Thousands of guns of various calibers roared at the same time, and the dense shells instantly blew up the German defensive positions into a sea of fire. Don't look at the movement, it was quite big, but the Germans had long been accustomed to this kind of shelling by the Soviet troops, and except for a few observation posts left for surveillance, the main forces withdrew along the communication trenches to the second line of defense to avoid the Soviet artillery fire.

If other troops had encountered such a situation, it might have been a waste of ammunition, tens of thousands of shells smashed on the enemy's positions, and apart from blowing up some unmanned fortifications and trenches, the German casualties could be said to be minimal. But Rokossovsky's troops, as a rule, quietly approached the range of 300 meters while the shelling was underway, and when the artillery fire extended and the enemy who had retreated to the second line of defense had not returned, they launched a charge and captured the position in one fell swoop.

As an old friend and subordinate of Rokossovsky, Fedyuninsky naturally knew such tactics, and as soon as the shelling began, he called Pern and ordered the Estonian 8th Army to use the cover of artillery fire to advance to the vicinity of the German positions, and could only launch an attack as soon as the shelling was over.

Irma?? Paul's 300th Infantry Regiment, as the vanguard of the 8th Army, accepted this honorable task. While the shelling was still going on, they quietly moved to a distance of five hundred meters from the German positions. Perne, who was supervising the battle in the rear, saw that the troops had not yet arrived at the designated position, so he actually survived, and quickly grabbed the phone to connect to Paul's command post, and asked angrily: "Commander Paul, you haven't entered the designated area yet, why did you survive?" ”

"Comrade Commander," Paul quickly explained, hearing the Commander's anger, "our troops are bombarding the Tsopot area with heavy artillery, and if we are too close to the German positions, we may be accidentally injured by our own artillery fire." ”

After listening to Paul's explanation, Pelne's anger was half gone, but he still said uneasily: "Commander Paul, your impact distance is too far, if the artillery fire is extended, when you start to attack, as long as there are two or three machine guns on the German position to block your way forward, then the German troops who retreated to the second line of defense may return to the front line, and then you will have to seize the position, I am afraid you will pay a heavy price." ”

"Comrade Commander, please rest assured." Paul assured Perne: "Our regiment will be able to capture the first line of German defense in the shortest possible time, after the artillery fire is extended." ”

After putting down the phone, Pern said to Lucas, chief of staff of the army: "Comrade Chief of Staff, after the 300th regiment breaks through the German defensive line, immediately let the 354th regiment follow and expand the breakthrough as soon as possible." ”

Regarding Pelln's arrangement, Lucas seemed very unsteady: "Comrade commander, is it a bit too light for us to use only two regiments to break through the stable direction of the German army in the Tsopot area?" ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff," said Pern, looking at his Chief of Staff, "if it had been a month ago, we had attacked the enemy with only two regiments, it would have been a bit too risky. However, the offensive front of our entire front army has now been shortened to 60 kilometers, and the defensive front in the Tsopot area is only 8 kilometers, and our army and the troops of the 65th Army are each responsible for half of it. When our army develops into the depth of the enemy's defense, it is not too late to throw in more troops. Seeing that Pelln's attack on the Tsopot area had already been fully considered, Lucas only nodded slightly and did not continue to persuade.

After fifty minutes of shelling, Paul, whose ears were almost deafened by the sound of the explosion, called to the commander of the battalion and said loudly to him: "Commander of the battalion, immediately take your battalion and approach the German position." ”

It took a long time for the battalion commander to hear what Paul was saying. He leaned close to Paul's ear and asked, "Comrade Colonel, how far should we move to the German position?" ”

"You can do it!" Paul replied, "As long as the distance is not more than 200 meters, I don't care where you go." ”

"What, not more than two hundred meters from the enemy's position?" The commander of the first battalion was frightened by Paul's words, and he cautiously reminded: "Comrade Colonel, are you crazy? At such a close distance, we would be accidentally injured by our own artillery fire. ”

"Comrade battalion commander," Paul said helplessly, looking at his men, "if you are too far from the German positions, and when the shelling is over, the Germans will have enough time to react and organize a defense, which will cause you great casualties." Whether it will be a bullet from the Germans, or from the sh长寿 of your own people, you can think about it yourself. ”

Faced with this difficult multiple-choice question, the commander of the first battalion pondered for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth and said: "Okay, Comrade Colonel, I will find a way to get as close to the enemy's position as possible." ”

After receiving the order, the commander of the first battalion took his troops and took advantage of those dense craters to move cautiously towards the German positions. When they were still 200 meters away from the German position, he found that he really could not continue to advance, and the shells flying from the rear would explode from time to time when they landed thirty or forty meters in front of him, and several soldiers who rushed to the front had been cut down by the flying shrapnel.

