The commanders of each division and brigade who received the notification rushed to the group army headquarters within an hour.
The last one to arrive was Tolstikov, commander of the 1st Guards Division, because his division was the farthest from the headquarters. When he entered, he cast an inquiring look at Yinsmeilov, commander of the 284th Division, who was sitting not far from the door, wanting to know from him what the topic of the meeting was.
But Yinsmeilov shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and tilted his head, indicating that he, like Tolstikov, knew nothing about the subject of this meeting.
Seeing that everyone was here, Sidorin stood up and said: "Comrade commanders, please be quiet. We are now in a meeting."
After the conference room quieted down, Sidorin continued: "I have called everyone here today to announce something to you. Our rest is about to end, and a new round of battle with the German army will begin. "
After learning that the war with the German army was about to begin, the commanders in the conference room began to discuss. Everyone seemed very excited. After resting for more than a month, they watched the friendly troops fighting the enemy desperately on the battlefield, while their own troops were While resting on the sidelines, everyone had been holding back their strength for a long time. Now that the clouds had cleared and the moon was clear, they could once again compete with the German army with real swords and guns.
Sidorin had obviously expected such a reaction from everyone. He did not interrupt the discussion of the commanders below, but looked at them quietly. After everyone's discussion came to an end, they started to get straight to the point: "Comrade commanders, let's start assigning tasks."
"1st Guards Division, 6th Guards Division!"
When Sidorin read out the number of his unit, Tolstikov and Onupryenko stood up in a hurry and replied loudly: "Here!"
Sidorin glanced at the two men, and then continued to announce: "The troops of the 1st and 6th Guards Divisions will launch an attack on the German troops between Praga and Sedelce tomorrow morning to reduce the pressure on the 2nd Tank Army. .”
Tolstikov and Onupryenko stayed in their own defense zones during this period. Listening to the sound of gunfire from the friendly defense zones, their palms were already itching and they wanted to command their troops to help in the battle. At this moment, they received Sidorin's official order, and the two couldn't help but be overjoyed, and quickly and loudly agreed: "Yes!"
Just when everyone thought they would soon be assigned combat tasks, they heard Sidorin say: "After study by our military committee, we decided to send Colonel Yinsmeilov's 284th Infantry Division to the Belovizh Forest..."
Before Sidorin finished speaking, Yinsmeilov stood up and said to Sidorin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the German army is between Praga and Sedelce, why did they send our division to Belovizh?" Where is the forest?”
"Comrade Colonel." Before Sidorin could speak, Ponedelin said in a reproachful tone: "Please don't interrupt before your superiors have given orders. This is a very impolite behavior. do you understand?"
"Understood, Comrade Deputy Commander." After saying this, Yinsmeilov sat down again with a blushing face and continued to listen to Sidorin's subsequent tasks.
"Colonel Yinsmeilov," Sokov explained to Yinsmeilov with a smile: "I think you must be wondering, the Germans are to the west of us, why did they let your division go to the north of the group army defense zone? Right? ?”
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Yinsmeilov nodded and said, "That's how I think about it."
Sokov stood up and walked to the wall, picked up the explanation stick placed on the wall, pointed at the map hanging on the wall and said to the commanders present: "Comrade commanders, please look at the map."
After everyone's eyes were focused on the map, Sokov continued: "Everyone should not only see the enemies inside and outside Warsaw to the west, but also the north of our army group's defense area, as well as the German 2nd and 2nd 9th Army. If we concentrate our forces to attack and advance towards Warsaw, the German army in the north will definitely attack our right wing, forcing us to deploy troops to strengthen the defense of our flanks. Are you right?"
"That's right!" "Absolutely correct!" "The enemy in the north is indeed a big threat to us." Everyone responded in a variety of ways.
"If we want to concentrate our efforts on destroying the enemies entrenched in the Praga and Sedelce areas, we must first deal with the enemies on the right wing of the army group." Sokov said: "But how should we deal with them? Attack them directly? Our troops and equipment are far inferior to those of the enemy. Once the war begins, the war may fall into a stalemate. Let alone allocate troops to strengthen the 1st and 6th Guards Divisions, and do not transfer troops from them to consolidate the right defense line. That’s pretty good.”
