After coming out of the front headquarters, Ozerov apologized to Ponedelin and said: "Comrade Commander, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have doubted General Sokov. I didn't expect that his analysis was so accurate. Marshal Zhukov As expected, he sent his right-wing troops to coordinate operations with us."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, this time Marshal Zhukov sent the Polish 1st Army." But there was no joy on Ponejelin's face. He reminded Ozerov: "I have dealt with this army before. They Their combat effectiveness is not as strong as we imagined. Even if our two armies fight together, they can only act as a check on the German army at best. It is us who are really fighting against the Germans."
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Ozerov nodded and said, "This is indeed a headache. But now it is impossible for our superiors to send us more troops. If we want to defeat the Germans, we must The Polish Army's help to us is indispensable."
The two had just returned to the group army headquarters and were preparing to convene a meeting with the division commanders to convey the instructions from the front army headquarters. However, they unexpectedly received a call from the front army chief of staff Bogolyubov: "General Ponedelin, I have something important to inform you now."
When Ponejelin heard the other party speaking to him in such a serious tone, he couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart. He secretly thought that something unexpected had happened. Didn't Marshal Rokossovsky intend to let the Polish 1st Army cooperate with us to fight? But he still tried to put a smile on his face and asked politely: "General Bogolyubov, do you have any new instructions from Comrade Marshal?"
"That's it." Bogolyubov said: "We have just received notification from our superiors that we intend to place Lieutenant General Kozlov's 19th Army and the 3rd Guards Tank Corps under the command of our front. I and After research, Comrade Marshal decided to strengthen these two forces in the direction of your attack."
[In view of the general environment,
"General Bogolyubov, is this true?" After receiving Bogolyubov's confirmation, Ponedelin said excitedly: "Great, simply great. A group army has been added in the main attack direction. With a tank corps, our assault force has been greatly strengthened. And even if we capture the enemy's position again, we will have enough troops to consolidate the occupied area."
"It may take another two days for the new troops to arrive." Bogolyubov told Ponedelin on the phone: "The task of your army group is to resolutely defend the existing area so that the enemy cannot advance even a step. Do you understand? ?」
"Understood, General Bogolyubov." Ponedelin said confidently: "As long as our 50th Army's organization is still there, the Germans will never even think of passing through our defense zone."
After putting down the phone, Ponedelin excitedly said to Ozerov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, let me tell you good news. The Chief of Staff of the Front Army, General Bogolyubov, just called and said that the base camp is preparing to mobilize the 19th Group Army and The 3rd Guards Tank Corps strengthened our Second Front. After discussion with Comrade Marshal and the Chief of Staff, they decided to strengthen the newly added troops in our main attack direction."
"Comrade Commander, this is great." Ozerov raised his eyebrows and said excitedly: "With the addition of new troops, we will be more confident in defeating the enemy."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Ponejelin pointed to the map and said to Ozerov: "Look, there is a German fortress on the way we are advancing. The attack we launched here yesterday was blocked. Failure. If we want to continue advancing deeper into the German defenses, we first need to capture this fortress."
Hearing what Ponedelin said, Ozerov had a troubled expression on his face: "Comrade Commander, it's difficult. This fortress has only two entrances and exits, one facing the direction of our attack, and connecting the fortress and The bridge outside had been blown up by the Germans. The troops we rushed up were blocked by wide trenches. When we tried to erect the bridge, the German troops in the fortress blocked our bridge erection with intensive firepower through the firing port. area, causing heavy casualties to our bridge-building engineers."
"Yeah, this damn trench is blocking our way forward.
. "Although there is an entrance and exit behind the fortress, Ponejelin is unwilling to try it. Not to mention whether the Germans blew up the bridge connecting the fortress to the outside after the troops arrived at the back of the fortress. Even if they didn't, the detouring troops would have been hit by powerful artillery fire from within the fortress, and they would have suffered huge casualties. , so the best direction of attack is still on the front of the fortress: "We have to find a way to suppress the German firepower and cover our engineers to erect bridges that can allow tanks and other combat vehicles to pass."
