As Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front tore a huge hole in the defense line of the German 2nd Army, the situation on the battlefield developed in a direction favorable to the Soviet army. At this moment
, Rokossovsky received a call from Antonov: "Comrade Marshal, the time has come. The Supreme Command orders you to immediately turn around and head west to cover Marshal Zhukov's right wing."
After Rokossovsky waited for Antonov to finish speaking, he asked: "What about the areas we occupy now?"
"The area near General Chernyakhovsky's headquarters will be handed over to the Third Belarusian Front." Antonov said: "You can continue to retain the rest of the area, but the main force should move westward as quickly as possible.
, covering Marshal Zhukov’s troops advancing to the west.”
"Okay, Comrade Chief of General Staff." Rokossovsky nodded and said, "I will pass on your order immediately."
After putting down the phone, Rokossovsky said to Bogolyubov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately call the commanders of each group army and order them to stop pursuing the German troops north or east, gather the troops and prepare to turn to the west.
.”
"Understood, Comrade Marshal, I will immediately convey your order to the headquarters of each group army." After saying this, Bogolyubov shook his fist vigorously and said excitedly: "Thank God, I have finally waited for this day."
When Sokov received a call from Bogolyubov and stopped the attack to the north, he immediately realized that the main attack direction of the troops was about to be adjusted, and quickly asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, are you ready to let us attack?"
Xi Xi carried out the attack and advanced?"
"Yes, General Sokov." Bogolyubov gave Sokov a positive answer: "We have received orders from the General Staff to stop attacking to the north and east, turn to the west with all our strength, and cover
Marshal Zhukov's flanks."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, it may take two days for my troops to be fully regrouped." Sokov asked tentatively: "I wonder if they can catch up with the attack to the west."
"It's totally in time, General Sokov." Bogolyubov said: "Looking at the order of attack, it should be the 3rd Army that attacks the enemy first, and our Army Group follows up as the second echelon, opening the gap opened by the friendly forces.
Enter the battlefield and find a way to tear the breach wider."
"I understand, Comrade Chief of Staff."
Sokov put down the phone and said to several deputies: "Comrades, there are new orders from superiors. Let us stop attacking to the north and east and prepare to turn around and advance to the west."
Sidorin said excitedly: "Great, this is really great. If we turn around and head west now, we might be the first unit to enter Berlin."
Both Ponedelin and Runev strongly agree with Sidorin's statement, because in their minds, the performance of the troops commanded by Rokossovsky on the battlefield is
To be stronger than Zhukov's troops. But Sokov knew very well in his heart that this was just a good wish of everyone. You know, when Zhukov's offensive troops were blocked by the German highlands, Stalin personally asked Konev to give Zhukov
Give way because you want your love to be the first to enter Berlin.
While everyone was rejoicing, the phone on the table rang. Sidorin rushed to the table, grabbed the phone on it, and said loudly: "I am Sidorin, what can I do?...
...Ah, what did you say? Say it again."
The next moment, Sidorin raised the microphone in his hand high and shouted excitedly: "Comrade commanders, good news, good news. Just an hour ago, Marshal Zhukov's troops had successfully passed the maintenance.
Sva River, successfully occupied Warsaw and eliminated the remaining enemies in the city."
Hearing that Zhukov's troops had occupied Warsaw, everyone was stunned for a moment, and then cheered loudly. Although their troops no longer belong to the 1st Belarusian Front, they were once part of this army's organization after all.
An attack was launched on Warsaw, but the attack did not achieve the desired results.
"Comrade Commander," Lunev walked up to Sokov and said with his face flushed with excitement: "This is a major event worthy of celebration. Do you want to see if you distribute vodka to the soldiers to make them happy too.
"
Due to the lessons learned from the 300th Infantry Division, Sokov has very strict control over drinking in the army. Anyone who dares to drink without permission will be severely punished if caught; if he gets into trouble because of drunkenness, he may even be put in solitary confinement. But
There was such a big happy event today, and it seemed reasonable to ask everyone to make an exception. So he only thought for a moment and nodded in agreement: "Okay, Comrade Military Commissioner, I will make an exception today and distribute 200 ml of medicine to each soldier.
