"You are right, Comrade Commander." Ma Linin nodded and said: "From the time Chuikov's troops established the landing site, the German army concentrated its superior forces and attacked them non-stop. At the same time, it also dispatched the air force and
We fought for air superiority over the Vistula River, so much so that the pontoon bridge we built on the Vistula River was repaired, bombed, and repaired again."
"I sometimes think about whether Chuikov should be allowed to retreat to the right bank of the Vistula River, and then give up the forced crossing operation again after recharging his strength."
"Comrade Commander, Chuikov's troops must not withdraw." After hearing what Rokossovsky said, Malinen quickly dissuaded him and said: "The 8th Guards Army has finally gained a foothold in the left bank area. If
If you give up like this, all the efforts and efforts you have made and the huge price you have paid will be in vain."
"Chief of Staff, I just said that casually." Rokossovsky said with a wry smile: "Magnushev Landing Field is the foothold we finally established on the left bank. If we really give up, we want to take it back.
, will inevitably pay a greater price. Instead of doing this, it is better to let Chuikov's troops continue to hold on. As long as our right-wing troops establish a new landing site in the Narew River area, the German forces can be dispersed, thereby reducing the
The pressure Chuikov and the others are under.”
"When do you plan to let them carry out the cross-river operation?"
Rokossovsky stared at the map in front of him for a while, and then began to dictate the order: "The unit closest to the Narew River now is Batov's 65th Army. Let them take the lead in launching a cross-river operation. As long as they can
If the crossing is successful, the troops of Mischa's 48th Army and Popov's 70th Army can also successfully cross the Narew River and establish a reliable landing site in the left bank area."
Malinin called Bartov and conveyed Rokossovsky's order to him: "General Bartov, comrade commander orders your group army to move as close as possible to the Narew River and complete the task of forcibly crossing the river in the shortest possible time.
"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Bartov waited for Malinin to finish, and immediately raised the difficulties his troops were facing now: "The leading troops of our group army are still almost forty kilometers away from the Narew River, and there are German troops along the way.
With our two lines of defense, it will probably take two or three days to reach the river. Moreover, we still lack enough equipment to cross the river..."
When Batov was still talking about the difficulties faced by his troops, Rokossovsky, who heard the conversation between the two, took the microphone from Malinin: "General Batov, I only give you two days.
Two days later, I hope to see your troops establishing a landing site on the left bank of the Narew River. How about that? Can it be done?"
Hearing that Rokossovsky personally gave him the order, Bartov was silent for a long time, and finally said: "Comrade Commander, I will do my best..."
"It's not about trying your best, but you must do it." Rokossovsky repeated his words again, "I can only give you two days. After two days, I hope to see your troops appear.
Can it be done on the left bank of the Narew River?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander!" Hearing Rokossovsky's extremely stern tone, Bartov did not dare to talk about any difficulties, so he could only say with gritted hair: "We will definitely complete the forced crossing within the stipulated time.
The mission of the Narew River and establishing a reliable landing site on the left bank."
Regarding Batov's answer, Rokossovsky nodded and said with satisfaction: "That's right, General Batov. I wish you good luck. I will wait for news of your victory in the headquarters.
.”
After the call ended, Batov did not put down the phone immediately, but held the phone in a daze. Glebov saw it and couldn't help but curiously asked: "Comrade Commander, what are you thinking about?"
Glebov's voice awakened Batov from his reverie. He found that he still held the microphone in his hand and quickly put it on the phone. Then he said to Glebov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the commander just gave us
The Army Group issued a combat order, allowing us to forcefully cross the Narew River within two days and establish a reliable landing site in the left bank area."
"This is impossible, this is absolutely impossible." As soon as Batov finished speaking, Glebov lost his voice and said: "Comrade Commander, this is an impossible task. You know, our vanguard is far away from Narev
There are still more than 40 kilometers of river, and there are two directions of German troops along the way. According to our current strength, it will take at least a week or so to reach the bank of the Narew River."
"I have also told the commander about this," Batov said helplessly: "But comrade commander is very stubborn and insists on giving us only two days, so we must do everything we can to complete the commander's handover.
