"You are right, Comrade Commander." Ma Linin nodded and said: "From the time Chuikov's troops established the landing site, the German army concentrated its superior forces and attacked them non-stop. At the same time, it also dispatched the air force and We fought for air superiority over the Vistula River, so much so that the pontoon bridge we built on the Vistula River was repaired, bombed, and repaired again.”
"I sometimes think about whether Chuikov should be allowed to retreat to the right bank of the Vistula River, and then give up the forced crossing operation again after recharging his strength."
"Comrade Commander, Chuikov's troops must not withdraw." After hearing what Rokossovsky said, Malinen quickly dissuaded him and said: "The 8th Guards Army finally gained a foothold in the left bank area. If If you give up like this, all the efforts and efforts you have made and the huge price you have paid will be in vain.”
"Chief of Staff, I just said that casually." Rokossovsky said with a wry smile: "Magnushev Landing Field is the foothold we finally established on the left bank. If we really give up, we want to take it back. , will inevitably pay a greater price. Instead of doing this, it is better to let Chuikov's troops continue to hold on. As long as our right-wing troops establish a new landing site in the Narew River area, the German troops can be dispersed, thereby reducing the The pressure Chuikov and the others are under.”
"When do you plan to let them carry out the cross-river operation?"
Rokossovsky stared at the map in front of him for a while, and then began to dictate the order: "The unit closest to the Narew River now is Bartov's 65th Army. Let them take the lead in launching the cross-river operation. As long as they can If the crossing is successful, the troops of Mischa's 48th Army and Popov's 70th Army can also successfully cross the Narew River and establish a reliable landing site in the left bank area."
Malinin called Bartov and conveyed Rokossovsky's order to him: "General Bartov, comrade commander orders your army group to move as close as possible to the Narew River and complete the task of forcible crossing in the shortest possible time. "
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Bartov waited for Malinin to finish, and immediately raised the difficulties his troops were facing now: "The leading troops of our group army are still almost forty kilometers away from the Narew River, and there are German troops along the way. With the two lines of defense, it may take two or three days to reach the river. Moreover, we still lack enough equipment to cross the river..."
While Batov was still talking about the difficulties faced by his troops, Rokossovsky, who heard the conversation between the two, took the microphone from Malinin: "General Batov, I only give you two days. time. In two days, I hope to see your troops establishing a landing site on the left bank of the Narew River. How about it? Can it be done?"
Hearing that Rokossovsky personally gave him the order, Bartov was silent for a long time, and finally said: "Comrade Commander, I will do my best..."
"It's not about trying your best, but you must do it." Rokossovsky repeated his words again, "I can only give you two days. After two days, I hope to see your troops appear. On the left bank of the Narew River. Can it be done?”
"Yes, Comrade Commander!" Hearing Rokossovsky's extremely stern tone, Bartov did not dare to talk about any difficulties, so he could only say with gritted hair: "We will definitely complete the forced crossing within the stipulated time. mission on the Narew River and to establish reliable landing grounds on the left bank.”
Regarding Bartov's answer, Rokossovsky nodded and said with satisfaction: "That's right, General Bartov. I wish you good luck. I will wait for news of your victory in the headquarters. .”
After the call ended, Bartov did not put down the phone immediately, but held the phone in a daze. Glebov on the side saw it and couldn't help but asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, what are you thinking about?"
Glebov's voice woke up Bartov from his meditation. He found that he still held the microphone in his hand, and quickly put it on the phone. Then he said to Glebov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the commander just gave us The Army Group issued a combat order, allowing us to forcibly cross the Narew River within two days and establish a reliable landing site on the left bank area."
"This is impossible, this is absolutely impossible." As soon as Bartov finished speaking, Glebov lost his voice and said: "Comrade Commander, this is an impossible task. You know, our vanguard is far away from Narev There are still more than 40 kilometers of river, and there are two directions of German troops along the way. According to our current strength, it will take at least a week or so to reach the bank of the Narew River."
"I have also told the commander about this," Batov said helplessly: "But Comrade Commander is very stubborn and insists on giving us only two days, so we must do everything we can to complete the commander's handover. The mission given to us.”
