As soon as Vershinin received an order from Rokossovsky, he immediately sent an aviation division to the fortress of Thorn. The order he gave to the commander of the aviation division was: in addition to driving away the enemy planes over the fortress, he also took advantage of the favorable opportunity of the artillery shelling of the fortress and the suppression of the German anti-aircraft fire to bomb the interior of the fortress.

When the Soviet aircraft group rushed to the sky above the Thorn Fortress, the German Stuka bombers had already finished dropping their bombs, and when they saw the swarming Soviet fighter planes, they did not immediately turn around and flee, but bravely rushed up, using 7.92 mm airborne machine guns to engage in an aerial fight with the Soviet fighters.

All of a sudden, both the Soviet commanders and fighters outside the fortress and the German officers and soldiers inside the fortress saw the dense warplanes of both sides circling, chasing, and fighting at different altitudes.

The German pilots knew very well that once their planes left, Soviet planes and artillery would continue to bomb and shell the fortress, so many pilots were still fighting with Soviet fighters in this area even if they had little fuel left. There were even brave pilots, who, after having exhausted all their ammunition, drove their planes into Soviet planes, and then both of them disintegrated into fiery fragments that fell from the sky in the midst of loud noises and firelight.

After seeing this scene through the telescope, Popov was silent for a long time, then he turned his head to his chief of staff and said: "Chief of staff, the enemy is more stubborn than we thought, and it seems that if we want to destroy them, we will have to pay a great price. ”

The German pilots were valiant, but as they ran out of ammunition and fuel, they had to withdraw from the battlefield and watch as Soviet fighters gained air supremacy and then arrived bombarding the fortress.

Dense bombs and shells fell on the fortress and exploded, scaring the already panicked German soldiers. A truck loaded with ammunition was parked in the square outside the gate of the central fortress, which became a dead end for artillery shelling because Soviet artillery could not cross the tall and thick walls. Unbeknownst to him, a bomb that fell from the sky accurately hit the truck, causing an earth-shattering explosion.

Lieutenant General Lüdek, who was staying in the headquarters, was also affected by a huge shock wave. The shattered window glass flew towards him like a sharp blade. Fortunately, a staff officer stood in front of him in time to block those deadly shards of glass for him. The staff officer, covered in blood, crushed Rudek to the ground, making it difficult for him to move.

Lying on the ground, Rüdek tried to push the staff officer away, but after pushing twice, he did not push, and he could only shout loudly outside the door: "Someone, someone!" With his shout, two guards rushed in from outside, and when they saw Lüdek lying on the ground, a staff officer covered in blood was pressing on him, and hurriedly removed the staff officer first, and then lifted him up from the ground.

After standing up straight, Lüdek looked at the staff officer lying on the side, and cautiously asked the guard squatting beside the staff officer: "Is he still alive?" ”

The guard shook his head and replied, "Your Excellency, Commander, he is dead. ”

Ludek waved at the guards, motioning for the two to carry the staff officer's body out. He staggered to the window and looked out. I saw a huge crater emitting black smoke in the middle of the square, surrounded by the wreckage of trucks or anti-aircraft guns, and about twenty or thirty meters away, there were many corpses lying horizontally.

The adjutant learned from the guards that Rüdek was in danger and rushed over with a military doctor. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Ludek standing in front of the window, and hurriedly stepped forward to pull him away from the window, and said nervously: "Your Excellency, the Russians are bombing our fortress, and the window is too dangerous, you can't stand here." After helping Lüdecker to sit down in his usual seat, the adjutant beckoned the military doctor to examine Lüdeck.

