Chapter 1688

I was worried that trakov would give orders against the wounded, so I hastened to take the lead and said, "general trakov, immediately arrange for people to send them to a safe place, and give them enough medicine to treat the wounded as necessary."

After hearing what I said, trikov looked at me in surprise and said to Pronin, "Comrade commissar, have you heard the order given by Rita? Immediately arrange manpower to remove the enemy's medical staff and patients from the underground works, and send them to a safe place for resettlement, and provide them with the necessary food, water and medicine! "

After putting down the phone, trakov said to me with a smile, "Rita, were you worried that I would order these prisoners to be shot, or just take the medical staff away, and leave these patients to die?"

Seeing that trakov guessed what was on my mind, I didn't hide it. Instead, I nodded and said with certainty, "yes, general trakov, I'm worried about that. In previous battles, unless the whole battle is over, military hospitals captured by our army will be dealt with according to the two situations you just mentioned. "

"You're talking about the past. The bandits committed heinous crimes against our motherland and people. Our officers and men are excused for doing some excessive things in order to get revenge." Trakov waved his hand and said, "but as we move forward step by step to the German mainland, we have already ordered to prohibit and even issued an order to severely punish such acts. Therefore, the prisoners of war captured now can generally be sent to the prison camp alive. "

While I was blaming myself for my ignorance, general Gutman, the group army's deputy commander at the front line, called and reported to trikov: "Comrade commander, the soldiers of the shock engineering brigade, have successfully destroyed the bottom floor of the secret police building with homemade explosive barrels. The explosion has damaged the top of the basement and all the walls on the bottom floor, Only a few dozen reinforced concrete columns are left to support the rest of the building. "

"What happened to the enemy in the building?" When trakov heard that the ground floor of the building had been destroyed by explosives, he immediately asked, "did they lay down their weapons and surrender to our army?"

"No, comrade commander." "Although the ground floor of the building has been destroyed by our explosives, the enemy hiding in the basement and the buildings above are still fighting desperately," Gutman said with regret

"General Gutman, if the enemy does not surrender, destroy him!" "Since we failed to destroy the building in our first explosion, we have to go to hell for the second and third time," he said firmly

But when general Guttmann organized forces to destroy the German secret police building, our army made progress in other areas. Using the tactics I said, the officers and men of the 83rd regiment of the guards burst through the walls of the building occupied by the German army and rushed into the building from the unexpected position of the enemy, launching a close combat and a white-edged battle with the enemy.

After half an hour of fierce fighting, the whole German army of a company in the building was destroyed. In addition to those killed, 41 officers and soldiers were captured by our army.

As soon as the troops broke into the German fortress defense area, we prohibited them from attacking the German Defense Center, the core fort, because it was not only solid defense, but also a gathering of German heavy troops. If we attack there directly, the war will be stuck.

The tactics adopted by trekov and I were to encircle but not attack the enemy in the core fort, and concentrate our forces to eliminate the enemy in the rest of the fortress area. As long as we clear the periphery, the enemy of the core fort will become an isolated army, and it will be easy for us to eliminate them.

But Zhukov objected to our tactics. He called me directly and asked me, "Rita, what's the matter with you? Why do you use your main forces to sweep the periphery of the fortress instead of attacking the enemy's core Fort? You know, next to the core fort is a railway hub, which is very important for the supply and transportation of all the troops of the front army. As long as we don't win the core fort for one day, the transportation between us and the front line will not be unimpeded. Do you understand? "

"I see, marshal. I understand what you said." On hearing Zhukov's reproach, I quickly explained to myself, "the reason why we didn't use our main forces to attack the German core fort is because the fortifications here are solid and heavy troops are still gathered. Even if we attack here, we may not be able to win in a short time. At the same time, we may be attacked from behind.

That's why I decided to let general trakov use his main force to clean up the enemy outside the fortress area. When the enemy is eliminated, we can confidently and boldly attack the enemy. "

After listening to my explanation, Zhukov said impatiently, "well, since you say so, you should seize the time to clean up the periphery, and then concentrate your forces to attack the core fort. I would like to remind you that there is not much time left for you. At present, the German army is mobilizing forces to the Oder River to launch counter attacks against the 1st group army of close guard tanks, which has set up a landing site there. "

After my conversation with Zhukov, I put down the phone and asked, "general trakov, how long will it take for our troops to clear the perimeter of the fortress?"

Trekov frowned and thought about it. He replied, "I think it will take three to five days at the earliest." After that, he asked me with concern, "is Marshal calling again to urge us to speed up our attack?"

"Yes," I nodded and affirmed, "he said that next to the core fort, there is an important railway transportation hub. As long as we win the core fort, the supply and transportation between us and the front line can become unimpeded."

"We can't just win the core fortress without clearing up the surrounding enemy." Chief of staff Vladimirov said: "as long as there is an enemy near the transportation line, then we can't ensure normal transportation."

"Today, the persuasion organized by general Pronin is not bad." "It seems that at the same time of military attack, we should strengthen the political propaganda to the German army, so that they can wake up as soon as possible and stop the senseless resistance," he concluded

After hearing what trakov said, deputy commander duhanov shook his head and said with a bitter smile: "Comrade commander, according to our interrogation of the prisoners, the commander of the fortress is a major general of the SS named gonel, a favorite General of Himmler, or a diehard member of the Communist Party. If you want him to lay down his arms and surrender to us, I don't think it's possible at all

After a pause, he said, "I heard a captured major say that in order to strengthen our determination to stick to the fortress, goner has killed many wavering officers and soldiers. Even those civilians who do not want to join the people's Stormtrooper will be directly shot without trial, and then hang their bodies on the street lamp or balcony, To warn those who are not determined. "

"If that's the case, it's going to be difficult." Trikov said with a complicated expression: "it seems that no SS officer has ever voluntarily surrendered to our army after such a long battle. It seems that major general gonel is ready to fight to the end."