Vodka, let's celebrate the victory of the 1st Belorussian Front."
When the logistics department notified each division to collect vodka, the person who received the call thought someone was playing a prank. They learned that it was the commander himself who gave the order to distribute 200 ml of vodka to each soldier in order to celebrate the liberation of Warsaw by friendly forces.
.The commanders and soldiers who heard the news immediately became excited.
Lunev saw that Sokov seemed a little unhappy, so he came over and said to him: "Comrade Commander, this is a happy day. Not only did we break through the defense line of the German 2nd Army with the cooperation of friendly forces, but also
They even severely damaged their Grossdeutschland Panzer Corps and achieved considerable results. The city of Warsaw, which had been unable to be conquered for a long time, was also occupied by Marshal Zhukov's troops. This was an amazing victory, indicating that the road to Berlin was completely opened.
Already."
"Comrade Military Commissar, I am worried that everyone will get into trouble while drinking." Sokov said with a wry smile: "You must still remember that before we took over the 300th Infantry Division, the division occupied a town and would seize the spirits from the cellar.
Distributed to every soldier. As a result, thousands of people in the entire division were drunk and unconscious. Fortunately, the Viking Division stationed nearby did not notice it. Otherwise, as long as a round of attack was launched, the 300th Infantry Division would have been removed from our army's organization.
Disappeared."
"Yes, yes." Lunev agreed with Sokov's statement: "At that time, the superiors were preparing to deal with the division commander. Fortunately, you interceded for him, and he was demoted one level and stayed there.
The division commander holds the position of deputy division commander. By the way, how is he doing now?"
"I don't know, after all, we are not in the same army now." Sokov shook his head and said, "Maybe he has been reinstated, or he may have died on the battlefield."
Having said this, Sokov suddenly remembered that Lunev had been searching for Shula's whereabouts in the past two days, and quickly asked with concern: "Comrade Military Commissar, have you found Shula's whereabouts?"
"We can only say that there are clues, but we have not yet received final confirmation." Lunev said: "When I called General Suboting yesterday, he told me that there was definitely no Shula I was looking for in the Second Front.
, maybe the opponent is in General Chernyakhovsky’s Third Front. After the war calms down, I will ask my acquaintances in the Third Front to help me find out."
"If Shula is really in the Third Front," Sokov asked tentatively, "then what should you do?"
"Find a way to transfer him over." Lunev said: "After all, he is just an ordinary tank soldier, and his transfer will not have much impact on the original troops."
Hearing that Lunev had given careful consideration, Sokov stopped talking about the matter and said to Ponedelin: "Comrade Deputy Commander, how long do you think it will take to gather all our troops?"
time?"
After hearing this, Ponedelin couldn't help being stunned, and then asked: "Comrade Commander, when you spoke to Chief of Staff Bogolyubov, didn't you say it would take two days?"
"Isn't that to leave some leeway?" Sokov said: "I think if we urge the division commanders more, we might be able to increase the speed."
"Comrade Commander, if the superiors are not in a hurry to launch an attack to the west, I think it is better not to worry about gathering the troops." Ponejelin said: "You think, after the troops occupy the enemy's area, they must eliminate the remaining enemies.
We need to treat the wounded, and we need to collect weapons, ammunition and supplies that are still usable. If we rush them to return to work, we will inevitably make mistakes in the rush."
Sokov thought about it carefully and felt that what Ponedelin said was very reasonable. If he urged it too hastily, the troops scattered all over the place would definitely make mistakes in their busy schedule in order to return to the reinforcements in time, and it would be self-defeating.
At this time Rokossovsky called and said to Sokov with a smile: "Misha, you know everything."
Although Rokossovsky did not say clearly what it was about, Sokov knew in his heart that the other party was referring to the liberation of Warsaw by Zhukov's troops. He quickly said: "Yes, Comrade Marshal, I am concerned about the liberation of Warsaw."
Already know."
After saying this, Sokov reorganized the vocabulary in his mind and said euphemistically: "What a pity. If your time in the First Front could be extended for two months, you might be the hero who captured Warsaw.
Already."
