Chapter 2015: broken city

  Chapter 2015 Broken City

"Of course." Sokov remembered that when Berlin was conquered, Chuikov's troops creatively invented the direct-fire rocket skill to attack buildings occupied by the German army. At this moment, he just said this skill in advance: "Order artillery Use sleepers to pad the rear wheels of the rocket launcher, and the rockets fired can form a flat shooting effect, which can easily destroy the buildings occupied by the enemy."

  After recording what Sokov said, Sidolin said with emotion: "Comrade Commander, your method is really good. If you didn't tell me, I really wouldn't have thought that the rocket launcher can fire flat."

   "Comrade Commander," Koshkin came in from the outside and reported to Sokov, "a colonel wants to see you."

"Colonel?" Sokov couldn't help being stunned after hearing this, "There is no sea here, how can there be a colonel?" In order to find out what was going on, he ordered Koshkin, "Comrade colonel, please come in. "

   "Okay!" Koshkin agreed, turned around and walked out of the headquarters.

   A few minutes later, a captain of the navy followed Koshkin into the headquarters. He came up to Sokov, raised his hand and saluted and said: "Hello, Comrade General. Let me introduce myself. I am Colonel Grigoriev of the Dnieper District Fleet, Von Rokossovsky General, come to assist your troops in crossing the Berezina River."

"Assist our army in crossing the river?" Sokov wanted to tell the other party that his troops had hovercraft, and the speed of crossing the river was faster and more convenient than their ships, but then he thought, since the other party was arranged by Rokossovsky to assist My own, if I refuse, I am afraid that it will cause Rokossovsky's displeasure, so he asked: "Comrade Colonel, how many ships can you provide to transport our soldiers?"

"Whether it is a combat ship or a transport ship, it can be used to carry troops." Grigoryev said: "This time I brought 25 ships, which can transport a thousand people to the opposite shore at a time." Before landing, we can also destroy the shore firepower of the German army with naval guns to ensure that the troops carried can land smoothly."

"Comrade Colonel," Sokov said, "It happens that my 1st Guards Division is about to cross the Berezina River east of Bobruysk. I wonder if your troops can help them cross the river? "

   "No problem." Grigoryev replied straightforwardly: "My first brigade is on standby in the waters near Bobruisk, ready to provide support for your troops at any time."

   Sokov arranged for a staff officer to take Grigoriev to the 1st Guards Division to study cooperation with the division commander Tolstikov.

  After Grigoryev left, Sidolin asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, since we have hovercraft, why do we need the sailors of the District Fleet to help us transport our troops across the river?"

"Yes, we do have hovercraft." Sokov replied: "If the 1st Guards Division uses the hovercraft unit when crossing the river, it can indeed cross the river quickly and even advance to the vicinity of Bobruysk. But by As a result, the transportation time of heavy weapons such as tanks and artillery has to be delayed."

"Using the power of the Dnieper River Fleet, although the ships cannot send our commanders and fighters directly outside the city, they can continuously transport troops for us. The hovercraft squadron can concentrate on transporting the technical equipment needed by the troops .”

"So that's how it is." After listening to Sukov's explanation, Sidolin nodded and said, "Comrade Commander, you should be considerate. The fleet will help us transport our troops, and the hovercraft will help us transport our technical equipment. The speed of the 1st Guards Division crossing the river can be greatly improved."

  Two hours later, the First Battalion under the command of Colonel Grigoriyev launched a heavy shelling attack on the German defensive positions on the right bank. After destroying most of the firepower points along the coast, the ship approached the shore again, using machine guns to suppress the surviving German troops, while the transport fleet was busy transporting the commanders and fighters of the 1st Guards Division from the left bank to the right bank area.

After learning that the 1st Guards Division had successfully crossed the river and was attacking the outlying positions on the eastern outskirts of Bobruisk, Sokov nodded, and then asked Sidolin: "Chief of Staff, where is the 3rd Infantry Division? gone?"

   "They are currently in the southeastern suburbs of the city, waiting for our next order."

   "Very well, then order the 6th Guards Division to stop attacking temporarily, and let the 3rd Infantry Division carry out the attack."

