Burning Moscow

Chapter 1698 General dismissed

After several nights of testing, I found that the effect of using searchlight lighting is neither as bad as Malinin feared nor as effective as Zhukov said. The effectiveness of searchlights depends entirely on the weather and location used. But even so, Zhukov was satisfied, and he decided to inform all the commanders of the group army at the right time.

Seeing that the German counterattack in Pomerania was shattered by the combined attack of Katukov and the Second Front, everyone seemed to see that the time to attack Berlin was once again before us. Among them, the most active person is Cui Kefu, commander of the 8th Guards Army. He personally went to the front army headquarters to find Zhukov.

Zhukov was a little surprised when he saw Cuikov’s arrival: “Comrade Cuikov, shouldn’t you be at the Kustrin landing site and command troops to crush the German counter-assault?”

“My deputy commander, General Dukhanov, is commanding troops to fight. He has a wealth of command experience and is more than enough to deal with small-scale harassment by the Germans.” Cui Kefu briefly answered Zhukov’s question and said bluntly. Out of my own words: “I think we should decisively rush to Berlin before the German army has time to deploy the reserve team, and take this city with a swift attack.”

After listening to Cui Kefu’s proposal, Zhukov stared at him for a long time, and finally shook his head and said, “No, Comrade Cui Kefu, this is absolutely impossible.”

“Why?” Cui Kefu asked puzzledly.

Zhukov stood up, walked out from behind his desk, walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, and said: “In a few days, on February 4th, the Supreme Commander himself will be in Yalta, and the United Kingdom and the United States. The leaders held talks. At the meeting, we discussed matters concerning joint operations between the two sides.”

“Comrade Marshal, when we launched the Belarusian campaign, we did not have the support of the United Kingdom and the United States. We succeeded.” Cui Koff said confidently: “I think even if the United Kingdom and the United States are not attacking from the west to contain the German forces, We can also take Berlin down by our own ability.”

“Comrade Cui Kefu,” Zhukov did not wait for Cui Kefu to finish speaking, and then sternly interrupted what followed him, and said with a serious expression: “Can the current situation be compared with the time? According to what we know, the Germans are competing with the British and Americans. The two countries contacted privately in an attempt to make peace on the Western Front alone. Once their conspiracy succeeds, the Germans can confidently and boldly move the Western Front troops to the east to stop our army, let alone take Berlin, and not suffer. God blessed the encirclement of the German army.”

Cui Kefu heard Zhukov say that Britain and the United States might make peace with Germany in private, his face suddenly turned pale. After a long time, he suffocated a sentence: “Comrade Marshal, isn’t this true?”

“Why is it not true?” Zhukov said grimly: “When it comes to capturing Berlin, not only you are anxious, but I am anxious. Comrade Stalin who is far away in Moscow is even more anxious. But if we don’t eliminate the hidden danger of peace on the Western Front, we want to rely on our front army The troops rushed directly to Berlin. It was a dream. If we can’t attack Berlin for a long time and German reinforcements arrive, then our troops attacking Berlin will fall into the overlap of the Germans. Do you understand?”

The room fell into silence. After a long time, Cui Kefu broke the silence: “Then what should we do?”

Cui Kefu rushed to Ma Lining, who was sitting next to me, beckoned and motioned for him to pass. After Ma Lining stood in front of him, he directly ordered: “Comrade Chief of Staff, please read the combat order we have drawn up to General Cui Kefu, so that he can know it well.”

Ma Linin nodded, picked up a document and began to read: “…The 5th Assault Army, the 8th Guards Army, the 69th and 33rd Army should occupy the landing field on the west bank of the Oder River. And the Guards 8th Army and It is better for the 69th Army to have a common landing area between Küsterling and Frankfurt. If it can be done, it is best to connect the landing areas of the 5th Assault Army and the 8th Guards Army;

The Polish 1st Army, the 47th and 61st Army, the Tank 2nd Army and the Cavalry 2nd Army should repulse the enemy to Ratzeburg-Falkenberg-Hittalgard-Alitda M-the Oder River line. After that, except for the remaining cover forces to wait for the arrival of the Belarusian Second Front, the remaining forces should be transferred to the Oder River for a breakthrough;

During the breakthrough, the existing reinforced weapons of the various armies will still be used; minor repairs and medium repairs of tanks and self-propelled artillery should be completed before February 5, so that the weapons remain intact;

The air force should be deployed, and there should be no less than 6 base numbers of fuel on the airport;

The logistics department of the front army and the logistics departments of various armies and units should make full preparations for the decisive phase of the campaign before February 3-4.

