Although the German offensive in the Elbin area was not large in scale, its significance was comparable to that of the Ardennes Counterattack. If the German army could invest more troops and necessary air support, the Soviet army in this area would suffer a devastating blow.
But if you are not afraid of opponents who are like gods, you are afraid of teammates who are like pigs, and Mustache unfortunately became such a teammate. Due to his haste, Yinhardt and Hosbach were relieved of their duties, and the new commanders did not arrive in time, so the attack plan originally formulated by the two men had to end hastily.
The person who succeeded Hosbach was General Miller. Outsiders commented that he was a slow and unimaginative general. Although he performed bravely, he did not have the ability to adapt to changes. But Mustache, who strongly advocated for him to succeed Hosbach, believed that it was very appropriate for him to serve as the commander of the 4th Army.
Faced with Mustache's trust, General Miller said with gratitude: "My head of state, I am a good officer. I know how to obey orders, but strategic and tactical issues are not within my scope of consideration. As long as you tell me what to do, Just behave how you want.”
Mustache immediately beamed after hearing this, "General Miller, the reason why I appointed you as the commander of the 4th Army is because I see this advantage in you. You can continue to attack to the west and beat the Russians hard. But east Prussia must hold on and you must not give up this land under any circumstances."
"My head of state," Miller continued, "I will do everything possible to defend this land and will never allow it to fall into the hands of the Russians."
After expressing his loyalty to Mustache, Miller took a plane to East Prussia and officially assumed the position of commander of the 4th Army.
After Miller arrived in East Prussia, in order to faithfully implement Mustache's order to hold on to East Prussia, Miller decisively stopped the offensive operations near Elbing and ordered the troops deployed in the area to withdraw to the original starting point of the attack.
The German attack was seen to have stopped and they began to retreat one after another. Rokossovsky, who had strong troops, immediately commanded his troops to launch a counterattack, successfully rescued two infantry divisions that were besieged by the Germans, and re-established a new line of defense.
After more than a day of fighting, at dark, the Soviet army finally restored all its positions before the German attack. After receiving the report, Bogolyubov breathed a sigh of relief, and then said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, thank God, all the areas occupied by the German army are finally back in our hands."
But there was no smile on Rokossovsky's face. Instead, he said to Bogolyubov with a straight face: "Comrade Chief of Staff, we must learn from this lesson. We must never think that the German army is behind our powerful forces." Under the offensive, they have lost their ability to resist. Look, they only used two divisions this time, and they caused such heavy losses to our army without the cover of air force and armored forces. If they invested If we have more troops and are supported by the air force, tanks and artillery, our entire Second Belarusian Front will probably suffer a heavy blow."
"Comrade Marshal, what should we do next?" Bogolyubov asked: "Should we continue to attack the depth of the German defenses according to the original plan?"
"The attack on the German army needs to be temporarily stopped." But Rokossovsky shook his head and said: "What we have to do now is to readjust the deployment and withdraw the troops who suffered heavy casualties for reinforcement. Replaced by troops who still have combat capability."
"Okay, Comrade Marshal." Bogolyubov nodded and picked up a pen and paper: "I will immediately make statistics to see which troops need to be withdrawn for rest and which troops should be brought up to fill their vacancies."
"By the way, Comrade Chief of Staff." Rokossovsky pointed at Bogolyubov with his hand and said, "Call Misha and ask about the casualties of his troops in the past two days of fighting. how?"
"Comrade Marshal, I have already understood this." Bogolyubov said: "They suffered the German attack this time. The biggest losses were from the follow-up troops, while the troops deployed at the front suffered no losses."
"That's good, that's good." Knowing that Sokov's troops did not suffer much losses, Rokossovsky felt a little more at ease. He said to Bogolyubov: "Then their ammunition What? You know, some of the ammunition they use does not match the ammunition of our current weapons."
"I'm not sure about this." Bogolyubov picked up the phone on the table: "I'll call him now to find out."
