Chapter 2244 The Germans took the bait

  While Sokov's troops were still arranging fake artillery positions, Batov's troops had already begun to take action.

  The advance battalion of the Teremov Division took 30 small boats, under the cover of night, successfully crossed the East Oder River, and landed in the shoal between the two rivers. When the soldiers of the advance battalion set foot on the shoal, they realized that this was not the rocky beach they had imagined. There was actually a road built on the shoal between the two rivers. Attack the enemy from here.

  After receiving the report from his subordinates, Colonel Teremov personally took a boat to inspect the shallows, and felt that it was undoubtedly the most appropriate place to set up an offensive starting point. After returning to the east bank of the East Oder River, he immediately drove to the headquarters of the group army and reported to Batov what he had seen and heard.

   I heard that there is actually a road between the two rivers, and Batov also thinks that it is undoubtedly the most suitable place to start the attack. He asked Teremov: "Comrade colonel, if you deploy all your divisions here, is there any problem?"

"No, Comrade Commander." Teremov replied with some excitement: "At the beginning, I thought it was just a shoal of two rivers, and it was impossible to build any decent fortifications. It turns out that the so-called shoal is actually a 30-meter-wide embankment between two rivers, and a road has been built on the embankment. After our division is stationed here, we can build fortifications and artillery holes on one side of the roadbed , even if it is shelled by the German army, it will not cause us any casualties."

"Since you think there is no problem with the whole division stationed in the shallows, then transfer the troops there as soon as possible." Batov said: "When the day the offensive starts, the shorter your offensive route, the more casualties you will suffer in battle." few."

   "Comrade Commander, when I went to inspect, I had an idea, and I don't know if I should say it."

   "If you have any ideas, just say it." Batov said: "Even if you say something wrong, I won't blame you."

"It's like this. It's almost two kilometers from the middle of the embankment to the west bank of the West Oder River." Teremov said: "If a forced crossing is carried out on the offensive day, our division will definitely pass through this distance. There were no small casualties, so I plan to take action in advance."

"Take action in advance?" Glebov couldn't help interjecting after hearing this: "Comrade Colonel, are you planning to launch an attack on the enemy on the left bank in advance? You know, you only have the strength of one division. Block it, I'm afraid your division will suffer heavy casualties."

"You are right, Comrade Chief of Staff." Teremov said to Glebov: "But what I said to take action in advance is not to attack the enemy first regardless, but to use the method of cannibalism to attack the enemy." Occupy the enemy's territory."

Hearing this, Batov realized that Teremov might have some good ideas, so he said in an encouraging tone: "Comrade Colonel, if you have any good ideas, just say it. If it is feasible, I will definitely support it." your."

"Comrade Commander, this is how I think about it." Teremov said: "I intend to use the cover of night to let the advance battalion cross the West Oder River and land on the land on the west bank. If the German defenses are loose, then Find a way to seize a stronghold and establish our landing field. Then send a little force over there every day, just like this, when the offensive starts, maybe we have a large number of troops on the West Bank, occupying a large area Landing field."

  Batov did not express his opinion immediately after hearing what Teremov said, but turned to Glebov next to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what do you think?"

"I think it's possible." Glebov said: "It is feasible for our troops to sneak into the West Bank, seize some important positions under the noses of the Germans, and fortify them to resist the counterattack of the Germans who are stronger than them. And more importantly, if the troops landing on the west bank can stand firm and wait for our offensive to start, they can also provide support for us, thereby reducing the casualties of the troops when crossing the river."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, your thoughts are the same as mine." Batov nodded in agreement with Glebov's statement, "As long as we can first cross the river with some troops and establish a landing field on the west bank, we will be able to deal with our next forcible crossing." Action is very beneficial."

"Colonel Teremov." Batov turned to face Teremov and said, "It is not too late. Before the enemy notices, you can transfer more troops to the embankment. If possible, send The advance battalion crosses the West Oder to establish a landing field on the west bank."

