Chapter 1680

In the evening, while firing a salute in red square to celebrate the liberation of Roz City, lieutenant general reirov, commander of the 28th army of the guards, called to say that his troops had surrounded Poznan and asked trikov what to do next?

"That's not to say, Comrade General." Trikov was overjoyed to hear that the troops had surrounded Poznan, so he did not hesitate to order leirov: "immediately organize forces to attack the residential areas of Poznan, and try to capture the city on the way."

I don't think much of this command of trakov. Although there is no record of the liberation of Poznan in my memory, I know that it is not easy to capture this fortress city. But trakov gave such an offensive order in such a light tone, which was too light on the enemy.

However, considering that after all, trikov is the commander of the 8th group army of the guards, in order to maintain his authority, he can't easily intervene when he gives operational orders to his subordinates.

However, my worry soon became a reality. When it was dark, Ralph called trakov again. He said in a dejected tone: "Comrade commander, I'm sorry, our attack on Poznan ended in failure."

After a long silence, he asked, "Comrade rerov, if I remember correctly, the first group army of katukov's close guard tanks is deployed near the city. Don't they provide support for you?"

"No, comrade commander." "I called general katukov in person to ask for his support, but I was refused," he said

Trekov frowned when he heard this, and then said in a dissatisfied tone, "I see. Comrade Lei Ruo Fu, let the troops stop and rest first. We'll wait until tomorrow if we have anything to do. "

After he put down the phone, trikov said to me angrily, "Rita, this general katukov is too bad. Since his troops are stationed near Poznan, even if only one tank brigade is sent to attack the city with the 28th guards, maybe we can occupy one or two streets in the city. "

"I'll call general katukov and ask what's going on." As for katukov's behavior of standing on the sidelines, I was also very uncomfortable. I immediately told the communication director, "connect me to the first group army command of the close guard tank immediately, and I want to talk to general katukov."

When I heard katukov's voice coming from the receiver, I pressed down my anger and asked, "general katukov, I heard that the 28th army of the guards had asked you for help when they attacked Poznan, but you refused their request. Is that the case? "

"Yes, it is." Katukov said without concealment: "it was the commander of the army, general Ralph, who called in person, but I still refused his request."

After listening to katukov's reply, I thought that the reason why he didn't send the tank brigade to support him might be that he had some inside information, so he tentatively asked, "Comrade General, can you tell me the reason why you refused general rerov?"

"Rita," katukov replied calmly, "the streets in Poznan are too narrow. When our tanks enter the city, they can only march in one column. Once the German army destroys the leading and tail tanks, the long tank line can only be placed on the street and become the target of German anti tank hands. "

"So it is," I said. After I found out the reason why katukov didn't want to send tank troops, my mood became relaxed. It turned out that it wasn't because he didn't help but because the streets in the city were not conducive to the participation of tank troops. Considering that even if I could not take part in the siege, the whole group army of close guard tanks could not stay outside the city and do nothing, I asked, "what are you going to do next?"

"Since our troops are unable to take part in the battle of conquering Poznan," katukov said with confidence, "then I will command the troops to continue to push westward, strive to cross the Oder River before the Germans organize effective resistance, and build a wide landing site on the other side."

Although katukov's proposal is very bold, it has strong maneuverability. So I waited for him to finish, and immediately said, "well, general katukov, since you have a detailed plan, let the troops have a good rest tonight, and let them go after dawn tomorrow."

Seeing that I had put down the phone, trikov quickly asked me, "Rita, what are we going to do next?"

Although I have never seen the fortress of Poznan, I can guess that it must be a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Instead of wasting strength and time here, it is better to leave some troops to besiege, and the rest of the troops continue to advance to the defense depth of the German Army, close to the Oder River.

I pointed to the map and said to trikov, "general trikov, you leave the 28th guard army to besiege Poznan fortress. The rest of the troops bypass the city and follow katukov's first group army of guard tanks to continue to push westward and close to the Oder River..."

Before I finished, the phone rang in front of trekov. He picked up the receiver, put it to his ear and said aloud, "Hello, I'm trakov. Where are you?" A moment later, he stood up and said respectfully, "yes, marshal, my troops have surrounded Poznan. Because the city streets are too narrow to use tanks, we failed to capture the city on the move. "

After he simply reported to Zhukov, he handed me the microphone and whispered, "Rita, marshal has something to ask you."

When I answered the phone, I heard Zhukov asking me, "Rita, what's your next step?"

"Comrade marshal," I replied, staring at the map in front of me, "since our army is unable to put tanks into Poznan, the siege will be a relatively long process. I think that instead of spending a lot of time and troops here to attack the city, it is better to leave a part of the troops to besiege the city, while the main force of our army continues to advance rapidly westward, rush to the Oder River, and push the war to the native land of Germany. "

"Rita, your plan coincides with mine." After I finished, Zhukov said with satisfaction, "just do as you say, leaving one army to besiege the city, and the rest of the main forces to continue to advance westward quickly, so as to let our army go out to the German mainland as soon as possible."

After I put down the phone, I happily said to trikov: "general trikov, marshal comrade has agreed with me, leaving a force to besiege the German army in Poznan City, and the rest of the main forces continue to push westward, so as to push the war to the German mainland as soon as possible."

