A quarter of an hour later, all the officers of the colonel in the fortress came to the conference room of the central fortress. Everyone was surprised by this sudden meeting, after all, it was the first meeting after the fortress was besieged by Soviet troops.

The officer who walked in the door threw an inquiring look at the officer who was already seated, trying to find out from the other party what the topic of the meeting was. Then the officers who arrived first were also confused, and in the face of the inquiries of their colleagues, they could only spread their hands and shrug their shoulders, indicating that they also knew nothing.

"Gentlemen!" Seeing that all the officers who had been notified to come to the meeting had arrived, Rudek got up and propped his hands on the edge of the table, leaned forward slightly, and said: "I have gathered you all today to study how to break through the Russian siege and return to our own side smoothly. ”

As soon as Lüdek's words fell, the conference room became like a lively vegetable market, and all the officers began to talk about it. In the face of everyone's reaction, Lüdek did not stop it, but sat down and lit a cigarette, looking at his subordinates who were discussing it enthusiastically.

The officers, who were talking a lot, gradually quieted down when they saw that Lüdecker looked confident. Major General Marcus, commander of the 73rd Infantry Division, stood up and asked, "Your Excellency, I would like to ask, did you have the consent of your superiors for the breakout operation you mentioned?" ”

"General Marcus," said Ludek, nodding his head after waiting for Marcus to finish, "I reported to the Supreme High Command the plan to abandon the fortress of Thorn and break out of the encirclement that the Russians had not yet fully formed, and was approved by the Führer. ”

The purpose of Marcus's question was to find out whether the breakout operation that Rudek was about to organize was approved by his superiors or whether he was on his own. At this moment, hearing Lüdecker say that he had obtained Hitler's consent, Marcus swallowed all the questions he wanted to ask later, since the Führer had approved the retreat, why should he make any more trouble.

"General Marcus," just as Marcus was about to sit down, Rüdeck stopped him: "In the upcoming breakout operation, I plan to divide the defenders of the fortress into three ways to break out, and the 73rd Infantry Division will serve as a separate column to break through. I want to ask you, are you capable of breaking out of the encirclement of the Russians? ”

In the face of Lüdek's question, Marcus was silent for a long time before he spoke: "Your Excellency, the 73rd Infantry Division was hit hard by the Russians near Warsaw half a year ago, not only was an infantry regiment completely annihilated, but even the previous division commander, Major General Werther, was captured by the Russians. Most of the troops I command today are new recruits, with no rigorous training and no combat experience. If, on the way to the breakout, we are stubbornly resisted by the Russians, our breakthrough operation will end in failure. ”

Seeing that Marcus did not shy away from talking about the problems of his troops, Lüdeck nodded, motioned for him to sit down, and then asked the commander of the 31st Grenadier Division: "General Rolf, can you tell me about the situation in your division?" ”

"Your Excellency, Commander." Major General Rolf, commander of the 31st Grenadier Division, hurriedly stood up and said to Lydek: "Our division has not been formed for a long time, except for a few officers and non-commissioned officers with combat experience, the rest can be said to be recruits with no combat experience. I see the same as General Marcus, as long as we don't encounter the elite troops of the Russians in the process of breaking out, then there is hope for success. ”

After learning about the general situation of the troops, Lüdek began to announce the deployment of the breakout: "Gentlemen, our breakthrough will be divided into three columns. Major General Marcus's 73rd Infantry Division, which served as the right column of the breakout force; Major General Rolf's 31st Grenadier Division, as a left column; And I will lead the cadet detachment and the rest of the defenders of the fortress to form a central column, and carry the civilians and wounded in the fortress to act together......"

"Your Excellency Commander," after Lüdecker had finished assigning the breakout route to the crowd, Rolf interjected and asked, "What about the heavy weapons in the fortress, are they all left to the Russians?" ”

"In the current situation, that's all it can be. In order to prevent the leakage of our breakout operations, these heavy weapons cannot be blown up at the time of evacuation. After answering Rolf's question, Rüdecker added: "General Rolf, since your march route is the longest, the motorized units in the fortress will move with you. ”

Seeing that calm had returned to the conference room, Captain Ernst of the cadet corps asked, "Do we need to leave the troops behind to cover when we evacuate?" ”

"Yes, Captain Ernst." Rüdecker looked at the only captain officer in the room and said, "In the event of a breakout, we must leave enough troops to cover. The purpose of this is twofold: first, when we break through, even if the Russians attack, the covering troops we leave behind can prevent them from seizing the fortress in a short time; Second, the breakthrough was unsuccessful, and when we withdrew to the fortress, these remaining troops could still come out to meet us. With that, he paused for a moment, then added, "Any more questions?" ”

"Your Excellency, Commander," Marcus asked, standing up again, "I would like to ask, when will we break through?" ”

Ludek raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then said: "According to the instructions of the command of the 2nd Army, our breakthrough will take place in two hours. However, I thought that I would have to gather my troops and make some preparations for a breakout, so the breakout time was changed to dawn tomorrow. ”

While the defenders in the fortress were in full swing preparing to break through, the 70th Army outside the fortress knew nothing about it. Since the last attack on the fortress from the south, it was repulsed by the defenders. Popov adjusted the plan in time and ordered his troops to besiege the fortress without attacking it, but to carry out non-stop shelling of the fortress every day with artillery of various calibers. As for the ground attack, according to his idea, when the 305-mm heavy howitzers mentioned by his superiors arrived, as long as the walls of the fortress were destroyed, the German troops in the fortress would have no danger to defend, and their own troops would be able to capture the fortress at the minimum cost.

The main forces of the 70th Army were now concentrated on the east, north and south sides of the fortress, with only one infantry division deployed to the west, and on a defensive front up to 15 kilometers wide. According to Popov's idea, the west is full of forests, rivers and swamps, and there are not too many troops, leaving a division as a guard, which is already more than enough, do the Germans in the fortress dare to abandon the fortress and break through?