Burning Moscow

Chapter 1672 New Year Offensive (8)

When our convoy came to the village of Bolki where the 88th Guards Division was located, they suddenly saw a large group of people surrounded by a windmill at the entrance of the village, including our soldiers and local Polish farmers. Seeing this, Cui Kefu immediately ordered the driver to stop, and then ordered a staff officer to get out of the car to find out what had happened.

The staff officer agreed, and after getting out of the armored car, he ran to the crowd quickly, and went there to find out what happened that caused so many people to watch.

Through the open door of the armored vehicle, I saw the staff officer running into the crowd. I first asked a few Polish farmers, but the other side avoided him like a plague. In desperation, the staff had no choice but to ask the soldiers on the sidelines.

A few minutes later, the staff officer ran all the way back to the armored car, and stood at the door to report to Cui Kefu: “Comrade Commander, a father and son were killed at the door of the mill. The father’s chest was smashed by bullets and his son was killed Five or six shots were also taken.”

Cui Kefu and General Pronin, the military commissioner, looked at each other, and both saw the anger in each other’s eyes. Cui Kefu turned his face to the staff officer and asked angrily, “Who did it?”

“Who else can it be, of course it is a German!” The staff officer shrugged and said helplessly: “It is said that two hours ago, a German army that was defeated by our army passed through this village and snatched a piece from the mill. A pile of flour was put on a sled and ready to be transported away. As a result, the father and son firmly grasped the flour pocket and did not let go. So a German picked up a submachine gun and fired at the father and son.”

We got out of the car and were walking towards the mill when we suddenly saw a large group of people appearing on the right side of the village. Before I could see who was coming, I saw Polish peasants rushing towards the team, still cursing loudly. Seeing their reaction, I immediately understood that this was a group of prisoners who had been taken by our soldiers. Perhaps the culprit who killed the Polish father and son was among them.

According to my idea, these Poles would pounce on the captives and use everything they could find to beat the fascist invaders severely. I was even prepared to dissuade them. But what is strange is that the Poles stopped a few steps away from the German prisoners, just standing on the side of the road, waving their fists and cursing loudly at the prisoners passing by.

I can’t help but shook my head in disappointment about this behavior of the Poles. I guessed in my heart that they had become obedient people during the five-year rule of the Germans; or the German army in Warsaw a few months ago. The massacre scared them all? The reason why they did not dare to go up and beat the German prisoners was probably because they were afraid of retaliation.

A group of us wandered around the village, and only saw a few battalion-level commanders of the 88th Guards Division. According to their report, the commander and division commander continued to advance with the unit.

Seeing it was getting late, I quickly stopped Cui Kefu’s attempt to continue on the road, and said to him: “Comrade General, we have been wandering outside for a long time today, and now we should return to the headquarters of the group army.”

After listening to my advice, Cui Koff looked at the front where the gunfire was coming from, and said unwillingly: “Maybe we walk a few kilometers forward and we will be able to catch up with Leyzhov and the others.”

“Comrade Commander, we should go back.” As soon as he finished speaking, Military Commissioner Pronin said with a serious face: “Maybe there are important things waiting for you to go back and deal with it.”

Seeing that we tried our best to confront him and then venture ahead, Cui Kefu could only succumb to our advice and drove back to the newly established army headquarters.

When we returned to the headquarters, the new headquarters here had begun to work normally, and the tables were full of battle reports. I sat down and looked around and found that the 8th Guards Army was very eye-catching in today’s battle. As the tank troops entered the open area that was convenient for deployment, our army successfully wedged into the German defensive position. , And divide and surround it.

When Major General Vladimirov, the chief of staff, brought a group of staff to use compasses and triangles to map on the map, the logistics minister of the group army came in to find Cuikov with several subordinates. General Pokaznikov said to Trikov: “Comrade Commander, as our army is rapidly advancing toward the enemy’s defense depth, I suggest immediately forming two logistic columns, each consisting of no less than 100 trucks. To deliver fuel and ammunition to the fighting forces on the front line.”

