Early the next morning, Sokov heard the roar of an airplane engine in the distant sky. From the sound, there were quite a few trees surrounding the airplane. He quickly walked to the window and looked up into the sky.
, I wanted to find out whether the incoming plane belonged to the Soviet Army or the German Army.
"Comrade Commander," Sidorin, who was standing by the window looking up at the sky, saw Sokov approaching and said, "Did you also hear the roar of the aircraft engine?"
"Yes," Sokov nodded: "Listen to the sound, there are a lot of planes."
"There are at least hundreds of aircraft," Sidorin said: "And the direction from which the sound came is from our rear. I guess it is the fighter planes of the 4th Air Force Group Army that are making a transition."
"It would be great if it was really the planes of the 4th Air Force Group that were in transit." Sokov said: "That way it would be more convenient for them to conduct reconnaissance or bombing of German fortifications on the West Bank."
The roar of the aircraft engine increased from small to loud, and not long after, it changed from loud to small again, and finally gradually disappeared. It should be that the fleet completed the transition mission and successfully landed at the new field airport.
Shortly after the sound of the plane disappeared, the roar of artillery fire was faintly heard from the south. Hearing this sound, Sidorin said in surprise: "Comrade Commander, did you hear the sound of artillery in the distance? This should be Zhukov's
The marshal's troops attacked the enemy."
"Well, yes, it should be Marshal Zhukov's troops that launched an attack on their frontal enemy." Sokov said: "I hope they can successfully break through the German defenses. With a good start, we can start again.
When attacking, the pressure will be greatly reduced."
"Comrade Commander, I have something to report to you." When Sokov returned to the table, Sidorin chased after him and said: "Considering that the number of engineering troops is limited, if they are simply allowed to cut down trees, I am afraid that
It wasted a lot of time, so I assigned two infantry brigades to help them cut down the trees."
"Chief of Staff, what you did is right." Sokov said casually: "It will be very beneficial for us to prepare the wood for erecting the pontoon bridge early..." When he just said this, an idea suddenly came to his mind.
Shen stopped mid-sentence.
Seeing Sokov staring blankly at the map in front of him without speaking, Sidorin asked in surprise: "Comrade Commander, what are you thinking about?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I'm thinking that in order to confuse our reconnaissance planes, the German army deployed a lot of fake tanks in their defense area, making us think that one of their armored forces was gathered there." Sokov suddenly said
He said curiously: "Can we also imitate the Germans and make some fake equipment to fool the Germans?"
"How to fool him?" Sidorin asked curiously.
"We disguised the felled trees as artillery by the East Oder River and covered them with canvas to confuse the enemies on the other side." Sokov said with a smile: "If the Germans find out that we have deployed a large number of weapons along the river,
After the artillery fire, what action do you think they will take?"
"Needless to say, it must be to cover our artillery positions with artillery fire to destroy our artillery so that we cannot get artillery cover when we cross the river." Sidorin finished talking about the possible reactions of the German army in one breath.
Finally, he suddenly looked at Sokov with wide eyes in surprise and asked: "Comrade Commander, do you plan to use this batch of wood to make a fuss?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, I just plan to use this batch of freshly cut wood to the river to disguise it as artillery, and cover it all with canvas to make the Germans on the other side think that we have deployed a large number of artillery pieces.
On the banks of the East Oder River, in order to relieve the threat they face, the Germans will definitely use powerful artillery fire to bombard our fake artillery positions. As long as we determine the location of the German artillery positions, we can use artillery fire
Suppress, or dispatch the air force to bomb their artillery positions."
"Comrade Commander, this is a good idea." Sidorin beamed with joy after hearing this and said repeatedly: "I will send people to move all the wood to the river and build a fake artillery position to confuse the enemy on the other side."
"We need to discuss this matter with General Potapov." Sokov said: "After all, after the enemy takes the bait, his artillery unit will need to use powerful artillery fire to suppress the enemy's artillery."
Potapov received the call from Sidorin and immediately rushed to the headquarters. After saluting Sokov, he asked directly: "Comrade Commander, I wonder if you asked me to come. What's the matter?"
"That's right, Comrade Artillery Director." Sokov said with a smile: "I would like to ask, can the artillery of our group army suppress the German artillery positions on the other side?"
Hearing Sokov's question, Potapov couldn't help but frowned: "Comrade Commander, I don't know how to answer this question. After all, I don't know where the German artillery positions on the other side are and what their
What is the strength of the artillery?"
Sokov explained to Potapov: "I want to build a huge fake artillery position by the East Oder River to attract German artillery fire. As soon as they fire, I hope your artillery can fire in the shortest possible time."
Lock their positions within a certain period of time and suppress them with artillery fire. How? Can it be done?"
"Establish a huge fake artillery position by the East Oder River?" Potapov asked with some confusion: "Comrade Commander, what are you going to use to pretend to be artillery to confuse the enemy on the other side?"
"Wood." Sokov said: "In a few days, we will launch an attack on the other side. In order to send technical equipment and more troops to the other side, I plan to build a pontoon bridge on the river. These newly cut wood are the bridge.
Bridge materials, now I plan to use them to disguise as fake artillery, and then cover it with canvas to make the enemy on the other side think that we have deployed a powerful artillery position on the shore. In order to avoid being hit by our artillery fire, I think the Germans
They will definitely strike first and bombard our fake artillery positions first to eliminate hidden dangers."
"Oh, so that's what happened." Potapov nodded after hearing this and continued: "I can concentrate fifty artillery pieces with a caliber of 105 mm or more on standby. As long as I lock the position of the German artillery position, I can immediately
Fire at them."
"Comrade Director of Artillery, in fact, I plan to let your artillery suppress them after the enemy's artillery bombardment begins, while requesting my superiors to dispatch the air force to bomb the German artillery positions." Sokov said: "But I am worried about Germany.
