After the two fighters returned home, they reported the news of the appearance of a large number of poor people on the pontoon bridge near Simon Town to the commander of the Air Force Group Vershinin. Vershinin personally questioned the pilots and ordered the fighters that had already been prepared to suspend their sorties, and after asking Rokossovsky for instructions, he decided whether to continue the air attacks on the Germans.

After the command of the Front received the report from Vershinin, Su Bojing frowned and said: "Strange, according to the report of the pilots, thousands of civilians appeared near Simon Town, where did they come from?" ”

Hearing him say this, Rokossovsky looked up at him and replied: "Comrade Military Commissar, these civilians should have been evacuated from the fortress of Thorn with the Germans. They are really, they can stay in the fortress, but they have to follow the troops to break through, so I don't know how many people will die on the road. ”

"Comrade commander, the current situation is tricky." As soon as Rokossovsky finished speaking, Bogolyubov added: "If the Germans find that our air force does not dare to attack the civilians and cross the river with their troops mixed with the ranks of civilians, then they will have the possibility of escaping." In my opinion, in order to prevent the German army from successfully breaking through, it was better to order the air force to carry out intensive bombardment of Simon Town and destroy the enemy in that area. ”

"No, we can't do that." When Su Bojing heard Bogolyubov say this, he immediately objected, "We are soldiers, not butchers, and we cannot drop aerial bombs on those innocent civilians." ”

Seeing that Subotin was clearly opposed to the air strike, Bogolyubov could only turn his gaze to Rokossovsky and asked helplessly: "Comrade Marshal, what should we do now?" Will they carry out air raids, or will they allow the Germans to flee from the vicinity of Simon? ”

"Wait a minute, let me ask Popov before deciding what to do!" After Rokossovsky finished speaking, he picked up the high-frequency phone on the table, connected to Popov's command, and asked straight to the point: "General Popov, has your 70th Army already occupied all of Thorn's fortresses?" ”

"Comrade Marshal," Hearing that it was Rokossovsky's voice, Popov hurriedly replied with a respectful attitude: "The fortress has almost fallen into the hands of our troops, there are only scattered fortresses, and skirmishes are still being fought. ”

"Where is your main force?" Rokossovsky asked with a blank face.

"Assembling to the west of Fortress Thorn, preparing to rush to join the 71st and 136th Infantry Divisions." Knowing that Rokossovsky would not call him for no reason, something must have happened, so he asked tentatively: "Comrade Marshal, is something wrong?" ”

"Something happened." Considering that the enemy who broke through from the fortress of Thorn needed to be solved by Popov's 70th Army, Rokossovsky did not hide it and said truthfully: "Our air force is near the town of Simon and has found a large number of civilians crossing the Vistula. If the bombing were to be carried out, it would cause a large number of civilian casualties; But if the bombing had not been carried out, it would have been possible for the German troops to cross the Vistula River with the civilian population. I wonder if your troops can speed up their march and launch a final general assault on the enemy while the civilians are crowded at Simon Town and the German troops are unable to maneuver quickly? ”

According to Rokossovsky's idea, due to the presence of a large number of civilians, the German troops could not quickly cross the Vistula, and as soon as the main forces of the 70th Army arrived, the enemy lacking heavy weapons would not be able to escape the fate of annihilation. However, Popov did not think this way in his heart at this moment, not to mention that the armored units of the army group had already passed through the Vistula, but the road situation was worrying, some places were covered with snow, and in some places the snow had melted, but it had become muddy.

Hearing that there was no sound in the earpiece for a long time, Rokossovsky immediately realized his problem, which put Popov in a dilemma, and hurriedly asked: "What, General Popov, is there any difficulty?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Popov hesitated for a moment, then decided to report the truth to Rokossovsky: "Due to the poor state of the roads, our mechanized troops are able to move forward very quickly. If we rely only on infantry to attack, the enemy only needs to send part of their forces to block the attack, and they can cover their main force to jump out of our encirclement. ”

"General Popov, you are wrong." But after listening to Popov's reasons for embarrassment, Rokossovsky said: "Even if your mechanized troops can march normally, the Germans can still leave a part of their forces to block and delay your advance to cover the retreat of their main forces." I now order you, at once, concentrate the forces of not less than three divisions and pounce directly on the town of Simon, where you must bite the enemy so that they cannot escape. Do you understand? ”

After hearing Popov's resounding answer, Rokossovsky put down the phone. After holding his hand to the edge of the table and thinking for a while, he said to Bogolyubov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately call the commander of the Air Force, General Vershinin, and order him to dispatch the Air Force to bomb the pontoon bridge near the town of Simon......

Before Rokossovsky's words were finished, Su Bojing on the side was a little anxious: "Comrade Marshal, don't you know that doing so will cause a large number of civilian casualties?" ”

"I know," Rokossovsky nodded, and continued, "so our air force does not bomb Simon's town and the east bank of the pontoon bridge, but concentrates on bombing the west bank, so that the enemy understands that their attempt to cross the river and flee west has been seen through by us. ”

Regarding Rokossovsky's arrangement, Bogolyubov immediately agreed: "Comrade Marshal, this method is good. Our air forces bombed only the west bank, and those who were crossing the river saw that the opposite side had been blocked by our air forces, so they had to retreat back to the east bank and take refuge in the town of Simon. In this way, precious time was bought for the 70th Army, which was rushing in that direction. ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff," seeing that Bogolyubov was about to make a call, Rokossovsky said another sentence behind him: "Let Vershinin put the bombers into the bombing in batches to ensure uninterrupted bombing." As soon as the soldiers and civilians crossing the river retreated to the east bank, they immediately bombed the pontoon bridge, and as long as the bridge was blown up, the Germans could not repair it in a short time, and then they had to stay in Simon Town, ready to meet the onslaught of our troops. ”