Burning Moscow

Chapter 1675 Attempted accidental bombing

That evening, I received a call from Zhukov from the front army headquarters. He said to me in a relaxed tone: “Lida, the four armies belonging to the Central Assault Group of our Front Army have gone well. They have successfully reached the main road from Warsaw to Berlin. There was no strong resistance from the Germans along the way.

According to the information we have, the enemy’s troops in this area have been crushed by us, and they will not have any ability to counterattack us until they obtain a new reserve team. With the addition of the troops on the left and right wings, the progress is very smooth, so you can move forward boldly, cut off the railway from Warsaw to Czestochowa in a short time, and send advance troops to capture Gluvno and Brze. Jini. ”

After Zhukov finished speaking, I curiously asked him about the situation of the two wings: “Comrade Marshal, I don’t know what kind of results the troops on the left and right wings of our front have achieved?”

“The left-wing Marshal Konev’s troops successively captured the three cities of Radomsk, Czestochowa, and Zawelche before dark yesterday, and detoured from the north to the Silesian industrial zone.” Zhukov briefly. Tell me about the results of the other two marshals: “The troops of Marshal Rokosovsky on the right have captured the cities of Pshasnich, Mwava, Plotsk, Modlin, etc., and they are moving along Wisla. The river bank attacked Toruń, Danzig and other cities, preparing to cut off the German army group in East Prussia from the outside world.”

After finishing the call with Zhukov, I discussed with Trikov, Katukov, and General Bogdanov, commander of the 2nd Guards Tank Army, about the deployment of the offensive tomorrow.

The Prophet’s Trikov said: “We should make full use of the daytime to move our troops along the main road of Nova Miasto-Rava-Mazovitska-Brzezine. At the same time, in order not to disperse the strength of our army. , And formed a powerful fist to strike at the enemy. I request that the 4th Guards Infantry Corps be transferred to the 2nd Echelon and deployed on the left flank of the group army.”

“I agree.” After agreeing to Cui Kefu’s request, I turned my gaze to the other two tank commanders: “Do you two have anything to say?”

Katukov and Bogdanov looked at each other, and then smiled and said: “Since we don’t need to worry about the Germans attacking our two wings now, we can continue the rapid offensive. Our troops will be tomorrow. Go ahead to the main car road to Berlin.”

Before dawn the next day, the guards of the 8th Army and the Assault 5th Army attacked from their respective defensive zones to the opposite German army. The troops of the 1st and 2nd Army Groups of Katukov and Bogdanov’s Guard Tanks followed the two Army Groups and advanced toward the depths of the enemy.

As the order was issued, our commanders immediately attacked the German position on the opposite side. The German officers and soldiers who remained in the fortification had no intention of fighting, and fought indiscriminately for a while, and then fled in all directions. We easily seized these positions abandoned by the Germans.

The high-spirited commanders were reluctant to take a break, so they chased the fleeing enemy and pushed deep into the defense. By one o’clock noon, the main forces of the 28th and 29th Guards Corps had reached the Warsaw-Pivot Lekow Railway, and the reconnaissance troops had arrived in the Dmosin, Brzezine, and Garców areas.

We just established a temporary headquarters in a wooden hut by the railway, and received a call from General Shemenkov, commander of the 29th Guards Corps. He hurriedly said to Cuikov: “Report to Comrade Commander, in our The outline of a city appeared in front of him. It looks like a big city!”

“What, there is a big city?” While answering the phone, Cui Kefu motioned for the staff to come over with a map. After a brief search, he clicked on the map with his hand and said into the microphone: “What you see should be Lodz, this is the second largest city in Poland and an important industrial city in Poland.”

“Comrade Commander, what shall we do next?” Shemenkov asked on the phone.

“Let the troops continue to advance to the Demosin, Brzezine, and Garców areas, you can eliminate the enemies you encounter along the way, but you must not attack the city.” Cuikov told the other party: “We have to wait for the completion of the battle against Rhodes. After the encirclement, siege operations will be carried out.”

After Trikov assigned tasks to his subordinates, I first called Katukov, and then learned that his troops had detoured to the rear of Lodz from the south, cutting off the path of the German retreat, and then I gave the assault mission again. General Berzalin, commander of the 5th Army, called to learn about their progress. When I learned that Berzalin’s department had successfully occupied the city of Lowicz, northeast of Łódź, I made up my mind and planned to concentrate on solving Łódz first.

“Lida,” Cui Koff said to me: “We are temporarily unable to get in touch with the front army headquarters, so what should we do next? Is it to move on and leave the city with a large number of German troops behind our army, or stay in the city? Waiting for orders from superiors?”

“General Cui Kefu, I will not adopt either of these two plans.” I said sternly, “I decided to attack the city. Later I will call in several other commanders to discuss and formulate the siege. plan.”

Two hours later, Katukov, Bogdanov, and Berzalin came to the temporary headquarters one after another to participate in the military meeting convened temporarily under my presidency. Seeing that everyone was coming, I slowly stood up and said to the commander of the group army present: “Comrades, our next task is to capture Rhodes as soon as possible. The siege task will be carried out by the 8th guard of General Cuikov. The group army came to complete, and General Katukov’s 1st Guards Army was responsible for cutting off the retreat to the west of the city to prevent the enemy from escaping from this direction. Bogdanov, General Berzalin, your troops continue to stay in Lodz One is to prevent the German army from breaking through from your direction, and to beware of German reserves that appear from other directions.”

After I explained the general combat deployment, Cuikov came to talk about his idea: “I intend to let the troops temporarily stay in the Demosin, Brzezine, and Garców areas, so that the troops can take a good rest. The 28th and 29th Guards of the offensive mission will occupy and attack their positions before dawn. When the time is up, they will attack from the east and northeast at the same time, and pass through Zjesh to Konstantinów from the west. Implementation. Among them, the 88th Guards Infantry Division attacked from the wide front and went forward to the Pionczek and Ozorkow regions.

