Red Moscow

  Chapter 2042

After Koshkin received the order, he did not dare to be negligent. After leaving the headquarters, he selected one of the most elite guard companies and drove to the Brest Fortress. Near the gate of the Terespol Fortress, he found Yakov.

   "It turned out to be Captain Koshkin." Yakov saw Koshkin appearing, and immediately guessed the reason why he appeared here: "Did Misha send you here?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Koshkin and Yakov are also acquaintances, and they don't have so many scruples when talking to each other. Seeing that the other party guessed his purpose, they didn't deny it, so they replied truthfully: "Commander Comrade is worried that you are in danger, so he specially sent me to protect you."

   "Captain Koshkin, you go back." Yakov said carelessly: "We are surrounded by our own people, how could there be any danger, you should go back to the headquarters to protect Misha's safety."

"Comrade General," Koshkin once assured Sokov that he would protect Yakov's safety as if he were protecting his own eyes. He would not go back easily before completing the task. He looked at Yakov. Said: "The Brest Fortress has just been occupied by our army, and the defenders in the fortress have not been completely cleared. Your life may be threatened. In order to avoid the tragedy of the Kobrin Fortress from happening again, after the fortress is completely cleared I will not leave your side until I have the enemy within."

After saying this, Koshkin ordered the accompanying guard company to set up a security circle around them without waiting for Yakov to speak, and even arranged a few sharpshooters on several commanding heights to deal with those German soldiers. Scattered soldiers.

   Besides, at the front headquarters at this time, Rokossovsky was chatting with Zhukov who had just arrived.

After Rokossovsky introduced the tragedy that happened in the Brest Fortress to Zhukov, Zhukov's face suddenly changed. He grabbed Rokossovsky's arm and asked nervously: "Koschka , if I remember correctly, Yakov should be at Misha's place right now."

   "Yes, Comrade Marshal." Rokossovsky nodded and said, "Misha appointed Yakov as the artillery director of his army group. At this moment, the artillery positions should be set up to prepare for the artillery bombardment of the enemy west of the Bug River."

   "If Yakov is setting up artillery positions, do you think he will be in the headquarters or on the artillery positions?"

Rokossovsky, who originally thought that Zhukov was a little nervous, was startled into a cold sweat when he heard this, and quickly ordered the director of the communications army to help him connect to the headquarters of the 48th Army. He wanted to talk to Sokov in person. .

  After the call was connected, as soon as he heard Sokov's voice coming from the receiver, Rokossovsky asked bluntly, "Misha, tell me, where is Yakov now?"

"Yakov?!" Sokov was taken aback for a moment, and then he understood who Rokossovsky was asking, and quickly replied: "Reporting to Comrade General, he is currently deploying artillery positions in the Terespol Fortress. , ready to use artillery fire to support our attacking force's attack on the west bank of the Bug River."

"What, he's in the Terespol Fortress?" Rokossovsky's forehead was dripping with cold sweat, he didn't care to wipe the sweat, and then asked: "Misha, have you cleared out the enemies in the fortress yet?" ?”

"It's hard to say, Comrade General." Facing Rokossovsky's question, Sokov really didn't know how to answer. Although the fighting in the fortress has stopped now, whether there are any enemies lurking or not? What no one knew, he could only reply euphemistically: "The resistance on the surface has completely stopped, but I don't know if there are still enemies lurking in a certain corner of the fortress."

"Misha, since you don't know whether the enemy in the fortress has been wiped out, why did you allow Major General Yakov to go to the Terespol Fortress?" Rokossovsky asked sharply on the phone: "If he gets out What's the matter, there's something going on and two going wrong, can you bear the responsibility?"

"I'm sorry." Sokov defended himself in a low voice, "but I have sent Captain Koshkin to take a company of guards to the Terespol Fortress to protect Yasha. You know , Koshkin is from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and he has his own unique side in protecting the safety of the commander. I believe that as long as he stays by Yasha's side, Yasha's life will not be in danger."

  Rokossovsky, who wanted to continue to get angry, heard Sokov say that Koshkin was sent to protect Yakov, and his anger suddenly subsided. He covered the microphone with his hand and said to Zhukov: "Comrade Marshal, Misha said that he has sent the most capable Captain Koshkin to the Terespol Fortress to protect Yakov's safety."

