Chapter 1699

After a few nights of testing, I found that the effect of using searchlights was neither as bad as malining had worried, nor as effective as Zhukov had said. The effectiveness of a searchlight depends entirely on the weather and location in which it is used. Even so, Zhukov was satisfied. He decided to report the incident to all the group army leaders at an appropriate time.

Seeing the German counterattack in bermelania smashed under the joint attack of katukov and the second front army, we seem to see the opportunity to attack Berlin again in front of us. Among them, the most active person is Cui Kefu, commander of the 8th group army of the guards. He personally went to the headquarters of the front army to find Zhu Kefu.

Zhukov was a little surprised when he saw the arrival of trakov: "Comrade trakov, aren't you supposed to command the troops to smash the German anti assault at the landing site of trastirling?"

"My deputy commander, general duhanov, is commanding the troops. He has rich command experience and is more than enough to deal with small-scale German harassment. " After a brief answer to Zhukov's question, trakov said what he thought: "I think we should take advantage of the fact that the German army has not yet had time to deploy the reserves, and resolutely rush to Berlin to seize the city with a swift attack."

After listening to his proposal, Zhukov stared at him for a long time. Finally, he shook his head and said, "no, comrade trakov, this is absolutely impossible."

"Why?" Trekov asked, puzzled.

Zhukov stood up, came out from behind his desk, walked back and forth in the room, and said, "in a few days, that is, on February 4, the Supreme Commander himself will hold talks with the leaders of Britain and the United States in Yalta. At the meeting, we will discuss joint operations between the two sides. "

"Marshal, when we launched the campaign of Belarus, we did not get the support of Britain and the United States. We succeeded." "I think that even if there is no attack from the west by Britain and the United States to contain the German forces, we can take down Berlin with our own ability," he said confidently

"Comrade trikov," Zhukov interrupted him harshly before trikov finished, and said solemnly, "can the present situation compare with that at that time? According to the information we have, the Germans are in private contact with Britain and the United States in an attempt to make peace on the Western Front alone. Once they succeed in their plot, the Germans will be able to boldly transfer all the troops on the western front to the east to stop our army. Then, let alone capture Berlin, it will be God's blessing not to be surrounded by the German army. "

When Zhukov said that Britain and the United States might make peace with Germany in private, trakov's face turned pale. After a long time, he said, "Comrade marshal, isn't this true?"

"It's not true." Zhukov said angrily, "if you want to win Berlin, you are not only worried, I am worried. Comrade Stalin, who is far away in Moscow, is even more worried. However, if we do not eliminate the hidden danger of peace making on the western front, it would be a dream to rush directly to Berlin with our troops in the front. If we can't attack Berlin for a long time and the German reinforcements arrive again, then our troops attacking Berlin will fall into the siege of the German forces. Do you understand? "

The room fell into silence. After a long time, trikov began to break the silence: "what should we do?"

Trikov beckoned to marinin, who was sitting next to me. When malining stood in front of him, he said directly, "Comrade chief of staff, please read to general trakov the combat order we have drawn up, so that he can know it well."

Malining nodded, picked up a document and began to read: "the 5th assault group army, the 8th group army of the guards, the 69th and 33rd group army should occupy the landing site on the West Bank of the Oder River. Moreover, it is better for the 8th and 69th group armies of the guards to have a common landing site between trastirling and Frankfurt. If it can be done, it is better to connect the landing sites of the 5th assault group army and the 8th guard group army;

The first group army of Poland, the 47th and 61st group army, the second group army of tanks and the second group army of cavalry should repel the enemy to the line of ratcheburg - Falkenberg - hittagarde - alitdam - Oder River. After that, in addition to leaving the cover troops to wait for the arrival of the second front army of Belarus, the rest of the troops should move to the Oder River to make a breakthrough;

During the breakthrough, the existing strengthening weapons of each group army were still used; Minor and medium repairs of tanks and self-propelled guns should be completed before February 5 to keep the weapons in good condition;

The air force should be deployed, and there should be no less than six bases of fuel on the airport;

The logistics departments of the front army, the group armies and the troops should make full preparations for the decisive stage of the campaign before February 3-4.

The headquarters of the front army: Zhukov; Military commissar: jieliejin; Chief of staff: Malin. "

When marinin finished reading, Zhukov looked at trikov and asked, "Comrade trikov, have you heard the command I gave you?"

"Yes, comrade marshal." Trekov nodded his head vigorously and replied positively: "the main task of our army is to expand and consolidate the trastirling landing site, so as to make it the starting point for future attacks."

"Very well, comrade trekov." For trekov's answer, Zhukov nodded with satisfaction: "now that you have understood, then rush back to the troops as soon as possible, organize forces to attack the German army, and strive to expand the landing field under your control, so that we can deploy more offensive troops on the landing field."

After trikov left, malining asked Zhukov anxiously, "marshal, do you think Britain and the United States will make peace with the Germans in private?"

"No, comrade chief of staff." Without waiting for Zhukov's reply, I broke in and said, "judging from the current situation, the private peace between Britain, the United States and Germany is not in their long-term interests. As long as we don't completely destroy Germany, they will come back to life sooner or later. Therefore, I think that after the Yalta meeting, the British and American allies will officially launch an attack on the German forces and push forward to Berlin, the capital of Germany, East and west at the same time. "

"Rita, their army is more than 600 kilometers away from Berlin, while ours is only 70 kilometers away." Malining said with disapproval: "even if they attack before us, the first to arrive in Berlin is still our army."

