If it weren't for Ilyich's arrival, the commanders of the 1st Guards Tank Army would have thought that after Gasan's whereabouts were exposed, they would definitely flee north from Thorn Town to join the Germans. But he never dreamed that he would hide in a shop not far from the station of the fourth battalion.

Ilyich and the commander of the fourth battalion led a large force to surround the two-story shop, and immediately sent people to rush inside, preparing to arrest Gasang who was hiding inside.

After a second lieutenant rushed into the store with two dozen fighters, the sound of shooting was soon heard inside. The commander of the fourth battalion suddenly remembered that Gasang was carrying a Popov submachine gun, and hurriedly said to Ilyich: "Comrade lieutenant, Gasang has a submachine gun, if when our fighters rush in, he hides in the dark and shoots cold guns, it will cause us huge casualties." ”

Hearing the fourth battalion commander say this, Ilyich nodded, and then called the sergeant who came with him and instructed him, "Sgt., you bring two people in to help." If the opponent resists stubbornly, he can be killed on the spot. ”

"Understood." The sergeant agreed, and with two fighters from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, rushed into the store with guns.

The commander of the fourth battalion listened attentively to the fierce gunfire coming from inside, and asked with some concern: "Comrade lieutenant, the more than 20 soldiers who went in front of us can't help Gasang, so you can send three people in, can you do it?" ”

"Don't worry." Ilyich said confidently: "The sergeant is an experienced sniper, and for a Gasan, it is a trivial matter. ”

The gunfire in the shop soon stopped, and the second lieutenant, who was the first to rush in with the fighters, was helped out by two soldiers. The fourth battalion commander guessed from his limping appearance that he was injured in the leg, and hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "What's wrong with your leg?" ”

The second lieutenant replied with a wry smile: "When I rushed in, I was accidentally hit by a bullet. Fortunately, it didn't hurt the bones. ”

"How's it going inside?" The commander of the fourth battalion heard that there were no more gunshots in the store, and asked curiously: "Have you caught Gasan?" ”

"Yes, caught." The second lieutenant nodded and replied, "Originally, Gasang was on the second floor, and we couldn't move with submachine gun fire. Later, several officers and soldiers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs rushed in from the outside, and after only a few shots, they wounded Gasan, and then they rushed up and grabbed Gasan. ”

While several people were talking, the sergeant and two soldiers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs had already escorted Gasang out of the shop. The dejected Gasang had blood on his shoulders and his arms hanging down.

"You bastard." Seeing Gasang come out, the fourth battalion commander, who felt that he had lost face, pulled out the pistol on his waist, pointed it at Gasang, and said angrily: "I actually dare to kill our commanders and fighters in the street, and now I want to avenge them." After saying that, he pulled the trigger without hesitation.

When Gasang saw the fourth battalion commander pointing his gun at himself, he was so frightened that he quickly closed his eyes and waited for death. "Bang" a gunshot, he couldn't help but shiver all over, but then he didn't feel any pain on his body, he quickly opened his eyes and saw that it was the officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, when the fourth battalion commander pulled the trigger, he grabbed his wrist in time and lifted it up, and the bullet flew into the air.

"Comrade Lieutenant," the fourth battalion commander asked with some annoyance when he saw the bullets flying into the air, "why are you stopping me." ”

"Comrade Major," Ilyich said lightly, "since I have captured him alive, then I will take him back to the front headquarters and hand him over to the commander at his disposal." ”

The commander of the fourth battalion, who was originally angry, immediately closed his mouth obediently when he heard Ilyich say this. If this person really wants to be brought back to the front army headquarters, let alone a small battalion commander, even if the army commander comes forward, it will not be easy to do it. Anyway, now that Gasang has been caught, he will not continue to stay here, and will immediately take his troops with him.

