Chapter 1704

On February 23, 1945, at 3 a.m. local time, the roar of 18000 guns of various calibres broke the silence on the banks of the Oder River. Zhukov and I were standing in the observation post of trakov's troops, looking through the telescope at the German position shrouded by fire and smoke, and looking at the effect of the artillery attack.

In the face of our powerful artillery fire, the German army occupied the highlands of zelauf remained silent. My heart was wondering, what are the Germans doing in the Highlands? Or, as usual, withdraw all the main forces to the relatively safe second position, and when we charge, they will return to the first fortification to block?

Standing in front of our army is the weisva group army group of the German army, which governs the 3rd armored army and the 9th group army, with a total of 16 divisions. In the 30 km area where our army is expected to break through, they have deployed and launched 10 divisions: the 9th, 303rd, 309th, 169, 712nd infantry divisions, the kurman division, the motorized 20th and 25th Infantry Divisions, the minhberg division and the Hitler armored division.

Because the German army could overlook the Oder River valley from the Siro highland, all our actions were under their vision, and our army could not launch a sudden attack on the highland. In addition to the continuous construction of the area, our army's attack on the Siro highlands can only be carried out by means of strong attack.

The shelling was still going on. Our army's more than 700 bombers flew over the smoke generated by the shell explosion and dropped 3000 tons of bombs on the defensive position on the highland of zelauf.

At 3:30, Zhukov picked up the phone and gave an order to malining: "chief of staff, order to turn on all the searchlights to light the way for the troops to attack."

The order was given, but after a long time, we didn't see the light column in our imagination. Zhukov picked up the phone again and asked malining, "chief of staff, didn't I order you to turn on all the searchlights? Why haven't I seen the searchlight for so long? "

"Marshal," malining replied wrongly to Zhukov's accusation, "the searchlight has been turned on for a long time. Maybe the explosion on the battlefield is too bright, so our searchlight has been eclipsed."

After listening to malining's explanation, Zhukov felt that he might have wronged the other party. He quickly covered the microphone with his hand and ordered a staff officer to go out to check. The staff officer ran to the door and looked at it for a while. Then he ran back and reported, "yes, marshal, the searchlights are on. Because the firelight of the shell explosion in front of us is too bright, we didn't see the searchlight."

As soon as the shelling stopped, a series of red flares rose in the air, which were signals of attack.

The commanders and fighters of the 23 divisions, who were distributed in the front of the 30 kilometer attack, jumped out of the trench and traffic trench, shouting and rushed to the German position in the zerlof heights.

I hold up my telescope and stare at the troops charging. The soldiers are all straight forward behind the tanks and self-propelled guns, striving to rush into the enemy's defensive positions in the shortest time. The machine gunner with the heavy machine gun fell at the back of the whole attacking team. They were in a group of two, dragging Maxim's heavy machine gun forward and running quickly, followed by several soldiers carrying ammunition boxes.

The German Fortifications on the high ground remained silent until our soldiers entered the range of 100 meters, and only a few areas had sporadic fire. In the face of these surviving firepower points after shelling, the tanks with infantry charging just need to stop and shoot at these firepower points, and the whole world is quiet. After clearing the German firepower, the tanks continued to advance rapidly.

Seeing that the offensive troops are progressing so smoothly, all the people in the observation center who can see the progress of the troops at the first time have a knowing smile on their faces. General Pronin even said with a smile: "if the troops advance at this speed and seize the highlands of zelauf before noon, there is no problem at all."

Although we all laughed but did not speak after listening to what he said, I think they also hold the same optimistic attitude from the expression on their faces. However, it was extremely sad. After successfully pushing forward for two kilometers, trakov's troops finally ran into big trouble. The advancing troops were blocked by rivers and gullies. The tanks and self-propelled guns that originally rushed in front had to slow down and let the infantry go beyond themselves to continue to attack. The original cooperation between infantry and artillery and that between infantry and tank was affected. Even the slow moving barrage, which was carried out according to the exact time, had to stop and use the way of concentrated firing by artillery to support infantry and tanks.

Around the banks of the Haupt canal under the highlands of zelauf, there are strong German fortifications. The tanks and self-propelled guns, which could not cross the river directly, had to drive along the road towards the only bridges on the river in an attempt to break through the German defense. Along the way, they were tenaciously blocked by the German anti tank fire. Many tanks were destroyed by the German 88mm anti-aircraft artillery as soon as they got to the bridge; The rest of the tanks that reached through the narrow passage and anti tank trench were destroyed by anti tank grenades fired by German anti tank men at close range.

The infantry who lost the cover of tanks and self-propelled artillery became the target of German machine gun fire. In just half an hour, the East Bank of the Haupt canal was filled with burning tanks and self-propelled artillery, scattered with bodies and dying wounded.

Seeing that the army's attack was contained by the German army, trakov could not help frowning. He turned to ask trakov, "trakov, the German resistance is very strong. When will your army break through the German defense?"

Faced with Zhukov's question, trakov gave a wry smile and replied, "marshal, you can see that the enemy's resistance on the Haupt canal is extremely tenacious, and the German artillery deployed on the highlands of zelauf can directly block our attack road. If we continue to launch attacks like this, it will be very difficult to achieve any results other than increasing unnecessary casualties of the troops. "

Zhukov unexpectedly did not get angry, but kindly asked: "well, what should we do?"

"Marshal, I request that the air force be deployed to suppress the German artillery positions on the highlands of zelauf." Trekov explained to Zhukov, "as long as the artillery fire in the Highlands is suppressed, our offensive forces can break through the German defense on the Haupt canal."

