Chapter 2016: take Minsk lightly

  Chapter 2016 Takes Minsk lightly

  During the six-day battle, the Belarusian First Front captured and destroyed 366 enemy tanks and self-propelled artillery, 2,664 artillery pieces of various calibers, wiped out more than 50,000 German troops, and captured more than 20,000 prisoners. Of the 100,000 German troops originally entrenched in this area, less than 30,000 escaped.

On the second day after the liberation of Bobruisk, Rokossovsky received a new order from the headquarters: to attack Minsk with part of the force, and to attack Slutsk and Baranovich with the main force of the front army, and to Cut off the enemy's retreat to the southwest, and cooperate with the troops of the Belarusian Third Front to complete the encirclement of the German heavy group in Minsk as soon as possible.

   After receiving the order, Rokossovsky quickly adjusted the deployment and rearranged tasks for each unit.

   On July 2, General Panov's 1st Guards Tank Corps carried out a violent assault in the center, broke through the defense line of the German 12th Division, and together with the 82nd Division captured the Pukhovich area.

  General Pliyev's cavalry mechanized group quickly rushed to Slutsk. In the early hours of July 2, the Guards cavalry captured Stolbzy, Gorocha and Nesvizh, cutting off the enemy Minsk Group's access to Baranovich, Brest, Luniets traffic line.

  The troops of the 85th Infantry Army of the 3rd Army went forward to the Pogost and Chervin areas, where they joined forces with the troops of the 2nd Belarusian Front.

  General Baharov's tank army, which detoured Minsk from the south, captured the railway junction near Ljubiaqia on July 2 and continued to advance north along the Slutsk-Minsk highway. On the same day, the tank units of the Belarusian Third Front captured Smolevichi and advanced towards Minsk from the northeast, thus completing the encirclement of the enemy's 4th Army east of the Belarusian capital.

  The enemy retreated hastily along the country lanes and the Mogilev-Minsk road. But the bridges and ferries had been blown up by the guerrillas, and the chaotic German army, crowded in a narrow area, was bombed continuously by the Soviet Air Force, causing heavy casualties.

Seeing that his elite troops seemed so vulnerable under the strong attack of the Soviet army, Marshal Busch of the German army was in the headquarters of the Army Group in Minsk, and asked his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Krebs : "What the **** is going on? Why can't our best officers and soldiers stop the Russian attack?"

   Facing the question raised by Marshal Busch, Krebs also fell into deep thought. He was wondering how could the 100,000 troops be wiped out so quickly? How could the Russians have defeated the heroic, tenacious and experienced German troops on the battlefield? And in just a few days, they caused the entire army group to fall into a disaster?

  He was thinking in his heart that the disparity in power balance did not mean that this disaster was inevitable. You must know that on the Eastern Front, the German army has created a record of defeating the strong with the weak more than once. For example, at the beginning of last year on the left bank of the Dnieper River, Marshal Manstein defeated the two Russian front armies when he was at a disadvantage in terms of strength and equipment.

  Of course, there are some unfavorable factors in the troops of the army group. For example, before the Russians launched the attack, some changes occurred in the senior command troops of the troops. During the first week of June, General Tippelskich replaced Kruger, commander of Fourth Army, and his former command of the Twelfth Army passed to Lieutenant General Müller.

  In addition, after General Wieser and General Weidling were dismissed from their posts, the command authority of the 35th Army and the 41st Armored Army under their command also changed, and the division commanders of the subordinate divisions also adjusted to a certain extent. Such a change will have some adverse effects on the morale and morale of the troops.

  The worst thing is that the main defense area of ​​​​the army group, including Orsha and Mogilev, was handed over to a new commander like Tippelski who had never commanded an army group. After the battle started, the shortcomings of his lack of ability were undoubtedly revealed.

"Your Excellency, Marshal," Krebs put forward his suggestion to Marshal Busch after thinking about it for a long time: "Because the offensive campaign launched by the Russians this time, no matter in terms of scale or direction of attack, it has greatly exceeded the Our army's anticipation caused us to lose our complete direction in a short time. Facing the front where breakthroughs have occurred everywhere, we need to take the necessary retreat to ensure that the defense line can be stabilized quickly."

