MTL - Red Moscow-Chapter 2090

  Chapter 2090

"You are right, Comrade Commander." Malinin nodded and said, "Since Chuikov's troops established the landing field, the German army has concentrated its superior forces and attacked them non-stop. At the same time, the air force was dispatched, and We compete for air supremacy over the Vistula River, so that the pontoon bridge we built on the Vistula River was repaired, bombed and repaired.”

   "Sometimes I'm thinking about whether we should let Chuikov retreat to the right bank of the Vistula River, re-accumulate strength, and then give up the forced crossing operation again."

"Comrade Commander, Chuikov's troops must not be withdrawn." Hearing what Rokossovsky said, Malinin quickly dissuaded him and said, "The 8th Guards Army finally gained a firm foothold in the left bank area. If you give up like this, then all the efforts and efforts you have made before, and the huge price you paid, will be in vain.”

"Chief of staff, I just said that casually." Rokossovsky said with a wry smile: "The Magnusev landing field is a foothold we have finally established on the left bank. If we really give up, we want to regain it. , will inevitably pay a greater price. Instead of doing this, it is better to let Chuikov's troops continue to persevere. As long as our right-wing troops establish a new landing field in the Narew River area, we can disperse the German troops and reduce the Chuikov and the pressure they are under."

   "When do you plan to let them carry out the river crossing operation?"

Rokossovsky stared at the map in front of him for a while, and then began to dictate orders: "Now the troops closest to the Narew River are Batov's 65th Army, let them take the lead in launching the river crossing operation. As long as they can If the crossing is successful, the troops of Misha's 48th Army and Popov's 70th Army can also cross the Narew River smoothly and establish a reliable landing site on the left bank."

Malinin called Batov and conveyed Rokossovsky's order to him: "General Batov, Comrade Commander ordered your army to go as close as possible to the Narew River and complete the forced crossing task in the shortest possible time. "

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Batov waited for Malinin to finish speaking, and immediately raised the difficulties faced by his troops: "The vanguard of our army is still about forty kilometers away from the Narew River, and there are German troops along the way. It may take two or three days for the two lines of defense to reach the river. Moreover, we still lack enough equipment for crossing the river..."

While Batov was still talking about the difficulties his troops were facing, Rokossovsky, who heard the conversation between the two, took the microphone from Malinin: "General Batov, I only give you two days. Two days later, I hope to see your troops establish a landing field on the left bank of the Narew River, how about it, can it be done?"

  Hearing that Rokossovsky personally gave the order to himself, Batov was silent for a long time, and finally said: "Comrade Commander, I will do my best..."

"It's not about doing your best, but about doing it." Rokossovsky repeated his words again, "I can only give you two days. After two days, I hope to see your troops appear On the left bank of the Narew. Can it be done?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander!" Hearing Rokossovsky's harsh tone, Batov did not dare to talk about any difficulties, so he could only stiffen his hair and say, "We will definitely complete the forced crossing within the stipulated time." task on the Narew River, and to establish a reliable landing field on the left bank."

Regarding Batov's answer, Rokossovsky nodded and said with satisfaction: "That's right, General Batov. Good luck to you, I will wait for news of your victory at the headquarters .”

  After the call ended, Batov did not put down the phone immediately, but held the microphone in a daze. Seeing it, Glebov couldn't help asking curiously, "Comrade Commander, what are you thinking?"

Glebov's voice woke Batov from his contemplation. He found that he was still holding the receiver in his hand, and quickly put it on the phone. Then he said to Glebov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the commander just gave us The group army issued a combat order, allowing us to forcefully cross the Narew River within two days and establish a reliable landing site on the left bank."

"It's impossible, it's absolutely impossible." As soon as Batov finished speaking, Glebov said in a broken voice: "Comrade Commander, this is an impossible task. You know, our vanguard is far away from Narev." The river is still more than 40 kilometers away, and there are two directions of the German army along the way. According to our current strength, it will take at least a week to reach the bank of the Narew River."

