After the German army in Lublin fell into the encirclement of the Soviet army, it suddenly fell into chaos, I don't know if it was because of the continued fermentation of Hitler's assassination, in the face of the Soviet offensive, the German resistance in the city did not appear to be resolute.

As soon as the battle began, Zhukov and Rokossovsky went to the headquarters of the 8th Guards Army to see how Chuikov commanded the operation. The chief of staff of the army group, Belyawsky, saw the two marshals entering the house and hurriedly walked over and saluted: "Report to Comrade Marshal, the commander is not in the command, he went to the 28th Infantry Army." ”

Hearing Belyawsky say this, Zhukov looked at Rokossovsky and said with a smile: "It seems that not only the two of us can't sit still, but even Chuikov can't sit still." Let's go, let's go to the headquarters of the 28th Army as well. ”

"Comrade Marshal," seeing Zhukov and they turned around and walked outside, Belyavsky hurriedly stopped them behind and kindly reminded: "On the way to the headquarters of the 28th Army, there are still sporadic German routs, for your safety, I suggest that you go by armored car." ”

"Thank you, General Belyawsky, we came here in armored vehicles." Zhukov smiled and said to Belyawsky: "In addition to the guard platoon, there is also a tank to escort us, and there should be no problem in dealing with the stragglers of the German army." ”

Zhukov They came to the headquarters of the 28th Army, where they met Chuikov. Chuikov didn't expect Zhukov and them to appear, and his face was full of surprise: "Two marshal comrades, why did you get here?" ”

"Let's see how you liberated Lublin." In order to ease everyone's nervousness, Rokossovsky asked with a smile: "How is it, is the battle still going well?" ”

"Report to Comrade Marshal," Hearing Rokossovsky's question, the army commander Rezhov hurriedly straightened his waist and replied: "Our commanders and fighters, with the cooperation of tanks, have rushed into the city from all sides, and the resistance they have encountered is very weak. ”

Although Ryzhov spoke easily, Rokossovsky heard the sound of dense gunfire outside, and guessed that the actual situation was not as easy as Ryzhov said, so he continued to ask: "General Ryzhov, do you have any specific difficulties?" ”

Hearing Rokossovsky's question, Ryzhov hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "Comrade Marshal, the Germans have assembled a heavy force in the Lublin Castle in the city, and without the support of artillery, we will inevitably pay great sacrifices to seize this area. Do you think you can use artillery during the siege? ”

"No, this is definitely not going to work." Rokossovsky did not hesitate to reject Ryzhov's request: "This city will become the temporary administrative center of the new Polish government for a long time to come, and in any case it cannot be destroyed in battle." ”

Seeing that his request had been denied, a look of disappointment appeared on Ryzhov's face. But as a veteran, he could not dictate the battle plan formulated by his superiors, and could only obey unconditionally. The muscles in his face twitched a few times, then he raised his hand to his forehead and asked Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, allow me to go back and command the battle?" ”

"Wait a minute, General Ryzhov." Unexpectedly, Rokossovsky actually asked him to wait, pulled him to the table, pointed to the map of Lublin on the table, and said to him: "My troops captured Lublin three years ago, and I know a little about it. You see, the streets here are more wide, and you can use the tactic of two tanks advancing in parallel, with the tank on the left taking care of the enemies that appear on the right side of the road, and the tank on the right taking out the enemies that appear on the left. And we, the infantry, could move forward in the middle of the two tanks in case of being hit by German fire on both sides...... In order to effectively attack the anti-tank crews of the opposing Germans, our tanks should stay 150 meters away from the front of the building, destroy the enemy's points of fire with artillery fire, cover the forward assault of the infantry,......"

When Ryzhov heard Rokossovsky talk about the new tactics, he was a little absent-minded at first, but the more he listened, the more surprised he became, and finally he even took out a small notebook and respectfully recorded what Rokossovsky said in the notebook.

