Burning Moscow

"Lida, the situation is like this," Katukov handed me the telegram in his hand, and at the same time introduced the situation: "The Messeritz fortification area was built in the 1930s by Germany to fight Poland. Construction of the fortifications ceased after 1939. Until last fall, the Germans saw that their defense line was in jeopardy and resumed construction here.

This defensive area is basically composed of armored fortifications, that is, concrete buildings with reinforced steel roofs, and anti-tank barriers composed of rows of concrete piers, blocking the access to these buildings. The armored fortifications are stocked with a large amount of ammunition, food and water, even if they are besieged by us, they can last for several weeks.

As far as our reconnaissance knows, in such a strong German fortifications, there are not enough troops to defend. Therefore, we must seize this fortified area before their reserve team arrives.

Before you arrived, Major General Babajanyan reported to me that his tank brigade was lined up in a neat formation, smoothly passing through the empty defensive zone and advancing toward the depth of the enemy. "

I did not interrupt Katukov. After glancing at the telegram, I put my hand on the table and continued to listen to him tell me what happened before: "...Who knows that when the follow-up troops arrived, I found it was placed in the passage. It is full of large tripods that make tanks impassable. At the same time, the firepower points on both sides of the road are also blocking the road with artillery and machine gun fire, making it impossible for our engineers to clear these obstacles."

"General Katukov," I waited for him to finish, and asked carefully, "I want to ask, how is the situation with the 40th Guards Brigade that has crossed the Messeritz fortification area? "

"They are currently trapped in the German fortress area. The road ahead is full of various obstacles, preventing them from moving forward. The road behind is also cut off by the Germans, but the enemy seems to lack enough. Anti-tank weapons, so I just surrounded them and didn’t take the initiative to attack them.” Katukov said anxiously: “If they are not rescued as soon as possible, once their ammunition is exhausted, then leave the whole army. The destruction is not far away."

"If General Babajanyan is allowed to command the troops and forcibly launch an attack on the fortified area, how long do you think it will take us to break through the German defenses and rendezvous with the trapped troops?"

Regarding my question, Katukov thought about it for a long time, and finally said: "According to Babajanyan’s report, his guards, the 362nd and 399th self-propelled artillery regiments, should arrive at Meseritz in half an hour. Fortification area. With the help of artillery, they can initially break through the German fortification area tomorrow morning."

"General Katukov," facing the situation of the 40th Guards Tank Brigade, I was very unoptimistic, and I deliberately reminded Katukov: "Don't forget, the armored roof in the area where Meseritz is fortified. The cover should be able to withstand the attacks of our tanks and self-propelled artillery. Unless you wait for heavy artillery or infantry to arrive, it will be very difficult to break through the fortified area."

"Then what should we do?" At this moment, Katukov was also a little flustered, because he knew in his heart that once the German reserve team arrived, the tank brigade trapped behind the fortification area would face The end of the destruction of the whole army.

I did not speak, but stared at the Messeritz fortification area on the map and continued to think. After a long time, I looked up at Katukov and said: "Comrade General, you just said that the German army does not have enough troops to defend in this fortified area, so we will continue to launch in this area. In addition to the attack, we can also consider trying to break through from other locations. As long as we have a successful breakthrough all the way, then we can rescue the trapped tank brigade."

"This is a good way." When Katukov heard me say this, his eyes lit up, and he asked quickly: "Lida, where do I think we should break through?"

I casually pointed to the location of the road marked on the map, and said with a little confidence: "Comrade General, we can only gamble on luck now. Maybe there are no well-trained German troops to defend in these areas. Then our tank troops can quickly make breakthroughs and rush over to join the besieged tank brigade."

Katukov looked at the map for a while, and then ordered General Sharin, the chief of staff who was sitting next to him silently: "The chief of staff, order the 65th Guards Brigade and the 11th Tank Regiment of Guards to try to defend from the outskirts of Xiweibojin. The fortifications made a breakthrough; the 20th and 36th guards were ordered to make a breakthrough from the northern passage...."

Seeing Katukov calmly assigning combat missions to his chief of staff, my mood suddenly calmed down a lot. In any case, he was always a well-known Soviet general. If you can't handle even such a simple difficulty, it would be too much of a name.

The battle at the breach lasted all night, and the situation was as I analyzed. Babajanyan’s tanks and self-propelled artillery could not eliminate the armored defense positions of the German army. The main force of the tank army was still blocked until dawn. It's outside the fortification area.

But the offense from the other two directions went very smoothly. Defending these areas are people's stormtroopers that have not received much training. Although this organization sounds a bit similar to the militia organization of the Soviet Union, there is a huge difference between the two. First of all, it is not an organization formed by the people's volunteers, but an organization that is forced to join. Any German who does not want to join this organization will be ruthless. He was sentenced to capital punishment. Secondly, this well-worn force has not undergone any decent military training at all. UU reading www.uukanshu.com can imagine its combat effectiveness.

Facing the rushing tank brigade, these people's stormtroopers, dressed in plain clothes and armed with simple weapons, held up the white flag before firing a shot, walked out of the fortifications where they were hiding tremblingly and surrendered to our army. The other two rushing tank troops passed through the Messeritz fortification area almost without blood, and detoured to the rear of the German defense to rescue the commanders of the 40th Brigade of Guards Tanks that were besieged.

After learning that the troops of the 65th Guards Tank Brigade were rapidly advancing from north to south towards the trapped troops, Katukov finally breathed a sigh of relief and said with pleasure, "Lida, it seems we In a good tone, before the German reserve team arrived, they rescued the besieged troops, avoiding the destruction of their entire army."

"General Katukov, since the troops of the two tank brigades can meet soon, I suddenly had a new idea." I pointed to the map and said to Katukov: "Let the two tank brigades continue to move forward. The Oder River pushed forward and quickly established a landing field on the West Bank before the arrival of the German reserves."

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