When the chief of staff conveyed Mantefel's order, the German artillery deployed on the second line of defense opened fire, flying over the position filled with smoke and fire, and landed in the area where the 65th Army had landed.
The sudden shelling caused chaos to the Soviet troops who were landing. The commanders on the shore shouted at the top of their lungs, telling the soldiers who had landed to hide on the spot to prevent them from being killed by flying shrapnel; at the same time, they waved the ships that had unloaded the soldiers and supplies to leave to avoid being hit by German artillery fire. hit.
Facing the German shelling, the boats that had unloaded soldiers and supplies quickly rowed toward the middle of the West Oder River to avoid the intensive German shelling. As for the few ships, although the soldiers had already disembarked, the materials needed by the troops were still piled on the ships. Regardless of their own safety, the rowing soldiers continued to unload the materials carried on the ships despite enemy fire.
Bartov, who was staying at the headquarters, heard that his landing force was suddenly attacked by German artillery fire, and quickly ordered the artillery deployed in the shoal to fire to suppress the German artillery positions.
But after Chief of Staff Glebov finished the phone call, he smiled bitterly and said to him: "Comrade Commander, the situation is not good. The German artillery shells are flying from the second line of defense. They can hit our landing troops. However, due to range issues, the artillery we deployed on the shoal could only stare blankly in the face of the enemy's intensive artillery fire, unable to provide the necessary cover for our landing troops."
"Hell, how could this happen?" Bartov was so angry that he punched the table hard. "In this case, our soldiers will only be beaten in vain."
"There is no way." Glebov pointed to the map and said to Batov: "Comrade Commander, look. The enemy's artillery position is here on their second line of defense. The artillery fire can just hit our landing point, and the deployment The artillery position in the shoal is still several kilometers away from the west bank, and it is impossible to hit the enemy's artillery position."
"Damn it, damn it, it's so hateful." Batov knew that Glebov was telling the truth. The German artillery was deployed outside the range of his own artillery and was unable to suppress the enemy's artillery. If you want to get rid of the situation where the troops are passively beaten, you should immediately ask Rokossovsky for help and ask him to dispatch the air force to bomb the German artillery positions located on the second line of defense, thereby eliminating the threat of German artillery to the landing troops. He picked up the phone on the table: "I'm Batov, call me the front headquarters."
After the call was connected, Bartov recognized that the person who answered the phone was Bogolyubov, and said quickly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, our landing force suffered heavy German artillery fire on the west bank of the Oder River, causing certain casualties. "
"Where exactly?" Bogolyubov said: "I will order the artillery to suppress the enemy's artillery positions."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, suppressing artillery fire will not be effective, because the enemy is very cunning and uses artillery deployed on the second line of defense to bombard us, and because of the range, our artillery has nothing to do against them. , so I can only ask the front army headquarters for help."
"Since your artillery can't hit the enemy's artillery positions," Bogolyubov said helplessly, "then our artillery can't hit even more. Is there anything we can do to help you?"
"Yes." Bartov said: "Although our artillery cannot hit the enemy's artillery positions due to range issues, our air force can. Not to mention that the German army is more than ten or twenty kilometers away, even if it is two hundred Kilometers away, as long as our air force is dispatched, the enemy's artillery positions can be blown to pieces."
Regarding Batov's request, Bogolyubov was quite helpless: "Our air force has been exhausted after a day and night of bombing. How can we let them dispatch again at this time?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, what happened?" Rokossovsky, who had just finished the phone call, saw Bogolyubov's helpless look and asked curiously: "Who are you talking to?"
"It's General Batov," Bogolyubov replied.
"Oh, it turned out to be Bartov." Rokossovsky asked with a smile: "Did his troops land on the West Bank?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal, their troops have landed on the West Bank." After Bogolyubov answered the question, before Rokossovsky was happy, he continued: "But the troops who landed on the West Bank , is currently under German shelling."
"What, the landing force was shelled by the Germans?" Rokossovsky asked in surprise: "Then why didn't our artillery suppress artillery fire?"
