Five hours before the offensive, the participating units of the 16th Army, under the cover of night, quietly entered the starting position of the offensive. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoDue to the limited strength of the divisions at present, Rokossovsky placed three divisions at the same time on the entire offensive front to strengthen the frontal attack.

However, when the plan was formulated, there were differences of opinion on how to configure the tank army. The commander of the armored corps, Colonel Orel, felt that the tanks and the attacking infantry should be placed together, so that the infantry could charge behind the tanks once the attack began.

However, Chief of Staff Malinin believes that tanks should be placed in the second echelon, and after the infantry has broken through the German defenses, they should be used for in-depth development breakthroughs. He resolutely demanded that Rokossovsky be entrusted with the responsibility of drawing up the plan for the tank corps to enter the battle.

Seeing that Rokossovsky was a little hesitant, he immediately added: "Comrade commander, I have previously served as a tank corpsman and perfectly understand how to use tank units. ”

Hearing Malinin say this, Rokossovsky considered that he was a serious person, and if the matter of deploying tank positions was entrusted to him, it should be a good choice. Thinking of this, Rokossovsky nodded and said approvingly: "Well, where our tank corps is deployed, it is up to the chief of staff to decide." ”

Compared with the joyful Malinin, Orel looked extremely depressed, he did not expect that on the issue of directing the tank attack, he, the director of the armored corps, actually had no right to speak.

When Malinin and the two tank corps commanders handed over the prepared plan to Rokossovsky after careful study, the latter found that the whole plan was quite good, but the starting position of the tank corps was inevitably deployed too far back. Even the position of the nearest tank 15th Army was 20 kilometers from the starting position of the first echelon, which means that after the battle began, it would take them at least half an hour to reach the battle site.

In response to this question, Rokossovsky asked Malinin: "Chief of Staff, you deployed the tanks so far back, if something happens on the road and the tank units do not arrive on time, won't our offensive plan be disrupted?" ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Regarding Rokossovsky's concerns, Malinin said confidently: "This is all after repeated calculations by me and the two tank commanders. The tank corps moved its starting position farther away to ensure sufficient suddenness, because when our tanks were launched, the opposite Deko could not hear the sound of the engine. ”

After listening to Malinin's explanation, Rokossovsky could only nod helplessly: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, since you have drawn up a complete offensive plan, then execute it according to the plan!" ”

Before the start of the official offensive, the artillery shelled the enemy's positions for half an hour. Due to the recent replenishment of artillery and a large number of shells to the units of the 16th Army by the superiors, Kazakov was able to deploy artillery units according to the standard of 30 to 40 guns per kilometer of frontage in the area where the main assault was carried out.

Rokossovsky was in a forward observation post, looking through a telescope at the German positions that were being shelled. As soon as the shelling ended, the thousands of commanders and fighters gathered in the trenches launched a charge against the opposite side without waiting for the smoke of gunpowder on the opposite German position to dissipate.

At the time of the shelling, the tank units had already taken up positions from which they would attack, and seeing the infantry charging at the enemy's positions, they followed closely behind.

Seeing the Soviets rushing towards their positions, the surviving soldiers on the German positions began to return fire. Mortar groups or machine-gun fire points hidden in fortifications often fire not long after they could inflict any decent casualties on the Soviet troops, but they were swept into the sky by shells fired by tank guns.

Rokossovsky saw with his own eyes that the infantry rushed into the trenches of the first line of positions, which soon overflowed like a tidal wave and continued to advance. Some of the tanks stopped in front of the fortifications and helped the infantry clear the remnants of the first trench, while the others continued to advance rapidly.

In the face of the Germans who fled in a hurry, the Soviet tanks did not use vehicle-mounted machine guns to strafe, but directly fired from artillery, and as soon as the shells passed, the Germans near the bombing point flew into the sky with their hands in motion.

Seeing this, Rokossovsky couldn't help but laugh and cry. He turned his head to Lobachev, who was standing next to him, and said: "Comrade Military Commissar, did you see the performance of our tanks?" It was clear that they could have strafed with machine guns, but they used artillery instead. Although a single cannon could kill several German soldiers, if they continued to squander them like this, it was estimated that by the time they reached the second line, their shells would have run out, and what would they use to destroy the German fortifications? ”

After listening to Rokossovsky's complaints, Lobachev smiled and said: "Comrade commander, if I'm not mistaken, this should be the unit of the 15th Tank Army." They have not fought a single battle since they were formed, and the commanders and fighters must have long been suffocated. It's hard to catch a plan, and it's not good to vent it. ”

Tanks advance much faster than infantry. By the time the fastest infantry reached the front of the German second line of defense, a dozen tanks had already arrived there first. Probably, due to the absence of infantry cover, several of these tanks were destroyed by German anti-tank crews and were burning at a distance of several tens of meters from the trenches. Seeing that the situation was not good, the remaining tanks quickly turned around and retreated to a safe distance, waiting for the infantry behind them to join them.

Although the offensive in this area did not go well, and several tanks were destroyed by the Germans, in other areas it went very well. Several tanks were the first to rush through the German trenches and rush further into depth, while the infantry that followed, except for some who continued to charge with the tanks, jumped into the trenches and engaged the Germans inside in close combat.

As more and more trenches were occupied by the Soviets, the German resistance became weak again. The tank detachments, which had been repulsed, crossed over the destroyed tanks and re-charged the enemy's trenches. As luck had for them, the German anti-tank men were killed by the infantry accompanying the tank attack as soon as they came up, and they successfully crossed the trench and continued to advance forward.

Seeing this, Lobachev hurriedly reminded Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, our army is going well, shouldn't we put the 12th Tank Army into battle?" ”