Although contact with General Chernyakhovsky's Third Front was never possible, the connection with the First Front was very close. The Chief of Staff of the Front, Malinin, was entrusted by Zhukov to report to Rokossovsky on the progress of the 1st Front.

"Comrade Marshal, on January 14, 1945, the troops of our Front launched an offensive from three sectors at the same time: the main assault was carried out from the Magnushev landing ground in the direction of Poznań with 4 composite armies, 2 tank armies and 1 cavalry corps; 2 separate tank corps and 1 cavalry corps reinforced by 2 composite armies to carry out an assault in the direction of Lodz from the Pławi landing field; An auxiliary assault was carried out with 1 Composite Army from the fortress of Modlin north of Warsaw.

In order to support the offensive, we concentrated 13,792 artillery pieces and mortars and 768 tanks and self-propelled guns in the area of the two landing sites. As soon as the offensive was launched, our troops broke through the German defenses on the same day, routed their battle reserves, and successfully reached their second defensive zone......"

After reporting on the results of the 1st Belorussian Front, Malinin curiously asked Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, I wonder how you are going there?" But after listening to Rokossovsky's answer, he actually laughed, and then said jokingly, "It's too slow, Comrade Marshal, the pace of your attack there is really too slow, you know, our tanks are about to rush to Berlin." ”

Rokossovsky knew that Malinin was joking when he said that the troops were about to arrive in Berlin, so he responded with a smile: "Don't worry, Chief of Staff Malinin, I think sooner or later our two fronts will meet outside Berlin." ”

As soon as the phone was put down, Bogolyubov came over, handed a telegram in his hand to Rokossovsky, and said: "Comrade Marshal, the commander of the 50th Army, General Borkin, has just arrived, saying that the army group on the left flank of the 3rd Belorussian Front, adjacent to him, still occupies defensive positions in the original area - near and north of Augustov. ”

"Hell, what's going on with this Chernyakhovsky?" After reading the telegram, Rokossovsky frowned and said: "Why is he still standing still?" As a commander of the Front, doesn't he understand the fleeting nature of fighter planes? ”

As Rokossovsky's chief of staff, Bogolyubov did not easily guess Chernyakhovsky's reasons for doing this, but asked tentatively: "Comrade Marshal, today we threw the tank corps into battle on the left flank, successfully broke through the front of the German defense, and achieved great results. So on the right, what should we do? ”

In response to Bogolyubov's question, Rokossovsky stared at the map for a while, then raised his head and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the dense fog has been going on for two days, and I estimate that in just one or two days, the weather will improve, and then our Air Force will be able to fight." ”

He patted the map with the palm of his hand and continued: "Since the left flank is progressing exceptionally well, when the air force can rise into the air, move them all to the right flank to support Borkin's 50th Army and Gorbatov's 3rd Army." At the same time, General Grischen of the 49th Army was again informed and asked to prepare them for an attack. ”

"Comrade Marshal," Bogolyubov asked rhetorically with some curiosity when he heard Rokossovsky say this: "Did we go into battle so early as the 49th Army, which was the second echelon?" ”

"It's not too early, Volsky's 5th Guards Tank Army will officially enter the battle on the left flank tomorrow." Rokossovsky waved his hand and said: "Since the second echelon of the left flank has been thrown into battle, can the second echelon of the right flank still sit still?" Rather than let Grischen pester me to fight, it is better to get them on the offensive sooner. ”

The commander of the 49th Army, Grishin, was in a terrible mood because his troops were not able to participate in the battle at the first time. A group of combat staff officers, intelligence staff officers, and communications staff officers in the headquarters will be scolded by him if there is anything wrong. So that if everyone doesn't have important things to report, they generally keep a long enough distance from him.

The chief of the communications corps received a call from Bogolyubov, and after reading the contents clearly, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and hurriedly trotted into Glishin's office.

