The main combat environment of the Battle of Berlin was different from the past. It was a street fighting battlefield that greatly restricted the frontal decisive battles of large corps.
Zhukov, who had experience in commanding the Battle of Stalingrad, still vividly remembered everything he had personally experienced in the past.
The large corps could not be deployed in decisive battles, and the practical width of the frontal battlefield on which troops could be deployed was only slightly wider than a palm. In addition, in the original Stalingrad city, both the Soviet Union and Germany were squeezing toothpaste to invest limited troops bit by bit.
It took more than half a year of long and arduous fighting.
All these allowed Zhukov to realize the truth that "in a street fighting environment, breaking the enemy's will is far more effective than destroying the enemy's body." This is completely different from the plains field battles where large-scale group assaults and long-distance outflanks can be carried out.
If the enemy could choose to lay down their weapons and surrender as early as possible, instead of holding Paulus and his Sixth Army in the city and eating them up bit by bit like they did in Stalingrad.
In that case, both the control of casualties and the timing of the battle will undoubtedly be a good thing with positive significance.
At this point, it can be said that the "handsome" and the "general" came together. Malashenko tried to use the method of destroying the ultimate Nazi creation to speed up the collapse and surrender of the Berlin garrison.
It perfectly corresponds to Zhukov's idea and coincides with it.
It just so happened that the Red Army had such a powerful "noble weapon against the city" in its hands - one of the biggest gains from the Battle of Stalingrad, the "Red Stalingrad" named by the leader Comrade Stalin himself.
It must be said that Zhukov's final decision was not a purely military decision. It was more or less mixed with some personal tendencies and "satisfaction" with his father-in-law and comrades.
As an "old celebrity" beside his loving father Comrade, Zhukov, who has experienced ups and downs several times, knows very well what Comrade Stalin likes and dislikes.
In the field of weapons and equipment, Comrade Stalin had an obvious characteristic - he was a lover of giant objects.
The caliber of the artillery must be large. The bigger the heavy tanks, the better. The larger the tonnage of the battleships, the stronger. Even the bombers flying in the sky are bigger, and the weight and power of the aerial bombs they carry are greater.
Big is good, big is wonderful.
Large-caliber field heavy artillery, behemoth heavy tanks, the unfinished Soviet-class battleships, and even the giant bomber - Pei 8, whose initial performance made people shake their heads, can all be considered.
A concrete reflection of Comrade Stalin’s personal preferences.
It is natural and unsurprising that the loving father Comrade Stalin had an almost obsessive love for this super cannon, which was comparable in tonnage to a destroyer, was much larger than any army weapons and equipment, and had a caliber as large as 800 mm.
Otherwise, guess why the Comrade Leader gave her such an extremely glorious name as "Red Stalingrad"?
It is both its own name and the city of heroes. The name "Red Stalingrad" itself is enough to explain the problem.
How could Zhukov, who had been with the emperor for many years and already mastered the art of observing words and colors, not understand this?
To take it a step further, just think about it.
If the "Red Stalingrad" could be allowed to hit dozens or hundreds of sledgehammers on the home of the Nazis, the den of Nazi gangsters, and the heart of Fascism, it would even accelerate the collapse of the Berlin garrison and shorten the campaign.
process, winning an early victory plays a key role in promoting the process.
Needless to say, anyone with a normal brain growing up in Tianling Gai can guess how happy and smiling the loving comrade who received this good news will be.
A loving father is also a human being, and a human being has emotions, anger, sorrows, and joys. Having emotions, angers, sorrows, and joys means that he can do what he likes.
As long as this person is not a pervert, he will not reach out and slap you in the face when he is favored by him. On the contrary, there is a high probability that he will reward you well under normal circumstances. No matter how bad it is, he will have to
It is the icing on the cake, and it is no exaggeration to say that this is a bonus point for one's qualifications.
Since you know this, why don't you do it?
Zhukov, who had many reasons to make such a choice, finally decided on the plan of "replacing a Guards tank division with a super cannon", and thus adopted the plan submitted by Malashenko for supporting implementation.
In Malashenko's plan, destroying the G-type air defense tower, which is like an Optimus Prime and has both military and symbolic significance, is not the result, but is just a means and process to move further towards the result.
Zhukov, who clearly remembered what Malashenko was planning to do after this, knew that this moment was the most critical moment of the entire plan.
And out of common interests and purposes, I must support Malashenko unreservedly at this time.
Until the damn air defense tower that had been marked and hit was completely reduced to a pile of construction debris, and the plan could be successfully advanced to the next step.
"No matter how many guns are used, even if we hit today's limit number of shots, we will not stop until that Nazi tower is smashed into ruins."
"If the third shot is not enough, then we still have 4,56,78,90, or even 11,123 shots. Let all the surviving Nazis in Berlin see the determination of the Red Army, and all those who dare to resist stubbornly
All forces will eventually bow to the guns of the Red Army and be completely destroyed like this tower. This is our ultimate goal."
Before Zhukov's firm words had finished, the reset and reloading were completed, and the "Red Stalingrad", which had raised its ultra-long barrel again, roared again.
boom--
It must be said that the "celestial phenomenon has changed" in Berlin today. The number of meteorites that are rare in a century is indeed a bit too much. Maybe black smoke is rising from an ancestral grave in Berlin that is so bad that black water is flowing, which is an ominous sign.
indefinite.
The 7.1-ton projectile coated with a sufficient amount of tracer struck at high speed, and the friction with the air left a red tracer trail. It was extremely huge, just like what Malashenko described about it.
"Meteor falling from the sky" is generally accurate and appropriate.
With the feedback results of the first two shots, the Guards artillerymen, who had been practicing for a long time and prepared for today's first battle, would never miss.
The third powerful and heavy shell accurately hit the upper left part of the zoo's air defense tower. There was a straight line distance of less than 8 meters from the impact point of the second shell, and once again smashed through the wall on the spot without any suspense.
, shred the defense.
Boom——
Bang, bang, bang, clang——
A huge explosion sounded again from inside the zoo's air defense tower, and the spray of acrid smoke and fly ash was enough to set off a sizable sandstorm.
Malashenko even saw that this time the shelling had a different result: because something seemed to have been blown out from the hole of the second shot.
Malashenko, who was not sure what was going on, quickly set up his telescope and took a closer look at an unknown object that had just flown out of the air defense tower and had fallen to the ground. He yelled "Shocking this old horse for a whole year" and then said without thinking.
blurted out.
"Fuck! It's a German stick! Half of the German stick was pulled out from inside!"