Chapter 233
It may not be quite correct to describe the Soviet offensive as unstoppable, but the speed of the breakthroughs on several fronts was so fast that even the Soviet command did not expect it.
According to the intelligence previously obtained by the Soviet intelligence department, although the German troops on this front were stretched thin, the defense line they built was still very solid. Relying on a complete field offensive system and natural favorable terrain, they built the so-called "Belarusian Balcony" defense system. This defense system is a complete deep echelon defense system with a defense depth of 250 kilometers to 270 kilometers. It was in order to smash this huge defense system that the Soviet army formed the current super-large battle cluster.
From Polotsk to Vitebsk, then to Orsha, Mogilev, and then to Bobruisk, turning west along the Pripyat River all the way to Kovel. On such a long front, the Soviet army carefully selected six assault sections. Among these six offensive sections, the Soviet army actually only had high hopes in the two directions of Vitebsk and Bobruisk.
In terms of the arrangements for the battle phase, in the first phase of the battle, the General Staff's combat plan actually arranged for ten days, and the combat training orders issued also required all fronts to complete the first phase of the combat plan within ten days.
The entire stage of the offensive was divided into four phases of battles, namely: the battle in the Vitebsk-Orsha direction, the battle in the Mogilev direction, the Bobruisk battle and the Polotsk battle.
The General Staff hoped that through these four battles, the main force of the German Army Group Center would be encircled on the Minsk line, thus creating favorable conditions for the subsequent stage of the battle.
But what no one expected was that after the offensive was launched, except for the offensive in the Rogachev area which was not very smooth, the offensive in the remaining five directions quickly made breakthroughs. The seemingly solid defense line of the German army was actually destroyed by the first round of Soviet offensive.
Many times, if the attack does not go smoothly, the commanders will feel a headache, but sometimes, if the attack goes too smoothly and exceeds previous expectations, the commanders will also feel a headache - just like Yuri now.
On the banks of the Putich River, in Karpilovka, the smoke of war has not yet completely dissipated from this small town. Thick smoke is still billowing over the entire city. From a distance, the city looks like an oversized chimney.
In some buildings in the city, the remaining German troops were still fighting stubbornly, and dense gunfire echoed .
Two days ago, the 28th Army captured the German Ptich River defense line. The German troops guarding the city did not have time to retreat and were left behind by the main Soviet force advancing rapidly towards Glusk. Subsequently, the city was cleared by part of the 65th Army.
The German Ptich River defense line was breached by the Soviets on the night the battle began. The 28th Army opened an 8-kilometer-wide gap in Karpilovka. In the early morning of the next day, the 4th Guards Cavalry Army, the 1st Mechanized Army, and the 1st Guards Tank Army swarmed in from the gap and quickly advanced in the direction of Osipovichi. It was not until this morning that a part of the 65th Army officially launched an attack on the city of Karpilovka, preparing to clear out the remaining German troops in the city.
The German troops responsible for defending the city were very tenacious. The entire mopping-up battle had lasted for nearly 7 hours. With the support of artillery, they still controlled several buildings and would rather die than surrender.
The field command of the 1st Belorussian Front entered Karpilovka at 3 pm. The 115th Infantry Brigade, which was responsible for clearing out the remnants of the German army, was criticized and went crazy. They blew up the old machinery factory building held by the Germans, collapsing half of the six-story building. The German resistance gradually subsided.
When Yuri's jeep entered the city, although there were still sporadic gunshots in the city, there was no large-scale resistance. The engineering corps directly under the front was putting out fires throughout the city. For the Soviets, the city was theirs after all, and when the war was over, their homes needed to be rebuilt.
The commanders of the Soviet Army seemed to have a not-so-good habit, which was that they all liked to run around, and they liked to run to the front lines of the war. For this reason, there were always commanders above the rank of major general who were inexplicably killed by a shell from the enemy.
Pavlov liked to run around and go to the front line to command. As a result, the communication was not smooth, and the commanders below could not find him. Stalin could not find him either, and he was finally shot. Zhukov also liked to run around. He always went to the army headquarters to make irresponsible remarks. Fortunately, he did not lose many battles, otherwise, he would have been shot long ago. Rokossovsky also liked to run around, and liked to place the front headquarters several kilometers away from the front line as much as possible, but he was lucky not to be killed by German shells.
