In the observation post, Kirillov saw through the telescope that the enemy at the east end of the bridge only offered symbolic resistance, but actually put down his weapons and surrendered. He was stunned.
He wondered if the Germans had taken the wrong medicine. Since they were about to surrender, why did they pretend to resist just now?
"Comrade division commander, what should we do now?" Chief of Staff Miyakov asked from the side: "The troops deployed on both wings had just prepared for the attack. Before they had time to launch the attack, the enemy surrendered unexpectedly." Rilov turned to Miyakov and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, let the two regiments on the left and right advance into the city of Letzen according to the original plan. But it is no longer an attack, but to accept the surrender of the Germans. By the way, wait. After the leading troops entered the city, our division headquarters also moved forward to the city."
"Comrade Division Commander, today's battle was so inexplicable." Miyakov reminded Kirillov: "Since we have captured Letzen, shouldn't we immediately report this good news to the Army Group Headquarters? "
"You are right, Comrade Chief of Staff." Kirillov nodded and said, "Such good news should indeed be told to the commander and others." When Sokov received a call from Kirillov, When he learned that Letzen had been captured, he was also shocked: "What, General Kirillov, what did you say? Your troops have successfully captured Letzen. How is this possible? How is this possible?" The reason why Kove said two things in a row
"How is this possible?" Calculated entirely because of the marching speed of the troops, the 3rd Infantry Division had just arrived outside the city of Letzen at best.
They could capture the city on the march only if all the German troops in the city fled. Thinking of this, he added: "General Kirillov, is the city you occupied an empty city?"
"No, Comrade Commander." Kirillov replied: "According to my observation, the garrison in the city has at least one regiment of troops."
"Since the German army had a regiment in the city, how did you capture the city so quickly?"
"Comrade Commander, this is what I find strange." Kirillov expressed his doubts to Sokov: "According to my plan, a regiment will attack from the bridge to attract the enemy's attention. The other two regiments launched an attack from the ice, quickly broke through the German defenses and rushed into the city. Unexpectedly, as soon as the Sheep Attack started, something incredible happened on the enemy's position. Almost all the German officers and soldiers were Shooting in the air."
"What, the enemy fired into the sky?" Sokov has been dealing with the Germans for several years. This is the first time he heard that the Germans would fire into the sky when facing the Soviet attack. This is simply unbelievable: " General Kirillov, this is the first time I have encountered this situation. Okay, now that the city has been captured, you can move into the city as soon as possible, and then call me after you have established a new headquarters. Report details."
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Kirillov replied: "I will report the details to you immediately after I establish a new headquarters in the city." After Sokov put down the phone, he said to Sidorin and Lunev said: "Chief of Staff, Military Commissioner, a strange thing happened. I will tell you, and you can analyze it for me, what is going on."
"What strange thing?" Lunev asked curiously: "Tell me about it, I want to see how strange it is."
"That's right, General Kirillov just called me and said that after his troops arrived outside Letzen, he formulated a battle plan: use a regiment to attack the city from the front to attract the attention of the Germans. ;Then the other two regiments launched an attack from the ice and surrounded the enemy from both wings. But what is strange is that as soon as the sheep attack battle started, the enemy at the east end of the bridge actually fired into the sky when facing our attack. And As soon as our commanders and soldiers crossed the bridge, they laid down their weapons and surrendered. Tell me, what is going on?"
"Strange, really strange." Sidorin couldn't help but frowned after hearing this, and said repeatedly: "Does the Germans have some conspiracy?" Lunev also frowned and thought for a while, and then his face showed smiled.
He said to Sokov: "Misha, I thought of a possibility. Do you want to listen to it?"
"Please speak, Comrade Military Commissar."
"I guess the German commander who was holding on to the city of Letzen knew very well that with his strength, he could not stop our army's attack. Instead of fighting us to the death, it would be better to surrender, that way he could save his own life." Lu As a deputy minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Nev has his own unique side in analyzing intelligence. He said to Sokov: "I estimate that the family records of the German commanders are all in Germany. If he did not fight with our army, Just ordering the troops to lay down their weapons and surrender would probably harm their families. But if a gun is fired on the battlefield, it doesn't matter where the bullet flies or whether it hits the target. It at least shows that he has organized resistance, but Due to the disparity in strength between the two sides, he finally had no choice but to order the troops to stop resisting and surrender to our army. In this way, the possibility of his family being implicated will be reduced."
"That's right, that's right." After Luniev finished his analysis, Sidorin nodded in agreement: "I think what Comrade Military Commissar said is more reasonable. The German commander knows that if he is our enemy, there is only a dead end. The only way out That is to lay down his arms and surrender. In order not to implicate his family in the local area, he can only use this self-deceptive method to fight our army. After our army reaches him, he will naturally lay down his arms and surrender."
"Well, I agree with your analysis." Sokov nodded and said, "Although Kirillov hasn't called yet, I think things should be as you guessed." Now that Letzen has won, Sokov Kov naturally wanted to report the matter to Rokossovsky.
When Rokossovsky listened to Sokov's report, he was silent. After a while, he then asked: "Misha, what is going on? How could your troops be in such a short time?" How about taking over this city known as the 'Fortress'?"
"Comrade Marshal, your concerns are right." Sokov explained to Rokossovsky: "If it is summer, due to the obstruction of the lake, our troops can only attack the enemy through the bridge. And. The Germans only need to deploy a small number of troops at the east end of the bridge to block our way forward. But it is winter now, and the lake has long been covered with a thick layer of ice. The way the Germans deployed defenses on the east side of the bridge, The impact on us was greatly weakened. General Kirillov, who commanded the battle, his battle plan was to order one regiment to attack from the front to attract the enemy's attention, and then use two regiments to pass through the ice and attack the German army from the front. The two wings of the bridge carried out roundabouts and formed a siege of the city. Unexpectedly, after our army's sheep attack began, General Kirillov discovered that the German troops at the east end of the bridge were shooting into the sky, so he adjusted his tactics in time and fired the sheep into the sky. The attack became the main attack. When our troops rushed to the east coast, the Germans took the initiative to lay down their weapons and surrender."
