Chapter 1502 Rat Thrower

  The method Liushka mentioned was used by Soviet commanders and fighters to deal with German officers and soldiers who coerced civilians in the Brest Fortress and even some other areas, and it did achieve good results. However, the Germans are not idiots. When they understood the tactics used by the Soviet army, they also formulated corresponding countermeasures.

  The commanders and fighters of the 188th Division received the order from Koida and sent people to leave the position to approach the coerced civilians and let them lie down after hearing the order. Unexpectedly, as soon as he left the position, he was knocked down by a German sniper hiding in the crowd. After sacrificing several commanders and fighters in a row, Koyda realized that something was wrong. The Germans discovered their intentions and hurriedly called Sokov to report.

"What, what did you say?" Sokov was also taken aback when he received a call from Koida, and hurriedly asked: "Comrade Colonel, you mean that as soon as our commanders and fighters leave the fortifications, they will Will be killed by a German sniper hiding in the crowd?"

   "That's right, that's exactly what it is."

   "What is the enemy doing now, attacking your positions?"

"No, Comrade Commander." Koyda replied: "The civilians who were surrounded by the enemy stayed at a distance of 150 to 200 meters from the position, and the German soldiers built fortifications behind them. I want to use them as human shields to stop our army from attacking."

"I see, continue to monitor the enemy." Facing such a cunning German, Sokov had no good way to deal with it for a while, so he could only tell Koida: "Once there is any new movement, remember to report to me in time. .”

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." Keida replied loudly, "I will report to you the enemy's new movements as soon as possible."

  After putting down the phone, Sokov picked up the cigarette case on the table, took out a cigarette from it and lit it, and began to think about how to smash the German conspiracy and rescue the trapped civilians.

   After finishing a cigarette, he picked up the phone and connected to the headquarters before he could come up with a good solution. As soon as he heard Sameko's voice, he asked straight to the point: "Chief of Staff, how is the operation to rescue civilians going?"

"It's not going well, Comrade Commander." Sameko replied in a low voice: "The Germans seem to know what tactics we will use, so they arranged snipers among the civilians who were engulfed. As soon as our commanders and fighters leave the position, try to When approaching those coerced civilians, they would be sniped mercilessly, and all divisions suffered considerable casualties."

  After listening to Sokov, he couldn't help but sighed, and then told Sameko: "Chief of Staff, order those troops who encounter the coerced civilians to temporarily stop attacking, consolidate the existing occupied area, and wait for further orders."

  Hearing Sokov's order, Sameko was stunned: "Comrade commander, do you just stop the attack like this?"

   "Yes, any area where civilians are coerced, the attack will be temporarily suspended."

"Comrade Commander, we are about to take down the fortress. If we stop at this time, the bloodshed and sacrifice of our commanders and fighters in the early stage will be in vain." Sameko reminded Sokov: "If the superiors pursue it, you How to deal with it?"

   "No way, Comrade Chief of Staff." Seeing that if he tried harder, he could capture the entire Meriefa Fortress, but he didn't expect that the Germans would play such a trick on themselves, leaving Sokov helpless. Hearing Sameko's reminder at this moment, he smiled wryly and said, "Can you give the order to shoot at civilians? I can't do it anyway."

"I see, Comrade Commander." Hearing what Sokov said, Sameko also realized that the other party had made such a difficult decision after repeated thinking, so he could only say helplessly: "I will contact you immediately. Concerned units were contacted and ordered to temporarily suspend their attacks on the enemy."

   "Also, you should report this matter to the Front Army Command immediately." Before Sameko put down the phone, Sokov added: "I will return to the headquarters as soon as possible and personally request punishment from my superiors on this matter."

   "Comrade Commander," Fomenko, who saw Sokov put down the phone, asked quickly, "Are you really going back?"

"Yes," Sokov replied with a nod of his head, "Seeing that the fortress is about to be taken down, and something like this happened, the Front Army Command must be dissatisfied with me. Commander Husband explained."

   "Then what shall we do here?" asked Fomenko.

