Chapter 266
“Clatter, clatter…”
The tracks of the IS-2 heavy tanks rolled over the water on the road, making a sound like water waves. The cement road surface had been crushed by the tank tracks, and large sections of the road surface had spider-web-like cracks. As the tank tracks rolled over, these cracks were rapidly expanding, and eventually the entire section of the road surface collapsed, turning into a bumpy gravel road.
A destroyed T-34 tank lay on the side of the road. Judging from the extent of the damage to the tank, it was hit by a shell on the side of the turret. The hit was in a very tricky position, so that the entire turret was blown away and fell far away into the drainage ditch on the side of the road.
The sacrificed Soviet tank crew had been cleared away, leaving only the tank wreckage at the scene.
The heavy tanks with extremely long gun barrels continued to move forward on the broken road. Corpses of German soldiers began to appear on both sides of the road. Due to the hot weather and the fact that it had rained yesterday, the bodies that had been soaked in water had become noticeably swollen. Buzzing flies circled around the corpses, greedily enjoying a feast.
“Whoosh!”
A sharp whistling sound was heard behind the tank, and then an explosion was heard at the ruins of a mill in front of the right side of the tank, and dust and debris flew all over the sky in the explosion.
There is an attack!
This lone IS-2 heavy tank reacted quickly. Its body shook for a moment, then it turned right on the spot and rushed directly towards the roadside drainage ditch. At the same time, the tank's turret turned while moving, turning towards the direction where the shell had just been fired.
The tank rushed into the drainage ditch. At the same time, the turret turned around and aimed the gun barrel in the direction of the shell. However, before the tank fired the shell, a ball of fire suddenly rose from the bushes hundreds of meters away. A twisted gun barrel rose into the air in the fire, leaped high onto the treetops, and then fell heavily down again.
A few minutes later, right where the fire rose, a similar IS-2 heavy tank slowly drove out, knocked over the wreckage of the German tank, and drove straight forward. Behind the heavy tank was a group of Soviet soldiers covered with felt cloth.
This is Neubrandenburg. The marching team belongs to the Soviet Army's 3rd Guards Tank Army. Two days ago, the 70th Army broke through the German Oder River defense line and then quickly advanced into the depth of the German defense. At first, everyone thought that there would be a fierce battle waiting for them somewhere ahead, but in fact, their attack was like entering an empty land, and it was not until they approached Neubrandenburg that they encountered weak resistance from the German army.
According to the intelligence obtained by the Soviet army, the remnants of the German 9th Tank Army and the 9th Army were responsible for the defense in the Neubrandenburg area. However, in the previous battles, the 70th Army learned from captured German soldiers that the German troops active in the area were actually the remnants of the 23rd Army. As for the remnants of the 9th Army and the 9th Tank Army, they seemed to have disappeared and no one knew where they had gone.
No matter how lacking in command skills a commander is, he cannot allow the enemy's heavy forces to disappear from his sight. The same is true for Yuri. Therefore, when the battlefield reconnaissance intelligence from the 2nd Belorussian Front reached him, the first order Yuri issued was to require full reconnaissance of the movements of the German 9th Army and the 9th Tank Army.
A misty drizzle shrouded Frankfurt an der Oder. It is called "Frankfurt an der Oder" to distinguish it from Frankfurt on the Main River. The former is just a small town on the Oder River, while the latter is the fifth largest city in Germany and has a special status.
In a farm in the southwest of the town, Yuri stood in a farmhouse that had been cleaned up for him and looked at a map. The map was compiled by the staff department yesterday and was the current offensive and defensive map of the Soviet Union and Germany in the Berlin area.
From this map, we can see that the 1st Ukrainian Front commanded by Zhukov has pushed the front line to the south of Berlin, and its main forces are advancing towards the Lübene area. The left wing, with the 3rd and 4th Guards Army as the main force and the 33rd Army as the auxiliary offensive front, has advanced to Lukewalde, which is equivalent to going around to the southwest of Berlin.
A woman in a light blue dress knocked on the door and walked in, placed a cup of coffee in front of Youri, and then stood aside with her hands behind her back.
The woman had long golden hair and a beautiful face. She looked to be around thirty years old. The most attractive thing about her was her temperament. Yes, even though she was working as a maid, the intellectual temperament of this woman was hard to conceal.