"This fortress has been repeatedly reinforced by the Germans, so it is extremely strong. The thickness of the top alone is more than five meters. Even aircraft bombing cannot penetrate their fortress." Ozerov said: "We are now The maximum caliber of the artillery we have is only 122 mm, which cannot penetrate the top of the fortress. Unless our superiors can give us 203 mm artillery and use condensate-breaking bombs, it is possible to destroy the German fortress fortifications."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you should know that this request of yours will not be approved." Ponedelin remembered that in order to capture the Brest Fortress, Sokovto had found a 280 mm super heavy artillery, but After completing the task of attacking the enemy, the artillery was immediately transferred. He must not think that he has Sokov's ability to obtain such heavy artillery from his superiors. The only thing they can do is to use the existing artillery to find ways to destroy the German fortress: "We can only think for ourselves. Find a way to solve this problem."
Ozerov thought for a long time and finally proposed to Ponedelin: "Comrade Commander, since you came, I have often heard you mention General Sokov. I guess he is a resourceful man. We might as well go to him." Please tell me if there is any good way to destroy the powerful firepower of the German fortress."
After receiving the call from Ponejelin, Sokov drew a sketch of the fortress on the paper in front of him and began to think about how to deal with the German fortress. Ponjelin on the other end of the phone was afraid of disrupting his train of thought and did not dare to speak casually. He just waited quietly.
Sokov stared at the sketch he had drawn. After thinking for five or six minutes, he came up with a way to deal with the German fortress, and then said into the microphone: "General Ponedelin, are you still there?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander, I'm still here." Ponejelin quickly asked, "Have you come up with any good ideas?"
"According to your description," Sokov said, "the firepower network in the fortifications is divided into upper and lower levels. The upper level is higher than the ground of the fortress. It can shoot from a high position at our troops rushing towards the fortress; and their lower level As for the firepower, it comes from the ground of the regional fortress. In other words, after you have built the bridge and the troops pass over the bridge, they can shoot from the bottom, attack the weak belly of the tank, and the infantry following the charging tank, causing you Huge casualties."
"Yes, yes, you are right." After listening to Sokov's words, Ponedelin nodded repeatedly and said, "Is there any way to deal with the German double-layered fire network?"
"This is actually easy to handle." Sokov said with a smile: "General Ponedelin, you have been my deputy commander for a long time. You should know that when I use artillery on the battlefield, my favorite It is "bayonet attached to the cannon", that is to say, the artillery is brought close to the enemy's fortifications and fired. You can prepare a batch of large-caliber artillery, deploy it four to five hundred meters away from the fortress, and use direct-aiming shooting to destroy the upper level fire network of the German army. "
"Yes, I remember your favorite artillery tactic, which is the "bayonet on the cannon" tactic. It works well every time. I will let the artillery use this tactic to destroy the upper level fire network of the German army. Ponijelin continued to ask humbly: "How to deal with the fire network at the lower level?"
"To deal with the lower firepower network of the German fortress, you can no longer use direct shooting tactics." Sokov patiently explained to Ponedelin: "You can ask the soldiers to fill oil drums with explosives and ignite them. After that, push into the trench. Even if the huge explosion shock wave cannot collapse the bottom of the fortress, it can kill more than half of the German soldiers hiding inside. When the enemy's resistance stops, you can seize the time to build the bridge and quickly Rush into the fortress."
After Sokov explained his idea, he also reminded Ponedelin specifically: "Ponedelin will
Army, this is just the offensive plan I imagined. Whether it is true and effective in actual combat still needs to be verified by your troops. If it doesn't work, you have to find another way. "
"I don't think the problem is big." Possibly out of his trust in Sokov, Ponedelin nodded and said, "I believe that with your tactics, my troops will be able to successfully break through the German defenses and successfully defeat them." The ground rushed into the fortress."
