "Major, what is your opinion?" ”

Sakhno also stepped forward and replied decisively: "Report to the colonel, my opinion is completely consistent with that of Major Shebelyuk, and I also think that after the replenishment of new troops, combat effectiveness can be formed in a short time. ”

After listening to this, Lidyukov nodded, and then said to Tarasov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, our opinion has been unified, so do as you say!" Later I will send people to nearby towns and farms to recruit soldiers. (To be continued.) )