   Zhukov also had some influence on Koshkin. He knew that the other party was from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and had a unique side in protecting the safety of the commander. Although he was still nervous, he was not as nervous as before. He just said to Rokossovsky, "Koschka, tell Misha to tell Captain Koshkin that Yakov must be protected. If Yakov If something unexpected happens to my husband, he will wait to go to the military court."

Rokossovsky nodded, let go of the hand covering the microphone, and said: "Misha, Comrade Marshal said, I want you to tell Captain Koshkin to protect Yakov's safety. If there is anything wrong with him, Just wait until you go to court-martial."

"Comrade General, please rest assured." Sokov assured Rokossovsky, "I will do my best to protect Yakov's safety. If something really happens to him, there is no need to send me away." If I go to a military court, I will shoot myself directly in the forehead with a gun."

   As soon as Sokov finished talking with Rokossovsky, Yakov called from the Terespol Fortress. He complained to Sokov on the phone: "Misha, why did you send Captain Koshkin here?"

   "Yasha, I am also thinking about your safety."

   "Misha, you don't know. As soon as Captain Koshkin came, he immediately set up a security circle to separate me from ordinary artillery officers and fighters, so that I couldn't directly command the troops."

"Yasha, I think you, as an artillery chief, should stay in your own command post and direct the artillery operations." Seeing Yakov complaining, Sokov said bluntly: "Instead of acting like an ordinary artillery Like a soldier, stay on the artillery emplacement."

Hearing that Yakov seemed to have something to defend, Sokov interrupted what he wanted to say, and said bluntly: "Yasha, don't forget that your identity is different from ordinary people. If it is an ordinary commander who sacrifices, at most Just find someone to take over his position. But if you do anything wrong on the battlefield, a large group of people will be punished.”

  Sokov’s words awakened Yakov and made him re-examine his identity and think about what would happen if he died on the battlefield.

"Okay, Misha." After thinking about it, Yakov said into the microphone: "From now on, I will find a room in the Terespol Fortress as my headquarters. Before the fortress is cleared, I will Never leave the headquarters easily. So you can rest assured, right?"

"Yes, Yasha, if you can stay in the headquarters all the time, I will be completely relieved." Seeing that he had persuaded Yakov, Sokov felt more at ease: "In a few minutes, the infantry will be The attack is launched, and hope your artillery will destroy the obstacles that block the advance of the infantry."

  When the commanders and fighters of the 3rd Infantry Division passed the bridge outside the gate of the Terespol Fortress and advanced towards the west bank of the Bug River, the artillery deployed in the fortress fired. The shirtless artillerymen raised the rate of fire of the artillery to the highest, almost reaching a rate of firing 10 rounds per minute.

  For a while, on the artillery position, the sound of metal collisions, the call of the gunner, and the roar of shelling came and went. Once the yellow shell casing exited the chamber, the loader immediately sent a new round of full-loaded ammunition into the chamber.

  The stormy bombardment hit the German positions a few kilometers away. This was fatal to the German infantry with only simple fortifications, so that all the people were suppressed by the artillery fire in the trenches and could not raise their heads.

  If the German army has built a defensive depth, they may repeat their tricks and retreat to the second position along the communication trench, allowing the Soviet army to drop shells on the empty position with almost no people. But this is the place they have occupied for five years. It can be said that it is their safest rear. Where will there be any decent fortifications, so all the defenders have to hide in unique trenches and accept the Soviet artillery fire. baptism.

   Don't see the 3rd Infantry Division set off first. Before they had finished half the distance, the tank brigade participating in the battle passed them and rushed straight to the German defensive positions.

The artillery commander on the Terespol Fortress found that the Soviet tanks were less than 800 meters away from the German positions, and immediately reported to Yakov: "Comrade artillery chief, the tank brigade's tanks are only 100 meters away from the enemy's positions." The distance is less than 800 meters, if they continue to rush forward, they are likely to be accidentally injured by our artillery fire."

