Chapter 2023

  Under the trend of huge interests, Tolstikov sent people to send the found fuel and ammunition to the position of the 122nd Brigade in less than an hour. The tanks, replenished with fuel and ammunition, started rumblingly, and drove towards Baranovich in a single formation along the road.

  The German officers and soldiers at the entrance of the city saw five of their own tanks approaching, and hurriedly removed the iron tripods on the road so as not to block the tanks.

  Five tanks entered the city from the road opened by the German officers and soldiers, but did not continue to drive towards the city, but stopped in a small square nearby. After the tank stopped, because the tank soldiers inside did not come out, the enemy who was close at hand did not know that the tank soldiers in these tanks were actually Soviet commanders in disguise.

Through the binoculars, Victor saw that five tanks had successfully entered Baranovich, and he couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief, and then reported to Ponejielin: "Comrade Deputy Commander, the tanks have entered the city, we Is it possible to attack now?"

   "Yes, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Pornejelin nodded and said, "Let your troops immediately attack the city again."

   Following the order, the Soviet troops staying in the outer positions launched an attack on Baranovich. The troops participating in the attack, in addition to Victor's 122nd Brigade, and Tolstikov's 1st Guards Division, the two troops rushed towards the city from different directions.

  Seeing that the Soviet commanders and fighters were approaching the edge of the city, the German troops standing here opened fire decisively, trying to use machine gun and mortar firepower to block the attacking troops outside the city.

  The Soviet army, which was attacked by machine guns and mortars, suffered some casualties, but the remaining commanders and fighters were still approaching the German positions. The fastest warrior was no more than a hundred meters away from the first trench.

  An officer came to the tank parked in the square, and tapped the body of the tank with the handle of a gun, trying to attract the attention of the crew in the tank.

   Soon, the hatch of a tank was opened, and a tank soldier wearing a black jumpsuit and a tank soldier emerged from it. He asked the officer who was beating the tank, "Lieutenant, what's the matter?"

   "Mr. Captain," the officer said to the tank soldier leaning out of the tank, "The Russians have launched an attack on our city. Please support the defenders in front with artillery fire immediately to prevent the Russians from rushing into the city."

   "Don't worry, I will immediately order all the tanks to fire." After the tank soldier finished speaking, he retracted into the tank again and closed the top hatch.

   Soon, several tanks slowly turned their turrets, pointing their muzzles at the fighting area. The next moment, the five tanks fired in turn, and the shells that escaped did not hit the Soviet offensive formation, but landed on the German machine gun fire points or mortar positions. The first round of shooting directly destroyed two machine guns and a mortar.

The German lieutenant, who hadn't gone far, saw that the tank fired and failed to hit the Soviet army, but destroyed his own firepower point. He ran back quickly and shouted at the tank that was about to fire: "Stop, stop quickly, you guys! Hit one of your own."

  The top cover was opened again, and the tank soldier just got out again, and said to the German officer, "Yes, you are the ones we are hitting." After speaking, he raised his pistol and fired three shots at the officer.

  The officer, who was caught off guard, was shot immediately, covered his wound, turned around slowly in half a circle, and then fell limply on the ground.

  Seeing this, the surrounding soldiers immediately realized that the people in the tank were not their own, but Russians, and they came up from all around with weapons. However, the Soviet commanders and fighters in the tanks would not allow their plots to succeed. They used vehicle-mounted machine guns to shoot around, knocking down the enemies who rushed over one after another.

  While the tank soldiers fired with machine guns, they did not forget to bombard the German positions ahead with artillery fire, destroying the firepower points that threatened the attacking troops one by one.

   With the support of the tanks, the attacking Soviet commanders broke through the German positions and rushed into the city one after another. The Soviet tank soldiers staying in the German tanks were worried that the troops rushing in would mistake them for the enemy, so they quickly stretched out a submachine gun tied with a red flag out of the tank, and told the commanders and fighters who rushed over that this was their own tank. rather than the enemy.

