The total annihilation of the tank brigade made Rokossovsky realize what a price he would pay when his weapons and tactics were inferior. Unfortunately, the prototype of the T34/85 tank was still in the testing period and could not be equipped with troops, otherwise it would have been able to compete with the German Tiger tank. In the current situation, we can only continue to rely on the existing T-34 tanks to compete with the German Tiger and Leopard tanks.

Although Katukov had not fought with the German Imperial divisions, he knew their strength very well, and he hurriedly called General Yuschke and ordered the other side to shrink the defensive line and combine the tank brigade and the motorized rifle brigade so as not to be broken by the Imperial divisions.

After listening to Katukov's words, Yuschke said unwillingly: "Comrade commander, I can't figure it out, one of my tank brigades is gone, and we don't care if we don't counterattack the Germans, but instead shrink the defensive line and wait for the Germans to attack us." I'm worried that the commanders and fighters will be emotional. ”

"I think it's you who has emotions." Katukov unceremoniously debunked Yuschke's little trick: "We are temporarily shrinking our forces for the sake of future offensives. If you have practiced boxing before, you should know that only when the fist is withdrawn first and then punched out can it have power. ”

Katukov's simple analogy made Yuschke immediately realize that his commander had already had a way to deal with it, so he no longer argued, but replied very simply: "Understood, comrade commander, I will shrink the troops as soon as possible and build a strong defense so that the enemy will not be able to advance to the depth of our army." ”

The Soviet 1st Tank Army was rapidly massing towards the Jetmir area, while units of the German 48th Panzer Army were also moving towards the area. By dawn the next day, the 82nd, 198th Infantry and 25th Panzer Divisions of the German army had rushed to the Jetmere area, ready to attack the Soviet army.

When Katukov learned of this information, he immediately called Rokossovsky and reported to him: "Comrade commander, at the moment the Germans have assembled two infantry divisions and two armored divisions in the Jetmir area, and two more infantry divisions, including the 213th Guards Division, are rushing over. ”

"The situation is very serious," although Katukov had a tank army, Rokossovsky's heart still felt unsure: "What are you going to do?" ”

"Comrade Commander," Katukov had typed the draft before calling Rokossovsky, and when he heard the other party's question, he hurriedly replied: "The assembly of our army group has been roughly completed, and I intend to immediately launch a surprise attack on the German troops in the Jetmyrre area and take them by surprise." ”

Attack is the best defense, Rokossovsky felt that Katukov's suggestion was still very good, and after a little thought, he said into the microphone: "Wait a little longer, General Katukov, I will first order the air force to bombard the area where the German tanks are concentrated, and the artillery will bombard the area where the German infantry is concentrated, and then you will attack." What do you think? ”

"It would be great if there was really artillery and air support." Although Katukov also had several artillery regiments in his hands, they were not large, and it was difficult to inflict too many casualties on the German army, and when he heard that Rokossovsky planned to cooperate the artillery and air force of the entire front army with them, he was immediately overjoyed, and he even thought in his heart: Maybe with the cooperation of the air force and artillery, we can still recapture Zhytomyr. You know, the old army commander used to be the commander of the garrison there before the war, and he would be very happy if he could liberate the city under his command.

…………

Since Katukov's troops encountered the Germans during the march, they did not have time to send scouts to conduct a careful reconnaissance of the Germans. When the artillery and air forces needed them to provide the coordinates of the German assembly sites, there was a large error between what they could provide and what was actually happening.

As a result, Soviet bombers dropped bombs on sparsely populated forests and swamps; The artillery, on the other hand, carried out an hour-long shelling of an area where there were not many German troops.

As soon as the bombardment and shelling were over, the 11th Tank Army launched a charge towards the area where the Germans might exist. Having chosen the wrong direction, when they arrived at the place, they found no sign of the Germans except for burning trees and swamps that abounded.

Just as Yuschke was about to send scouts to find out the specific position of the German army, the German 25th Panzer Division launched an attack from the flank of the 11th Tank Army, separating the two tank brigades in front and the motorized infantry brigade in the rear. Seeing that his troops were encircled by the Germans, Yuschke hurriedly asked Katukov for help through the radio, hoping that he could send troops to reinforce him.

