After the battle, I returned to the headquarters and saw that Bezikov had counted the results of the various units participating in the battle. When I was carefully checking the data with the battle report, Chistyakov said to me with a smile: "Comrade commander, I didn't expect that the four divisions we participated in the battle today have all achieved good results. Among them, the 52nd Guards Division had the most brilliant results, killing and capturing 2,000 German soldiers each. Lieutenant Colonel Lukin's 375th Infantry Division, although not a single prisoner was captured, numbered nearly 3,000 men, including the enemy they had destroyed during the blockade. The two divisions sent by the 22nd Guards Infantry Army killed more than 400 enemies and captured more than 700 prisoners. The German 339th Division has been crippled by us, and they can all be ignored in the rest of the battle......"

I quickly read the data on the battle report, and saw that there was no income from what Chistyakov said, but such results did not satisfy me. I threw the battle report on the table, pouted, and said: "Comrade Deputy Commander, judging from the battle report, we have indeed eliminated a large number of German living forces. But I don't know if you've noticed, but among the enemies captured or killed, there is no mid-to-senior officer, and the highest rank is only a lieutenant colonel. I would like to ask, where did the enemy's commanders at the division and regimental level go? As long as the chain of command still exists, then this division that has been defeated by us can be rebuilt in the shortest possible time. ”

My words caused the entire command to fall silent.

After a long time, Bezikov spoke: "Comrade commander, although in this battle we have not been able to destroy the enemy's divisional and regimental command organs, they have lost thousands of soldiers. Judging from the current situation, Manstein will not be able to replenish them with so many troops in the short term, so I think we have won the battle today. ”

After waiting for Bezikov to finish speaking, I pushed the battle report in front of him, and at the same time ordered: "Chief of staff, immediately report to the front headquarters what we have achieved." ”

"Yes!" Bezkov agreed, picked up the battle report on the table, and prepared to go to the front command to publish it. But they had not taken two steps before I stopped them, and I continued: "Chief of Staff, please call Colonel Sederikov by the way, and order him to take more German officers in the battle to capture Smilla." ”

"I see," said Bezkov, nodding at me, "I will convey your meaning to Colonel Sederikov." ”

As soon as Bezzikov walked away, Chistyakov told me: "Comrade commander, the front command has sent sappers to repair the bridge across the river at Kanivo, and it is estimated that it will be completed in two or three days at most. ”

"That's great. If the bridge across the river is repaired, our troops will continue to come from across the river. After I said these two sentences, I thought for a while, and then continued: "The original pontoon bridge should not be dismantled for the time being, and if there are two more bridges, the speed of the troops' crossing of the river will be greatly accelerated." ”

After making the call, Bezikov walked back to the table and reported to me: "Comrade commander, a telegram to the command of the Front has been sent, and I have also called Colonel Sederikov. ”

I could hear what he was saying, so I asked, "What did the Colonel say when he received your call?" ”

After waiting for me to finish, Bezikov began to repeat Sederikov's exact words: "The colonel said that the troops were all in offensive positions, and he intended to launch an attack on the city at eight o'clock in the evening. Based on what they had, he was sure he would take Smilla by noon tomorrow. ”

"Smilla is small, but after all, there are more than a thousand German troops stationed there." Chistyakov was obviously not optimistic about Shederikov, he frowned and said: "Don't talk about one division of the 51st Guards Division, even if you add two more divisions, two more divisions, you can't remember that you can take the city in more than ten hours, right?" ”

"Don't worry, my deputy commander." Hearing Chistyakov's suspicions, I immediately spoke up to support my old subordinate: "I know Colonel Sederikov very well, he is a very down-to-earth commander, and he also has a lot of combat experience, he said that if he can take Smilla before noon tomorrow, I believe that he will definitely be able to do this." ”

The attack on Smilla began at eight o'clock in the evening. I received a call from Sederikov that his troops, under the cover of tanks, were attacking the city.

Thinking that Shedelikov did not receive artillery cover before the attack, I was afraid that if the Germans had strong fortifications, then the attacking troops would pay heavy casualties, so I asked with concern: "Colonel, can you manage to successfully break through the enemy's defensive positions without artillery cover?" ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Sedelikov said confidently: "According to our reconnaissance in advance, the Germans do not have any strong fortifications in the city of Smilla, and besides, we have the cover of tanks, and I believe that it will take a long time for our troops to storm the city." ”

Although Sederikov spoke with such confidence, I was still a little unsure, so after the end of the call with him, I called Povsky again and instructed him: "Commander of artillery, please immediately transfer an artillery regiment to the Smilla area, and prepare to provide artillery support to our siege troops if necessary." ”

While we were waiting for the battle to pass, Chistyakov suddenly said to me: "Comrade commander, I feel that we should make a request to the command of the Front Army and let them replenish our troops. You must know that in today's battle, the total casualties of the 375th Infantry Division were about 4,000, of which the 1243rd Regiment suffered more than 2,500 casualties. ”

"Well, I'll give General Vatutin a call and hear what he means." With that, I picked up the phone on the table and called Vatutin. After hearing the other party's voice, I immediately preemptively said: "Hello, Comrade General. Calling you at this time is because there is something important to discuss with you. ”

"Comrade Oshanina, if you have any business, just say it." Due to the recent victories, Vatujin also seemed very happy, and he said with a big grin: "As long as I can do it, I will help you immediately." ”

