Chapter 1703

With the annihilation of the German army in the region of bermelania, several divisions of our army have successfully advanced to the Baltic coast. At this time, Stalin, who saw the victory in hand, decisively made a decision. In order to quickly occupy Berlin, the German capital, he planned to use three front forces to attack Berlin at the same time. The three front forces were the first front army of Belarus under the command of Marshal Zhukov and the second front army of Belarus under the command of Marshal rokosovsky, And the first front army of Ukraine under the command of Marshal konev.

According to the command of the base camp, the three front forces strengthened by a large number of artillery and aviation troops will break through the defense in three directions. The troops of the second front army of Belarus are preparing to break through the German defense in the area south of shicheqing to the city of Schwert; The forces of the first front army of Belarus are fighting in glitzen, koschin and lebus; The main breakthrough areas of konev's Ukrainian first front army are foster and muskow.

February 18th, five days before the attack. As soon as Zhukov, who had just returned from Moscow, returned to the headquarters, he immediately ordered malining: "chief of staff, call the commanders of the various groups of the front army, and ask them to go to the headquarters of the front army immediately to hold an important military meeting."

Taking advantage of malining's phone call, I tentatively asked Zhukov, who had a bad look: "Comrade marshal, is something wrong with you in Moscow?"

On hearing this question, Zhukov nodded and said to me, sokolovsky and jerekin with a serious face: "I, konev and rokolovsky were ordered to go back to Moscow and meet Comrade Stalin in the Kremlin. He showed us a copy of the latest intelligence provided by the Soviet intelligence agency. The United States and British general headquarters are preparing to attack Berlin. Its task is to occupy Berlin before our army. At present, they have formed a main force under the command of Marshal Montgomery. They plan to choose the main attack direction north of Ruhr and the shortest route between the main force of British forces and Berlin. "

"What did Comrade Stalin say?" As soon as Zhukov's words were finished, jerekin asked eagerly. Sokolovsky and I did not speak, just staring at Zhukov, quietly waiting for his answer.

"Comrade Stalin is very angry." Zhukov replied: "he said that although the possibility of private peace between Britain and the United States and Germany has been basically ruled out after the Yalta meeting, Germany is likely to open the access to Berlin to the Allied forces for its own interests."

He stopped for a moment and added: "Comrade Stalin asked the three of us sternly: then who will occupy Berlin? Is it us or the allies? "

After listening to Zhukov's brief introduction, everyone realized the seriousness of the problem. If the German army really released water to the allies in the west, but concentrated its main forces to confront us, it would be an unknown whether our army or the allies would enter Berlin first. Sokolovsky asked tentatively: "do we need to advance our attack time?"

Without waiting for Zhukov to speak, malining, who came back after the call, said, "no, some of our plans are not in place. If we advance the attack time, it will disrupt our campaign plans."

"Yes, the chief of staff is right." As soon as marinin's voice fell, Zhukov echoed: "our preparation time is very hasty. If we launch an attack ahead of time, it will certainly disrupt the original campaign deployment."

After listening to Zhukov's statement, jerekin asked, "since we don't plan to launch an attack ahead of time, what is the purpose of our emergency military meeting today?"

"Assign offensive operations to the troops." Zhukov said slowly: "in five days, we are going to launch an attack on the highlands of zelauf, but the operational orders for the various army groups have not been officially issued. I'm just going to use today's meeting to give the commanders detailed offensive orders. "

When Zhukov finished, he called marinin aside and whispered, as if he was being assigned a task, while marinin nodded his head as he listened.

Sokolovsky nodded at the two men who were saying that and asked me, "Rita, what do you say marshal and chief of staff malining are talking about?"

I shook my head and said I didn't know: "I don't know, but after the war meeting, the answer should be known."

An hour later, the commanders of the group armies came to the headquarters one after another and sat in their own positions under the guidance of malining. Seeing that all the people had arrived, Zhukov stood up and swept all the people one by one with his eyes. Then he said in a loud voice, "all the commanders of the group army, I'm calling you here today to prepare for the combat mission. As you all know, the supreme command ordered us to attack Berlin with the troops of rokosovsky and konev. Our first attack on zelauf heights is scheduled for February 23, the army day. In order to launch the attack on time, our logistics forces have made every effort to work overtime to transport the ammunition and fuel supplied to the troops to the designated positions... "

After a brief introduction of the intelligence, Zhukov turned to malining and said, "next, comrade malining, chief of staff of the front army, will assign us combat tasks."

Malining stood up from the table, picked up the folder on the table, opened it, and read the documents in it: "in order to create an overwhelming superiority of military strength and technical equipment in the absolute moment and decisive direction, that is, in the direction of Berlin, the three most powerful front forces were assembled in this direction

We played 160 divisions against 60 German divisions; 2 million vs. 650000; 39000 guns and mortars vs. 700 guns; 5800 tanks and self-propelled artillery against 1100; 7000 combat aircraft vs. 2500. "

Hearing a series of data reported by malining, the commanders attending the meeting showed a knowing smile on their faces. But my heart was murmuring to myself that the battle was carried out two months ahead of schedule, and the number of Soviet and German troops participating in the battle was greatly reduced.

