Red Moscow

"General Voronov," Zhukov said into the microphone: "Our troops will soon launch an attack on the Brest Fortress. If there is no large-caliber heavy artillery, if we want to seize the fortress from the enemy, I'm afraid it will be very difficult. Great sacrifices will be made. So I implore you, provide them with a portion of the heavy artillery."

Voronov was silent for a long time, and finally said: "Comrade Marshal, I have deployed two special heavy artillery battalions in Belarus, namely the 203rd Battalion with six 203mm howitzers and the 280th Battalion with three 280mm heavy artillery. If there are no mistakes on the road, they will reach Minsk tomorrow, and I can hand over these two special heavy artillery battalions to the 48th Army and let them attack the Brest Fortress."

"Great, this is really great." Zhukov originally thought it would be great if he could get two 203mm howitzers for Sokov, but he didn't expect Voronov to be so generous that he gave them to two special heavy artillery battalions at once. In addition to six 203mm howitzers, there are three 280mm heavy guns, which are enough to attack the Brest Fortress.

After finishing the conversation with Voronov, Zhukov originally wanted to tell Sokov the good news, but his hands touched the phone, but he changed his mind temporarily. According to his thinking, if he told Sokov about this in a hurry, in case of any accident, the two heavy artillery battalions could not arrive in Minsk on time, which would not affect Sokov's combat plan.

Sokov didn't know that Zhukov had asked for two special heavy artillery battalions for himself, so he still relied on the original artillery units to provide the necessary artillery cover for the attacking troops.

In the battle to capture the city of Brest, the enemy did not put up any decent resistance. After fighting for less than two hours, they retreated into the Brest Fortress one after another. Sokov's troops easily captured City.

After the city of Brest was liberated, Ponedelin asked Sokov for instructions: "Comrade Commander, the enemy has completely lost their will to fight. We should continue to attack the fortress. As long as we capture the fortress, we will be able to take advantage of the friendly forces." ahead, the first to enter Poland."

Although Sokov also wanted the 48th Army to be the first unit to enter Polish territory, he still kept a clear head at the moment. The Brest Fortress in front of him was not so easy to capture. You must know that when the German army suddenly launched a war, the defenders were caught off guard, but it still took almost a month to completely occupy the entire fortress. Now that the enemies in the fortress are waiting for work, sending troops to attack at this moment is tantamount to hitting a stone with a pebble.

"No, Comrade Deputy Commander." Sokov shook his head and said, "I don't think the time is ripe to attack the Brest Fortress at this moment, and launching an attack rashly may cause huge losses to the troops."

"Comrade Commander," Ponejielin felt a little anxious seeing that Sokov did not agree to launch an attack on the Brest Fortress immediately: "The enemy has just been driven out of the city by us. At this moment, their morale should be the lowest. If you don’t launch an attack at this moment, and wait until they recover, it will definitely cause huge casualties to the troops.”

"The fortifications of the fortress are strong, and our artillery is not enough to destroy the German fortifications." Sokov said briefly: "If we cannot destroy the enemy's fortifications, we will not be able to rush into the fortress at all."

"We now have seven or eight artillery regiments, with more than 300 artillery pieces of various calibers," said Ponegerin. "We can extend the time for artillery preparation, so that we can destroy the enemy's fortifications."

"Comrade Commander, the Deputy Commander is right." Sidolin also came over to join in the fun and said, "I think this is the best time to attack. Don't be indecisive and miss the opportunity."

No matter what the two said, Sokov was firmly opposed to an immediate attack. The reason he gave was simple: "The fortifications of the Brest Fortress are strong. With the current artillery scale of our army, it is impossible to blast the fortress out of the gap."

Although Sokov insisted not to attack immediately, someone urged him to attack. While he was in a stalemate with Ponedelin and Sidolin, Rokossovsky called and asked bluntly: "Misha, what's the matter with you? Since you captured the city of Brest , why not pursue the victory and take the Brest Fortress from the hands of the enemy?"