"In today's battle, although we have won a big victory, the casualties of the troops are not small, and the 375th Infantry Division has suffered more than half of the casualties, and it is urgent to be replenished." Since I thought that Moskalenko's 40th Army had forcibly crossed the Dnieper River today, the casualties of the troops would certainly not be small, and if I had not preemptively proposed to Vatutin about replenishing troops, then the Front would have replenished the 40th Army, "so I hope that in these two days, the division will be reorganized." ”

"Two days is a bit too tight." When Vatutin heard my request, he said with some embarrassment: "Besides, our front army has gone through a series of battles, and the casualties of each unit are not small, and they all need to be replenished, so we have to take our time. At this he paused for a moment, and then said to me, as if he had made up his mind, "Don't worry, I will give you no less than five thousand recruits in a week." ”

Originally, I was thinking that Vatutin, seeing the series of victories achieved by our group army, might be happy and directly announce that he would replenish us with 10,000 men. Who knew that he would only give 5,000 people, and it would be a week before he could give it, and there were too many variables. In my disappointment, I could only reluctantly say, "Okay, Comrade General, since you say so, I will patiently wait for you to replenish our soldiers." ”

I put down the phone and said to Chistyakov with a sad face: "Comrades commanders, the casualties of Lukin's division today are obvious to all. I originally wanted the Front Command to replenish us with a batch of troops as soon as possible, and then I would all be placed in the 375th Infantry Division. General Vatutin said that there are too many troops that need to be replenished recently, and it will take at least a week before we can replenish them. ”

"What should I do?" After listening to this, Bezkov also said with a sad face: "After today's battle, although we have achieved considerable results, the 375th Infantry Division has almost lost its combat effectiveness due to too many casualties. ”

Just when our group was at a loss, someone suddenly heard the sound of someone shouting a report at the door. "Come in!" Bezikov turned his head and shouted outside.

With his shout, a conductor walked in from outside the door. I looked up and saw that it was Captain Travkin, who had been sent out on a reconnaissance mission. I nodded at him, and then politely asked, "Comrade Captain, you're back!" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Travkin replied: "I came back from a reconnaissance mission. ”

"Did you spot anything useful?" Since we can receive all kinds of information from him at any time through the radio, I asked this question just casually out of politeness.

Unexpectedly, as soon as my words fell, Travkin nodded vigorously and replied: "Yes, Comrade Commander, we have detected an important piece of information. Because the radio station fell into the river while crossing the river, it is no longer possible to contact the command, so I can only come back and report to you in person. ”

"What's important?" Hearing Travkin say this, it immediately aroused the interest of all of us, and Chistyakov urged: "Comrade Captain, come and listen!" ”

Travkin walked into the table, looked down at the map on the table for a while, looked at me and said: "Comrade commander, while we were reconnoitring in the southwestern direction of Smilla, we unexpectedly found a prisoner of war camp. ”

"What, prisoner of war camp?" I almost jumped out of my seat when I heard him say the words, knowing that if we could liberate this prisoner of war camp, we would be able to replenish the soldiers, and hurriedly asked, "Where is it?" ”

Travkin pointed to a place name in the lower left corner of Smilla and said: "Comrade Commander, right here - Spora, there is a large prisoner of war camp. According to our interviews with the residents of the vicinity and the interrogation of captured prisoners, there were more than 4,000 commanders and fighters of our army in the prisoner-of-war camp, who had been captured in the Battle of Kharkov at the beginning of the year, and were part of the South-Western Front and the Voronezh Front. ”

"Great, that's great." When Chistyakov heard this, he was overjoyed, and he said to me excitedly: "Comrade commander, as long as we take this prisoner of war camp, we can integrate the rescued commanders and fighters into the troops. ”

"Wait a minute, Comrade Deputy Commander." As soon as Kirillov opened his mouth, he poured cold water on Chistyakov's head: "Although there are more than 4,000 people in this prisoner of war camp, even if we occupy this place and rescue everyone, we cannot immediately integrate them into the army. ”

"Why?" Chistyakov asked puzzled.

"In the past few months in the prisoner of war camp, they must have suffered a lot of inhumane treatment, hunger and disease, which has greatly weakened their combat effectiveness, and this is one aspect." Kirillov said carefully: "More importantly, according to the orders of the superiors, the rescued prisoners of war must be examined by the superiors to prevent German spies lurking among them." ”

When Chistyakov heard Kirillov say this, he was disillusioned, and he sat down in his seat weakly, muttering: "What can we do, we can't just give up these fighters with combat experience." ”

I saw that there was a cold scene in the room again, and I hurriedly came out to liven up the atmosphere. I first said to Kirillov: "Comrade Military Commissar, you have a very reasonable point, but this is a special period, and the examination of commanders and fighters does not have to be so strict. Moreover, they were able to stay in the enemy's prisoner of war camp for half a year, and they did not give in, so long proved that they were worthy fighters. It would be an insult to them to be examined again in this case. ”

Seeing that Kirillov nodded repeatedly, I turned to Chistyakov again and said, "Comrade Deputy Commander, don't worry. When we take the prisoner of war camp, we can integrate the able-bodied soldiers into our troops. ”

I then asked Travkin: "Captain, I remember you just seemed to say that you met the local residents on the way?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Travkin gave me an affirmative reply: "Our people entered the city of Spola in disguise, and found that although the city was small, it had seventy or eighty thousand inhabitants. Some were local residents, others were moved by German troops from across the Dnieper. ”

"Yes, I see." Seeing Travkin say this, I had a relatively complete plan in my heart, so I waved my hand at Travkin and said, "Captain, you have worked hard all the way, go back and rest first." If there's anything, I'll send someone to call you. ”

Travkin waited for me to finish, raised his hand in salute, turned and strode out of the headquarters. (To be continued.) )