After waiting for Ponedelin to finish speaking, Sokov was eager to know what he was doing at Rokossovsky's place tonight, so he asked tentatively: "By the way, Comrade Marshal is here to see you. Is there anything important? "
"As you have analyzed," Ponejelin said, "Marshal Zhukov sent the Polish 1st Army to assist our attack. I was called to the front army headquarters tonight just to contact the Polish army commander and discuss the plan. The battle matters coming down.”
"Oh, the Polish 1st Army was sent to you." Sokov was worried that Ponedelin looked down on the Polish 1st Army, and reminded him specifically: "General Ponedelin, the Polish 1st Army was cooperating with us. During the battle, their performance was indeed terrible. But after more than half a year of baptism of blood and fire, I believe their combat effectiveness must have been greatly improved, and they will definitely be your good helpers in the next battle."
"I hope so."
"When will you attack the Germans again?" Sokov asked.
"The specific time of the attack is not yet clear." Ponejelin said: "We had just returned to the army headquarters when we received a call from Chief of Staff Bogolyubov, saying that the base camp was going to move the 19th Army and Guards Tanks The 3rd Army replenished the Second Front Army, and after discussion with the Marshal, he planned to deploy these two troops within our combat area. In other words, we would not attack the German army until these two troops arrived. Launch a new round of attack."
"Oh, three armies plus a tank corps." Sokov said with some surprise: "This is a good lineup. It will definitely be able to easily break through the German defenses. And every time an area is occupied, there will be enough troops to consolidate it. The occupied area was prevented from being lost in the German counterattack.”
While Sokov and Ponedelin were talking on the phone, Runev and Sidorin sat nearby and listened. Both of them heard most of the conversation clearly.
After Sokov put down the phone, Runev said: "Misha, if General Ponedelin adds two group armies and a tank corps at once, the original enemy will not be a concern."
"Comrade Military Commissar is right." Sidorin said with great excitement: "This way, we don't have to worry about having our army group put into combat before attacking Berlin."
Regarding Sidorin's obsession, Sokov didn't say anything, just smiled indifferently, wondering in his heart, if the troops of the Second Front enter Berlin, whether they can get the opportunity to attack the Reichstag is still a question. . Perhaps like real history, the 150th and 171st divisions of the 79th Infantry Corps of the 3rd Assault Army will be responsible for the attack on the Capitol.
However, in order not to dampen the opponent's enthusiasm, Sokov paused for a moment and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, take advantage of the favorable opportunity when the troops do not have to go into battle for the time being, and seize the time to replenish not only ammunition and supplies, but also replenish Soldiers. If we are not fully prepared, we may suffer losses when we enter Berlin and attack the enemy."
"Comrade Commander, you can rest assured on this." Sidorin said confidently: "As for the replenishment of weapons, ammunition, supplies and soldiers, I will definitely be supervising and there will never be any mistakes. I assure you, By the time the troops enter Berlin, at least 80% of the troops in each army group can be ensured."
Regarding Sidorin's statement, Sokov nodded slightly. He remembered that when Rokossovsky's troops arrived at the outskirts of Berlin, they all suffered varying degrees of losses. The division with the largest number of soldiers only had 80% of its strength, while The division with fewer soldiers has only about 50% of its soldiers.
In order to allow the army to have more soldiers, Sokov said to Sidorin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please inform the commanders of each division and ask them to continue to search for possible prisoner of war camps and liberate the commanders and soldiers of our army who are detained there. come out and add as much as possible into us
of troops. "
"Comrade Commander, we have roughly inspected the combat area and found no prisoner-of-war camps." Sidorin reminded Sokov: "So the idea of replenishing soldiers from prisoner-of-war camps, I think, is unrealistic."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, let me remind you that although no prisoner of war camps have been found in the combat areas of our group army, it does not mean that there are none in the combat areas of friendly forces." Sokov told Sidorin: "You can let all parties The division commander will send out manpower to conduct searches deep into the areas controlled by friendly forces, and there may be unexpected gains.”