  The raised red flag was indeed effective. The Soviet commanders who rushed over saw the red flag and knew that the tank was their own, so they bypassed the tank one after another and rushed deeper into the city along the street.

  Seeing the troops rushing into the city, Victor couldn't help being overjoyed, and said repeatedly to Ponegerin: "Comrade Deputy Commander, go up, go up, my troops go up."

"I saw it." Bonegelin nodded, and said lightly: "Your brigade fought well this time, but you can't be proud. But in my opinion, there are still many problems. Finally, organize the commanders and fighters to discuss the gains and losses of this battle."

"Understood, Comrade Deputy Commander." Victor nodded and said: "After the battle is over, I will organize the commanders and fighters to summarize, find out the shortcomings in this battle, and correct them in future battles. "

   After a short pause, he tentatively asked: "Comrade Deputy Commander, you see, my troops have rushed into the city, can I report victory to Comrade Commander?"

"Don't worry, Lieutenant Colonel Victor." After rejecting the other party's proposal, Ponegerin continued: "The troops rushed into the city. This is just the first step in liberating the city. There is also a street battle with the enemy. As for the victory, I think we can wait until later.”

   "Okay," since Pornegelin said so, Victor could only say helplessly: "Then it won't be too late to report victory to Comrade Commander after our brigade has planted the flag on the highest point of the municipal building."

However, things are unpredictable. When Victor was regretting that he could not report to Sokov in time, Sokov called first: "Is it Lieutenant Colonel Victor? I am Sokov. You How is the situation there, and when will it rush into the city?"

   "My vanguard has rushed into the city and is engaged in fierce street battles with the enemy."

"Oh, the troops have already rushed into the city." Sokov did not expect Victor's troops to break through the German defenses in such a short period of time, and rushed into the city to fight the enemy on the streets: "What a surprise! Exciting good news, but why didn't you report it to me in time?"

"This is all my idea." Ponegerin took the microphone in Victor's hand, and explained to Sokov in his ear: "Siege warfare always has many uncertain factors, and I am worried that the battle will There were repetitions, so Victor was not asked to report to you immediately. Comrade Commander, you won’t blame me for making my own decisions, will you?”

   "How could it be, Deputy Commander." Sokov said reasonablely, "Since I entrusted the command of the assault force to you, you have the final say on everything there."

   "Comrade Commander, what's the situation in Minsk?" Ponejielin asked: "Is the enemy still attacking?"

Sokov heard what the other party said, and said to him: "Comrade Deputy Commander, the enemy's attack on the German army in Kyiv has completely stopped. It is estimated that Model changed his strategy and did not intend to continue to attack the city, but tried to attack the city. Use the forces in hand to rescue the 4th and 9th armies that were besieged near Minsk."

   "By the way." Before putting down the phone, Sokov suddenly remembered an important matter, and asked tentatively, "How is the situation with General Batov?"

"From the observation post where we are, we can hear the sound of dense gunfire from the other side of the city." Pornejelin replied, "But I don't know how they are progressing and whether they have broken through the German fortifications." gone."

"I will ask Comrade General about this matter directly later. If there is any latest news, I will inform you in time." Sokov said: "Comrade Deputy Commander, please tell Lieutenant Colonel Victor, he and His subordinates are all good."

After Sokov finished calling the assault force, he ordered the director of the communications corps to connect to the front army headquarters. Sokov took the receiver, and Rokossovsky's voice came out of the headset: "Hi, it's Mi Sand?"

   "Yes, Comrade General, I am Sokov."

   "How is the situation there?" Rokossovsky asked with concern: "Have the troops rushed into the city?"

"That's right, Comrade General, your news is really fast." Sokov waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, and said jokingly: "I also just found out that my troops have rushed into the city. I wanted to report this good news to you, but I didn't expect you to know it first."

   "Where did I get any news?" Rokossovsky replied with a smile: "I just made a bold assumption based on the battle situation and your combat characteristics."

