Chapter 2219

  In the observation post, Kirillov saw the enemy at the east end of the bridge through the binoculars. He only put up his weapon and surrendered after only a symbolic resistance, and he couldn't help being stunned. He didn't know if the Germans had taken the wrong medicine. Since they were going to surrender, why did they pretend to resist just now?

   "Comrade Commander, what should we do now?" Chief of Staff Miyakov asked next to him: "The troops deployed on the two wings are just ready to attack, and before they have time to attack, the enemy surrendered unexpectedly."

Kirilov turned his head and said to Miyakov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, let the two regiments on the left and right advance to the city of Letzen according to the original plan. But it is no longer an attack, but to accept the surrender of the Germans. By the way, After the leading troops enter the city, our division headquarters will also move forward to the city."

"Comrade Commander, today's battle is really inexplicable." Myakov reminded Kirillov: "Since we have captured Letzen, shouldn't we report this good news to the Army Group Command immediately? "

   "You are right, Comrade Chief of Staff." Kirillov nodded and said, "The commander should indeed be told such good news."

Sokov was also shocked when he received a call from Kirillov and learned that Letzen had taken it: "What, General Kirillov, what are you talking about, your troops have successfully captured Letzen. How is this possible, how is this possible."

  The reason why Sokov said two consecutive "how is this possible" is entirely because of the marching speed of the troops. The 3rd Infantry Division has just arrived outside the city of Letzen at best. Unless all the German troops in the city escaped, they could occupy the city on the march. Thinking of this, he added another sentence: "General Kirillov, is the city you occupy an empty city?"

   "No, Comrade Commander." Kirillov replied: "According to my observations, the defenders in the city have at least the strength of a regiment."

   "Since the German army has a regiment of troops in the city, how did you take the city so quickly?"

"Comrade Commander, this is exactly what I find strange." Kirillov expressed his doubts to Sokov: "According to my plan, a regiment feinted from the bridge to attract the enemy's attention, while The other two regiments attacked from the ice, quickly broke through the German defenses and rushed into the city. Unexpectedly, as soon as the feint attack started, something incredible happened on the enemy's position, and almost all the German officers and soldiers were in the sky. Shoot."

"What, the enemy shoots into the sky?" Sukov has dealt with the Germans for several years, and this is the first time he heard that the German army would shoot into the sky when facing the Soviet attack. This is simply incredible: " General Kirillov, this is the first time I have encountered such a situation. Well, since the city has been captured, you should settle in the city as soon as possible, and call me after you have established a new headquarters. Report the details."

   "Yes, Comrade Commander." Kirillov replied: "When I establish a new headquarters in the city, I will report the details to you immediately."

After putting down the phone, Sokov said to Sidolin and Lunev: "Chief of Staff, Military Commissar, a strange thing happened. Let me tell you, and you come and analyze it for me. What is going on? Something happened."

   "What a strange thing." Lunev asked curiously: "Let's hear it, I want to see it, how strange it is."

"It's like this. General Kirillov called me just now and said that after his troops arrived outside the city of Letzen, he made a battle plan: use a regiment to attack the city from the front to attract the attention of the Germans; Then the other two regiments launched an attack from the ice, and surrounded the enemy from both wings. But what is strange is that when the feint attack started, the enemy at the east end of the bridge actually fired into the sky when facing our attack. Our army As soon as the commanders and fighters crossed the bridge, they put down their weapons and surrendered. Tell me, what's going on here?"

   "Strange, really strange." Sidolin couldn't help frowning after hearing this, and said repeatedly: "Could it be that the Germans have some kind of conspiracy?"

   Lunev also frowned and thought for a while, then a smile appeared on his face. He said to Sokov: "Misha, I thought of a possibility, do you want to hear it?"

   "Please tell me, Comrade Military Commissioner."