Front Army Command: Zhukov; Military Commissioner: Terekin; Chief of Staff: Malinin. ”

After Ma Lining finished reading, Zhukov looked at Cui Kefu and asked, “Comrade Cui Kefu, have you heard the combat orders I gave you?”

“Yes, Comrade Marshal.” Cui Koff nodded vigorously, and replied affirmatively: “The main task of our army at present is to expand and consolidate the Küsterlin landing field so that it can be used as a starting point for future offensives.”

“Very well, Comrade Cui Kefu.” In response to Cui Kefu’s answer, Zhukov nodded in satisfaction: “Now that you have understood, then rush back to the troops as soon as possible, organize forces to attack the German army, and try to expand the landing field under your control. Only then can we deploy more offensive troops on the landing field.”

After Cui Kefu left, Malinin asked Zhukov with some worry: “Comrade Marshal, do you say that Britain and the United States will really make peace with the Germans in private?”

“No, Comrade Chief of Staff.” Before Zhukov could answer, I interrupted and said: “From the current situation, the private peace between Britain, the United States and Germany is not in their long-term interests. As long as the fascist Germany is not completely destroyed, they Sooner or later, there will be a resurgence. So I think that after the Yalta meeting, the British and American allied forces will formally launch an offensive against the German forces, advancing to the German capital Berlin together with us.”

“Lida, their army is more than 600 kilometers away from Berlin, but ours is only 70 kilometers.” Malinen said disapprovingly: “Even if they attacked before us, it is still our army that arrived in Berlin first.”

“Although the United Kingdom and the United States and Germany will not make peace in private, it cannot be ruled out that the Germans took the initiative to open channels to the United Kingdom and the United States, deliberately letting them occupy Berlin, so that they can transfer more troops to the east for defense. Stop our army from advancing to Berlin.” I carefully took part of the history I knew as my own reasoning to tell everyone, “So even if we attacked with the Allied forces at the same time, it is still possible that the first to reach Berlin was Allied forces.”

After listening to my so-called analysis, Ma Lining appeared a little nervous: “Comrade Marshal, if the situation is really like what Lida said, what should we do?”

“Don’t worry, Comrade Chief of Staff, please stay calm.” Zhukov raised his hand and pressed down, indicating that Malinin shouldn’t worry about this kind of thing, and said carefully: “The situation Lida said is indeed possible. , But we shouldn’t be panicked because of this. As long as Konev and Rokosovsky’s troops have carried out a large-scale roundabout from the two wings to Berlin, then even if the German army has opened the channel to the Allied forces, it will be open to them. It doesn’t help. The only one who won Berlin in the end was our troops.”

A week later, Stalin, who had participated in the Yalta meeting, informed Zhukov that after his meeting with the leaders of the United Kingdom and the United States, the other party had given up his plan to make peace with the German army in private, and apologized for the secret contact with the German army representatives. At the same time, General Marshall, the Allied Chief of Staff, also announced that after Eisenhower’s redeployment and a short rest, the U.S. troops are ready to attack and can launch an attack in the direction of Berlin at any time.

After receiving this news, Zhukov called us together to discuss whether it was necessary to advance the attack time.

The first speaker was Ma Lining, who solemnly said: “Comrade Marshal, most of our current troops have not completed the recruitment of soldiers, and the ammunition has not reached two bases. If we launch an attack at this time, I am worried that we The offense will be defeated due to poor logistics.”

As soon as Malinin finished speaking, General Sokolovsky said: “Yes, Comrade Marshal, the Chief of Staff makes sense. Our follow-up troops are arriving one after another, and the weapons and ammunition have not yet reached the required reserve base. If we launch an offense rashly, I am worried that our offense will become weak in follow-up.”

