Before dinner, Lin Jun welcomed his third guest this afternoon, and this person still had something to do to open the back door to Lin Jun -- Andlupuf wanted to command an air group army to participate in front-line operations, rather than stay in Moscow to "enjoy leisure." Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

In recent years, Andlupf has been much more pragmatic than Lin Jun in his work, and he has not only accumulated a lot of practical experience in commanding the army, but has also received systematic education as a senior commander of the Air Force, and has sufficient quality of his own, and is a qualified senior commander of the Air Force.

In the formation of the air force group army this time, the central authorities still followed the rule of "the rank is equal to the position" in the selection of candidates for the group ******, and Andlupuv was obviously excluded from the list of candidates because he had served as the deputy commander of the Moscow Military District for many years and now has the rank of air force general (the commander of the air group army is the rank of major general or lieutenant general). ）。

Because of Lin Jun's good brother, Andlupf, who was in the prime of life, suddenly found that he seemed to have lost the opportunity to "grasp real power", and he was unable to command the troops to participate in actual operations for a while, which made him very embarrassed. Since the beginning of the war, he wanted to command a unit to participate in front-line operations, but the report was withheld by the National Defense Committee - what should he command?!

It is not easy to arrange: Such a commander is obviously the material for serving as the chief officer of the air force, but there is no shortage of senior commanders in the major western fronts, and if he is placed in the rear to serve as the chief officer of the formation of a new unit, it is not appropriate, and it is also equivalent to lowering the status of Andlupf: Before the beginning of autumn, Moscow really cannot do without Andlupf, "the treasure of Moscow's sky."

But now the situation is different: the air force general, who is fairly well-informed, is determined to actually command a unit, and as for the general commanding the air army, he does not care about his "condescension".

Even if he is a lieutenant general, he is willing!

"If you're gone, is there a suitable person to replace you in your position now?" Lin Jun asked his eldest brother.

"There are at least three comrades who are up to the task. Andrey, I need your nomination. The brother stared at Lin Jun's eyes and said: He is eager to command a force.

Lin Jun has no doubt about this big brother's ability - no other air force commander can do it better than Andlupf!

"Okay, go to the headquarters now, I'll nominate you."

Hearing Lin Jun's promise, Andlupuf was relieved, in fact, he was not impatient just now: he was already the deputy commander of the military region, and he had this kind of cultivation, but he was just determined to achieve it - as long as he could command a group army, of course, he had to obey the deployment of the high command.

He is very confident, he can do a very good job everywhere, and fight the fascists hard!

"Andrey, when will you return to Minsk?"

"Early tomorrow morning, no telegram, new regulations."

"In such a hurry?"

"The form waits for no one, the matter here has been done, I can't wait to go back now."

This is also a new rule: in times of war, senior officers go to the front line, and for safety reasons, the itinerary is not notified to the forward garrison in advance. The garrison only knew that the commander was coming, but did not know the exact time. Regarding this order, it can be traced back to Lin Jun's proposal two years ago: Lin Jun thought of the Yamamoto fifty-six who was finished in the tropical jungle, so he made such a proposal to the National Defense Commissioner.

The two arrived in the Kremlin, and the Supreme Command was considering the candidates for the commanders of the various air groups, and since the deputy commander-in-chief was nominated, Andlupuv was naturally on the list, not to mention that the Air Force General Comrade was fully competent. But Andlupuv never thought that after being busy for a long time, this time he had to stay near Moscow for the time being: Stalin was going to form a base camp air assault group, with the same level as the air force group - Andlupuf was the best candidate for the position of commander of the group!

Lin Jun can't control this: he can't guarantee where to go, so let the eldest brother continue to stay in Moscow.

、、、、、、

The stalemate was only relative, and the fighting on the front never stopped - in contrast to the relatively short period of stagnation of the German offensive in the west, in the far south of Ukraine, Odessa was under a full-scale assault by the Romanian army of 17 divisions and 7 brigades.

The 56th Army on the eastern side was in the Southern Front, and the continuous replenishment made it move closer to Odessa, trying to open up the land passage on the eastern side of Odessa. The German forces in this position had less than 150 kilometers of defensive depth, and the Romanians were now ready to take the important town of Odessa before the flank was attacked by the 56th Army.

