An hour later, an artillery captain appeared in front of Denis, straightened his back and reported to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I am Captain Anwar of the division's artillery regiment. I have been ordered to come to accept your command. Please give me instructions!"
"
"Comrade Captain, you arrived just in time." Denis shook hands with Anwar, then pointed to the Lazienki Palace in the distance and said: "The enemy is in the palace, and comrades from our regiment and the Polish Army have successively launched attacks.
, but because the enemy’s firepower was too strong, the attack was not successful.”
Anwar heard what Denis said and immediately understood his intention: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you mean to let us use direct fire to destroy those exposed fire points?"
As soon as the other party understood his intention, Denis smiled and nodded, and said: "Yes, Comrade Captain, that's what I mean. I wonder if you can do it?"
Anwar squinted and looked in that direction, and then said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, to use direct-aimed shooting to destroy the enemy's firepower point, you must first know the location of the enemy's firepower point."
"This is easy to handle." Knowing that Anwar wanted to know the location of his firepower point, he called a staff officer and told him: "You just saw where the enemy's firepower point is. Point it out to Captain Anwar."
When the staff officer took Anwar to the side to locate the enemy's firepower points, Petrie asked with some worry: "Lieutenant Colonel Denis, can your artillery really destroy the enemy's firepower points?"
"Don't worry, Comrade Petrie." Denis said with a smile: "Just relax and watch the show."
Anwar crossed the river this time and brought over four 76.2mm cannons. He fired directly at the firepower point in the Lazienki Palace from a position of one or two kilometers. The effect was very obvious. After two rounds of shooting, it was marked.
All firepower points were hit without exception.
Seeing that all the German firepower points were hit by artillery fire, the Soviet army launched another attack.
When they rushed to the wooden fence again, they were blocked again without exception. But this time the commanders were smarter. Instead of rushing to move the wooden fence, they squatted down and threw grenades behind the sandbags.
When the enemies behind the sandbags were bombarded with howls of terror, they stepped forward and removed the wooden fence blocking the road, crossed the sandbags with their weapons, and engaged in close combat and hand-to-hand combat with the surviving enemies behind them.
The German position outside the palace was quickly occupied by the Soviet army, and the battle shifted from outdoors to indoors. Most of the commanders and fighters of the 772th Regiment had experience in street fighting, and they performed particularly well in the battle with the Germans for rooms.
When seizing a room, they did not rush directly to the door and shoot inside with submachine guns. Instead, they first threw a grenade inside and the people hid in a safe place. After the explosion, they went in and fired at the injured and struggling people.
The German soldiers replenished their guns one by one.
The battle lasted for about an hour, and the Soviet and Polish coalition forces finally captured the Lazienki Palace and captured more than 30 prisoners. Denis and Petrie had different opinions on how to deal with these prisoners. The former
He believed that these Germans had committed countless crimes against the Polish people and should be shot immediately; while Petrie felt that these prisoners should be temporarily detained and then sent to the prisoner of war camps in the rear after Warsaw was liberated.
The two couldn't argue over this issue, and in the end they had no choice but to hand over the conflict and ask their respective division headquarters for instructions on what to do? However, neither Derevyanko nor Galitsky dared to make the decision without authorization, so they reported the issue to the
their respective commanders.
After receiving the report from Colonel Galitsky, Bellinger wanted to immediately ask them to temporarily imprison the prisoners until Warsaw was liberated before being sent to prisoner-of-war camps. However, Chief of Staff Korchica reminded him: "Commander
Comrade Comrade Marshal, I think it is better to ask the Front Army Headquarters for instructions on this matter. It is up to Comrade Marshal to decide how to deal with these prisoners."
Bellinger thought for a moment about the proposal of the chief of staff, and then decisively agreed. He picked up the phone and asked the operator to call the front headquarters. When the call came through, he reported to Rokossovsky:
: "Hello, Comrade Marshal, I am honored to report to you that my troops have successfully occupied the Lazienki Palace."
"Well done, General Bellinger, you did a great job!" Rokossovsky was overjoyed when he heard that the troops crossing the river sent by Bellinger had captured the Lazienki Palace. He said to Bellinger
: "Please express my gratitude to Colonel Galitsky for their successful capture of important buildings in Warsaw."