Zhukov looked at trakov for a while, finally nodded and said, "well, comrade trakov, I'll call the air force and ask them to send a bomber formation to suppress the German artillery on the highlands of zelauf."

When Zhukov called the air force, trakov was not idle. He told his engineer director, Tkachenko, "Comrade General, I'll give you an hour to at least order engineers to build three to five pontoons on the Haupt canal for tanks. Is that clear?"

"Comrade commander," Tkachenko said in embarrassment to the order given by trakov, "our engineers don't have so many hands..."

"If you don't have enough people, let the infantry send people to support you." "The road to the highlands of zelauf is blocked, surrounded by marshy River depressions and minefields. Our tanks, self-propelled guns and cars can't move at all," he ordered in an indisputable tone. If you don't act more quickly, they will be wiped out little by little by German artillery

At the same time that trakov's troops were blocked, the fifth shock group army on the right went well, which finally saved us a little face. After staring at the map for half a day, Zhukov finally made a decision to let the 1st group army of katukov's close guard tanks immediately cross the Oder River, enter the battlefield from the gap opened by trakov's troops, and be ready to seize the zelauf heights.

After arriving at the battlefield, our bomber formation bombed the artillery position in the defense depth of zelauf heights. Seeing that the enemy's artillery was suppressed, Tkachenko ordered the engineers to speed up the construction of the bridge on the canal. At the same time, he also organized people to drag away the remains of tanks blocking the road on several bridges, so that the infantry could cross the river as soon as possible.

As the floating bridge on the canal was erected and the wreckage of the tanks on the bridge was cleared, the troops of the 8th group army of the close guard launched another rush to the opposite bank. After more than two hours of fierce fighting, the offensive troops finally cleared up the German Fortifications on both sides of the canal after paying huge casualties, and then continued to advance to the highlands of zelauf.

However, when the offensive troops braved the enemy's heavy artillery fire and burst into the highland of zelauf, they found a new problem: the gradient of the highland was too steep, so our tanks and self-propelled guns could not get on. After a search, the scouts finally found that there was a gentle uphill along the road leading to zelauf, fredsdorf and duckling. However, the enemy has established strong defensive support points here. In order to suppress and occupy these support points, accurate and powerful artillery support is needed. Therefore, trikov decisively made a decision and ordered the artillery commander pozalski to transfer the artillery units of the group army to the vicinity of the zelauf heights as soon as possible to establish a new artillery position.

Although Zhukov was here to watch the war, he was worried that Stalin could not find himself in an emergency, so he specially asked the signalman to install a high-frequency telephone in the observation station. At noon, Stalin called from Moscow to inquire about the army's attack on the highlands of zelauf. He also specially stressed on the phone: "your left and right wing forces are progressing very smoothly."

Zhukov solemnly reported to Stalin: "Comrade Stalin, our troops have occupied the main German defense zone and stopped in front of the highlands of zelauf where the second defense zone is located. There are many reasons why we are hindered: we are facing the largest number of German troops, and the fortifications are relatively strong. In particular, the fortifications in the zelauf heights are not only strong, but also occupy the high and dangerous terrain. We have to fight under extremely complex conditions. "

At the end of the call with Stalin, Zhukov's face turned blue. He said to trakov impolitely, "Comrade trakov, you are too slow. During the attack this morning, the two front forces on our left and right wings advanced at least 10 to 12 kilometers into the German defense. What about us? Five kilometers. After great sacrifice, we only pushed forward five kilometers. "

After being scolded by Zhukov, trakov's face muscles twitched a few times from a distance, and then said, "marshal, we didn't expect that the terrain here is so complicated that tanks and self-propelled artillery suffered huge losses because of the inconvenience of movement. But please rest assured that we will take the highlands of zelauf within the prescribed time. "

For trekov's assurance, Zhukov only hummed softly, and said nothing more. Then pick up the phone and call malining to ask about the progress of other troops. After the artillery of the 8th group army of the guards set up artillery positions in the new area, they launched a fierce bombardment on the highland of zelauf. At the end of the shelling, the troops, who had been suppressed under the highlands of zelauf, launched a new attack. By two o'clock in the afternoon, some achievements had been made in the area of the Fourth Army of the right wing of the group army. The 47th division, under the command of general shugayev, attacked north of the koschin Berlin Road, smashed the enemy's resistance, seized several commanding heights north of the city of zelauf, and cut off a railway and two roads from the city of zelauf to bogdorf and guzov. In the evening, the 57th division of guards, under the command of general zalijuk, rushed into the railway station of zelauf city and started a fierce battle with the defenders inside.?? The 28th and 29th armies of the guard infantry attacked the south side of the city of zelauf. Their troops had advanced to the highland of zelauf, but they could not organize all their troops to attack the enemy's support points at the same time. With the general of the night, the attack on zelauf heights stopped. Trakov's troops captured only part of the highlands of zelauf and failed to complete the day's mission. For such a result, Zhukov snorted, pointed at trakov a few times, and then left angrily. Seeing the figure of Zhukov leaving and the dejected trakov, I quickly comforted him in a low voice: "general trakov, don't worry, victory or defeat is a matter of military affairs. It doesn't matter if you don't reach the campaign goal today, just make it up tomorrow." With that, I quickly went after Zhukov. Back at the headquarters of the front army, I asked malining for the latest battle report. I knew that the 1st group army of close guard tanks, which had been engaged in the battle, could only stay on the road of the Wade depression of the Oder River because it could not be launched for the time being. On the right, the 5th group army, under the command of general berzalin, went out to the old Oder River before the end of the day. On the left, the 69th army, under the command of general kolpakchi, has made no progress.