After the early morning shelling, before the smoke cleared, Popov's 70th Army took the lead in the attack. The 106th and 140th Infantry Divisions attacked the Terespil fortress, seizing the bridge connecting the Terespil fortress to the central fortress, as well as the Terespol Gate of the central fortress; The 162nd and 175th Infantry Divisions attacked the Volyn fortress and captured the bridge connecting the central fortress and the Holm Gate.

Since there were not many armored forces in the fortress, there was only one tank battalion for each attacking force. The commanders and fighters followed the tanks and rushed towards the fortress with smoke billowing from the gunpowder.

The first group of troops attacking the fortress of Terespil was a battalion of the 106th Infantry Division, plus a tank company. When they were still a hundred and fifty meters from the walls of the fortress, they were subjected to frenzied fire from the German machine guns of the fortress, and even several mortars fired at them from behind the porous windows. The attacking Soviet troops immediately lay on the ground, each looking for a place to hide, and fired back at the enemy's fire point.

The Soviet tank, which was opening the way in front, slowly turned the turret, aimed at the enemy's point of fire, and fired a shot. As a result of a loud bang, a large piece of the brick wall of the fortress collapsed, and the German soldiers hiding behind were either killed on the spot, or were shocked to the point that they were deaf and bleeding.

After a round of firing from the tanks covering the infantry attack, the exposed firing points of the Germans were all muted. The Soviet commanders and fighters stood up one after another, followed behind the tanks, and rushed towards the fortress with shouts.

Stormed the fortress, and the real battle began. Don't look at the fact that a few years ago, the fortress was badly damaged by the German army, but behind those ruins, there were hidden Germans everywhere. The machine gunners hid in the ruined fortress, saw the hordes of Soviet troops passing in front of them, and then jerked the trigger.

It has been calculated that if the German MG42 machine gun fires from the front, it can only hit thirty or forty enemies for every three hundred rounds; But if you shoot from the side, you can kill more than two hundred. As soon as the German machine guns opened fire from the side of the Soviet troops, the Soviet commanders and fighters who were searching forward with their guns in hand immediately fell in a pool of blood.

By the time the tank crews on cover discovered this situation, almost a battalion of Soviet commanders and fighters had been wiped out by the Germans who were hiding around. A tank hurriedly turned its turret and prepared to fire at the exposed German firepower, but from behind a pile of rubble next to it, a flash of fire flew out and directly penetrated the tank's body, which then caused an earth-shattering explosion, and the entire tank was surrounded by gunpowder smoke and flames.

Seeing that most of the infantry covering their own infantry had been annihilated by the Germans, the Soviet tank men hurriedly reversed their vehicles in an attempt to escape from this death zone. But the German anti-tank fighters, like ghosts, came out of all directions and destroyed the Soviet tanks one after another with various anti-tank weapons.

The first group of attacking troops, except for a dozen fighters who escaped from the fortress by chance, the rest were annihilated by the Germans in the fortress. When the commander of the 106th Infantry Division heard about it, his jaw almost hit the ground directly, and he was furious at the commander of the vanguard regiment: "Comrade regiment commander, how did your battalion do it? In just half an hour, an infantry battalion and a tank company were completely wiped out by the Germans? ”

In the face of the division commander's accusation, the regiment commander did not dare to speak out, because he never dreamed that the strongest battalion in his battle would not even support it for half an hour before it was annihilated by the Germans. Finally, when the division commander finished his fire, he replied in a hoarse voice: "Comrade division commander, please rest assured, I will immediately personally lead the troops to attack the Terespil fortress. ”

The division commander was silent for a moment, nodded and said, "Go ahead!" He knew that the other party might personally lead the troops to charge, so he also specially advised: "You pay more attention to safety, I am waiting for your good news!" ”

