Chapter 2241

  At noon the next day, General Batov's 65th Army reached the bank of the East Oder River, occupied the Altdam area on the left flank of the 48th Army, and used it as the starting point for the army's offensive.

  After the troops arrived at the designated location, they were still setting up camp. Batov received a call from Rokossovsky: "How is it, General Batov, have your troops arrived at the designated location?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." After hearing Rokossovsky's voice, Batov replied respectfully: "My troops have just arrived at the designated location and are building fortifications. Do you have any instructions? "

"General Batov, the two Oder Rivers in front of you will be obstacles on your way forward." Rokossovsky said on the phone: "If you want to defeat the enemy, the first thing you need to consider is how to cross the river." This wide river. Misha's 48th Army arrived two days earlier than you, and the reconnaissance sent by them has carried out reconnaissance on the west bank area, and has a certain understanding of the enemy's military deployment and equipment. If you have time, Just drop by and ask him about the situation of the enemy on the other side. Do you understand?"

   "Understood, Comrade Marshal." Batov just arrived here, and he was also very anxious when he saw the wide river blocking his way of marching. Hearing what Rokossovsky said at this moment, he immediately felt as if he had grasped a life-saving straw, and quickly stated: "I will meet with General Sokov as soon as possible."

   "Comrade Commander," Rajetsky, who saw Batov put down the phone, asked curiously, "I seem to have heard Comrade Marshal mention General Sokov. Do we need to cooperate with our friendly forces?"

"It's not clear whether it's a coordinated operation." Batov explained to his military commissar: "General Sokov's troops came two days earlier than us, and they have sent people to the opposite bank to conduct reconnaissance, and to check the deployment and equipment of the German army. I have a certain understanding of the situation. Comrade Marshal called me, hoping that I could meet with General Sokov and get some useful information from him, which will be very helpful for our next stage of operations. "

Chief of Staff Glebov, who was instructing the communications corps to set up the antenna, also came over and said after hearing what Batov said: "Comrade Commander, the river area in front of us is too wide. With our existing river crossing equipment If you want to cross to the other side by force, you will definitely have to pay a lot of sacrifices. I think I should go to the 48th Army as soon as possible to learn about the deployment and equipment of the German troops on the other side, so as to formulate a corresponding attack plan.”

Batov glanced at the busy crowd in the headquarters, got up and said: "Let's go, while there is nothing else, let's go to the headquarters of the 48th Army. There is no time."

   So Rajecki and Glebov followed Batov by car to the 48th Army Headquarters on the right, and visited Sokov and others.

  Sokov received a report from his subordinates and learned that the car of Batov and others had arrived at the gate, so he led Lunev and Sidolin to greet him.

Coincidentally, when they came outside the house, they saw Batov getting out of the car. Sokov hurriedly went up to him and greeted him in a friendly way: "Hi, General Batov, nice to meet you here. You."

   "Me too, General Sokov!" Batov held out his hand to Sokov and said politely, "I hope you don't mind if I bother you."

"You are a distinguished guest who can't even be invited. It is my honor that you can come to my place. I don't care if you don't mind." Sokov said, turning his body to one side and making a gesture of invitation with his palms up: "Please, General Batov, go inside and have a cup of hot tea."

   After Batov and his party followed Sokov and the others into the headquarters, Sokov immediately called a staff officer and ordered him to prepare refreshments for Batov and the others.

   "General Sokov, don't be so polite." Rajecki said with a smile: "We are just here to sit and sit, there is no need to be so polite."

   "In any case, you are all our guests." Sokov said with a smile: "How can there be a guest who doesn't need tea to greet him?"

   After the staff officer brought the refreshments, Batov returned to the subject: "General Sokov, I am here today to ask for something."

Sokov knew the purpose of Batov's visit, so he didn't go around in circles, but asked straight to the point: "General Batov, you came to me to learn about the deployment and equipment of the enemy on the other side. ?”

"That's right, General Sokov." Seeing that Sokov had guessed his purpose, Batov smiled a little embarrassedly, and then agreed with the other party's statement: "I just came here to ask for advice. The strength of the German army on the other side How is deployment and equipment going?"

Sokov asked Sidolin to bring the summarized reconnaissance information, handed it to Batov and Glebov, and said: "The enemy's defense on the opposite bank is 40 kilometers deep. It also appeared in the Lania area. The only difference is that this time there is a wide river in front of them as a barrier. If we want to attack them, we must first cross this wide river."

   After hearing this, Glebov said disapprovingly: "General Sokov, no matter how wide the river is, as long as our army launches a forced crossing operation and all ships are sent, even if they want to stop it, they will not be able to stop us..."

But before Glebov finished speaking, he was interrupted by Batov raising his hand: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I don't think things are that simple. If this river is only wide, we have plenty of ways to cross it. Other reasons we don't know about. Am I right, General Sokov?" His last words were addressed to Sokov.

"That's right, General Batov, what you said is very correct." Sokov nodded, affirming Batov's statement, and then said: "Actually, what you see is not a river, but two rivers. river?"

   "Two rivers?" Glebov's face was full of surprise: "How is this possible?"

"General Glebov, Misha did not talk nonsense. There are indeed two rivers blocking us." Lunev explained to Glebov: "The side near us is the East Oder River, and the side near the enemy The West Oder River used to have a beach separating the two rivers. But now it’s the spring snow melt season, causing the water level of the river to rise, flooding the shallows, and it looks like a river.”

   Glebov couldn't help taking a breath after hearing this, and he turned to Batov and said: "Comrade Commander, if this is the case, our boats will not be able to cross the river at all."