"I guess the German commander who stood firm in Letzen City knew very well that with his strength, he would not be able to stop our army's attack. Instead of fighting us to the death, it would be better to surrender, which would save his own life." Lu As a deputy minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Nev has his unique side in analyzing intelligence. He said to Sokov: "I guess the family members of the German commander are all in Germany. If he didn't fight our army, he would Ordering the troops to put down their weapons and surrender may hurt their families. But if a gun is fired on the battlefield, no matter where the bullet flies, it doesn’t matter whether it hits the target or not. At least it shows that he once organized resistance, but due to The strength of the two sides is very different. In the end, he had no other choice, so he chose to order the troops to stop resisting and surrender to our army. In this way, the possibility of his family members being implicated will be reduced."

"That's right, that's right." After Lunev finished his analysis, Sidolin also nodded in agreement: "I think what Comrade Military Commissar said is more reasonable. The German commander knows that if we are enemies, there is only one way out. The only way out Just lay down your weapons and surrender. In order not to implicate your local family members, you can only use this self-deceiving method to fight our army. After our army arrives in front of him, he will naturally put down his weapons and surrender."

   "Well, I agree with your analysis." Sokov nodded and said, "Although Kirillov hasn't called yet, I think things should be as you guessed."

  Now that Letzen has won, Sokov naturally wants to report the matter to Rokossovsky.

When Rokossovsky was silent after listening to Sokov's report, he asked after a while, "Misha, what's going on? How could your troops survive in such a short period of time?" How about capturing this city known as the 'Fortress'?"

"Comrade Marshal, you are right to worry." Sokov explained to Rokossovsky: "If in summer, due to the obstruction of the lake, our troops can only attack the enemy through bridges. And The Germans only need to deploy a small number of troops at the east end of the bridge to block our way forward. But it is winter now, and a thick layer of ice has already formed on the lake. The way the German army deployed defenses on the east side of the bridge, The impact on us is greatly reduced.

General Kirillov, who commanded the operation, ordered one regiment to feint from the front to attract the enemy's attention, and then use two regiments to pass through the ice, detour from the two flanks of the German army, and encircle the city trend. Unexpectedly, after our army's feint attack began, General Kirillov discovered that the German army at the east end of the bridge was shooting at the sky, so he adjusted his tactics in time and turned the feint attack into the main attack. When our troops rushed to the east bank, the Germans took the initiative to lay down their weapons and surrender. "

"Misha, based on what you said, can I understand that the Germans never thought of being an enemy of our army, so when facing our army's attack, they would choose to shoot at the sky?" Rocco Sofsky asked on the other end of the phone: "Am I right?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." When Sokov said this, he couldn't help but glance at Lunev who was sitting in front of him: "Just now I analyzed this with the military commissar and the chief of staff. It should be the German army in the city. The commander did not want to engage our troops, but for some reason had to make a symbolic appearance of resistance."

"Your statement sounds reasonable." Rokossovsky said, "But after all, it's just speculation. No one knows the real reason. By the way, General Kirillov has a detailed report. ?"

   "Not yet." Sokov replied truthfully: "I just ordered him to transfer the headquarters to the city of Letzen. After the new headquarters is established, he will report to me the details of the entire battle."

   "That's good." Rokossovsky nodded and said, "When Kirillov has a new battle report, he will report to me in time."

  Sokov put down the phone and was about to talk to Lunev, but found that he was on the phone. Judging from his livid face, he must have heard some bad news. He quickly sat down and looked quietly at Lunev who was on the phone, intending to wait for him to finish the call before asking what happened.

   After finally waiting for Lunev to finish the phone call and put down the receiver, Sokov tentatively asked, "Comrade Military Commissioner, what happened? I don't think you look very good."

   "Misha, something happened."

   "What happened?" Sokov was most afraid of hearing this sentence now, and hurriedly asked, "Comrade Military Commissioner, what happened?"

"My subordinates reported to me," Lunev said with a livid face: "After the 284th Infantry Division broke through the German defense line, it continued to advance in depth towards the enemy's defense. On the way, they encountered a group of fleeing Germans. It looks like four or five hundred people."

