After a day's fighting, we must make a summary to study why the troops did not achieve the expected campaign objectives.

After scanning us one by one, Zhukov fixed his eyes on sokolovsky: "Comrade sokolovsky, you spend most of your time in the headquarters today and have a more comprehensive understanding of the whole progress of the campaign. Let's talk about it first."

Sokolovsky nodded, stood up and faced us and said, "today's front army's participating troops have not reached the campaign objectives set in advance. I think there are many reasons. First of all, the deep rivers and gullies in our attack area have caused us a lot of inconvenience in using tankers and self-propelled artillery

We set the attack speed of each group army at 20 kilometers per day and night. At first glance, this speed is very common, and every unit can easily achieve it. However, previous campaigns have proved that this speed could not be achieved at the beginning of the campaign or when the enemy broke through the defensive fortification zone. Only in the course of the development of the campaign, after breaking through the fortified area, can we reach this speed when we move forward to the vast campaign area. "

After listening to sokolovsky's speech, Zhukov just nodded and did not express his opinion. Then he looked at me and asked, "Rita, you come to talk about your opinion."

I quickly stood up and said, "according to my observation, the reason why we have not achieved the desired results in today's battle is that the enemy's defense has been adjusted accordingly.

Let me give you an example. It is obvious that the enemy has learned from the experience of previous battles and has changed the principle of its defense arrangement. In the past, the enemy deployed its main forces in the first defense zone. Although they also prepared the second and third defense zones in their defense depth, they did not deploy the second or third echelon troops in this area. The tank division or motorized division, as a reserve force, does not occupy the defensive area, but is deployed in the shallow and near rear, so as to counter attack our army at any time.

The Germans have now adopted a new defensive deployment to defend the highlands. It not only occupied the first defense zone, but also occupied the second defense zone and the third defense zone, and deployed a large number of infantry, tanks and artillery there, as well as strong reserves in the defense depth. After breaking through the first defense zone along the old Oder River and the Haupt canal, our troops encountered organized defense in the second defense zone, which was already defended by the enemy.

Due to the dangerous terrain of the zelauf highland, the troops of the 8th group army of the guards had to feint. As we all know, in order to reduce the weight of our tanks and the enemy's tanks, only the front armor is the thickest, the side and back armor is slightly thinner, and the weakest one is the top of the tank. When our tanks feint, they will expose the weak top in front of the enemy and become the target of the German anti tank hands.... "

At the end of my speech, malining, kazakov, Orel and others also spoke one after another. They talked about some problems existing in the process of today's attack by armored forces and artillery. But I don't know why, no one mentioned the searchlight Tactics Implemented by Zhukov, and I didn't see the searchlight at all because the fire in the battlefield was too bright, so I couldn't make any evaluation.

After all of us finished our speeches, Zhukov asked coldly, "you are right. We underestimate the local topography, natural obstacles such as ditches, rivers and lakes. Due to the lack of roads, our army's mobility was limited, and it was unable to invest a large number of troops in the implementation of the impact.

In addition, Hitler's army has actually turned the whole vast area from the Oder River to Berlin into a continuous building area. In this area, in addition to the strong field fortification area, numerous buildings, large forests and water barriers in various residential areas are also used as defense. In order to occupy these residential areas, we have to fight for every house repeatedly.

Although there are many difficulties, this can not be used as a reason why we have no expectation of the campaign. We are advancing in Berlin, and the allies are also advancing from the West. We are now competing with them to see who will enter Berlin first. How long do you think it will take us to break through the German defense in the highlands of zelauf and point our troops at Berlin? "

Seeing that we were all silent, Zhukov pointed to me with his hand and ordered, "go and call trakov and ask him how he adjusted his deployment."

I dialed trakov's phone, looked at Zhukov who was speaking to you, and then asked, "general trakov, marshal, let me ask you, how are you going to fight tomorrow?"

"Rita, please tell marshal," trikov said in a loud voice from the receiver. "We've changed our deployment, shifted our artillery positions, and are ready to attack zelauf heights."

I went back to the conference table and gave Zhukov a detailed report on trakov's latest deployment. After hearing this, Zhukov nodded slightly, and then said to me, "Rita, I'm going to stay in the headquarters of the front army tomorrow. Trakov is there. You can go instead of me."

It was only after dawn the next day that I arrived at the commander of trekov, before the shelling of the highlands of zelauf had begun. According to trakov, he chose the time of the shelling to be in the daytime because the artillery observer can better see the effect of the shelling.

At 10 a.m. Moscow time and 9 a.m. local time, trakov's group artillery shelled the fortifications on the highlands of zelauf. All of a sudden, the whole highland of zelauf became an erupting crater. It was wrapped in black smoke. The black smoke exploded one after another, one after another. There were explosions everywhere and flames everywhere.

The shelling ended half an hour later, and the troops hidden in the trenches made an impact on the high ground. The shelling in the daytime is better than the shelling in the early morning. Only when our troops rush to a place only 70 or 80 meters away from the enemy fortifications can they have sporadic fire points to intercept.

By eleven o'clock, the battle reports of all the guards, divisions and regiments came one after another. They all reported to trikov that the troops were progressing smoothly and were advancing in depth towards the enemy's defense.

Seeing these war reports, trikov took a long breath, turned to me and said, "Rita, if my troops develop at this speed, they may be able to occupy the whole zelauf heights."

While we were both congratulating on the progress of the army, the chief of staff, Vladimirov, suddenly sent us a piece of information and said solemnly, "Comrade commander, something's wrong!"