Then I had a discussion with trakov and some members of the headquarters about leaving those troops to besiege Poznan. In the end, it was decided to leave two tank brigades, three artillery regiments and a close guard rocket brigade in addition to the 28th army of the close guard.

Just as trakov received the order drafted by chief of staff Vladimirov and was preparing to sign it, the phone in front of him rang again. Trikov picked up the phone and listened. Then he said with a smile, "marshal, we have just drafted an order to march on the Oder River. We are going to report it to you."

Unexpectedly, I heard Zhukov's stern voice from the receiver: "Comrade trakov, the situation has changed. Before the troops advance to the Oder River, we must first take down Poznan."

Trikov's smile froze on his face. After a long time, he was a little flustered and asked, "Comrade marshal, what's the matter? Did you just agree that we should leave some troops to encircle the enemy and push the main force towards the Oder River? Why did you change your mind after less than an hour

Instead of answering him, Zhukov asked him to give me the phone. After I received the phone call, I repeated the question of trekov again, and finally stressed: "marshal, if we leave our troops to attack Poznan, we will certainly consume a lot of troops, weapons and ammunition, and also delay a lot of time. The Germans will certainly take advantage of this time to strengthen their defense along the Oder River. At that time, if we want to cross the Oder River, we will have to pay a great price. "

"Apart from being an important industrial city, Poznan is also an important hub of Railways and highways." Zhukov said dryly: "if our army can't occupy here, then our transport convoy to the front line can only bypass Poznan, which will affect the supply speed ahead."

From the tone of Zhukov's speech, I heard that it was definitely not his original intention to stop the westward advance of the troops, but the meaning of the higher level leaders, so I tentatively asked: "Comrade marshal, please forgive me to be frank, is there any order issued by the supreme command?"

Zhukov chuckled and said, "Rita, I can't hide anything from you. Comrade Stalin did not agree with our plan of operations. He thought that if we went out to the Oder River too early, we would distance ourselves from the second front army of Belarus of rokosovsky. He ordered us to wait, at least until rokosovsky's troops had finished the battle of East Prussia and crossed the main force of the troops over the visva River, before continuing to advance towards the Oder River. "

Zhukov's words made me realize that in order to enter the German mainland, it is not enough to rely on us alone. We also need the strong cooperation of the left and right wing forces. So I asked carefully, "how long do we have to wait?"

"At least ten days." Zhukov explained to me: "because our army is advancing too fast, not only rokosovsky's troops are too far away from us, but even konev's troops can not continue to advance at present, and we need to protect the security of our flanks from the left wing, because they want to concentrate their forces to eliminate the German army in Silesia industrial zone."

"Marshal," I said to Zhukov immediately after he finished, "I personally feel that if we stop attacking, then the German army will consolidate its defense in the western area of mesalitz. When we capture Poznan and continue to push westward, we will pay a huge sacrifice to capture this area."

"If the main force of the front army continues to push westward, how can our right wing be guaranteed?"

As for Zhukov's question, I said with full confidence: "as long as the Supreme Command strengthens a group army for us, the security of the right wing will be guaranteed, so that we can take advantage of this good opportunity to continue to push westward, break through the German metselitz fortification area and reach the Bank of the Oder River."

"That's what I said to Comrade Stalin." Zhukov said with some helplessness: "after listening, he only said that he would think it over, and then there was no following."

"What shall we do now?" I asked Zhukov tentatively, "do you really want the troops to stop advancing westward and prepare to attack Poznan here?"“ One is to leave the troops to besiege the fortress, and the main force will continue to push westward, break through the mesaritz fortification area, and enter the Oder River. " Zhukov said to me, "another kind of preparation is when the troops stop advancing, when they will take Poznan and when they will continue to advance westward." After the call with Zhukov, I began to think carefully about what I should do next. Unfortunately, in the memory of later generations, I don't know what happened in Poznan. If I want to make a correct choice, I can only make a thorough analysis through the information I have. Trikov understood the way I thought about things, so he sat quietly and didn't speak, waiting patiently for me to make the final decision. After a long time of thinking, I made a decisive decision: "general trakov, according to the decision we just made, leave a small number of troops to besiege Poznan, and the main force will continue to push westward, through the German maceritz fortification area, straight to the Oder River."“ Rita, Marshal Zhukov just said, "let's stop going west and concentrate our forces to take Poznan down first." Trakov kindly reminded me, "if he knew we had disobeyed his orders, the consequences would be very serious."“ Don't worry, general trakov I saw that trikov was a little forward-looking and quickly comforted him, saying, "I believe Marshal will also agree with our deployment, so we must not have any problems in the process of pushing westward, otherwise it will not be good for you and me."“ The situation, what can happen? " Trekov asked, puzzled“ General trakov, come and see. " I pointed to the map and said to trakov, "now katukov's close guard tank group army is not far from the area where metselitz was built, and the armored forces are advancing very fast. I am afraid that if they go deep alone, they may fall into the encirclement of the German army. Therefore, I ask you that when general katukov's troops break through the German defense, your troops can occupy the area of mesaritz in time. Can you do it? "“ I don't think it's a big problem. " Trakov said in an uncertain tone: "the mesalitz fortification area was built by the Germans in order to prevent the attack of the Polish army. After they occupied Poland, they once stopped work. It was not until last year that they began to rebuild these fortifications. I think the number of weapons and troops they have deployed in the fortifications is limited. We should not have much problem in breaking through their defense lines. "