Chapter 1698

The battle of eliminating the hidden German troops in the forest lasted ten days. We captured more than 21700 German officers and soldiers, killed more than 320, and seized a lot of weapons and ammunition. This battle under my command has won an unprecedented victory.

Seeing that there was no organized German army in the forest, I asked two division commanders, Kuragin and malchenko, to lead their respective troops back to the headquarters of the front army, to see if there was any work suitable for me.

When I got back to the headquarters, I saw Zhukov on the phone. From his angry face, I knew that he was not happy at the moment, so I didn't go forward to find it myself. Instead, I pulled malining aside and asked quietly, "chief of staff, what's the matter? The marshal looks very unhappy."

"It's strange to be happy." Malining said to me in a low voice, "general katukov's fighting in the region of bomerania is not going well. The marshal transferred the 9th tank army, the 7th guard cavalry army, and a large number of artillery and engineering troops and materials to the region last night, hoping to get rid of the more than a dozen German divisions as soon as possible."

It is said that katukov spent more than ten days without waiting to crush the enemy in bermelania. I am also very nervous. I wonder if there is any deviation in history here? Thinking of this, I continued to ask malining: "chief of staff, I remember marshal rokosovsky's troops, which are near bermelania, didn't they go out to cooperate with our army?"

"Who said no?" malining looked at Zhukov, who was furious while talking on the phone, and then said: "the base camp ordered marshal rokosovsky to command the second front army to attack from glaudents ratcheburg area, smash the enemy of Eastern Pomerania, occupy danze, and go out to the Baltic coast. But... "

I saw that marinin wanted to stop talking and said in his place, "but their troops and technical equipment are not enough, so they can't carry out the command of the base camp, can they?"

"Yes, it is." Malining truthfully replied: "but due to the lack of troops, the second front army has not been able to complete all the tasks it received."

"So, if you want to continue to attack, you must first replenish marshal rokosovsky's troops?" Hearing this, I felt as if I had guessed the reason why Zhukov was furious, and then asked, "I don't know when the base camp will supplement the second front army?"

"The base camp has decided to put the 19th army under the command of Marshal rokosovsky. However... "Malining said bitterly:" judging from the current transportation capacity, it will take at least ten days and a half months for the 19th group army to be in position. It is for this reason that marshal is angry. "

After finding out the reason for Zhukov's anger, I finally felt at ease. It turned out that he was angry with the transportation department, so I don't have to worry about the consequences. I found a new topic and asked malining: "chief of staff, as far as I know, lieutenant general Kozlov, commander of the 19th group army, was injured in the battle in November last year. Now his injury should not be healed. I don't know who will take over the command of this army from him."

"It's lieutenant general Romanovsky, and he is also a commander with rich combat experience," malining introduced to me the resume of the new group army commander: "in April 1942, he took over Vasily Ivanovich Kuznetsov as the commander of the first assault group army and participated in the jamiyansk campaign; In December, he became the commander of the second group army and broke through the German blockade of Leningrad. In January of 1994, he went to Ukraine to serve as the deputy of the Fourth Front Army, mainly to learn how to break through... "

When I heard Kuznetsov's name, I suddenly remembered that the soldiers who put the red flag on the top floor of Berlin's parliament building were Kuznetsov's subordinates. However, they all belonged to the third shock group army. At the moment, the commander of the group army was still lieutenant general Simoniac and would not be changed to general Kuznetsov until March. If our army really invades Berlin at the end of February, the first contribution to the liberation of Berlin will fall on Simoniac instead of Kuznetsov.

Just as my heart was thinking that Kuznetsov might miss such a great feat, Zhukov had already finished his call. Seeing that he was chatting with malining, he immediately called me, "Rita, come to me."

I quickly walked to Zhukov, stood upright in front of him, and waited for his instructions respectfully. Zhukov looked up at me and asked, "are all the enemies in the forest cleared?"

"Yes, comrade marshal," he asked me something I was proud of. I quickly replied, "we have cleaned up the whole forest. There are no more remnants of the German army in it." With that, I took out the prepared war report from my pocket and handed it to him.

After reading the war report, Zhukov nodded with satisfaction. Then he looked up at me again and said, "Rita, since the German army on the East Bank of the Oder River has been solved, we can concentrate all our strength against the enemy on the left bank. Do you have any good ideas? "

"No!" I replied very decisively, "I just went back to the headquarters, and I don't know about the situation on the left bank, so I can't offer any good way. If you can give me two or three days to go to the position and investigate in person, maybe I can find a good way

"When katukov's troops return from bermelania, the focus of our attack will be the zelauf highland on the left bank, which is the last barrier to Berlin. As long as we take this highland, the road to Berlin will be smooth." Zhukov looked at me with trusting eyes and said, "I know you have many ideas, so I hope you can go to the front line more and work out a practical attack plan after understanding the situation of the battlefield, so as to win the high ground as soon as possible."

I didn't expect that as soon as I got back to the headquarters, Zhukov gave himself such a difficult task. Although I remember that there was only a few minutes in the movie to attack the highlands of zelauf, I found that it was not easy to capture the highlands of zelauf when I was really in this environment.

Not to mention the heights to be captured, they are now blocked in front of our army like the same wall. Even if the starting point of the attack is only a few narrow landing fields on the left bank. More than one hundred and two hundred thousand troops participating in the war could not be deployed in such a narrow area at all, and once the German army found our army's assembly and launched heavy shelling, it would certainly cause heavy casualties to our army.

When Zhukov saw me standing in a daze, he couldn't help asking, "Rita, what are you thinking?"

