Chapter 2062: crossing rivers and establishing landing sites

  Chapter 2062 Crossing the river and establishing a landing field

   "Comrade Chief of Staff," Rokossovsky and Malinin were chatting far away in the Front Army Command in Lublin: "Do you remember August 1941?"

Hearing what Rokossovsky said, Ma Linin was taken aback for a moment, then recalled those years back then, nodded, and said: "Of course I remember, Comrade Marshal. I remember our 16th Army and Lukin's 1st The 20th Army fought bitterly in Smolensk for nearly a month, but due to the disparity in the strength and equipment of the enemy and ourselves, Marshal Timoshenko ordered us to withdraw from Smolensk."

"That's right." Rokossovsky nodded and said, "I still remember that some commanders asked me with red eyes: Comrade Commander, we just abandoned the city where countless commanders and fighters bleed and died, and handed it over to the city. For the Germans?

  Although my heart was extremely heavy at the time, I was unwilling to leave this city of heroes. But there was no way. At that time, our troops were limited, we lacked a sufficient number of tanks and artillery, and we did not have air cover. It may be possible to delay the enemy's advance, but it is impossible to block the enemy's onslaught. "

"I remember that we received the retreat order on August 1, which is exactly three years from today." Ma Lining said with emotion: "At the beginning, our army was defending, but today it is attacking. We now have a strong air force, Can provide air cover for our attacking force; have enough tanks and artillery to crush German resistance.

  At that time, I was thinking, I will write down this blood debt to the Germans, and when the time is right in the future, I will come to them to collect this blood debt. "

   "Today may be the day we pay back our blood debt." Rokossovsky looked at Ma Linin and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you think so?"

   "Comrade Marshal, our attack in the direction of Warsaw is not going well." Ma Linin reminded Rokossovsky: "Which direction do you plan to strengthen the attack?"

"Due to the blockade of our information by the Krajov army, we can't figure out what happened in Warsaw at all." Rokossovsky said to Malinen: "Even if we want to intensify our offensive, we can't control it for the time being." The main forces are used in this direction."

Just when Ma Lining looked down at the map and was about to find a suitable breakthrough, the phone on the table rang suddenly, and he grabbed the phone casually: "I am Chief of Staff Ma Li Ning, where are you? ... What, what did you say? ...I repeat...Okay, I understand, I will pass it on to Comrade Marshal."

   Rokossovsky saw that Ma Linin's expression suddenly became serious, and asked curiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what's wrong with you? How did I find that your expression suddenly became serious?"

"Comrade Marshal, something went wrong." Malinin said to Rokossovsky with a straight face: "I just received a report from the 2nd Tank Army that the commander of the army, General Bogdanov, was in the command room. Unfortunately, he was injured by a German artillery shell and cannot continue to command the battle for the time being, so he needs to be sent to the rear for treatment immediately."

Malinin's words made Rokossovsky understand that Bogdanov's injury was serious, and he quickly ordered Malinin to say, "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately arrange a plane to send Bogdanov to Moscow for treatment. "

  Malinin didn't dare to neglect, and quickly picked up the phone to arrange to send Bogdanov to the back for treatment. After finishing all this, he tentatively asked Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, who will command the Second Tank Army?"

  Rokossovsky thought for a while, and replied: "For the time being, General Bogdanov's deputy will take over his position. When we find a suitable candidate, it will not be too late to replace him."

   "Okay, Comrade Marshal, do as you say."

   After a while, Ma Linin asked cautiously: "Then shall we still attack Warsaw?"

"Yes, the attack on Warsaw still needs to continue, but we are not pushing directly to Warsaw, but cross the Vistula River from other areas, establish a landing field on the opposite bank, and use that as the starting point for the attack to launch an attack on Warsaw. attack."

   "Then what location do you plan to use as the area for crossing the river?" Ma Linin asked.

Rokossovsky pointed to the map and said to Malinin: "It is necessary to carry out forced crossings in the territory of the settlements of Tatarchisko, Skulcea, Damirov, and Domashev. The Litsa River, and the Radomka River to the south cover the flanks of the Army Group. Since the flanks are covered by these two rivers, our army can carry out the main assault through Magnusev. The current task is on the Vistula River Capture a landing site on the right bank as far as the Varka-Radom railway line."