  After this order was issued, Onu Priyanko, the commander of the 6th Guards Division, called and hurriedly asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, our division is fighting well, why did you ask us to stop?"

   "This is the meaning of the commander. He thinks that you have been fighting for long enough, so he asked you to stop and take a rest."

   "But the morale of our division is high. If the attack is really stopped, I am worried that the explosives manufacturers will be emotional, which will affect the morale and morale of the army."

"General Onuprienko," Sokov took the microphone and said in his ear, "I think you are the one who is emotional, right? Obey the order and immediately stop the troops from attacking. The commanders and fighters of the 3rd Infantry Division Come to take over your attack."

   "Comrade Commander, I refuse to accept."

   "Is there any objection?"

"When you sent troops to attack the 35th Army of the German Army, it was originally the task you assigned to our division." Onuprienko said aggrievedly: "Just when the commanders and fighters were full of joy, an infantry 1st Army appeared out of nowhere. The 109th division took away all our credit at once."

"It was hard to get a mission to attack Bobruisk. As a result, the German army raised the white flag and asked to negotiate with us. After the tank negotiations were over and our division was able to fight a tough battle, You told us to stop attacking again. Don’t say that the commanders and fighters can’t figure it out, I’m also upset.”

After listening to Onu Priyenko's complaints, Sokov said with a smile: "General Onu Priyenko, this offensive has just begun, and you will have many opportunities to fight in the future. Besides, the 3rd infantry The division's attack has not yet begun, and if they are frustrated in the attack, maybe I will send you to support it."

Sokov's words made Onuprienko happy again. He knows how the German defense is. If it is true that what Sokov said, let the 3rd Infantry Division replace the attack of the first section of the attack, When they were unable to go deeper into the enemy's defense, the 6th Guards Division started a new round of attack.

   After the 3rd Infantry Division took over from the 6th Guards Division's attack, the offensive was extremely fierce. The Germans who thought that the 6th Guards Division temporarily stopped attacking would be able to take a good breath.

  In the evening, a regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division successfully broke through the outer positions of the German army and rushed into the city smoothly.

When he learned that the 3rd Infantry Division had broken the city and was attacking the city, Sokov hurriedly said to Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, according to the information we have, there were originally more than 10,000 defenders in the city. But after the battle started, many troops outside the city that were defeated by our army retreated into the city one after another, so the number of German troops in the city increased. After the 3rd Infantry Division entered the city, don't rush into it , so as not to fall into the trap of the Germans."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Sidolin said confidently: "I will remind them to fight steadily." After a pause, he asked tentatively, "Comrade Commander, the main force of our army has basically arrived The outskirts of Bobruysk, when do you think they will be put into battle?"

  The 3rd Infantry Division rushed into the city. If other troops are allowed to enter the city through the opened gap, the results of the battle can be rapidly expanded. However, Sokov did not issue an order immediately, but told Sidolin: "It will be dark soon, I think they should wait a little longer. It is best to wait until dawn tomorrow, before entering the city too late. "

"That's right, Comrade Commander is right." Ponegerin echoed: "Our troops may suffer a great loss if they enter an unfamiliar city at night because they are not familiar with the terrain. So the best thing to do is to wait until tomorrow When it is dawn, let more troops go into battle so that they will not suffer because they cannot see the road clearly in the dark."

As dusk fell, the main force arrived at the 48th Army Group outside the city. Except for the 1st Guards Division attacking in the eastern suburbs and the 3rd Infantry Division occupying the area in the southeast, the rest of the troops were on standby. state.

   However, the defenders in the city were frightened by the 48th Army that was approaching the city. The commander of the garrison, General Harman, and the commander of the 41st Tank Corps, General Goffmeister, were scared out of their wits.

Goffmeister asked Haman frightened: "General Haman, Sokov's vanguard has rushed into the city, but his main force is outside the city and may enter the city at any time. I wonder what you plan to do next? "

"I once sent someone to negotiate with him." General Haman gritted his molars and said, "The condition I put forward was that as long as he is willing to let us leave, I can hand over the city to him. But he did not hesitate. Refused."

  Although Goffermeister knew that Harman sent people outside the city to negotiate with Sokov, the negotiations broke down because the conditions were not negotiated. But the reason for the rupture, he was vague. At this moment Haman mentioned the negotiation, he took the opportunity to ask: "General Haman, why didn't he agree to your terms?"

