Chapter 240
In his previous life, Yuri remembered that he had watched a Polish movie. It told the story of a unit belonging to the Polish People's Army returning home when the Soviet army attacked Poland at the end of World War II.
In that movie, the Polish People's Army encountered a group of Polish volunteers affiliated with the German army, and a conflict broke out between the two sides. However, when both sides realized that the other side was Polish, the conflict ended, and the People's Army, which had originally had the upper hand, let go of those Polish volunteers who were affiliated with the German army.
Well, the plot of the movie is very heartwarming, very inspiring and, of course, magical. The reason why it is magical is that in reality, people are often the most ruthless and heartless when they kill each other.
The 20 anti-counterrevolutionary groups under Shelov's command quickly launched operations. Most of the commanders of these anti-counterrevolutionary groups were former Soviet guerrillas, and the members of the teams were mainly drawn from the two Polish armies. These anti-counterrevolutionary groups followed the attacking forces and launched anti-counterrevolutionary operations in all newly liberated areas.
The reason why it is called an action rather than a movement is that the targets they targeted were not the so-called traitors and traitors in the purge movement, but the German deserters, Polish National Army guerrillas, Belarusian nationalist guerrillas who hid in the jungles and swamps before fleeing, as well as those guys who sheltered and sympathized with these people.
The work of these anti-counterrevolutionary teams was so effective, mainly because their commanders had been fighting guerrilla warfare in the jungles of western Belarus for many years and were very familiar with the terrain and conditions there. In addition, with clues provided by local residents, it was basically difficult for anyone they targeted to escape.
The anti-counterrevolutionary team adopted completely different strategies when dealing with the three types of prisoners. For the captured soldiers who fled to the German army, they would send them to prisoner camps; for the guerrillas of the Polish National Army, most of them would be disarmed and handed over to the Polish Patriotic League for processing; for the Belarusian nationalist guerrillas, once they were caught, they would often be executed on the spot.
Yuri would never interfere in Shelov's work. Not to mention that he would not intervene actively, even if the other party invited him to intervene, he would not ask. When it comes to the work of the National Security Committee, his position is to stay away. Some experiences in the past have left him a very bad impression.
After the Battle of Minsk, a 400-kilometer-wide gap appeared in the defense front of the German Army Group Center. In this gap, the German army lost almost all its defensive forces. The only relatively intact Second Army had retreated to the direction of Lublin. They needed to resist the advance of the First Belorussian Front in the general direction of Warsaw, and had no extra troops to transfer to the direction of the gap.
In the north, Army Group North was under siege from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Baltic Fronts. On their right wing, there was also a swift attack from the 3rd Belorussian Front, and they were completely unable to take care of themselves.
With the end of the Battle of Minsk, the first phase of the Soviet Union's Belarusian Campaign operational plan was successfully completed. In less than half a month of offensive, the Soviet army advanced from the Vitebsk-Bobruysk line to the Minsk line. The entire front line advanced 250 to 280 kilometers, almost liberating the entire Belarus and part of Lithuania.
After this, the four fronts involved in the battle followed the orders and did not rest, but continued to advance westward and launched the second phase of the offensive of the battle.
As the representative of the headquarters, Yuri highly praised the outstanding . He mentioned in his report: In this stage of the offensive, the four fronts carried out several assault operations with the purpose of "breaking through the German defense on a wide front at the same time". In these assault operations, the various fronts and various services cooperated with each other, which effectively ensured the smooth progress of the battle and created favorable conditions for the final encirclement of several German heavy troop groups.
After breaking through the German defense, the commanders of the front and army groups made extensive use of fast corps to quickly advance to the rear of the German retreating group in the form of frontal pursuit and parallel pursuit, effectively disrupting the German defense deployment and making it impossible for the German command to redeploy defense in the prepared areas. This pursuit was high-speed and deep, fully demonstrating the superb command art of the commanders of the front and army groups.
Especially the encirclement of the Minsk area. This encirclement and annihilation battle was completed in the process of frontal and parallel pursuit of the huge retreating German group within a depth of 200 to 250 miles from the defense front. The encirclement and annihilation were completed in a unified process.
During the battle, the large-scale German troop groups were always breaking out to the west and repeatedly breaking through the defense lines built by the Soviet army. However, the Soviet army's rapid corps continuously advanced from both wings of the German army, blocking the German army's breakout route one after another, and finally dragged down and swallowed up this giant elephant.