"Although Britain and the United States and Germany will not make peace in private, it can not be ruled out that the Germans take the initiative to open the channel to Britain and the United States and intentionally let them occupy Berlin, so that they can transfer more troops to the east to defend and block our army's advance to Berlin." I carefully tell you a part of my history as my own inference, "so even if we attack with the allies at the same time, the first one to arrive in Berlin may still be the Allied forces."

After listening to my so-called analysis, malining was a little nervous: "marshal, if the situation is really like what Lida said, what should we do?"

"Don't worry, chief of staff. Please keep calm." Zhukov raised his hand and pressed it down, indicating that malining didn't have to worry about this kind of thing. He said carefully: "it's possible that Lida said this kind of situation, but we can't panic because of it. As long as konev and rokosovsky's troops make a large-scale detour from both wings to Berlin, it will be useless for them even if the German army opens the channel to the allies. Only our troops can win Berlin in the end. "

A week later, after attending the Yalta meeting, Stalin informed Zhukov that after his meeting with the leaders of Britain and the United States, the other side had given up the intention of making peace with the German army in private, and apologized for the secret contact with the German army representatives. At the same time, General Marshall, the chief of the general staff of the Allied forces, also announced that after Eisenhower's redeployment and a short rest, the U.S. troops had made all preparations before the attack and could launch the attack in the direction of Berlin at any time.

After getting the news, Zhukov called us together to discuss whether it was necessary to advance the attack time.

The first speaker was malining, who solemnly said: "marshal, most of our troops have not yet completed the replenishment of troops, and the ammunition has not reached the two cardinal numbers. If we launch an attack at this time, I am afraid that our attack will be defeated because of poor logistics."

As soon as marinin's words were finished, general sokolovsky said, "yes, marshal, the chief of staff has a point. Our follow-up troops are arriving one after another, and the weapons and ammunition have not yet reached the required reserve base. If we launch an attack rashly, I am worried that our attack will become weak. "

"Marshal," artillery commander karzakov said, "as the weather gets warmer and the snow melts, the road becomes more and more muddy. The convoy carrying shells often takes a day or two to reach the army than expected in the evening, which greatly slows down the speed of our accumulation of shells. If the attack is to be launched ahead of time, I am afraid that the time for artillery preparation will be greatly shortened. "

Seeing that everyone was against launching an attack ahead of time, Zhukov's face was a little confused. He turned to look at me and asked, "Rita, how do you think about it?"

I quickly stood up and said cautiously, "marshal, I think we should attack at the scheduled time. February 23, whether it is our army day, is a very meaningful festival. Another major reason is that our army has enough time to complete the supply of soldiers, weapons and ammunition. "

"That's right, that's right," malining and sokolovsky said as soon as I finished, "that's what Rita means. We haven't finished our preparations yet. If we launch an attack in a hurry, it will not only cause huge casualties to the troops, but also not achieve any results."

"So our attack can only be launched at the end of February?" Zhukov asked, looking at me with an unhappy face.

"Exactly, comrade marshal." When I saw Zhukov's expression was not harmonious, I quickly found a step for him to step down. "Our landing site on the West Bank is too small to accommodate too many offensive troops. This is bound to lead most of our troops to cross the Oder River in a hurry after the offensive battle starts, so as to cooperate with the leading forces to launch the offensive. "

My reason made Zhukov find the step to step down. He nodded his head and said in a very cooperative way, "Rita makes a lot of sense. At present, we can only deploy two or three divisions at the same time in the two landing sites on the West Bank, which is far from enough to capture the Highlands like zelauf. Well, our attack time will remain unchanged. During this time, we should urge our troops to continue to launch counterattack against the German army, and strive to consolidate and expand the landing site. "

After the meeting, the 8th group army and the 5th group army of Jinwei received an order from Zhukov to double the existing landing site within 10 days. After this order was issued, trikov, who had been holding his strength, began to show his strength. In just two days, he expanded the front and depth of the landing site by two kilometers. In contrast, the performance of the 5th group army is much worse. After all, in the early stage of their attack, the troops were greatly reduced, so they played for several days without making any progress. Just when we thought Zhukov would definitely settle accounts with the commander of the group army, berzalin, something unexpected happened. The third shock group army, which had just been assigned to us, immediately took action after receiving the order of Zhukov to cross the Oder River and establish a landing site on the West Bank. But unfortunately, due to the warming of the temperature, ice floes floated on the river, so that the group army's several raids ended in failure. Seeing the repeated failures of the third assault group army, Zhukov was furious. He called the group army commander, lieutenant general simoniyak, to the headquarters, and immediately reprimanded him. General simoniyak was also an acute man. Originally, he had a lot of evil anger in order to overcome the defeat of the army. Now he was scolded by Zhukov, and suddenly became angry and angry. He began to scold Zhukov. In the end, he took off his cap and fell on Zhukov's desk. He said, "I won't do this commander. Let whoever you think is suitable do it! " I didn't know well, so I rushed to malining and sokolovsky. They winked and motioned to persuade them to fight. A marshal quarreled with a general, so that the soldiers could see what was right. As soon as we passed by, we suddenly heard Zhukov say: "well, general Simoniac, since you don't want to take the post of commander, from now on, you will be dismissed. Kuznetsov will take over your vacant post in the future. " As soon as Zhukov's words came out, Simoniac was stunned, I was stunned, malining and sokolovsky were stunned, and all the people who heard them were stunned. It was unexpected that Zhukov made such an exception. The grand commander of the group army said that he would be dismissed immediately, leaving no room for change. I don't know how long later, Simoniac began to speak. He seemed to be ten years older: "I understand, comrade marshal, I will return to the army immediately and wait for a new commander to take over my post." With that, he reached for the hat on the table, neither put it on his head, nor saluted Zhukov, so he turned and left the headquarters.