Hearing the two men discussing the forced crossing of the Narew River, Military Commissar Radecki came over and asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff, since our superiors have given us the order to attack, what should we do now?" What we need to do is consider how to better implement this order, rather than discussing whether this order is reasonable."
"Comrade Military Commissar, you are right." Bartov also figured it out at this moment. Since Rokossovsky gave the order to attack, he must find a way to complete this task instead of here. Blame everyone. You know, even if they don't perform this arduous task, they will need other troops to perform such a task on their behalf, which is simply unacceptable to them.
"Comrade Commander, where do you think we should try to force the crossing?" Glebov asked.
"What do you think of Puutusk?" Batov put forward his own idea: "Although the river in this area is wide, the terrain is flat and the water flow is slow. Whether it is a forced crossing or after our army establishes a landing site on the left bank, we will Building a pontoon bridge on the river is also a relatively easy task.”
"I think it's okay." Bartov nodded and said, "Then we will use Puutusk and the area south of it as the location for our forced crossing. However, there is a shortage of river crossing equipment. Is there any way to get a batch of them?"
When Rajecki heard the two sighing about the details of crossing the river, he took the initiative to remind them: "Commander and Chief of Staff, it doesn't matter even if we lack river crossing equipment, we can borrow some of the river crossing equipment from friendly forces to alleviate the urgent need. "
"This is a good idea." Rajecki nodded, and then asked: "I wonder which army the commander plans to borrow the river crossing equipment from?"
"General Sokov's 48th Army captured the Brest Fortress," Glebov said at the side: "This is a fortress surrounded by rivers. They must have captured a lot of river crossing equipment from the Germans. .”
"I'll make a call to General Sokov." Batov waited for Glebov to finish and felt that Sokov should have a lot of river crossing equipment, so he took the initiative and said: "Ask him to lend some of the river crossing equipment. "
"General Sokov," the next moment, Batov ordered someone to call the 48th Group Army headquarters and asked Sokov to answer the phone: "I am Batov."
When he heard that it was Bartov who was looking for him, Sokov thought that he was calling to thank him for saving his life in the Belovizh Forest some time ago. Then he smiled and said: "Hello, General Bartov, it is my honor to receive your call!"
"General Sokov, I am calling you today to ask for help."
"Ask me for help?" Sokov couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart when he heard what Bartov said. Could it be that the other party wanted to borrow troops from me? If this is really the case, should I borrow it or not? He asked cautiously: "I don't know why I need help?"
"That's it. Comrade Commander gave our group army an order to forcibly cross the Narew River." Batov asked Sokov for help, and naturally he would not conceal the true purpose of the call: "But our group army has the ability to cross the river." The number of equipment is limited, so I am shamelessly asking for your help. '
Knowing that Batov wanted to borrow river crossing equipment from him, Sokov said apologetically: "I'm sorry, General Batov, I really can't do anything about the river crossing equipment."
Sokov's answer made Bartov a little disappointed. He said unwillingly: "General Sokov, if I could find more equipment for crossing the river, I wouldn't bother you. I am just because of the troops. I am seriously lacking the equipment to cross the river, so I shamelessly asked you for help, but unexpectedly you rejected me."
Sokov was not willing to turn against Batov for such a thing, so he explained to the other party: "General Batov, I'm really sorry. It's not that I don't accept it, but that I really don't have the river crossing equipment to lend you."
After hearing this, Bartov couldn't help being stunned: "How is this possible, General Sokov? As we all know, the Brest Fortress is a fortress surrounded by rivers. Is it possible that the fortress lacks various river crossing equipment?"
"General Batov, to tell you the truth, we did have a lot of river-crossing equipment." Sokov explained to Batov: "But General Chuikov's troops crossed the Vistula River, so I was ordered to move all the equipment to cross the river." The equipment for crossing the river was handed over to General Chuikov."
"I wonder who gave such an order?"