Zhukov chatted with Chuikov on the sidelines and talked about the new chief of staff Belyavsky, who remained in the headquarters. Zhukov said with emotion: "Comrade Chuikov, it seems that your chief of staff is quite capable, otherwise you would not have left the headquarters alone and gone to the front to personally understand the progress of the operation. ”

"Comrade Marshal," Chuikov immediately felt honored when he heard Zhukov praise Belyawsky, and he returned with a smile: "Not long ago, the former chief of staff was transferred, and Belyavsky, who was the chief of operations, took over the post of chief of staff. He is the youngest general in our group army, and now he is not yet forty years old, and we usually like to joke with him, calling him a 'young general'. He is energetic, hardworking, meticulous, and does everything quickly, accurately, and methodically. ”

Zhukov listened to Chuikov talk about his chief of staff, overheard Rokossovsky telling Ryzhov about the techniques of street fighting, and couldn't help but stop talking to Chuikov and leaned over to listen carefully. After Rokossovsky finished speaking, he nodded and said: "This tactic of Comrade Rokossovsky is very novel, but whether it is effective or not still needs to be tested in actual combat. ”

Rokossovsky did not argue with Zhukov about this statement, because he clearly remembered that the tactics he had just said to Rezhov were not used on a large scale by the Soviet troops until the storming of Berlin. Therefore, he said approvingly: "Yes, Comrade Ryzhov, I hope that in the battle for the capture of Lublin, you will try the tactics I have spoken of, and see if it is suitable for fighting in a large city." ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Marshal." After listening to Rokossovsky's detailed explanation, Ryzhov was full of confidence in the capture of Lublin, and when he heard Rokossovsky say this, he hurriedly said: "In the battle to liberate Lublin, we will definitely use the tactics you mentioned, and I believe that in this way we will be able to take Lublin very quickly." ”

After saying that, he summoned his chief of staff, chief of staff, chief of operations, and chief of intelligence to study together how to correctly use the tactics that Rokossovsky said in street fighting.

As the Soviets approached Lublin Castle, the German resistance grew stubborn. In particular, the streets close to this area were the areas where the German resistance was most intense. The tactics of parallel advance of two tanks, as Rokossovsky described, were well used in these areas. The infantry hid between the two tanks and fired at the exposed enemy while greatly reducing unnecessary casualties. And those exposed firing points were pulled out one by one by the tanks as if they were shooting targets.

By dark, most of the city, including Lublin Castle, fell into the hands of the Soviets. The next task of the 28th Infantry Army was to eliminate the small groups of enemies who were still stubbornly resisting. Seeing that the offensive had already achieved the desired results, Zhukov said to Rokossovsky: "Well, Comrade Rokossovsky, after a day of fighting, our army has taken almost all of Lublin. As far as I can see, the integrity of the city is quite high, which is far more than I expected. ”

Speaking of this, Zhukov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then said to Rokossovsky: "It's not too early, let's go back to the front headquarters first, and leave the finishing work here to Chuikov to complete." ”

…………

When the two returned to the headquarters of the Front, it was already late at night.

As soon as I walked into the headquarters, I saw that Ma Lining was still working at the desk. Rokossovsky hurriedly walked over and asked: "Chief of Staff, is there anything new?" ”

"Comrade commander," Malinin replied, hearing Rokossovsky's voice, quickly straightened up, "General Popov reports that his troops have approached the Brest fortress from the south-west and are ready to attack at any time. ”

"The troops of our right flank?" Rokossovsky sat down at the table and continued to ask: "Where are they at the moment, can they take part in the assault on the Brest Fortress?" ”

"Absolutely, Comrade Commander." Malinin nodded and replied in the affirmative: "I have just spoken on the phone with the commanders of the two armies, Luchinsky and Belov, and the 28th and 61st armies have reached the north and east of the Brest fortress. ”

"It seems that our army has formed a situation of encirclement of the Brest Fortress." When Zhukov heard this, he interjected and asked: "Chief of Staff, tell me, what are you going to do next?" ”

"Comrade Marshal," Malinin said, pointing to a map of the Brest Fortress spread out on the table, to Zhukov and Rokossovsky, "the Brest Fortress was a huge fortified fortification, consisting of four separate islets separated by the Bug River and an artificial canal, and the central citadel was located in the center of the entire fortified area. To the southwest of the central fortress is the Terespil fortress, directly south is the Volyn fortress and to the north is the Kobrin fortress. The forts are surrounded by rivers and are connected by bridges......"

