In the observation post, Kirillov saw the enemy at the east end of the bridge through the telescope. They only offered symbolic resistance and actually put down their weapons and surrendered. He was stunned. He didn't know if the Germans had eaten something wrong.
Yao, since you want to surrender, why did you pretend to resist just now?
"Comrade division commander, what should we do now?" Chief of Staff Miyakov asked from the side: "The troops deployed on both wings had just prepared for the attack. Before they had time to launch the attack, the enemy surrendered unexpectedly."
Kirillov turned to Miyakov and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, let the two regiments on the left and right advance into the city of Letzen according to the original plan. But it is no longer an attack, but to accept the surrender of the Germans. By the way,
After the leading troops entered the city, our division headquarters also moved forward to the city."
"Comrade Division Commander, today's battle was so inexplicable." Miyakov reminded Kirillov: "Since we have captured Letzen, shouldn't we immediately report this good news to the Army Headquarters?
"
"You are right, Comrade Chief of Staff." Kirillov nodded and said, "Such good news should indeed be told to the commander and others."
Sokov was also shocked when he received a call from Kirillov and learned that Letzen had been captured: "What, General Kirillov, what did you say? Your troops have successfully captured
Lezen. How is this possible? How is this possible?"
The reason why Sokov said "how is this possible" twice in a row is entirely because of the marching speed of the troops. At best, the 3rd Infantry Division has just arrived outside the city of Letzen. Unless all the German troops in the city have escaped.
, they could occupy the city while marching. Thinking of this, he added: "General Kirillov, is the city you occupied an empty city?"
"No, Comrade Commander." Kirillov replied: "According to my observation, the garrison in the city has at least one regiment of troops."
"Since the German army had a regiment in the city, how did you capture the city so quickly?"
"Comrade Commander, this is what I find strange." Kirillov expressed his doubts to Sokov: "According to my plan, a regiment feints from the bridge to attract the enemy's attention, and
The other two regiments launched an attack from the ice, quickly broke through the German defenses and rushed into the city. Unexpectedly, as soon as the feint attack started, something incredible happened on the enemy's position. Almost all the German officers and soldiers raised their heads to the sky.
Fire the gun."
"What, the enemy fired into the sky?" Sokov has been dealing with the Germans for several years, and this is the first time he heard that the Germans would fire into the sky when facing the Soviet attack. This is simply unbelievable: "
General Kirillov, this is the first time I have encountered this situation. Okay, now that the city has been captured, you can move into the city as soon as possible. After the new headquarters is established, call me again.
Report details."
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Kirillov replied: "When I establish a new headquarters in the city, I will report the details to you immediately."
After Sokov put down the phone, he said to Sidorin and Lunev: "Chief of Staff, Military Commissar, a strange thing happened. I will tell you, and you can analyze it for me. What is going on?
Something happened."
"What strange thing?" Lunev asked curiously: "Tell me about it, I want to see how strange it is."
"Well, General Kirillov just called me and said that after his troops arrived outside Letzen, he formulated a battle plan: use a regiment to face the city from the front and conduct a feint attack to attract the attention of the Germans;
Then the other two regiments launched an attack from the ice and surrounded the enemy from both sides. But what is strange is that as soon as the feint attack started, the enemy at the east end of the bridge actually fired into the sky when facing our attack. But our army
As soon as the commanders and soldiers crossed the bridge, they laid down their weapons and surrendered. Tell me, what is going on?"
"It's strange, it's really strange." Sidorin couldn't help but frowned after hearing this, and said repeatedly: "Does the Germans have some conspiracy?"
Lunev also frowned and thought for a while, and then a smile appeared on his face. He said to Sokov: "Misha, I thought of a possibility, do you want to listen to it?"
"Please speak, Comrade Military Commissar."
