After finishing the call with Rokossovsky, Sokov said to Malyshev: "Comrade Director of Armored Forces, Comrade General just told me that he will allocate two tank brigades to us as soon as possible. You will be able to command them by then.
There are even more troops.”
Hearing what Sokov said, Colonel Malyshev had an expression of surprise on his face. After all, no commander would dislike the large number of troops under his command.
"Comrade Director of Armored Forces." Sidorin asked from the side: "If you need our assistance in any way, just ask."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Malyshev seemed to have been waiting for Sidorin to say this, he said: "I hope to be equipped with a maintenance force to repair those tanks that were damaged on the battlefield.
"
"Repair the damaged tank?" Hearing what Malyshev said, Sidorin asked with some surprise: "Comrade Director of the Armored Forces, it is not a big problem to equip you with a repair station. The key is that you have enough spare parts to repair it.
Those tanks that were damaged on the battlefield?”
Hearing what Sidorin said, Malyshev became a little anxious: "Comrade Chief of Staff, not everyone on the front line understands that damaged tanks are not waste in the war, not garbage...It is impossible for all tanks to be destroyed...
…It has thousands of parts…In the worst case scenario, two tanks can be repaired out of three.”
Not to mention Sidorin, even Sokov believed that those tanks that were destroyed on the battlefield had basically no repair value other than being refurbished. Maybe a new one would be rebuilt, but it wouldn’t take as long as it would take to repair it. But.
Hearing what Malyshev said now, he couldn't help but subvert his previous understanding. He was a little surprised and asked: "Comrade Director of Armored Forces, can those tanks that were destroyed on the battlefield really be repaired?"
"That's for sure, Comrade Commander." After Malyshev gave Sokov a positive answer, he then said unceremoniously: "Many senior commanders don't understand many things because they are not tank soldiers.
When they saw the tanks that were destroyed on the battlefield, they either turned a blind eye and allowed the wreckage to rust and rot in the sun and rain on the battlefield; or they directly ordered maintenance workers to pick up the tank wreckage and put it back into the furnace without even thinking about repairing it.
things, resulting in a lot of waste.”
Hearing what Malyshev said, Sokov couldn't help but blush. He felt that what the other person said seemed to be talking about himself. Every time he saw the destroyed tanks on the battlefield, he chose to turn a blind eye and just wait.
New tanks were sent from the rear, and no thought was given to repairing the scrapped tanks and then putting them back into the battlefield.
In order to resolve the embarrassment, Sokov deliberately changed the subject: "Comrade Director of the Armored Forces, you once fought side by side with Lieutenant General Lukin. Is there anything that impressed you?"
Sokov's words made Malyshev fall into deep thought. After a long time, he said: "Comrade Commander, if you want to talk about something that impressed me most, it is that the enemy occupied the southern district of Smolensk.
Thousands of our wounded and medical staff were not evacuated in time, and they all fell into the hands of the Germans."
Seeing the sad and angry expression on Malyshev's face, Ponedelin realized the seriousness of the problem and quickly asked tentatively: "Comrade Colonel, what happened to the wounded and medical staff captured by the Germans?
"
"Dead, all dead." Malyshev gritted his teeth and said: "The Germans drove them to the bank of the Dnieper River, fired at them with machine guns, and killed them all on the bank of the Dnieper River, and then killed them all.
Their bodies were thrown into the river, and their blood dyed the water red."
Although Sokov had heard about the massacre of Soviet prisoners of war by the German army, this was the first time he heard about the killing of thousands of people at a time. He gritted his molars and asked: "The soldiers who attacked Smolensk at that time
Who are the enemies? We must repay this blood debt from them."
"The troops that attacked Smolensk at that time were the German 3rd Armored Group and 9th Army, as well as several divisions of the 2nd Armored Group." Malyshev said to Sokov: "The massacre was among these troops.
A dry one."
"Comrade Director of Armored Forces," Sidorin said, "This is a blood debt owed by the Germans. Sooner or later we will repay it from them and avenge those comrades who sacrificed their lives."
"Comrade commanders," Sokov said to everyone: "Judging from the current situation, our next attack target is the city of Brest, which is more than 120 kilometers away. This city is the capital of the Brest region.
.By taking this city, we can quickly enter Poland."
Hearing what Sokov said, Sidorin suddenly became excited: "Comrade Commander, I feel that with the current morale of our army, it is just a trivial matter to capture the city of Brest. If we set out today, it will be a trivial matter."
