Liapin Zhukov put down the phone, saw that his commander frowned, and knew that he was worried about when he would be able to recover Yelnya, so he stepped forward and whispered to Zhukov: "Comrade commander, the German army has many fortifications in the city, and if we want to clean up all the German troops in these fortifications, we will not be able to do it in three or five days." Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ”

"Do you have any good ideas?" Zhukov looked at Liapin and asked with a flat expression.

"I think we can do both." From the point of view of the chief of staff of the Front, Lyapin gave advice to Zhukov: "We can send planes to bomb the city, and at the same time use artillery fire to bombard. As long as the German fortifications are destroyed, then the resistance we will face in the next battle will be greatly reduced. ”

"No, Comrade Chief of Staff, I do not agree with this suggestion of yours." Zhukov rejected Liapin's suggestion without hesitation, and said to him with a serious expression: "There are still tens of thousands of inhabitants in the city, if you use bombing or shelling, you can destroy the German fortifications. By the end of the battle, the buildings in the city would have been destroyed, and the inhabitants of the city would not only suffer heavy casualties, but also face the miserable homelessness of the city. Even if the city is successfully occupied by then, I guess the commanders and fighters will not be shameless in facing them. ”

"So what are we going to do?" Liapin said with a bitter face: "Do we really let the commanders and fighters fight with the German army street by street and building by building?" In doing so, we are bound to pay a high price. ”

"As long as we can liberate our cities and free our people from the enslavement of the fascist bandits," Zhukov said resolutely in the face of today's dilemma: "No matter how great the sacrifice is, I believe that the commanders and fighters will be able to accept it." ”

After Liayabin Zhukov finished speaking, he carefully reminded: "Comrade commander, do you think we can provide artillery support to the attacking troops in the area where the German firing points have been detected?" He was deeply afraid that his proposal would also be rejected by Zhukov, so he hurriedly continued, "There are some strong points of fire, and it is difficult to remove the infantry equipped only with light weapons. In order to reduce unnecessary casualties of our troops in the offensive, I propose that fire support should be provided by artillery. ”

"All right," Zhukov nodded in agreement after considering Lyapin's suggestion, adding: "Send an artillery regiment to support." Remember, in order to ensure uninterrupted fire, they had to prepare shells of at least three bases. ”

With the signing of the order, the 24th Army began to operate at full speed with its tanks at full speed. The commander of the army group, General Kalinin, personally supervised the later department to deliver all the shells of the three bases promised by Zhukov to the artillery positions half an hour before the start of the counterattack.

At the same time, on the artillery position, 24 122-mm howitzers, according to the parameters calibrated by the artillery observers, were directed at the German logistics base in the city. The artillerymen opened boxes of shells, and the loaders crouched next to the guns with shells in their arms, ready to reload at any time. The muzzles of the black holes, just waiting for an order, will erupt with earth-destroying fury.

General Kalinin, who was in the headquarters, held a watch in his hand and his eyes were fixed on the fast-moving second hand on it. When the minute hand pointed to twelve, he raised his head and nodded at the chief of staff, who was already holding the microphone, signaling that the attack could begin. The chief of staff, who understood it, immediately shouted into the microphone: "Commander's order, fire!" ”

As the order was given, the sound of artillery discharges suddenly sounded outside, and then a heart-pounding scream, swept from the top of the headquarters and fell into the German logistics base in pieces.

The sound of ballistics crossing was intertwined, and the red points of light in the sky tore through the night like meteors and flew over, and the dense cannonballs rained down, and the smoke and dust in the sky exploded in the loud noise, and in the skylit fire, groups of figures flew away. In the earth-shaking explosion, glittering fireballs rolled, reflecting the panicked crowd running around. The ground shook violently, and some of the fast-reacting auto-soldiers immediately got into the cab and tried to escape from the place of death in the vehicle. However, under the blow of intensive artillery fire of the Soviet army, the driver and the car were blown to pieces, lifted into the sky by air waves, and then torn to pieces by shrapnel.

Kalinin was in his headquarters when he heard the rumbling sound coming from outside, and although he could not see the results achieved by the artillery, he knew very well that in the face of such a heavy artillery bombardment, the enemy within the strike range was more than lucky.

The pungent smoke and smoke dimmed the moonlight, leaving only the screeching of cannonballs, the loud bangs, the fireballs, and shrill whistles of shrapnel flying. The German soldiers cowered on the ground in extreme fear, lying on their stomachs in the rubble, clutching their ears and howling desperately. Houses collapsed and turned into ruins, burning ruins formed a sea of fire, and the temporary trenches built by the Germans were razed to the ground in sections, burying the soldiers and the shattered corpses inside, and the sky was dyed reddish by the artillery fire.

During the 10-minute artillery attack, the Soviets fired at least 50 shells from each gun, and while dropping more than 1,000 shells, the German logistics base was also scorched.

Hearing that the sound of artillery outside had stopped, General Kalinin, knowing that the shelling had achieved the desired results, smiled and said to the chief of staff: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the time is almost up. Let the 28th Infantry Brigade get on it, and let them occupy the German logistics base in ten minutes. ”

"Understood." The chief of staff said yes, picked up the phone and called the commander of the 28th Infantry Brigade.

But Kalinin sighed softly and said regretfully: "It's a pity, there are so many military supplies in the warehouse, and it is estimated that there will not even be slag left after this cannonball is smashed." ”

Since it was night, even if it was seven or eight kilometers away, Zhukov could faintly hear the movement in the direction of Yelnya, and he heard that the artillery outside had stopped, and hurriedly beckoned Liapin: "Chief of staff, the artillery sound in the Yelnya direction seems to have stopped, you call and ask General Kalinin to see if they have started to attack." ”

After calling Kalinin, Lyapin reported to Zhukov: "Comrade commander, I have already asked General Kalinin, and he said that as soon as the shelling stopped, he ordered the 28th Infantry Brigade to attack, and it would take only ten minutes at most to seize the German logistics base. (To be continued.) )