"Comrade General," Seeing Rokossovsky urging himself to attack, Sokov couldn't help feeling a little irritable, but he still patiently explained to Rokossovsky: "It's not that I don't want to attack, but that I don't want to attack. Today's fighter planes are immature. We don't have enough large-caliber artillery to blast through the fortifications occupied by the enemy. If we order troops to attack without destroying the fortifications, I am afraid that we will pay a very painful lesson."

"Misha, you haven't launched an attack on the fortress for a long time, is it because your existing artillery firepower cannot destroy the fortifications of the fortress?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Sokov gave Rokossovsky an affirmative answer: "This is an extremely strong fortress. If there is no powerful artillery to destroy the fortifications, I will fill in the entire army, maybe Can't take it down either."

"General Sokov," who knows that Rokossovsky waited for Sokov to finish speaking, but said in a stern tone: "I now order you to launch an attack on the fortress in an hour, otherwise you will be severely punished."

Now that Rokossovsky threatened himself directly, Sokov realized that it would be inappropriate not to attack the fortress any more, so he recruited the commanders of the divisions and brigades to his temporary headquarters and asked them Arrange combat missions to attack the Brest Fortress.

After everyone arrived, Sidolin introduced the situation of the Brest Fortress to everyone: "Commanders, the Brest Fortress we attacked was built in 1833. After many expansions and repairs, it formed a A huge fortification fortification, which consists of four independent islands separated by the Bug River and artificial canals. The central castle is located in the center of the entire fortification area. The southwest of the central fortress is the Terespol Fortress, and the south is the Warren Fortress In the north, there is Kobrin Fortress as a barrier. Each fortress is surrounded by rivers, and the fortresses are connected by bridges.

The Warren Fortress and the Terespol Fortress are the main barriers of the Brest Fortress. The Terespol Fortress was built on the bank of the Bug River, including many churches and monasteries in the old Russian era. Buildings are an important part of the overall fortification of the fort.

The Kobrin Fortress in the north is the original Old Brest city, with dense streets and many strong buildings built in early stone.

The most important fortifications of the fortress are built in the central fortress. On the outside of the central island fortress, a solid barracks of about two kilometers constitutes a ring-shaped fort. The walls of the fortress are two meters thick and contain about five hundred turrets. Provided the necessary food and ammunition supplies for 12,000 people. The walls of the fortress are densely covered with artillery ports and rifle shooting holes. In the center of the central fortress stands the St. Nicholas Cathedral designed by the famous architect Gurimi. The church began to be built in 1856 and lasted for 23 years. After construction, it is not only the tallest building in the central fortress, but also an extremely strong fire support point.

The central fortress is connected to the other three auxiliary fortresses by gates and bridges, including Kobrin Fortress in the north by the Bright Bridge, and Terespol Gate on the west bank of the Bug River by the Terespol Gate and a huge rope bridge. Fort Spoor; connected to Fort Warren to the south via the Holm Gate and an openable drawbridge.

The Kobrin, Terespol and Volyn fortresses surround and protect the central fortress, and each fortress is surrounded by a solid wall on the outside, built with many forts and auxiliary buildings with many edges Each fortress is surrounded by canals or rivers, and can only communicate with the outside world through bridges. "

After Sidolin finished introducing the situation, Tolstikov asked urgently: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I wonder which division the commander intends to use as the main offensive task? And from which direction will the attack be launched?"

"After our research, we feel that the direction of the breakthrough should be Kobrin." Sidolin said: "As for which unit will be the main attack, it needs to be decided by the commander."

Sokov stood up and said with a straight face: "This attack is under the responsibility of the former enemy commander, the deputy commander. He will command the 109th and 118th infantry brigades to attack the Brest Fortress."

When Sukov announced that his troops were the vanguard of attacking the fortress, the two brigade commanders showed gratified smiles on their faces. Everyone knew in their hearts that as long as they took the Brest Fortress and crossed the Bug River, they could enter Poland. But when other friendly troops were still fighting the Germans in other areas, their own troops entered Poland first, which would be a major event that would be recorded in history.

"Comrade Commander," Tolstikov heard that Sokov had handed over the task of attacking the fortress to the 109th and 118th Infantry Brigades, and he couldn't help being anxious: "Our division is the 1st Guards Division, so honorable and The arduous task should be handed over to our division."