"I think so." Duhanov nodded his head and said: "as long as he does not die for a day, I think it is impossible for the garrison of the fortress to surrender in a systematic way."

Vladimirov continued: "Comrade deputy commander, I think you are too pessimistic. Even if gonel wants to fight to the end, it does not mean that all the German officers and soldiers have the same mind as him. As long as we do a good job in persuading us to surrender, I believe that more and more German officers and men will lay down their arms and surrender to us. "

After listening to his subordinates' speeches, trakov did not immediately express his views. Instead, he looked at me and asked, "Rita, how do you think about it?"

"Just now general duhanov has said that the fortress commander gonel is a diehard * * element. He probably knows very well that even if he surrenders to our army, he will not come to a good end, so he plans to fight to the end. At the same time, I also agree with the chief of staff that not all German officers and men are die hards like them. " Looking at the generals in front of me, I said with a smile: "while we continue to sweep the peripheral positions of the fortress area, we concentrate our heavy artillery on the direction of the core fort, and use artillery fire to suppress and deter the enemies here, so that they do not dare to leave the fortress easily and can only stay in the fortress honestly and be frightened. When their spirits are about to collapse, sending someone to persuade them to surrender will surely get twice the result with half the effort. "

"That's a good way. It will take us a few days to clear up the enemy outside. If, in these days, we continue to bombard the German core fort with heavy artillery, when we attack there, the German stronghold should be almost destroyed by us. " Trikov decisively made a decision, "the 29th army of the guards, transferred to besiege the core fort, the rest of the forces continue to be responsible for cleaning up the enemy outside."

The next day, in order to observe the effect of our army's shelling of the core fort, I, trekov and deputy commander duhanov came to the National Theater in the fortress area. Here, we met shermenkov, commander of the 29th army of the guards. His army headquarters was located in the manager's office of the theater.

Seeing that a group of us came here, he could not help asking in a panic: "comrades, how did you come here? You should know that it is not safe here, and you may be bombarded by the artillery deployed by the enemy in the core fort at any time."

"It doesn't matter, comrade semenkov. Since you are not afraid to stay here, we have nothing to fear." "We're here today just to see the effect of the bombardment," he said

At the moment, our heavy guns are bombarding the outer wall of the core fort. After listening to what trakov said, semenkov can only say helplessly: "well, comrade commander, since you are here to check the artillery effect. Then as soon as the shelling is over, I'll take you to the top of the building. But please promise me that you must leave after reading it. I must be responsible for your safety. "

"All right, all right," trekov agreed, nodding his head, unwilling to clash with the men who cared about him. "I promise you, I will leave as soon as I check the results of the shelling."

When there was no longer the rumble of artillery outside, semenkov was not at ease. He called the observation post on the top of the building to confirm that the shelling was over, and then reluctantly led us to the top floor of the theater.

Standing on the top of the building, I raised my telescope and looked at the fortress in the distance. I found that the core fort was a fortification group which was also surrounded by the trench. If we did not destroy the German shooting holes on the wall, our tanks would be destroyed by the German anti tank men who were hiding behind even when they arrived at the trench. While I was watching it, I suddenly heard semenkov exclaim in surprise: "look, Hitler's bandits have put out the white flag and begun to surrender to our army!"“ Where, where? " Although the commanders standing on the top of the building have a telescope, after listening to this sentence, they still ask with one voice, "why didn't I see it?"“ It's at the firing hole on the right side of the entrance to the fortress! " Semenkov excitedly indicated the direction to everyone: "one, two, three, four... Seven shooting holes stretched out white flags, it seems that they were scared by our shelling." although I also saw the white flag stretched out from the shooting hole, my heart was full of doubts: did the Germans surrender? You know, the commander of the fortress is a major general of the SS. Can he watch his subordinates surrender to us? My heart was full of doubts, but I didn't express my opinions casually. I just held up my telescope and watched the development of the situation quietly. The gate of the fortress was opened. More than forty helmeted and unarmed German officers and men came out of the gate with their hands raised, ready to pass the stone bridge on the trench and come towards our army. But when they got to the middle of the stone bridge, a stream of smoke suddenly rose among the crowd, followed by a faint explosion. Seven or eight German soldiers, who were walking forward, fell straight into the ditch. The rest of the German soldiers stopped and stood in a daze“ What's going on? " Trekov put down his telescope, turned to look at semenkov and asked sternly, "don't you see that the enemy came out to surrender to us? Why fire on them? "“ Comrade commander, I didn't order the troops to fire. " Shemenkov replied wrongly: "besides, our soldiers are not blind. We can see at a glance that the enemy is ready to surrender to us. How can we fire at them?" As soon as his words came to an end, I saw the shooting started in the shooting hole on the wall of the fortress. The dense bullets made the mud on the bridge jump up like a pot. The German soldiers standing on the bridge burst out a blood mist. Their bodies twitched violently like an electric shock. At last, they either fell into the ditch or fell on the bridge. When I saw dozens of soldiers, they were all dead at the end of the bridge in just one or two minutes, I immediately understood what was going on. He put down his telescope and said to trakov, "general trakov, it's the German. Their commanders didn't surrender to us like their subordinates, so they killed them all. "