Burning Moscow

Chapter 1666 New Year Offensive (2)

According to the pre-drawn combat plan, the preparation of artillery fire on the German defensive positions was 2 hours and 40 minutes. In order to fight the boring waiting time, Ma Lining specially found a silver samovar to entertain everyone to sit down and drink tea.

Seeing Zhukov walking back and forth in the room with his hands on his back, Malinin added charcoal to the hollow cylinder in the middle of the samovar, and said to Zhukov: “Comrade Marshal, the battle has just started. If you want to get the troops to break through the first line of defense of the German army, The battle report, at least three hours later. Please sit down and have a cup of hot tea!”

Zhukov came to sit down at the table, carefully looked at the exquisite silver samovar on the table, and asked with interest: “Comrade Chief of Staff, where did you get this samovar?”

Malinin turned on the tap under the samovar, poured a cup of hot tea, put it in front of Zhukov, and replied: “It was sent by Polish comrades a few days ago, saying it was a trophy.”

After Zhukov put a few cubes of sugar into the teacup, he stirred it gently with a small spoon. Instead of asking about the origin of the samovar, he changed the subject and asked: “The Chief of Staff, according to the prior plan, the Polish 1st Army will be in On the fourth day after the battle, cross the Vistula River into the Old Town of Warsaw. Do you think they can accomplish this task?”

Ma Lining turned to look at me, smiled and said: “Comrade Marshal, I think you should ask Lida about this question, she is the most powerful one.”

“That’s true,” Zhukov turned his gaze to me again: “Lida, tell me, can the comrades of the Polish Army successfully liberate Warsaw?”

“Comrade Marshal, liberating Warsaw, there should be no problem for the comrades of the Polish 1st Army.” After the failure of the Warsaw Uprising, I once went to the Vistula River to check the city on the opposite bank, and I was somewhat concerned about the situation there. He understood, so he said confidently: “Since the failure of the Warsaw Uprising, Hitler has ordered the city to be razed to the ground and all the residents of the city are removed. For the Germans, Warsaw does not have much meaning to hold on, so it takes Warsaw. It’s just a matter of time.”

“However, the German Warsaw Group still has a lot of troops. Once they are allowed to retreat safely to the rear, it will cause a huge obstacle to our next stage of offensive.” Zhukov patted the map on the table with his hand and continued. “So we must use the fastest speed to cut off the retreat of the German Warsaw Group, encircle and annihilate them in the Warsaw area.”

Although what Zhukov said has been mentioned countless times in the past few days, no one thought he was verbose, because everyone wanted to make our combat plan more perfect. Malinen took a sip of tea and pointed to the map in front of us and said: “The frontiers of Hitler’s army’s main defensive zone pass through Glenowek, Grenow, Genrekow, Bronislav, and Lehrer. The settlements of Genice, Mostki, Svezhegurne, and the northern edge of the Kozenice Forest have a defensive frontal width of 25 kilometers. Even if Trikov and the others launch an offensive immediately after the shelling is over, it will be the fastest It will take an hour to completely occupy the settlement here.”

However, the war proceeded more smoothly than we thought. At the 31st minute after the attack began, the phone in front of us rang suddenly. After a short period of hesitation, everyone reached out to the microphone, but Malinin was the fastest. He grabbed the microphone and pressed it to his ear, loudly. Said: “Hey, this is Ma Lining, where are you?”

“Comrade Chief of Staff, this is Cui Kefu.” The people around the table could clearly hear the voice of Cui Kefu coming from the receiver, and they quickly concentrated and listened carefully to the voice inside: “I’ll report a good one to you. The news is that my troops have occupied the outer trenches of the first line of defense of the German army, and the troops are spreading in depth…”

“Cui Koff? This is Zhukov!” Hearing this, Zhukov stood up abruptly, took the microphone from Malinin’s hand, and said to his ear: “What did you just say, I didn’t hear you too clearly, please Repeat it again.”

“Comrade Marshal,” he heard Zhukov talking with himself, and Cuikov reported with some excitement: “There are two trenches in the first line of defense of the German army. My troops have already occupied one of them and are attacking the other. .”

Although Cui Koff had already repeated his report, Zhukov asked half-heartedly: “Comrade Cui Koff, if I remember correctly, the shelling of the German defensive positions continues, right?”

“Yes, Comrade Marshal, you remember correctly, the shelling of the German defense positions is indeed still in progress.” In order to dispel Zhukov’s doubts, Cuikov explained: “25 minutes after the shelling began, we and our friendly forces used the German observation post. At the favorable time when both the command post and the command post lost their function in the heavy fog, 25 reconnaissance battalions were dispatched. Under the cover of tanks, they attacked the enemy’s defensive position and successfully captured the enemy’s first trench. The troops are currently taking advantage of the situation. Win the pursuit, I believe it won’t take long before we can win the second trench.”

“Good job, Cui Kefu!” After hearing Cui Kefu’s report, Zhukov immediately smiled, but he did not get overwhelmed by it, and specifically instructed Cui Kefu: “Every time our army occupies a trench, we must clear out the enemy and strengthen it as quickly as possible. Fortifications to cope with possible counterattacks from the Germans.”

After Zhukov put down the phone, he immediately called the artillery commander Kazakov over and instructed: “Comrade General Cuikov’s troops have entered the first line of defense of the German army. After your artillery has completed the artillery preparation, Immediately move the firing position forward and cover the infantry to continue rushing into the depth of the enemy.”

Hearing that the troops were going well, Ma Lining, who was next to him, couldn’t close his mouth with a smile. He waited for Zhukov to explain his task to Kazakov, and specifically asked for instructions: “Comrade Marshal, do you need to report this good news to the Supreme Command?”

“No,” Malinin’s proposal was immediately rejected by Zhukov: “The Supreme Command knows the exact time of our attack and the time required for artillery fire preparation. If we are not yet clear on the battlefield situation, we will ask the Supreme Commander. The disappearance of the Ministry’s report will inevitably lead to a misjudgment by the superiors, believing that the enemy in front of our army is vulnerable, and it will add new combat targets to us, thereby disrupting our original combat deployment.”

After listening to Zhukov’s remarks, Malinin no longer insisted on his opinion, but got up and walked to the area where the communication equipment was placed, and went to explain the work to the staff staff who were busy there.

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