The commanders present were all staring at Sokov, wanting to hear how he planned to resolve the current predicament.
"Everyone, look here again." Sokov pointed to the location of Belovizh Forest with his explanatory stick and said to everyone: "General Batov's 65th Group Army is now trapped in Belovizh Forest. What if We sent troops to help them out of the forest and brought their front parallel to ours. This removed the threat to our right wing and allowed us to move more troops to the Praga and Sedelce areas. , launched a more fierce offensive against the German army."
The division commanders and brigade commanders here usually focus on their own three-acre land and have no understanding of the overall war situation. After listening to Sokov's analysis, they couldn't help but nod secretly, feeling that the commander's consideration was correct. As long as a force is sent to help the 65th Army trapped in the Belovizh Forest leave the forest, the threat to the right wing of the group army will be eliminated, so that more troops can be concentrated to fight the German army in the main areas.
After Sokov's explanation, all participating commanders understood the upcoming combat intentions. When Sidorin assigned the task, no one raised any objections, but happily accepted the task assigned to him. .
After the meeting, Sokov specially stayed with Yinsmeilov and said to him: "Comrade Colonel, the task of your division is very difficult. How about it? Are you confident in completing the task?"
"Comrade Commander, please rest assured." After hearing Sokov's question, Yinsmeilov quickly expressed his stance: "Even if our entire division is sacrificed, we will try our best to complete the mission."
"It's not about trying your best, but trying your best to complete the mission." Sokov said to him with a straight face: "Also, I don't want your entire division to die, but to survive as much as possible until the day of victory, do you understand? "
"clear."
"Now that I understand, let me ask you, how are you going to carry out the rescue mission?"
Hearing Sokov's question, Yinsmeilov thought for a while and then said: "I want to find the headquarters of the 65th Army first, then lead the troops to join them, and then help them come out of the forest first. As long as the headquarters Once we leave the forest area, other troops will come out one after another."
"That's right." Sokov nodded and said, "We must first find a way to find General Batov's headquarters and lead them out of the forest. As long as his headquarters is outside, the rest of the troops will leave the forest one after another. . However, it is still difficult to break through the enemy's defenses and rescue the 65th Group Army with just one of your infantry divisions, so I plan to transfer another artillery regiment and a tank brigade to accompany your division."
Batov, who was trapped in the Belovizh Forest, anxiously asked his chief of staff Glebov: "How is it, comrade chief of staff, have you made contact with your subordinate troops?"
"Not yet, Comrade Commander." Unable to contact his subordinate units, Glebov was also anxious. He said to Batov: "According to the scout's report, there are traces of the enemy near us. What if If we cannot get in touch with our subordinate units, our headquarters will be in danger.”
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Military Commissar Rajecki said: "The troops currently with the headquarters only have one guard regiment. If we are attacked by the enemy, it will be difficult for them to cover our evacuation to safety. The place."
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a rumbling sound of artillery outside the headquarters. The artillery shells flying from nowhere landed in the area where the group army headquarters was located and exploded, causing a bloody storm and killing the guards responsible for protecting the headquarters. The troops were blown to pieces.
The commanders in the headquarters were all experienced in battles. When they heard the intensive sound of artillery outside, they immediately realized that something was wrong. For such a large-scale bombardment, the German army used at least two or three artillery regiments. Glebov anxiously said to Batov: "Comrade Commander, the situation is not good. The enemy discovered the location of our headquarters and began to launch a fierce shelling on us. We need to move immediately, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous."
Glebov then commanded the members of the headquarters to cover the retreat of Batov and Radecki. They walked less than two hundred meters when a cannonball falling from the sky accurately hit the wooden house where the headquarters was located, blowing it to pieces and killing all the staff and communications personnel inside who had not had time to retreat.
When Rajecki saw this, he couldn't help but be stunned. After a while, he said to Batov: "Comrade Commander, it is really dangerous. If we had come out a little later, I am afraid we would all be sacrificed at this moment."
"Damn old Germany." Bartov looked at the remains of the burning wooden house and said through gritted teeth: "In order to deal with my headquarters, they actually used heavy artillery. Look, this shell is at least a 150-caliber artillery piece. launched."