After listening to Cui Kefu, he nodded and said: “Comrade Logistics Minister, you have considered the issue very carefully, just follow what you said, and immediately set up two logistics columns, and you will be responsible for full command.”

After handling the logistics, Vladimirov also completed the drawing work. He said to Cuikov: “Comrade Commander, you see, our troops have advanced 30 kilometers today. At this speed, we will move forward tomorrow. It is also possible to advance 40 kilometers.”

“Comrade Chief of Staff, it is absolutely necessary to advance another 40 kilometers tomorrow.” Cui Koff pointed to the map and said to us: “You see the German army trying to highlight our army’s encirclement and retreat from Warsaw to Rawa-Mazowi Tska. As long as our troops seize the large highway junction of Rawa-Mazowiecka, they will be able to cut off the German retreat and eliminate them one by one.

In addition, due to the rapid advancement of our army, the offense has evolved into a split pursuit. In this case, we must maintain a high degree of vigilance. , Keep most of the troops and technical equipment in the second echelon, so as to prevent the enemy’s reserve team from being able to use the second echelon to continuously strengthen assaults.

Chief of Staff, record order: I ordered each division of the first echelon to allocate a strong advance team, and the distance between the advance teams should be 20-30 kilometers. The avant-garde forces should operate 10-15 kilometers in front of the main column. It is not necessary for each unit to have too many associated artillery. The artillery should be allowed to act together with the columns of the second echelon, and be ready to go to places that require strong firepower assaults. ”

After the chief of staff recorded the order, he handed the notebook in his hand to Cui Kefu. After Cui Kefu wrote his name on it, he ordered the chief of staff: “Send the telegram immediately.”

I checked the time and saw that it was time to contact Zhukov again, so I asked the director of communications to connect me to the front army headquarters. The person who heard the call was Zhukov. I immediately reported to him the results achieved by the 8th Guards Army today, as well as the combat deployment just made by Cuikov.

After listening to the report, Zhukov said with satisfaction: “In this New Year’s offensive, not only the 8th Guards Army has achieved great results, but the rest of the troops also fought quite well. The campaign has only been launched for four days, but we are already on the offensive. Smashed the main force of the German 9th Army and broke through the German defensive positions, advancing 100-130 kilometers to their depth. From tomorrow, that is, January 2nd, we will launch a full-scale pursuit of the Germans. .”

I smiled and echoed: “Comrade Marshal, if the troops can continue to maintain the current offensive momentum, I estimate that by the day the battle ends, we will be able to reach the Oder River and threaten the German homeland.”

“Lida, although our troops are progressing smoothly, we can’t be taken lightly.” Zhukov worried that I would underestimate the enemy. He also specially reminded me: “It hurts more when the injured beasts bite people. You can’t just think that they are because the enemy is defeated. We can’t stand a blow, in that case, we will suffer a big loss.”

“Don’t worry, Comrade Marshal.” I held the microphone and glanced at Cui Kefu who was explaining the task to the troops not far away, and then said: “General Cui Kefu is an excellent commander who has experienced many battles. I believe him. You will never make such a low-level mistake.”

Early the next morning, Cuikov took me, Pronin, the artillery commander Pozharski of the group army, and several staff officers to inspect the divisions under the jurisdiction of the first echelon.

At the crossing of the Pilica River, we encountered the 39th Division of the Guards who were crossing the river in an orderly manner.

Cuikov asked the division commander Colonel Marchenko to the ferry, and stood by the frozen river and asked, “Comrade Colonel, when will all your troops cross the river?”

When Marchenko heard Trikov’s problem, he straightened his body and reported: “Report Comrade Commander, the 112th and 120th Guards Infantry Regiments have completed crossing the river and are building simple fortifications on the opposite bank. The guards are crossing the river. 117th Regiment.” At this point, he snarled at the long convoy that had stopped waiting to cross the river, adding, “That was the 87th Guards Artillery Regiment.”