Haman said with a wry smile: "He said that our negotiations are not sincere. If we are allowed to leave, there may be a war in a new area someday. Therefore, the condition he proposed is to let all our troops lay down their weapons and surrender to them. Think about it, can I agree to such a condition?"

   "No, of course we can't agree." Goffmeister shook his head and said, "We still have 20,000 to 30,000 troops in the Bobruisk area. How can we easily say surrender?"

"Now that Sokov's vanguard has entered the city, presumably it won't be too long before his main force enters the city." Harman said: "For the present plan, we must find a way to break through as soon as possible, so as not to suffer the fate of annihilation." .”

   "Which direction should we break out from?"

   "After careful observation, I found that the Russian defense force in the northwest of the city is the weakest." Goffmeister said: "We can break out from there."

  Haman thought about it, judging from the current situation, the northwest direction is the weakest part of the entire encirclement, and once he successfully breaks out from there, he only needs to advance more than ten kilometers to join forces with friendly forces. Therefore, he decisively agreed to Goffermeister's proposal: "Okay, General Goffermeister, according to your opinion, break out from the northwest direction of the city."

  After the two reached an agreement, Goffmeister returned to his headquarters and began to deploy the breakout. He first quietly transferred the main force of the 41st Tank Army from other areas to the northwest, and then used artillery and mortars to bombard the Soviet defensive positions fiercely.

   The unit standing in this area was the 356th Division of the 105th Infantry Army. The commanders and fighters did not expect that the German army would suddenly bombard the position in the dark, and they were caught off guard.

  As soon as the shelling ended, the German army dispatched tanks, followed by a dense line of skirmishers, braving the hail of bullets from the Soviet army, rushing forward regardless of casualties.

  Due to the high casualties of the Soviet army in the shelling, they failed to stop the German charge. In less than a quarter of an hour, a large number of German officers and soldiers rushed into the trenches of the 356th Division. The two sides fought hand-to-hand and hand-to-hand combat in the dark.

   During the hour-long battle, the commanders and fighters of the 356th Division, regardless of their sacrifices, fought the enemy repeatedly, and finally withstood the onslaught of the German army. However, after paying the price of huge losses, the German army still controlled part of the defensive positions of the 356th Division.

  At 8 o'clock in the morning, the commander of the 105th Army sent the 354th Infantry Division to attack the train station controlled by the enemy in order to smash the German army's attempt to break out. And after a fierce battle, successfully occupied the train station.

  The German army saw the main force of the 105th Army pressing towards them. In order to get rid of the fate of being annihilated, the German army once again tried to break through to the northwest. They concentrated all their artillery, bombarded the 356th Division's position again, and launched an attack under the cover of tanks.

  Although the commanders and fighters of the 356th Division resisted tenaciously, the beleaguered German army still broke through the division's defensive area. General Goffmeister, commander of the 41st Tank Corps, commanded more than 5,000 soldiers to rush towards the breakthrough like a tide.

  The 48th Army's offensive in the east and southeast of the city at this moment is extremely smooth. This is because Harman and Goffmeister transferred their main forces to the northwest of the city in order to successfully break through, which made the defense forces in other areas weak.

  Sokov originally wanted to try to advance slowly, trying to occupy one place and consolidate one place. After discovering that the German army in his attack area was weak, he decisively issued an order to Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately give the 6th Guards Division, the 211th and 284th Infantry Divisions, and the 109th, 118th and The 122nd Brigade has all been put into battle. Be sure to occupy the entire city in the shortest possible time."

The enemy, who had been struggling to support, was suddenly attacked by tens of thousands of fresh troops. Where they could hold on, they were suddenly defeated and frantically fled towards the city center or northwest. They knew that they would continue to fight , I can't escape the fate of being annihilated, but if I flee to the northwest, there is still a glimmer of life.

  But before they could escape to the northwest of the city, they would be cut off by the outflanking 48th Army to their retreat. Except for a few soldiers who retreated into nearby buildings to resist, the rest obediently put down their weapons and surrendered to Sokov's troops.

  (end of this chapter)