Chapter 1568

When I heard this news, I began to think that the so-called occupation of Lvov was just a red flag planted on the top of the municipal building in the center of the city. It was just a nominal occupation. The German army was still fighting in most areas of the city. Should I report the news to konev now, or wait until the overall situation has been decided?

Right here, lelushenko's voice suddenly rang out: "Rita, this is really wonderful. You should immediately report the good news to marshal konev and ask him to pass it on to Comrade Stalin. Perhaps our supreme commander himself is anxiously waiting for such a report. "

After listening to what lelushenko said, I made a decisive decision and immediately called konev, because I knew that lelushenko had always been a valued General of Stalin. He had a thorough understanding of Stalin's psychology. He said that it was the best time to report the results to Stalin, Then it must be the best time.

So without hesitation, I called konev's headquarters and reported to him, "marshal, I have good news for you. We have captured Lvov's troops and planted a red flag on the top of the municipal building in the center of the city."

"Really, our red flag has been put on the municipal building in Lviv. That's great. That's great. I will report the news to Comrade Stalin immediately. " After konev said these words, he asked, "Rita, is the resistance of the garrison in your city still going on?"

"Yes, comrade marshal, the enemy is not reconciled to their defeat and is still carrying on the final resistance." I did not hide the truth of the current battlefield from konev, but truthfully reported that "at present, most of the cities are still in their hands, and our troops only occupy part of the East and south of the city."

"What you just reported, I will report to Comrade Stalin as soon as possible." Konev motionless said: "but you also have to speed up the attack, and strive to get Lvov down as soon as possible."

"I see. Marshal, we will do our best to speed up the liberation of this city." When I was reporting, I suddenly thought of captain Potapov, who was fighting alone in the city. They could not help but put forward to konev: "by the way, comrade marshal, I have one more thing to report to you."

"What's the matter, you say it." Said konev, a little absent-minded.

"Comrade marshal, the situation is like this." I will be trapped in the city by the German army, still fighting to the end of captain Potapov and sergeant hujiakov, simply reported to konev, and finally tentatively asked: "I want to ask, after we liberate Lvov, what kind of reward should we give to such brave commanders and fighters?"

As for my question, konev was silent for a while, and finally said slowly: "I think they fully meet the criteria for conferring the title of" Soviet hero ". At the end of the battle, if the two commanders you mentioned are still alive, you can tell them the good news yourself. "

After talking with konev, he saw that lelushenko was reading a telegram and asked casually, "Comrade General, what's the good news?"

Lelushenko handed me the telegram in his hand, shaking his head, and said, "the attack launched by general Moskalenko and I from the south of the city has been successful so far, but general kurozhkin is struggling."

"Why I asked curiously, "although we have invested two group armies in the south of the city, due to the limitation of the terrain, the forces deployed in the front of the attack are roughly equal to those in the East. Today, before the attack, our artillery has destroyed the German artillery position on Mount St. George with intensive artillery fire. Why did general kurotchkin make progress, Would it be so slow? "

"You don't know something, Rita." Lelushenko explained to me: "although Lvov was built in the 16th century, the east side of the city was designed and built according to the standard of the Battle Fortress. The fortresses in the east side of the city are as dense as cobwebs, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack. Our tanks and armored vehicles can not play their due combat effectiveness in this kind of terrain."

I agree with what lelushenko said. After he finished, I added: "the offensive is not smooth, and it is also related to our army's old tactics. Before the offensive, our army always sends air force and artillery units to attack the enemy's defensive positions. After finishing the fire coverage and attack, we send tanks, armored vehicles and infantry to rush into the city, Fight the enemy in the streets. Because there are so many residents in the city, it is impossible for us to destroy all the buildings with artillery fire, so that the enemy can hide in the buildings on both sides of the road and attack our attacking forces without fear. "

"What shall we do?" Asked lelushenko.

"By adopting the step-by-step tactics, our army will consolidate one place as soon as it is occupied, and advance in depth to the enemy's defense bit by bit." I was rather helpless to say: "in the current situation, we can only take this stupid approach."

"But this kind of play, we need too long." "I'm afraid that if I do this, I'll be blamed by my superiors," he said anxiously

"If you want to speed up the attack, there is no way." I tapped my fingers gently on the table and said carefully, "that is to take a two pronged approach. On the one hand, I will send the main force to advance along the street, and on the other hand, I will send small teams to penetrate into the enemy's defensive positions."

"I see." Lelushenko was also a smart man. Before I finished my words, he understood what I meant and nodded his head and said, "I'm going to give orders to the following troops, let them dispatch elite troops and strong generals, use small penetration methods, penetrate into the depth of the enemy's defense, and completely disrupt their defense deployment."

Seeing that lelushenko understood my intention so thoroughly, I nodded with a smile, "not only your group army, but also Moskalenko's 38th group army and kurotchkin's 60th group army need to adopt the same tactics. Only by doing so can we liberate Lvov completely in the shortest time

My order was soon conveyed. In addition to the tanks and armored vehicles, the troops continued to advance along the streets towards the center of the city. Countless small teams also infiltrated into the German defense from the weak alleys.

After a day and night of fighting, in the early morning of the 27th, the whole Lvov was occupied by our army.

After I got the accurate report, regardless of the statistics of the results, I called konev and reported to him, "Comrade marshal, our troops have completely occupied Lvov. The garrison in the city has either been killed or captured by our army. No organized unit has escaped from our encirclement."

"Good, Rita. You've done a good job." Konev was overjoyed when he heard my report, and he specially told me: "you should immediately transfer the headquarters to Lvov City, and then gather several group army commanders to summarize the gains and losses in the battle of liberating Lvov. I will be there in a few hours."

