"Misha," Asia interrupted the conversation between the two and urged: "Aren't you telling the story of Lieutenant General Lu Jin? Why did you talk about other commanders as you went on?"
"Okay, okay, Asya, I will continue to tell you about Lieutenant General Lukin's deeds." Sokov said with a smile: "After Lieutenant General Lukin arrived in Smolensk, the task he accepted was to defend the city and ensure that the Western Front and
The road to the 20th Golden Microphone Award in Smolensk is clear. Because once Smolensk is lost, not only will the passage to Moscow be opened, but all connections between the 20th Army and the rear will be cut off, and then the entire army will have complete
The possibility of annihilation.
In Lieutenant General Lu Jin's 16th Group Army, although there is a 23rd Mechanized Army and a 32nd Infantry Army, the Mechanized Army is just an empty frame. Apart from the military headquarters and a few directly affiliated units, there are no other units; while the Infantry Army has
The situation is not much better. There are only the 46th and 152nd Infantry Divisions that are not full of personnel, with a total strength of no more than 10,000 men. There are no tanks and there are very few artillery.
In addition, the people in charge in Smolensk underestimated the speed of the German advance, so they did not build any decent fortifications at all. The troops defending the city were only three militia groups temporarily formed by factory workers.
Most soldiers have no weapons in their hands, and they cannot stop the enemy based on their strength.
Fortunately, at this time, the 129th Infantry Division, which originally belonged to the 19th Group Army, was ordered to come to reinforce the 16th Group Army. The division had three infantry regiments and two artillery regiments. The troops were fully manned and well-equipped. Their timely arrival made the solution easier.
In order to meet Lu Jin's urgent need, he deployed the division on the defense line where the Germans could break through, and established a new defense line centered on their defense area.
The day after the defense was completed, the troops of Guderian's 2nd Armored Group launched an attack on Smolensk. However, faced with Lukin's solid defense, the German attack not only failed to be effective, but also suffered heavy losses. As the main attack
The 18th Armored Division was almost wiped out in two days, with only 12 tanks left. Guderian had no choice but to withdraw the 18th Armored Division and replace it with the 17th Armored Division.
The division continued to fight.
In the next two days, the troops commanded by Lieutenant General Lukin continued to withstand the fierce German attack. The brutality of the battle was no less than that of the Battle of Stalingrad a year later. During the battle, the German 17th Armored Division
The division commander was killed and the fighting in the city had to be stopped..."
"Misha, I have a question." Since Yakov stayed in a German prisoner-of-war camp during the defense of Smolensk, he didn't know anything about this period of history. At this moment, Sokov
He spoke so vividly that I couldn’t help but ask curiously: “When the Battle of Smolensk began, I’m afraid you had just put on the military uniform and were still in the town of Khimki, far away from the battlefield. How did you know the situation at that time?
?”
Yakov's question really stopped Sokov. He was stunned for a moment, and then came up with a reasonable explanation: "Yasha, why have you forgotten? I just told you about the Smolensk garrison."
The commander later became the armored force director of my group army, and he told me many things."
Sokov's explanation sounded reasonable, and Yakov naturally had no doubts. He raised his chin towards Sokov: "Misha, go on, I want to hear how Lieutenant General Lukin defended Smolensk.
of."
"Yasha, Lukin was able to defend Smolensk not just by relying on his own strength. He also received a lot of help." Sokov explained to Yakov: "For example, Guderian's
When the troops attacked Smolensk, the 20th Army deployed to the west of the city and the Rokossovsky Combat Group in the Yartevo area southwest of the city were fighting the enemy non-stop and were scattered.
This reduced the enemy's troops to attack the city, which relieved the pressure on Lu Jin to a certain extent."
"The war lasted until the end of July. The Supreme Command found that holding on to Smolensk was no longer realistic. Instead, the troops in the area would be surrounded by the German army. In order to prevent the troops in the area from being annihilated by the German army, they decisively moved
received the order to break out. Lieutenant General Lu Jin was responsible for commanding the troops of the 16th and 20th Group Armies responsible for the breakout mission. After a fierce battle, they finally established a narrow corridor in the German encirclement.
Although the German artillery and air force ruthlessly bombed this corridor, hundreds of thousands of troops from the two armies still successfully jumped out of the German encirclement through the corridor and returned to the new defensive zone. Unfortunately, the breakthrough
Shi Lujin ordered the troops to throw away all heavy equipment to ensure that the lightly equipped troops could successfully jump out of the enemy's encirclement."
"Misha, since General Lukin jumped out of the German encirclement with his troops, how was he captured?" Asiya asked curiously.