After waiting for the fourth battalion commander immediately, Ilyich said to the platoon commander of the guard platoon from the military headquarters: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, we have caught the criminals, and you can return to the establishment now?" ”

Although he heard Ilyich say this, the guard platoon commander still said uneasily: "Comrade lieutenant, we are ordered to protect your safety and cooperate with your actions. It's a bit inappropriate to rebuild it now, right? ”

"Nothing out of place." Ilyich said with a big grin: "There are six or seven of us, and we will not encounter any danger when marching in the defense area of our army with one prisoner. ”

Seeing that Ilyich was so stubborn, the guard platoon commander could only nod in agreement. He raised his hand and saluted, turned around and took his warriors, and went back to the military headquarters outside the town to resume his life.

……

Rokossovsky was in the headquarters, discussing the next offensive strategy with several deputies.

Bogolyubov pointed to the map and said to the crowd: "...... Judging by the current situation, the 48th Army and the 2nd Shock Army should follow closely behind the 5th Guards Tank Army and continue to attack the Germans. I felt that they should be allowed to force their way across the Vistula River and prevent the retreating enemy from holding on to the river. ……”

After Rokossovsky waited for Bogolyubov to finish speaking, he looked at several other front army chiefs and asked: "Comrades commanders, do you have any different opinions?" ”

"I agree with the Chief of Staff's proposal." After Trubnikov waited for Bogolyubov to finish, he continued: "Judging from the fighting situation in the past few days, the resistance of the German army is very weak. Even if they put up a stubborn resistance in a certain area, as long as we wait for our artillery to fire and the tanks to rush forward, their lines will collapse. ”

In response to Trubnikov's statement, Su Bojing asked curiously: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I would like to ask, why is the resistance of the Germans so vulnerable in the face of a powerful offensive of our army?" ”

Don't look at what Trubnikov just said, but Su Bojing's question still stopped him. Fortunately, Rokossovsky relieved him in time: "Comrade Military Commissar, let me answer this question to you." ”

Rokossovsky pointed to the map on the table with a pencil and said to Subotin: "This battle was first launched by Marshal Konev's First Ukrainian Front, and their powerful offensive created an illusion for the German army, thinking that the direction of our main attack in the near future would be in the south, so the German high command transferred their main forces from the front of our and Zhukov's troops to strengthen the defense line in the south......"

"I understand," Su Bojing immediately smiled when he heard this, "and it is precisely because the main forces of the German army have been transferred to the south that the defensive forces in front of us and the 1st Belorussian Front have been greatly weakened. So that we could easily break through the German defenses. ”

"Although Marshal Konev, Marshal Zhukov and our troops are going well, we should not be carried away by the victory." Rokossovsky knocked twice with a pencil on the position of the Third Belorussian Front on the right flank, and said with some sorrow: "The Germans have a strong defensive zone here, and in order to prevent a possible offensive by our troops, their main forces have not been transferred to the south, so that the Third Front of General Chernyakhovsky is now facing a dilemma." ”

Hearing this, Bogolyubov said with some concern: "Comrade Marshal, I am very worried about one thing now. ”

"What's the matter?" Rokossovsky looked at his chief of staff and urged him: "Whatever comes to your mind, say it." ”

"Comrade Marshal, look here." Pointing to the area of the attack of the Third Belorussian Front, Bogolyubov said to Rokossovsky: "General Chernyakhovsky's troops are now advancing slowly in the offensive. I think that in order to improve the situation in that direction, the headquarters of the Supreme Command may order our front army to turn north and cooperate with them in the battle. ”

"What, let's go north and support the Third Front?" Trubnikov reluctantly said: "Why? In this way, will our offensive steps soon be disrupted? He looked at Rokossovsky and said sincerely, "Comrade Marshal, you can't let this happen." As soon as we turn north, then the battle for the assault on Berlin has nothing to do with us. I fear that there will be discontent in the troops. ”