"Misha, based on what you said, can I understand that the Germans did not even think of becoming enemies of our army, so when faced with our army's attack, they chose to shoot into the air?" Rocco Sovsky asked on the other end of the phone: "Am I right?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal." When Sokov said this, he couldn't help but glance at Lunev sitting in front of him: "Just now, the Military Commissar and the Chief of Staff and I also analyzed this. It should be the German army in the city. The commander did not want to engage in combat with our troops, but for some reason had to make a symbolic appearance of resistance."
"Your statement sounds very reasonable." Rokossovsky said: "But after all, it is just a guess. No one knows the real reason. By the way, General Kirillov has a detailed report. ?"
"Not yet." Sokov answered truthfully: "I just ordered him to move the headquarters to Letzen City. After the new headquarters is established, he will report to me the details of the entire battle."
"Okay." Rokossovsky nodded and said, "When Kirillov has a new battle report, report to me in time." Sokov put down the phone and was about to talk to Lunev, but found that He was on the phone, and judging from his livid face, he must have heard some bad news.
He quickly sat down and looked quietly at Lunev who was on the phone, planning to wait until he finished the call before asking what happened.
After finally waiting for Lunev to finish the call and put down the phone, Sokov asked tentatively: "Comrade Military Commissar, what happened? I think your face doesn't look good."
"Misha, something happened."
"Something happened?" Sokov was most afraid of hearing these words and asked hurriedly: "Comrade Military Commissar, what happened?"
"My subordinates reported to me," Lunev said with a livid face: "After the 284th Infantry Division broke through the German defense line, it continued to advance deeper into the enemy's defenses. Halfway through, they encountered a group of fleeing Germans, about 100,000 people. There are four to five hundred people." When Sokov heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart. He said to himself that the commanders and fighters of the 284th Infantry Division might have done something that violated military discipline.
He quickly asked: "Comrade Military Commissioner, please tell me, have they done anything extraordinary?"
"That's right, Misha." Lunev nodded and said in a positive tone: "A few people looted these refugees and took away watches, gold and silver jewelry and other valuables from their hands. "Sokov thought of how the Soviet Army was turned into crows by Britain and the United States in later generations.
"Bad deeds", he asked tentatively: "Besides robbery, there are no other things?"
"No more." Lunev shook his head and said, "Isn't this enough?"
"Well, this matter is quite serious." Knowing that nothing had happened against the women's wishes for the time being, Sokov couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then said: "We must be serious about these black sheep in our army. Handle it. Comrade Military Commissar, I will leave this matter to you." Sokov wanted to leave the trouble to Lunev, but Lunev was not a fool. He saw Sokov's thoughts at a glance. ,
"Misha, what do you think should be done?" Seeing Lunev kicking the ball back to him so quickly, he said with some embarrassment: "We must find the victims first and rob them of their things." Return it and apologize to them."
"Comrade Commander, is it not appropriate to apologize to the Germans?" When Sidorin heard this, he couldn't help but interjected: "When they set foot on our land, they did so many bad things, although there were many people among us. They killed some bad apples, but I think they also wanted to avenge our people."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, what the Germans did on our soil is simply outrageous." Sokov said to Sidorin: "But we are not Germans and cannot do the bad things they did. Tell the soldiers that we are here to liberate East Prussia, not to destroy it." Although Big Sidorin disagreed with Sokov's words, he was not used to speaking with Sokov in front of his subordinates. A conflict occurs.
Therefore, when faced with Sokov's accusations, he could only lower his head silently and accept Sokov's criticism humbly.
Sokov continued to say to Lunev: "Comrade Military Commissar, when a large corps is fighting, military discipline must be strict. Otherwise, after winning a few more battles, it will be difficult to control the troops below."
"I understand." Lunev nodded and said: "I will rush to the 284th Infantry Division now and have a good talk with their division commander, Colonel Yinsmeilov." After Lunev left, Sidorin approached Soko In his husband's ear, he whispered: "Comrade Commander, do you think our military commissar has planted many spies outside? Otherwise, how could we have obtained information not long after the incident happened?"
"Chief of Staff, you guessed it right." Sokov said in the same low voice: "Maybe there is even this headquarters, but it is not used to monitor us, but to prevent German spies from sneaking in and causing us harm. Huge loss."
"Well, it makes sense, it makes sense." Xi Duolin nodded and said repeatedly: "At least with his help, we can obtain useful information in the shortest time." At this time, the phone on the table rang, Xi Duolin Dolin grabbed the microphone: "I'm Sidorin, who are you?...Oh, it's General Kirillov, hello, hello...what can I do for you? Okay, please wait a moment." Sidorin handed the microphone to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, this is General Kirillov. He has something to report to you." Sokov took the microphone and said: "Kirilov Hello, general. I'm Sokov. If you have anything to say, please tell me. I'm listening."
"Comrade Commander, I have arrived at the city of Letzen." Kirillov said: "I met the commander of the garrison of Letzen here, a German colonel named Kleiner. He took the initiative to explain to us that he In fact, he did not want to be an enemy of our army. He originally surrendered directly to our army. However, considering that his family was still in Germany, if the city surrendered to our army without a battle, his family would definitely be affected. So he I discussed a way with my subordinates. When they saw our army attacking, they would shoot into the sky. Not only did they show to the outside world that they had fought, but they also took the initiative to show their goodwill to our army. When the two sides really started fighting, It will cause different casualties.”