I don’t want to be fooled, so I haven’t contacted the front army headquarters yet.”
"Comrade Commander, I think we should contact the Air Force as soon as possible." Potapov analyzed to Sokov: "You must know that it takes time to add fuel and load bombs to the aircraft. If you contact them temporarily, maybe their aircraft will still be available.
The enemy's artillery moved its position without taking off, and by the time our air force arrived, it had lost its bombing target."
Sokov felt that what Potapov said was very reasonable, so he nodded and said: "Comrade Director of Artillery, what you said makes sense. I will call the front army headquarters right away. I hope the air force can make preparations as soon as possible and be able to
Attack in time at critical moments.”
After saying that, Sokov picked up the phone on the table and started calling the front army headquarters.
After the call was connected, when he heard Bogolyubov's voice coming from the receiver, Sokov said politely: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I am Sokov. Is Comrade Marshal here? I have
The matter needs to be reported to him."
"I'm sorry, General Sokov." Bogolyubov said apologetically: "Comrade Marshal has gone to inspect the troops and is not at the headquarters."
When he learned that Rokossovsky was not at the headquarters, Sokov could not help but feel a little disappointed. He continued to ask: "I wonder when he will come back?"
"That's not clear." Bogolyubov said, "If you have anything important, the same goes for telling me. When Comrade Marshal comes back, I will tell him."
Since Rokossovsky was not present, Sokov could only tell Bogolyubov his plan to induce the German artillery to expose its position and hope to destroy it with artillery and aviation. He finally said: "Front Army
Comrade Chief of Staff, we hope to receive strong cooperation from the Air Force when the plan is implemented."
Bogolyubov, who figured out what was going on, agreed: "Don't worry, General Sokov, I will tell Comrade Marshal what you said as soon as he comes back. The 4th Air Force Group Army has just completed its transition mission.
, a considerable number of aircraft need to be overhauled, and I am afraid that not many can be put into combat in a short period of time."
"Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, my request to dispatch the air force for bombing is to completely destroy the German artillery positions and reduce the artillery damage suffered by our army when crossing the river." Sokov said: "So when we need it,
I hope the Air Force can send more aircraft to provide air support."
"Okay, okay." Bogolyubov said impatiently: "General Sokov, I already understand what you mean. When Comrade Marshal comes back, I will convey your meaning to him. Don't worry.
Let's go." After saying that, he hung up the phone without giving Sokov a chance to speak.
Sokov held the phone in a daze for a while, then put down the phone and said to Sidorin and Potapov: "Comrade Marshal is not in the front headquarters at the moment. The call was answered by Chief of Staff General Bogolyubov. He has already
Promise me that we will ask the air force to provide us with air support when needed."
When Sokov called, Sidorin and Potapov were chatting and did not hear the conversation between Sokov and Bogolyubov. After listening to Sokov's words, both of them couldn't help but be overjoyed.
Potapov said excitedly: "Comrade Commander, let me tell you this. If only our artillery fires, the German army will find that something is wrong and will immediately move their positions; but if they have the support of the air force, they will have no way out at all.
If we can retreat, the possibility of being annihilated is very high. If the German army does not have the support of artillery fire, when we launch an attack, the casualties paid by the troops will be much smaller."
But Potapov still raised a question: "Comrade Commander, what if the enemy doesn't take the bait after we set up artillery positions by the river?"
This question really stumped Sokov. He thought for a long time before he tentatively said: "How about deploying a few real artillery pieces in the fake artillery position? If the enemy doesn't fire at us, we can fire at them.
Fire artillery from their positions. As long as the enemy's positions are bombarded, they will definitely fire back, and in this way, their artillery positions will be exposed."
"Yes, I think what Comrade Commander said makes sense." Sidorin echoed from the side: "When the Germans saw our false position by the river, I'm afraid they were still hesitant and wondered whether they should take the lead in attacking us.
Launch an attack. But if we fire at them first, the Germans will regard the fake artillery positions as real. In order to avoid greater losses, they will definitely fire back without hesitation."
"Okay, Comrade Commander." Potapov nodded and said, "We are now making two preparations: First, the Germans will directly fire artillery fire on the fake artillery positions, and I will order the prepared artillery to fire on their artillery positions.
Suppression; secondly, if the enemy does not dare to fire first, then we will fire at them to make them think that the false positions deployed on the shore are the artillery positions established by our military, thus attracting their artillery fire."
"Okay, then it's settled." Sokov said to Potapov: "Comrade Director of Artillery, you should go back to the army to make preparations. Maybe as soon as our false positions are set up, the German artillery fire will come.
.”
When Potapov went out, he happened to meet Lunev who had just come in from outside. He said hello to him, turned around and left.
Looking at Potapov's leaving back, Lunev curiously asked Sokov: "Misha, what are General Potapov doing here?"
"Comrade Military Commissar, the thing is like this, I plan to set a trap for the Germans." Sokov described his plan to Lunev in detail and said: "It depends on whether the Germans will be like us.
As expected, they will honestly jump into the trap we dug for them."
"Misha, I think your plan is good." Lunev affirmed Sokov's plan: "If I were a German commander and saw that an artillery position suddenly appeared in the enemy's position on the other side, for
For my own safety, I will definitely find a way to eliminate it first. Even if I don't understand the situation here and dare not fire easily, if I am bombarded by this side, I will fire back anyway. But in this case
, the artillery positions on the west bank will be completely exposed, and will be suppressed by artillery fire and bombed by aircraft."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Luniev turned to Sidorin and said: "Please ask the comrades of the infantry brigade to speed up the logging. I can't wait to see the German army being shelled and bombed by our army after they were deceived.