Chapter 197 Beach Landing
“Buzz…”
Amid the clear sound of the engine, a Soviet fighter plane flew low overhead. It was a biplane I-153 Seagull fighter. In today's Soviet Air Force, this backward fighter plane no longer undertakes combat missions, but is used as a reconnaissance or training aircraft.
The heavy snow that had lasted for two days finally stopped early this morning. At this time, the quietly flowing Oredezh River was filled with thick fog. It was impossible to see the situation on the other side of the river across the river bank.
Less than a kilometer away from the river bank, on the artillery position of the 119th Infantry Corps of the 54th Army, shirtless gunners were operating cannons and launching fierce artillery fire at the German positions on the other side of the river. Amid the deafening sound of the artillery, the rising hot air was no less than the fog on the river, and on the other side of the river, there was a hellish billowing smoke.
The German troops stationed on the other side of the Oredezh River were very cunning. They had started to blast the ice on the river yesterday, making it impossible for the Soviet troops to cross the river on the ice. However, this seemingly effective method could only slightly delay the pace of the Soviet Red Army's offensive.
Amid the roar of huge artillery fire, Soviet soldiers who had been ready on the river bank drove rubber boats down the river bank, braving the bullets from the other side of the river, and began a brutal beach landing operation. On the bank, the firepower point observers closely watched the German firepower points on the other side of the river through telescopes. Once they found something, they would transmit the coordinates to the artillery in the rear through radio, and use the intensive artillery firepower to suppress the German defense.
One shell after another exploded on the open river surface, stirring up huge waves and splashes of water that filled the river surface, making the fog, which had not yet dissipated, seem even thicker.
Vitsari is a city on the north bank of the Oredezh River that has just been recaptured by the Red Army. The city is closely adjacent to the Oredezh River. There was originally a bridge connecting the city to the other side of the river. However, the German army had blown up the bridge when they evacuated. At the same time, the SS also set a fire in the city, turning the entire city into a sea of fire.
Despite the active firefighting efforts of Soviet soldiers who entered the city later, the fire in the city has not been completely extinguished from yesterday noon until now. Thick smoke is still billowing from many places. Looking at this city from afar across the silver-white ice field is like looking at hell.
In a church in the southwest of the city, Yuri, wearing a military coat , slowly climbed up the church's bell tower and looked out from the towering bell tower at the river only one kilometer away.
Behind Yuri, there were several people following. The leader was a lieutenant general with a square face and a big beard. He was Lieutenant General Roginsky, the current commander of the 54th Army. Following behind him were a group of staff generals from the army's field command.
After all, it was impossible to see the foggy riverside battlefield clearly with just a pair of naked eyes. Yuri looked out the window for a while and said without turning his head: "Telescope."
Roginsky, who was following closely behind him, turned around quickly, took the telescope from a staff officer, stepped forward, and handed it to Yuri personally.
Yuri raised the telescope and continued to look at the river. At this time, the battle for the crossing had entered a white-hot stage. The fog over the river seemed to have been blown away by the bursts of artillery fire. Through the telescope, he could see the blood-spattered ice floes moving on the river, and occasionally one or two corpses lying on their backs or prone.
In the past few years, Yuri has been fighting on the battlefield and is definitely an experienced front-line commander. He can see that the Soviet army's battle to cross the river is not going smoothly. The German army on the other side of the river is still resisting stubbornly. Because of the terrain, the Soviet army has suffered heavy losses.
“Whoosh…Boom!”
The whistling sound of the shells breaking through the air was somewhat piercing. Almost in an instant, accompanied by a roar, a large hole was blown in the pointed roof of the church. Dust and broken bricks and tiles fell rapidly, making everyone standing near the windows covered in dust.
"Comrade Yuri, it's not safe here," Roginsky raised his arm to block the dust falling from his head, and said to Yuri in an urgent tone, "We must leave immediately."
Yuri's military cap was also covered with dust. He stared at the river in the distance, his lips tightly pursed, and he did not speak for a long time. Until Roginsky urged him again, he handed the telescope back in his hand, turned around and went downstairs without saying a word.
After coming out of the church, Yuri did not follow Roginsky's suggestion to go directly back to the army headquarters, but walked southwest along the river bank.
Vyritsa is a special place. What makes it special is that the winding Oredezh River makes a big turn here, a 90-degree turn. The river, which originally flowed eastward, turns south in Vyritsa, and the river bend is extremely obvious.
