At noon the next day, General Bartov's 65th Army arrived at the bank of the East Oder River, occupied the Altdam area on the left wing of the 48th Army, and used this as the starting point for the group's offensive.
After the troops arrived at the designated location and were still setting up camp, Batov received a call from Rokossovsky: "How is it, General Batov, have all your troops arrived at the designated location?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal." After hearing Rokossovsky's voice, Bartov replied respectfully: "My troops have just arrived at the designated position and are building fortifications. Do you have any instructions? "
"General Bartov, the two Oder rivers in front of you will be obstacles on your way forward." Rokossovsky said on the phone: "If you want to defeat the enemy, the first thing you must consider is how to cross it. This wide river. Misha's 48th Group Army arrived two days earlier than you, and sent scouts to conduct reconnaissance on the west bank area, and has a certain understanding of the enemy's troop deployment and equipment. If you have time, Just go over and visit and ask him about the situation of the enemy on the other side. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Comrade Marshal." Bartov had just arrived here and was very anxious when he saw the wide river blocking his path. Hearing what Rokossovsky said at this moment, he suddenly felt as if he had grasped a life-saving straw, and quickly expressed his position: "I will meet with General Sokov as soon as possible."
"Comrade Commander," seeing Bartov put down the phone, Rajecki who was sitting next to him asked curiously: "I seem to have heard Comrade Marshal mention General Sokov. Do we need to cooperate with friendly forces?"
"It's not clear whether we are coordinating operations." Batov explained to his military commissar: "General Sokov's troops came two days earlier than us and had already sent people to the other side to conduct reconnaissance on the German troop deployment and equipment. I have a certain understanding of the situation. Comrade Marshal called me because he hoped that I could meet with General Sokov and obtain some useful situation comparisons from him, which would be very helpful for our next phase of operations. "
Chief of Staff Glebov, who was directing the communications corps to set up the antenna, heard what Batov said and came over and said: "Comrade Commander, the river area in front of us is a bit too wide. With our existing river crossing equipment, , if you want to cross to the other side by force, you will definitely have to make a lot of sacrifices. I think I should go to the 48th Group Army as soon as possible to understand the deployment and equipment of the German troops on the other side, so as to formulate a corresponding attack plan."
Bartov glanced at the busy crowd in the headquarters, stood up and said: "Let's go, before there is anything else, let's go to the 48th Group Army headquarters first. Otherwise, after the headquarters is put into normal work, we will There's no time."
So Rajecki and Glebov followed Batov by car to the 48th Army headquarters on the right wing to visit Sokov and others.
Sokov received a report from his subordinates and learned that Batov and others' car had arrived at the door, so he led Lunev and Sidorin to greet it.
Coincidentally, when they came outside the house, they happened to see Batov getting out of the car. Sokov hurriedly came forward and greeted him friendly: "Hello, General Batov, nice to see you here." You."
"Me too, General Sokov!" Batov stretched out his hand to Sokov and said politely: "I hope you don't mind disturbing me."
"You are an honored guest that I can't even invite. It's my honor for you to come to my place. Do you mind if you don't mind?" Sokov said, turning his body to one side and making an invitation gesture with his palms upward: "Please, General Batov, come inside and have a cup of hot tea."
After Batov and his party followed Sokov and the others into the headquarters, Sokov immediately called a staff officer and ordered him to prepare refreshments for Batov and others.
"General Sokov, don't be so polite." Rajecki said with a smile: "We are just here to sit down, there is no need to be so polite."
"No matter what, you are all our guests." Sokov said with a smile: "How can a guest come to the door and not be greeted with refreshments?"
After the staff officer brought the refreshments, Batov got back to business: "General Sokov, I came here today to ask for something."
Sokov knew the purpose of Batov's visit, and he did not beat around the bush, but asked straight to the point: "General Batov, you came to me to learn about the enemy's troop deployment and equipment on the other side, right?" ?”
"That's right, General Sokov." Seeing that Sokov had guessed his purpose, Bartov laughed a little embarrassedly, and then agreed with the other party's statement: "I came here specifically to ask for advice on the strength of the German troops on the other side. How is the deployment and equipment going?”
Sokov asked Sidorin to bring the collected reconnaissance information, handed it to Batov and Glebov, and said: "The enemy's defense on the other side is 40 kilometers deep. Such a deployment in East Poland It has also appeared in the Rania area. The only difference is that this time there is a wide river in front of them as a barrier. If we want to attack them, we must first cross this wide river."
After hearing this, Glebov said disapprovingly: "General Sokov, no matter how wide the river is, as long as our army launches a forced crossing operation and thousands of ships are sent out, even if they want to stop it, they can't stop us..."
But before Glebov finished speaking, he was interrupted by Batov raising his hand: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I don't think things are that simple. If the river is just wide, we have many ways to cross it, but we are afraid that there will be Other reasons we don't know. Is that what I said, General Sokov?" His last words were addressed to Sokov.
"Yes, General Batov, you are very correct." Sokov nodded, affirmed Batov's statement, and then said: "Actually, what you saw was not one river, but two. river?"
"Two rivers?" Glebov's face was full of surprise: "How is this possible?"
"General Glebov, Misha is not talking nonsense. There are indeed two rivers blocking us." Lunev explained to Glebov: "The side close to us is the East Oder River, and the side close to the enemy is The other is the West Oder River, and there was originally a river bank in the middle that separated the two rivers. But now it is the spring snow melting season, which has caused the water level of the river to rise and submerge the shoals, making it look like one river."
