The Germans may have never dreamed that after the Soviet offensive began, the artillery fire from the Modlin Fortress they relied on did not arrive as expected. Facing the influx of Soviet commanders and fighters, the German commander was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. He immediately called the commander of the Modlin Fortress to try to get artillery support from the fortress.
But what is regrettable is that the commander of the fortress said in a serious tone: "I am under a crazy attack by the Russians. They are crossing the river from the bridge that we have not yet had time to cross."
Modlin Fortress is a hexagonal red fortress. The fortress is surrounded by water and relies on several iron bridges to maintain communication with the outside world. However, these bridges had been blown up when the German army captured the fortress from the Polish army in 1939. Since they have not been repaired, they can only rely on several newly built bridges to communicate with the outside world.
The Soviet troops attacking the fortress, under the cover of artillery fire and air force, had reached the outskirts of the Modlin Fortress, and were crossing the river one after another towards the fortress from the bridge that the Germans had not had time to blow up.
Don't forget that the Soviet army will not be able to enter the fortress before blowing down the walls of the fortress, but the situation is still not optimistic. In order to prevent the Soviet army from seizing the fortress, the defenders braved Soviet bombing and artillery fire and kept firing at the attacking Soviet army. The war entered a stalemate.
The German commanders in the triangle area knew very well that although they relied on the eight thousand defenders in the fortress, even if they faced an attack of hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops, the risk of losing the defense was not great, but if they wanted to let them provide them with Artillery support was obviously impossible. If you want to block the Soviet attack, you have to rely on yourself.
He stared at the map on the wall for a long time and felt that if he wanted to defend his defense zone, the best way was to blow up the reservoir dam on the Narew River and flood the Soviet attack road with the bursting river water. Thereby protecting one's own defense zone.
But when he proposed his plan to his subordinates, he was opposed by everyone, including the chief of staff. The chief of staff said plausibly: "Your Excellency, Commander, I don't think we can blow up the dam. Although the flood from bursting the embankment can block the Russians' path forward, our defense area will also become an isolated island under the siege of the flood."
The chief of staff's words immediately aroused the agreement of most people. They all believed that if the reservoir dam was blown up, the floods that would burst would indeed block the path of the Soviet army's attack, but many areas of their defense area would be destroyed. Submerged, the remaining areas become isolated islands. By that time, logistical supplies and other aspects will be greatly restricted.
But the commander couldn't listen to everyone's opinions at all. What he was thinking now was that as long as he could block the Soviet attack, it would be worth paying any price. Therefore, he said decisively: "Gentlemen, I admit that what you said makes sense. But you have considered that if we do not blow up the reservoir dam, with the current offensive momentum of the Russians, I am afraid that they will be destroyed before dark. Let’s drive away from the triangle. By then, won’t it be an advantage to the Russians?”
The commander's words silenced everyone. This is a dilemma. Don't blow up the reservoir. It is obviously inevitable for the Russians to seize the triangle area. Bombing it will certainly block the Russian attack, but at least half of the original defense area in the triangle area will be submerged. All troops can only retreat to the remaining areas for defense.
After some careful consideration, the chief of staff spoke first: "Your Excellency, Commander, I think you are right. In order to block the Russian attack, we must make the necessary sacrifices."
In this way, a consensus was reached at the officers' meeting to immediately blow up the reservoir on the Narew River and use the rapid water to prevent the Russian attack.
A German company was stationed on the reservoir dam. After receiving the order to blow up the dam, they began to install explosives at key locations, lay out wires, and make final preparations before blasting.
The small unit sent by the 109th Division arrived at this moment. The company commander who led the team saw through the telescope that the enemy was installing explosives on the reservoir dam. He turned and asked his deputy company commander: "Deputy company commander, the Germans are setting up explosives. It seems that they are preparing to blow up the reservoir dam. "
"Company commander, what should we do?" The deputy company commander was a little anxious when he saw this: "If the enemy blows up the dam, our offensive troops will be blocked by the flood."
"I see there are a lot of Germans on the dam." The company commander said: "If we use a force attack, the troops will definitely pay huge casualties. And when the Germans find that they can't withstand it, they may jump over the wall and blow up the dam directly. dam."