"What's the matter?" I asked in a broken voice.

"Comrade deputy commander," said Vladimirov, facing me, "according to the report of Colonel marchenko, commander of the 39th division of the guards, the 117th regiment of the guards, under the command of Colonel grizenko, was blocked by the German army when it attacked the gentle slope to the west of the zelauf heights. With the arrival of our tanks, after some resistance, the enemy gave up their positions and fled through the residential areas towards the defensive depth.

Seeing the enemy fleeing, Colonel grizenko ordered the regiment to move forward with the tanks. As a result, the tank battalion that cooperated with them took the lead in passing through the residential areas and pursued the fleeing enemy, while our infantry followed behind... "

When I heard this, I immediately thought that the reason why the Germans fled through the settlements might be that they laid an ambush for our army in the settlements. As soon as the tanks of our army pass through, they can ambush in the residential buildings and attack our infantry passing through the residential areas from both sides of the road.

"When our tanks passed through the settlements, everything was calm." "But when the infantry entered the settlement, they were attacked from buildings on both sides of the road," Vladimirov continued. The Germans hid in buildings, shooting our infantry in the middle of the road with all kinds of weapons, and throwing grenades.

When we passed through the tanks in the residential areas, we found that the infantry following were attacked and tried to turn around to support them, but they were attacked by the anti tank weapons lying in ambush at the roadside, and the loss was very great. "

After seeing the telegram in his hand, trakov quickly walked to the map and drew on it with his hand for a long time. Then he called Vladimirov over and said, "chief of staff, send a message to Colonel marchenko to stop the frontal attack on the residential area. Take the company and platoon as a unit, carry mortars and machine guns, and detour from the two wings of the residential area, Strike hard at the flanks and rear of the enemy. "

Trikov's order was soon conveyed to the 39th division of the guards. Upon receiving the order, marchenko immediately sent two battalions to break up the whole into parts, detour back to the enemy's rear from both sides of the settlement, and hit the enemy by surprise. After two hours of fighting, the enemy in the settlement and the West was destroyed. The grizenko regiment, which suffered huge losses, captured more than 300 German officers and soldiers, seized a large number of weapons and ammunition, and more than 100 trucks full of military supplies.

When the grizenko regiment was ambushed, I reported the situation to Zhukov. Now that the battle is over, I will definitely report to Zhukov again.

When Zhukov heard that the battle was over and the army had captured a lot of money, he snorted to me and said, "Rita, please tell trikov that the army should keep vigilant at any time and never underestimate the enemy, otherwise it will cause great losses to our army. Do you understand? "

"I see, comrade marshal." I replied in a hurry, "I will convey your message to general trakov immediately."

When I put down the phone, trikov asked me with a wry smile, "Rita, marshal must not be satisfied with our performance?"

"No, no," I quickly put forward my hand and said, "your troops also fell into the German ambush circle because they despised the enemy. But now the encircled troops have been rescued and the ambush enemies have been eliminated. As long as you are on your guard, don't let the same thing happen again."

After hearing this, trakov nodded and told Vladimirov: "chief of staff, send a telegram to the commanders of all the armies and divisions, telling them that as long as they find the enemy's residential areas or villages, they should send search forces to search before they enter, so as to prevent them from being ambushed again."

"But Comrade commander, if we really do this," Vladimirov said in embarrassment, "our attack speed will be greatly affected. Do you think there is any better way?"

"There are ways." I saw that trakov frowned and said, "give every attacking unit tanks. When we find German settlements and villages, we use artillery fire to blow down houses near the roadside. As long as there are enemies hidden inside, they will escape before the houses collapse, and our soldiers can easily destroy them; Even if there is no enemy inside, as long as the roadside buildings collapse, the enemy is trying to attack us from both sides, and there is nothing they can do. "

"That's a good idea." After listening to my idea, trikov nodded his head and said to Vladimirov, "just do what Rita said." The fighting continued, and before dark, trakov's forces made significant achievements at the junction with their right neighbor. There, they attacked the units of the 5th group army and the 8th group army, and after breaking through the enemy's defense and repelling the enemy's counter attack, they went out to the front lines of old Rosenthal, gelsdorf and lake weintelger. Compared with the right wing, the progress of the left wing is still not smooth. The progress of the 69th army is not only slow, but also unsatisfactory for the 28th army and the 1st army of close guard tanks. In the process of advancing westward, they kept fighting against the enemy's counter attack. By nightfall, they only occupied the areas of duxilin and libernican.?? According to the confession of the German prisoners and the documents we captured, we know that the 28th motorized division and the 168th infantry division, which were transferred from the German reserve, and an air force responsible for Berlin's urban air defense, were also involved in the battle to defend the zerlof heights. Fortunately, before dark, the trokov troops finally captured the second defense zone, occupied the zelauf heights in their own attack zone, and got rid of the bend depression along the Oder River. In this way, they will have more room for maneuver in the next battle. I went back to the headquarters of the front army and gave Zhukov a detailed report on the fighting of the 8th group army of the guards today. After hearing this, Zhukov nodded his head without expression and said lightly, "if they didn't underestimate the enemy today and let the enemy surround a regiment, maybe they would achieve more results." After Zhukov finished, I asked carefully, "Comrade marshal, will I go to general trakov tomorrow?"“ Yes, of course Zhukov said in a positive tone: "as long as our troops don't win Berlin, you go to trakov every day and command the battle with him. Do you understand? "