Chapter 1682

"Rita, the situation is like this," katukov handed me the telegram in his hand. He also introduced the situation and said, "the construction area of mesalitz was built by Germany in the 1930s to fight against Poland. After 1939, the construction of fortifications stopped. Until last autumn, when the German saw that their defense line was in danger, they resumed the construction here.

This defense area is basically composed of armored fortifications, namely, concrete buildings with reinforced steel roof, and anti tank obstacles composed of several rows of concrete piers to block the access to these buildings. There are plenty of ammunition, food and water in the armour, which can last for weeks even if we are besieged.

As far as our reconnaissance knows, there are not enough troops to defend in such a strong fortification of the German army. Therefore, we must seize the fortified area before their reserves arrive.

Before you arrived, major general babajanian reported to me that his tank brigade, in neat formation, had successfully crossed the empty defensive zone and advanced towards the depth of the enemy. "

I didn't interrupt katukov. After glancing at the telegram, I put it on the table and continued to listen to him tell me what happened in front of me: "who knows when the follow-up troops arrived, they found that the passage was full of big tripods that made the tanks impassable. At the same time, the fire points on both sides of the road are blocking the road with artillery fire and machine gun fire, so that our engineers can not remove these obstacles. "

"General katukov," I asked cautiously as he finished, "I want to ask, what's the situation with the 40th brigade of the close guard tank, which has crossed the mesaritz fortification area?"

"They are now in the German fortress area, and the road ahead is full of obstacles that prevent them from moving forward. The road behind was also cut off by the German army, but the enemy seemed to lack enough anti tank weapons, so they just surrounded them and did not take the initiative to attack them. " Katukov said anxiously: "if they are not rescued as soon as possible, once their ammunition is used up, it will not be far from the destruction of the whole army."

"How long do you think it will take us to break through the German defense and join the trapped forces if general babajanian is allowed to command the troops and launch a forced attack on the fortified areas?"

As for my question, katukov thought about it for a long time, and finally said: "according to babajanian's report, his close guard 362nd and 399th self-propelled artillery regiments should arrive at the mesaritz building area in half an hour. With the help of artillery, they could break through the German fortification area in the early morning of tomorrow

"General katukov," in the face of the situation of the 40th guard tank brigade, I am not optimistic about it. I intentionally remind katukov, "don't forget that the armored roof of the mesaritz fortification area should be able to withstand the attack of our tanks and self-propelled artillery. Unless we wait for heavy artillery or infantry to arrive, it will be very difficult to break through the fortified area. "

"What shall we do?" At this moment, katukov was also a little flustered, because he knew that once the German reserve arrived, the tank brigade trapped in the rear of the fortification area would face the end of the whole army.

I didn't speak, but looked at the mesaritz building area on the map and continued to think. After a long time, I looked up at katukov and said, "Comrade General, you have just said that the German army does not have enough troops to defend in this fortified area, so we can consider trying to break through from other areas besides continuing to attack in this area. As long as we have a successful breakthrough all the way, we can rescue the trapped tank brigade. "

"That's a good idea." When katukov heard me say this, his eyes lit up and he asked, "Rita, where do I think we should break through?"

I pointed to the position marked with road on the map, and said with a little lack of confidence: "Comrade General, we can only gamble our luck now. Maybe there are no well-trained German troops to defend in these areas, then our tank troops can quickly make a breakthrough and catch up with the besieged tank brigade."

Katukov looked at the map for a while, and then ordered general chevalin, who was sitting beside him and didn't speak: "chief of staff, order the 65th brigade and the 11th tank regiment of the guard tank to try to break through the fortifications in the outskirts of xibeijin; Order the 20th and 36th brigades of the close guard tanks to break through from the northern passage. "

Seeing katukov's air of mind assigning combat tasks to his chief of staff, my mood suddenly calmed down a lot. In any case, he was always a famous general of the Soviet Union. If you can't deal with such a simple difficulty, it's not worthy of the name.

The battle at the breach lasted all night. As I analyzed, babajanian's tanks and self-propelled artillery could not eliminate the German armored defense positions. The main force of the tank army was still blocked outside the fortified area until dawn.

But the attack from the other two directions went very smoothly. The people's stormtroopers who defend these areas are all untrained. Although this organization sounds a bit similar to the militia of the Soviet Union, there is a big difference between them. First of all, it is not an organization formed by the people voluntarily, but an organization forced to join. Any German who does not want to join this organization will be mercilessly executed. Secondly, the combat effectiveness of this uneven army can be imagined without any decent military training at all.

In the face of the passing tank brigade, these people's stormtroopers, dressed in civilian clothes and carrying crude weapons, without firing a shot, held high the white flag and walked out of the fortifications where they were hiding and surrendered to our army. The other two tanks, almost bloodless, passed through the mesaritz fortification area and detoured back to the German defensive rear to rescue the officers and men of the 40th brigade of the encircled guard tanks. Knowing that the troops of the 65th guard tank brigade were rapidly advancing towards the trapped troops from north to south, katukov finally breathed a sigh of relief and said to me happily, "Rita, it seems that our tone is good. We actually rescued the besieged troops before the arrival of the German reserve, avoiding the end of their total annihilation."“ General katukov, since the two tank brigades will soon be able to meet, I suddenly have a new idea I pointed to the map and said to katukov, "let the two tank brigades continue to push towards the Oder River and quickly build a landing site on the west bank before the German reserves arrive."