"Should we report the situation here to the division headquarters?" the deputy company commander reminded: "Let the division commander also have an understanding of the situation here."
The company commander quickly contacted Brajinski through the walkie-talkie he carried and reported the situation here to him.
Braginski frowned when he learned that the Germans were placing explosives on the dam. He knew very well that once the Germans blew up the dam, the surging floods would swallow up many of the attacking troops, and the remaining troops would be blocked by the floods and unable to follow the original battle plan. Continue to attack deep into the enemy's defenses.
"Comrade Captain." Brajinski asked in a deep voice: "How much time do you think it will take for the Germans to detonate these explosives?"
"It's hard to say, comrade division commander." The company commander replied cautiously: "Although the Germans are planting explosives at the moment, they may detonate them in advance if they see something is wrong."
"I understand, Captain." Brakinski said: "You continue to stay where you are and monitor. No one is allowed to act rashly without my order. Also, I will send troops to reinforce you so that you have enough strength. , seizing the reservoir dam from the Germans.”
As soon as he put down the phone, he said to the communications staff officer next to him: "Get me through the group army headquarters immediately. I have important matters and need to report to the commander immediately."
Soon, Sokov received a call from Braginski: "Comrade Commander, this is Braginski. The small unit I sent has arrived near the reservoir, and they found that the Germans were attacking Explosives were placed on the dam, and it seemed that they were ready to blow up the dam at any time.”
"We have long judged that when the Germans find that they cannot resist our army's attack, they may jump over the wall and directly blow up the reservoir on the Narew River." Sokov asked in return: "Colonel Brakinski, What are your orders to your men?"
"I asked them to closely monitor the movements of the Germans. No one is allowed to act rashly without my order."
"You did the right thing, Colonel Brakinski." Sokov was very satisfied with Brakinski's deployment. He continued: "As long as your troops do not easily attack the reservoir, there will be no irritation." Reach the enemy and let them detonate the explosives placed on the dam in advance."
"Then what should we do?" Brakinski asked: "Should we continue to advance deeper into the German defenses according to the original battle plan?"
After staring at the map in front of him for a while, Sokov made a decisive decision: "Colonel Braginski, in order to prevent the Germans from blowing up the dam prematurely, I have decided to temporarily stop the attack of your division. , and switch to defense on the spot."
"Ah, stop the attack?" Brajinski asked in surprise: "Comrade Commander, why is this?"
"The reason is very simple." Sokov explained to the other party: "The Germans know very well that if they do not receive artillery support from the Modlin Fortress, they will not be able to stop our army's attack at all. But if they bomb it prematurely, Destroying the reservoir dam will certainly block our army's offensive, but it will also make most of their defense areas submerged. By then, their contact with the outside world will be interrupted due to floods. Therefore, it is not possible until the last moment. , the Germans will not blow up the reservoir dam easily."
After listening to Sokov's explanation, Brajinsky immediately understood. He quickly said: "I understand, Comrade Commander, I immediately ordered the troops to stop the attack and switch to defense on the spot, so as not to irritate the enemy and let them Choose to blow up the reservoir dam.”
"Comrade Commander," Sidorin asked tentatively after Sokov put down the phone: "The troops on the right stopped attacking and switched to defense on the spot. What about the troops on the left, do you want them to stop too?"
"No, no, no." After hearing this, Sokov shook his head and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, not only can the 3rd Division attacking on the left not stop, but on the contrary, it must increase the intensity of its attack and strive to capture more of the enemy's territory. position."
Seeing Sidorin's confused look, Ponedelin explained to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you don't know something. The terrain on our left wing is higher. Even if the Germans blow up the reservoir dam, it will not affect our attack." The impact is not big. If we adopt the tactics of attacking on the left and defending on the right, then the Germans will have to weigh whether it is necessary for them to blow up the reservoir dam. After all, even if they blow up the dam, the flood from the bursting of the dam will have no impact on us. The impact of the left-wing forces was also not great.”