Teremov returned to his division headquarters, and after giving orders to the heads of the regiments to cross the river, he said to his chief of staff: "Chief of staff, the commander ordered us, it is best to take advantage of the cover of night to let us cross the river." The advance battalion crossed the West Oder River, seized several important strongholds under the noses of the German army on the west bank, and held them firmly so that when our army launched an offensive, it could provide the necessary support for the troops crossing the river."

  Unexpectedly, after Teremov finished speaking, his chief of staff shook his head and said: "Comrade commander, I think it is obviously inappropriate to send an advance battalion to capture the stronghold on the other side tonight."

   "Why?" Teremov asked puzzled, "Why is it inappropriate?"

"We are not yet ready for a tough battle with the Germans," the chief of staff explained to Teremov: "Our current priority is to consolidate the starting point of the offensive at the embankment, rather than spending precious troops on the west bank In the tug-of-war with the Germans."

   Teremov frowned and said displeasedly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, according to your statement, the commander's order will not be carried out?"

"Comrade commander, you have misunderstood me." The chief of staff waved his hand and continued: "I am opposed to dispatching troops to occupy the strongholds on the West Bank tonight. implement."

   "Another way to implement it." Teremov asked in amazement: "Another way to implement it?"

"I plan to let the advance battalion cross the West Oder River tonight, find a suitable location on the west bank, build fortifications, and return to our army's defense area by boat after dawn." The chief of staff explained to Teremov : "We send troops across the river every day after dark, build fortifications in the West Bank, and return before dawn. In this way, the Germans will not be aware of our intentions. The night before the offensive begins, we will send troops across Cross the West Oder River and let them enter the fortifications that have been repaired long ago. After the offensive begins, our troops can attack the Germans directly from these fortifications, which will not only catch them off guard, but also greatly reduce the casualties of the troops. "

After listening to the chief of staff's explanation, Teremov couldn't help applauding: "Great, Comrade Chief of Staff, your suggestion is really great. Well, you will inform the advance battalion later to let them cross the river overnight to the west bank. Find a suitable place to build a hidden fortification, and return to our army's defense zone before dawn."

  The smuggling operation of the Teremov Division was successfully concealed from the Germans, but it was discovered by Sokov's scouts.

When the head of the reconnaissance department put the information fed back by the scouts in front of Sokov, Sokov showed a shocked expression on his face: "This General Batov is very agile, he just entered the combat area not long ago , and began to send troops to cross the river secretly. It seems that he really listened to my advice and used the shallow area between the two rivers as the starting point for the attack."

  After hearing this, Sidolin couldn't help saying with emotion: "Comrade commander, it's a pity that the shoal area in front of us is flooded by the river. Otherwise, we can also establish an offensive starting position there to shorten the distance when we attack."

"No way," Sokov said helplessly, "Our group army is in the most embarrassing position. Not only is it the farthest from the west bank, but we can't get any effective support when we attack, so we can only wait for the left and right flanks to attack." The troops launched the attack first, and after the German troops' strength and attention were diverted, we launched the attack last. By the way, are the fake artillery positions ready?"

Sidolin nodded and replied: "It's ready. It depends on whether it will be discovered by the German army after dawn. If they don't take any action, they can only follow your plan and let the artillery attack the enemy's position first." Shelling, luring them to fire back."

"Will the artillery used as bait be in danger?" Sokov asked with some concern: "Don't wait until they fire the artillery, the German artillery will return fire. It is not worth sacrificing a few artillery pieces to serve as bait." .”

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Sidolin said with a smile: "The bait is the SU-76 self-propelled artillery. mm caliber artillery, if the German positions are bombarded, they will wishfully think that we have deployed a huge heavy artillery position on the east coast, and they will definitely be retaliated by their artillery fire."

