After the new offensive battle started, a large number of bombers appeared in the sky above the attack area of Sokov's troops. They began to drop bombs before they flew to the German defense line. This move made the Germans confused. They did not understand.
What happened to the Soviet planes? Why did they start dropping bombs even before they reached their positions?
But the next scene made the Germans even more confused. These Russian planes dropped not bombs, but smoke bombs. In just a few minutes, thick smoke rose in the middle of the Soviet and German positions.
Thick white fog blocked the German army's view. At this moment, the harsh scream of artillery shells piercing the air was heard in the air. After a while, countless artillery shells fell on the German army's position and exploded, rising into the air.
Vast swaths of fire shrouded the position in smoke.
Seeing that the Soviet artillery bombardment had begun, the German army quickly withdrew from the first line of positions according to the original plan and retreated along the communication trenches to the second line of defense, leaving only a few observation posts to monitor the Soviet army's movements.
But this time the Germans miscalculated. The smoke bombs dropped by Soviet bombers severely blocked the view of the German observation posts. They could not even see the movement ten meters away, let alone the Soviet movements further away.
.
Sokov knew that even if there was no wind on the battlefield, the smoke would not last too long, so the bombardment of the German positions could not last for two or three hours. Instead, he ordered it to stop after only half an hour.
After the bombardment, the troops at the front were ordered to attack and advance towards the German positions.
When the German observation posts saw that the Soviet artillery fire had stopped, they could not see clearly the movements of the Soviet troops due to the obstruction of the smoke. They could only send an alarm to the second-line positions and ask them to immediately return to the first line of defense to resist the Soviet attack.
But what the Germans didn't expect was that as soon as their infantry reached the halfway point, the originally silent artillery fire rang out again. As if the shells had eyes, they landed in the German ranks and exploded. The German soldiers near the explosion point were not
They were shattered into pieces in an instant and were blown away by the air waves. The German soldiers who were shelled were immediately confused. Some continued to run forward, while others turned around and ran back, all trying to escape the shelling area as soon as possible. But they did so
The result is nothing more than increased casualties.
Fortunately, the shelling did not last long and stopped after only a quarter of an hour. However, the Germans who retreated to the second line of defense did not dare to act rashly again, fearing that the Soviet army would set a trap for them again.
Halfway there, another burst of intense artillery fire hit me. What should I do?
Just when the Germans were hesitant, the ground attack by Sokov's troops began. In order to pass through the thick smoke smoothly, the commanders and soldiers followed Sokov's instructions and fired rockets in the direction of the opposite German position at the edge of the smoke.
As the rockets were launched, the flight trajectory of the rockets soon appeared in the smoke, and the commanders and soldiers involved in the attack rushed toward the German position along this passage.
Because the Germans were confused by Sokov's tactics and worried that the other party might have some conspiracy to end the artillery bombardment so quickly, they all stayed in the second-line position. No one dared to return to the first-line position easily to avoid being shelled again. Last time
He was lucky enough to escape when being bombarded. Who knows if he will have such good luck next time. It was precisely because of the hesitation of the Germans that the number of German troops on the first line of defense was pitifully small. Facing the tide,
The Soviet commanders and soldiers poured into the position like waves, and their resistance was like waves in the sea, tumbling and then disappearing without a trace.
When they saw the Soviet troops occupying the first-line positions and continuing to rush towards the second-line positions, those German soldiers who had not returned to the defensive positions in time realized that they had been deceived again and wanted to stop the resistance, but it was too late. Their
The resistance did not last long and ended in failure. The Soviet army successfully occupied the German second line of defense.
After learning that the troops had successfully occupied the second line of defense, Sokov was very happy. He immediately called Rokossovsky to report the incident.
After receiving the call, Rokossovsky listened to Sokov's report and asked hesitantly: "Misha, are you really sure that your troops have occupied both German defense lines?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Sokov said confidently: "I believe in my subordinates. They will never deceive me on such a matter."
Rokossovsky also understood that Sokov could not do such a thing of lying about his military exploits. Even if he wanted to, he could just send someone to verify the situation on the battlefield and the truth would come out. "Well done,
Misha." Now that he was sure that the opponent's results were true, Rokossovsky ordered the opponent: "Don't stop, continue to advance, and be sure to advance to the Elbin area in the shortest possible time. Understand.
?"