This city will be liberated by the evening of the day after tomorrow."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you must not underestimate the enemy." Seeing that Sidorin was somewhat complacent, Sokov reminded him: "Brest is indeed an easy target to capture, but it is three kilometers to the west of it.
Outside, there is the famous Brest Fortress, and it is not an easy task to capture this fortress."
Sokov's words sounded a wake-up call to everyone. There may not be much of a problem in capturing the city, but capturing the fortress three kilometers west of the city is a thorny problem. Long before the troops entered Belarus, in order to capture
A fortress occupied by the German army cost more than 20,000 people to barely capture the fortress.
Although none of the commanders present participated in the operation to capture the fortress, they saw the record of capturing the fortress based on the memorandum from the 48th Group Army Headquarters. After reading the record at that time, everyone prayed secretly in their hearts.
, don’t let yourself encounter the action of attacking the fortress, which is a thankless task. After a battle, the number of troop casualties is a headache, but the results achieved are very effective. After all, such a strong fortress
, it does not require too many troops to defend, it can block the large attacking force.
But what was unexpected was that after wandering around for a long time, the 48th Group Army actually encountered another fortress that needed to be attacked. Moreover, this fortress was stronger and the defense system was more complete. If a forceful attack was carried out, how many troops would be lost.
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov ordered Sidorin in order to reduce casualties when the troops captured the fortress: "Immediately send a reconnaissance team to the Brest Fortress to conduct reconnaissance, and be sure to find out the enemy's troop deployment in the fortress.
.”
"Okay, Comrade Commander." Sidorin also thinks so. Since attacking the fortress will be an extremely fierce battle, he should send people to conduct reconnaissance in advance to find out the enemy's troop deployment and firepower distribution, thereby reducing the number of troops.
Casualties during the attack: "I asked the Reconnaissance Department to send out a reconnaissance team as soon as possible to find out the enemy's troop deployment and firepower situation in the Brest Fortress."
"Comrade Commander," Ponedelin reminded Sokov: "If you want to seize the fortress, you will need heavy artillery. And the artillery currently equipped by our group army has a maximum caliber of only 122 mm. I am afraid that it cannot even blast the walls of the fortress.
Let alone destroy the enemy's defenses."
"So, we need to ask our superiors for help and ask them to provide us with heavy artillery to deal with the German fortresses."
Ponejelin said: "Our army has a B-4 1931-type 203 mm howitzer. This is the largest caliber heavy artillery currently used by our army. It is very effective against heavy concrete-reinforced bunkers, and it was once used in the Liberation Army.
Used during the battle in Kharkov."
"Comrade Deputy Commander," Sokov said to Ponedelin: "I estimate that even the front army headquarters does not have heavy artillery of this caliber. I am afraid we can only ask the commander-in-chief of the artillery in Moscow for help and ask him to prepare a few for us.
, used to deal with the strong German defenses."
Not long after Colonel Malyshev left the headquarters, Sokov received a call from Zhukov: "Misha, I heard that your troops fought well. They not only captured Minsk, but also Baranovichi. It's really cool.
It’s amazing.”
Sokov chuckled and said modestly: "Comrade Marshal, we are just lucky and did not encounter a particularly strong enemy, so we fought so smoothly."
"Misha, although your troops have been fighting well, you can't be complacent." Zhukov was worried that Sokov would underestimate the enemy, so he reminded him specifically: "The ones blocking your way forward are the cities of Brest and Brest.
Special fortresses, if you want to capture them, I'm afraid you will have to pay a high price."
Sokov was originally thinking about how to contact Moscow's artillery commander Voronov. When he heard Zhukov say this, he suddenly had an idea in his mind. Instead of running into the wall himself, it would be better to ask Zhukov to come forward, which might get twice the result with half the effort.
,
Thinking of this, he cautiously said to Zhukov: "Comrade Marshal, do you know General Voronov?"
"General Voronov?!" Zhukov repeated the name and asked tentatively: "Misha, are you asking about the artillery commander General Voronov?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal, that's him."
"Of course I know him, and we are still old friends." Zhukov asked curiously: "Misha, why are you asking him?"
"That's it, Comrade Marshal." Since Sokov wants Zhukov to come forward to help him solve the problem, of course he must make it clear to the other party, otherwise he may be rejected: "We are about to launch an attack on the Brest Fortress, you
We also know that to seize a fortress city, we first need to use heavy artillery to bombard the opponent's outer fortifications. However, the artillery we currently have has a maximum caliber of only 122 mm, which cannot penetrate those reinforced concrete fortifications with a thickness of one or two meters."