"I guess the German commander who was holding on to the city of Letzen knew very well that with his strength, he could not stop our army's attack. Instead of fighting us to the death, it would be better to surrender, that way he could save his own life." Lu
As a deputy minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Nev has his own unique side in analyzing intelligence. He said to Sokov: "I estimate that the family members of the German commander are all in Germany. If he did not fight with our army, he would
Ordering the troops to lay down their weapons and surrender may affect their families. But if a gun is fired on the battlefield, it doesn't matter where the bullet flies or whether it hits the target. It at least shows that he has organized resistance, but because
There was a huge disparity in strength between the two sides, so he finally had no choice but to order the troops to stop resisting and surrender to our army. In this way, the possibility of his family being implicated would be reduced."
"That's right, that's right." After Luniev finished his analysis, Sidorin also nodded in agreement: "I think what Comrade Military Commissar said is more reasonable. The German commander knows that if he is our enemy, there is only a dead end. The only way out.
It means laying down his arms and surrendering. In order not to implicate his family in the local area, he can only use this self-deceptive method to fight our army. After our army reaches him, he will naturally lay down his arms and surrender."
"Well, I agree with your analysis." Sokov nodded and said, "Although Kirillov hasn't called yet, I think things should be as you guessed."
Now that Lezen has been captured, Sokov naturally wants to report the matter to Rokossovsky.
When Rokossovsky listened to Sokov's report, he was silent. After a while, he then asked: "Misha, what is going on? How could your troops defeat the enemy in such a short time?"
How about taking over this city known as the 'fortress'?"
"Comrade Marshal, your concerns are right." Sokov explained to Rokossovsky: "If it is summer, due to the obstruction of the lake, our troops can only attack the enemy through the bridge. And.
The Germans only need to deploy a small number of troops at the east end of the bridge to block our way forward. But it is winter now, and there is a thick layer of ice on the lake. The way the Germans deploy defenses on the east side of the bridge,
The impact on us has been greatly reduced.
General Kirillov, who commanded the operation, planned to order one regiment to feint from the front to attract the enemy's attention, and then use two regiments to pass through the ice, detour from both wings of the German army, and form a siege on the city.
Unexpectedly, after our army's feint attack began, General Kirillov discovered that the German troops at the east end of the bridge were shooting into the sky, so he adjusted his tactics in time and turned the feint attack into a main attack. When our troops arrived,
On the east coast, the Germans took the initiative to lay down their weapons and surrender."
"Misha, based on what you said, can I understand that the Germans did not even think of becoming enemies of our army, so when faced with our army's attack, they chose to shoot into the air?" Rocco
Sovsky asked on the other end of the phone: "Am I right?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal." When Sokov said this, he couldn't help but glance at Lunev sitting in front of him: "Just now, the Military Commissar and the Chief of Staff and I also analyzed this. It should be the German army in the city.
The commander does not want to fight with our troops, but for some reasons, he has to make a symbolic appearance of resistance."
"Your statement sounds very reasonable." Rokossovsky said: "But after all, it is just a guess. No one knows the real reason. By the way, General Kirillov has a detailed report.
?"
"Not yet." Sokov answered truthfully: "I just ordered him to move the headquarters to Letzen City. After the new headquarters is established, he will report to me the details of the entire battle."
"Okay." Rokossovsky nodded and said, "When Kirillov has a new battle report, report to me in time."
Sokov put down the phone and was about to talk to Lunev, but found that he was on the phone. Judging from his livid face, he must have heard some bad news. He quickly sat down and looked at the man in front of him quietly.
Lunev, who was on the phone, planned to wait until he finished the call before asking what happened.
After finally waiting for Luniev to finish the call and put down the phone, Sokov asked tentatively: "Comrade Military Commissar, what happened? I don't think your face looks good."
"Misha, something happened."
"What happened?" Sokov was most afraid of hearing these words now, and asked hurriedly: "Comrade Military Commissar, what happened?"
"My subordinates reported to me," Lunev said with a livid face: "After the 284th Infantry Division broke through the German defense line, it continued to advance deeper into the enemy's defenses. Halfway through, they encountered a group of fleeing Germans, about 100,000 people.