“Comrade Marshal,” the artillery commander Kazakov said, “As the weather turns warmer and the snow melts, the roads become muddy and muddy. The convoys carrying artillery shells often take one or two days to reach the troops at night than expected. This has greatly slowed our hoarding of artillery shells. If we are to launch an attack in advance, I am worried that the time for artillery fire preparation will be greatly shortened as a result.”

Seeing that everyone was opposed to launching an attack in advance, Zhukov’s face became a little uncontrollable. He turned his head and looked at me and asked, “Lida, what do you think about it?”

I quickly stood up and said cautiously: “Comrade Marshal, I think we should launch the offensive at the scheduled time. February 23, whether it is our Army Day, is a particularly meaningful holiday, and there is another most important one. The reason is that our army has enough time to complete the supply of soldiers, weapons and ammunition.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Malinin and Sokolovsky said as soon as I was finished, “That’s what Lida meant. We haven’t finished the preparations yet and launched an offensive hastily. Not only will it cause huge casualties to the troops, but it will also not necessarily achieve any results.”

“So, our attack can only be launched at the end of February?” Zhukov asked with a displeased face looking at me.

“That’s it, Comrade Marshal.” Seeing Zhukov’s expression on his face, I quickly gave him a step to step down. “Our landing area on the West Bank is still too small to accommodate too many offensive troops. This will inevitably lead to us. Most of the troops only hurriedly crossed the Oder River after the offensive battle started to cooperate with the leading troops in the offensive.”

For this reason, Zhukov found the step to step down. He nodded and said with unusual cooperation: “Lida made a very reasonable point. Now we can only deploy two or three divisions at the two landing sites on the West Bank at the same time. This force is necessary to capture a high ground like Zerauf. , Is far from enough. Well, our offensive time will remain unchanged. During this time, we must urge the troops to continue to launch counterattacks against the Germans, and strive to consolidate and expand the landing field.”

After the meeting, the 8th Guards Army and the 5th Army received an order from Zhukov, asking them to double the existing landing field within ten days.

After this order was issued, Cui Kefu, who had been holding back his energy, began to flex his muscles. In just two days, he expanded the front and depth of the landing field by two kilometers.

In contrast, the performance of the 5th Army was much inferior. After all, in their early offensive, the troops were attrition very severely, so after a few days of fighting, there was no progress.

Just when we thought that Zhukov would definitely go to Berzalin, the commander of the group army, to settle accounts, something unexpected happened. The 3rd Assault Army, which had just been assigned to us, received Zhukov’s order to cross the Oder River and establish a landing field on the west bank, and the unit immediately took action.

Regrettably, due to warming temperatures and floating ice on the river, several assaults by the group army ended in failure. Seeing the repeated failures of the 3rd Assault Group’s offensive, Zhukov couldn’t help furiously. He called the commander of the Group Army, Lieutenant General Simoniak, to the headquarters, which was a reprimand.

General Simoniak was also an impatient Originally, he was suffocated by the evil fire in order to force the troops to overcome the defeat. At this moment, he was scolded by Zhukov, and he suddenly became angry and angry, and he scolded Zhukov. At the end of the scolding, he took off the military cap on his head and slammed it on Zhukov’s desk, and said viciously: “This commander, I won’t do it. Whoever you think is suitable, let someone do it!”

I didn’t see it well, so I quickly winked at Malinin, Sokolovsky, and the others, and motioned to persuade them to fight. A marshal and a general quarreled, so that the soldiers could see how they were dressed. Unexpectedly, we just walked over and suddenly heard Zhukov’s words: “Well, General Simoniak, since you don’t want to be the commander, you will be removed from now on. You are free. Kuznetsov’s position will be succeeded in the future.”

As soon as Zhukov’s words were uttered, Simoniak was stunned, I was stunned, Malinin and Sokolovsky were stunned, everyone who heard this was stunned. Unexpectedly, Zhukov made such an exception. The dignified commander of the group army said that he would be dismissed when he was dismissed, and there was no room for change.

After an unknown period of time, Simoniak spoke. He seemed to be ten years old: “Understood, Comrade Marshal, I will return to the army immediately and wait for a new commander to take over my duties.” He reached out and picked up the hat on the table. He neither put the hat on his head nor saluted Zhukov, so he turned and left the command post.