"Marshal," in front of Zhukov, I didn't want to hide my true thoughts: "our landing area on the left bank of the Oder River is limited, so we can't launch too many offensive troops at all..."

"You don't have to worry about that." Zhukov did not wait for me to finish, he interrupted me and said to himself, "the river is narrow, the narrowest place is only one or two hundred meters. Even after the attack, we can cross the East Bank of the army again in time."

As soon as Zhukov said this, he seemed to think of something. He frowned slightly, called malining over, and said to him, "in order to disintegrate the morale of the German army, what do you think we should do when we attack?"

"Do something?" Hearing Zhukov's question, malining immediately frowned and thought about it. After a long time, he tentatively said, "can we persuade the German army to surrender by shouting or playing music to them every day through the loudspeaker?"

"This is not realistic." As for malining's proposal, Zhukov did not hesitate to deny it: "the depth of the enemy's defense has reached five or six kilometers. Even if the enemy in individual areas surrenders to us, it will have little impact on the whole situation."

When I heard this, my mind suddenly came up with an idea, and my heart said: Zhukov will not launch the scheme of using searchlights in the attack at this time, will he? I held my breath and waited patiently for Zhukov to continue.

"Chief of staff, you misunderstood me. What I'm talking about is what measures we should take to deter the enemy when the troops attack. " He was deeply afraid that malining and I couldn't understand him. He also gave a special example: "in the battle of the liberation of Kiev, rebarko's tank troops used a buzzer on the tank to psychologically deter the German garrison."

After hearing Zhukov's words, malining said helplessly: "marshal, the left bank is hilly. We can't put a large number of tanks into battle at the same time, so I don't think it's appropriate to use the buzzer."

Zhukov waved his hand and said, "you still don't mean it immediately. I mean the buzzer interferes with the German army's mind and acts as a deterrent to them. But it doesn't mean that we have to use the buzzer when attacking the zelauf heights. We can use other equipment."

As soon as Zhukov's words were finished, my heart suddenly looked like a mirror. I knew that he was really planning to launch a scheme of using searchlight for lighting when attacking. However, in order not to become the magic wand in his mind, I didn't immediately say his intention. Instead, I pretended to be confused and asked Zhukov, "Comrade marshal, what should we use?"

"Searchlight!" Zhukov said the searchlight as I guessed, but in order to cooperate with him, I pretended to be surprised: "Comrade marshal, I don't know how we should use the searchlight to deter the enemy?"

"It's very simple," Zhukov said. Seeing that malining and I hadn't guessed our plan correctly, he quickly showed a smile of satisfaction. He continued, "I plan to use 150 high-power searchlights to illuminate the enemy's defensive positions after the attack, so that the enemy hiding in the trenches can't escape, and at the same time point out the direction of attack for our commanders and fighters."

When Zhukov said this, I quickly turned my eyes to malining to see if he would raise any objection. I saw malining's brow locked. After a moment's silence, I finally raised my objection: "Comrade marshal, I think it's not proper to do this."

"What's wrong?" When Zhukov heard what malining said, a look of displeasure flashed on his face.

"I don't think it's going to work if you use searchlights." Malining didn't notice the dissatisfaction on Zhukov's face, but said to himself, "on the contrary, the enemy can see our attacking troops clearly. In this way, our commanders and fighters may become the targets of the German army. Comrade marshal, please think it over carefully and don't use such risky and unsuitable things. "

After listening to marinin's words, Zhukov's face was covered with a shadow. He turned his eyes to me and asked coldly, "what do you think, Rita?" Whether searchlights should be used in the battle of attacking the highlands of zelauf has been a controversial issue in later generations. The positive side felt that the searchlight really played a role in deterring the German army and pointing out the direction for the attacking forces; On the contrary, due to the interference of smoke and mist, the searchlight of the Soviet army was not bright and did not light up the road for the troops. On the contrary, the uncertain light made the attacking troops confused about the real direction of attack. At the same time, the Germans could clearly see the Soviet Army's commanders and fighters in the attack, thus destroying countless commanders and fighters in front of their fortifications like shooting a target. Because these two kinds of arguments have been at loggerheads, I also feel very confused. I don't know whether I should support Zhukov or stand on malining's side. Seeing that I didn't speak, Zhukov seemed a little impatient. He urged, "what do you think, Rita? Just say it. Even if I'm wrong, I won't blame you. You don't have to have any psychological burden. " When I heard Zhukov urging me, I was shocked. At the same time, I made up my mind. Anyway, in the real history, Zhukov did use the searchlight in the battle of attacking the zelauf Highlands, so it should be right to support him. Thinking of this, I replied decisively: "marshal, I agree with you that when attacking, 150 high-power searchlights should be used to illuminate the German defensive positions, so as to deter them and point out the direction for our attacking forces."“ Rita, "as soon as I finished my words, malining was in a hurry." I don't think it's appropriate to use the searchlight when attacking... "Seeing malining's stubbornness, I was afraid that Zhukov would be angry with him, so I quickly came out and said," but marshal, whether we use the searchlight or not, we should test it through practice. I think we'd better find a place to try the effect. Can you see this? " My proposal is acceptable to both Zhukov and malining. After they nodded their approval, Zhukov told malining: "chief of staff, I'll give you full responsibility for the test."“ Don't worry, comrade marshal. " Malining patted his chest and assured Zhukov, "I'm going to arrange it now. I won't be disappointed with you." With that, he stood at attention, then turned and walked out of the headquarters to deal with the relevant matters.