Although Rokossovsky wanted to refute the other party's two sentences in his heart, in order not to affect the unity of the team, he swallowed these words back into his stomach, and only analyzed them from a military point of view. "General Chernyakhovsky's troops are on our right flank, and if we do not cooperate with them in clearing the enemy in East Prussia, then the enemy can launch an unexpected attack from any part of our right flank. Rather than bothering with the time to think about how to guard against this enemy, we should take advantage of the present favorable moment and work with General Chernyakhovsky to purge the enemy in East Prussia. ”

Rokossovsky had already analyzed the problem thoroughly, but Trubnikov still said unwillingly: "Comrade Marshal, if we really move our troops north to cooperate with the Third Front, a huge gap will be formed between us and the First Front." In the event of a counterattack by the enemy, we will be separated from Marshal Zhukov's troops, and the troops advancing towards Berlin will suffer huge losses. ”

After Trubnikov's words, the whole room fell silent. Almost everyone was considering what he said: if the Third Front on the right flank was not coordinated, to destroy the enemy in East Prussia, then the right flank of the Front would be completely exposed to the Germans; And if they turn north and go to support Chernyakhovsky, then the farther Zhukov's troops advance, a gap of tens or even hundreds of kilometers wide will appear between the two fronts, giving the Germans an opportunity to take advantage of.

Rokossovsky, as the supreme commander of the Front, had to make a trade-off in these two directions: was it according to the original plan, in cooperation with Marshal Zhukov's troops, to make a big stride towards the Oder? Or go north to support Chernyakhovsky? It's a tough choice.

After much thought, he said to the crowd: "Comrades commanders, our troops are developing in depth with the German army, and if we rashly transfer the main forces to the north, it will inevitably disrupt our original operational deployment. In my opinion, the troops continued to advance in depth to the Germans according to the original plan. As for the Third Front on the right flank, if the higher authorities have not given us the order to go north, we will not consider it for the time being. ”

After waiting for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, Trubnikov immediately added: "According to the order given to us by the Supreme Command, we should occupy the regions of Meschunci, Fort William, Neidenburg, Zavdovo, Beron, Belsk, and Plotsk on the 10th ~ 11th day after the start of the offensive, and then launch an offensive in the general direction of Novomyasto, Marienburg.

With the strength of four combined armies, one tank army, one tank army, and one mechanized army, the main assault was carried out from the Luzhan landing field in the general direction of Pshasnish, Mwava, and Lizbak;

Attack Mei Shi Huangci with a combined group army of all arms to support the main force from the north;

The second assault was carried out from the Selotsk landing site in the general direction of Nashersk and Bielsk with the strength of two combined armies and one tank army.

to assist the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, to crush the German battle group west of Warsaw, and at the same time we should carry out a surprise attack with part of our forces in order to make a detour to Modlin from the west......"

After hearing Trubnikov's repetition of the order of the Supreme Command, everyone in the command was relieved, and they thought to themselves: Since the Supreme Command has already set the direction of the attack for us, it is not possible to suddenly adjust it at such a time, right?

But there are some things that are not transferred by the will of the individual. Just when everyone thought that the idea of waving their troops north to support Chernyakhovsky's troops was a little unfounded, the high-frequency telephone on the table suddenly rang.

Looking at the non-stop phone ringing in front of him, Rokossovsky's heart suddenly welled up with an ominous feeling. He took a deep breath, grabbed the earpiece, put it to his ear, and said in a deep voice: "I'm Rokossovsky!" ”

"Hello, Comrade Marshal." Antonov's voice came from the earpiece: "I'm Antonov. ”

"Comrade Chief of the General Staff," Rokossovsky's uneasiness intensified when he heard that it was Antonov who had called him, and he felt that perhaps Bogolyubov's speculation was about to come true. He stubbornly asked, "Do you have any new instructions from the Supreme Command?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Marshal." Antonov was a little embarrassed and said: "Since the situation there is very difficult for General Chernyakhovsky, the Supreme Command has decided to let you help them. The order was hereby given: the 3rd and 48th Armies, the 2nd Shock Army and the 5th Guards Tank Army to turn north and northeast to deal with the enemy East Prussian group. ”