"There is no way to suppress it." Bogolyubov quickly explained to Rokossovsky: "The German artillery that fired at the landing troops was located on their second line of defense and was beyond the coverage of our artillery fire. Therefore, The landing force could only be beaten passively, but could not fight back in time."
After figuring out what was going on, Rokossovsky straightened his face and said: "Since our artillery can't hit the enemy, let's find another way. Why don't you let General Vershining dispatch the air force? German artillery positions were bombed."
"Comrade Marshal, General Bartov also suggested that the air force bomb the German artillery positions." Bogolyubov said: "But I consider that our air force has carried out day and night bombing of the German positions, and the pilots have long been tired. They have to be exhausted, and I’m afraid it’s not appropriate for them to go on a mission at this moment.”
"There is nothing inappropriate." Rokossovsky waved his hand and said: "Our air force should be on standby at any time. As soon as it receives a battle alert, it can immediately enter the battle. You can give it to General Vershining now. Make a phone call and ask him to dispatch a bomber group to carry out fierce bombing on the German artillery positions located on the second line of defense. They must be completely destroyed to ensure that our commanders and fighters can gain a firm foothold at the landing site on the west bank."
"Okay, Comrade Commander. I'll call the Air Force right now." After Bogolyubov said this, he said to Batov on the other end of the phone: "General Batov, you heard it, Marshal. Comrade has given me an order to contact General Vershining immediately and ask him to send a bomber group to bomb the German artillery positions."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, thank you for your kindness." Bartov said: "As long as the air force can destroy the German artillery positions, then my troops can successfully complete the landing operation."
Sokov learned everything about what happened here in Batov through the observation post. He immediately asked Sidorin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, how is the situation of our landing troops? Have they been discovered by the Germans?"
"No, Comrade Commander." Sidorin replied: "Because the smoke released by our artillery blocked the German army's view, they did not detect the river crossing operation carried out by our group army at all."
"Well, good job." Sokov nodded and said approvingly: "Let the soldiers be quiet and don't make too much noise. Especially when you board the West Bank, don't shout anything. If you are attacked, If the Germans find out, the enemy will definitely block us under artillery fire, which will probably cause us a lot of casualties."
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander, we all understand what you are saying." Sidorin said: "Until we establish a foothold on the West Bank, our commanders and fighters will maintain absolute silence to avoid being discovered by the Germans."
In this way, the 120th Guards Division of the 48th Group Army quietly landed on the west bank, and took advantage of the favorable opportunity while the shelling continued to quickly move towards the German positions. At this moment, the German officers and soldiers were huddled in shelters and anti-aircraft holes to avoid the bombardment, and they did not even notice that a huge force was coming towards their position.
In the battle to occupy the German positions, the commanders and fighters of the Guards showed clearly. As long as they reached the door of the German bunker, they would throw a grenade directly in. After a loud "boom", the soldiers would rush in to refill the gun. The anti-blast hole is treated in the same way.
Poor German officers and soldiers, when they found out that the Soviet army was bombing and shelling them, their first reaction was to hide in dug shelters or air-raid shelters. They never thought that the Soviet army was so ungrateful, even though the shelling had not yet begun. In the end, you actually started stealing the tower. As a result, most of the German officers and soldiers were killed by grenades thrown in from outside or shot to death before they could figure out what was going on.
When the artillery bombardment by the front army ended, the commanders and fighters of the 120th Guards Division had successfully occupied several German trenches. They had established a firm foothold on the west bank and established a landing site three kilometers wide and five hundred meters deep. Although the area was It's a bit small, but as a starting point for the troops' attack, it's still very good overall.
Major General Nikitin, who landed on the west bank with the troops, turned to the operator behind him and said as he landed on the west bank: "Operator, report to the headquarters that the 120th Guards Division has cleared the riverside positions of the enemy. The enemy has occupied a more favorable offensive starting position."
