(To correct a mistake, Vajin was the commander of the 79th Guards Division, and the previous chapter was incorrectly written as the 47th Guards Division, which has been corrected.) ）

Glazunov took advantage of the night to transfer his headquarters to the royal palace on the banks of the Vistula River. Standing on the platform on the top floor of the palace, he raised his binoculars and looked around, and found that he had a panoramic view of the whole city of Warsaw. Especially with the two bridges near the palace, he could even see the ranks of the commanders and fighters in the trenches.

He thought to himself: no wonder General Zakharkin would be dismissed from his post by his superiors, who had spent ten days in Warsaw, but had set up his headquarters far away from the troops, and could only draw up a plan of battle through reports from his subordinates. Think about it, what if a commander who doesn't even know what the battlefield is like can command his troops to victory?

When he returned to the headquarters downstairs, he saw Shemenkov and Vajin waiting for him in the headquarters. After beckoning the two of them to sit down, he spoke: "Comrades two division commanders, I have just checked the terrain along the Vistula River, and I intend to adjust the deployment of the troops accordingly. General Vakin! ”

Hearing Glazunov call his name, Vajin hurriedly stood up and waited for the other party to give him an order.

"Your division has been greatly attrition after recent battles, so I intend to shorten your defensive line." Grazunov pointed to the map in front of him and said to Vakin: "Comrade General, you transfer your troops to Vistula Avenue and focus on the defense of the Gdansk Bridge connecting the zoo. Do you understand? ”

"Understood, Comrade General." Seeing that Grazunov had shortened the defense line of his division by almost half, Varjin was overjoyed and hurriedly replied loudly: "We will never let the Germans take the bridge from us." ”

"General Vakin," Grazunov waited for Vajin to finish, and then added, "I have shortened your defensive line, of course, in consideration of the great attrition of your division. But on the other hand, I don't want you to be purely defensive, and if necessary, you should launch a counter-assault appropriately and try to establish a foothold in the North Prague district on the east bank. ”

"Major General Shemenkov," said Glazunov, after waiting for Vagin to sit down, to his subordinate, Major General Shemenkov, "the task of your division is to hold the two bridges near the palace. If necessary, you will also need to send troops to support the comrades of the Polish army on your right flank and assist them in holding the Lazienki bridge. ”

"The royal palace, where the headquarters is located, is only a few hundred meters from the Vistula River." To make sure nothing went wrong, Glazunov said to Shemenkov: "Once the Germans have captured this bridge next to the palace, it will only take a few minutes for their tanks to rush to my headquarters, so I advise you to deploy the most elite 174th Guards Regiment here." ”

"Comrade Commander, please rest assured." As soon as Major General Shemenkov finished speaking, he immediately expressed his loyalty to him: "As long as there is one soldier left alive in the 174th Guards Regiment, the Germans will definitely not be allowed to rush outside the command." ”

"Major General Shemenkov," Grazunov then explained to him, "this bridge on your right flank is a railway bridge, and you are to destroy the rails on the bridge so that German armored trains do not rush along the railway." I also have a suggestion, if the Polish army is attacked by the Germans, and you can use this railway bridge to move your troops over and attack from the flanks of the German army, so as to relieve the pressure on the Polish comrades. ”

After deploying the mission, Glazunov waved his hand at the two and said, "Okay, you all go back to your respective units and go and convey the combat mission to the commanders and fighters." ”

Immediately after the two had left, Glazunov met with the chief of communications and instructed him: "Send a message to the commander of the front that I have taken over the post of commander-in-chief of the former enemy in Warsaw and make the following arrangements for the troops......

It wasn't long before Rokossovsky received a telegram from Glazunov from inside Warsaw. After reading the contents of the telegram, he consulted with Malinin and said: "Chief of Staff, what do you think of these deployments of General Glazunov? ”

Malinin looked at the map, checked the contents of the telegram, and then said: "Comrade commander, I think that General Glazunov's deployment is completely correct. Pointing to the location of the palace, he said to Rokossovsky, "Look here, the palace is only a few hundred meters from the Vistula River, and on the other side of the river are the Warsaw East and Vilansk railway stations. At that time, not to mention that the German army counterattacking Warsaw will only send a few regiments, even if a few divisions are dispatched, it will be impossible to take Warsaw City from our hands. ”

After Malinin finished speaking, Rokossovsky added: "For example, the troops of the 57th Guards Division broke through from the railway bridge to the east bank of the Vistula, not only to flank the Germans attacking the Polish army, but also to create a support point in Union Square between Washington Avenue and Lazienki Street. As long as they can establish this support point, then our troops on the east bank of the Vistula River will be able to meet with them. ”

After recording what Rokossovsky had said, Malinin continued: "Comrade commander, according to the report of the head of the Andypian section, the speed of our supply to us has been accelerated again. Moreover, most of the recent supplies received were ammunition and fuel urgently needed by the Air Force. ”

Hearing that his superiors had replenished the Air Force with ammunition and fuel, Rokossovsky couldn't help but rejoice. Although he had put forward the theory of winning the air force before, after a period of practice, he found that it was not suitable for the national conditions of the Soviet Union at all. For example, the high-density bombing of the German army, if it is the US army, they have perfect logistics and strong productivity, they can do this. As for the Soviet army, due to the poor road conditions, the ability of logistics and transportation did not dare to compliment; Coupled with the fact that there are operations everywhere and supplies are needed, it is simply impossible to meet the needs of all troops in the case of a serious shortage of production capacity. That's when the Ukrainian campaign will appear, and its own Belarusian Front will not be supplied with any soldiers and materials for several months. Therefore, he can only formulate corresponding combat plans according to his existing capabilities.

