Burning Moscow

Chapter 1678 Advance to Poznan

After learning the news of the liberation of Rhodes, the first thing I did was to send a report to Zhukov, reporting the good news of the liberation of Rhodes to him. Knowing that Zhukov’s telegram would not come for a while, I happily followed Cuikov to the entrance ceremony.

The car we were in drove into the city with the long infantry dragon who entered the city of Rhodes at a rapid marching speed. As soon as I entered the city, I saw welcoming crowds standing on both sides of the street, with joyful expressions on their faces, cheering at the troops passing by them. On the roofs, balconies and windows on both sides of the street, the flags of the Soviet Union and Poland were flying everywhere.

Seeing this scene, Cui Koff couldn’t help but said with emotion: “Lida, since our troops entered Poland, this is the first time I have seen Polish people organize spontaneously, standing on both sides of the street to welcome us.”

I was surprised by what Cui Koff said. After all, our army has been in Poland for half a year, and it has seized many cities. How could it be possible that the masses did not organize themselves to welcome our troops into the city? With this question, I asked curiously: “General Cuikov, didn’t you get popular with the masses when you liberated Lublin?”

“No,” Pronin replied decisively: “When our army entered Lublin, the Polish people were very indifferent to us, as if we were not their liberators but new invaders. Our commanders and fighters took the initiative to help them, and these people have maintained a high degree of vigilance against us.”

“These are all good things done by the Ukrainian national elements,” Cuikov said angrily: “During 43 to 45 years, they used **** means to massacre almost 100,000 Poles in eastern Poland, bringing the two nations together. Hatred that is difficult to resolve.”

I have never heard of what Cui Kefu said before. I wanted to ask more details, but I heard Cui Kefu order the driver to stop. As soon as the car stopped, Cui Kefu pushed the door and got out of the car, and walked towards the group of people standing at the entrance of the square. I hurriedly pushed the car door, got out of the car from the other side, and followed.

At the entrance of the square, there stood a group of young people dressed in festive costumes. There were beautiful girls and handsome young men. They crowded together and smiled at the troops passing by. In front of them, stood an old man with white beard and hair.

Seeing Cui Kefu walking towards them with a smile on his face, the old man hurriedly greeted them, followed by two young girls holding plates. Looking at this posture, I knew that the old man belonged to the kind of respected person who came to welcome us on behalf of the people in the city. Then they should send Cui Kefu buns and salt.

When I walked to Cui Kefu, I happened to see the old man taking the bread and salt from the girl, holding them in both hands, hunched over, and respectfully handing them to Cui Kefu’s hands. Cui Kefu took the bread and salt in the old man’s hand, turned around and handed it to a staff officer who followed him, and then held the old man’s hand tightly and began to chat.

The old man said excitedly to Cui Kefu: “Master General, we have been looking forward to it for so many years, and finally we are looking forward to you.”

Cui Kefu responded politely: “Old man, you have suffered. We have beaten the Germans away, and you can live a happy life again.”

The old man pointed to the square behind him and said to Cui Koff: “General, since the Germans occupied this city, they have remodeled it according to their style. For example, this square was formerly called’Freedom Square’, but the Germans changed it. It became the “German Square.” They tried to tell us in this way that Poland no longer exists, and that it will be the land of Germany in the future, and they are the owners of this land.

On the streets with German street names, all the shop signs are written in German. They even wrote on the entrances of coffee shops and restaurants: ‘Only Germans are accepted, Poles and dogs are not allowed’.

In addition, in the last half month, due to the shortage of supplies, they stopped allocating food to us in an attempt to starve them to death. If you hadn’t driven them away, their conspiracy might have succeeded. ”

After the old man made a nagging talk, a **** the tray at the back of his body said: “They are very cruel to us. Not long ago, a teenager passed by here and saw a guerrilla group on the street. The corpse of the German soldier who was killed couldn’t help but smile. I didn’t expect to be seen by a German officer, who could not help but drew a pistol and killed him.”

“Yes, yes, one of my neighbors was beaten to death on the spot because he did not give directions to the Germans.” Another girl added: “The other person I knew was because he was on the street and When others spoke, they said the word’Russia’ which was forbidden to be mentioned, and was arrested in the Gestapo prison. Up to now, life and death are still unknown.”

Seeing his compatriots and a Soviet general were talking cordially, the onlookers who had stood far away gradually gathered around. After hearing the complaints of the two girls against the German devils, they also expressed their opinions.

A mechanical worker said to us in proficient Russian: “Mr. General, we all know that only you can save us from the claws of fascism and save the innocent from the mortal fascist torture chamber. All of us. Everyone knows that there is a terrible concentration camp outside the city of Łódź. The inside is divided into several districts, and the outside is surrounded by barbed wire. None of the people who were locked in there came out alive.”

I heard that there is a concentration camp outside the city of Łódź. The first thing I thought of was the Auschwitz concentration camp. After all, the name of this concentration camp was the one I heard most in later generations. I asked Pronin next to me in a low voice: “Comrade Military Commissioner, I don’t know how far Auschwitz is from here?”

“To the south of Lodz, near Krakow, Poland’s third largest city, a few hundred kilometers away, it is an area under the invasion of Ukraine’s First Front Army.” After introducing the situation to me, Pronin was curious. Asked: “Comrade Deputy Commander, what do you ask this for?”

“It’s nothing, just ask.” When I learned that the famous Auschwitz concentration camp was not near the city of Łódź, I suddenly lost interest. Instead of worrying about a place that I can’t manage, it is better to think about the troops’ next steps. Action plan.

“…We finally look forward to you,” the mechanic said emotionally: “The fascist bandits ran away embarrassed with their tails between their tails. They even ran away hurriedly before they even had time to take the property they had robbed. ”

After meeting the enthusiastic Polish people on the street, we went to the headquarters located in the municipal building and continued to study the next direction of the troops.