It looks like four to five hundred people."
When Sokov heard this, he couldn't help but trembled in his heart. He said to himself that the commanders and fighters of the 284th Infantry Division might have done something that violated military discipline. He quickly asked: "Comrade Military Commissar, please tell me, are they?
Did you do something outrageous?"
"That's right, Misha." Lunev nodded and said in a positive tone: "A few people looted these refugees and took away watches, gold and silver jewelry and other valuables from their hands.
"
Sokov thought of the "misdeeds" of the Soviet army that were turned into crows by Britain and the United States in later generations, and asked tentatively: "Apart from robbery, is there nothing else?"
"No more." Lunev shook his head and said, "Isn't this enough?"
"Well, this matter is quite serious." Knowing that nothing had happened against the women's wishes for the time being, Sokov couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then said: "We must be serious about these black sheep in our army.
Handle it. Comrade Military Commissar, I will leave this matter to you."
Sokov wanted to leave the trouble to Lunev, but Lunev was not a fool. He saw Sokov's thoughts at a glance, "Misha, what do you think should be done?"
Seeing Lunev kicking the ball back in front of him so quickly, he said with some embarrassment: "We must find the victims first, return the things that were robbed to them, and apologize to them."
"Comrade Commander, is it not appropriate to apologize to the Germans?" Sidorin heard this and couldn't help but interjected: "When they set foot on our soil, they did so many bad things, although there were many people among us.
They picked up some bad apples, but I think they also wanted to avenge our people."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, what the Germans did on our soil is simply outrageous." Sokov said to Sidorin: "But we are not Germans and cannot do the bad things they did.
Tell the soldiers that we are here to liberate East Prussia, not to destroy it."
Although Big Sidorin disagreed with Sokov's words, he was not used to conflicting with Sokov in front of his subordinates. Therefore, when faced with Sokov's accusation, he could only silently bow his head.
Keep your head down and accept Sokov's criticism humbly.
Sokov continued to say to Lunev: "Comrade Military Commissar, when a large corps is fighting, military discipline must be strict. Otherwise, after winning a few more battles, it will be difficult to control the troops below."
"I understand." Lunev nodded and said, "I will rush to the 284th Infantry Division now and have a good talk with their division commander, Colonel Ismailov."
After Lunev left, Sidorin leaned close to Sokov's ear and whispered: "Comrade Commander, do you think our military commissar has planted many spies outside? Otherwise, how could it have happened not long ago?"
Can we get information?"
"Chief of Staff, you guessed it right." Sokov said in an equally low voice: "Maybe there is even this headquarters, but it is not used to monitor us, but to prevent German spies from sneaking in and causing us harm.
Huge loss.”
"Well, it makes sense, it makes sense." Sidorin nodded and said repeatedly: "At least with his help, we can obtain useful information in the shortest time."
At this time, the phone on the table rang, and Sidorin grabbed the receiver: "I'm Sidorin, who is this?...Oh, it's General Kirillov, hello, hello...what can I do for you?"
? Okay, please wait."
Sidorin handed the microphone to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, this is General Kirillov. He has something to report to you."
Sokov took the phone and said: "Hello, General Kirillov. I am Sokov. If you have anything to say, please tell me. I'm listening."
"Comrade Commander, I have arrived at the city of Letzen." Kirillov said: "I met the commander of the garrison of Letzen here, a German colonel named Kleiner. He took the initiative to explain to us that he
In fact, he did not want to be an enemy of our army. He originally surrendered directly to our army. However, considering that his family was still in Germany, if the city surrendered to our army without a battle, his family would definitely be affected. So he
I discussed a way with my subordinates. When they saw our army attacking, they would shoot into the sky. Not only did they show to the outside world that they had fought, but they also took the initiative to show their goodwill to our army. When the two sides really started fighting,