If Odessa misses, the efforts of the 56th Army will be in vain in an instant, and as an important port on the Black Sea, Odessa's importance for both sides is self-evident.

At present, Odessa has three defensive areas: the forward defensive area is 20 to 25 km from the city, the main defensive area is 10 to 14 km from the city, and the cover area is 6 to 10 km from the city; More than 250 barricades have been erected in the streets of the city. The city is surrounded by fortifications with a total length of more than 250 kilometers. The defenders of Odessa did everything to turn the city into a fortress in their hands!

Contrary to the expectations of the commanders of the Red Army, the Romanian army, which had always been weak in combat effectiveness, seemed to have changed this time, and launched numerous onslaughts against Odessa, which was cut off by land, and the fighting was extremely fierce from the very beginning. However, the strong offensive of the Romanian army in the past month only captured a few positions in the advancing defensive area, and the battle line stagnated. The military and civilians of Odessa persisted with complete selflessness and fearlessness, the whole city was mobilized, factories continued to produce, and those who were able to take up arms, except for the necessary personnel, were thrown into the defense of the city. No matter how fierce the fascist attack was and how heavy the artillery fire was, the defenders would never retreat even if they were on the ground to the last man!

After a week of continuous onslaught, the Romanians also seemed to be a little tired, and the attack was temporarily halted, which gave both sides a rare respite.

Odessa, as a seaport city surrounded by the sea on both sides, has one of the most fatal weaknesses - once the road access is cut off, the city will be in a state of lack of fresh water! There are now water supply difficulties within the city, and a large part of the drinking water has to be transported by boat by sea. Fortunately, the control of the sea was firmly in the hands of the Black Sea Fleet, and a steady stream of supplies reached the hungry cities through the sea lifeline.

Because the Romanian army did not have effective long-range artillery to threaten the urban core and the port, the Romanian air force and the German vultures were the only forces capable of destroying the port. But they could not wreak havoc on the already besieged city, which was still being guarded by the heroic aviation of the Red Army and the Red Navy! In addition to the Odessa airfield and two small field airfields near the city, the Black Sea Fleet even sent the "Belarusian" to the sea off Odessa as a support force to defend the city: it was risky, but it would have been worth it for Stalin.

The Romanian offensive seemed to have been suspended, but this was only superficial: the commander of the Romanian Fourth Army, Chuperk, was making a new campaign deployment -- the Fourth Army suffered heavy losses in a fan-shaped all-out offensive, and Perk had to find a new way to switch from an all-front offensive to a concentrated assault from the northeast and northwest.

Odessa will be put to the real test!

Belyaevka, the fulcrum of the forward defensive area in the northwest corner of Odessa, a small city that cannot be found on a slightly larger scale map, will now face an attack by three Romanian divisions head-on.

The city is located just over thirty kilometers from the city of Odessa, in the northwestern corner of the advancing defense zone. To the south is Lake Beloye, the small town is only ten kilometers from the Dniester Bay, and to the southwest is a large swampy area, but the marshy area cannot stop the passage of infantry until the autumn rains arrive. As long as this strategic point was jammed, the Romanian army could not threaten the city of Odessa from the northeastern corner; On the contrary, because of Transnistria, the defense of the southwest of Odessa is relatively empty (because the fjord with a length of more than 40 kilometers and an average width of almost 8 kilometers is the best defense). ）。 If Belyaevka misses, the eastern side of the fjord, 30 kilometers long and 20 kilometers wide southwest of the city of Odessa, will be the biggest weak point of the entire defensive zone, and the Romanian heavy artillery will be able to completely block the port.

Defending Belyaevka were the 25th Infantry Division of the Red Army and the 1st Division of the Red Navy, and the commanders and fighters of the 25th Division and the boys of the Navy would have to face more than twice as many Romanian infantry as themselves, not counting the heavy artillery units of the Romanian Army in the rear - the 21st Infantry Division of the Romanian Army in the southeast, a border division of the Romanian Army in the front, and a flank threat from the Romanian Guards Division.

Now the eyes of the whole of Ukraine seem to be focused on the small city of Belyaevka, because the fighting here can largely determine the situation in southern Ukraine, and if the Romanian army captures Odessa, Army Group South will be able to attack the Dnieper region - one side has made up its mind to take the region no matter what the cost! And the Red Army will swear to hold the small city to the death! (To be continued.) )