"It's all the same, it's all the same." Rokossovsky said magnanimously: "As long as our troops, whether it is the First Front Army or the Second Front Army, capture this city, it will be a great victory."
Shah, there are still a few days before the next attack. I wonder if you are interested in following me to the city of Warsaw?"
Going to the city of Warsaw did not appeal to Sokov at all, because he knew that since the failure of the Warsaw Uprising, almost all the residents of the city had been sent to concentration camps by the Germans, and the buildings in the city had also been destroyed.
Large-scale destruction has occurred. According to Mustache's intention, the city of Warsaw must be wiped off the face of the earth. When entering the city at this moment, all that can be seen are ruins and devastation.
Because of this consideration, he politely declined Rokossovsky's invitation: "Comrade Marshal, I'm really sorry. The army has just finished fighting and needs to supplement and summarize. I have to deal with a lot of work every day. I'm afraid
I don’t have time to accompany you to Warsaw.”
"That's such a pity." Rokossovsky said regretfully: "I will go find Marshal Zhukov later, and then go to Warsaw with him to have a look."
When Sidorin waited for Sokov to put down the phone, he asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, the Marshal invited you to go to Warsaw, why did you refuse?"
Sokov said with a wry smile: "As far as I know, since the failure of the Warsaw Uprising, the Germans sent the remaining residents of Warsaw to their concentration camps and even carried out large-scale demolition of buildings in the city. At this moment
When we entered the city, all we could see were ruins and ruins. Apart from our own troops, we couldn’t even see a single resident.”
"This is impossible." Sidorin said in surprise after hearing this: "Even after the Warsaw Uprising, the residents of the city suffered heavy casualties, but there are still 200,000 to 300,000 people. The Germans want to move so many residents out of the city.
, and send them to concentration camps, how much manpower and material resources will it cost?”
"As long as our troops are outside the city for a day, the residents in Warsaw will be a huge threat to the Germans." Sokov said: "To eliminate this threat, it is obviously impossible to kill all the residents in the city.
We can only transport them to other places and then destroy the city."
"It's been half a year." Ponejelin said from the side. "It's been half a year since the Warsaw Uprising. If they had sent people to actively contact us when they launched the uprising, maybe it would be a different situation now and the city could be saved.
, most of the residents will survive.”
When Sokov heard what Ponejelin said, he couldn't help but snorted and said: "But the leaders of the Warsaw Uprising were the masters who were ordered to live in exile in London. They were full of hostility towards our army and tried every means to block the news from us. Until they
When they couldn't hold on any longer, they shamelessly asked us for help, but it was already too late. Even if we wanted to help them, it was too late."
"To be honest, after entering Polish territory, I have seen Poles who are friendly to us and Poles who are hostile to us." Luniev said slowly: "Fortunately, the Poles who are friendly to us occupy the territory.
We must have a majority, otherwise even if we enter this country, we may not be able to gain a firm foothold."
"Now that the troops are turning westward, we will still be fighting on Polish territory for a long time." Poniejlin said: "I hope the Poles in these places will not become accomplices of the Germans, otherwise we will
The road ahead is going to be extremely difficult."
"Comrade Deputy Commander, you can rest assured on this." Although Sokov didn't know much about the history of the Second Front before it entered Berlin, he also knew very well that if there were Poles who were hostile to the Soviet army along the way and were holding them back, they would probably be held back.
They could not reach the outskirts of Berlin at the same time as the First Front. Therefore, he comforted Ponyjelin and said: "We are going to pass through the enemy next. We have been notified by the Germans for five years. The local people have long hated the Germans.
It’s deep in their bones that when they see liberators like us coming, they will definitely welcome them with flowers.”
"I hope so," Ponedelin continued: "The current situation is that Marshal Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front, Marshal Zhukov's 1st Belarusian Front, and our Second Front, three major
The arrows point to Berlin at the same time. The next thing to do is to see who among these three troops can enter Berlin first and establish immortal achievements."
"Marshal Konev's troops are absolutely impossible." Lunev stared at the map and said: "Now that we are fighting side by side with Marshal Zhukov's troops, the first troops to enter Berlin will definitely be born from among us."