"Oh, that's it, now I understand everything." After listening to Sokov's explanation, Sidorin nodded and said: "If our army only sends the left wing to attack, then the Germans will no longer be able to blow up the reservoir. Because the impact of the flood on the left wing troops was not great at all.”
"Comrade Commander, even though I say this, I am still a little worried," Ponejelin said.
"What are you worried about?" Sokov asked.
"You think, if our right-wing troops stop attacking and turn to defense on the spot." Ponedelin explained to Sokov: "The Germans may sense our intention and think that we let the right-wing troops stop attacking. We are worried that they will blow up the reservoir dam and use water instead of troops to block our attack. They may leave some troops on the right wing to monitor the 109th Division, and then transfer the main force to the left wing. In this way, the 3rd The resistance encountered by the division during the attack was even greater.”
"Comrade Deputy Commander, what you said makes sense." Sokov agreed with Ponedelin's statement: "This situation is indeed possible."
"Then what should we do?" Sidorin felt a headache after hearing this: "The sacrifice of the commander of the 3rd Division originally had a negative impact on the morale of the troops. If the German army deploys troops from other locations to strengthen , I fear that the division's attack will end in failure."
"Chief of Staff, don't be so pessimistic." But after hearing this, Sokov said disapprovingly: "I asked the 109th Division on the right to stop attacking temporarily. As long as the troops sent by Brakinski can successfully occupy reservoir dam, then they can definitely go into battle again.”
"That's right, that's right." Ponejelin agreed: "If the main German forces in front of the 109th Division are transferred to the left wing, when they launch another attack, they can easily break through the enemy's defense and successfully occupy the original position. The goal to capture.”
After listening to Ponejelin's words, the worry on Sidorin's face finally disappeared, "Yes, why didn't I think of this. The reason why we asked Colonel Brakinski to stop the attack now is entirely because the Germans have The reservoir might be blown up. But if his men captured the reservoir from the Germans, the situation would change."
After formulating a combat strategy in the triangle area, which was to attack from the left and defend from the right, the three of them talked about the ongoing attack on Modlin Fortress. "Comrade Commander," Sidorin asked curiously: "Do you think we can take the Modlin Fortress?"
Sokov replied without hesitation: "We can definitely take the Modlin Fortress, but definitely not now."
"Why?"
"Although there are only a few thousand defenders in the Modlin Fortress and we have hundreds of thousands of offensive troops, it does not mean that the initiative on the battlefield is in the hands of our army." Sokov said: "We must We know that Modlin Fortress is surrounded by water. The defenders in the fortress only need to focus their defense on bridges to make our attack difficult.
On the other hand, our army, although there are hundreds of thousands of people, cannot be deployed due to terrain restrictions, so the number of troops that can be put into battle at a time is only one regiment at best. You also know that for a strong fortress like Modlin, a mere regiment can only increase casualties. This fueling tactic is a losing business. "
"So, our army won't be able to capture the Modlin Fortress in the near future, right?" Sidorin asked cautiously.
"Yes, it is indeed like this." Sokov nodded and gave the other party a positive answer: "Unless we implement a siege on the fortress and cut off their contact with the outside world. We will wait until their supplies are exhausted before launching an attack. , we can minimize casualties.”
"Siege is indeed a good idea." Ponejelin once again echoed Sokov's opinion: "Modelin Fortress, like Brest Fortress, is surrounded by rivers and can only communicate with the outside world through a few bridges on the river. Keep in touch. As long as our troops block the road, the German ammunition supplies cannot be sent into the fortress, and the wounded in the fortress cannot be sent out. In this case, the enemy will have to give up resistance due to a shortage of supplies."
"I think the Germans must have stored a sufficient amount of ammunition and supplies inside the fortress," Sokov said about the difficulties faced in besieging the fortress. "In other words, they fought against us tenaciously before the ammunition and supplies were exhausted. every offense.”
"Comrade Commander, your phone number." A communications staff officer not far away reported to Sokov: "It's a call from Marshal Zhukov."
Knowing that the call was from Zhukov, Sokov dared not be negligent and quickly took the phone: "Hello, Comrade Marshal, this is Sokov. What instructions do you have?"