Malining quickly walked up to the map on the wall, picked up the stick, drew a big circle in the area where our army was assembled on the map, and then announced: "it is general trakov's close guard 8th Army that will break through in the central area. It should break through the enemy's defense in the area of holcoff railway station and saxondov village, and attack selo, trebnitz, galcey, and so on Darwicz Silesia railway station, salletenburg direction of development.

It is

It is... "Who is responsible for the breakthrough of the left wing

After introducing the combat tasks of each group army, malining put down his explanation stick, looked sideways at his Zhukov and nodded, indicating that he had finished.

Seeing that marinin had finished his assignment to the commanders of the group army, Zhukov stood up again and began his concluding remarks: "the battle we are undertaking to capture Berlin is an unparalleled battle. We will wipe out their four army groups on the outskirts of Berlin, with a force of no less than 650000.

From the outbreak of the war to the present, we have never conquered a city as large and fortified as Berlin. It has a large area. Every street, lane, house, waterway, bridge and subway is an integral part of Berlin's urban defense. From the Oder River to Berlin, there is a complete and dense fortification system. Therefore, the headquarters of the front army decided to launch a fierce attack on the enemy with the potential of toppling mountains and seas, so as to fundamentally shake and destroy their defense. To achieve this goal, the front army concentrated 18000 guns and mortars of various calibres, 3600 tanks and self-propelled guns, and 4000 aircraft. I think we should all understand how powerful our strike will be. "

Hearing this, the excited commanders began to whisper the exciting news. Instead of interrupting them, Zhukov allowed them to talk in private with a smile on his face.

After the meeting room became quiet again, Zhukov continued: "but in order to shake the enemy completely, defeat them mentally. Now I have such an idea that at night, two hours before dawn, under the illumination of 140 anti-aircraft searchlights, I will launch a fierce attack on the enemy's positions. "

When I heard this, I couldn't help laughing. According to Zhukov's original plan, 150 searchlights were used. However, during the recent experiment, ten of them have been reimbursed, so only the remaining 140 searchlights can be used

As soon as his voice fell, trekov, who was sitting next to me, took the lead to speak: "Comrade marshal, please allow me to speak."

Seeing Zhukov nodding to himself, trakov stood up and said, "during the whole war, we have never launched such a large-scale offensive campaign at night, because it is difficult to command the troops effectively. As for the searchlights, "he said, shrugging his shoulders and spreading his hands," the enemy only needs one round of shelling to put them out. "

Seeing that trakov led the way, the commander of the 69th army, korpakchi, also stood up and asked to speak. With Zhukov's permission, he said in a loud voice, "I don't think the effect of using searchlights to attack is very good. On the contrary, it will let the enemy see our attacking troops clearly..."

After waiting for korpakchi to finish, Zhukov drew his eyes back, stared at the table in front of him, and asked, "who among the commanders here has the same opinion?"

As soon as he finished, a hand was raised around the table. I looked at it carefully. Except for Kuznetsov, the new commander of the third shock group army, and berzalin, the commander of the fifth shock group army, all the other group army commanders raised their hands.

Seeing that so many people were against him, Zhukov didn't get angry, but said calmly, "OK, we'll suspend the meeting for the time being. After waiting for two hours, everyone will go to the exercise ground. We will continue to discuss whether we should use searchlights when attacking. It's over

When the commanders left one after another, Zhukov stopped malining and asked solemnly, "chief of staff, are you ready?"

If others see this scene, they will feel confused, but my heart is like a mirror. When Zhukov asked malining if he was ready, he must be referring to the searchlights arranged in the exercise field.

Two hours later, it was completely dark. Guided by the weak light of the flashlight, a group of group army commanders walked forward along the uneven drill ground. I followed them and listened to their conversation. Trakov didn't know who he was talking to. "It's a terrible idea to use searchlights when attacking. As a commander, I don't even know the common sense that the cover generated on the battlefield will absorb the light of searchlights. It's just too funny... "I kept silent and continued to listen to other people's opinions about trekov's comments. Another general said: "I agree with general kolpakchi that the use of searchlights on the battlefield will expose our offensive troops to the enemy, and do so..." before he finished his words, a dazzling light suddenly appeared in front of us, shining all around us like day. I know it was Zhukov who asked the commanders at all levels to feel the power of the searchlight. He quickly turned around with his eyes closed and turned his back to the dazzling searchlight“ What do you think, comrades, of the power of searchlights? " Soon, when it was dark again, I heard Zhukov's triumphant voice. After he said that, seeing that there was no response, he immediately added, "if someone doesn't understand what I mean, I can let you feel it again."“ No, comrade marshal. " He may realize that no matter how much they oppose, Zhukov will stubbornly use the searchlight on the battlefield, so he said, "you are right. You have convinced us in your way that the searchlight can really deter the enemy on the battlefield." I opened my eyes and came to Zhukov with the help of the weak light on the exercise field. He continued: "since we all agree with my proposal, it is so decided that on the day of the attack, we will use these 140 searchlights to shine on the German positions to shock the enemy hiding in the fortifications." No one said anything. Although there may be some resistance in everyone's heart, since Zhukov's words are for this reason, everyone can only obey unconditionally. After a while, trikov asked on behalf of everyone, "Comrade marshal, will you allow us to go back to the army and convey your operational order?" Zhukov waved to the commanders in front of him and said generously, "well, it's late anyway. Everyone will return to the army as soon as possible to make the final preparations before the attack."