Burning Moscow

Chapter 1709 All show their magical powers

The first to successfully cross the Spree River frontally was the 88th Guards Division. Under the command of Division Commander Pankov, after several hours of fierce fighting, they successfully captured the suburban Valkenburg.

As the troops continued to move forward, they soon reached the Dami River. Without any river crossing equipment, Captain Shemajin, the 2nd Battalion Commander of the 269th Guards Regiment, took the lead and jumped into the biting river water and swam bravely towards the opposite bank. Under his lead, the soldiers also swam across the water.

But the German guards who were standing on the other side were shocked when they saw our soldiers rushing towards them, barefoot and wearing only a shirt, and they even forgot to shoot. When the soldiers rushed in front of them, they could only obediently put down their weapons and raised their hands to surrender.

In the Kopernik area on the right, is the combat area of ​​the 39th Guards Division. After the division commander Marchenko learned that there was a bridge across the Spree River, he immediately gave the Gritsenko regiment a death order, asking them to take the bridge intact from the enemy anyway.

Lieutenant Colonel Gritsenko, who received the task, was afraid that the Germans would jump over the wall and blow up the bridge if they could not resist their own attack. So he ordered some troops to fight street battles with the Germans in the town to attract the attention of the bridge guards. At the same time, a small team was sent to cross the River Spree from the upper reaches and attacked from behind the enemy.

After half an hour of fighting, all German troops in the town and guarding the bridge were wiped out. After Gritsenko had the explosives buried by the Germans dismantled, the tanks and artillery in the division crossed the River Spree from the bridge.

When the 29th Army of the left-wing Guards arrived at the Spree River, the vanguard stopped advancing when they saw that there was no crossing tool on the river, and they were ready to wait for the river crossing equipment from the rear to arrive before crossing the river. Major General Duke, the new commander of the 82nd Guards Division, saw that the commanders stopped, and quickly walked to the river to do agitation work for everyone. He also took the lead to jump into the biting river and swim to the opposite bank with several scouts. Get back a few ferry boats and cross the river one after another.

After hearing about Duke’s deeds, Cui Kefu was really a little bit dumbfounded. After he ordered the communications staff to contact Duke using the telephone, he said with some disapproval: “Comrade Duke, I admire you for taking the lead and jumping into the river. But don’t forget that you are a guard. The commander of the 82nd Division, if you have an accident while crossing the river, the troops will lose their command and be in chaos. Do you understand?”

General Duke, who was criticized by Cui Koff, replied sincerely after a moment of silence: “Comrade Commander, I understand. You can rest assured that I will stay in my command position in the future and I will never take risks easily.”

The main force of the 8th Guards Army crossed the Spree and Dami rivers in turn, and entered the loss of Berlin from the south, disrupting the German defense system. They never dreamed that our army would cross the river. The area launched an offensive, so shortly after dark, several streets fell into the hands of our army one after another.

On the first day of March, the troops of the 8th Guards Army continued to advance toward the city center. The 3rd Army of Guards Tanks of General Rebarko, after breaking through the layers of the German defense, joined forces with the 4th Army of Guards under the command of General Glazuyev in the area of ​​the Schenawed Airport.

After the troops of the 4th Guards Infantry Corps crossed the River Spree forcibly on the right flank, they occupied Schönewig, Dam-Folstadt, Nigel and other places. The troops of the 28th Guards Infantry Corps went out to the Trtov Canal in front of the left flank, and captured the urban areas such as Blitz, Bukov, and Rudolf. The troops of the 29th Guards Infantry Corps cleared out the enemies in the area of ​​Yoganistal and Adlershof Airport, and joined forces with the 4th Army of the Guards Tanks of Lelyushenko.

Seeing the outstanding performance of the 8th Guards Army, Zhukov issued a new combat order to Cuikov and immediately turned his troops to the northwest to attack the city center of Berlin. The original offensive zone was handed over to Katukov’s 1st Guard Tank Army.

On March 3, good news came from the west. Marshal Konev’s 58th Guards Division met on the Elbe River and the patrol of the 69th Infantry Division of the US First Army. They will continue to attack Yuwen in the west. German troops under the command of General K.

