Chapter 2038: Strong Fortress (Medium)

  Chapter 2038 Strong Fortress (2)

Ponegerin returned to the new headquarters with two brigade commanders, and blushed to admit his mistake to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, you are right, our current strength cannot take the Brest Fortress at all. .”

  Although Sokov had long expected that this attack would not be successful, he was still surprised that Ponejielin and others retreated so quickly: "Comrade Deputy Commander, what are the casualties of the troops?"

   "The two brigades each suffered one-third of the casualties." Pornejelin said with a wry smile: "As a result, they didn't even touch the shore on the other side."

   "What, you didn't even touch the shore on the other side, and one-third of the troops suffered casualties?" Sidolin said in shock, "How did you fight this battle?"

  The commander of the 118th brigade said: "After the shelling, we ordered the soldiers to put the rubber boats into the river, and prepared to use the method of forced crossing to board the opposite bank."

   "Using a rubber boat to force the crossing?!" Sidolin's eyes widened in surprise: "I remember that there is a bridge leading to the fortress. Don't you know that you use tanks to rush ahead, and infantry follow closely behind?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I think the deputy commander's method of crossing the river in a rubber boat is correct." Unexpectedly, as soon as Sidolin finished speaking, Sokov said to Ponejielin from the side: "I think the Germans must be on the way." Anti-tank weapons are deployed in the fortress on the opposite side of the bridge. As long as the leading tank is destroyed on the bridge, the road behind will be blocked, and the following tanks and infantry will become targets for the Germans."

  After saying this, he asked Bornegelin: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I heard from the Director of Artillery that they dropped tens of thousands of shells on the fortress. Haven't they blasted a gap in the city wall?"

Pornegerin shook his head first, and then said bitterly: "Our artillery caliber is too small, although tens of thousands of shells were consumed, it only blasted the city wall riddled with holes, but still failed to blow up the gap. The most terrible thing is that many fortifications along the river did not destroy the artillery fire, so that when our crossing operation just started, the enemy's machine gun fire caused us huge casualties."

  Sidorin realized the seriousness of the problem after hearing what Bornejelin said. He looked at Sokov and asked, "Comrade Commander, what should we do? Should we reorganize the troops to attack, or stop temporarily?"

"Let the troops stop temporarily." Sokov sighed softly and said, "If the enemy's fortifications along the river cannot be destroyed, and the city wall cannot be blown open, no matter how many troops we send to attack, it will be nothing Increased casualties."

   "Comrade Commander, if we stop the offensive." Sidolin reminded Sokov kindly: "If the Front Army Command pursues it, what should we do?"

Sokov knew that Sidolin was telling the truth. If he ordered the troops to stop the attack on the Brest Fortress without authorization, Rokossovsky would definitely call to ask the troops to inquire. Instead of being passive at that time, it is better to fight first. Give him a call and explain the difficulties you are facing to him clearly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you don't have to worry about this matter. I will call Comrade General personally and explain everything here to him."

A few minutes later, Sokov answered the call from the headquarters. After realizing that the person who answered the phone was Ma Linin, he politely asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I have something important to report to Comrade General. Can you please Does he answer the phone?"

   "Comrade Commander is not here, if you have anything to say, it's the same for me."

   Knowing that Rokossovsky was not in the headquarters, Sokov became a little hesitant: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, when will he be back?"

   "It's hard to say. Maybe it will take another ten minutes, maybe a few more hours." Ma Linin said with a smile on the phone: "General Sukov, if you have anything to do, you can tell me the same."

  Sokov hesitated for a moment, and reported to Malinin about the failure of the troops to attack the Brest Fortress. Finally, he said: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, the failure of the attack is all my responsibility, and I am willing to accept all punishments from my superiors."

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Ma Linin said with a smile: "So this is the matter. General Sukov, you don't need to have any psychological burden. Comrade Commander has already considered that to seize such a fortified fortress, with you The current strength is definitely not enough, so I asked my superiors for help, hoping to help you."

   "Ask for help from the superior?" Sokov asked with some surprise: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I wonder what kind of equipment the superior can give us?"

"What kind of equipment is there? Of course it is a magical weapon for attacking the fortress." Ma Linin said on the phone: "Comrade Commander received a call from Marshal Zhukov an hour ago, saying that Moscow's Weapons and Equipment Department provided it to you. The super heavy artillery has arrived. This kind of heavy artillery is equipped with special condensation bombs, which are perfect for dealing with fortresses with strong fortifications. After answering the call, he personally took people to see the super heavy artillery sent by his superiors."