"I have also told the commander about this," Batov said helplessly, "but the comrade commander is very stubborn and insists on giving us only two days, so we must do everything possible to complete the commander's handover." task for us."

Hearing that the two were discussing the matter of forcibly crossing the Narew River, Military Commissar Rajecki came over and asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff, since the superior has given us an order to attack, what should we do now?" What to do is to think about how to better implement this order, not discuss whether this order is reasonable."

"Comrade Military Commissar, you are right." Batov also figured it out at this moment. Since Rokossovsky gave the order to attack, he had to find a way to complete this task, not here. Blame God and others. You know, even if they don't perform this arduous task, they need other troops to perform such a task instead, which is simply unacceptable to them.

   "Comrade commander, where do you think we should try to cross?" Glebov asked.

"What do you think of Pultusk?" Batov put forward his own idea: "Although the river in this area is wide, the terrain is flat and the water flow is slow. It is relatively easy to build a pontoon bridge on the river."

   "I think it is possible." Batov nodded and said, "Then we will use Pultusk and the area south of it as our forced crossing point. But now that there is a shortage of crossing equipment, is there any way to get a batch?"

Rajecki heard the two men sigh about the details of crossing the river, so he took the initiative to remind them: "Commander, Chief of Staff, it doesn't matter even if we lack the equipment for crossing the river, we can borrow some of the equipment for crossing the river from friendly forces to ease the urgent need. "

   "That's a good idea." Rajecki nodded, and then asked, "Which army does the commander plan to borrow equipment for crossing the river?"

"General Sokov's 48th Army captured the Brest Fortress," Glebov said aside, "This is a fortress surrounded by rivers. They must have seized a lot of river crossing equipment from the Germans." .”

"I'll make a call to General Sokov." Batov waited for Glebov to finish speaking, and felt that Sokov should have a lot of river-crossing equipment in his hands, so he took the initiative to say: "Ask him to borrow some of the river-crossing equipment. "

  "General Sokov," the next moment, Batov ordered someone to connect to the headquarters of the 48th Army Group, and asked Sokov to answer the phone: "I am Batov."

  Hearing that it was Batov who was looking for him, Sokov thought that the other party called to thank him for saving his life in the Belovizh Forest some time ago. He smiled and said, "Hello, General Batov, it is my honor to receive your call!"

   "General Sokov, I am calling you today to ask for your help."

   "Ask me for help?" Sokov couldn't help but thumped in his heart when he heard Batov say that, and wondered if the other party wanted to borrow troops from me? If so, should I borrow or not? He asked cautiously: "I don't know why I asked for help?"

"It's like this, Comrade Commander gave our army an order to forcefully cross the Narew River." Batov asked Sokov, so naturally he would not hide the real purpose of the call: "But our army has the ability to cross the river." The number of equipment is limited, so I have the cheek to ask you for help. '

   Knowing that Batov wanted to borrow the river-crossing equipment from him, Sokov said apologetically, "I'm sorry, General Batov, I really can't do anything about the river-crossing equipment."

Sokov's answer made Batov a little disappointed. He said unwillingly: "General Sokov, if I had a way to find more crossing equipment, I would not bother you. There is a serious lack of equipment for crossing the river, so I have the cheek to ask you for help, but I did not expect to be rejected by you."

  Sokov was unwilling to turn against Batov over this kind of thing, so he explained to the other party: "General Batov, I'm really sorry, it's not that I don't pick it up, but that I really don't have any river crossing equipment to lend you."

  Batov couldn't help being taken aback after hearing this: "How is this possible, General Sokov. As we all know, the Brest Fortress is a fortress surrounded by rivers. Is there still a lack of various river crossing equipment in the fortress?"

"General Batov, to tell you the truth, we did have a lot of equipment for crossing the river." Sokov explained to Batov: "But General Chuikov's troops crossed the Vistula River, and I was ordered to take all the equipment to cross the river." The equipment for crossing the river was handed over to General Chuikov."

   "I don't know who gave this order?"