The troops attacking the Terespil fortress were defeated, the troops attacking the Volyn fortress were defeated, and the Soviet troops, who stormed the Kobrin fortress, were driven out by the Germans. This series of bad news was fed back into Rokossovsky's hands, and after reading it, he said to Zhukov without anger and laughter: "Comrade Marshal, look at these battle reports, the Germans are more tenacious than we imagined, and all the attacks we launched have ended in failure without exception. ”

"The fortifications of the Brest Fortress were exceptionally strong." After hearing this, Zhukov said thoughtfully: "If it were not for the defenders in the fortress, who lacked ammunition, food and water, it would not have been easy for the Germans to seize this place. Regardless of the fact that the fortress is in tatters now, it will not be easy for us to destroy the enemies inside. ”

"Then what shall we do, Comrade Marshal?" When Malinin on the side heard Zhukov say this, he hurriedly asked for instructions: "Do you need to send the air force to bomb?" ”

"There are strong fortifications in the fortress," Zhukov said, shaking his head at Malinin's proposal, "unless special bombs are used, our bombing will have no effect." ”

"So what to do?" Malinin asked a little lost: "Since the bombardment cannot be carried out, and the effect of the artillery bombardment is not ideal, then how can we capture the fortress?" ”

Rokossovsky stared at the map of the Brest Fortress for a while, and then said to Zhukov: "Comrade Marshal, I feel that continuing to use the existing offensive tactics will inevitably lead to heavy casualties on our troops. As you said the other day, there are too many casualties here in the Brest Fortress, which will affect our later operations. ”

Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Zhukov guessed that the other party must have come up with something feasible, so he looked at him and asked: "Comrade Rokossovsky, if you have any good ideas, you can say them directly." ”

"I suggested that the attacking troops should be platoons and fight the Germans for the fort. Just like we did at Stalingrad, engage in melee and white-knuckle combat with the enemy in every building. Rokossovsky said solemnly: "Chuikov's troops have a lot of combat experience in this area, and I think they can send a staff team to disperse into the three army groups to instruct our commanders and fighters on how to fight street battles in the fortress." ”

Zhukov thought about Rokossovsky's proposal for a long time, and finally nodded and said: "Comrade Rokossovsky, your method is good. Through the storming of the Brest Fortress, we explored the experience of street fighting in large cities, which will be very helpful for us to capture a series of large cities in the future. Okay, you immediately give the troops a combat order. ”

Rokossovsky turned to Malinin and said: "Chief of Staff, immediately call the commanders of the 28th, 61st and 70th armies and order them to temporarily stop the offensive and wait for the staff group sent by the 8th Guards Army. ”

After Malinin left, Rokossovsky picked up the phone on the table, dialed the headquarters of the 8th Guards Army, and after finding Chuikov, he said straight to the point: "Chuikov? I'm Rokossovsky, and I have something right now, and I'd like to ask you for help. ”

Rokossovsky's words surprised Chuikov a little, and he hurriedly and cautiously asked: "Comrade Marshal, do you have any instructions?" ”

"That's right, Chuikov." Rokossovsky said to Chuikov: "The attack on the Brest fortress by our three armies is not going well, and I think you have a lot of experience in the defense and attack of the city, so I plan to let you send men to form several staff groups, but the three army groups will guide them in the attack on the fortress." ”

Chuikov was about to frown at Rokossovsky's request, but after thinking about Rokossovsky's shoes, he understood his purpose in doing so, and hurriedly replied: "Don't worry, Comrade Marshal, I will transfer men as soon as possible, form a staff group, and send them to the three army groups. ”

At about two o'clock in the afternoon, Chuikov's three staff groups arrived at the headquarters of the three army groups one after another, and the offensive began again, which had been suspended for most of the day. Instead of flooding into the fortress like a tidal wave, the Soviets followed the instructions of the staff team and rushed into the fortresses in platoons, using submachine guns, grenades, daggers and even sapper shovels to eliminate the German troops hiding in the forts.

At five o'clock in the battle, the commander of the 61st Army, Belov, reported to Rokossovsky that troops had poured in through the gaps in the walls of the bombed fortress and had successfully crossed the canal, approaching the central fortress.