Grishen, who was sitting in his seat smoking a cigarette, saw the director of the communications corps enter his office and asked with some displeasure: "Comrade chief of the communications corps, is there anything wrong?" ”

The director of the communications corps did not care about Grishen's attitude towards him, and hurriedly handed over the telegram in his hand, and said excitedly: "Comrade commander, I have just received a telegram from the headquarters of the front army. Ordered our troops to prepare for sorties and enter the battlefield from between the 50th and 3rd armies. ”

Hearing what the director of the communications corps said, Grishin hurriedly threw the cigarette in his hand into the ashtray on the table, snatched the telegram in the other party's hand, and carefully browsed it. However, he confirmed that what the director of the communications corps said was true, and hurriedly ordered the other party: "You go and tell the chief of staff now, let him call the commanders of each division, and I will assign combat tasks to everyone." ”

Just when the director of the communications corps turned around and was about to walk outside, he stopped him again: "Forget it, I'll go and explain to the chief of staff in person." ”

…………

In the battle on the morning of the 16th, Borgin's 50th Army launched two rounds of attacks on the frontal enemy, but both were repulsed by the Germans, who relied on strong fortifications for defense; Gorbatov's 3rd Army, on the other hand, remained in the positions it had occupied two days earlier, resisting the German counterattack.

After learning about the situation on the right flank, Bogolyubov took the initiative to ask Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, the current situation on the right flank of our army is not ideal, do you think you should immediately order General Glishin's 49th Army to go into battle?" ”

"Wait a little longer," Rokossovsky did not immediately agree to Bogolyubov's proposal, he was considering that if the troops of the 50th and 3rd armies could not block the German counterattack, even if the 49th Army was thrown into battle, it would be at best comparable to the Germans. Rather than this, it is better to wait and wait for the German counterattack to be exhausted, and then launch a counterattack against them. "It's not time to put Grishen's troops into battle yet, let's wait until the afternoon."

Just after noon, a ray of sunlight shone through the window into Rokossovsky's headquarters. The commanders, who had not seen the sun for several days, were overjoyed at the sudden appearance of the sun, and Bogolyubov ran to report to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, the sun is out, do you see if you can make the Air Force attack?" ”

Rokossovsky looked at the sun outside the window, nodded, and said to Bogolyubov: "Call the commander of the Air Force and order our fighters to immediately take to the air and rush to the right flank to support Gorbatov's 3rd Army and assist them in crushing the German counteroffensive." ”

After Bogolyubov left, Rokossovsky picked up the phone on the desk and asked the operator to connect to the headquarters of the 49th Army. After hearing Grischen's voice, he asked bluntly: "General Grischen, are your troops ready for battle?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Grishin, who was in a hurry, heard Rokossovsky's question, as if grasping a life-saving straw, and hurriedly said: "The troops of our army group have long been ready for battle and can be put into battle at any time. I wonder when you're going to put us into battle again? ”

Hearing Grissin's eagerness to fight, Rokossovsky smiled faintly, and then said: "General Grischen, at present, the German army is carrying out a non-stop offensive on the area occupied by General Gorbatov's 3rd Army, and I have ordered the air force to attack to support Gorbatov. I believe that the German army, which has been attacked by our air attack, will soon be defeated and retreat to their defense area, and at this time, it is necessary for your 49th Army to take the opportunity to launch an attack and strive to wedge the depth of the German defense in the shortest possible time, understand? ”

From Rokossovsky's tone, Grishin heard that the other party was preparing to let his troops attack, and quickly replied loudly: "Understood, comrade commander!" ”

"Now that you understand, let's hurry up." Rokossovsky said into the microphone: "Although the air force can inflict heavy losses on the enemy, it is our infantry who will finally solve the battle. The task I gave you was to wedge the German line at least five kilometers before it gets dark today. How's that, can you get the job done? ”

Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Grischen hurriedly raised his hand and looked at his watch, and saw that it was already one o'clock at noon, and there were still four hours left until dark, and the task could be said to be quite arduous.