At the same time, the Mechanized 1st Guards Corps of Krivošein, which was redeployed to the northwest, successfully joined forces with the tank army of Rebarko northward, thus completing the complete siege of Berlin.

However, it is regrettable that the 20,000 German troops originally besieged by our army in the forest southeast of Berlin, after three days of fighting, successfully broke through our army’s encirclement, and 15,000 people entered Berlin. The strength of the Berlin City Defense Forces has increased the difficulty of our offensive.

Our troops entering the city of Berlin all aimed their offensive targets at the Reichstag building in the city center. The Reichstag was originally the imperial parliament of the Second German Reich, and later became the parliamentary site of the parliament of the republic during the Weimar Republic. After the arson that occurred in the Reichstag on February 27, 1933, it was no longer the administrative center of Germany. However, the offensive troops did not know this, and everyone unanimously chose the Capitol as the target of the offensive.

If Cuikov’s troops want to advance to the Capitol, they must first break through the German army in the Tiergarten area. This garden area is the last support point of the German army in Berlin. Since this position has the government office, the Reichstag building, the Supreme Commander’s headquarters and other top organs that symbolize the power of the Third Reich, the Berlin City Defense Commander Weidlin will be the most elite of the SS. The troops are deployed here.

Faced with the rushing tanks and infantry of our army, the enemy hiding in the fortification fired frantically with machine guns. Taking advantage of the plan of our commanders and fighters to be suppressed by fire, they sent anti-tank crews to destroy the tanks or self-propelled artillery covering the infantry from both sides. The battle lasted for more than five hours. Cuikov’s troops lost more than 30 tanks and self-propelled artillery, and also paid nearly a thousand casualties. They still couldn’t break through the German defense in the Tiergarten area.

Hearing that Trikov’s offensive was frustrated, Zhukov’s call came in immediately, and he asked unceremoniously: “Comrade Cuikov? This is Zhukov. I heard that your troops launched several attacks on the Tier Garden area. It ended in failure, is this true?”

“Yes, Comrade Marshal,” Cui Kefu replied with some shame, “The enemy’s defense is too tenacious, and all the attacks we organized have failed…”

Before he could finish, Zhukov continued: “Since your troops cannot take the Tiergarten area, then give up the road and let General Kuznetsov’s 3rd Assault Army complete this task.”

Hearing Zhu Kefu’s words, Cui Kefu couldn’t help being a little anxious, and hurriedly pleaded: “Comrade Marshal, please give me another chance. I will definitely seize the garden area.”

I know Zhukov’s stubborn character. Once he decides something, no one can change it. So I stretched out my hand to Cui Kefu, took the microphone in his hand, put it to my ear and said to the microphone: “Comrade Marshal, this is Lida. I have a request. I wonder if you can agree to it?”

“If you have any requests, just say it quickly.” Maybe it’s because Weidlin’s troops broke through our army’s defenses and successfully retreated into Berlin, making it more difficult for us to capture Berlin. Zhukov’s mood seemed a little impatient: “Since Cui Koff Troops that can’t seize the Tier Garden area, so let the troops that can seize there go up.”

“Comrade Marshal, I agree with you.” Instead of arguing with Zhukov, I followed his meaning and said: “After several days of fierce fighting in the 8th Guards Army of General Cuikov, the officers and soldiers are very tired. It is true that they should be given a short break. But if General Kuznetsov’s troops still cannot break through the German defensive positions in the Tiergarten area, I beg you to let General Trikov’s troops continue to attack this area tomorrow. attack.”

Regarding my request, Zhukov thought for a while, and finally replied: “Well, I will let Kuznetsov’s troops try first. If they still can’t seize the position before dawn tomorrow, then it’s Cuikov’s responsibility. The troops, to complete this arduous task.”

After putting down the phone, I didn’t immediately answer Cuikov’s follow-up question, but first called the artillery commander Pozharsky. Then I said: “According to the situation of today’s battle, the Germans deployed in the Tiergarten area are all experienced combat troops. If we want to break through the defenses here, we may have to find another way.”