"That's good, that's good." Sokov nodded and said, "These self-propelled artillery constantly change their firing positions, which will cause the Germans to misjudge, thinking that we have deployed a large number of heavy artillery by the river, in order to avoid them The fortifications were destroyed by our artillery fire, so they had to use artillery to suppress our artillery positions. In this way, they fell into our trap, and when their artillery positions were exposed, they would be attacked by us The double attack of artillery and air force, even if the entire army is not wiped out, will probably be severely damaged. When our army starts to force the way, the artillery power they can use will be negligible."

   "Comrade Commander, what time will the shelling of the German fortifications on the opposite bank start tomorrow?"

   "Let me see nine o'clock." Sokov said: "It was already bright at that time, and the visibility of both the artillery and the air force was the highest."

  At nine o'clock in the morning the next day, six SU-76 self-propelled artillery fired towards the German positions on the west bank. The shells roared and flew across the wide river, and landed on the land on the west bank and exploded. At the same time as the earth-shattering explosion sound was made, pillars of mud that soared into the sky were set off. A firepower point of the German army was unfortunately hit by a cannon. Fragments of logs, human body stumps and parts of weapons were blown in all directions by the blast.

  At the beginning, the German army hadn't recovered. They never dreamed that the Soviet army would take the initiative to bombard their positions. It wasn't until the self-propelled artillery on the east bank fired five or six rounds that the German artillery organized a counterattack. The first target they attacked was the location where the self-propelled antiaircraft guns had stayed. Those fake artillery covered with canvas were blown to pieces in their artillery fire.

Seeing that the German artillery had been tricked, Sokov rushed to Sidolin and said: "Chief of Staff, call General Potapov and tell him that the German artillery has been hooked, and tell him not to be stingy with the shells, and give me a hard time." Bombard the German artillery emplacements and try to knock them out."

  While Sidolin was on the phone, he also picked up the phone on the table and called the Front Army Command, wanting to implement matters related to the Air Force.

  When Rokossovsky heard Sokov's voice, he immediately guessed the purpose of his call, and asked with a smile, "Misha, have the Germans taken the bait?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Sokov quickly replied: "I first used a few self-propelled artillery to bombard the German positions on the opposite bank, and successfully angered the Germans, allowing them to use artillery to attack our fake artillery positions. .I have ordered General Potapov to use artillery to bombard the German artillery positions. In order to inflict greater losses on the enemy artillery, I hope that the superior can send out the air force to bomb the exposed German artillery positions."

"Don't worry, Misha." After waiting for Sokov to finish speaking, Rokossovsky smiled and said into the microphone: "I have already made an agreement with General Vershinin, the commander of the 4th Army of the Air Force. A flight regiment is on standby, as long as you need them there, they can leave immediately."

   "Comrade Marshal, now we need the cooperation of the air force." Sokov said: "Please let the air force attack immediately."

   "Well, no problem, I will call General Vershinen immediately and ask him to dispatch the two flying regiments on standby."

After finishing talking with Sokov, Rokossovsky picked up another high-frequency phone, dialed a number, and said to the operator: "This is Rokossovsky, take me to Air Force No. General Vershinen of the 4th Army."

The phone was connected quickly, and when he heard Vershinen's voice coming from the receiver, Rokossovsky said to him: "General Vershinen, Misha's 48th Army is now fighting with the German troops on the West Bank. The artillery launched a confrontation, and the two flying regiments you have prepared are ready to attack. I hope you will destroy some German artillery, so that when our troops cross the river on the day of the offensive, the enemy artillery will not be able to deal a huge blow to us. casualties."

"Understood, Comrade Marshal." Vershinen waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, and immediately added: "I personally led the bomber formation to attack the German artillery positions on the West Bank. I assure you, As long as the artillery is exposed, I will destroy them all one by one."

After listening to Vershinen's statement, Rokossovsky smiled slightly, and then told the other party: "General Vershinen, I wish you victory and great results. Although the German army has lost the airspace over the Oder River Dominance of the air, but you must also pay attention to safety and return safely."

  (end of this chapter)