   "Comrade General, you have not encountered any civilians who have been coerced by the German army." Sokov said to Fomenko: "You continue to attack. As long as you can take down the bastion, it is tantamount to weakening the enemy's strength in disguise."

Sokov took a few steps towards the door, then stopped suddenly, turned to Fomenko and asked: "Comrade General, tell me, if your troops occupy the front bastion, can they enter other places through the underground passage?" What about the bastion still occupied by the Germans?"

Fomenko thought for a while and replied: "Comrade Commander, theoretically it works. However, our army filled the underground passage with gasoline and set it on fire. It may take a day or two at the earliest before it can be used normally. "

Sokov felt that what Fomenko said made sense. In the current underground passage, people who entered it would not be able to survive if they did not carry oxygen. to be put into use again. Thinking of this, he said to Fomenko: "After taking down the bastion, send people in to try it out. If they can pass, then send a small force to go deep into the German bastion to destroy it. If you can't pass, don't take the soldiers. I'm risking my life, understand?"

   "Yes, Comrade Commander, I understand everything."

   When Sokov rushed back to the headquarters, he saw Sameko answering the phone. He suddenly felt an ominous premonition, and asked loudly, "Comrade Chief of Staff, who are you talking to?"

  When Sameko heard Sokov's voice, he quickly covered the microphone with his hand, trying to squeeze a smile on his face: "Comrade Commander, you are back!"

   Sokov continued to ask: "Who are you talking to?"

   "It's General Zakharov, Chief of Staff of the Front Army."

"Give me the microphone." Sokov felt that before he came in, Zakharov must have criticized Sameko on the phone. As the supreme commander of the army group, how could he let others suffer for him, so he reached out and took it He picked up the microphone in Sameko's hand and whispered in his ear, "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I'm Sokov."

   "Oh, it's Sokov." Unexpectedly, the imaginary storm did not come. On the contrary, Zakharov asked kindly: "You came back from the frontier?"

   "Yes, I came back from the front." Sokov asked hesitantly, "Is Commander Konev at the headquarters?"

"He's not here." Sokov heard Zakharov say that Konev was not here, and he was secretly relieved, but the next sentence from the other party scared him out of his wits: "He is rushing to your headquarters. On the way, I believe it will not take long before you can see him."

Sokov raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and asked Zakharov with a smile: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the situation here is too dangerous, how can I let Comrade Commander come to me? If there is something , you make a call, and I will rush over immediately."

"Comrade Sokov, don't worry too much." Zakharov said with a smile on the phone: "Comrade Commander did not come to you to ask questions, but to understand the specific situation in person, so as to formulate Appropriate plan to rescue civilians trapped by the enemy."

  Zakharov's words surprised Sokov very much. He didn't expect Konev to stop attacking the fortress after he knew about it. On the contrary, I came here to understand the situation in person, and prepared to formulate a plan to deal with the enemy based on the actual situation.

  After putting down the phone, Sokov wiped off his sweat, looked left and right, and then asked, "Chief of Staff, where did Comrade Military Commissar go?"

"He went to the artillery unit." Sameko explained to Sokov: "He feels that there is some misunderstanding between you and General Nedelin, and he needs to talk to General Nedelin so that it will not affect your future. negative effect."

   Knowing that Lunev had resolved his grievances for himself, Sokov was quite moved. My attitude towards Negeline is too tough. Although they are all for the sake of victory, the disputes are only due to different tactical guiding ideologies. Who knows whether Negeline will hate himself in his heart. If the other party said a few words through some channels when I was faced with a report in the future, it might ruin my future.

  Konev came very quickly, and within five minutes of Sokov putting down the phone, he appeared in the headquarters.

   After Sokov and Sameko saluted him, Konev just nodded, walked quickly to the wall, and looked up at the map hanging on it. Seeing Konev concentrating on the map, Sokov didn't want to disturb him, so he could only stand quietly behind him.

   After staring at the map for a while, Konev turned and asked Sokov, "Comrade Sokov, which bastions have you stopped attacking?"

