"What's going on?" Batov raised his voice and asked the staff loudly: "How could our troops fall into the German siege?"

The staff officer replied bitterly: "The 11th Army troops pursued the German army and pushed forward nearly twenty kilometers within an hour. When passing through a forest area, they were suddenly ambushed near the German army in the area. They are currently fighting fiercely with the German army."

After listening to the staff's introduction, Batov didn't bother to discuss with me, so he directly ordered the staff: "This matter is of great importance and needs to be reported to the Front Command immediately." After that, he picked up the phone on the table and prepared to call Rokosovsky.

When I heard that the two divisions of the 11th Army were ambushed by the German army, I felt shocked. Our troops were originally pursuing the German army that fled in a panic, but in a blink of an eye, the characters of both sides changed positions. The hunter chasing the prey actually fell into the trap built by the prey. This was simply a naked slap in the face.

While Batov was talking to Rokosovsky, I called Bezikov to me and asked him in a low voice: "Chief of Staff, how long does it take for our troops to rush over?"

"The 11th Army troops went deep alone, and there was no one near them." Bezikov said cautiously: "Now the closest thing to them is Colonel Szejrikov's Guards 51st Division, but even if they are not blocked by the German army on the way, it will take at least an hour to arrive. I am worried that the troops of the two divisions will not last that long under the siege of the German army."

I know that Bezikov is not exaggerating. When the two divisions were pursuing the German army, they might never dream of being ambushed, so their marching line must have been long. In the event of a sudden attack by the German army, it is estimated that it will be difficult to organize decent resistance.

While I was hesitating whether I should take the risk of sending the 51st Guard Division out, Batov suddenly called me: "Comrade Oshenina, Comrade Commander wants to talk to you."

After taking the phone from Batov's hand, I said respectfully to the microphone: "Hello, Commander of the Front Army, do you have any instructions?"

Hearing my voice, Rokosovsky did not greet him, but asked straight to the point: "Lida, now two of your divisions are surrounded by the German army. Do you have any good ways to rescue them?"

"I plan to send a division to rescue them." After I said this, I felt that if an infantry division was sent rashly to reinforce, if the German army had technical equipment such as tanks, the troops sent would be equivalent to giving heads to the Germans. I quickly added: "I will send a self-propelled artillery regiment and a tank battalion to operate with them."

"I heard that the two divisions were alone and there was no unit of our army near them." Rokosovsky said worriedly: "If you want to send someone to rescue, you need to act immediately, otherwise they may be eaten by the German army. Do you understand?"

"I understand, Comrade Commander. I will think of rescuing the troops of these two divisions from the German encirclement." After I made my statement to Rokosovsky, I suddenly thought that the ground forces were slow to move, and it would take at least an hour to contact German students. The only way to avoid these two divisions being wiped out in the shortest time is to ask Rokosovsky to dispatch the air force. Thinking of this, I hurriedly said to Rokosovsky: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I have a suggestion, can we send air forces to carry out air strikes on the German ground forces to relieve the pressure we are being surrounded and buy time for our rescue troops?"

Regarding my proposal, Rokosovsky was silent for a moment, and then readily agreed: "Okay, Lida, I will send the air force to bomb the enemy of our nearby army. At the same time, you should send two divisions to reinforce them. I remind you to pay attention that after the troops are drawn, the defense forces cannot be affected in the west of the city. Because if the German troops in the city see that we have the mobilization of troops, they may concentrate their strength again and counterattack the defenders in the west of the city."

"I understand." The most urgent task at present is to rescue the trapped troops from the German encirclement. Since Rokosovsky ordered two divisions to be sent, I had to send both the 51st and 8th and 9th Divisions of the Guards. The defense in the west of the city can only be temporarily handed over to the 9th Division of the Guards.

After finishing the call with Rokosovsky, I immediately ordered Bezikov: "Chief of Staff, record the orders, the 8th 9th Guard Division of Xielikov and the 51st Guard Division of Xielikov will immediately hand over the existing defensive positions to the 9th Guard Division, and then take all the means of transportation that can be found to advance westward as quickly as possible to rescue our surrounded troops. In addition, the tank battalion of Captain Shamrich and Major Shuklin's self-propelled artillery regiment were involved in the battle."

Seeing Bezikov quickly walking to the side of the radio operator by the wall and urging him to report the time, I couldn't help but smile bitterly, and then said to Batov and Chisdakov: "I hope these two divisions of the 11th Army can support our reinforcements under the siege of the German army."

Chisdakov stared at the map for a while, then looked up at me, and asked in confusion: "Why did the Germans raid in the forest? Do their commanders all know that our troops will definitely follow and pursue, so they use ambush to fight an annihilation war?"

"The situation is not what you think, General Chisdakov." Batov raised his right hand and scratched the back of his head, and analyzed to us: "I think the enemy who broke through last night did not choose to break west because they could not hold on to the city. They said that there was a huge conspiracy."

"Conspiracy, what conspiracy?" Chisdakov asked curiously.

"According to my judgment, attacking the enemy who was frustrated in Rirobin, we now have the new forces pressing towards them from several directions. We know that if we fight head-on, we will definitely not be able to get it, so we set up a trap." Batov was indeed a very capable commander. After thinking for a moment, he guessed the intention of the German commander, so he pointed his hand on the map and analyzed to us: "The German commander is very clear that if their troops give up the city and retreat westward, then we can follow and chase."

