As the order was issued, the fleet of aircraft that had been on standby on the field airport runway began to take off one after another. After completing the formation in the air, they flew towards the positions on the west bank of the West Oder River, preparing to bomb the exposed German artillery positions.
Not long after the German artillery opened fire, they realized that they had been deceived. The area bombarded by their own side was indeed filled with smoke and flames, but they did not fight back at all. On the contrary, a large number of artillery shells flew from other directions, landed on their artillery positions and exploded. When the artillery commander saw that his own artillery was hit by Soviet artillery fire from time to time, he stamped his feet anxiously. He knew very well that shifting positions at this moment would probably cause huge casualties, so he could only bite the bullet and order his men to move towards The Soviet artillery shells flew back in the direction from which they came.
Unexpectedly, at this time, the roar of aircraft engines came again in the air, and then the commander saw groups of aircraft flying towards the location of the artillery position.
The two flight groups led by Vershining are all Yin Er-2 attack aircraft. This aircraft has two 7.62 mm machine guns, two 23 mm machine guns, two rockets hanging in front, and 600 kilograms of aerial bombs. In addition, there is a rotatable 12.7 mm machine gun in the back seat, which is very suitable for attacking ground targets.
Still far away, the pilots discovered the German artillery positions that were being bombarded, and they lowered their altitude and attacked ground targets. When these aircraft completed their attack and regained altitude, the German artillery on the ground could hardly find anyone who could continue to fire.
It was not enough for Vershining to destroy the German artillery position so easily. After all, before he arrived here, the artillery of the 48th Group Army and the enemy's artillery were firing at each other. He was just Came to pick peaches. So he issued an order to the pilots through the airborne radio: "The aircraft that has run out of ammunition will return immediately, and the remaining aircraft will search for new attack targets with him."
Soon, Vershining spotted a convoy driving on the road. This convoy was reinforcements transferred from the second-line positions of the German army. When they saw their river defense positions being shelled, they thought the Soviet army was about to launch an attack, so they hurriedly mobilized an infantry regiment and rushed to the river in trucks to prepare for reinforcements. The defense there unexpectedly became the target of Soviet aircraft attacks.
Seeing the oncoming Soviet plane, the German commander sitting in the barrel truck hurriedly issued an order: "Disperse and take cover!"
But because he was too nervous, his order left the adjutant at a loss as to whether the regiment commander would order the trucks to disperse immediately off the road and hide in the nearby forest; or order all the soldiers to get off the vehicle and choose a place on the spot to avoid the air attack? But now the vehicle is driving at high speed on the highway. If it doesn't stop, how can the soldiers in the car get out and hide?
It was precisely because of the ambiguous order from the German commander that the officers and soldiers missed the best time to hide. Because the Soviet planes arrived too fast, the convoy was bombed by Soviet planes before the adjutant had time to convey the order.
There were explosions one after another, interspersed with the roar of fighter planes swooping down and the sound of machine gun fire. Several trucks that had been shot suddenly burst into flames. The surviving soldiers in the vehicles lifted up the burning tarpaulins, jumped out of the moving vehicles with strange screams, and fled to both sides of the road to find suitable places to hide.
Fortunately, the driver of the bucket truck was very smart and hurriedly drove the truck to the side of the road and stopped. He asked the regiment leader and the adjutant to open the door and jump out of the car, then jumped directly into the ravine on the side of the road to hide.
The Soviet planes continued to dive and rise above the convoy, strafing and dropping bombs at targets on the ground. They did not raise their altitude until they had used up all the ammunition they carried, and flew towards the airport.
Seeing the Soviet plane leaving, the embarrassed German commander crawled out of the ravine. When he saw the scene on the highway clearly, he almost shed tears. The convoys that were originally moving in neat formation were now scattered everywhere. Some were blown upside down, with the car body lying crookedly and twisted on the road, and the wheels were still spinning; some were parked on the road and burning, with black smoke mixed with dark red flames, filled with the smell of gasoline and The smell of burnt corpses; there were also some vehicles that looked relatively complete, but the soldiers inside who had not had time to get out of the car were turned into corpses, either lying in a mess in the carriage, or hanging around the carriage, they flowed out The blood stained the entire car a shocking red.