A few minutes later, Sokov received a call from Bogolyubov: "Is it General Sokov? I'm Bogolyubov."
"It turns out to be Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army." Sokov asked politely: "Do you have any instructions?"
"That's right. Comrade Marshal may have to assign you new combat missions. Let me call you first to find out how much special ammunition you are using now."
Bogolyubov accidentally used the word "special ammunition" and confused Sokov. However, he soon understood that the special ammunition the other party was talking about actually referred to the ammunition used by assault rifles, rocket launchers and new rocket launchers. Due to insufficient logistical supplies, after such a long battle, these weapons only had a little more than a base of ammunition left, and they could barely sustain a small-scale battle.
"Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I was just about to call you to report this matter." Sokov originally wanted to apply to the logistics department of the Front Army Headquarters to replenish himself with a batch of special ammunition to avoid the advanced equipment of the troops. The weapon became a fire stick due to lack of ammunition. Since Bogolyubov asked about it at this moment, he simply said: "We barely have a base of ammunition, which is only enough to maintain a small regular battle. If we don't replenish ammunition as soon as possible, the troops equipped with these weapons will Will temporarily lose combat effectiveness."
"I understand." Bogolyubov said: "I will notify the logistics department and replenish you with special ammunition as soon as possible."
After putting down the phone, Bogolyubov said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, I have asked General Sokov. He said that the unit has a base of special ammunition left, which can barely support a small battle." The scale of the battle is urgently needed to be supplemented.”
"Well, notify the logistics department and supply them as soon as possible." After Rokossovsky said this, his attention returned to the map in front of him. He seemed to be talking to himself and asking questions. Golyubov: "Will the Germans attack us again?"
"Comrade Marshal, I don't think so." Bogolyubov said confidently: "The German commanders Reinhardt and Hosbach were dismissed from their posts one after another, and their replacements were replaced by a man who only knew how to obey orders, not General Miller knows how to adapt to changes. I believe that with his arrival, the situation in East Prussia will become more favorable to our army."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I quite agree with your view." Rokossovsky nodded and said: "A general who only knows how to obey but does not know how to adapt to changes will be difficult to win the battle when he is actually on the battlefield. Originally, when Leinhardt and Hosbach were there, they were still strong enemies of our army, but with the arrival of General Miller, I feel that the entire East Prussia region will be completely liberated in less than three months."
"By the way, Comrade Marshal, there is one more thing I forgot to tell you."
"what's up?"
"It turns out that the commander of the Third Front, General Chernyakhovsky, was injured in the German shelling." Bogolyubov said: "Now the Supreme Command has sent Marshal Vasilevsky to temporarily Taking his place. Somehow, when I heard about this appointment, I suddenly had an ominous premonition in my heart."
"An unknown premonition?" Rokossovsky asked: "What unknown premonition?"
"Last February, General Vatutin was injured on the Ukrainian front, and Marshal Zhukov took over his post." Bogolyubov said cautiously: "Now General Chernyakhovsky is injured, and Vasily Marshal Vski took over his post. For two consecutive years, in February, the generals who were commanders of the fronts were wounded on the battlefield, and then the marshals took over their vacated positions..."
"Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, don't mention this matter again." Rokossovsky remembered that Bogolyubov had mentioned this matter, and quickly reminded him: "You can't talk nonsense about this kind of thing, just in case. Something really happened to General Niachovsky, and if someone makes an issue of it, I'm afraid it will bring you unnecessary trouble."
Bogolyubov couldn't help being shocked, and then defended: "Comrade Marshal, I was just talking casually, just talking casually."
"Don't say this kind of thing casually. If someone accidentally hears it and spreads it casually, it will be very detrimental to you." Rokossovsky waved to Bogolyubov and said: " You go and count the troops that have to be withdrawn for rest. We will have to resume our attack on the Germans the day after tomorrow at the latest."
Besides, in the 48th Group Army headquarters, Sokov, Sidorin, and Lunev are studying the next situation.