Cui Kefu looked at the slow-moving infantry unit on the pontoon bridge and frowned: “Comrade Colonel, the river is already frozen, but why do you cross the pontoon bridge when you cross the river?”

Regarding the question raised by Cuikov, Marchenko quickly explained: “Comrade Commander, you don’t know that when we crossed the Pilica River yesterday, many sections of the ice were broken by artillery fire. Don’t you see. Now the surface of the river is iced again, but in some places, even if someone stepped on it, it would break. So for safety, we conveniently use a pontoon bridge to cross the Pilica River.”

We were talking, and suddenly there was the roar of tanks in the distance. We looked in the direction of the sound, and saw a group of tanks filed out in the village to the north.

Seeing that all of our attention was drawn to that direction, Marchenko quickly introduced: “It was Grimienza Village. Except for a few elderly people, women and children, the rest of the villagers fled.”

Cui Kefu asked strangely: “Isn’t the tank brigade still ten kilometers behind? Where did this tank unit emerge from?”

When Trikov talked to Marchenko, I had a vague hunch, and I quickly asked the staff to go through a telescope and looked at the tank coming in the distance. At this sight, I suddenly let out a cold sweat, because what was driving towards us was not our tank unit at all, but a German armored unit. The white cross mark on the square-headed tank appeared to be Exceptionally obvious. Before I even had time to put down the telescope, I shouted loudly: “Damn it, that’s not our tank, it’s the German tank, and the battle alert will be issued soon!”

“Fighting alert! Fighting alert!!” Marchenko immediately issued a combat alert to his men.

As the alarm was issued, all artillery soldiers sitting on the truck jumped out of the truck. The artillery hauling behind the carriage also took off their hooks, turned their directions, and aimed at the German tanks that were approaching.

“Comrade Deputy Commander, this place is too dangerous. Let’s go somewhere else first.” After my guard company commander had said this to me, he called two strong fighters and held me in the opposite direction. Ran in the direction of, I was afraid of what accidents might happen to me in the upcoming battle.

“Leave me alone,” I was involuntarily framed by the two fighters and ran in opposite directions, while still yelling incessantly: “Let General Cuikov also take to a safe place.” Get me. The guards who instructed them, involuntarily stepped up to support Cui Kefu and the other two commanders of the group army, and rushed all the way towards me.

The guards took us to a deserted trench a few hundred meters away, and then stopped. We are here, just through the binoculars to clearly observe the fighting that took place at the ferry.

The enemy’s tank was more than three hundred meters away from the ferry, and our artillery opened fire. After a salvo, half of the German tanks caught fire and burned on the spot. The remaining tanks found that they had been blocked by our army, and hurried back to the village while fighting back.

Seeing that the German tanks retreated, the infantrymen who had not crossed the river immediately launched a charge towards the village under the cover of artillery fire. The enemy’s tanks seemed to be seriously inadequate in ammunition and fuel. They stopped at the village and fired sparsely at the infantry who charged us with tank artillery, without causing much casualties to our army.

After the commanders of the 117th Guards Regiment occupy the village the enemy only has two complete tanks left. The rest were either destroyed by artillery or infantry with grenades or rocket launchers at close range.

When we returned to the ferry, Colonel Marchenko had completed the interrogation of the captured tank soldiers. According to the captive’s confession, they belonged to the 25th Tank Division. After three days of fighting, they lost contact with the higher command. In addition, the Pilica River ferry close to Nova Miasto has been occupied by our army, and they decided to break through other roads. Who knew they happened to encounter our army troops who were crossing the river, and finally did not wait to escape the fate of destruction.

“Comrade Commander, where are we going next?” Pronin asked.

“Comrade Military Commissioner, I need to say that, we naturally continue to move forward and go to the front of the troops to take a look.” Cui Kefu took a look at the map in the hands of a staff officer, and then said, “Go ahead. If you walk a few kilometers, you should be able to meet the troops of the 79th Guards Division. I want to see what kind of results they have achieved today.”

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