"Comrade General, I wonder how the situation is at General Batov's place?" Sokov said cautiously: "My subordinates reported to me that when they were attacking the city, they heard fierce noise coming from the other end of the city. Gunshots and explosions, it should be that General Batov's troops are also attacking the city."

"You guessed it right, they are indeed attacking the city." Rokossovsky said to Sokov: "At first General Batov felt that after repeated battles, the troops were greatly reduced. The commanders and fighters also became exhausted, and it was difficult to continue fighting, so they decisively ordered the troops to suspend the attack, and prepared to launch an attack on the city after finishing the rest.

   It's a pity that as soon as he issued such an order, Marshal Zhukov went directly to his headquarters and ordered him to resume the attack on Baranovich as quickly as possible. In this way, General Batov re-issued a new order to the troops, let them continue to attack the city. "

  Sokov heard what Rokossovsky said, and he murmured to himself: After the troops received the order to stop the attack and rest on the spot, they would definitely relax the tight string. Unexpectedly, after a short break, the attack will resume again. The commanders and fighters have not adjusted their mentality yet, and rushing into battle, I am afraid that their combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced.

   But such a thing, you can just think about it in your heart. If you say it, you will inevitably offend many people. So he said with regret: "That would be such a pity. If we had continued to attack in one go, the troops might have broken through the German defenses and rushed into the city."

"Yes." To Sokov's statement, Rokossovsky unexpectedly agreed: "If I were in Batov's army, then there are only two ways. One is what you just said It is very possible to break through the German fortifications in one go and liberate our troubled city.

  Another way is to prolong the rest time, so that the commanders and fighters have enough time to recover their physical strength. In doing so, although the German army was given time to strengthen the fortifications, it would not take long for the recharged troops to defeat the enemy after they rejoined the battle. "

  The two chatted for a long time around the topic of Baranovic. Rokossovsky remembered that Sokov was commanding troops to defend Minsk, so he asked curiously, "By the way, how is the situation there?"

"My troops have rushed into Baranovic and are engaged in fierce street fighting with the enemy." Sokov said with some hesitation: "If General Batov's troops can enter the city quickly, then the liberation can be shortened." The time Baranovic needed."

   "No, no, no, Misha, you made a mistake." Rokossovsky interrupted Sokov and explained to him, "What I'm asking is how is the enemy situation near Minsk?"

"The enemy has completely stopped their attack on Minsk." Sokov hurriedly replied: "But since they have attacked my defense area, it is not rude to come and go. I sent two divisions and two brigades to attack the Germans. There was a violent counterattack.”

   "It's a beautiful job, it's really beautiful." Rokossovsky said: "I was worried about whether Minsk could hold on, but now it seems that my perspective on the problem is not right.

  There are hundreds of thousands of our troops around the city. It is impossible for the German army to devote all its troops to capture Minsk from our army. All they can do now is to rescue the encircled 4th and 9th armies and avoid the fate of being wiped out by our army! "

   "Comrade General." Sokov knew very well in his heart that his task of defending Minsk had been completed, and now sending two divisions and two brigades to attack the German army was nothing more than trying to express his anger. The next thing to do is to hand over the city so that I can lead the main force of the army group and rush over to report to Ponejielin: "I want to ask, who do you plan to take over my defense?"

"I have already called Lieutenant General Gorbatov of the 3rd Army." Rokossovsky explained to Sokov: "Since the army lacks transport vehicles for transporting troops, they can only use Go to Minsk on foot. I think you should be able to reach Minsk at noon tomorrow at the latest. At that time, you can safely and boldly hand over the city to the friendly army."

  Hearing that the friendly forces would not arrive until noon tomorrow, Sokov couldn't help but frowned slightly. If according to the normal procedure, wait for the troops of the 3rd Army to arrive, and then carry out a comprehensive change of defense, at least half a day has passed. When the main force of the group army rushes to join Ponegerin's troops, it will have to wait until the day after tomorrow at the earliest, which means that Ponegerin's troops will not receive any reinforcements in two days and can only rely on themselves With the available troops and equipment, come and seize this city occupied by the German army.

  (end of this chapter)