Chapter 2224

  Although the German offensive in the Elbing area was not large in scale, its significance was comparable to the Ardennes counterattack. If the German army can invest more troops and the necessary air support, the Soviet army in this area will be devastated.

   But not afraid of opponents like gods, but teammates like pigs, and Moustache unfortunately became such a teammate. Because he hastily dismissed Reinhardt and Hossbach from their duties, and the new commander did not arrive in time, the attack plan originally formulated by the two had to be hastily ended.

  Hosebach was replaced by General Miller, who was evaluated by outsiders as a dull and unimaginative general. But he strongly advocated letting him succeed Hossbach's mustache, but thought it would be very appropriate for him to be the commander of the 4th Army.

Facing Mustache's trust, General Miller said gratefully: "My head of state, I am a good officer and I know how to obey orders, but strategic and tactical issues are not in my consideration, as long as you tell me what to do." How to do it."

Mustache immediately beamed with joy when he heard this, "General Miller, the reason why I appointed you as the commander of the 4th Army is because I saw this advantage in you. You can continue to attack the west and beat the Russians hard. But the East Prussia must stand firm, and under no circumstances should we give up this land."

   "My head of state." Miller continued: "I will do everything possible to hold this land and will never allow it to fall into the hands of the Russians."

   After expressing his loyalty to the mustache, Miller flew to East Prussia and officially assumed the post of commander of the 4th Army.

  After Miller arrived in East Prussia, in order to faithfully implement Mustache's order to stick to East Prussia, he decisively stopped the offensive near Elbing, and ordered the troops invested in the area to withdraw to the original starting point of the attack in turn.

  Seeing that the German offensive stopped and began to retreat one after another. Rokossovsky, with strong troops, immediately commanded the troops to launch a counter-offensive, successfully rescued the two infantry divisions besieged by the Germans, and re-established a new line of defense.

  After more than a day of fighting, the Soviet army finally recovered all the positions before the German attack when it was dark. Bogolyubov, who received this report, breathed a sigh of relief, and then said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, thank God, those areas occupied by the German army have finally returned to our hands."

But there was no smile on Rokossovsky's face. Instead, he said to Bogolyubov with a straight face: "Comrade Chief of Staff, we must learn from this lesson. Don't think that the German army is fighting against our powerful army." Under the offensive, they have already lost their ability to resist. You see, they only used two divisions this time, and they still caused such heavy losses to our army without the cover of the air force and armored forces. If they invested With a little more troops, supported by air force, tanks and artillery, our entire Belarusian Second Front may suffer a heavy blow."

   "Comrade Marshal, what shall we do next?" Bogolyubov asked, "Are we continuing to attack the depths of the German defenses as planned?"

"The attack on the German army needs to be temporarily stopped." But Rokossovsky shook his head and said: "What we have to do now is to re-adjust the deployment and withdraw those troops that suffered heavy casualties to make up for it. Replaced by troops that still have combat effectiveness."

   "Okay, Comrade Marshal." Bogolyubov nodded and picked up a pen and paper: "I'll go and count immediately to see which troops need to be withdrawn for rest, and which troops should be transferred to fill their vacancies."

"By the way, Comrade Chief of Staff." Rokossovsky pointed at Bogolyubov and said, "Call Misha and ask about the casualties of his troops during the two days of fighting." how?"

   "Comrade Marshal, I have already understood." Bogolyubov said: "They suffered the German attack this time, and the biggest loss was the follow-up troops, while the troops deployed at the front had no losses."

"That's good, that's good." Knowing that Sokov's troops did not suffer much loss, Rokossovsky felt a little more at ease, and he said to Bogolyubov: "Then their ammunition What? You know, some of the ammunition they use does not match the ammunition of our active weapons.”

   "I'm not sure about this." Bogolyubov picked up the phone on the table: "I'll call him now to find out."