  Seeing the crossing point chosen by Rokossovsky, Malinin asked with some hesitation: "Comrade Marshal, can our offensive in this area be successful?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, there are always striking similarities in history." Rokossovsky stared at the map in front of him and said with his hands behind his back: "When we and Lukin received the order to evacuate Smolensk, When crossing the river, our army headquarters successfully crossed the river; while Lukin was crossing the river, his subordinates were injured in a car accident in order to avoid the German air attack. Today, Bogdanov was injured in the battle, the same as Lukin's The injuries are so similar, which shows that our next river crossing operation will achieve ideal results."

Now that Rokossovsky has already talked about this, even if Malinin wants to object, he can only sigh softly, and then ask: "Then which army do you plan to use to carry out this river crossing?" What about the battle order?"

Before Rokossovsky could speak, he took the initiative to say: "General Sokov's 48th Army is obviously not going to work. They are still dozens of kilometers away from the Vistula River. Even if they start to move now, wait for them to advance." To the shore, I am afraid that a few days have passed, and it is obviously inappropriate."

"I plan to let Chuikov's 8th Guards Army perform this glorious and arduous task of crossing the river." Rokossovsky said: "Chuikov's troops are now only ten kilometers away from the Vistula River. , it doesn’t take much time to reach the designated location.”

"Okay, Comrade Marshal." Malinin waited for Rokossovsky to finish, and nodded, "I immediately contacted General Chuikov and ordered him to send someone to conduct reconnaissance at our preset river crossing point, and at the same time prepare to cross the river equipment needed."

Chuikov received a call from Malinin and learned that his troops would be the first to cross the Vistula River. He was naturally overjoyed, and he quickly replied: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please tell the Marshal, I will immediately Send people to the bank of the Vistula River to conduct reconnaissance and find a suitable place to cross the river."

  After accepting the task of crossing the river, Cuikov immediately called General Glazunov, commander of the 4th Guards Army, and said excitedly: "Comrade General, come to my headquarters immediately. I have something important to announce to you."

  Ten minutes later, General Glazunov came to Chuikov's headquarters and asked straight to the point: "Comrade Commander, I wonder if you called me over. What's important?"

"Comrade General, come here." Chuikov called Glazunov to the map, pointed to the proposed crossing point, told him Rokossovsky's plan, and finally said: I will hand over the task to your army. What you have to do now is to send people to the river to conduct surveys to see where is a suitable place to cross the river. At the same time, you have to send guards to the river to serve as guards to ensure the safety of the survey work. It went well."

   "Comrade Commander." Glazunov waited for Chuikov to finish speaking, and asked tentatively, "If we have chosen a suitable location, when will we be able to cross the river?"

"As long as the time is right, you can cross the river at any time." In order not to restrict General Glazunov's actions, Chuikov gave him great autonomy: "As long as you think it is appropriate, you can arrange troops to cross the river at any time without asking me for instructions. "

   "After crossing the river, in which direction should we attack?" Glazunov continued to ask.

"After you reach the opposite bank, choose a suitable place to build a defensive position there and camouflage it." Cuikov said: "Since it is a smuggling, the troops arriving on the opposite bank must be lightly armed, lacking heavy weapons such as artillery and tanks. , unable to attack the depths of the enemy's defenses."

Hearing what Chuikov said, Glazunov understood the other party's intentions: "Understood, Comrade Commander. After my troops reach the other side, I will order them to hide and wait until enough supplies are delivered to the other side. , It will not be too late to attack the enemy's defense depth."

  Due to the concealment work done by the 4th Guards Army, they successfully boarded the river bank in the Tatarcisko, Villiga, and Marzevice areas before dawn. In order to avoid being discovered by the enemy, the area they occupied was carefully camouflaged.

   Knowing that a part of Glazunov's 4th Guards Army had successfully landed on the opposite bank and established landing sites in some areas, Cuikov couldn't help being overjoyed, and hurriedly took people to the river to check it out.

  But Chuikov came to the Vistula River after putting on makeup, but unexpectedly found that there was a festival here, and the Polish farmers in the village near the river held a grand celebration.