Sokov smiled slightly, and then asked: "I think you may have heard that the commander of the Western Front at that time was General Konev, and he issued an order to Rokossovsky, who succeeded Lukin,
It means handing over the troops of the 16th Army to the commander of the friendly forces and taking the Army Headquarters to Vyazma to receive the new troops."
"Of course I have heard of it," Yakov nodded and said: "When I was still working at the General Staff, I once heard a staff officer mention this past incident and said that Marshal Rokossovsky was really lucky. If he
Had he not received Konev's order and left with the Army Group Headquarters in advance, he, like his troops, might have been surrounded by the Germans in the Vyazma area. As for what the outcome would be, it's hard to say.
.”
Yakov was hesitant to speak, but Sokov said it without hesitation: "After I heard about this, I have been thinking about it. What if Konev had not given the order to Marshal Rokossovsky?
, but to Lieutenant General Lu Jin, then what we are looking at today should be Marshal Lu Jin."
"Misha, you are right." Yakov agreed with Sokov's statement: "With Lieutenant General Lukin's commanding ability, if he continues to stay in the army, he will not be promoted to marshal.
I don’t think it’s too much to be a general.”
Asiya urged: "Misha, you haven't said yet how Lieutenant General Lu Jin was captured?"
"When Lieutenant General Lukin led the troops under his command and was ordered to withdraw to Vyazma in early October, the leading troops of the German 3rd and 4th Armored Groups had already cut off their retreat, and the main forces of our Western Front and Reserve Fronts
The troops were surrounded by the German army and completely lost contact with the rear. The troops in the encirclement could not receive any supplements at all. In order to avoid the huge troops including the 16th, 19th, 20th, 24th and 32nd armies,
Repeating the mistake of the Battle of Kiev, Comrade Stalin ordered Lieutenant General Lukin to serve as the commander-in-chief and direct these troops to break through the German encirclement and move to new defensive areas.
But it was too late at this moment. The troops surrounded by the enemy not only had little ammunition left, but also ran out of food. They could only rely on a small amount of food provided by local residents and killing horses to satisfy their hunger. Lu Jin, who accepted the command of the troops, had no choice but to go outside.
The reinforcements, without food and fodder, persisted tenaciously for three weeks, holding back 25 German infantry divisions, 4 armored divisions and 2 motorized divisions. It was not until the end of October that the troops in the encirclement were exhausted because of their ammunition.
Stopped resisting.
Unfortunately, Lu Jin's headquarters was hit by German artillery fire. When he woke up, he found that he had become a prisoner of the Germans, and his legs were dripping with blood. He didn't know whether he was hit by shell shrapnel or the headquarters collapsed.
At that time, the falling log broke it."
Having said this, Sokov turned his attention to Yakov. He remembered that the other party wanted him to come up with an idea to rescue Vlasov a few days ago, so he stared into the other party's eyes and said: "After Lieutenant General Lukin was captured, in
His legs were amputated in a prisoner of war camp. The German generals who valued him very much tried to get him to form a puppet army, and even promised to let him hold the highest position in the pro-German government once the entire Soviet Union was occupied. However, in the face of threats and inducements from the Germans,
, Lieutenant General Lu Jin did not give in, but launched a tenacious struggle with the enemy.
After many attempts, the Germans found that they could not persuade Lukin to change his ways, and instead chose Vlasov, who was captured in the Battle of Lyuban. In 1944, they helped the largest rebel general in our army to form a group.
A puppet army composed of prisoners of war from our army and residents of Europe and Russia."
Asiya naturally did not know about the conversation between Sokov and Yakov. After she heard Vlasov's name, she gritted her teeth and said: "As far as I know, Comrade Stalin has great trust in this Vlasov.
They even planned to appoint him to a higher position when the time was right. But what was unexpected was that after he became a prisoner of the Germans, he surrendered in a very short period of time, which became a shameful judgment. What if
If we catch him one day, we must punish him severely."
Sokov smiled faintly, and then asked Yakov: "Yasha, did you hear what Asya said? I think most people have the same idea as her, towards the traitor Vlasov.
He hated it to the core. But what he did to save it later was obviously impossible to save his own life."
After listening to Sokov's story, Yakov finally figured out one thing, and he felt a little impulsive. Just considering that Vlasov was a person he was familiar with, and seeing that he was threatened with death, he tried to
They rescued him, but ignored that the other party committed an unforgivable crime. Even if his father tried to pardon his death penalty for the sake of old friendship, he would probably attract a lot of opposition.
After thinking about this, Yakov nodded and said: "Misha, you are right. As long as a person like this who betrays the motherland is caught by our army, he must not be spared lightly. He must be punished.