   "Chief of Staff, what you said is very reasonable." Regarding Krebs's proposal, Marshal Busch agreed: "I will immediately call the high command and report the bad situation here to the head of state."

   But Marshal Busch never dreamed that when he called Mustache, not only would he be scolded, but in the end he would be dismissed as the commander of the army group by the other party.

In all fairness, Field Marshal Busch is a good field commander. Although he is not a strategic genius like Manstein, he once commanded an army group on the northern front for several years and caused a lot of trouble for the Soviet army. . However, as a commander who was most loyal to the head of state, he became a scapegoat for the defeat of the war and was relieved of his post, which made him very angry.

Seeing Marshal Busch leaving the Army Group Headquarters in disgrace, Krebs personally sent him outside, held the old Marshal's hand and said, "Your Excellency, Marshal, please take care of yourself. I want to wait for the day when the Fuhrer will be angry If it’s gone, maybe you will be assigned a more important position.”

   Regarding Krebs' safety, Marshal Busch just smiled miserably, then let go of Krebs' hand, turned around and got on the barrel cart parked aside, and quietly left this sad place.

  The one who took over the position of Marshal Busch was Marshal Model, known as the "Master of Defense". The reason why Mustache appointed him as the commander of the Army Group was because he thought that he had turned the tide in the Rzhev, Olyor and Leningrad areas. Don't look at the current situation in Belarus is not good, but if Model goes out, there is still a chance of a comeback.

  After Model arrived at the headquarters, he immediately issued an order to Krebs: "Chief of Staff, record my order."

  "The 5th Armored Division was transferred to the north of Minsk to cover the huge gap in the front there;"

   "The 4th and 12th Armored Divisions, sent to the Stolbzy area south of Minsk, in order to keep the Berezina River crossing open for the 4th Army;"

   "The 2nd Army advances in the direction of the 9th Army with its assault artillery brigade and cavalry units, and at the same time re-establishes contact with the 4th Army."

  Although the order given by Model was very appropriate, it seemed futile in the face of the tide of Soviet troops.

  Sokov's 48th Army received the task of liberating Minsk, the capital of Belarus, after liberating Bobruisk.

  When Sokov finished talking with Rokossovsky and put down the microphone, he told everyone Rokossovsky's order, which immediately aroused cheers. You know, liberating the capital of a country is a remarkable feat.

   "Comrade Commander," Sidolin asked first, "How are you going to fight this battle?"

"In the past, when attacking a city, it was necessary to clear the surrounding enemies before launching an attack on the city." Sokov stared at the map and said, "This time I plan to change the style of play, instead of waiting until the surrounding area is cleared, Then go to attack the city. In addition to leaving one or two troops to monitor the nearby enemies, use the main force of the group army to directly launch a general attack on Minsk."

"Comrade Commander," Ponegerin couldn't help but feel a little worried about the simple and crude plan proposed by Sokov: "If we encounter stubborn resistance from the enemy when we attack Minsk and are unable to take the city for a long time, at the same time , the surrounding enemies are coming from all directions, how should we deal with it?"

"Comrade Deputy Commander, you don't have to worry about this." Sokov said confidently: "Don't see that there are still many German troops around Minsk, but our friendly troops will restrain them so that they cannot draw strength. Go to reinforce the defenders in Minsk. After all, in this battle, our army has an absolute advantage in terms of strength and equipment."

"Comrade Commander, you can't say that. Even if we have superior military strength and equipment, it may not be so easy to win." Ponejielin worried that Sokov underestimated the enemy, and specifically reminded him: "You Don't forget, the third battle of Kharkov at the beginning of last year, you know, at that time our army dispatched the elite Southwest Front Army and Voronezh Front Army, with far more troops and equipment than the enemy. But in the end of the battle, we were still defeated To Manstein."

Hearing Ponegerin mention the third Battle of Kharkov, Sokov was a little dumbfounded. Yes, in this battle, the Soviet army, which had superior strength and equipment, was indeed defeated by the German army, but the reason was that In many ways. Logistical supplies are one aspect, but General Vatutin, the commander of the Southwest Front at that time, made frequent mistakes in command due to his limited ability. What was supposed to be a surefire battle ended in failure.