Although there is still some distance from the river bank, this is a battlefield after all and is not safe. The German counterattack artillery fire can completely cover this area. Fortunately, the German artillery firepower on this line is not very strong, and the shells falling on the river beach are scattered, which does not look so dangerous.
Of course, the reason why the 54th Army chose this place to force a crossing was that they saw that the counterattack firepower deployed by the German army was not strong enough. Another point was that the water flow here was relatively gentle, which reduced the difficulty of the forced crossing.
The atmosphere on the river beach was very tense. A large number of soldiers were waiting to force their way across the river. In addition, some pontoon troops were busy building a floating bridge on the river to clear the way for subsequent tanks and armored vehicles.
Stopping in front of a destroyed armored vehicle, Yuri looked toward the river with his hands on his shoulders, and said without looking back: "We must speed up the progress and try to seize a landing site and build at least one pontoon bridge before noon."
As he spoke, he took another step to the side, holding onto the armored vehicle next to him, and continued, "Break through the German defense positions in this area before noon today, and strive to expand this breakthrough. This is an important support in the front's combat plan. If this combat goal cannot be achieved within the scheduled time, then the German troops on the other side of the river may retreat in the direction of Novinka, thus posing a threat to the army's offensive in that direction."
The destroyed armored vehicle looked strange, with two wheels at the front and tracks at the back. As an experienced commander, Yuri certainly knew what type of armored vehicle it was. It was an engineer vehicle 251 captured from the German army, which had certain bridge-building capabilities.
"Comrade Roginsky, you should be aware of the importance of this battle," Yuri turned around and looked at Roginsky with a serious face, and said, "I don't want to increase your burden or put too much pressure on you, but you must understand the consequences of failure."
In fact, both Yuri and Roginsky have the rank of lieutenant general, and the latter is older, so his status should naturally be higher. However, this so-called "should" is not inevitable. Just by virtue of his status as a representative of the headquarters, Yuri has the power to punish army-level commanders like Roginsky.
"Yes, Comrade Yuri, I understand," Roginsky said in a serious tone, straightening his body. Then he turned his head and said to a staff officer following behind him, "Go and inform Comrade Orokov and tell him that I hope to hear good news from the 119th Infantry Army within an hour."
"Yes, Comrade Commander!" The staff officer agreed and turned around to leave.
"An attack without strategy is meaningless," Yuri stretched out his hand to stop him, and said, "My suggestion is to mobilize the artillery attached to the army group to strengthen the artillery attack on the German river beach positions."
Since the last military reform, especially since the artillery unit was formed separately, the artillery strength of the army-level units has been weakened, and Roginsky's 54th Army is not in the Guards sequence, nor is it an elite unit, so the artillery is even more scarce. Under normal circumstances, the commanders of the army will not use their artillery forces on a large scale at the beginning of the campaign. After all, they have to make some long-term plans. However, the situation today is obviously different. Roginsky must leave a good impression on Yuri and strive to break through the German Oredezh River defense line in the shortest time. As for the subsequent battles... let's think about it later.
The staff officer in charge of conveying the order left quickly, but just twenty minutes later, the roar of artillery fire on the Soviet positions on the north bank of the Oredezh River suddenly became much more intense, and the unique whistling sound of the Katyusha rocket launcher when it was fired was even more eardrum-shaking.
The roar of the artillery dispersed the fog on the river surface, and through the open river surface, one could see thick smoke billowing across the river. Amid the roar and smoke, kayaks and rafts carrying Soviet soldiers rushed madly to the south bank of the river, braving the waves stirred up by the explosion and the bullets fired from the other side of the river.
The brutal river crossing operation lasted for nearly three hours. At 10:35 a.m., the Soviet crossing troops seized a small landing site on the south bank of the Oredezh River. Then, the pontoon bridge troops quickly built a floating bridge on the river, braving the German counterattack fire. At 10:50 a.m., the first T34 tank crossed the floating bridge and landed on the south bank. Soon after, a large number of Soviet armored forces crossed the river one after another, and the German defense line collapsed.
Later in the evening when the 54th Army broke through the German defense line of the Oredezh River, the 18th Army of the Volkhov Front recaptured Apraksinbol and then quickly advanced towards the city of Oredezh. This unit cooperated with the 54th Army of the Leningrad Front to form a sharp blade and penetrated directly into the city of Luga behind the German army.