Glebov guessed from the German shelling that this was just a prelude to the attack, and that the Germans would then use an infantry attack to completely eliminate the army headquarters. Thinking of this, he said to Batov and Rajecki: "Comrade, Comrade Military Commissar, it is not appropriate to stay here for a long time. Let's move deeper into the forest immediately. I'm worried that if we linger any longer, the enemy will come up."
As if to confirm Glebov's conjecture, there seemed to be many people approaching from both sides. "No, the enemy is coming up." When Bartov saw this, he yelled "bad" secretly, and then arranged his troops to find a suitable place to set up. After blocking the position, he took the remaining personnel of the headquarters and retreated deeper into the forest.
The Germans dispatched two regiments, and their intention was obvious. They would drive Batov's headquarters from the two wings to the center, and then destroy it with artillery fire. As they advanced, the artillery in the rear stopped firing to prevent accidental damage to their own people and to facilitate the maneuver of the infantry.
The German troops who entered the headquarters of the 65th Group Army saw not a single living person except burning trees, bombed-out wooden houses, and corpses scattered everywhere. Seeing this situation, the German commander felt that the Soviet army must have fled deeper into the forest. In order to prevent the other party from escaping, he ordered his men to speed up the pursuit.
The head of the guard regiment, who was responsible for the cover mission, saw the enemies rushing up in groups and immediately ordered the engineers to detonate the buried mines. The huge explosion set off waves of air, throwing the German charging troops high and then fell heavily. What was thrown up was a complete person, but what fell down was the body parts and pieces of flesh.
After seeing that the pursuers had suffered huge damage from landmines, the regiment leader ordered the light and heavy machine guns on the blocking position to fire at the same time, beating the German troops who were stunned by the explosion and staggering. Although the German army suffered heavy casualties from landmine explosions and machine gun fire, the commander was worried that the Soviet Army Group Headquarters would take the opportunity to escape, so he ordered his men to rush forward one after another.
When the German army rushed to the Soviet blocking position, the soldiers of the guard regiment who were responsible for the blocking task raised their bayonets and fought with the German officers and soldiers. A fierce hand-to-hand combat began in front of the position.
The German commander who followed closely knew that this was the blocking force left by the Soviet Army Group Headquarters. As long as they broke through the defense line they established, they would have a chance to catch up with the Soviet commander. The eager German commander did not hesitate at all. He picked up his submachine gun and immediately ordered the soldiers around him to shoot. Anyone who stood in front of him would be shot, regardless of whether the person killed was a Soviet soldier or a soldier. own soldiers. In this way, with their powerful firepower, they tore a hole in the defense line of the guard regiment, and they could continue to pursue the retreating army headquarters.
Seeing that the defense line was about to be breached, the head of the guard shouted to push the enemy down. He picked up a submachine gun, stood up and fired wildly at the enemy. He had just finished one magazine, and before he could replace it, a bullet flew and hit his right shoulder. As soon as he let go of his hand, the submachine gun fell to the ground.
At this moment, the whistling sound of artillery shells came from the air. However, the flying artillery shells did not bombard the Soviet troops, but landed in the German ranks and exploded. The German commander realized that reinforcements from the Soviet army might have arrived. Seeing that the victory in hand was in ruins, if he continued to fight, he might be attacked from both front and rear by the Soviet army. Faced with this situation, he could only sigh and order his troops to retreat to a favorable area and organize defense on the spot.
The head of the guard looked at the retreating German troops and asked the health worker to bandage his wounds. At the same time, he called a soldier and said to the other person: "Go and check which troops are coming, and tell their command Please come to me."
The soldier agreed, climbed out of the trench on his hands and knees, and ran towards the direction where the friendly troops were coming.
"Comrade leader," the health worker who bandaged the leader's wound asked curiously, "which army will come to rescue us?"
"I don't know." The regiment leader shook his head and said, "Only when the dispatched soldiers come back can we figure out which army is coming." After that, he called another soldier and told him, "You I immediately rushed deep into the forest to find the commander and the others, saying that when our regiment's defense line was about to break through, we suddenly received artillery support from friendly forces, and the attacking enemy had retreated."