Hearing what Sokov said, Zhukov immediately understood the other party's intention, and asked: "Misha, do you want me to say hello to General Voronov and ask him to provide you with heavy artillery?"
"Yes, that's what it means." Seeing that Zhukov had guessed his intention, Sokov did not say otherwise, but said bluntly: "I hope he can provide us with some larger-caliber artillery to deal with the Germans."
city fortifications."
Zhukov felt that what Sokov said was very reasonable. To capture a strong fortress like the Brest Fortress, it would obviously not be possible without specialized artillery to destroy those strong fortifications. He thought for a while, and then said: "Mr.
Sha, don't worry, I will contact General Voronov immediately and convey your wishes to him."
"Thank you! Comrade Marshal, thank you very much!"
"You're welcome." Zhukov asked casually: "I wonder what caliber artillery you need?"
"Of course, the bigger the better." Sokov said: "It is best to have a 203 mm or even a 305 mm gun..."
"What, what did you say?" Zhukov heard this and interrupted Sokov's words: "305mm artillery, does our army have such a large-caliber artillery?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal." In later documentaries, Sokov once saw the Soviet army using artillery of this caliber to bombard the Reichstag Building in Berlin. Although the shells did not directly hit the Reichstag due to obstacles,
building, but still caused some casualties to the defending German troops.
"I remember that the navy has 305mm naval guns, but the army is not equipped with such a large-caliber artillery." Zhukov said: "I vaguely remember that when defending Sevastopol, our army once dismantled the naval guns.
Place it on the shore for coastal defense artillery. But the Brest Fortress is far from the sea. Where can I get you such a large-caliber heavy artillery?"
"Comrade Marshal, you have misunderstood." Seeing Zhukov's misunderstanding, Sokov quickly explained to him: "As far as I know, our army is indeed equipped with 305 mm artillery."
"New, Misha, I understand." Zhukov said on the phone: "I will contact General Voronov as soon as possible and ask him to provide you with the heavy artillery needed to attack the fortress."
After Zhukov ended the call with Sokov, he immediately called back to the Weapons and Equipment Department in Moscow. As far as he knew, General Voronov, known as the "God of Artillery", now works here.
"Hello, Marshal Zhukov." Hearing that it was Zhukov calling to see him, Voronov dared not neglect him, so he quickly asked respectfully: "I wonder if you called me, is there anything important?"
"That's it, General Voronov." Zhukov did not talk in circles, but said truthfully: "The troops of the 48th Army are preparing to launch an attack on the Brest Fortress, but the artillery they have now has the largest caliber.
It’s only 152mm. Such artillery can’t destroy the strong fortifications in the fortress.”
"Comrade Marshal," Voronov asked politely: "What caliber of artillery do they want? As long as we have it, even if it is a 203mm heavy artillery, we can provide it to them."
"Do you have a 305mm gun?"
"Comrade Marshal, who did you hear that we have 305 mm artillery?" Voronov asked in surprise: "You know, we currently only have 12 artillery pieces of this caliber."
Knowing that the Weapons and Equipment Department really had such a large-caliber heavy artillery, Zhukov couldn't help but asked tentatively: "General Voronov, I didn't expect that you really have such a large-caliber artillery. I don't understand why you only manufacture
12 doors?”
"How should I put it, Comrade Marshal." Voronov said hesitantly: "The Бр-18 305 mm howitzer is the most powerful artillery in our army. The shell weighs 330 kilograms and can fire at 60 meters at a distance of 1,000 meters.
Penetrating 2 to 2.5 meters thick concrete at an angle, a 305mm high-explosive bomb can form a crater with a diameter of 5.5 to 8 meters and a depth of 2 to 2.5 meters. The gun has a range of 16.5 kilometers and a muzzle velocity of 550 meters per second.
The weight is 35 tons, and the marching weight is 54 tons. During transportation, it is disassembled into three parts: the barrel, the upper part of the gun carriage and the lower part of the gun carriage. The artillery adopts a combined barrel. Due to its heavy weight, it takes 3 hours to convert from marching state to combat state."
After listening to Voronov's explanation, Zhukov finally understood that this kind of artillery was too bulky and too slow to deploy on the battlefield, so it could not be popularized by the entire army, so only 12 guns were produced and production was discontinued completely.
