Chapter 268
"It was a devastating bombardment," Bradley, an observer, commented after the rehearsal of the bombardment of Berlin, and his comment was obviously not an exaggeration but a statement based on facts.
From Rosenthal to Ahrensfeld, and then to Hernow, on a front more than ten kilometers long, the Soviet army concentrated more than 9,500 artillery pieces of various types, as if to use up all the millions of tons of artillery shells stockpiled near Berlin at once. The entire shelling operation lasted for an hour.
In the northern suburbs of Berlin, the dust stirred up by the recoil of the artillery spread over an area of more than ten square kilometers, looking like a black storm in the desert. In Berlin, the flames and thick smoke forced the Soviet Air Force to stop bombing.
The Soviet artillerymen busy at the artillery positions seemed to have vented all the hatred that had been accumulated over the years. Afterwards, many people were temporarily deafened by the sound of the artillery and only gradually recovered after several days.
Facing the crazy bombing from the northern suburbs, the German army also responded. The nearly exhausted German Air Force assembled more than 150 fighters and tried to launch an air strike on the Soviet artillery positions. However, they were blocked by the Soviet Air Force before they reached Berlin. The two sides engaged in a fierce battle in the airspace between Teltow and Lake Hafel. In the end, facing the absolute advantage of the Soviet army, the German army was forced to retreat after losing nearly 40 fighters.
Berlin, which had been bombarded, finally woke up from the dream of counterattack. Hitler, who was at the end of his rope, finally accepted the advice of his generals. He gave up the battlefield on the Western Front and prepared to transfer the troops defending the Western Front back to Berlin to prevent the Soviet army from capturing Berlin. The Germans would rather surrender to Britain and the United States than hand over Berlin to the Soviets, because everyone knew how deep the resentment between the two sides was.
In addition, Hitler's generals also had illusions. They believed that based on ideological confrontation, if they chose to negotiate with Britain and the United States instead of confronting the Soviet Union, they should be able to get the support of the British and American allies.
These guys not only thought so, but also spread the word. Just after the bombing ended, similar propaganda was carried out when the radio in Berlin was resumed, trying to appease the emotions of Berlin citizens with reports such as "Germany has obtained the tacit approval and support of Britain and the United States and is ready to continue to confront the Soviets."
But they obviously forgot one thing, that is, at present the Germans are not actually very afraid of the British and American Allied Forces, because the British and American troops are too far away from Berlin. The citizens of Berlin are still most afraid of the Soviets. After all, the Soviet artillery shells have already hit them.
On the day of the bombardment of Berlin, Wenck and Schurner, who received the order, successively ordered the troops under their command to abandon their respective defensive positions. The former commanded his 12th Army and began to move to Magdeburg, crossing the Elbe River and advancing towards Potsdam. The latter crossed the Elbe River and began to attack Dresden.
In the next two days, Wenck's 12th Army advanced rapidly towards Berlin, but encountered Zhukov's troops at Luckenwalde. The two sides fought fiercely at Traunbrietzen. Wenck's troops broke through the two lines of defense of the Soviet Army in succession and advanced to the suburbs of Luckenwalde, eventually forcing Zhukov to withdraw troops from the direction of Berlin to reinforce the battle in that direction. On the fourth day of the street fighting in Berlin, Wenck's 12th Army was forced to abandon the plan to support Berlin and retreat to the Elbe River under the attack of the Soviet 9th Guards Tank Army, the 13th, and the 33rd Army.
Zhukov's troops then advanced westward, forced a crossing of the Elbe River, captured Magdeburg, and then seized several crossings of the Central Canal.
On the southern front, Scherner's troops were too weak. Their attack on Dresden had no effect. Instead, they were counterattacked by Zhukov's troops and driven directly to the northwest of Czechoslovakia.
At this point, Berlin was surrounded by Soviet troops. With Keshin captured by the Soviet army, Berlin's last escape airport that could take off and land aircraft was also lost. Except for Hitler himself, all Germans knew that the end of the Third Reich had come.
…
“Boom…”
A rolling thunder flashed from the inky black sky, and the sound was so loud that it seemed like it was coming from the roof of the building.
Falkenzie, the seat of the auxiliary headquarters of the 1st Belorussian Front.
Yuri, wearing a newly changed summer military uniform, came out of the bedroom on the second floor of a residential building, walked down the wooden stairs slowly, and entered the living room on the first floor.