After Bellinger waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, he said carefully: "Comrade Marshal, during the battle to seize the Lazienki Palace, we captured some German prisoners. At present, the commanders and fighters of our army and the commanders and fighters of the Soviet army
There have been some disagreements on how to deal with the prisoners, so I would like to ask you for some advice, how should we deal with these prisoners?"
"It's very simple," Rokossovsky said casually, not wanting to waste time on such trivial matters: "All members of the SS will be shot on the spot; as for the officers and soldiers of the Wehrmacht, they will be temporarily locked up until Warsaw is liberated."
After that, they were sent to prisoner of war camps.”
Bellinger did not expect that Rokossovsky would solve the difficult problem in an understatement, and quickly replied: "I understand, Comrade Marshal, I will immediately convey your intention to the commander at the front."
.”
As soon as the phone was put down, Zakharkin, the deputy commander of the front army who had just taken office not long ago, came in from the outside and placed a piece of paper in front of Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, I just received the call
telegram."
Rokossovsky took the telegram from Zakharkin's hand, glanced at it twice, and couldn't help but frowned: "What, the Allied transport planes that dropped supplies for the Warsaw Uprising Army were hit by ground artillery fire.
Many transport planes were shot down, and the pilots parachuted and fell into German-occupied areas. The Allies asked us to help rescue the pilots in distress?"
"Comrade Commander, this is not easy to handle." Zakharkin sighed and said to Rokossovsky: "The area where the Allied pilots parachuted is to the west of Warsaw on the other side of the Vistula River, and we
The troops are staying on the right bank of the Vistula River, how to rescue them?"
"Comrade Deputy Commander." Ma Linin came over at this moment. Hearing what Zakharkin said, he quickly said: "We have troops in the left bank area."
"What, we have troops in the left bank area?" Zakharkin's face showed a shocked expression: "When did they cross the river, where are they now, and how many troops are there?"
When the news came that the Polish army had occupied the Lazienki Palace, Zakharkin was not in the headquarters, so naturally he did not know about it. Malinen explained to him: "Comrade Deputy Commander, not long ago, the seventh Polish division of the 3rd Division
The regiment and the 772nd Regiment under the 47th Group Army successfully captured the Lazienki Palace on the left bank and established a small landing site."
Knowing that there were two regiments of the Soviet Army and the Polish Army in the left bank area, Zakharkin suddenly became interested. He turned to Rokossovsky and said: "Comrade Commander, since we have troops on the left bank,
Then let them search and rescue the parachuted pilot west of Warsaw,"
Hearing what Zakharkin said, Rokossovsky seemed a little hesitant: "Now our two regiments on the left bank are tasked with the arduous task of establishing a landing site. Let them go to the area occupied by the German army at this time to search and rescue parachuted people.
Allied pilots, I think this matter may not be easy to handle."
Malinin heard Rokossovsky's true thoughts and said to Zakhalkin: "Comrade Deputy Commander, what the commander means is that if we send people to the city to carry out search and rescue operations, then the troops will become dispersed.
, if the Germans launch an attack at this time, I am afraid that our landing site on the left bank will not be able to be saved."
"But the order to rescue the pilots was given to us by the Supreme Command." Seeing that Rokossovsky was not willing to send people to the city to search and rescue the parachuting pilots, Zakharov became a little anxious: "If the superiors
We cannot bear the responsibility if we blame him."
While Rokossovsky and others were having a heated debate over whether the Allied pilots should be rescued, the Polish army occupying the Lazienki Palace found some airdrop boxes nearby. They moved the boxes back to the Lazienki Palace.
, opened it, and found that except for one box which contained food and a small amount of medicine, the other boxes were filled with bullets.
Seeing the whole box of bullets, Denis and Petrie felt ecstatic, thinking that these airdrop supplies could be used to replenish their own ammunition. But after a while, they stopped laughing at all, because these bullets were from the US military.
The weapon used by the M1 carbine cannot be used by Soviet weapons.
"Hell," Petrie said angrily: "How can the bullets in these airdrop boxes be used by American guns? What is the purpose of the Allied forces airdropping these supplies?"
But Denis remembered that when he entered the palace, he saw in one of the rooms the weapons of the rebels killed by the Germans. He called a company commander and told the other party: "Comrade Captain, go to the room just now."
, bring the two guns inside."