"Understood, Comrade Marshal." Sokov replied: "My troops will continue to advance."
After putting down the phone, Sokov said to Sidorin: "Chief of Staff, the order given to us by Comrade Marshal is to order the troops to continue advancing and must reach the Elbin area in the shortest possible time. You immediately give the troops an order to let them
They took advantage of the confusion of the German army to advance quickly, chasing the enemy towards Elbing."
"Comrade Commander," Sidorin waited for Sokov to finish and pointed at the map to remind him: "Look, there is a small city called 'Lezen' here. It can be described as a fortress. A small and small city.
The bridge separates two large lakes, and Lötzen is located on the eastern section of the bridge. Even if the Germans deploy a battalion of troops here, even if we use a division, we will not be able to break through the defenses here in a short time.
"
Sokov stared at the map for a while, and then a relaxed expression appeared on his face: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't worry, it's not summer now. The frozen lake does not pose any threat to our infantry. This is how I think about it.
, sending a division across the small city of Steuben and advancing towards Rosengarten is tantamount to a detour back to Lötzen's flank. In this way, Lötzen will not only fail to function as a fortress, on the contrary, it will even fall into our
Under siege."
There is now a regiment of the German 368th Infantry Division in the city of Lezen. When the regiment leader, Colonel Kleiner, learned that the Soviet army had broken through the defense line and was heading towards his city, he couldn't help but fall into panic and quickly summoned his men.
Discuss countermeasures.
When the battalion commanders came to the regiment headquarters for a meeting and learned that the Soviet army was advancing towards Lezen, they were all frightened to death. An elderly battalion commander said: "Mr. Colonel, the Russians are
The human strength is much greater than ours, and even if we want to hold on to our position, I’m afraid we won’t be able to sustain it for long.”
"No, our regiment's mission is to hold on to Lezen, how can we give up casually?" The second battalion commander directly rejected the first battalion commander's proposal, and proactively said to Kleiner: "Mr. Colonel, I think we should seize the time."
Build fortifications and prepare to meet the Russian attack. You must know that this city can be called a 'fortress'. As long as we stick to the east end of the bridge, it will be useless no matter how much troops the Russians invest. The command will only increase casualties.
"
"I don't know if you understand the current situation." A battalion commander said angrily: "It is winter now instead of summer. The lake that could have blocked the Russian attack is now frozen. The thickness of the ice is enough
Support their infantry. In other words, if the Russians want to attack Lezen, they don't have to go through the bridge at all, but rush directly from the ice. Can we stop them then?"
The words of the old battalion commander silenced everyone in the room. Everyone knew that under the current circumstances, it was impossible to block the Russian army. But if they wanted to retreat, their superiors would definitely have to retreat.
It will not be allowed, which means that everyone can only stay in the city and wait to die.
At this time, the chief of staff, who had been silent for a long time, spoke: "Since we can't defeat it, why do we declare Letzen an undefended city to prevent the city from being destroyed by the Russians?"
In fact, everyone knows that the "no defense" mentioned by the Chief of Staff is synonymous with "surrender". Everyone is somewhat moved by the Chief of Staff's proposal, but when they think of their relatives who are still in Germany, they swallow the words again.
After returning home, no one dared to be the first to agree with the chief of staff's proposal.
Seeing that no one took a stand, the chief of staff had no choice but to turn to Kleiner for help: "Mr. Colonel, I wonder what you think about? Should you resist, retreat, or send someone to contact the Russians and announce that Lezen is here?"
The city is undefended?”
Kleine's relatives were basically in Germany at the moment. He did not have the guts to issue the order to surrender, otherwise his family might be sent to a concentration camp. In order to avoid such a tragedy, he thought about it repeatedly.
, finally made a painful decision: "Letzen is our German land, how can we give it up so easily. In order to defend this land, we must fight tenaciously."
As soon as Kleine's words came out, everyone present showed disappointed expressions on their faces. They felt that they might die in this city. But at this moment, they heard Kleine say: "Of course our strength is limited.
, unable to withstand the crazy Russian attack. After a period of fighting, it is forgivable that it was forced to stop resisting."
After listening to Kleine's words, everyone was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly understood. Kleine's meaning was very obvious: retreat or declaring the city undefended would not be agreed. But if the troops resisted in the city and found that with their own
The strength was simply unable to stop the Soviet attack, so it seemed logical to lay down their weapons and surrender.