   A few minutes later, Sokov received a call from Bogolyubov: "Is this General Sokov? I'm Bogolyubov."

   "So it's Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army." Sokov asked politely, "Do you have any instructions?"

   "It's like this. Comrade Marshal may assign you new combat missions. Let me call you first to find out how much special ammunition you are using today?"

  Bogolyubov suddenly used the word "special ammunition" and confused Sokov. However, he soon understood that the special ammunition the other party was talking about actually referred to the ammunition used by assault rifles, rocket launchers, and new rockets. Due to the lack of logistical supplies, after such a long battle, the ammunition of these weapons is only a little more than one base, which can barely sustain a small-scale battle.

"Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I was just about to call to report this matter to you." Sokov originally wanted to apply to the logistics department of the Front Army Command to replenish a batch of special ammunition for himself, so as not to prevent the advanced A weapon that becomes a fire stick because it has no ammo. Since Bogolyubov asked at this moment, he said smoothly: "Our ammunition barely has a base, which is only enough to maintain a small-scale battle. If we don't replenish ammunition as soon as possible, the troops equipped with these weapons will be destroyed." will temporarily lose combat effectiveness."

   "I understand." Bogolyubov said: "I will notify the logistics department and replenish you with special ammunition as soon as possible."

After putting down the phone, Bogolyubov said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, I have already asked General Sokov, and he said that there is a base of special ammunition left in the unit, which can barely support a small battle." The scale of the battle urgently needs to be replenished."

"Well, notify the logistics department and supply them as soon as possible." After Rokossovsky finished speaking, his attention returned to the map in front of him. He seemed to be talking to himself and asking Bo Golyubov: "Will the Germans attack us again?"

"Comrade Marshal, I don't think it will happen anymore." Bogolyubov said confidently: "The German commanders Reinhardt and Hossbach were dismissed one after another. General Miller who knows how to adapt to changing circumstances. I believe that with his arrival, the situation in East Prussia will become more favorable to our army."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I quite agree with your opinion." Rokossovsky nodded and said, "A general who only knows how to obey but does not know how to adapt to changing circumstances will find it difficult to win a battle when he really comes to the battlefield. Originally, when Reinhardt and Hossbach were there, they were still strong enemies of our army, but with the arrival of General Miller, I feel that the entire East Prussian region will be completely liberated in less than three months."

   "By the way, Comrade Marshal, there is one more thing I forgot to tell you."

"what's up?"

"It turns out that the commander of the Third Front, General Cherniakhovsky, was wounded in the shelling of the German army." Bogolyubov said: "Now the Supreme Command has sent Marshal Vasilevsky to temporarily To take his place. I do not know why, when I heard of this appointment, I suddenly had a foreboding feeling in my heart."

   "An unknown premonition?" Rokossovsky asked back: "What an unknown premonition?"

"In February last year, General Vatutin was wounded on the Ukrainian front, and Marshal Zhukov took over his position." Bogolyubov said cautiously: "Now that General Chernyakhovsky is injured, it is Vasiliev again. Marshal Vsky took over his position. For two consecutive years, in February, the general who was the commander of the front army was wounded on the battlefield, and then the marshal took over the position they vacated..."

"Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, don't bring up this matter again." Rokossovsky remembered that Bogolyubov had mentioned this matter, and quickly reminded him: "This kind of thing can't be talked about. If something really happened to General Niakhovsky, and someone takes it as a problem, I'm afraid it will bring you unnecessary trouble."

  Bogolyubov couldn't help being shocked, and then he argued: "Comrade Marshal, I'm just talking casually, just talking casually."

"This kind of thing can't be said casually. If someone accidentally hears it and spread it out casually, it will be very detrimental to you." Rokossovsky waved at Bogolyubov and said: " You go and count the troops that need to be withdrawn to rest, we must resume our offensive against the Germans the day after tomorrow at the latest."

   Besides, in the 48th Army Headquarters, Sokov, Sidolin, and Lunev are studying the next situation.