Soon, the company commander came over with two American carbines and reported to Denis: "Comrade Commander, I took a quick look and found that the Liudov Army uses beautiful weapons and equipment. These ammunition should be
It’s provided to them.”
Petrie took the weapon from the company commander's hand, cursed in a low voice, and said to Denis: "Lieutenant Colonel Denis, since we can't use this batch of ammunition, then find a way to give it to Liudov's army."
Comrades, they should be able to use these ammunition."
After hearing this, Denis smiled bitterly and said: "Comrade Petrie, even if we give this batch of ammunition to the rebels first, they still need to contact us. We have occupied Lazienki Palace for so long, no matter what
We haven’t seen anyone from Liudov’s army or Krajov’s army.”
"Yes, when we just captured the Lazienki Palace, we made a lot of noise." Petrie said with emotion: "Logically speaking, if the rebels know that we captured the Lazienki Palace, they will definitely send someone to contact us.
But so far, two hours have passed and I haven’t seen a single contact person.”
"Comrade Commander," a staff officer came over and reported to Denis, "I see a general coming towards us."
"What?" Denis couldn't help being stunned after hearing this, and asked: "Which general is it, our general, or the Polish general?"
After a quick glance at Petrie, the staff officer replied: "It's our general. I see what looks like a lieutenant general."
Knowing that the person coming was a lieutenant general, Denis asked tentatively: "Is it our commander?"
The staff officer shook his head and said with a confused expression on his face: "It shouldn't be our commander, but this general looks very unfamiliar. He should be from another army group."
But no matter which army the general belonged to, since he was a Soviet commander, Denis had to go out to greet him, so he took a group of people from his regiment to the entrance of the palace to greet him.
After waiting for a while, he saw a lieutenant general arriving in front of the palace under the protection of more than 20 armed soldiers. Denis quickly jogged to the opponent, straightened his back and reported to the opponent: "Comrade General,
Lieutenant Colonel Denis, commander of the 772nd Regiment of the 324th Infantry Division, reports to you that our regiment is performing combat missions from superiors, please give instructions!"
"Please rest a moment!" the general said politely: "I am Lieutenant General Zakharkin, deputy commander of the front army. I came here to see you on the order of Marshal Rokossovsky."
Knowing that the person who came was actually the deputy commander of the front army, Denis couldn't help but be secretly surprised. He quickly called to him: "Comrade deputy commander, this is not the place to talk. Please go inside."
Arriving at the temporary headquarters, Denis pointed at Petrie and introduced to Zakharkin: "Comrade Deputy Commander, this is Lieutenant Colonel Petrie, commander of the 7th Regiment of the 3rd Division of the Polish Army. Lieutenant Colonel Petrie, this is
This is General Zakharov, deputy commander of the Front Army!"
The Polish 1st Army, where Petrie was located, was also led by the 1st Belarusian Front. The person he saw at this moment was actually the deputy commander of the front army. He hurriedly raised his hand and saluted: "Hello, comrade deputy commander, I am the Polish Army
Lieutenant Colonel Petrie is willing to obey your orders, please give instructions!"
"Comrades Lieutenant Colonel, please take a seat." After Zakharkin asked the two to sit down, he explained to them the purpose of his visit: "I took the risk to come here because I have an important task that I want to entrust to you."
Hearing that there was an important mission, Denis and Petrie stood up from their seats in a panic, waiting for Zakharkin to give them a combat mission.
Seeing the two lieutenant colonels standing up, Zaharov quickly asked them to sit down, and then said: "The situation is like this. Not long ago, an Allied transport aircraft formation flew over Warsaw to airdrop supplies to the rebels in the city.
.But unfortunately, when they were preparing to return, they were hit by German ground anti-aircraft fire, and several transport planes were shot down. Your mission is to search for parachuting Allied pilots in the city and deliver them safely.
Go to the other side."
After Denis waited for Zakharkin to finish speaking, he asked tentatively: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I would like to ask in what area did these Allied pilots parachute?"
"I don't know." Zakharkin shook his head and said: "The order we received only mentioned that Allied pilots were parachuting in Warsaw, but the specific area was not mentioned at all. So you are
After accepting this mission, I can only find a way to find the whereabouts of these Allied pilots. Do you understand?"
The two lieutenant colonels looked at each other, and then replied in unison: "I understand!"