The woman's name is Diane Gerges. She is a German actress. She is not very famous, but she has played roles in several films directed by the famous fascist female director Leni Riefenstahl.
Director Leni Riefenstahl is a very controversial figure in the history of world cinema. Her two documentary films, Triumph of the Will and Olympia, were both banned by the Nuremberg International Tribunal after the war. Diane Gerges was naturally classified as a fascist for working with such a director.
Diane was captured by the Soviet army in Frankfurt on the Oder River. Because of her beautiful appearance, good figure and outstanding temperament, she was almost gang-raped by the Soviet soldiers who captured her. However, she was lucky enough that Yuri happened to come to her farm and rescued .
Ignoring the woman who brought him coffee, Yuri's eyes remained focused on the map in front of him.
Even though he saved this woman, Yuri was not very interested in this German girl. The reason was very simple. After all, he was not an ordinary Soviet soldier, but a high-level commander, a general. With this premise, Yuri had to consider his image. He didn't want to cause himself a lot of trouble by sleeping with a German woman.
Of course, the most important thing is that he is not in the mood to think about things between men and women. His main energy is focused on the battle to capture Berlin, and he is no longer in the mood to think about anything else.
The German Ninth Army, which had disappeared from the Soviet army's sight for nearly half a month, finally appeared, including the Ninth Tank Army. The remnants of these two German forces sneaked back to the south side of Berlin and deployed to the line from Lübben to Grosskerries.
Four days ago, the First Belorussian Front launched a large-scale offensive against Berlin. Initially, the battle went very smoothly, and the heavily defended Küstrin Fortress of the German Army was breached by the Ninth Guards Army within two days.
But as the Soviet army continued to advance towards Berlin, another key fortress blocked the offensive route of the First Belorussian Front, that is, the easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack Seelow Heights.
Comrade Chuikov, who had been successful in capturing cities and strongholds before, finally hit a wall. The 9th Guards Army under his command suffered a bloody defeat at the Selo Heights. It took two full days but they still failed to capture the Selo Heights.
This fact made Yuri quite annoyed. What was even more disgusting was that the troops commanded by Zhukov advanced too quickly. After arriving in Bautzen, they turned around and launched an attack to the north without any rest, trying to launch an attack on Berlin from the south.
However, even Yuri did not expect that Zhukov's offensive launched northward from Bautzen would encounter the German 9th Tank Army on the Lübben line. Subsequently, his left wing troops encountered part of the German 9th Tank Army on the Barut line.
Zhukov's experience made Yuri overjoyed. He was not happy that Zhukov's offensive was curbed, but simply because he finally found the two missing German troops. Who would have thought that the cunning Guderian actually commanded these two troops to bypass Berlin and avoid Soviet air reconnaissance from the north line of Berlin to the south line.
If it weren't for Zhukov's troops who waded out this German army like a minefield treader, once the First Belorussian Front launched an attack on Berlin from the front, this German army launched a counterattack at the junction of the First Belorussian Front and the First Ukrainian Front, they only needed to attack Fürstenberg to directly threaten the vulnerable left wing of the First Belorussian Front. By then, Yuri would certainly not be defeated, but the offensive would be delayed, and if he was not careful, he would be in a very embarrassing situation.
Now, in the triangular area of Barut-Lübben-Grosskerris, the First Ukrainian Front has been fighting with the German army. Zhukov, who has an absolute advantage in manpower, is continuously expanding his offensive to the northwest. His intention is very clear, which is to encircle the main force of the German army in this area.
Just yesterday, Zhukov's left wing corps had advanced to Luckenwalde, cutting off the German army's retreat to the Elbe River. Yuri believed that Zhukov was intending to expel Guderian's group into Berlin. Once this step of the battle plan is realized, Zhukov will certainly further capture Potsdam and Falkenze, thereby encircling the entire Berlin. Yuri is sure that if Zhukov submits this battle plan to Stalin, he has a very high chance of getting Stalin's approval. Because once Berlin is encircled, the Soviet army can put in reserves, bypass Berlin, and continue to attack in the direction of the Elbe River, so as to strive to meet the British and American coalition forces in the area west of the Elbe River.
At this stage of the war, Comrade Stalin was no longer concerned about the loss of troops or the outcome of the war. He had shifted his attention from the war itself to its political significance. Therefore, the further the Soviet army fought westward, the more it agreed with Comrade Stalin's wishes.