"Comrade Deputy Commander, don't worry." Sokov raised his voice and said, "After three years of war, our commanders and soldiers have matured and learned how to fight. I believe the third Hal The tragedy that happened at the Battle of Corf will never happen here again."

  Seeing that Sokov was so confident, Sidolin took the opportunity to ask: "Comrade Commander, are you going to let those two troops monitor the enemy near Minsk?"

   "The 109th and 118th Infantry Brigades are responsible for monitoring the enemy, and the 122nd Brigade is used as an army reserve." Sokov began to assign combat tasks: "The rest of the troops are advancing towards Minsk."

  Sidolin, who was recording the order, saw Sokov say this, he picked up the teacup on the table and began to drink water, and asked in surprise, "What else?"

   "I'm done talking."

"Ah, have you finished?" Sidolin said in surprise: "Comrade Commander, troops from six divisions swarmed into Minsk. If you don't arrange who will attack and who will assist, let them rush up like this. Isn't it messed up?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, our divisions are now scattered. If we gather them together and set off to attack Minsk, it will definitely delay a lot of time." Sokov said to Sidolin: "One day The big credit is right in front of them, and whoever moves quickly will have the opportunity to get this credit. Several division commanders have rich command experience. Even if we don't deploy specific attack directions for them, they still know what to do. How to take the city."

Don't look at what Sokov said, but whether it is Sidolin or Ponegerin, both of them have doubts about his statement, but since Sokov has issued an order, the two also It's hard to refute, so he can only inform the participating troops to rush to Minsk as soon as possible to participate in the siege battle according to his intention.

  When Sidolin conveyed Sokov's order to the divisions, the troops immediately exploded: What, attack Minsk? And this time, it has not been arranged who will be the main attacker and who will be the main attacker. In other words, anyone's troops can be the main attacker. As long as they are the first to rush into Minsk, it will be a glorious record in history.

   Originally, the division commanders wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of liberating Bobruisk to let their troops take time to rest, and if possible, ask their superiors to add some troops to themselves. But now seeing the tempting record in front of them, any rest, any supplements, are all forgotten by them.

Major General Tolstikov summoned several regiment leaders under him and said to them: "Comrades, we are the 1st Guards Division. Do you know what this means? It means that our division is the world's most important division. First Division, I don't need to fight for other achievements, but we can't let go of such a great victory as the liberation of Minsk. You immediately return to your respective units, cancel the original rest plan, and rush to the city as quickly as possible. In the direction of Minsk, we must be the first troops to break through the enemy's line of defense and rush into the city."

  After the several regiment leaders agreed loudly, they turned around and left the division headquarters, and went back to their respective regiments to assign tasks.

  In less than an hour, the 1st Guards Division set off from several places at the same time, marching at a rapid pace, and headed towards Minsk.

  The 1st Guards Division is mobilizing for combat, and Onuprienko's 6th Guards Division is also mobilizing in the same way. Although the division did not participate in the battle in the final stage of the liberation of Bobruisk, the troops were relatively concentrated, but their distance from Minsk was much farther than that of the 1st Guards Division.

  But Onuprienko learned that Tolstikov's 1st Guards Division had already set off, and immediately terminated the ongoing mobilization, and ordered the troops to set off urgently to catch up with the 1st Guards Division who set off first.

  Three hours later, the German army standing on the outskirts of Minsk was attacked.

When the battle started, the German army discovered a strange imagination. The attacking Russians seemed to go crazy. There was no cover from artillery fire, or even machine gun fire. A few people dared to charge towards their positions with their guns. It's just to die.

As soon as these people were knocked down with machine guns, more lunatics rushed up. Although they held guns in their hands, no one shot while running. German soldiers.

As the saying goes, those who are horrified are afraid of being stunned, and those who are stupefied are afraid of dying. The German army's morale has been weakened and morale is low due to the recent successive defeats. After coming down to continue fighting, they all turned around and ran into the city.

  The German army fled all the way, the Soviet army chased all the way, and soon rushed into the city of Minsk, and the battle was logically transferred from outside the city to inside the city.

  When gunshots and explosions sounded one after another in the city, a red flag was raised on the top of the Belarusian government building. According to the tradition of the Soviet army, the raising of this flag means that the troops have occupied the city.

  (end of this chapter)