Rokossovsky was very surprised to hear Belov's report, and he asked curiously: "General Belov, your progress is quite fast, how did you do it?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Marshal." Belov hurriedly reported to Rokossovsky: "The deputy commissar of the 191st Infantry Division, who served as the main attacker, was previously the commander of the fortress, and he was familiar with the terrain. It was with his help that our troops were able to so smoothly complete the breakthrough from the weak point of the German troops and successfully approach the central fortress. ”

Hearing that this person had served as the commander of the Brest Fortress, Rokossovsky's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and he hurriedly asked: "Comrade Belov, what is his name?" ”

"Fomin," Belov replied, believing that Rokossovsky had asked for his name in honor of this man, "and he had previously been a regimental commissar of the fortress, having commanded troops and the Holm Gate of the central fortress, and fought stubbornly with the enemy. It wasn't until before the fall of the fortress that he and his surviving men were rescued by one of our troops who occasionally passed by. ”

After confirming that the Fomin mentioned by Belov was the one he had rescued from the fortress, Rokossovsky was in a good mood and said to Belov: "General Belov, that's right, it's him. This commissar of Fuming was in the central fortress, commanding the surviving commanders and fighters, and fought stubbornly against the enemy for several days, and I led the troops to rescue them. ”

"What, you led someone to rescue Fuming and them?" When Belov heard Rokossovsky say this, he couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised: "I think I should tell him the news." ”

"He should have known about it a long time ago." Thinking that for so many years, Fomin had not been in contact with him, Rokossovsky had a pimple in his heart, so when he heard Belov say this, he couldn't help but say with a bitter face: "But he has never been in contact with me." ”

Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Belov hurriedly defended Fomin by saying: "Comrade Marshal, you misunderstood. I guess it's not that Commissar Fuming doesn't want to contact you, but that he has a hard time. ”

"Bitterness, what can he suffer?" Rokossovsky said dissatisfiedly: "After so many years, don't you have time to make a phone call or write a letter?" ”

"Comrade Marshal, Deputy Political Commissar Fomin came to our army group just last month," Belov continued: "As far as I know, he has been dismissed from all his posts in recent years and put in the Ministry of Internal Affairs for internal review. ”

"What, he's under internal scrutiny?" Rokossovsky's words came as a surprise to Rokossovsky, according to his thoughts, if Fomin was really censored, someone would definitely come to him to find out about the situation, but so far not a single member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has come to him at all. "When did this start?"

"From October 1941," Belov continued, "as far as I know, it is a bit too coincidental that Deputy Political Commissar Fomin was arrested by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and held in secret for interrogation. ”

Belov's explanation made Rokossovsky realize that he was wrong to blame Fuming. It is no wonder that, in the eyes of others, Fomin's luck seemed too good, first escaping from the Brest fortress, which was heavily besieged by the Germans; Then, from Uman, which was heavily besieged by the Germans; In the end, Kiev, where the Southwestern Front was almost completely wiped out, and even the commander, chief of staff, and military commissar were all killed, his experience was too amazing. At such a time, he was questioned that he was not held in the custody of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and it was strange.

"Where is he?" Rokossovsky asked.

"Report to Comrade Marshal," Belov replied to Rokossovsky, seemingly after asking the people next to him about Fomin's situation: "Deputy Political Commissar Fomin is directing the troops to launch an attack on the Holm Gate. Before the battle began, he had said that when he held the Holm Gate, many of his comrades died by his side, and now it was time to avenge them. He will personally lead the troops to liberate this place to comfort the souls of his comrades-in-arms in heaven. ”

"I see." Rokossovsky nodded and told Belov: "When the battle is over, you will personally take him to my headquarters, I want to have a good talk with him." ”

"Understood, Comrade Marshal." Hearing that Rokossovsky was going to receive Fomin, Belov excitedly replied: "As soon as the battle is over, I will personally take him to you." ”