Sidorin said: "Comrade Commander, our one infantry division and three infantry brigades, which were originally the reserve, have suffered a lot of casualties in the battles in the past few days. If the reserve is needed, what should we start from? What about local transfer?”
"Have our troops reported that there are prisoner-of-war camps for our commanders and fighters near the areas they control?" Sokov said to the two men: "In order to replenish combat-effective soldiers in the shortest possible time, those Commanders and fighters rescued from prison camps are the most suitable."
"Comrade Commander, I'm sorry." But Sidorin shook his head after hearing this and said bitterly: "The battle reports of each division never mentioned anything about prisoner of war camps. I don't think they found any prisoners of war. There are only two reasons for the camp. One is that the Germans did not build a prisoner-of-war camp here; the other is that there are prisoner-of-war camps for our prisoners of war. However, as our army enters the East Prussia area, the Germans are worried that after these prisoners of war are rescued, what will happen to them? Rejoin our forces and kill them all.”
"Misha, although our troops have not found any traces of prisoner-of-war camps in the areas they control." Lunev said: "Can we find some local residents to understand the situation and see if there are any hidden prisoner-of-war camps around? "
"Comrade Military Commissar, even if there are any prisoner of war camps or concentration camps nearby, it is impossible for the local residents to know about it." Sokov's statement was not just a whim. He remembered that in the US military's "Band of Brothers", after the US military liberated a concentration camp, they captured the residents of nearby towns and dug pits to bury the bodies. When the residents arrived at the concentration camp, they were shocked by the corpses on the ground. They never dreamed that there was such a death camp near the town where they had lived for decades. By the same token, since the residents did not even know about the local concentration camps, they would be even more ignorant about the prison camps where Soviet prisoners of war were held.
"How is this possible?" Luniev asked rhetorically: "How could the local residents not know about the prisoner-of-war camp built nearby by the Germans?"
"It's completely possible." Sokov said with a wry smile: "I went to the front army headquarters some time ago and heard a staff officer talk about something. The US military liberated a concentration camp in the forest, except for a few skinny men wearing prison uniforms. Except for some Jews who were still alive, the rest were killed by the Germans. Because the Germans left so hurriedly, there was no time to clean up the corpses all over the ground.
After the U.S. military occupied the concentration camp, they captured hundreds of German residents from nearby towns and made them responsible for burying the corpses. The residents of the small town were surprised when they discovered that there was such a concentration camp in the forest near their town. I was even more shocked when I saw the Jewish corpses on the ground. Unexpectedly, people like them were slaughtered like cattle by the German army. "
After listening to Sokov's story, Lunev fell silent. He lit a cigarette, took a few puffs, and asked, "What should we do?"
Sokov thought for a while and then said: "Order each division to send reconnaissance teams to the nearby forests. First, to search for the defeated soldiers who fled into the forest; second, to search carefully to see if there are any traces of prisoner of war camps."
"Okay, Comrade Commander." After hearing what Sokov said, Sidorin immediately said: "I will call the commanders of each division and ask them to immediately send out reconnaissance teams to search the nearby forests. Let’s see if we can find a prisoner-of-war camp built by the Germans.” After saying this, he tilted his head and looked out the window, and then added, “It’s such a cold day, if there are really prisoners of war of our army being held deep in the forest. Prisoner of war camp, I don’t know how many people will die due to cold and starvation.”
"Comrade Chief of Staff, we can only do our best." Sokov sighed and said: "If the Germans really built a prisoner-of-war camp in the forest, and we send people to search for it now, we might be able to rescue some of them. But if we are right If this matter is ignored and left unchecked, I am afraid that none of the commanders and fighters imprisoned inside will survive."
Lunev said with emotion: "The snow in the forest is so deep, the actions of the scouts will definitely be affected. Chief of Staff, you must tell the division commanders that no matter how difficult the environment is, the scouts must go deep into the forest as soon as possible. Search inside. If we can really rescue the captured personnel of our army, the relevant personnel involved in the operation will be rewarded."