"General Tolstikov, why did you give it to your 1st Guards Division?" Onuprienko on the side was not happy: "If Comrade Commander gives the task to our 6th Guards Division , we can also successfully complete the task.”

"Okay, stop arguing." Seeing that the two started to fight again, Sokov stopped them in time: "The mission of this attack is given to the two infantry brigades. If they can't capture the fort, you It's never too late."

"Comrade artillery director," Sokov called the artillery director who had just taken office to the front, and told him: "Before the infantry brigade's attack begins, you must carry out powerful artillery preparations in the direction of the breakthrough, and try to destroy the fortifications in the fortress. To ensure that our army will not be intercepted by enemy fire when crossing the river."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." The Artillery Chief said solemnly: "Our artillery fire is enough to destroy the fortifications in the fortress and open up a safer passage for our infantry who are on the offensive mission."

An hour later, the attack on the Brest Fortress began.

The Brest Fortress is a steel barrier standing in front of the 48th Army. During the one-hour artillery preparation, it has withstood the baptism of tens of thousands of shells.

Before the gunpowder smoke cleared, the Soviet commanders and fighters waiting by the river put the rubber boats into the river, and started crossing the river in a scramble. For a time, on the river with a width of one kilometer, there were densely packed Soviet rubber boats.

But as soon as the boat reached the middle of the river, the German troops who were hiding in the undestroyed fortifications opened fire on the troops crossing the river. Amidst the roar and gunpowder, the NG42 general-purpose machine gun fired wildly with great lethality, reaping the life in the river like harvesting wheat. People with boats smashed into broken sacks.

The machine guns were firing, and the Germans moved the mortars out of the bunker, and fired continuously towards the river. Jets of water shot up into the sky, and from time to time, unlucky rubber boats were hit by shells, and the boat was blown to pieces; even if there were no direct hits, the jets of water from the side of the boat still pushed some unlucky commanders into the river .

Ponegelin, who was directing the operations in the observation post, did not expect the offensive operations to be so tragic. The two infantry brigades that went into the battle did not even touch the opposite bank, and at least one-third of the people were killed or injured.

Seeing this situation, the two brigade commanders standing beside Ponegerin couldn't help being terrified. One of them said to Pornegelin: "Comrade Deputy Commander, the enemy's firepower is too strong. If we attack blindly like this, it is tantamount to letting the commanders and fighters die. I think it is better to withdraw the troops first and regroup before regrouping." It is not too late to attack the enemy on the other side."

"That's right, Comrade Deputy Commander." Another brigade commander also said: "Look, our commanders and fighters didn't even touch the opposite bank, and we lost one-third of our troops. If we continue to fight If we go down, I am afraid that the whole army will be in danger of being wiped out."

Pornegerin was not a stubborn person either. He couldn't bear to see the attacking troops being beaten to death in the river like targets by the enemy under the attack of German mortars or machine gun fire. After hesitating for a moment, he agreed to the proposal of the two brigade commanders: "Okay, comrade brigade commanders, immediately send a signal to your troops to stop crossing the river and immediately retreat to their original starting positions."

Hearing this order from Ponegerin, the two brigade commanders breathed a sigh of relief. I thought it was something worth showing off to be the vanguard of the attack on the Brest Fortress. But as soon as the battle started, I realized that my thinking was too simple. The strength of the fortress was beyond my imagination, and the German resistance in the fortress was also extremely tenacious. If he fought head-on, he might wipe out all his subordinates, and he might not be able to reach the other side.

The two brigade commanders hurriedly each picked up a phone and gave their commanders an order to retreat, asking them to return to their original starting positions as soon as possible, so as not to become a target for the German army.

After the two brigade commanders finished making the phone call, Ponegelin said to them apologetically, "comrades brigade commanders, I was at fault for this matter. When I proposed to attack the Brest Fortress, Comrade Commander He once stopped me, saying that the time was not ripe. As a result, I was stubborn and caused so many casualties in the army, and it was all my fault."