After thinking about it, he said to Malinin: "Chief of Staff, please tell General Rudenko. In the present situation, priority should be given to providing air support to the troops in Warsaw, lest they would not be able to hold off the German panzers without heavy weapons. ”

The day after the 4th Guards Infantry Corps entered the city of Warsaw, it was attacked by the Germans. Seeing the rows of skirmishers behind dozens of tanks, the hearts of the commanders and fighters in the trenches fluttered. The German tanks stopped at a distance of five hundred meters from the trench and began to raise their muzzles and bombard the trenches to cover the forward charge of their own infantry.

The German infantry crossed the lined line of tanks and rushed towards the Soviet positions that were being bombarded. But when they were still about a hundred meters from the trench, the tanks behind them stopped firing for fear of accidental damage. Seeing that the enemy's shelling was over, the Soviets immediately emerged from the trenches and began to shoot at the enemy with various weapons.

Fighting was going on to the west and north of the city, but the Vistula River was surprisingly deserted. When Glazunov learned the news, he couldn't help frowning, and secretly said in his heart: "What are these Germans doing, why are there such fierce battles in the west and north, but there is no movement at all on the Vistula River in the east?" Are they going to wait for the Germans in the other two directions to storm the city of Warsaw, and then launch an attack to give us something to attack? ”

Glazunov's style of operation was very different from Zakharkin's, and he had his two divisions take over the defense zone of the 27th and 88th Guards Divisions, and withdrew them to rest and recuperate, and at the same time served as a reserve to reinforce them in the future when the forces were tight there.

The chief of staff of the corps, knowing that the German fortifications from the west were the most fierce and had even broken through a line of defense, suggested to Glazunov: "Comrade commander, there is the 88th Guards Division of General Pankov to the west of the city, do you want to ask them to send a regiment to reinforce the area under attack?" ”

Glazunov glanced at his chief of staff with strange eyes.

It wasn't long before Rokossovsky received a telegram from Glazunov from inside Warsaw. After reading the contents of the telegram, he consulted with Malinin and said: "Chief of Staff, what do you think of these deployments of General Glazunov? ”

Malinin looked at the map, checked the contents of the telegram, and then said: "Comrade commander, I think that General Glazunov's deployment is completely correct. Pointing to the location of the palace, he said to Rokossovsky, "Look here, the palace is only a few hundred meters from the Vistula River, and on the other side of the river are the Warsaw East and Vilansk railway stations. At that time, not to mention that the German army counterattacking Warsaw will only send a few regiments, even if a few divisions are dispatched, it will be impossible to take Warsaw City from our hands. ”

After Malinin finished speaking, Rokossovsky added: "For example, the troops of the 57th Guards Division broke through from the railway bridge to the east bank of the Vistula, not only to flank the Germans attacking the Polish army, but also to create a support point in Union Square between Washington Avenue and Lazienki Street. As long as they can establish this support point, then our troops on the east bank of the Vistula River will be able to meet with them. ”

After recording what Rokossovsky had said, Malinin continued: "Comrade commander, according to the report of the head of the Andypian section, the speed of our supply to us has been accelerated again. Moreover, most of the recent supplies received were ammunition and fuel urgently needed by the Air Force. ”

Hearing that his superiors had replenished the Air Force with ammunition and fuel, Rokossovsky couldn't help but rejoice. Although he had put forward the theory of winning the air force before, after a period of practice, he found that it was not suitable for the national conditions of the Soviet Union at all. For example, the high-density bombing of the German army, if it is the US army, they have perfect logistics and strong productivity, they can do this. As for the Soviet army, due to the poor road conditions, the ability of logistics and transportation did not dare to compliment; Coupled with the fact that there are operations everywhere and supplies are needed, it is simply impossible to meet the needs of all troops in the case of a serious shortage of production capacity. That's when the Ukrainian campaign will appear, and its own Belarusian Front will not be supplied with any soldiers and materials for several months. Therefore, he can only formulate corresponding combat plans according to his existing capabilities.

After thinking about it, he said to Malinin: "Chief of Staff, please tell General Rudenko. In the present situation, priority should be given to providing air support to the troops in Warsaw, lest they would not be able to hold off the German panzers without heavy weapons. ”

The day after the 4th Guards Infantry Corps entered the city of Warsaw, it was attacked by the Germans. Seeing the rows of skirmishers behind dozens of tanks, the hearts of the commanders and fighters in the trenches fluttered. The German tanks stopped at a distance of five hundred meters from the trench and began to raise their muzzles and bombard the trenches to cover the forward charge of their own infantry.

The German infantry crossed the lined line of tanks and rushed towards the Soviet positions that were being bombarded. But when they were still about a hundred meters from the trench, the tanks behind them stopped firing for fear of accidental damage. Seeing that the enemy's shelling was over, the Soviets immediately emerged from the trenches and began to shoot at the enemy with various weapons.

Fighting was going on to the west and north of the city, but the Vistula River was surprisingly deserted. When Glazunov learned the news, he couldn't help frowning, and secretly said in his heart: "What are these Germans doing, why are there such fierce battles in the west and north, but there is no movement at all on the Vistula River in the east?" Are they going to wait for the Germans in the other two directions to storm the city of Warsaw, and then launch an attack to give us something to attack? ”

Glazunov's style of operation was very different from Zakharkin's, and he had his two divisions take over the defense zone of the 27th and 88th Guards Divisions, and withdrew them to rest and recuperate, and at the same time served as a reserve to reinforce them in the future when the forces were tight there.

The chief of staff of the corps, knowing that the German fortifications from the west were the most fierce and had even broken through a line of defense, suggested to Glazunov: "Comrade commander, there is the 88th Guards Division of General Pankov to the west of the city, do you want to ask them to send a regiment to reinforce the area under attack?" ”

Glazunov glanced at his chief of staff with strange eyes.