After receiving Rokossovsky's request for help, Zhukov wanted to order the troops deployed near the city of Breslau to launch a feint attack on the city in order to divert the attention of the enemy.

Before he could give the order to the troops below, Chief of Staff Ma Linin dissuaded him and said: "Comrade Marshal, I don't think it is wise to launch an attack on the city at such a time, even if it is a feint. ”

"Why?" Zhukov asked puzzled.

"The city of Breslau was not only the financial center of East Prussia, but also one of the headquarters of the SS, and after Hitler came to power, he inspected the SS in the central square of the city, and designated and deployed the 'Barbarossa Plan' to attack our country." "Given the importance of the city, it has a well-developed defense system and a strong defensive force, not to mention that our troops surrounding the city are only two divisions, even if they are doubled, it is impossible to take the city without the cooperation of enough artillery and aircraft," Malinin explained to Zhukov. ”

"But I have promised Rokossovsky to send troops to launch a feint attack on the city in order to attract the attention of the enemy and cooperate with his special detachment to complete important tasks." When Zhukov heard Malinin say this, he couldn't help but reply with a look of embarrassment: "You can't let me be untrustworthy." ”

"Actually, to divert the enemy's attention, we don't necessarily have to attack the city." Seeing the faint displeasure on Zhukov's face, Malinin hurriedly added: "We can attack more important areas and force the enemy to divert his attention, so that we can also achieve the goal of containing and attracting the enemy." ”

"Chief of Staff, then tell me where we should attack?" Zhukov pushed the map on the table in front of Malinin: "Only then can the attention of the enemy be drawn." ”

"According to the intelligence obtained by our reconnaissance, the Germans have a secret base in the mountains forty kilometers from the city of Breslau." Malinin said to Zhukov: "I think that if we send troops to attack here, we should be able to attract the attention of the enemy from the city." ”

"Have a base in the mountains?" It was the first time Zhukov heard this information, and he frowned and said thoughtfully: "Could it be an ordinary underground fortress of the Germans, specially sending troops to attack, is it necessary for this?" ”

"As far as I know, the construction of this base in the mountains only began in 1943. Comrade Marshal, you should be well aware that during this time period, the Allies had already landed on the Italian mainland, and our army had begun to enter the stage of counteroffensive. Malinin looked at Zhukov and said: "However, it was at that time that the construction of a dense base in the mountains began, and it is said that in order to build this huge underground fortification, tens of thousands of laborers were mobilized alone, and countless reinforced concrete and other building materials were used. I think it is very suspicious that the Germans built such a base for no reason, and maybe the base hides secrets that no one knows. ”

Malinin's words made Zhukov fall into deep thought, and after a long time, he asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, are your sources of intelligence reliable?" ”

"Totally reliable." Malinin nodded vigorously and said in an affirmative tone: "It is the information obtained jointly by our scouts and the comrades of the Polish army, and the credibility is very high. ”

Zhukov stood up, walked out from behind his desk, and walked up and down the room with his hands behind his back, and his mind began to wonder whether he should send troops to attack the city of Breslau or attack the nearby base in the mountains. And Marley stood quietly to the side, his eyes moving with Zhukov, silently waiting for the other party to give the final order to attack.

Zhukov walked back and forth indoors, but finally stopped, looked at Malinin and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, which of our troops is near the mountains?" ”

"An infantry brigade, two tank battalions, and a self-propelled artillery regiment." In order to strengthen Zhukov's determination, Malinin also deliberately emphasized: "The mountain road leading to the base has been re-strengthened by the Germans, and there is no problem even if the tank troops pass." ”

Zhukov was most troubled by fighting in the mountains, where tanks would hardly be useful. At this moment, when he heard Malinin say that the enemy had strengthened the mountain road and there was no problem with the passage of tanks, he made up his mind decisively: "Okay, then order the troops who stay near the mountains to attack the bases in the mountains." I hope that it will be an important secret base for the Germans, as you say, and that if we attack, we will be able to draw the attention of the enemy in the city of Breslau. ”

Immediately after the two men agreed, orders were given to the infantry brigades, tank battalions and self-propelled artillery regiments stationed near the mountains to attack the German bases in the mountains.

Although the order to attack came very suddenly, and the troops stationed nearby had not yet had time to reconnoiter in the mountains, Malinin had already considered these problems and ordered the reconnaissance group that had conducted reconnaissance in the mountains to rush to the garrison of the infantry brigade to assist the commander in drawing up a plan for attacking the base.

Due to the hidden location of the secret German base, the Soviet scouts also heard about the German army building a base in the mountains from the Polish soldiers by chance. Despite careful reconnaissance, they found only two entrances.

After listening to the scout's report, the commander of the infantry brigade felt that the entrance to the base could not be these two places, so he decided to divide the troops into two routes, each consisting of a tank battalion and an infantry battalion, and as for the remaining infantry battalion and self-propelled artillery regiment, the brigade commander decided to keep it in reserve, and to support which direction where it was needed.

When the 1st Tank Battalion was about to move forward, quite a few infantry climbed onto the tanks in order to be lazy, wanting to take a ride. The tankmen saw the infantry climb into their tanks, and thought that if they encountered the enemy's anti-tank men on the way, they could let the hitchhikers drop them, so they did not stop the infantry from getting into the tanks.

Tanks, laden with infantry, rumbled forward along the mountain road towards the entrance to the enemy's base. Due to the narrow field of vision in the tank, the tank battalion commander on the first tank also specially opened the top cover of the turret, revealing half of his body to observe the surrounding environment.

The 1st Tank Battalion drove along the mountain road for more than half an hour, and then still did not see the entrance to the enemy base, and the tank battalion commander couldn't help but be a little anxious, thinking to himself: It can't be that the scouts made a mistake, right? If there were Germans in the mountains, and they saw us on the mountain road, they would have opened fire long ago.

As he was thinking this, a screech was heard in the air. "Not good, it's a mortar from the Germans!" Before the tank battalion commander could shout, the shell had already landed more than 20 meters away and exploded, and the flying rubble hit his face with pain. Just as the battalion commander was about to let the infantry on the car pay attention to concealment, a bullet flew from nowhere and quickly drilled into his forehead, and then drilled out of the back of his head with blood foam. The battalion commander's body shook with the body of the tank, and then his legs bent, and he retracted into the turret of the tank in full view of everyone.

"Sniper! Concealment, quick concealment. "The infantry fighters are all battle-hardened, and when they saw the battalion commander being shot in the head, they didn't know what was happening, they shouted and tried to hide, but the position on the tank body was limited, and they could only lower their bodies as low as possible to avoid the sniper's bullets.