In this way, a German infantry regiment rushing to the front line for reinforcements suffered heavy casualties under the attack of the air force led by Vershining. The regiment leader issued an order to the adjutant: "Gather the remaining people immediately and collect the intact cars. Some people will take cars and some people will go on foot to continue to the defense line by the river."
But the adjutant smiled bitterly and said: "Mr. Colonel, I don't think I can carry out your order."
"Why?" the German commander asked puzzledly.
"Look." The adjutant pointed at the fleeing soldiers and said: "Mr. Colonel, we are the People's Grenadier Division. The soldiers are basically old people and children with no combat experience. They have never seen such a tragic scene. This is not , they started running away just after the air raid ended."
Faced with so many deserters, the German commander wanted to kill them all, or hang them directly on the wire poles, but then he thought about it, there were only a few people left around him, and it was difficult to deal with so many deserters. It’s just a fantasy. Maybe after shooting two deserters, he would be killed by other angry soldiers.
Seeing the regiment commander standing there in a daze, the adjutant asked tentatively: "Mr. Colonel, should we report what happened here to the division headquarters? As long as we get the permission of the division commander, we can legitimately retreat."
"Yes, yes, you are right." The German commander nodded quickly and agreed to the adjutant's suggestion: "Our communication vehicle was not blown up, right? If it was not blown up, send a telegram to the division commander immediately and tell him here Report the situation to him and ask him to allow us to retreat."
When Vershining's air force dispatched to bomb the German artillery positions and reinforcement convoys on the west bank, it alerted the 65th Army on the left.
After receiving the call from the forward observation post, Glebov was very surprised and asked for several details. When he put down the phone, he said to Batov: "Comrade Commander, the forward observation post reported that the 48th Group Army on our right wing was shelling the enemy on the other side, and the Air Force also dispatched a large number of fighter planes to launch an attack on the West Bank positions. bombing."
After hearing this, Bartov asked in shock: "What's going on? Did the 48th Group Army take the lead in attacking the enemy?"
"I don't think so." Glebov shook his head and said: "According to the orders from the base camp, our front troops will launch an attack on the enemy on the 20th of this month. Even so, many of our troops and technical equipment will not be deployed in place. So General Cove is also a commander with rich command experience. How could he disobey his superiors' orders and attack the German positions in advance without authorization? You know, without our cooperation, if they attack the enemy alone, they will definitely be attacked. Due to the tenacious resistance of the German army, the casualties of the troops will be extremely heavy."
Bartov stared at the map for a long time, still not understanding the reason for Sokov's unauthorized action. He called the director of the communications corps and told the other party: "Comrade director of the communications corps, please help me get through to the 48th Group Army headquarters. I have something to talk to General Sokov."
While the director of the communications corps was on the phone, Glebov whispered to Batov: "Comrade Commander, should this matter be reported to Comrade Marshal first to see if he knows the reason why the friendly forces launched an attack without authorization?"
"I don't think it's necessary." Batov shook his head and said, "Didn't you just say that even the air force was mobilized? Without the authorization of the front army headquarters, General Sokov would not be able to mobilize the air force at all. of."
Glebov thought about it carefully, and it seemed that this was indeed the case. You must know that the only one who can mobilize air force units is the Front Army Headquarters. Since the Air Force participated in today's battle, it means that this seemingly inexplicable battle should have been authorized by the Front Army Headquarters.
"Comrade Commander, the call is connected." The director of the communications corps said: "General Sokov is waiting to talk to you."
"Hello, General Sokov." Batov took the phone and said with a smile: "I heard that you are shelling the German positions on the west bank, and even the air force is dispatched. I want to ask what is going on. Well, isn’t our front army’s attack time on the 20th? How could it be earlier?”
When Sokov heard that Bartov called him, he guessed what the other party wanted to know. After Bartov finished speaking, he began to explain: "General Bartov, the situation is like this. According to our reconnaissance, the German army deployed a number of artillery positions on the opposite bank. In order to reduce the casualties of our army during the forced crossing, we A trap was designed for the Germans to expose their artillery positions, and then use our artillery and air force to destroy their artillery."
"Can you tell me the specific plan?"