  Cuikov originally thought that his makeup would show flaws, but he didn’t expect that he would soon blend into the crowd celebrating the festival. Even if he stood by the river and looked towards the opposite bank, he would not attract special attention.

  However, Cuikov still found that in some places in the empty left bank area, shovels throwing soil could be seen waving. Obviously, trenches were being dug here. Chuikov thought to himself: "Who is digging the trenches, the Germans, or the local residents of Poland under the guns of the Germans?"

After Chuikov returned to his headquarters, he immediately called a meeting of the commanders of the armies and divisions to discuss the matter of attacking the other side of the Vistula River: "comrades commanders, judging from the current situation, the enemy did not expect us at all. The Vistula River will be forcibly crossed, and no particularly active defensive preparations by the enemy have been found.

   However, an earth dam extending along the left bank of the Vistula River blocked our sight and prevented us from observing in depth to the river bank. The powerful fortifications of the enemy cannot be seen. Everything shows that the surprise we are going to carry out has the necessary element of suddenness. "

"Comrade Commander," a division commander stood up and asked curiously, "I heard that part of the 4th Guards Corps has successfully landed on the opposite bank. I wonder when our division will be able to cross the Vistula River? "

"Don't worry, Comrade Colonel." Chuikov looked at the familiar division commander and said, "Although the 4th Guards Army has established a defensive zone in the left bank area, it is far from enough to establish a landing site. We still need to hurry up Build a pontoon bridge to transport the tanks and artillery that the troops on the other side urgently need.

   Also, next, we will divide the assault area and demarcation line for each participating force, and allocate reinforced weapons. You should send out a reconnaissance team to observe the enemy's situation on the left bank and find out the enemy's strength and fortifications.

  Lastly, I would like to stress that all operations must be carried out covertly, and our troops must not be exposed in the area. Understand? "

   "Understood!" The commanders present agreed in unison.

"Very good." Chuikov nodded, and turned to look at the director of the engineering army: "General Tkachenko, I would like to ask how long it will take for your engineering army to set up a road on the Vistula River for tanks to pass through." the pontoon?"

  General Tkachenko thought for a while, then stretched out **** and said: "Comrade Commander, I think it will take two days at the earliest."

   "What, it takes two days?" After hearing Tkachenko's reply, Chuikov became anxious: "Two days is too long, I can give you ten hours at most."

This time it was General Tkachenko's turn to complain: "Comrade Commander, let me check the area where the pontoon bridge is going to be erected. For the pontoon bridge for tanks and artillery, I think two days is relatively fast."

  After the meeting, Chuikov called Rokossovsky and reported what he had been at the meeting.

After hearing this, Rokossovsky said: "General Chuikov, you must be ready to start the forced crossing of the Vistula in about two days' time, in Matzejewice, Stenzhisha, in order to seize a landing site. It is best to briefly report the forced transfer plan in code before 14:00 on August 3."

Chuikov waited for Rokossovsky to finish, and hastily added: "Understood, Comrade Marshal. But I ask you to allow me to cross at the mouth of the Veliga River and Podwebrze, so that I can have skin on the two flanks of the landing site." The Litsa and Radomka rivers are used as barriers. I can start the crossing tomorrow morning instead of two days later, because we have all the preparations in place. The early start of the crossing has a greater chance of success."

Rokossovsky said: "You lack artillery and equipment for crossing the river. The Front Army can send you some, but it cannot be done within two days. The headquarters of the Supreme Command attaches great importance to the forced crossing of the Vistula River and requires us to maximize ensure the completion of this complex task.”

Chuikov said: "I understand this. But my first consideration is the suddenness of the action. As for the strengthening of weapons, I think that in the case of surprise, it can be dealt with with existing equipment. Please allow the forced crossing to begin tomorrow morning. "

Rokossovsky thought for a while, and then said: "Okay! I agree. However, please consider the trade-offs in detail, and finally report to me your brief plan. Please inform the commanders at all levels. Soldiers and commanders who have made great achievements in the battle on the Vistula River will be rewarded until they are awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.”

  Chuikov said: "It must be done! I will report to you a brief plan starting tomorrow morning."

  (end of this chapter)