  Sokov hurriedly stepped forward, picked up the explaining stick leaning against the wall, and pointed to it to explain to Konev: "The civilians who are being held hostage by the German army are basically concentrated in the east near the railway hub..."

Konev waited for Sokov to finish speaking, nodded slightly, and said: "The Germans made a very clever move. As long as they control these bastions on the east side of the fortress, they can bombard us with condescending artillery fire. Troops at the Rail Junction."

   "That's right, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Seeing that Konev's thoughts coincided with his own, Sokov nodded and agreed: "That is indeed the case."

"Then what can you do to deal with this German conspiracy?" Konev immediately denied it as soon as he said this, "No, it's not a conspiracy but an overt conspiracy. The Germans are right here in our The front, but because there are still a large number of civilians being coerced between our two armies, we dare not take the initiative to attack at all, and can only stare at them anxiously."

"There is no way for now, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Sokov said with a wry smile: "I learned a tactic from a soldier that can deal with the Germans. But the Germans may have suffered similar losses several times. So I learned how to be clever, and when I found out that our commanders and fighters were leaving the trenches and trying to get close to the civilians who were kidnapped, they used snipers to kill them, and we paid some casualties."

"Comrade Sokov, your decision to temporarily stop the offensive is very correct." Konev praised Sokov's decision to order the troops to stop the offensive, and he continued: "As soldiers, we have the right to defend The obligation of our own people, we must not just watch two or three thousand civilians being killed by the Germans in front of our eyes."

  He raised his hands and patted Sokov on the shoulder, and after calling him and Sameko to sit down, he asked casually, "By the way, where has your military commissar, General Lunev, gone?"

Sokov was about to answer that he had gone to the artillery unit to contact General Nedelin, but Sameko rushed to reply: "Comrade commander, the military commissar went to the artillery unit. He said that since the artillery of the friendly army came to support us Yes, it would be a bit unjustifiable if there wasn’t a group army chief who showed up in the past.”

Hearing what Sameko said, Konev also felt that it is indeed necessary to send a group army chief to show his face in the artillery unit of the 7th Guards Army. Long periods of artillery preparation.

  Since Lunev was away, Konev continued to get down to business: "Comrade Sokov, what method do you think we should use to deal with this kind of conspiracy of the Germans?"

  "Before I returned to the headquarters, I told General Fomenko, the commander of the 84th Division, that if the bastion was captured, I would find a way to send troops through the underground passage to enter the German bastion..."

"Wait a minute, Comrade Sokov." Sameko didn't mention the underground passage between the bastions when he reported the information at the Front Army Command, so Konev was naturally one of the first when he heard Sokov talk about the underground passage. Wushui: "Can you explain to me what is going on with this underground passage?"

  Sokov heard Konev's question, looked at Sameko in surprise, and said to himself, didn't you report this to your superiors? Seeing the wry smile on Sameko's face, he immediately understood that the other party really hadn't reported to his superiors, so he explained to Konev: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, the situation is like this. In order to facilitate the mobilization of troops, the Germans are Underground passages have been built between each bastion. In this way, once a bastion is being attacked by our army and the situation is not good, the German army can draw troops from other bastions to reinforce them through the underground passages."

   "So that's the case." Konev nodded after listening, and said to Sokov: "Then how do you deal with these underground passages of the enemy?"

Sokov smiled, and then explained to Konev: "The underground passages built by the German army are five to six hundred meters long. If such a long passage is built underground, there are not enough vent holes, and people who enter it will easily suffocate. After we found the vent hole of the underground passage, we poured gasoline into it and detonated it with a grenade, burning or smothering the enemies hiding in it to death."

"Your method is really wonderful." Konev said approvingly: "In this way, if the German army wants to send reinforcements between the bastions, it must be done through the ground. Once the enemy If exposed within the range of our army, our artillery fire can wipe out more than half of them."

"That's right, since we set fire to it, the connection between the enemy's bastions has been completely cut off. In order to prevent us from taking the bastions, they drove out all the civilians who had been imprisoned in the bastions in advance, and made them stand between the two armies. Between them, as their human shield."

  (end of this chapter)