Sidolin said: "Comrade Commander, one infantry division and three infantry brigades that we originally served as a reserve team have suffered a lot of casualties in the battles in the past few days. If we need a reserve team, what should we do?" What about local transfers?"

"Have our troops reported that there are prisoner-of-war camps for our commanders and fighters near the area they control?" Sokov said to the two: "If you want to replenish combat-ready soldiers in the shortest possible time, those Commanders and fighters rescued from prisoner-of-war camps are the most suitable."

"Comrade commander, I'm sorry." But Sidolin shook his head after hearing this, and said bitterly: "In the battle reports of each division, there has never been any mention of the prisoner-of-war camp. I don't think they found any prisoners of war. There are no more than two reasons for this camp. One is that the Germans did not build a prisoner-of-war camp here; Rejoin our troops and kill them all."

"Misha, although our troops are not in the area under their control, we found traces of the prisoner-of-war camp." Lunev said: "Can we find some local residents to find out the situation and see if there are hidden prisoner-of-war camps around? "

   "Comrade Military Commissar, even if there are any prisoner-of-war camps or concentration camps nearby, it is impossible for the local residents to know." Sokov's statement was not a whim. He remembered that in the U.S. military's "Band of Brothers", after the U.S. Army liberated a concentration camp, the residents of the nearby town were arrested to dig pits and bury their bodies. When the residents arrived at the concentration camp, they were stunned by the corpses all over the ground. They never dreamed that there was such a death concentration camp near the town where they had lived for decades. By the same token, since the residents don't even know the local concentration camps, they will be even more ignorant of the prisoner-of-war camps where Soviet prisoners of war are held.

   "How is this possible?" Lunev asked back: "How could the local residents not know about the prisoner-of-war camps built by the Germans nearby?"

"It's entirely possible." Sokov said with a wry smile: "I went to the headquarters of the Front Army some time ago and heard a staff officer talk about something. The U.S. military liberated a concentration camp in the forest, except for a few wearing prison uniforms and skinny Except for the Jews who were still alive, the rest were killed by the Germans. Because the Germans left in a hurry, the corpses all over the ground had not had time to clean up.

  After the U.S. military occupied the concentration camp, they captured hundreds of German residents from nearby towns and asked them to bury the bodies. The residents of the small town were surprised when they discovered that there was such a concentration camp in the forest near their small town. I was even more shocked when I saw the Jewish corpses all over the ground. Unexpectedly, people like them were slaughtered like livestock by the German army. "

  After listening to Sokov's narration, Lunev fell silent. He lit a cigarette, took a few puffs, and asked, "So what shall we do?"

  Sokov thought for a while, and then said: "Order the divisions to send reconnaissance teams to the nearby forest. First, search for the remnants of the defeated soldiers who fled into the forest; second, look carefully to see if there are any traces of the existence of prisoner-of-war camps."

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Hearing what Sokov said, Sidolin immediately said: "I will call the commanders of the divisions and ask them to immediately send a reconnaissance team to search in the nearby forest. See if you can find the prisoner-of-war camp built by the Germans." After saying this, he tilted his head and looked out the window, and then added, "In such a cold day, if there are really prisoners of war in the deep forest I don’t know how many people will die from the severe cold and hunger.”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, we can only do our best." Sokov sighed and said: "If the Germans really built a prisoner-of-war camp in the forest, we send people to search for it now, and maybe we can save some of them. But if we If we ignore this matter and let it go, I am afraid that none of the commanders and fighters imprisoned inside will die."

Lunev said with emotion: "The snow in the forest is so deep, the actions of the scouts will definitely be affected. Chief of Staff, you must tell the division commanders that no matter how difficult the environment is, the scouts must go deep into the forest as soon as possible. Go inside to search. If the captured personnel of our army can be rescued, the relevant personnel involved in the operation will be rewarded."

  (end of this chapter)