Chapter 1632

After askarepov's troops successfully boarded the east coast and counted the casualties, they drove to the front army headquarters in Lublin.

Entering the headquarters, I shook hands with rokosovsky, malining and military commissar general jerekin one by one, and then reported to you the casualties of the two troops crossing the river: "the third Polish division in Galitsky suffered 3764 casualties in the battle on the West Bank. The current number of the division is less than 800, which needs to be supplemented immediately, Otherwise, the troops will not be able to take part in new battles in a short time.

The six battalions under the command of general askarepov lost one third of their lives, but destroyed 2000 German special brigades in dielwanger, as well as 40 tanks and armored vehicles.... "

After listening to my report, rokosovsky waved his hand to me and then said, "come on, Rita, our fighting in the old Warsaw area on the West Bank of the visva river has stopped completely. Next, the focus of our attack is in the direction of modlin in the north. "

Standing in front of the map on the wall, marinin faced me and said, "after this period of fighting, the German army still sticks to a triangle area on the East Bank of the visva and narev rivers. The focus of our attack in the next stage is to seize this area from the enemy. "

When I heard what malining said, I thought with disapproval: the German army only has a triangle on the east coast, and it is not a trivial matter to solve them. But after hearing what malining said, my expression became serious. The reason why rokosovsky said solemnly that this was the focus of our attack in the next stage was that not only the terrain was complex, but also our attack routes were within the range of German fortress fire. Not only do we charge with infantry, but we also use the torrent of steel. Under the strong German artillery attack, we will pay a huge price.

After malining finished all the contents, I tentatively asked rokosovsky, "Comrade marshal, how can we seize this triangle controlled by the German army?"

"I intend to use the 47th army of Gusev and the 70th army of Popov to attack the German triangle." Looking at the map, rokosovsky said, "but before the official attack, we need to make the necessary tests to find out what the German defense forces are in this area."

"This triangle is much higher than the terrain where our troops are, so we can only use feint when attacking here." "All the offensive routes are under the cover of cross fire from the enemy on the West Bank, and Fort modlin at the top of the triangle can also directly bombard our offensive forces with Fort guns," marinin added

"Comrade marshal," I asked rokosovsky cautiously, "I don't know when we will launch an attack on the enemy in this area?"

"Two days ago, we had the 70th army tentatively launch an attack. The army suffered huge losses under the enemy's artillery fire, but the results were very limited." "At present, the artillery is still hoarding ammunition. It may take another two to three days before we can launch a new attack on this area," rokosowski said with a blank face

According to rokosovsky's idea, the best way to attack the triangle is in early October. As a result, less than a day later, Stalin called from Moscow. Stalin asked him with some displeasure: "Comrade rokosovsky, what's the matter with you? Why didn't your troops stop by the visva river? When are you going to clear the German triangle between the visva and narev rivers

"Comrade Stalin," rokosovsky replied respectfully, "as the troops have just gone through the war, they have lost a lot of soldiers, weapons and ammunition. It will take some time to replenish them. Therefore, I plan to wait until early October to launch an attack on the area."

"No, it's too late." Stalin said mercilessly: "today is September 24. Your troops should launch an attack on the triangle at the latest tomorrow. Never let the Germans leave a position on the east coast that is enough to threaten our army's safety."

"Yes, comrade Stalin." Although rokosovsky had a lot of opinions on Stalin's hegemonic arrangement, he replied with a stiff head: "I will immediately convey orders to the troops below to make them ready for battle as soon as possible."

As soon as rokosovsky finished his call with Stalin, he immediately called Gusev and Popov to inform them that they would launch an attack on the triangle on the east coast tomorrow.

After hearing the order, both of them were shocked. Popov, in particular, had suffered a great loss here a few days ago, so he carefully reminded rokosovsky: "Comrade marshal, if we don't get rid of the German artillery, we are bound to pay huge casualties in our attack on this area."

On hearing Popov's warning, rokosovsky held the receiver and thought for a moment, then said, "general Popov, I see what you mean. Well, for the sake of safety, before the official attack tomorrow, we will carry out artillery reconnaissance on the German defensive positions, and I will also go to the front line to observe. If I feel that the conditions for an attack are ripe, I will fire a red signal bomb. When you see the signal bomb, you will command the troops to launch an attack... "

"What if the conditions for attack are not ripe?" Before rokosovsky finished, Popov asked first.

"If the conditions are not ripe," rokosowski said resolutely, "I will launch a green signal bomb and announce the cancellation of the attack plan. Do you understand? "

Gusev and Popov, who were talking to rokosovsky at the same time, immediately replied loudly, "I see!"

Rokosovsky called over general kazakov, the artillery commander, and said to him, "Comrade kazakov, at dawn tomorrow, you will use all the artillery fire to carry out intensive shelling on the triangle occupied by the German army."

In response to rokosovsky's order, his old friend hesitated and said, "Comrade marshal, if we use all our artillery fire to bombard the German triangle, our artillery position will be exposed. Once the German artillery countered, it would cause us great losses. "

"Comrade artillery commander," rokosovsky said with a straight face, "only by doing so can we find out the strength of the German army in this area. Don't worry about the loss of artillery. The superior will supplement us in time. "

After getting rokosovsky's promise, kazakov nodded and said, "well, I'll give the artillery an order immediately and make them ready to fire at dawn."