In addition, the tank group composed of the 11th tank brigade and three independent tank regiments under the command of General Weinrub, swiftly moved forward to the southern suburbs of the city to block the enemy who tried to escape from this direction. ”

Two hours before the start of the attack, Cuikov moved his headquarters to the town of Bežiqi, not far from the main force. Today was a sunny and clear sky. Cui Kefu and several staff officers stood outside the headquarters, found a relatively high slope, and stood on it to look out at the city in the distance.

Except for the faint sound of guns from the north, the east side where we are located is quiet. In the continuous fortifications, it seems that there is not a single German soldier. Artillery Commander Pozharsky asked Trikov for instructions: “Comrade Commander, all the artillery is in place, ready to provide artillery support to the offensive troops.”

“Wait a minute, Comrade General.” Cui Kefu waved his hand to his artillery commander and said, “Judging from the sound of gunshots, the Germans don’t seem to stick to the city. So if you can fire it, don’t fire it for the time being. Once such an industrial city is destroyed, rebuilding it will be a hassle.”

Pozharsky heard Trikov’s words with a disappointed expression on his face, but he nodded vigorously and replied: “Understood, Comrade Commander, I will keep the artillery in a state of preparation. Under this order, we can immediately launch a fierce shelling on the enemy’s defensive zone.”

We were talking, and suddenly there was the roar of the airplane’s motivation in the air. Upon hearing this voice, our first reaction was: Could it be that the German plane is coming?

When it was clear that the voice came from behind us, Cui Kefu’s face showed a relaxed expression. He turned around and raised the telescope to look into the sky, and then said somewhat proudly: “Lida, it’s our plane, at least one More than a hundred. There are dozens of escorted fighter planes, and a certain number of Il-2 attack planes.”

I should be happy to see so many of my own planes in the sky, but I don’t know why, my heartbeat suddenly increased, and I even felt a little breathless. I looked around, trying to find something that made me upset, but I found nothing.

At this moment, I heard a staff officer saying to a colleague: “The Air Force has dispatched at least 12o planes. This time the Germans are going to suffer.”

When I heard the staff talk about the plane, I couldn’t help but look up at the group of planes flying in the distance. The plane, which was originally just a small black spot, can now vaguely see the outline even without a telescope. Seeing the fleet of aircraft flying closer and closer, my mind suddenly flashed. I remembered the accidental bombing of my own air force during the Defence of Stalingrad. Run in the command post.

Cui Kefu didn’t know what happened, so he chased up and asked nervously, “Lida, what happened?”

“General Cui Koff, do you remember that when we were in the concession, our troops were bombed by our own air force as soon as they got off the train?” I said very quickly: “The battle plan for attacking Rhodes, we still Without time to report to the front army headquarters, how could the air force fly to support us? I am worried that they will treat our army as a German.”

“No,” Cui Kefu said, looking up at the clear sky, “The weather is so good and the visibility is so high, our air force won’t mistake us for Germans, right?”

“Don’t be afraid of 10,000, just in case. It’s better to be cautious in everything.” At this moment, I had come to the operator, and stopped talking with Cui Kefu, but instructed the operator: “Call the Air Force Command and say I am near The troops of the Guardian 8th Army are besieging Lodz, please do not accidentally blow up our troops outside the city.”

After listening to my dictation, the telegraph operator did not telegraph immediately. Instead, he turned to Cui Kefu for help. Cui Kefu frowned and said impatiently: “Didn’t you hear the instructions of the deputy commander of the front army? Report it to the Air Force immediately, asking them to distinguish ground targets and don’t miss the time of bombing.”

While the telegraph operator was reporting at Dididi, Cui Kefu lowered his voice and said to me: “Lida, do you really think those air forces will be against us?”

“I have bad instincts,” I said to Cui Kefu with a wry smile: “Our air force will definitely treat our ground forces as Germans, and then explode indiscriminately. That’s why I have to report to the Air Force Command. To avoid similar vicious incidents.”

A few more minutes later, just as the two of us were standing by the walkie-talkie waiting for a call back, Pronin suddenly ran in from the outside and said to Cui Kefu and me with a look of wonder: “It’s really strange, our fleet didn’t fly here anymore. , But hovering over the area where the second echelon is assembled, and I don’t know what they are going to do.”

“Damn it, this is a hell.” Cui Kefu turned his head and glanced at me, and spit out a word from his teeth: “Lida, it seems you are right. Our air force regards my troops as Germans.”

I asked the operator anxiously: “Has the Air Force not called back yet?”

The operator did not finish, but shook his head bitterly.

“No Waiting for the Air Force Command to call back, it is probably too late. We must find a way to save ourselves.” After Cui Kefu finished speaking, he greeted Pronin: “Comrade Military Commissioner, you come with me, we must Find a way to stop this accidental bombing incident.”

I thought of the fact that we could not communicate directly with the air force pilots by radio, so I quickly told them: “Two generals, it’s better to let our soldiers spread the red flag on the ground and spell it out.” Let the pilots see it and know it. We are our own. What do you think of this plan?”

“This is not enough, we have to do something else.” Cui Kefu called a staff officer and said loudly: “Immediately prepare a flare gun, shoot a green flare into the air, and tell them that the troops on the ground are their own. , Don’t drop bombs or strafing at ground troops.”

The method we came up with was quickly implemented by the soldiers. Seeing the red flags spread on the ground and the green flare flares that were continuously rising into the air, the fighter planes and Il-2 hovering in the air finally confirmed that the ground was our army’s troops, and they turned their directions and flew eastward in a neat formation.

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