Although Zhukov and Rokossovsky were no less familiar with the Brest Fortress than Malinin, who was talking, neither of them spoke, but quietly listened to Malinin's briefing: "...... The Volyn and Terespol fortresses were the main barriers of the Brest Fortress, of which the Terespol Fortress was built on the banks of the Bug River, which included many churches and monasteries from the Tsarist era, which were an important part of the fortifications of the entire fortress. The Kobrin Fortress in the north is the former Old Brest City, which is densely populated with streets and many fortified buildings built of early stone.

According to what we know, the Germans had a division in the central fortress with important fortifications. On the outer side of the central island fortress, there is a ring of fortified barracks of about two kilometers, the walls of the barracks are two meters thick, containing about 500 turrets, the walls of the barracks are densely packed with gun firing ports and gun firing holes, and in the center of the central fortress stands the Basilica of St. Nicholas, which is not only the tallest building in the central fortress, but also an unusually strong fire support point.

The central fortress was connected by gates and bridges with three other auxiliary fortresses, of which the Kobrin fortress in the north was connected by the Bright Bridge, and the Terespol fortress on the west bank of the Bug River was connected by the Terespol Gate and a huge rope bridge; The Warren Fortress in the south is connected by the Holm Gate and a drawbridge that can be opened and closed.

The Kobrin, Terespol and Volyn fortresses surrounded the central fortress and provided protection for the central fortress, each of which was surrounded by a fortified rampart, on which many forts were built, and many fortresses were also built to support the construction of fortresses, each of which was surrounded by canals or rivers and could only be communicated with the outside world by bridges. ……”

After listening to Malinin's explanation of the situation in the fortress, Zhukov then asked: "How are you going to attack?" ”

"The task of attacking the Kobrin fortress in the north will be completed by the 28th Army of General Luchinsky.

General Popov's troops were divided into two routes, one directly attacking the Terespil fortress and seizing the bridge connecting the Terespil fortress to the central fortress, as well as the Terespol gate of the central fortress; On the other hand, attack the Warren Fortress and capture the bridge connecting the central fortress and the Holm Gate.

General Belov's 61st Army attacked from the east of the fortress. The Germans were relatively weak in their defenses in this direction, and they might be the first to storm the fortress. ”

After Ma Linin finished speaking, he immediately stood up straight and said to the two: "Comrade marshal, I am done. ”

Rokossovsky looked sideways at Zhukov and asked: "Comrade Marshal, do you have anything to add?" ”

Zhukov shook his head with a smile and said: "No need, your battle plan is very thorough, I have nothing to add." When are you going to attack? ”

"Tomorrow morning at five o'clock, the fortress will be prepared for artillery fire for two hours." Malinin replied respectfully: "As soon as the artillery fire stops, our troops will launch a full-scale attack." ”

Zhukov stared at the map for a while, and then said: "Although the German army has only one regiment of troops in the three fortresses outside, because of the strong fortifications and the inability to invest a large number of tank troops, this battle is not easy to fight." ”

"Yes, don't look at the fact that we used the troops of three armies to besiege the Brest fortress, but this battle is not easy to fight." Rokossovsky very much agreed with Zhukov's statement, "If the enemy relies on these strong fortifications to put up a stubborn resistance, it will inflict huge casualties on our troops." ”

"We are going to cross the Vistula River and continue our advance towards the German border." Zhukov said thoughtfully: "If we pay huge casualties for our army in order to attack a small Brest fortress, then in the next battle, we may have a shortage of troops." ”