  Sokov heard what Malinin said, and suddenly felt his eyes light up, and then asked tentatively: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, what kind of super heavy artillery is it?"

   "I don't know." Unexpectedly, Ma Linin replied quite simply, "Marshal Zhukov only said that it was a super heavy artillery. As for what kind of heavy artillery it was, he didn't say it, and I didn't see it either. Naturally, I don't know what it is."

Although he didn't know what kind of super heavy artillery his superiors were going to provide him, Sokov felt more at ease. With the help of super heavy artillery, the city wall blocking the front of the Soviet commanders and fighters would become like paper Generally ridiculous, maybe a few shots can blow up the gap, and the troops who have successfully crossed the river will be able to rush into the fortress through the gap.

After putting down the phone, Sokov excitedly said to everyone: "Comrades, I have some good news for you. In order to ensure that our department can successfully conquer the Brest Fortress, the superior will soon send us a batch of super heavy artillery, as well as supporting equipment. The broken condensation bombs are used to deal with the strong fortifications of the fortress."

"Great, this is really great." Hearing the news, none was more excited than Sidolin. He said excitedly: "As long as these heavy artillery can break a few gaps in the city wall, our troops can quickly attack the city wall." rushed into the fort."

  But Ponejielin thought of some details and asked Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I don't know what caliber the super heavy artillery that the superior is going to assist us is, and can it blast a gap in the solid city wall?"

"I don't know about this for the time being." Ma Linin didn't know what the super heavy artillery provided by his superiors was, and Sokov naturally didn't know, so he could only shake his head and said, "However, the Front Army Command will soon send These super heavy artillery are sent over, and when you see the real thing, you will know what it looks like."

   "Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov told Sidolin: "Call the Artillery Director and ask him to come over as soon as possible, ready to receive the super heavy artillery sent by the superior."

   "Comrade Commander, I was just about to tell you about this." Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Sidolin had a troubled expression on his face: "The artillery chief can't come."

   "Ah, can't you come?" Sokov was taken aback after hearing this, thinking that he would also be killed by a mine on the road, right? "What's the matter with him, why can't he come?"

  Sidorin said with a wry smile: "His deputy called and said that he had been sent to a military hospital because of an acute appendicitis attack. It is estimated that he will not be able to leave the hospital in half a month."

   "Damn, the Artillery Director can no longer perform his duties." Sokov thought that not long ago, the Director of the Armored Forces was killed by a mine, and he asked Colonel Malyshev to take over his position. Now that the director of artillery was hospitalized again because of acute appendicitis, he had to find someone to take his place. Thinking of this, he asked everyone, "Do you have a suitable candidate?"

  If it is an infantry commander, maybe Sidolin, Ponegerin and others can propose a lot of candidates, but for the post of artillery director, the two infantry backgrounds really can't think of suitable candidates.

   Seeing that the two of them had been silent for a long time, Sokov knew that they must not have a suitable candidate. In order not to leave this important position vacant, Sokov began to think about the group of students who came with him, and who among them could take over this position. But after thinking about everyone, he found sadly that there was really no one who could take over this position.

   "Hey, since none of you have any suitable candidates, this position will be temporarily vacant." Sokov said rather helplessly: "The work of artillery will be temporarily replaced by his deputy."

  Sokov had a headache for the new artillery chief candidate, but things turned around in the evening.

  A staff officer came in and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, an artillery unit came outside, saying that the superior equipped us with a super heavy artillery unit."

   "What, the super heavy artillery unit has arrived?" Sokov was overjoyed when he heard it, and quickly asked, "How many heavy artillery do you see, and what rank is the commander leading the team?"

   Before the staff officer could answer, a familiar voice came from the door: "Misha, I am the leader of the team."

  Sokov instinctively looked at the door, and after seeing the person coming, he opened his mouth in surprise: "Yasha, why is it you?"

   "Why can't it be me, Misha." Yakov walked quickly towards Sokov and opened his arms at the same time, "Come and hug me, my brother!"

  Sokov hurriedly stepped forward to give Yakov a warm hug, and then continued to ask: "Yasha, you haven't told me yet, why did you appear here?"

   "I sent you super heavy artillery."

"Are you sending the super heavy artillery here?" Sokov asked in surprise after hearing this: "Yasha, haven't you been transferred to the General Staff Headquarters? Why did you send us the super heavy artillery?" What about your head?"