"Who else could it be, of course Comrade Marshal." Sokov continued: "General Chuikov's troops wanted to carry out a forcible crossing in the Magnushev area. Since the troops lacked sufficient equipment to cross the river, Comrade Marshal personally gave me Give me an order to hand over all the river-crossing equipment. Since it is an order from Comrade Marshal, there is no reason for me to disobey. I immediately arrange for people to send all the river-crossing equipment. If my superiors have given me this order There is an order to cross the river, but I don’t know where to go to get the equipment to cross the river.”
After hitting a wall here with Sokov, Batov had no choice but to turn to Popov for help. But this time he was lucky. When Popov heard that his troops were going to cross the river but lacked the necessary crossing equipment, he generously said: "General Batov, I have fifty wooden boats and twenty Only kayaks, although the number is a bit small, can ferry a battalion of troops across at one time. I hope it can be of some help to your river crossing operations."
Although Popov's promised river-crossing equipment would have to wait a day, it was enough for Batov. After all, his troops had to break through the two directions of the German army and advance forty kilometers before they could advance to the bank of the Narew River.
"Comrade Commander," seeing that Batov had managed to obtain some of the equipment for crossing the river, Glebov began to discuss with him which troops to use for the attack: "I suggest using the 304th and 321st Infantry Divisions, and then Pano General Joseph's Don Tank Corps will cooperate with their actions, so that they can quickly break through the two German defense lines and open up a channel to the bank of the Narew River."
Batov thought for a while and agreed to Glebov's proposal: "Chief of Staff, your proposal is good. Although the 304th and 321st Infantry Divisions lost a lot of troops in the early stages of the battle, after several months of rest and replenishment, , they have completely restored their original combat effectiveness. In addition, the Don River Tank Corps has not participated in the battle for a long time, and the tank corps commanders are holding back their strength. If they are allowed to participate in the battle, they will definitely be able to exert extremely strong combat effectiveness. "
"Then I will immediately notify General Panov and let his troops prepare for battle." Glebov said: "We will launch an attack on the enemy's defensive positions early tomorrow morning."
Panov received an order from his superiors and learned that his tank corps would serve as the main force tomorrow and guide the infantry to attack the enemy's defensive positions. He quickly called a meeting with several of his brigade commanders.
At the meeting, his words were full of murderous intent: "After the attack started, the entire tank army, including myself, launched a charge. Battalions were used as units, and they fought hard. Don't worry about the organization, and don't worry about whether it's a chaotic battle. Wherever there are German troops, rush forward. Anyway, there will be infantry behind them to follow.
When you see an enemy appearing, use tank artillery fire if you are far away, and use vehicle-mounted machine guns if you are close. In a word, they kept attacking, attacking, attacking until they left the bank of the Narew River. "
After Panov finished speaking, his eyes swept over his subordinates one by one, and then asked: "Does anyone have any questions?"
A tank brigade commander raised his hand and asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, I would like to ask, what if a German surrenders to us during our assault?"
Hearing this question, Panov glared, "Comrade Colonel, we are tank crews, not infantry. It is the infantry's job to capture prisoners, and we tank crews are only responsible for attacking. Even if we encounter Germans who actually lay down their weapons and prepare to surrender. , don’t pay attention to them, all you have to do is rush over with full power, as for whether the other party can be captured alive by our infantry, it depends on their luck."
Panov's words caused a burst of laughter. He raised his hand and pressed it down. After the room became quiet, he continued: "Since the main force of the army has been trapped in the Belovizh Forest for more than a month, Our army has no chance to participate in the battle at all, and the commanders and soldiers are holding back a lot of energy. Now that we have the opportunity to compete face-to-face with the enemy, we must not let it go. We must let our infantry brothers see what determines victory or defeat on the battlefield. The troops still have to rely on our tank crews.”
After saying this, he took a sip of the tea on the table, glanced at his subordinates again, raised his voice and asked, "Do you have anything else to ask now?"
"No!" the commanders present responded in unison.
"Since there are no more problems, let's disperse." Panov waved to everyone and signaled everyone to leave: "Let's all go back to our respective units and make preparations for the attack."