“Think of another way?” Cui Kefu’s eyes widened when he heard me say this, “Is there any way to think of it?”

“This is an urban area. We can’t use tank troops on a large scale.” After I waited for Cuikov to finish, I explained to him: “So to seize the Tier Garden area, we must first rely on our artillery to deal with the enemy. Comrade Artillery Commander “The sentence behind me was addressed to Pozharsky, “We will deploy our artillery at a distance of 500 meters from the Tiergarten area. Use direct-point shooting to destroy the strong German firepower. .”

“This is no problem.” Pozharski nodded and said immediately after listening to me, “I will immediately deploy a cannon battalion to that area.”

I went on to say: “After the shelling is completed, there must be very few buildings left in this area. Our tanks can’t get past the streets full of bricks and rubble, so the next battle will only be We can rely on our infantry to complete it. In addition to ordinary infantry, we should also be equipped with flame spearmen, blasters, and assault engineers to eliminate the enemies hidden in the ruins and open a channel for the offensive forces behind us.”

General Kuznetsov’s 3rd Assault Group, after taking over from Trikov’s offensive area, launched a fierce attack on the Tiergarten area overnight. However, under the tenacious defense of the German SS troops, the offensive troops suffered heavy casualties. By daybreak, they still failed to seize the garden area from the German hands.

At dawn, Cui Kefu heard that the offensive of the 3rd Assault Army was frustrated, and his face showed a happy smile. He was not gloating, but felt that he could finally let his troops attack again.

I called Zhukov and first reported to him about the setbacks of the 3rd Assault Army’s offensive. Although I knew he knew about it a long time ago, I reported it very carefully, and finally asked: “Comrade Marshal, after a one-night rest, the commanders and fighters are very energetic and morale is high. Can they be allowed? Going into battle?”

“Well, let Cui Kefu try again.” Zhukov also realized at this moment that it is not easy to seize the Tier Garden area guarded by the elite German troops, so he readily agreed to my request.

After putting down the phone, I smiled and said to Cui Kefu: “Well, General Cui Kefu, you can send troops to take over the offensive area of ​​the 3rd Assault Army. But if today’s offensive is unsuccessful, Comrade Marshal may not let you. Participate in the offense again.”

“Don’t worry, Lida, it can’t be wrong, my troops are already prepared.” Cuikov said confidently, and immediately instructed Vladimirov: “Chief of Staff, call the commander of the 28th Guards Army. , Ordered him to immediately lead the troops to take over the offensive area of ​​the 3rd Assault Army.”

After the change of defense was completed, the artillery battalion that had been prepared for a long time launched a fierce bombardment against the German troops who were standing in the Tyre Garden area. After the shelling ended, the infantry did not immediately charge, but stayed in place and waited. This scene made me bewildered when I was standing in the observation post. I turned my head and asked Cuikov next to him: “General Cuikov, what is going on, why don’t our troops attack?”

“Lida, don’t worry.” Cui Kefu said with a smile: “You will understand soon.”

As soon as his words fell I saw a mortar squad enter the starting position and set up mortars there. As soon as the erection was completed, they immediately launched shelling on the enemy’s position. I was kind of weird at the time. What would be the effect of using mortars to bombard the area that the artillery battalion had just finished bombing?

But soon I understood the purpose of the mortar squad. They fired not ordinary shells, but smoke bombs. With the guarantee of the smoke bomb, the Teal Garden area was enveloped by a cloud of smoke. At this time, the infantry who had been ready to go came out of the hiding place, bent over and carried their weapons, and used the broken buildings on both sides of the street The cover of the object, advance to the enemy’s position.

Soon there were intensive gunshots and explosions in front of me, but because of the dense fog, I couldn’t see anything. I could only see the white smoke reflected by the flames of the explosion.

After more than forty minutes, the phone in the observation post rang, and the commander of the attacking unit reported to Cui Kefu: “The unit has successfully captured the Tier Garden area!” For mobile users, please browse and read for a better reading experience. .

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