"You're right, I was indeed transferred to the General Staff." Yakov explained to Sokov, "However, I received a call from Comrade Ustinov a few days ago, saying that the Artillery Command was going to send a To send a batch of super heavy artillery to Belarus, a trustworthy commander needs to be sent to lead the team, and then I was selected."

  Sokov figured out why Yakov appeared here, and continued to ask: "I don't know what kind of super heavy artillery?"

"There are two super heavy artillery battalions that came with me this time." Yakov said to Sokov: "One is the 203 heavy artillery battalion equipped with six 203mm howitzers; the other is equipped with three 280mm howitzers. 280 Heavy Artillery Battalion."

  When Sokov heard it, the numbers of the two heavy artillery battalions were quite easy to remember. They were named after the caliber of the artillery. As soon as I heard the designation, I knew the caliber of the artillery equipped by the battalion.

"My God." Hearing Yakov say this, Sidolin said with shock on his face: "The 280mm howitzer has such a terrifying large-caliber artillery. I believe that no matter how strong the walls of the Brest Fortress are, I'm afraid I can't withstand the bombardment of this kind of howitzer."

  Yakov nodded, and then introduced the two types of artillery to everyone: "...The 203mm howitzer has a barrel length of 37 times the caliber and a maximum range of 47.5 kilometers..."

"The 280mm howitzer is an improvement on the basis of the 1915 Schneider 280mm howitzer. It has a range of 10.65 kilometers. It fires sub-loaded ammunition with a weight of 246 kilograms and a muzzle velocity of 356 meters per second. 8 degrees, the combat weight is 18.4 tons, this gun can be dismantled into three parts for transportation, the artillery is pulled by a Voroshilov type tractor, it takes 2 hours to convert from marching to combat, and the rate of fire is one round every four minutes.”

Sokov is a layman on artillery, but after listening to Yakov's explanation, he still has a feeling of ignorance: "Yasha, with so many super heavy artillery, I believe that no matter how strong the fortifications of the Brest Fortress are, It will also be blown into rubble."

   "Misha." After Yakov introduced the parameters of the super heavy artillery, he glanced around the room, and then asked Sokov, "Where is your artillery director? I have some things to explain to him."

"I'm sorry, General Yakov." Without waiting for Sokov to speak, Sidolin said first: "Our artillery director has been sent to the hospital because of acute appendicitis in the morning. Now the work of the artillery is done by his deputy. I'm in charge. Otherwise, I'll call his deputy over, and if you have anything to do, tell him the same."

  Hearing that the artillery director was hospitalized, Yakov showed a helpless expression on his face: "Then it's okay to call his deputy over, and I will explain to him some precautions."

   "Wait a minute, Comrade Chief of Staff." When Sokov saw Sidolin pick up the phone and was about to contact the artillery chief's deputy, he stopped him in time: "Don't be busy making calls yet."

  Sidorin put down the phone somewhat unexpectedly, looked at Sokov and said, "Comrade Commander, are you not calling the deputy of the Artillery Chief?"

   "Yes, no need to fight."

   "If you don't make a call, how does the deputy of the artillery director know what to pay attention to when using these super heavy artillery?"

   "The position of chief of artillery, I think of who will take it."

"Who?"

  Sokov looked at Yakov and said: "Yasha, since you escorted these super heavy artillery, why don't you act as my artillery chief!"

   He was afraid that Yakov would refuse, so he pointed out the other party's previous identity: "If I remember correctly, you used to be an artillery lieutenant before. I feel more at ease that you will command the artillery of our army."

"Yes, yes, yes, Comrade Commander is right." Sidolin and Yakov spent the most time dealing with each other, and they talked casually with each other. After hearing Sokov's proposal, he said while the iron was hot: "Yakov General Husband, I think you are reluctant to temporarily act as the artillery director of our army group, and command these heavy artillery to bombard the solid defenses of the Brest Fortress."

Yakov didn't expect that he was just ordered to send the super heavy artillery, but Sokov drove the ducks to the shelves and asked him to act as the artillery director. He wanted to refuse, but seeing the sincerity of Sokov and Sidolin, he thought After waiting for a while, he resolutely agreed to the request: "Okay, Misha, then I will temporarily act as the artillery director for a while. After the Brest Fortress is liberated, you will find someone to replace me."

   "No problem." Sokov held out his hand to Yakov: "We've made a deal."

  (end of this chapter)