"Do you think we can hold the fortress?" While the military doctor was examining himself, Lüdek looked at the adjutant and asked, "Or, do we have the strength to hold the fortress?" ”

"Your Excellency, Commander," replied the adjutant after a moment's hesitation, "our defenders have thirty-two thousand, and the Russians will have to pay at least one or two times as many casualties if they want to take this fortress." ”

After Lu Deke and the other adjutant finished speaking, he snorted coldly, and then said: "That's right, there are 32,000 people in the fortress, but how many troops are there with combat effectiveness?" Some of the remnants of the defeated army, an anti-aircraft unit armed with 72 88-mm anti-aircraft guns and some 20-mm anti-aircraft guns, a cadet corps of the Thorn Alternate Officer and Non-Commissioned Officer School, and the 31st People's Grenadier Division in the process of formation. Although the 31st People's Grenadier Division was well manned, none of them could operate the fortress guns. ”

Hearing Lydek whining, the military doctor couldn't help but stop what he was doing and listen to Lydek with his ears sideways. Finding that the military doctor was listening to him, Lüdek did not urge him, but continued: "At the beginning, the Supreme High Command promised to put five divisions of troops in the fortress, except for the 31st People's Grenadier Division, the rest of the troops did not even have a shadow. Also, we are required to hold out here for at least three months, but our ammunition will at best last three days of large-scale fighting. ”

The adjutant had been following Ludek for a long time, and from his commander's words, he guessed what the other party was thinking, so he asked tentatively: "Your Excellency, commander, are you planning to lead the troops to break through?" ”

"That's right," said Rüdek, nodding his head, "it would be impossible to continue to hold on to the fortress until our army ran out of ammunition and food, and the Russians had established positions on both sides of the Vistula. ”

"Your Excellency, Commander," the military doctor said, after examining Ludek's body, he got up and said, "You have only received a slight concussion, there is nothing serious, as long as you rest well for two days, you will be cured." ”

The adjutant looked at the back of the military doctor and asked Ludek with some concern: "Your Excellency, the military doctor heard what you just said, is it necessary to put him under house arrest, lest he leak the news?" ”

After hearing this, Ludek shook his head and said: "There is no need for this, everyone knows what the situation is in the fortress. Not only is there a shortage of ammunition, but even food and water are very limited, and even if we were to ration it immediately, it would not last a few days. Only by breaking through to the west and joining up with the main force is our only way to survive. ”

After the adjutant waited for Lüdek to finish speaking, he asked respectfully: "Your Excellency, commander, do you need to send a telegram to His Excellency the National Leader to report to him about our situation here, and make a request for him to break out of the siege." After a little thought about the adjutant's proposal, Lydek nodded in agreement.

Half an hour later, the adjutant walked in from outside, looking dejected, handed a newly received telegram to Lüdek, and said, "Your Excellency, Commander, this is a call back from Your Excellency the Leader of the Nation. ”

Seeing the expression on the adjutant's face, a sense of foreboding appeared in Rüdek's heart, guessing that the breakthrough plan he proposed might have been vetoed by Himmler. He looked down at the telegram in his hand, and saw that it read: "The mission of the Thorn Fortress is to hold back the enemy army, and you must hold this fortress at all costs."

As for the supply of ammunition and food, I will help you solve it. I hope you will do your best to improve your defenses and immediately convert a city street into a runway for planes to land for food transporters.

I hope that you will not sit back and wait for the enemy to attack, but take the initiative to carry out commando operations and break the Russian siege by hitting the Russians' logistical supply channels with precision firepower. ”

After reading this telegram, Ludek sneered twice, threw the telegram on the table, and said: "Himmler's telegram wants us to die, and I will not let him get his wish." ”

"Your Excellency, Commander," said the adjutant cautiously, glancing at the telegram that had been thrown on the table by Ludek, "if we really build a runway in the city where planes can land, as ordered by His Excellency the National Leader, we may be able to solve the problem of insufficient ammunition, food, and medicine." And it can also allow transport planes to transport the wounded out of the fortress. ”

Lüdecker waved his hand: "The plan to build an airfield runway simply cannot be carried out, so there is simply not enough space to build an airstrip in the inner ring of the fortress. Even if the Air Force wants to supply us, it can only be airdropped. ”