As soon as it was dawn the next day, Katukov ordered the artillery directly under the army group to bombard the German defensive positions with artillery, intending to tear through the German defense line as soon as possible and advance to the Gdansk Bay to complete the division of the German 2nd Army.

At the headquarters of the German 2nd Army, the Chief of Staff was reporting to Sauken, who had just taken over the post of Commander: "Your Excellency, the 1st Guards Tank Army of the Russians has suddenly launched a heavy artillery bombardment of the defending positions south of Götenhafen, and seems to be preparing to break through from that direction in order to advance to the Gulf of Gdansk." ”

Schoken walked quickly to the wall, looked up at the map hanging on something, and asked thoughtfully: "Has there been any change in the strength of the Russians in the direction of Gotenhafen?" (Note: Götenhafen was the name changed after the Polish city of Gdynia was occupied by the Germans.) ）

The chief of staff came to Schauken's side, and considering that he had just taken over the post of commander of Weiss and had no understanding of the situation on the battlefield, he introduced him: "According to the information we have received, the Russians have two units in the Gotenhafen area, one is the 8th Guards Mechanized Corps of Major General Diegemov and the 8th Mechanized Corps of Firsovich. Judging by the current situation, they attacked from the west of the city. ”

"Interesting, really interesting." Schauken looked at the map and said with interest: "The Russians actually used two troops with close numbers to capture Gotenhafen. Chief of Staff, what kind of defense do we have here? ”

"Currently holding out to the west of Götenhafen are the 251st Grenadier Division, as well as the 32nd Infantry Division." "According to the original plan, once the city is attacked, we will mobilize the 215th and 252nd Grenadier Divisions south of the city to continue reinforcements," the chief of staff pointed to the map and explained to Sauken. But now that these troops, which were going to reinforce Götenhaven, are being attacked by the Russians, I think our plans need to be adjusted. ”

"There's no need for that." Schoken waved his hand and said with a big grin: "Since the Russians have placed two mechanized armies with similar numbers here, then the focus of their attack must be Götenhafen, and the offensive launched in the south of the city is just a feint, and we cannot be fooled." ”

"You're right, Your Excellency, Commander." Hearing what Sauken said, the chief of staff hurriedly flattered: "The soldiers of the Russian tank 11th Army have become exhausted after several days of fighting, and with their strength, they are unable to break through the defense line of the 215th and 252nd grenadier divisions. I immediately called the commander of the city defense in Götenhafen and told him to be on guard against a possible Russian attack. ”

When the commander of the city defense in Gotenhafen learned that the Soviets were attacking friendly forces in the south of the city, he was still undecided: go for reinforcements, the city's defenses will become weak, and if the Soviets take advantage of the situation, then the city will be lost; If you don't go to the rescue and let the Soviets break through the friendly lines, then the connection between Gotenhafen and Danzig will be completely severed.

In the midst of his dilemma, he received a telegram from the chief of staff of the army group, ordering him to concentrate all his energies on monitoring the Soviet troops west of Götenhafen, and not to pay attention to the battle that was taking place in the south of the city. According to the analysis of the new commander of the army group, it should have been a feint launched by the Russians.

After receiving this telegram, the commander of the city defense immediately felt much more relieved, since the headquarters of the group army did not allow himself to intervene in the battle south of the city, then he paid attention to the west of the city, where the Russians had assembled two mechanized corps, which could rush to the city at any time, and kept an eye on their movements at any time.

According to Katukov's idea, if he launched an attack on the German defense line, he would definitely meet with strong resistance, and the nearby enemy would rush to reinforce as quickly as possible. However, after Babajanyan's 27th Guards Mechanized Brigade broke through the German direction, under the cover of a tank brigade, it quickly advanced in the direction of the bay, but did not meet with any decent resistance.

The German commander did not want to block the Soviet attack, but those recruits who had just joined the army for a short time, and before they woke up from the fear of shelling, they saw the Soviet tanks and infantry pouring up like a tide, and many people's first reaction was to flee. The German officers and soldiers, who were already panicked, saw that there were people around them who were constantly fleeing, and where they could stay, they also threw away their weapons and joined the ranks of fleeing.

Some officers tried to stop the soldiers from escaping, first firing into the air and then shooting directly at the deserters, but to little avail. They simply did not understand why the Russians were still out of range, and their soldiers were so panicked, preferring to be killed while fleeing rather than stay in position.

In this way, when the commanders and fighters of the 27th Guards Mechanized Brigade approached the enemy's position, except for a few German soldiers who were resisting in a few sections, the defenders were barely visible in the entire defensive position, and they easily occupied the German position and continued to advance.

Before the battle began, Babajanyan felt that Katukov's order to get to the Gulf of Gdansk before dark was simply absurd, and the Germans had laid at least a dozen lines along the way, and even if it took him only an hour to capture each line, he would not be able to reach his destination before dark.

However, as the mechanized brigade successfully broke through the first line of German defense, he suddenly felt that Katukov's goal was not unrealistic. If the Germans on the other lines of defense were so vulnerable, then even if the Germans built more defensive lines in front of them, their troops would still be able to advance smoothly to the sea like an armed march.

Seeing that the troops were advancing so smoothly, Babajanyan hurriedly called Katukov, and after reporting the situation to him, he took the initiative to ask: "Comrade commander, judging from the current progress, there should be no problem in reaching the Gulf of Gdansk before dark. I thought it would be better to take the opportunity to attack along the seashore and from the flank of Gdynia. ”

Katukov almost agreed to Babajanyan's request, but fortunately he controlled his emotions in time and hurriedly said: "Comrade Colonel, the task of your army is to go out to the Gulf of Gdansk on time and firmly hold the place to cut off the connection between Gdynia and Tsopot and Danzig. As for the task of attacking Gdynia, I have already entrusted the 8th Guards Mechanized Army to Major General Diegemov, and General Bobosha's 70th Army will also send a mechanized corps to accompany our attack. I believe that with the strength of two mechanized corps, we will be able to successfully capture Gdynia. ”

.com。 Wonderful Book House .com