When Katukov learned that the troops of the 11th Tank Army had fallen into the encirclement of the German army, he suddenly had a seizure: "How did this Yuschke do it, yesterday the 20th Tank Brigade was annihilated by the German Imperial Division in half an hour, and today the entire army is encircled by the German army." ”

"Comrade commander," said the chief of staff of the army group, waiting for Katukov to finish venting, "we cannot watch the 11th Tank Army being annihilated by the enemy, and I suggest that troops be sent to support them immediately." ”

Although Katukov was very angry with Shike, he did not sit idly by and watch them be annihilated by the Germans, and hurriedly instructed the chief of staff: "Chief of staff, call the commander of the 11th Guards Tank Army, Colonel Babajanyan, and order him to immediately send two tank brigades to the area surrounded by Yushke's army and rescue friendly troops." ”

"Comrade commander," the chief of staff said with some concern after listening to Katukov's arrangement, "and we will transfer two tank brigades from the 11th Guards Tank Army at once, and then the flanks of the 8th Guards Mechanized Army will be exposed in front of the enemy, is it too risky to do so?" ”

Katukov sighed and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, we can only take risks now, if we do not take any action, then Yuschke's troops will be wiped out by the Germans." Well, don't talk about it, order Colonel Babajanyan to send a tank brigade to go. ”

The Soviet-German side in the Jetmir region fought fiercely, and Rokossovsky also learned about the situation at the front through battle reports. After he saw the battle report, he threw it on the table and said bitterly: "See, this is the consequence of inaccurate intelligence." Our bombers dropped bombs on areas where there were no Germans, and the artillery shelled the open strip for an hour. As soon as our troops attacked, because they did not know the specific location of the enemy's station, they pounced and fell into the encirclement of the German army. ”

"Comrade commander," Bogolyubov had never experienced such a scene, so he asked Rokossovsky somewhat at a loss: "Then what should we do?" ”

"Call the Air Force immediately," Rokossovsky said, looking at Bogolyubov, "order them to send warplanes to the area where the fighting is taking place to provide air support to our ground forces." ”

"But, Comrade Commander," Bogolyubov asked with some unsteadiness in his heart, "what if our Air Force drops bombs on no man's land again?" ”

When Rokossovsky heard Bogolyubov say this, he wanted to go up and kick him, but he said patiently: "Now that there is a fierce battle in the Jetmir area, our pilots can see both sides of the battle in the air, and as long as they are not blind, they should know where to drop the bomb." ”

After listening to Rokossovsky's detailed explanation, Bogolyubov's heart finally became more steady. As he turned to leave, Rokossovsky shook his head at his back and looked down at the map in front of him. He was considering whether Katukov's tactics of attacking instead of defending would effectively contain the German 48th Panzer Army in the Jetmir area, making it impossible for them to continue their advance towards Kyiv.

The fierce battle for Jetmir lasted until the evening. The besieged 11th Tank Army, supported by Babajanyan's troops, managed to break out of the encirclement, turned around and attacked the flanks of the German infantry divisions that were fighting fiercely with the 8th Guards Mechanized Army, inflicting heavy losses on them and capturing more than 300 German soldiers.

After dark, Stalin called from Moscow to ask Rokossovsky about the situation in Kiev. Rokossovsky, who had just finished reading the battle report, hurriedly replied: "Comrade Stalin, the counterattack we launched in the Jetmyr area, although it was inextricably linked to the enemy and paid a lot of price, succeeded in stopping the advance of the German army. ”

Having learned about the situation in the Jetmir region, Stalin then asked: "And what about Fasteif?" What about the situation there? ”

"The 40th Army launched an active attack on the enemy from Fastef," Rokossovsky picked up a battle report on the table, looked at it, and read it to Stalin: "After fierce battles, our army managed to push back the fascist army by three to five kilometers. ”

It was heard that the front to the west of Kiev had stabilized, and that Fastev in the southwest had not only held on, but had also managed to push the enemy back for several kilometers. Stalin couldn't help but be overjoyed, and said in a loud voice: "Okay, this is really good." Comrade Rokossovsky, I hope that after stabilizing the front, you will be able to relaunch the offensive in the Zhytomyr direction, understand? ”

"Understood, Comrade Stalin." Rokossovsky replied: "I will begin to develop a plan of attack in the Zhytomyr direction as soon as possible." ”

"Well, that's good, Comrade Rokossovsky." Stalin nodded his head on the other end of the phone and said, "Then I will wait for your good news in Moscow, and I hope that this day will come sooner." Good luck! ”