The mission given to us.”
Hearing the two men discussing the forced crossing of the Narew River, Military Commissar Rajecki came over and asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff, since our superiors have given us the order to attack, what shall we do now?"
What we need to do is consider how to better implement this order, rather than discussing whether this order is reasonable."
"Comrade Military Commissar, you are right." Bartov also figured it out at this moment. Since Rokossovsky gave the order to attack, he must find a way to complete this task instead of here.
Blame everyone. You must know that even if they do not carry out this arduous task, they will need other troops to perform such a task on their behalf, which is simply unacceptable to me.
"Comrade Commander, where do you think we should try to force the crossing?" Glebov asked.
"What do you think of Puutusk here?" Batov put forward his own idea: "Although the river in this area is wide, the terrain is flat and the water flow is slow. Whether it is a forced crossing or waiting for our army to establish a landing site on the left bank, we will
Building a pontoon bridge on the river is also a relatively easy task."
"I think it's okay." Bartov nodded and said, "Then we will use Puutusk and the area south of it as the location for our forced crossing. However, there is a shortage of river crossing equipment. Is there any way to get a batch of them?"
When Rajecki heard the two sighing about the details of crossing the river, he took the initiative to remind them: "Commander, Chief of Staff, it doesn't matter even if we lack river crossing equipment, we can borrow some of the river crossing equipment from friendly forces to alleviate the urgent need.
"
"This is a good idea." Rajecki nodded, and then asked: "I wonder which army the commander plans to borrow the river crossing equipment from?"
"General Sokov's 48th Army captured the Brest Fortress," Glebov said at the side: "This is a fortress surrounded by rivers. They must have captured a lot of river crossing equipment from the Germans.
.”
"I'll make a call to General Sokov." Batov waited for Glebov to finish and felt that Sokov should have a lot of river crossing equipment, so he took the initiative and said, "Ask him to borrow some of the river crossing equipment.
"
"General Sokov," the next moment, Batov ordered someone to call the 48th Group Army headquarters and asked Sokov to answer the phone: "I am Batov."
Hearing that it was Batov who was looking for him, Sokov thought that the other party was calling to thank him for saving his life in the Belovizh Forest some time ago. So he smiled and said: "Hello, General Batov.
, it’s my honor to receive a call from you!”
"General Sokov, I am calling you today to ask for help."
"Ask me for help?" Sokov couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart when he heard what Bartov said. Could it be that the other party wanted to borrow troops from me? If that was the case, should I borrow them or not? He was cautious.
He asked: "I don't know why I need help?"
"That's it. Comrade Commander gave our group army an order to forcibly cross the Narew River." Batov asked Sokov for help, and naturally he would not conceal the true purpose of the call: "But our group army has the ability to cross the river."
The number of equipment is limited, so I shamelessly come to you for help.'
Knowing that Batov wanted to borrow river crossing equipment from him, Sokov said apologetically: "I'm sorry, General Batov, I really can't do anything about the river crossing equipment."
Sokov's reply made Batov a little disappointed. He said unwillingly: "General Sokov, if I could find more equipment for crossing the river, I wouldn't bother you. I am just because of the troops.
We are seriously lacking the equipment to cross the river, so I shamelessly asked you for help, but unexpectedly you rejected me."
Sokov was not willing to turn against Batov over such a thing, so he explained to the other party: "General Batov, I'm really sorry. It's not that I don't accept it, but that I really don't have any river crossing equipment to lend you."
After hearing this, Batov couldn't help being stunned: "How is this possible, General Sokov? As we all know, the Brest Fortress is a fortress surrounded by rivers. Is it possible that the fortress lacks various river crossing equipment?"
"General Batov, to tell you the truth, we did have a lot of river-crossing equipment." Sokov explained to Batov: "But General Chuikov's troops crossed the Vistula River, so I was ordered to move all the equipment to cross the river."
The equipment for crossing the river was handed over to General Chuikov."
"I wonder who gave such an order?"