After listening to the report, Yakov thought for a moment, and then said to the artillery commander: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, as long as our tanks do not directly break into the shelling area, some flying shrapnel will not pose any threat to them. Wait until they are within a distance When the German position is still 200 meters away, it will not be too late to extend artillery fire."

   "Understood, Comrade Artillery Director." The Artillery Commander said: "I will order all the artillery to fire when our tanks are 300 meters away from the enemy's position."

   Soon, the Soviet tanks rushed to a position three hundred meters away from the German position, and the artillery fire extended forward.

A German soldier who was dizzy from the bombing staggered up from the trench and wanted to see what was going on outside, but unexpectedly saw a Soviet tank rushing towards him. He shouted loudly: " Tanks, Russian tanks, Russian tanks!"

  However, he didn't hear his own voice at all. It turned out that his ears were deaf due to the shelling not long ago. Because not only him, but the ears of most German soldiers in the trenches were not well shaken by the shelling, so that no one heard his shouts at all,

   Soon, other soldiers stood up and shouted when they saw the Soviet tanks rushing towards the position. But they soon found that they couldn't hear their shouts at all. After realizing that their ears were deaf, they stopped shouting in vain. Instead, they took up the weapons in their hands and fired wildly at the tanks rushing towards them. .

  Seeing their comrades shooting outside, the German soldiers who gradually woke up realized that the Soviet army might have launched an attack. They also stood up from the trenches and looked towards the direction of the fortress. When they saw groups of tanks and densely packed infantry rushing up, they also joined the firing queue.

   The tanks rushing to the front stopped when they saw the German positions starting to shoot, and attacked the exposed firepower points with tank guns and vehicle-mounted machine guns, covering the infantry behind to launch an attack.

  The resistance of the German army can be negligible to the attacking Soviet army. In less than a quarter of an hour, this position was successfully broken through by the Soviet army and developed in depth.

Seeing that his troops had successfully broken through, the commander of the infantry division couldn't help being overjoyed, and hurriedly announced the good news to Sokov by phone: "Comrade commander, our division has successfully broken through the German defense line and successfully entered Polish territory. Repeat, our army Has successfully entered Polish territory."

"It's great, Comrade Colonel, you are really great." Knowing that the 3rd Infantry Division had successfully broken through the German defenses and successfully entered the territory of Poland, Sokov said emotionally: "You guys today The results achieved will be recorded in the annals of history and will be remembered by our descendants.”

  After putting down the phone, Sokov immediately ordered the director of the communications corps to connect him to the front army headquarters. He was going to tell Rokossovsky the good news and make him happy.

Sure enough, as Sokov expected, Rokossowski was too excited to learn that the 3rd Infantry Division had successfully broken through the German defensive position on the west bank of the Bug River and successfully entered Polish territory. Biao: "Misha, you have done a good job. Please convey my thanks to all the commanders and fighters of the 3rd Infantry Division for successfully breaking through the German defense line and entering Polish territory smoothly. In recognition of their For the record achieved, I will award the division an Order of the Red Banner."

   It is a personal honor for an individual to receive a medal. It is the honor of the whole army to receive a medal. Sokov, who knew this well, was also very excited after hearing Rokossovsky's words. This indicates that the 3rd Infantry Division won the medal and was also awarded the guard. Possibility of division honorary title: "Comrade General, on behalf of the commanders and fighters of the 3rd Infantry Division, I would like to express my gratitude to you. At the same time, I would like to express my attitude to you. In the next battle, the 3rd Infantry Division will continue to build a larger Merit."

Rokossovsky looked at the map in front of him, and said into the microphone: "Misha, since your troops have entered Poland, then advance to Lublin in the southwest direction, and support the troops on the left wing of the Front Army to capture this land. city. Do you understand?"

   "Understood, Comrade General." Sokov vaguely remembered that after the Soviet army occupied Lublin, the Polish resistance organization established a post-war parliament here to manage Poland. If the city can be taken one day earlier, it means that the parliament can be established one day earlier, so he replied straightforwardly: "While I will send troops to monitor the German army in the west, I will send one or two divisions to Lublin. Move in the same direction and coordinate with the friendly forces on the left to take the city."

  (end of this chapter)