…………

In the early hours of the next morning, rokosovsky, with me and two staff officers, rushed to a forward observation post of the 47th army. Several soldiers in the observation center were at a loss when they saw the sudden appearance of rokosovsky.

Rokosovsky casually asked a soldier, "what's the situation on the other side?"

"Very calm," the soldier replied in a panic, "the German position seems very calm, there is no movement, may still be sleeping."

Rokosovsky went to the observation port, raised his telescope, looked at the silent German position in the distance for a while, and said, "let them sleep. Maybe when our cannon rings, they will be able to sleep forever."

He raised his hand, looked at his watch, went to the center of the observation post, picked up the phone that the staff officer had just connected, and said to the microphone, "Comrade artillery commander, time is almost up, let our artillery fire!"

Just a minute or two after the order was given, there was a shrill whistling sound in the air. Then, I saw that the German position in the distance turned into an eruptive crater, wrapped in the rising black smoke. The black smoke exploded one after another, one after another. There were explosions everywhere and flames everywhere.

"It's great, it's just great!" Seeing that the German position was covered by our artillery fire, rokosovsky showed a satisfied smile on his face. He said to himself, "if the German artillery doesn't fight back, after the artillery fire is over, I will launch a red signal bomb and let the troops charge on this highland."

The shelling lasted only a few minutes, and the German artillery began to take off. Thousands of shells from across the narev and visva rivers, from the fort's battery hit our artillery on the head. As the artillery fire in the triangle became sparse, I knew in my heart that it was because our artillery positions were countered by the enemy artillery. For example, after the self-propelled artillery and rocket guns were launched, they could move their positions in time. Those howitzer and cannon positions must have paid a heavy price under the German artillery fire.

Rokosovsky listened to the movement outside and said with great interest: "the Germans fired artillery of various calibres, from fortress heavy artillery to ordinary mortars and six barrel guns. They are not stingy of shells at all. It seems that they want to show us that they have enough artillery power to suppress our artillery fire. "

"Marshal comrade," I waited for rokosovsky to finish speaking to himself, and quickly and carefully asked, "what are we going to do next? Will the troops continue to attack, or will they cancel the attack? "

"As long as the enemy's fire is not suppressed, we will not be able to launch an attack on the triangle at all, because their fire is enough to make our offensive forces pay a heavy price." "We can't let our commanders and fighters die in vain like this," rokosowski said solemnly

After these words, he said to a staff officer standing beside him, "you go outside and fire a green signal to inform the participating troops that the attack will be cancelled."

The staff officer nodded and walked quickly out of the observation post. It wasn't long before I saw a green flare rising into the air. However, rokosovsky seemed to be worried. He was afraid that Gusev and Popov would not see the signal bomb he sent. He also called them and told them personally that the attack plan was cancelled and all preparations for the attack would be stopped.

When rokosovsky and I returned to the headquarters of the front army, malining immediately asked with concern, "Comrade marshal, has the attack been cancelled?"

"Yes, chief of staff." Rokosovsky nodded his head and said: "our army is unable to suppress such heavy German artillery at present, so it is very unwise to launch an attack under such circumstances."

"Need to report to the supreme command?" Malining asked cautiously when he had finished.

Rokosovsky nodded and picked up the high-frequency telephone on the table: "I personally report to Comrade Stalin!" Stalin did not immediately express his views after listening to rokosovsky's report. After a long silence, he slowly said, "Comrade rokosovsky, I'll ask the staff headquarters for their opinions on this matter. I'll call you when the results are available." With that, he didn't give rokosovsky a chance to speak, so he hung up directly. Malining saw rokosovsky put down the phone and asked tentatively: "marshal, do you think the Supreme Commander himself will agree to our cancellation of this attack?"“ I don't know. " "He said that he would discuss with the headquarters of the staff and then tell me the final result," rokosovsky replied unexpectedly. That is to say, it is very likely that he will order us to attack the triangle. " After he said that, he went to the map and studied with us where and how we should attack if the Supreme Command still insisted on launching an attack, so as to minimize the casualties of the troops. Stalin's call came just as we worked out a barely passable battle plan. After hearing rokosovsky's voice, he said without delay: "Comrade rokosovsky, after my discussion with Antonov and Ivanov, I feel that under the current circumstances, we are not qualified to launch an attack on the German controlled triangle. Therefore, I order you to stop the offensive in this area, turn the first front army of Belarus to defense on the spot, and begin to prepare for a new offensive campaign. " All the people around rokosovsky heard Stalin's new order, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that rokosovsky put down the phone, malining quickly said: "Comrade marshal, it's absolutely right to stop attacking temporarily and turn to defense on the spot. Our troops have been fighting for a long time, and their commanders and fighters are very tired. They need a period of time to rest and supplement, so that they can enter into new battles in a better state. " After taking a deep breath, rokosovsky ordered malining to say, "chief of staff, you should immediately prepare an order for the troops to temporarily stop fighting operations, turn to defense on the spot, and seize the time to recuperate and supplement, so as to restore combat effectiveness in the shortest time."