After hearing this, Glebov couldn't help but gasped. He turned to Batov and said: "Comrade Commander, if this is really the case, our ships will not be able to cross the river at all."
"That's true." Sokov said: "The width of the river in front of us reaches five kilometers. If we use a navy speedboat, we can complete the crossing operation in a very short time. It is a headache. The problem is that the shoal between the two rivers makes it impossible for our speedboat to pass. If we use an ordinary boat with a shallow draft to cross the river, even if the German army does not conduct fire interception, it will take several hours to row to the other side. Waiting for our When the officers and soldiers landed on the other side, they were already exhausted and had no energy to attack the enemy. We have been here for two days, but we still can't think of a good way to complete the task of forcing the crossing."
"Is it true that our troops are going to be blocked by this wide river?" Bartov frowned: "Although the German troops on the other side are not strong, as time goes by, they have sufficient After the preparation time, the defense system will become more complete, which will be very detrimental to our next offense."
"General Bartov." Sokov waited for Bartov to finish speaking and then said: "Actually, the situation there is much better than ours. For example, some riverbank areas have not been flooded by the river. As long as you The troops can enter that area as soon as possible and establish it as the starting point for the attack, which will be very beneficial to the subsequent forced crossing."
"General Sokov, but the river beach is unobstructed. When our troops get there, will they be hit by German artillery fire?" Glebov said cautiously: "I'm worried that even if our troops reach the river beach area, But because it was not suitable for establishing an offensive starting point, we had to withdraw under German artillery fire."
But as soon as Glebov finished speaking, Batov shook his head and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I think what General Sokov said makes sense. If there are really people in our combat area who have not been submerged by the river, We should find a way to send troops to occupy the shoal area. As for your concern about being bombarded by German artillery fire, it can also be easily solved. Our artillery deployed on the east bank can suppress them with artillery fire to reduce the number of people on the river beach position. casualties. If the artillery still can't suppress them, ask the air force to dispatch and bomb the German artillery positions. I don't believe they have the guts to continue bombarding our army under the intensive bombing."
A smile appeared on Sokov's face, and he was very satisfied with Bartov's statement. As long as Bartov is willing to dispatch troops, occupy those shoals that are not flooded by the river, and establish offensive starting positions there, he can attract the attention of the German army. As long as the enemy no longer regards themselves as the focus of attention and waits for the 2nd Assault Army on the right wing to launch an attack again, even if their own men swim over, the casualties will probably be much less than originally thought.
"General Bartov," Sokov had suffered losses from German artillery before, and he was worried that Bartov would make the same mistake again, so he suggested to him: "You'd better deploy the artillery on the east bank and then send troops to move to the river beach. Even if When encountering German artillery fire, your artillery can quickly suppress them."
"Well, I understand, General Sokov." Batov nodded and said: "There are still four or five days before the final general offensive is launched. I plan to use this time to collect enough river crossing equipment to complete the river crossing operation. .”
"General Bartov, I have an idea." Lunev interrupted: "Since the area you want to attack is divided into the East Oder River and the West Oder River by shoals, why don't you consider building a few pontoon bridges? ? If there is a bridge, not only our infantry can cross the river, but even tanks, self-propelled artillery, armored vehicles and artillery can be continuously transported to the other side, which will be very beneficial to your subsequent operations."
"Good idea, good idea." Hearing what Lunev said, Bartov slapped his hands on the table and said excitedly: "General Lunev, your suggestion is really great. If our army If we can successfully occupy the shoal area between the two rivers, we can indeed set up several pontoon bridges to allow infantry and various combat vehicles to successfully reach the shoal area. Next, we have two options. One is to continue to build a A pontoon bridge was built on the west bank of the river, and the second was to put the boats into the West Od River and then forcibly cross it.”
"General Bartov, if you rush to set up a pontoon bridge from the ford to the west bank before your troops board the west bank of the West Oder River, I'm worried that your troops will suffer heavy casualties under the powerful firepower of the German army." Sokov He put forward his own suggestion to Bartov: "I think the best way is to use boats to force across the West Bank. After your troops have established a foothold on the west bank, it will not be too late to build a pontoon bridge from the shoal to the west bank. "
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Batov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, then turned to ask Glebov next to him: "Have you written down all General Sokov's proposals?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander, I have already written it down." Glebov said: "After I return, I will send an engineering unit to measure the depth of the river to see where a pontoon bridge can be built."
After seeing off Bartov and others, Sidorin, who had never spoken, curiously asked Sokov: "Comrade Commander, do you think General Bartov and the others can really build a pontoon bridge on the East Oder River for infantry?" Is it accessible to all kinds of combat vehicles?”
Sidorin's words reminded Sokov of Chuikov. In the second half of last year, the 8th Guards Army forcibly crossed the Vistula River, established a landing site on the other side of the river, and built a pontoon bridge to connect the two banks. But regrettably, the pontoon bridge was destroyed by German bombers just a few hours after it was erected. Sidorin asked himself this question because he was probably worried that this pontoon bridge on the East Oder River would suffer the same fate.
Sokov grinned and said to Sidorin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I understand what you mean. This year our army has far more advantages on the battlefield than last year. At least in this area, we have The army has completely mastered the air superiority on the battlefield. Our powerful air force can not only destroy the German artillery positions, but will also be merciless to the German aircraft that come to die on their own initiative and shoot them down."
Seeing that Sokov understood what he wanted to express, Sidorin breathed a sigh of relief and said: "If the German army really cannot destroy the pontoon bridge set up by the 65th Group Army, that would be great. At least it can greatly Reduce the casualties suffered by our army when forcibly crossing the West Od River."