  Hearing this, Sokov couldn't help but thump in his heart. He secretly said that the commanders and fighters of the 284th Infantry Division might have done something that violated military discipline. Quickly asked: "Comrade Military Commissioner, please tell me, did they do something out of the ordinary?"

"That's right, Misha." Lunev nodded, and said in an affirmative tone: "A few people ransacked these refugees, taking watches, gold and silver jewelry, and other valuables from their hands. "

  Sokov thought of the "bad deeds" of the Soviet army's descendants being blackened into crows by Britain and the United States, so he tentatively asked: "Apart from robbery, is there nothing else?"

   "No more." Lunev shook his head and said, "Isn't that enough?"

"Well, this matter is quite serious." Knowing that nothing happened against the wishes of the women for the time being, Sokov couldn't help secretly heaving a sigh of relief, and then said: "We must be serious about these black sheep in our army." Deal with it. Comrade Military Commissioner, I will leave this matter to you.”

  Sokov wanted to pass the trouble on to Lunev, but Lunev was not an idiot either. He saw Sokov's thoughts at a glance, "Misha, how do you think we should deal with it?"

   Seeing that Lunev kicked the ball back in front of him so quickly, he said with some embarrassment: "We must find the victims first, return the things we robbed them, and apologize to them."

"Comrade Commander, it's inappropriate to apologize to the Germans, isn't it?" Sidolin couldn't help interjecting when he heard this: "When they set foot on our land, how many bad things did they do? Some black sheep, but I think they also want to avenge our people."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, what the Germans have done on our soil is simply outrageous," Sokov said to Sidolin: "But we are not Germans and cannot do the bad things they did. Tell the soldiers that we are here to liberate East Prussia, not to destroy it."

   Although Sidolin Big disagreed with Sokov's words, he was not used to conflicting with Sokov in front of his subordinates. Therefore, when faced with Sokov's accusations, he could only bow his head silently and accept Sokov's criticism with an open mind.

  Sokov continued to say to Lunev: "Comrade Military Commissar, when a large corps fights, military discipline must be strict. Otherwise, after a few more victories, the troops below will be difficult to control."

   "I understand." Lunev nodded and said, "I will rush to the 284th Infantry Division now and have a good talk with their division commander, Colonel Ismailov."

After Lunev left, Sidolin leaned close to Sokov's ear and said in a low voice: "Comrade Commander, do you think our military commissioner has planted a lot of eyeliners outside, otherwise how could it be possible that the incident happened not long ago? Can I get information?"

"Chief of Staff, you guessed right." Sokov also said in a low voice: "Maybe there is even this headquarters, but it is not used to monitor us, but to prevent German spies from getting in and causing us harm." Huge loss."

   "Well, it makes sense, it makes sense." Sidolin nodded and said repeatedly: "At least with his help, we can obtain useful information in the shortest possible time."

At this time, the phone on the table rang, and Sidolin grabbed the receiver: "I'm Sidolin, who is it?...Oh, it's General Kirillov, hello, hello...do you have anything to do? OK, just a second."

  Sidorin passed the microphone to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, General Kirillov is calling. He has something to report to you."

   Sokov took the microphone and said, "General Kirillov, hello. I'm Sokov. If you need anything, please tell me. I'm listening."

"Comrade Commander, I have arrived in the city of Letzen." Kirillov said: "I met the commander of Letzen's garrison here, a German colonel named Kleiner. He took the initiative to explain to us that he In fact, he did not want to be an enemy of our army. He originally surrendered directly to our army. But considering that his family is still in Germany, if the city surrenders to our army without a battle, his family will definitely be affected. So he Discussed with my subordinates and came up with a way. When they saw our army attacking, they would shoot at the sky. Not only did they say that they had fought before, but they also took the initiative to show their favor to our army. Faced with the fact that the two sides really fought, Casualties would be different."

  (end of this chapter)