As soon as I put down the phone, he took the initiative to ask me, "Rita, next to the freedom Avenue opera house, there is a church well preserved in the battle. Do you think we will set up a new headquarters there?"

"Yes," I've never been to Lviv. I don't know what the layout of the city is. If I were allowed to choose a place, I really don't know where to choose. Since lelushenko said that the church next to the opera house is still intact, it would be most appropriate to set up a new headquarters there. I gave him a smile, said: "Marshal comrades will soon come, please arrange staff here as soon as possible."

"No problem. I'll send someone to prepare." With that, lelushenko turned and called to the director of communications, who seemed to be ready to give orders.

I suddenly thought of the two heroes who were staying in the city. I immediately told lelushenko, "Comrade General, if possible, let captain Potapov and sergeant hujiakov come to see me at the new headquarters."

…………

When I came to the location of the new headquarters, it was still a busy scene. The signalmen were setting up antennas and laying telephone lines; The staff are going in and out. On the conference table in front of lelushenko, a thick stack of papers has been piled up.

I raised my hand, looked at my watch, and asked lelushenko, who was buried in the documents: "Comrade General, when will the three commanders of rebarko, Moskalenko and kurozhkin be here?"

"They didn't come so fast." Lelushenko replied without raising his head: "I guess they will not come here until all the results are counted out, so you need to be patient and wait a lot."

As soon as his words were finished, I saw major general belov, commander of the 10th army of the close guard tank, come over quickly. He came up to us, raised his hand to salute, and put a stack of war reports in front of lelushenko. Lelushenko looked up at him, then pointed to the empty seat beside him and said, "Comrade belov, please sit down."

As soon as I saw belov, I immediately thought of captain Potapov and sergeant hujiakov who had been in the city for two days. I couldn't help asking belov, "Comrade commander, where are your two heroes?"

"My two heroes?" When belov heard my question, he was stunned. Then he thought of who I was talking about. He quickly replied, "are you talking about captain Potapov and sergeant hujiakov?"

"Yes, they are." I nodded and asked, "where are they now?"

"Sergeant hujiakov may not be able to come. He was seriously injured in the battle and has been sent to the military hospital for treatment. As for captain Potapov, he is waiting for you outside at the moment

"Comrade commander, since our hero is outside," I heard that bertapov is outside, I urged belov quickly: "call him in quickly."

Belov stood up and called out. Immediately, an officer in a big cornice hat came to the conference table, straightened up and waited for belov to give orders. Belov said to him, "go outside and call captain Potapov in."

The officer nodded, turned and walked quickly to the church. Before long, he came with a tall, helmeted, blackened captain. The captain stepped forward, raised his hand to salute some of us, and then said in a loud voice, "comrades general, Captain Potapov, commander of the tank company of the 3rd Brigade of the close guard tank, has been ordered to come, please give instructions!"

Hearing the voice of the captain, the busy lelushenko stopped working, sat on the chair and half turned around, looked at the captain who had just reported to us with great interest, and asked curiously, "are you captain Potapov, who has been in the city for two days?"

"Yes, comrade commander, it's me." "My tank company and an infantry unit have been surrounded by the enemy for two days," Potapov replied without squinting“ Comrade captain, "I stood up, walked up to Potapov and asked with a smile," did you or someone else put in the red flag of the municipal building? " After glancing at me from the corner of his eye, Potapov replied loudly: "report general, it's me who planted the red flag on the top floor of the municipal building."“ Comrade captain, "I looked at the handsome young officer in front of me and asked with great interest," as far as I know, the municipal building was conquered four hours after the red flag was put on. Can you tell me how you put the red flag on the roof? " When botabov heard my question, he was a little embarrassed and said, "Comrade General, the German army has a lot of troops in the municipal building. I can't get into it with my three tanks and dozens of men. So I had an idea. I ordered the troops to feint from the front, but I took two soldiers to the side of the building, climbed up the fire stairs and put the red flag on the top of the building In the reports I received, I only know that the red flag has been flying on the top of the German occupied municipal building, but the specific fighting situation is not clear. So I went on to ask, "after you put the red flag on the roof, did the enemy launch a counterattack?"“ Yes, the German army launched several counterattacks. " Botabov said with a little pride: "we stick to the side of the fire stairs. As soon as the enemy comes up, we will open fire on them. After seven or eight people died in company, the enemy stopped attacking, but rebuilt the fortifications downstairs to cut off our contact with the rest of the troops. But fortunately, in less than half an hour, the main force of our brigade rushed to the vicinity of the municipal building, so that the enemy had no time to take care of us on the top of the building. "“ Comrade captain, you are a good man. " I raised my hands, patted his arms, and said with approval, "in order to commend you for your bravery and tenacity and great achievements in the liberation of Lvov, the headquarters of the front army has decided to award you the title of" Soviet hero. " When Potapov heard that he had been awarded the title of Soviet hero, he immediately grinned in silence. After a few words of encouragement, I waved to him and said, "Comrade captain, you've worked hard. Go back and have a good rest. We'll arrange another time for honours." After offering me a military salute, Potapov took off a backpack on his back, held it in his hand and said to me, "Comrade General, this is my loot. I want to give it to you as a gift. I wonder if you are willing to accept it? "“ Comrade captain, are you going to give a present to the deputy commander of the front army? " Hearing what botabov said, it immediately aroused the interest of lelushenko and belov. They also came over, staring at the backpack in botabov's hand, and asked curiously, "what's in it?" Potapov didn't speak. He just opened his backpack and took out the contents. When I saw what he was holding, I was surprised.