"General Batov, the Germans should understand very well that as soon as they retreat, our troops can pursue them." Chisdakov said somewhat dissatisfied: "Does the commanders of the German army understand that they abandoned the city with strong fortifications and fled to the unobstructed wasteland, which would be easier for our army to eat?"

"Comrade Deputy Commander, don't speak." I wanted to hear Batov's analysis, whether it coincided with what I thought, so I quickly stopped Chisdakov and continued to say: "Let's continue to listen to General Batov's analysis."

Batov nodded gratefully to me, and then said, "The German commander is a smart man. He knows that if all troops are retreating now, once our entire army is pressed, they will be in danger of destruction. Therefore, he ordered the troops of the two divisions to fight defensive battles outside our city, while the German troops who were standing in the city chose to break through. In this case, our main force will be restrained here, and we cannot draw too many troops to pursue the defeated enemy."

"The enemy is not defeated." Chisdakov heard this, "They are pretending to retreat, but they are actually leading our troops into the trap."

"Yes, General Chisdakov, you have analyzed a lot." Batov agreed with Chisdakov's statement. "The Germans knew that with their existing strength, they could not do anything to us, so they could only find ways to eat up some of our troops to weaken the strength of our army."

"I don't know if these two divisions can support our reinforcements." Seeing that Batov's analysis was similar to his own thoughts, I asked with some concern: "If they were destroyed by the German army before the Guards Division arrived, then the Germans could turn around and attack our Guards Division."

"If this happens, it will be troublesome." Batov obviously had a similar experience. He frowned and said, "The enemy can completely eat away our reinforcements bit by bit."

Bezikov walked back to us and reported: "I received a call from two commanders of the Guard Division, who said they would go out in half an hour to rescue the trapped troops."

"Chief of Staff, remember to remind them that the Germans are cunning rabbits, and they need to be more careful when dealing with them." I was very afraid that Xiejierikov and others would repeat the same mistakes, so I asked Bezikov to send more scouts on the marching road of the troops to understand the enemy's movements and avoid falling into a new ambush circle."

Seeing that I was so serious, Batov comforted me unexpectedly and said, "Don't worry, no matter how cunning the rabbit is, it is just a grass-eating animal. The hunter can easily deal with him."

Xie Liujin and Xie Jierikov's troops soon followed the highway and headed towards the ambushed area of ​​friendly forces. In order to let us understand the situation of the front line in time, they replied a telegram every ten minutes to report the movements of the troops to me in detail.

"The sound of guns and cannons in front is clearly heard, and it should be the friendly forces fighting!"

"The vanguard of the 51st Division of the Guards has already exchanged fire with the German army. The enemy has built simple fortifications on the way forward. We are gathering troops and preparing to attack!"

"The attack of the first battalion of the vanguard regiment has failed. The second battalion of the 2nd battalion of the 3rd battalion is gathering in the forest north of the road, preparing to attack the enemy's defensive positions again."

…………

Akhromeyev handed the telegrams back from the front line directly into my hands. After reading the telegram, I put them on the table at any time, while Batov and Chisdakov next to me picked up the telegram and looked at the progress of our army based on the map.

After watching for a while, Batov said to me: "Comrade Oshanina, judging from the current situation, the two divisions of the 11th Army are still fighting. As long as you urge the commanders and fighters of the Guard Division to speed up the attack, I believe that our troops will be able to join forces in no time."

"No, I can't drink hot vegetable soup in a hurry." I poured a basin of cold water on Batov, and said, "Our contact with the besieged troops has been interrupted, so we still don't know what kind of German troops were besieging them, how many troops were, and what technical equipment were there. These problems are unknown to us. Therefore, in the next battle, no one can tell what kind of danger our reinforcements will encounter."

After hearing my words, Batov nodded silently, and then said with a little regret: "It's a pity that my troops have almost been disbanded, otherwise they can also give some help at this time."

Just as we were anxious about the surrounded troops, the German army surrounded by us unexpectedly launched a breakthrough. They seemed to notice that our army's strength was weak in the west, so they concentrated their superior forces and launched a fierce attack on the defense zone of the 9th Guard Division.

When the news reached the command center, Bezikov asked me in a panic: "Comrade Commander, the German offensive is very fierce. It seems that they are bound to win the defensive positions of our army. What should we do?"

"Chief of Staff, what should I do?" I glanced at Bezikov and told him, "Since the Germans attacked in the west of the city, we will attack too."

"We attack too?" Hearing my order, Bezikov couldn't help but widen his eyes and asked in an incredible tone: "The German offensive is very strong. If we attack them, the casualties of the troops will definitely be small."

"Chief of Staff, when did I say that I had fought against the German army?" Seeing that Bezikov misinterpreted my meaning, I had to explain to him: "The attack I mentioned refers to the north, east and south directions. The outer positions in these places fell into the hands of our army. Since the enemy wants to attack the west of the city, then you notify the 9th Guard Division to hold on to the position and firmly block the enemy's breakthrough. The other directions will turn into a comprehensive attack, which will make the Germans unable to take care of themselves, so that they cannot withdraw more troops and participate in the breakthrough battle in the west of the city."

"I understand," Bezikov immediately understood after hearing me, "I understand completely, Comrade Commander. Let's use a tactic of cutting off the firewood, so that the German troops in the city are exhausted, so that they can only passively defend and cannot draw out more troops to break through."

I nodded at Bezikov and signaled that he had a good analysis. Then, I turned my attention to Akhromeyev, who was standing next to the phone, and asked loudly: "Major, how is the situation in the Guard Division? Have they contacted the surrounded troops?" (To be continued.)8
Chapter completed!