Chapter 2141: Counterattack

"Got work? Hey, wait, you mean that explosion just now? What was that about? It didn't look like a German bombardment.

"I understand, you can go and leave the division headquarters to me. The brigade headquarters is being set up in Varosha, and the first two battalions of his vanguard troops have arrived with all their equipment. Although they are in poor condition, You can still go into battle at any time, and you can call for reinforcements in time if you need reinforcements. In addition, the division's artillery is also available."

boom--

Boom boom boom boom——

Boo hoo hoo hoo——

"Damn! Is it starting now!?"

That is, Artyom was asking Iushkin what was going on, but Iushkin hadn't had time to say anything. Comrade Political Commissar was also explaining to Malashenko the latest situation of his absence during the short period of time, and Malashenko had not yet had time to answer.

The orange-red fire that tore through the night, accompanied by the roaring and trembling thunder-like sound, suddenly struck without warning, breaking all the silence.

This was not a sudden artillery attack by the Germans. All the movement and fire came from our own rear.

Malashenko, who hurried out of the camp with his political commissar comrades, suddenly looked up, and in an instant he saw overwhelming orange-red firelight sweeping across the sky roaring past his head, heading straight towards the German-occupied area in the distance. , almost lit up the entire night sky and filled half of the sky with red. It was a movement that only large field artillery groups and groups of rocket launchers firing salvos could create.

Looking at the situation, there is only one artillery unit that can make such a big noise: the field artillery unit directly under the front army, and other field artillery units that jointly participated in this artillery feast after coordination.

It's just that Malashenko couldn't figure out one thing. Why didn't the major general and division commander of his own unit directly under the front receive any advance news about the artillery strikes at the front level? Even if the leading division does not participate in the bombardment, it should at least send out the bombardment plan to let people know and prepare for it, right?

"Have you received the message? Are you aware of the plan?"

The roaring barrage of heavy artillery and the rain of rockets trailing orange-red flames were still whizzing past overhead as the words were spoken. Comrade Comrade Political Commissar was speaking to Malashenko while standing under this rain of fire with a parabolic trajectory. .

"Same as you, I don't know, I haven't received any news at all, I just..."

"Comrade division commander, comrade political commissar, urgent call from the front army headquarters!"

Before Political Commissar Petrov finished speaking, the communications staff officer who rushed out from the division headquarters camp behind him interrupted his speech and handed the telegraph newspaper in his hand to the two of them.

Without saying a word, Malashenko snatched the telegram with his hands, spread his hands in front of his eyes and looked at it. It can be said that the situation that was not surprising and had been expected became instantly clear.

"Sure enough, the artillery fire counter-preparations at the front level are being prepared. Comrade Commander has already predicted that the Germans are going to take action. He wants to treat these beasts to an artillery feast before the Germans do it. Now he wants to see how these Fahis are. What to do later?”

The explosion in the minefield of the 267th Infantry Division was only one of the reasons. There was more than one reason that prompted Vatutin to launch this massive artillery counter-preparation.

The situation explained by the German soldiers who defected and surrendered an hour ago, the results of the interrogation of the living tongue captured by the Red Army scouts in the dark, and the last telegram sent a few hours ago by the intelligence agent of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who had been lurking in East Prussia.

All the confirmed situations illustrate one thing: a massive battle-level offensive is about to come. The strategic prediction based on the worst-case scenario was correct. The entire German army group entrenched in East Prussia is indeed crazy. When a big wave comes, try to come back from adversity and turn defeat into victory.

As one of the most famous and top-ranked Red Army generals, Vatutin definitely has the ability to strategize. As a staff officer, Vatutin has a meticulous control of the macro-level battle situation and can keenly capture every change on the battlefield. and respond promptly.

A front-level army-level artillery counter-preparation with an urgent order to open fire was the card Vatutin finally played. The overwhelming artillery fire suddenly rose from the ground just two minutes after Vatutin gave the order, like a mountain roaring and a tsunami. The force rushed towards the already marked coordinates of the German position.

It is not required to achieve many results or kills, but it is necessary to disrupt the German offensive deployment, interrupt their rhythm arrangement, and create as many battlefield advantages as possible for one's own side, so as to achieve "forcing the German offensive cluster" as soon as possible. The tactical goal is to retreat and transition into a counterattack state.

As for the order issued to Malashenko, it was not complicated. Vatutin simply explained the situation and informed the basic situation that "the leader division does not need to participate in this artillery preparation because it is not yet fully organized."

There is only one thing that Malashenko is really asked to do: wait for orders from the front army headquarters to be ready to go out at any time, and win no matter what the situation is.

"The situation is clear, so let's do what we just said. I'll leave it to you. I'll lead the team to Kulbalov's side. Now only his side is ready to move at any time. Varosha's side Leave it to Lavrinenko, he happens to be over there and can be contacted anytime if anything happens."

Staying at the division headquarters and taking command is not Malashenko's style. Staying with the soldiers where you can witness the artillery fire is the way for a leading division commander to do things.

Malashenko, who had not been away for long, led the fully equipped guard tank company responsible for protecting the division commander on the battlefield and returned to the location of the Kurbalov brigade.

Compared with the situation when he left just now, the Kurbalov brigade headquarters seemed even busier.

Some were drawing lines and marking coordinates on the map, some were answering the phone and copying telegrams, and some were analyzing and discussing the latest situation they had just received.

The Kurbalov brigade, which had not really fought the Germans, had already entered a full-load operation state. There were many friendly forces that might need support at any time. The mission arrangement was so busy that they had to keep in touch to confirm the latest situation.

"What's the situation? Are there any movements from the Germans on the other side?"

Malachenko strode into the brigade headquarters and got straight to the point, holding the still-warm telegram he had just received. Seeing this, Kurbalov, who was standing in front of a map with the chief of staff analyzing the situation, immediately put down his work and came to Malachenko to report.

"It was the 267th Infantry Division that called. They wiped out a small group of German infantrymen who infiltrated the front line of the defense zone. They didn't capture any prisoners and killed them all, so we can't figure out what they were doing."

"But we found a backpack radio on the body, so we speculated that it might be an artillery guidance team. This further confirmed the judgment that the Germans were about to launch an attack. The unlucky fascist team that stepped on a mine before might be another group's double insurance."

"So far, there has been no movement from the German army, or the entire German offensive starting position is now a sea of ​​fire and is being bombed. They should at least hold out until our artillery bombing ends before they take any action. Our artillery fire has successfully suppressed the enemy. Comrade Division Commander, if it goes as expected, the assembled offensive starting group will definitely suffer heavy losses."