In the living room, Arseny was directing two orderlies to clean the house. The owner of this house had fled before the Red Army entered the city, and should have entered Berlin. Because they fled in such a hurry, they took almost nothing with them. I wonder how they lived in a city that was about to be bombed into ruins.
There are still photos of the original owner hanging on the wall of the living room. One of the photos shows a SS major with a young and beautiful woman standing next to him, who should be his wife.
No wonder this family ran away. The Soviet army has always been ruthless to SS members.
There was a noisy sound coming from outside the living room door. It was very loud, and it sounded like a soldier scolding someone. Yuri frowned and looked outside through the window.
Outside the window is a gravel road. It is raining heavily, but the street is still busy with people coming and going. At a glance, the people walking north are all dressed like ordinary people. They are carrying the elderly and children, some simple luggage, and walking north along the street with sad faces. The guards with guns are guarding the eaves outside the living room door, driving back those who try to approach the door and not allowing them to approach this side.
These were all German refugees who had fled from downtown Berlin. They simply thought that the Soviets were attacking from the east, so they tried their best to flee westward, thinking that as long as they fled westward, they would be safe after crossing the Elbe River. But they didn't know that the entire Berlin was now surrounded by the Soviet army. No matter where they ran, they had to pass through the blockade set up by the Soviet army.
The Soviet army did not make things difficult for the refugees who escaped from Berlin , but they also did not allow them to go west. Instead, they drove them towards Prenzlau, where the 2nd Belorussian Front set up a reception station, mainly to accommodate these refugees who were fleeing like headless flies. Moscow had already determined a policy, that is, wherever the Soviet army reached in Germany would be under Soviet control after the war. Therefore, these refugees were also an important resource for the post-war Soviet-occupied areas, and they must not be allowed to escape to areas controlled by Britain and the United States.
The rainstorm that had been brewing for a whole morning finally fell in the afternoon. The rain was very heavy. Looking out of the window, one could see that the rain on the eaves opposite had condensed into mist, which was drifting westwards with the strong east wind.
The group of refugees marching on the street stopped. Looking from the second-floor windows to both sides of the street, one could see that this group of refugees seemed to have no end, and the street was filled with people.
Today, Falkenze is a huge military camp. The 2nd Guards Tank Army and part of the 47th Army are currently stationed in this town. In order to prepare for subsequent battles, all the residents in the city have been driven away, and every house is a barracks for Soviet soldiers.
Armored vehicles equipped with loudspeakers slowly advanced on the streets of the city. The orders issued by Yuri were read out on the loudspeakers. The refugees crowded in the streets were sent into residential buildings to temporarily avoid the heavy rain. However, even so, there were still thousands of people who had nowhere to stay and could only hide in the corners of the eaves on the street.
Yuri had no way to deal with the difficult situation of these refugees, not to mention that he didn't have much energy to focus on such things.
The German army has so far refused to accept its fate of defeat. Just last night, the so-called Steiner Group launched an attack on the Soviet army in Eberswalde, north of Berlin, trying to break through the Soviet blockade and enter the city of Berlin.
The so-called Steiner Group seemed to be strong and powerful, but in fact, it only consisted of the 11th SS Army. Worse still, its actual strength was less than a division. Commanded by Felix Steiner, it launched a surprise attack on the Soviet positions at night, trying to break through the positions of the Polish 9th Army, but failed.
This fierce battle lasted for several hours. Finally, the German army chose to retreat, but it was too late. Their retreat was cut off by the 9th Tank Army that came to support from the flank, and they were eventually surrounded in a narrow area south of Granze.
Just this morning, Yuri received a report from the Polish Ninth Army that they had found the body of Steiner himself, who had shot himself in a wooded area less than 17 kilometers from Eberswalde.
The sudden rainstorm interrupted the Soviet army's plan to launch an attack on the city of Berlin. At the same time, it also put out the fire that had been burning in the city. The gale of about level 6 blew away the thick smoke covering the Berlin area. If it were not for the ruins everywhere, there would be a peaceful scene here.
However, Yuri knew very well that this peaceful scene could only last until tomorrow at most. He had to speed up the capture of Berlin because the Supreme Command had lost patience. Comrade Stalin personally issued an order to end all fighting in the Berlin area within four days at the latest.
The final war was about to break out. Thinking back on the wars of the past few years, Yuri actually had a feeling of reluctance.