As for Yuri, he also liked to run around. He had never even once been to the office set up for him by the General Staff in Smolensk. However, he could always be seen at the headquarters of the four fronts.
The field headquarters of the 1st Belorussian Front was established on the campus of a former middle school. During the German occupation, it was converted into the headquarters. Because the Soviet offensive was so fierce and the river defense line was breached so quickly, the Germans did not have time to carry out large-scale destruction of the city, so the headquarters was naturally preserved intact.
The jeep rolled over the streets covered with broken bricks and tiles, and moved slowly forward in the torrent of marching soldiers. Arseni, who was sitting in the passenger seat, needed to ask someone from time to time to ensure that he did not go the wrong way.
The small city of Karpilovka has now become a veritable military city. The troops that have retreated from the front line to rest, the reserve troops that are heading to the front line, and the troops responsible for escorting prisoners have all gathered in this city, making it extremely noisy.
Perhaps it is precisely because of this that the Military Committee of the Front chose to place the transfer station here. Those soldiers who fell behind during the attack will be responsible for re-registering and reassigning them. Nowadays, even ordinary Red Army soldiers understand that victory is in sight. In the past, a large number of those soldiers who fell behind and were scattered would choose to escape. Therefore, the transfer station is more like a concentration camp, and most of the soldiers sent there are deserters.
But nowadays, most soldiers who have lost contact with their original units will take the initiative to find transfer stations, and the rate of missing personnel returning to the army is very high.
In the jeep, Yuri was looking through the battle report that he had just received at noon. The staff had already summarized the battle report and included a small printed map in the report. Next to him, Filia was holding a camera and taking pictures through the lowered window. She was taking pictures of the cavalry troops rushing to the front line of the battle.
The battle report was summarized according to the arrangement of the front: As of noon today, the 9th Assault Army under the 1st Baltic Front has made a breakthrough in the north of Polotsk. They broke through the German Drissa River defense line and are rapidly advancing in the direction of Drissa; the 9th Guards Army inevitably broke through the German defense line in Polotsk and is attacking in the direction of the Tisna River. In the direction of Vitebsk, the 43rd Army under the 1st Baltic Front has advanced to the northern suburbs of Grezkilovich and joined forces with the 9th Army under the 3rd Belorussian Front. The German army group entrenched in Vitebsk was surrounded. According to intelligence, the German army group surrounded in Vitebsk at this time has about 5 divisions of troops, and the Belorussian Front is consolidating this encirclement.
In the Orsha direction, the 11th Guards Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front captured Bogusevsk, tearing a frontal gap more than ten kilometers wide in the German defense line. The cavalry and machine group composed of the 3rd Guards Cavalry Army, the 3rd Guards Mechanized Army, and the 9th Guards Tank Army have poured into the German defense line through this gap and are developing offensives in the direction of Lepeli and Borisov, intending to cut off the connection between the German 3rd Tank Army and the 9th Army.
To the south of Orsha, the 31st and 33rd Army Groups had captured Gorki and Shkolov and were launching an offensive against the German Dnieper River defense line.
If these two offensives go smoothly, the German forces in the Orsha direction will also be surrounded by the Soviet army.
In the direction of Mogilev, the 49th and 50th Armies of the 2nd Belorussian Front had pushed their front lines to Berenich along the Drut River, and the German forces in Mogilev had been surrounded.
In the Rogachev direction, the 48th Army's offensive suffered a setback. The German troops in the Dobesna area defended very tenaciously. In two days, the Soviet troops attacking the area only advanced 12 kilometers.
However, to the north of Rogachev, the Ninth Army's breakthrough was successful. With the cooperation of the 9th Tank Army, they liberated Svisloch and are now launching an attack to the rear of Dobesna.
The last direction is the attack to the west of Bobruisk. Now, Yuri himself is watching the battle in this direction. He is quite satisfied with the performance of the 28th Army.
The jeep finally arrived at the middle school where the headquarters of the 1st Belorussian Front was located. When Yuri got out of the car, he saw Rokossovsky and two other people coming towards him.
Yuri knew both of these people. The one walking on the far right was Malinin, his former superior, now a general. He was Rokossovsky's most trusted assistant.
On the left side of Malinin, in the center position, was a burly, serious-looking middle-aged man. Yuri also knew this guy, Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin, the current military commissar of the First Belorussian Front.