"Yes, yes, Mr. Colonel is right." Everyone said quickly: "We must not abandon the city, nor can we take the initiative to surrender to the Russians. Facing the Russian attack, we will do our best to resist.
But if we find that there is a disparity in strength between the two sides, in order to save more precious lives, we can only bear the humiliation and stop resisting the Russians."
Kleine listened to his subordinates saying such ridiculous things, and nodded and said: "Yes, what you said is correct. Now, you all go back to your respective troops and convey this to your subordinates.
A battle order."
After the battalion commanders agreed loudly, they turned around and left the regiment headquarters, going back to convey the regiment commander's orders.
After the chief of staff waited for everyone in the room to leave, he said to Kleiner: "Mr. Colonel, I believe that all the officers and soldiers of the regiment will thank you in the future for the right decision you made." After a pause, he
Then he asked, "Do we need to send someone to contact the Russians?"
Kleine hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and rejected the chief of staff's proposal: "I think it's better to forget it. We don't know who is responsible for the Russian troops that are about to attack here. Even if we want to contact them, we can't find them in a short time.
Once we reach the door, we won’t mess around. At most, we can wait until the Russians arrive in the city, and after a period of symbolic resistance, we can simply lay down our weapons and surrender.”
Now that Kleine had made a decision, the chief of staff felt that it would be inappropriate to persuade him again, so he nodded in agreement: "Okay, Mr. Colonel, since you have made a decision, let's do what you think.
"
The Soviet troops attacking Letzen were the 3rd Infantry Division commanded by Major General Kirillov. When the troops arrived not far from Letzen, they stopped advancing. Kirillov and Chief of Staff Miyakov
The lieutenant colonel began to study how to attack the city.
"Comrade Division Commander," Miyakov pointed to the bridge and said to Kirillov: "This bridge is two to three hundred meters long, and the bridge deck is narrow. If we directly send tanks to open the road, it will be destroyed by German anti-tank fighters.
, will block the passage on the bridge..."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Kirillov interrupted Miyakov before he could finish his words: "To seize the city on the opposite side, you don't necessarily have to pass the bridge. Look at the frozen lake below.
I think the ice should be able to bear the weight of our infantry."
"So, are you planning to have the infantry attack from the ice?"
"Yes." Kirillov nodded and told his plan: "Let a regiment launch a feint attack on the enemy through the bridge from the front, making them think that the focus of our attack is on the bridge. The real direction of attack
, just rushing from the lake to the other shore."
"Well, that's good. Comrade Division Commander, your plan is very good." Miyakov nodded, and then said: "I immediately issued an order to each regiment, asking them to divide their troops into three groups and launch an attack on the opposite city at the same time.
"
The ensuing battle became a bit dramatic. The main regiment responsible for the frontal assault, in order to make the feint attack more decent, the regiment leader sent two companies to charge across the bridge towards the other side. His idea was simple, to attract the Germans
Attention, cover the neighboring troops to launch attacks from the lake.
But what was unexpected was that as soon as the two companies involved in the feint attack stepped onto the bridge, the sound of machine gun shooting was heard from the other side. The commanders and soldiers dispersed in a hurry, looking for suitable cover along the way. Unexpectedly, gunfire rang out from the other side.
For a long time, no one was hurt here. The regiment leader who was supervising the battle by the bridge discovered through the telescope that the Germans on the other side were actually shooting in the air.
This scene shocked him.
After a long time, he turned to the first battalion commander and said: "First battalion commander, you rush forward with the whole battalion immediately, do you understand?"
Although the commander of the first battalion did not know why the regiment commander issued such an order, he always chose to obey the orders of his superiors unconditionally, so he led the remaining company and rushed onto the bridge, calling for the lying troops to follow.
He charged forward. Although they were charging, the machine guns on the other side were still firing loudly, but none of the commanders and soldiers were shot and fell to the ground. This situation shocked everyone, but they continued to rush forward.
As soon as the fast-running commanders and fighters reached the east end of the bridge, the gunfire on the German position suddenly stopped, and then several white flags were raised. The soldiers holding the white flags waved them desperately, as if they were afraid that the Soviet commanders and fighters could not see them.
.
The confused commanders and fighters entered the German position in confusion. The Germans put down their weapons in cooperation and surrendered to the Soviet commanders and fighters with their hands raised.