"Who else could it be, of course Comrade Marshal." Sokov continued: "General Chuikov's troops wanted to carry out a forcible crossing in the Magnushev area. Since the troops lacked sufficient equipment to cross the river, Comrade Marshal personally gave me
Give me an order to hand over all the river-crossing equipment. Since it is an order from Comrade Marshal, there is no reason for me to disobey. I immediately arrange for people to send all the river-crossing equipment. If my superiors have given me this order
There is an order to cross the river, but I don’t know where to go to get the equipment for crossing the river.”
After hitting a wall here in Sokov, Batov had no choice but to turn to Popov for help. But this time he was lucky. When Popov heard that his troops were going to carry out a cross-river operation, he lacked the necessary
When crossing the river, he said generously: "General Batov, I have fifty wooden boats and twenty kayaks here. Although the number is a little small, they can ferry a battalion of troops across at a time. I hope that for your
Fighting across the river can help a little."
Although the river-crossing equipment Popov promised would have to wait a day, it was enough for Batov. After all, his troops had to break through the two directions of the German army and advance forty kilometers before they could advance to Naray.
On the banks of the river.
"Comrade Commander," seeing that Batov had managed to obtain some of the river-crossing equipment, Glebov began to discuss with him which unit to use for the attack: "I suggest using the 304th and 321st Infantry Divisions, and then Pano
General Joseph's Don Tank Corps will cooperate with their actions, so that they can quickly break through the two lines of German defense and open up a passage to the bank of the Narew River."
Batov thought for a while and agreed to Glebov's proposal: "Chief of Staff, your proposal is good. Although the 304th and 321st Infantry Divisions lost a lot of troops in the early stages of the battle, after several months of rest and replenishment,
, they have completely restored their original combat effectiveness. In addition, the Don River Tank Corps has not participated in the battle for a long time, and the tank commanders and combatants are holding back a strong feeling in their hearts. If they are allowed to participate in the battle, they will definitely be able to exert extremely strong combat effectiveness.
"
"Then I will immediately notify General Panov and let his troops prepare for battle." Glebov said: "We will launch an attack on the enemy's defensive positions early tomorrow morning."
Panov received an order from his superiors and learned that his tank corps would serve as the main force tomorrow and lead the infantry to attack the enemy's defensive positions. He quickly called a meeting with several of his brigade commanders.
At the meeting, his words were full of murderous intent: "After the attack started, the tank army, including myself, launched a charge. Battalions were used as units, and they fought fiercely. Don't worry about the organization, and don't worry about whether it is a disruptive battle.
Wherever there are German troops, just rush towards them. Anyway, there will be infantry behind them to follow.
When you see the enemy appearing, use tank artillery fire when it is far away, and use vehicle-mounted machine guns when it is close. In a word, keep attacking, attacking, attacking until you reach the bank of the Narew River."
After Panov finished speaking, his eyes swept over his subordinates one by one, and then asked: "Does anyone have any questions?"
A tank brigade commander raised his hand and asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, I would like to ask, what if a German surrenders to us during our assault?"
Hearing this question, Panov glared, "Comrade Colonel, we are tank crews, not infantry. It is the infantry's job to capture prisoners, and we tank crews are only responsible for attacking. Even if we encounter Germans who lay down their weapons and prepare to surrender.
, don’t pay attention to them, all you have to do is to rush over with full power. As for whether the opponent can be captured alive by our infantry, it depends on their luck."
Panov's words caused a burst of laughter. He raised his hand and pressed it down. After the room became quiet, he continued: "Since the main force of the army has been trapped in the Belovizh Forest for more than a month,
Our army has no chance to participate in the battle at all, and the commanders and soldiers are holding back a lot of energy in their hearts. Now that we have the opportunity to compete face-to-face with the enemy, we must not let it go. We must let our infantry brothers see what determines victory or defeat on the battlefield.
The troops still have to rely on our tank troops."
After saying this, he took a sip of the tea on the table, glanced at his subordinates again, raised his voice and asked, "Do you have anything else to ask now?"
"No!" the commanders present responded in unison.
"Since there are no more problems, let's disperse." Panov waved to everyone and signaled everyone to leave: "Let's all go back to our respective units and make preparations for the attack."