"I used felled wood to build a fake artillery position by the river." Sokov said: "Then I deployed several self-propelled artillery in the fake position and fired at the German positions on the other side, causing a I mistakenly thought that we really had an artillery position by the river, and then forced them to use artillery to bombard our fake artillery position. After their artillery bombardment started, our artillery opened fire to suppress them from a distance. At the same time, I We have agreed with Comrade Marshal that once we start an artillery battle with the German artillery, we can dispatch the air force to bomb the German artillery positions."
"Oh, so that's what happened." After figuring out what happened, Batov said with a smile: "General Sokov, your strategy is good, and the Germans were indeed fooled. My observation post reported that there was a disturbance on the other side. There is a lot of movement, and I believe that the German artillery in front of you must have suffered heavy losses. When you carry out the forced crossing, you can greatly reduce the casualties of the troops."
Just after explaining the reason for the firing to Bartov, Rokossovsky's phone also came in. He said straight to the point: "Misha, General Vershining reported to me that the air force led by him has destroyed the German artillery position. I believe that the German artillery position will not be rebuilt for a long time. In addition, they After completing the mission of bombing the artillery positions, they discovered a convoy coming from the second line of defense, and they bombed the convoy indiscriminately, causing great losses to the enemy."
Sokov did not expect that after bombing the German artillery positions, Vershining would hunt rabbits and severely damage a German convoy. He couldn't help but smile and said: "Comrade Marshal, I think General Vershinin's This bombing will definitely leave a deep impression on the Germans and make them understand that air control on the battlefield is now in the hands of our army. If they want to mobilize troops to the front, they can only do it at night."
"Yes, I think so too." Rokossovsky said: "The actions you took today not only eliminated the biggest threat to you from the German forces on the other side, but also made the Germans realize that without air supremacy, they We cannot mobilize troops as unscrupulously as before. It seems that when today starts, our air force will be able to play a greater role on the battlefield."
"Yes, yes, Comrade Marshal." Sokov agreed: "You know, because the river is too wide, it is difficult for our artillery to clearly see the defenses on the other side. Therefore, even if artillery preparations are carried out before the attack, the effect that can be achieved is Very limited. But the air force is different. They can attack ground targets from a high position, destroy important targets of the German army, and cover our troops to successfully cross the Oder River."
"Misha, when are you going to build a pontoon bridge on the East Oder River?" Rokossovsky asked.
"Comrade Marshal, now is not the time to build a bridge." Sokov replied: "Even if the German artillery has been hit hard by our army, as long as they find out that we have built a pontoon bridge on the river, they will definitely try their best to destroy it. So I decided that on the day of the offensive, as long as my troops reach the shoal area between the two rivers, they can start erecting pontoon bridges, and then transport the technical equipment and more troops needed on the west bank."
"Well, you have a good idea." Rokossovsky nodded and said, "I'm just waiting for the day when the offensive operation starts to see how you perform."
"Comrade Marshal, please rest assured." Sokov assured Rokossovsky: "Even if our troops are not the first to cross the Oder River, our performance on the left bank will never let you down. .”
"Comrade Commander," Sokov just put down the phone, Potapov came in from the outside and reported to Sokov: "The German artillery positions have been completely silenced after being attacked by our air force. It seems that Destroyed, I have ordered our artillery to change positions to avoid retaliation from the Germans."
Although Sokov knew very well that the German army on the other side was at the end of its tether and had suffered such a big loss today. Even if they were dissatisfied, they did not have the ability to retaliate. Even if the artillery of the group army did not move, they would not be attacked by the enemy. Artillery strikes. But now that Potapov has arranged for the artillery to move their positions, he can't pour cold water on the opponent. That would be chilling. On the contrary, he smiled and said: "General Potapov, you did the right thing. Even Germany People can mobilize more artillery from other places in the middle of the night to retaliate against us, but they can't find the target at all. Are you right?"
"You are right, Comrade Commander." Potapov said with a smile: "Our defense area is so large, even if the Germans replenish their artillery in time, they want to retaliate against us, but the prerequisite is that they must find If we cannot find the location of our artillery, all their efforts will be in vain.”
"Chief of Staff," Sokov told Sidorin: "The fake artillery position on the shore must have been completely destroyed by artillery fire. Please arrange for manpower to clean it up as soon as possible."