The Chief of Intelligence, Colonel Gladky, hurriedly walked out of the communication room and handed a telegram in his hand to Cui Koff. At the same time, he whispered: “Comrade Commander, just received a call from the front army.”

Cui Kefu took the telegram from the other party with a puzzled look, and after browsing the contents above, he immediately smiled. He reported the telegram over his head, shook it a few times, and said to us: “Comrades, this is the telegram that Marshal Zhukov has just sent to us. He said that the supreme commander himself learned that we had successfully captured the city of Rhodes and felt that I am very happy, so I temporarily decided to fire a salute on Red Square this evening to celebrate our victory.”

“Is this all true?” Pronin heard Cui Koff say so, and quickly took the telegram from his hand, read it carefully twice, and then said tearfully, “Comrade Commander, if I didn’t remember If it’s wrong, since our army entered Poland, the Supreme Command didn’t seem to have captured any city for us, and fired salutes on Red Square to celebrate. Even the 47th Army and the Polish First Army’s capture of Warsaw did not enjoy this honor. .”

“Yes, Comrade Military Commissioner,” Cui Koff nodded and said in agreement: “We must always remember today’s day. This is the greatest honor our Eighth Guards Army has received since entering Poland.”

I took the telegram in Pronin’s hand and read it carefully, and found that Zhukov only mentioned that the salute would be fired on the Red Square this evening, and did not mention the next direction of the troops. I put down the telegram and raised my head to ask Colonel Gladki standing next to me: “Comrade Colonel, can you talk directly to the Front Command on your phone?”

Cuikov and Pronin, who were happily unable to control themselves, quieted down after hearing the question I raised, and focused on Gladki’s body and listened to how he was going to answer me.

Colonel Gladki shook his head and replied, “Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army, although our communications soldiers are laying out telephone lines, they must wait until after noon if they are to be used normally. At present, they can only be between noon and the Front Army headquarters. Contact by telegram.”

After Choikov let Colonel Gladky leave, he asked me curiously: “Lida, I see you are eager to get in touch with the front army headquarters. Is there anything important?”

“Two things, one is to ask about the direction of the troops’ next move.” I stretched out **** and said to Cui Kefu: “Secondly, after my observations during this period of time, I found that there were only those who slaughtered prisoners in the troops. In the situation, even the commanders violated military discipline and robbed the local Polish people. Before long, our troops will enter the German mainland. I am worried that the commanders who have blood and blood feuds against the Germans will retaliate wildly against the Germans. If we don’t take precautionary measures in advance, then there may be a situation of unruly military discipline.”

“Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army, you are very considerate.” As soon as I finished speaking, Pronin agreed: “The situation you mentioned does exist in our troops. I went to the grassroots troops for inspection two days ago. , I saw a second lieutenant taking several prisoners out of the room where they were held, and then shot them in the snow one by one.”

“What, is there such a situation?” Hearing this, Cui Kefu couldn’t help asking Pronin with his eyes wide open: “Comrade Military Commissioner, why didn’t you report to me in time?”

“We have fought the Germans for so many years, and the Germans have committed countless heinous crimes on our land,” Pronin said with some helplessness: “The current situation of the war is developing in favor of our army. Many commanders and fighters felt that the opportunity for revenge had arrived, so they couldn’t help being a bit harsher on the prisoners of war.”

After listening to what Pronin said, Cui Kefu immediately stated to me: “Lida, I agree with your opinion. I should report to Marshal Zhukov about the actual situation of the troops, and formulate relevant regulations to avoid excessive retaliation and violations. The military discipline situation arises.”

At noon, the call to Lublin was finally connected, because the road was too far, and there was a problem with the line, the ringtone was very loud, but the voice was so soft that I had to talk with Zhukov. The voice shouted: “Hello, Comrade Marshal, I am Oshanina, I have an important situation to report to you!”

“I know that you have captured the city of Lodz,” Zhukov said calmly: “The next task I have arranged for you is to rush to the Oder River desperately and set up a landing field on the opposite bank. As for the encounter on the road The Poznan will be handed over to Katukov’s 1st Guards Tank Army and Kolpakci’s 69th Army to complete. Be sure to take Poznan by the 10th of this month.”

Hearing Zhukov’s order, I quickly looked down at the situation map of the enemy and the enemy on the table, and found that the forward of the 69th Army was located more than 150 kilometers away from Poznan. I hurriedly told Zhukov. Said: “Comrade Marshal, the 69th Army is sluggish. It is still too far from Poznan. I think it is a bit impractical to let them take the task of capturing the fortress.”

“Then how did you think about it?” Zhukov asked without comment.

“The task of capturing Poznan I suggest that it should be completed by the 8th Guards Army of General Cuikov.” I stared at Cuikov from the corner of my eye and continued, “Based on my observations over the past few days. Their offensive was very effective. According to the campaign plan, the 8th Guards Army should go to Łódź 10 to 12 days before the start of the campaign. They and the Assault 5th Army took only six days to go. They went out to the area and successfully captured the city. The original plan was to advance 10-12 kilometers every day and night, but they advanced more than 25-30 kilometers every day.”

Zhukov remained silent for a long time, and finally said, “Well, Lida, since you think that Cuikov’s 8th Guards Army is the best candidate to capture the city of Poznan fortress, then I will give them this glorious task. , I hope they can liberate this important city within the stipulated time.”

After I finished the call, Cui Koff immediately issued an order to advance to the troops through his chief of staff: “The troops belonging to the group army immediately stop rest and reorganization, and use alternate cover to advance to Poznan, and implement a siege of the German troops who are standing in the city.”

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