Seeing this, the commander of the first battalion felt that he had no right to risk the lives of the soldiers, so he hurriedly blew the whistle hanging around his neck, reminded the soldiers to stop advancing, and used the craters and ravines to conceal on the spot.

As the artillery fire extended into the distance, a red flare was raised, indicating the official start of the attack. The commander of the first battalion was the first to jump out of the crater, raised his pistol, and shouted loudly: "Comrades, rush with me!" Who knew that when he shouted out, he found that his voice was inaudible, not to mention the soldiers around him, even if he couldn't hear it clearly. He could only hold the whistle in his mouth, blowing it vigorously as he swung his pistol and rushed forward.

Most of the fighters were deaf by the explosion of the shells, and many did not hear the battalion commander's whistle at all, but they did not understand what was going on when they saw the battalion commander brandishing his pistol and rushing towards the enemy's position. They jumped out of the craters where they were hiding, armed with weapons, shouting "Ula" and rushed to the enemy's positions.

There were only a few observation posts on the German position, and a machine gun on duty. Seeing that the Soviet artillery fire had just been extended, countless Soviet commanders and fighters jumped out of the crater not far away and rushed over with great momentum. The shooter of the machine gun on duty had just put the machine gun on the firing hole, and before he could pull the trigger, a smoke-emitting grenade fell at his feet. The Heavy was so frightened that he couldn't even bother with the machine gun, so he made a leap and fell to the ground.

After a loud "boom", the machine gunner was shocked, and before he could get up, a Soviet soldier had already jumped into the trench, and without saying a word, he directly stabbed him with a bayonet, nailing him to the ground.

In this way, in just a few minutes, the first line of German fortifications fell into the hands of Paul's regiment. Several observation posts and German machine gunners who remained in the trenches were either killed, stabbed to death, or taken prisoner.

After occupying the first line of defense, Paul ordered the 3rd Battalion to stay and hold their positions, while the 1st and 2nd Battalions continued to attack the German second line of defense, and he was eager to take the German positions in the Tsopot area in the shortest possible time.

However, contrary to expectations, when the 1st and 2nd Battalions rushed to the second line of defense, the Soviet artillery fire in the rear stopped shelling in order to prevent accidental damage. The German officers and men, who were hiding in the second line of defense and were overwhelmed by Soviet artillery fire, finally had a chance to breathe, and while blocking the road of the 300th Regiment's attack with various firepower, they contacted the warships in Danzig Bay and asked them to use naval artillery fire to intercept them.

The German warships opened fire, and the shells they fired formed a wall of fire between the two German lines, and shrapnel flew dirt in all directions, and the charging soldiers were blown up. In order to reduce unnecessary casualties, Paul ordered the troops to temporarily retreat to the positions they had just occupied.

After the commanders and fighters of the 1st and 2nd battalions returned to their positions, they counted the number of commanders and fighters and found that one-third of the commanders and fighters had been killed, and there were about the same number of wounded. Paul felt that it was almost impossible for him to continue the offensive without suppressing the German warships in Danzig Bay. So he took advantage of the telephone line that had just been erected to ask for help from Pern: "Comrade commander, on the way to attack the second line of defense of the German army, our regiment was killed and wounded by the artillery fire of the German ships. ”

In order to stabilize the morale of the troops, he hurriedly said into the microphone: "Colonel Paul, you stop the attack for the time being, hurry up and repair the fortifications, and prepare to meet the counterattack of the German army." I will immediately make a request to my superiors to provide you with the necessary artillery support. ”

After finishing the call with Paul, he looked up at Lucas and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, how are the friendly forces on our left flank?" Did you take the second line of defense of the Germans? ”

Lucas shook his head and said with a look of regret: "The troops of the 65th Army were also intercepted by the artillery fire of the German ships when they were attacking the second line of defense, and suffered heavy casualties, and had to withdraw the first line of defense they occupied like the Paul's regiment. ”

"Call Comrade Commander immediately." After waiting for Lucas to finish, Pern immediately instructed him: "Report the situation here to him, and ask the artillery to support us and suppress the German ships in Danzig Bay." ”

Lucas knew very well in his heart that if the German warships in Danzig Bay were not suppressed by artillery fire, the troops would inevitably pay a huge price if they wanted to break through the enemy's fire blockade, so as soon as he heard Pern's instructions, he immediately picked up the high-frequency telephone and prepared to report the situation here to Fedyuninsky.

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