The Soviet army had never used this type of combat method before, and the success achieved this time indicated that the Soviet army's command system was becoming more mature.
Yuri's report was subsequently published in major Soviet newspapers and media. On the same day, a cannon salute was fired on Moscow's Red Square to pay tribute to the Soviet officers and soldiers who performed outstandingly in the Battle of Belarus.
…
Moscow, Kremlin.
Wearing a neat military uniform, Yuri walked out from the flashing lights, saluted the generals passing by, and walked to his seat with a smile on his face.
His seat was on the left side of the first row, closer to the edge. On his right was his immediate superior, Chief of the General Staff General Antonov. On his left was Markian Mikhailovich Popov, who had just returned from Leningrad yesterday and was currently serving as Chief of Staff of the Leningrad Front.
During the Battle of Minsk, the Soviets launched another offensive against the Finns in the north. After the redeployment of the troops, this offensive went very smoothly. In the Vyborg Campaign, the Leningrad Front and the Karelian Front fought together and captured Vyborg. At the same time, they cleared the Finnish troops on the south bank of the Vuoksa River. Thus, the Finnish army fell into a completely passive position.
Popov had previously been the commander of the Leningrad Front. However, due to the setbacks in the previous battle, he was relieved of his post as commander and his rank was downgraded from general to major general. Fortunately, he was able to make a comeback this time. Otherwise, he would not only not get the medal, but would also be in big trouble.
Yuri just rushed back from the front line last night. His purpose was to receive his medal and report on his future combat plans.
Stalin himself did not attend the awarding ceremony, so the atmosphere was not so warm. However, there was no other way. It happened that Stalin caught a cold and had a slight fever at that time, so he had to be absent.
At this awarding ceremony, as the representative of the headquarters in the Belarusian Campaign and the coordinator of the operations of the four major fronts, Yuri received two medals with high gold content, namely a Gold Star Medal and an Order of Victory in the Patriotic War.
These two medals were not the first time that Yuri had won, but how should I put it, the more medals and awards one gets, the better. In the future, when he has the chance to wear a formal dress, his chest will be covered with a large area of glittering gold, which will be very cool.
Of course, if Yuri were allowed to choose, he would prefer to exchange all his medals for the little star hanging under his collar. That thing is so eye-catching.
But realistically speaking, Yuri felt that it would be difficult for him to earn that little star before the end of the war. If he could make no mistakes, always fight on the front line, and finally get the honor of entering Berlin, then maybe he still had a chance. If he couldn't do that, then there would be no hope at all.
The person presiding over the meeting on the stage was the increasingly aging Voroshilov. To be honest, among these young generals who were awarded medals today, few were willing to listen to his rambling. After getting the medals, everyone wanted to quickly end the meeting and rush back to the front line.
With the end of the Battle of Minsk, the Soviet offensive on the entire Western Front has been fully launched. From north to south, in the direction of Karelia, the Baltic coast, western Belarus, Ukraine-Romania, more than a dozen fronts are about to launch a full-line offensive. The commanders on the front line are too busy to handle it. Who has the heart to listen to the old guy's nagging?
As for Yuri, he had even more things to do. This time when he came to Moscow, he would bring back boxes of medals. In this Belarusian Campaign, the four fronts won hundreds of Gold Star Medals. He had to distribute all these medals before the new stage of the battle began.
In addition, he also has to go to the Equipment Department today to try to get more equipment supplies for the several fronts he coordinates, especially those damn transport vehicles. The more of these, the better.
Due to the rapid advance of the Soviet army in the Belarusian Campaign, the previously prepared supply storage sites were no longer suitable. Take the First Belarusian Front for example. Their supply points in Zhilobin, Rogachev and other places were far behind the front line. Since the railway to Minsk had not been fully dredged, the 61st Army, which was attacking westward along the Pripyat River to Luninets, had to ask for help from the First Ukrainian Front. Because they could get supplies from the First Ukrainian Front more timely than transporting them from the rear.
Yuri is the representative of the headquarters in the Belarusian direction. He has the right to make adjustments among the four fronts in the Belarusian direction, but he does not have the right to coordinate in the Ukrainian direction. In order not to offend Zhukov, he must adjust the logistics supply issue.