Sokov, who was directing the battle in the headquarters, suddenly heard the radio operator next to him report: "Comrade Commander, General Nikitin has the honor to report to you that his 120th Guards Division has successfully landed on the west bank. And according to your arrangement, we quietly sneaked into the German position, cleared some of the enemies, and established a landing site three kilometers wide and five hundred meters deep."
"Comrade Commander, this General Nikitin has done a good job." After listening to the operator's report, Sidorin said with joy on his face: "If this trend continues, we may be able to arrive before dark. The location of the German headquarters.”
"Comrade Chief of Staff, don't underestimate the enemy." Sokov reminded Sidorin: "The reason why the 120th Guards Division was able to establish a landing site so easily was mainly because the artillery cooperated well. The smoke grenades they fired successfully The ground blocked the view of the German observation posts, preventing them from discovering that our troops were crossing the river. By the way, what is the situation of the 109th Infantry Division? When can they start crossing the river?"
"I'm afraid we have to wait a little longer," Sidorin said with a wry smile: "Currently the ships are still on the west coast, and it will take a long time to return."
"Now that our army has established a firm foothold on the west bank, we can start building the pontoon bridge."
"Okay, Comrade Commander." Sidorin nodded and said, "I immediately contacted the director of the engineering corps and asked him to direct the engineers to start building the bridge."
"Let them hurry up." Sokov said to Sidorin: "In order to consolidate our results, we need to transport more soldiers and technical equipment in the shortest possible time to meet possible German counterattacks."
While Sidorin was on the phone to the director of the engineering corps, Sokov picked up the phone and called the front army headquarters, intending to tell Rokossovsky the good news.
After the call was connected, a strange voice came from inside and asked coldly: "This is the front army headquarters. Where are you?"
"I am Sokov, commander of the 48th Group Army. I have something urgent to call Comrade Marshal."
When the other party heard that the caller was Sokov, he immediately changed his tone: "It turns out to be General Sokov. Please wait a moment. I will immediately ask Comrade Marshal to answer the phone."
After a short wait, Sokov heard Rokossovsky's voice coming from the receiver: "Misha, this is Rokossovsky, what can I do?"
"Comrade Marshal," Sokov said proudly, "I am honored to report to you that my troops have successfully landed on the west bank. After clearing the enemy, they established a landing site three kilometers wide and five hundred meters deep. .”
"What, what did you say?" Rokossovsky couldn't believe his ears. A few minutes ago, Bartov called him again, saying that the landing troops suffered five casualties under enemy fire. One percent, I'm afraid it will take a period of rest before we can continue to attack. But now Sokov, who he was not optimistic about at all, actually called him directly and told him that a landing site had been established on the West Bank, which made him feel unbelievable: "You have really established a landing site?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal." After giving the other party a positive answer, Sokov continued: "Today's landing site is a bit too small. If too many troops are concentrated, once they are bombarded by the German army, I am afraid it will cause a lot of damage. Therefore, I am arranging for the engineering troops to set up pontoon bridges and prepare to transport tanks and artillery to the other side first to assist our infantry in expanding the results of the battle."
"Wait a minute, Misha." Before Sokov could finish speaking, Rokossovsky interrupted him: "You haven't told me how you got to the west bank. Are you crossing the river? Wasn't it intercepted by the German army?"
"No, Comrade Marshal. My troops were not intercepted by the Germans when they crossed the river." Seeing that Rokossovsky was eager to know the truth about the landing, Sokov raised General Potapov and fired smoke towards the other side. The bombs used thick smoke to block the view of the German observation posts, preventing them from detecting the troops' crossing the river, and thus successfully boarded the west bank of the Oder River with zero casualties. Finally, he said: "In order to prevent the target from being exposed, before the troops set off, I repeatedly told them not to make too much noise when crossing the river, so as not to be discovered by the enemy on the other side and cause unnecessary casualties. Facts have proved that my instructions It was effective. Because the front artillery shelling continued at that time, the German observation posts on the west bank became blind and deaf and did not notice our actions at all, so our landing operation did not receive any obstruction."