"Who else can it be? Comrade Marshal." Sokov continued: "At the beginning, General Chuikov's troops were going to force the crossing in the Magnusev area. Since the troops lacked enough equipment for crossing the river, Comrade Marshal personally gave me Give me an order to hand over all the river-crossing equipment. Since it is the order given by Comrade Marshal, there is no reason for me to disobey. I will immediately arrange for all the river-crossing equipment to be sent over. If the superior gives me the order I don’t know where to get the equipment for crossing the river yet.”

   Hitting a wall with Sokov, Batov had no choice but to turn the other party for help into Popov. But this time he was lucky. When Popov heard that his troops were going to carry out a river crossing operation, but lacked the necessary crossing equipment, he said generously: "General Batov, I have fifty wooden boats and twenty wooden boats here." Although the number of kayaks is a little small, they can cross a battalion at a time, and I hope it can help you in your battle across the river."

  Although the river-crossing equipment that Popov promised will wait a day, it is enough for Batov. After all, his troops had to break through the two directions of the German army and advance forty kilometers before reaching the bank of the Narew River.

"Comrade Commander," Seeing that Batov managed to get some equipment for crossing the river, Glebov began to discuss with him which troops to use for the attack: "I suggest using the 304th and 321st Infantry Divisions, and then Pano In order to cooperate with the Don River Tank Corps of General Kevsky, they can quickly break through the two lines of defense of the German army and open up the passage to the banks of the Narew River."

Batov thought for a while, and then agreed to Glebov's proposal: "Chief of Staff, your proposal is good. Although the 304th and 321st Infantry Divisions lost a lot in the early stage of the battle, after months of rest and replenishment , They have fully recovered their original combat effectiveness. In addition, the Don River Tank Army has not participated in battles for a long time, and the tank commanders and fighters are full of energy. If they are allowed to participate in the battle, they will definitely be able to display extremely strong combat effectiveness. "

   "Then I will immediately notify General Panov to get his troops ready for battle." Glebov said, "We will launch an attack on the enemy's defensive position early tomorrow morning."

  Panov received an order from his superiors and learned that his tank army would be the main force tomorrow, leading the infantry to attack the enemy's defensive positions, so he quickly called several brigade commanders under his command for a meeting.

At the meeting, his words were full of murderous intent: "After the offensive began, the tank army, including me, launched a charge. The battalion was used as a unit, and they rushed. Don't care about the establishment, and don't care if it is a disorderly battle. Wherever there are German troops, they will rush there, anyway, infantry will follow behind.

  Seeing the enemy appearing, bombard them with tanks if they are far away, and shoot them with machine guns if they are close. In a word, it is to keep attacking, attacking, attacking until it is out of the bank of the Narew River. "

  After Panov finished speaking, he glanced at his subordinates one by one, and then asked, "Anyone have any questions?"

  A tank brigade commander raised his hand and asked tentatively: "Comrade commander, I would like to ask, what if some Germans surrendered to us during our assault?"

Hearing this question, Panov rolled his eyes, "Comrade Colonel, we are tank soldiers, not infantry. It is the infantry's job to capture prisoners, and our tank soldiers are only responsible for attacking. Even if there are Germans who lay down their weapons and prepare to surrender , and don’t pay attention to them, all you have to do is to rush over with full horsepower, as for whether the other party can be captured alive by our infantry, it depends on their luck.”

Panov's words caused a burst of laughter. He raised his hand and pressed it down. After the room became quiet, he continued: "Because the main force of the group army has been trapped in the Belovizh Forest for more than a month, Our army has no chance to participate in the battle at all, and the commanders and fighters are all suffocating. Now that we have the opportunity to confront the enemy face to face, we must not let it go. We must let the infantry brothers see that the winner is determined on the battlefield. The army still depends on our tank soldiers."

   After saying this, he took a sip of the tea on the table, glanced at his subordinates again, and raised his voice and asked, "Do you have anything else to ask now?"

   "No!" The commanders present replied in unison.

   "Since there are no problems, let's go." Panov waved to the crowd, motioning for everyone to leave: "Everyone go back to their respective units and make preparations before the attack."

  (end of this chapter)