"That's true." Sokov said, "The river in front of us is five kilometers wide. If we use the speedboats used by the navy, we can complete the crossing operation in a very short time. It's a headache. The problem is that the shoal in the middle of the two rivers prevents our speedboats from passing through. If ordinary boats with shallow drafts are used to cross the river, even if the German army does not intercept firepower, it will take hours to row to the other side. Wait for us When the commanders landed on the other side, they were already exhausted and exhausted, and there was no energy left to attack the enemy. We have been here for two days, but we still can't think of a good way to complete the task of crossing."

"Could it be that our troops are really going to be blocked by this wide river?" Batov frowned: "Although the German army on the other side is not strong, as time goes by, they have enough After a certain amount of preparation time, the defense system will become more complete, which will be very unfavorable to our next offense."

"General Batov." Sokov waited for Batov to finish speaking, and said, "In fact, the situation in your area is much better than ours. For example, some riverbank areas have not been flooded by the river. More troops can enter that area as soon as possible and establish it as the starting point of the attack, which will be very beneficial to the next forced crossing."

"General Sokov, the river beach is unobstructed. Will our troops be hit by German artillery fire when we arrive there?" Glebov said cautiously: "I am worried that even if our army reaches the river beach area, But because it was not suitable to establish an offensive starting point there, we had to withdraw under the attack of German artillery fire."

But as soon as Glebov finished speaking, Batov shook his head and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I think what General Sokov said makes sense. If in our combat area, there are really people who have not been flooded by the river." We should find a way to send troops to occupy the shoal area. As for your concern about being bombarded by German artillery, it is also easy to solve. Our artillery deployed on the east bank can suppress them with artillery fire to reduce the number of troops on the river beach. casualties. If the artillery is still unable to suppress them, then the Air Force is requested to dispatch and bomb the German artillery positions. I do not believe that they have the courage to continue to bombard our army under the intensive bombing.”

   A smile appeared on Sokov's face, he was very satisfied with Batov's statement. As long as Batov is willing to dispatch troops, occupy those shallows that are not flooded by the river, and establish an offensive starting position there, he can attract the attention of the German army. As long as the enemy no longer regards himself as the focus of attention, and waits for the right-wing assault second army to launch an attack, even if his subordinates swim past, I am afraid that the casualties will be much less than originally thought.

"General Batov," Sokov once suffered from the German artillery, worried that Batov would repeat the same mistakes, so he suggested to him: "You'd better deploy the artillery on the east bank before sending troops to the river beach. When encountering German shelling, your artillery can quickly suppress them."

"Well, I understand, General Sokov." Batov nodded and said, "There are still four or five days before the final offensive. I plan to use this time to collect enough river-crossing equipment to complete the river-crossing operation." .”

"General Batov, I have an idea." Lunev interjected, "Since the river in the area you are going to attack is divided into the East Oder and the West Oder by shallows, why don't you consider building a few pontoon bridges?" ? If there is a bridge, not only our infantry can cross the river, but also tanks, self-propelled artillery, armored vehicles and artillery can be continuously transported to the other side, which will be very beneficial to your future operations."

"Good way, good way." Hearing what Lunev said, Batov slapped his face on the table and said excitedly: "General Lunev, your suggestion is really great. If our army If we can successfully occupy the shoal area between the two rivers, we can indeed build several pontoon bridges to allow infantry and various combat vehicles to successfully reach the shoal area. Next, we have two options, one is to continue building A pontoon bridge was built on the west bank of the river, and the second was to force the crossing after putting the boats into the West Oder River."

"General Batov, if you rush to build the pontoon bridge from the shallows to the west bank before your troops reach the west bank of the West Oder, I am afraid that your troops will suffer heavy casualties under the powerful firepower of the German army." Sokov He put forward his own suggestion to Batov: "I think the best way is to use boats to cross the Siod River, and after your troops gain a firm foothold on the west bank, it will not be too late to build a pontoon bridge from the shallows to the west bank. "

   "Comrade Chief of Staff," Batov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, then turned to ask Glebov next to him, "Have you written down all General Sokov's proposals?"

   "Yes, Comrade Commander, I have written it down." Glebov said: "After I go back, I will send the engineering troops to measure the depth of the river and see where a pontoon bridge can be erected."

After sending Batov and others away, Sidolin, who had never spoken, asked Sokov curiously: "Comrade Commander, do you think General Batov and the others can really build a pontoon bridge on the East Oder River for the infantry?" Can it pass through various combat vehicles?"

  Sidolin’s words reminded Sokov of Chuikov. In the second half of last year, the 8th Guards Army forcibly crossed the Vistula River, established a landing site on the opposite bank of the river, and built a pontoon bridge to connect the two banks. But unfortunately, the pontoon bridge was destroyed by German bombers only a few hours after it was erected. Sidolin asked himself this question, probably because he was worried that the pontoon bridge on the East Oder would suffer the same fate.

Sokov grinned and said to Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I understand what you mean. This year our army has far more advantages on the battlefield than last year. At least in this area, we The Chinese Army has completely mastered the air supremacy on the battlefield. Our powerful air force can not only destroy the German artillery positions, but also take the initiative to kill the German planes, and shoot them all down.”

Seeing that Sokov understood what he wanted to express, Sidolin breathed a sigh of relief and said: "If the German army really can't destroy the pontoon bridge erected by the 65th Army, that would be really great, at least it can greatly improve the situation." Reduce the casualties of our army in the forcible crossing of the West Oder."

  (end of this chapter)