Rokossovsky heard that Grischen did not speak, and hurriedly raised his voice and asked: "General Glishin, why don't you speak, are you confident that you will complete the task I gave to your army group?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Deeply afraid that the combat mission would pass by him, Grischen hurriedly replied loudly: "Our army group is confident that it will be wedged five kilometers into the German defense zone before dark, and this is something that Comrade Commander can rest assured." ”

With the issuance of Grissin's battle order, the commanders and fighters of the 49th Army, which had long been ready to go, rushed to the German defensive positions along the designated route as if they had been defeated.

The vanguard was a Guards tank brigade, and they were accompanied by a mechanized infantry brigade. Tanks, armored vehicles and motorcycles on the move, almost at full speed, rushed forward in a frenzy. In just half an hour, they reached the forward defensive zone of the 3rd Army.

When they arrived, they encountered the German troops who were carrying out a counter-assault, and under the blows of the air force, they fled to the north in a broken way. The commander of the vanguard immediately made a decision and ordered the troops to launch a pursuit. The German troops who participated in the counterattack were basically infantry, and many people saw that the situation was not good, and hurriedly threw away the Wuqiang in their hands, ran to both sides of the road, and raised their hands high in surrender.

The tank brigade commander was in the tank under his command, and saw the German officers and soldiers standing on both sides of the road with their hands raised, and he was afraid that his fighters would be impulsive, so he stopped the tank and grabbed the prisoners, and hurriedly began to call on the radio: "All of them, listen to my orders: don't care about the prisoners on the side of the road, all the tanks continue to rush forward." Repeat, don't pipe the captives on the side of the road, all the tanks continue to assault forward......"

None of the tankmen who heard the brigade commander's order glanced at the German soldiers who were raising their hands on the side of the road, but increased their horsepower and rushed forward along the road. The motorized infantrymen who followed them, seeing that the tank crews did not pay attention to the prisoners, did not stop, but continued to charge forward with the tanks.

The commanders and fighters of the 3rd Army, after repelling the German attack, saw the friendly tanks and armored vehicles chasing after the Germans, and wanted to stay in their positions and rest for a while. Unexpectedly, the commander on the position inadvertently discovered that after the German troops who had no way out raised their hands to surrender, no one paid attention to him standing on the side of the road. The commander would be a little too foolish to take such a cheap credit for himself, so he personally led an infantry battalion along the path of friendly troops to contain the prisoners along the way.

In the direction of the assault of the vanguard of the 49th Army, although there were many strong fortifications, because the main forces of the German army participated in the counterattack, there were not many troops left in the fortifications. There were not many real soldiers in these defenders, most of them were members of the People's Stormtroopers who had just taken up arms for a few days, and in the face of the rushing Soviet tanks, they hid in the fortifications and put their guns indiscriminately, which could not slow down the advance of the Soviet army.

Many people were frightened by the sight of the speeding tanks, and they hurriedly tied white handkerchiefs or white shirts to their guns, stretched out their trenches and waved desperately, telling the Soviets that they had stopped resisting.

The tank brigade commander, having successfully broken through the first line of defense of the Germans, left the motorized brigade with a battalion to hold its position here to wait for the main forces behind. But he led the rest of the troops and continued to rush to the depth of the German defense.

Sitting in a command car, Grischen also rushed towards the enemy's defensive positions with the troops directly under the army group. When he learned that the vanguard had successfully broken through the first line of German defense, he immediately gave orders to the commanders of the other units to speed up again and reinforce the vanguard that was rushing into the depth of the German defense.

Rokossovsky could not help but applaud after learning that Glishin's vanguard had successfully broken through the first line of defense of the German army with lightning speed. Then he asked Bogolyubov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, how is the progress of the 50th Army there?" ”

Bogolyubov shook his head with a wry smile and said: "According to General Borkin's report, due to the stubborn resistance of the German army relying on strong fortifications, all his attacks were contained. At the moment, his troops remain in the area of the Augustov River and are temporarily unable to advance into the enemy's depths. ”