The ice of the Vilnya River had been shattered, and even the bitter cold of the night could not freeze it again in the light of the unquelled fires on both sides of the river. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 There is crushed ice floating on the surface of the info river, which will pose a great danger to the forced crossing, but the arrow is ready to be fired!

The buildings on both sides of Kalinin Street on the west side of the river have been completely destroyed, and the original fairytale villas along the river protrusion are gone, leaving a pile of ruins. In this still burning ruins, the third assault battalion was in full swing, ready to launch a forced crossing.

They will be one of the two forced ferries, and across the river they will see a monument to the Polish poet and revolutionary Mickiewicz: it is fortunate that it has not been destroyed by mortar shells like the buildings around it, but only with the imprints of bullets and shrapnel on the lower right.

Assault fighters are watching across the river, marking the high ground to be destroyed before the offensive can be launched, a task that will be left to the brave cannons.

In the immediate flank behind the Mickiewicz Monument, an ancient building reflected in the firelight had been marked by artillery spotters in their shelling guidance form - if this was to be the case for European architects and Catholics here, they would have to fight with the sergeant!

Red, with three tall towers overlooking the entire Vilnya River, is St. Anne's Church!

In the headquarters of the group army, Lin Jun and Pulkaev also noticed the church on the landmark, which would be a big trouble for the forced troops. But the two of them didn't have the heart to think about how important it was, as long as everything on the landmark would become an obstacle to attack, the only result would be to be erased!

"Now Napoleon can't take it with him." Lin Jun said it a little funny, and the commander could understand it.

There are so many churches in Vilnius, often one with a spire looking at the other, separated by only a row of houses on either side, and there are so many churches.

St. Anne's Church, located on the right bank of the Vilnya River in the old town of Vilnius (i.e. on the west bank), is an outstanding architectural masterpiece of the late Gothic period, built in 1581.

It is 22 meters high and 10 meters wide, and is made entirely of red bricks, which are elegant and exquisitely built, with 33 different shapes of red bricks used for the façade of the church alone.

The entire church is evenly laid out and has a splendid pattern of lines and corner towers: the distinctive red brick church was built by the Grand Duke Alexander of Lithuania (1495-1500), and the appearance of the church has not been changed since. The church was rebuilt in 1581 due to a fire, and the current one has only undergone one expansion for more than 300 years.

More than 100 years ago, when Napoleon passed through Vilnius on his crusade against Russia, he was fascinated by the beauty of this church and wanted to "take it in the palm of his hand and take it to Paris." ”

Napoleon couldn't take it with him, but a few cannons would wipe it out completely!

The commander of the artillery company, after getting closer to see the situation on the other side of the river, gave an order to the cannon hidden behind the ruins: shell the tower, and knock out the commanding heights first. As for the church itself, like the nearby buildings, it was handed over to the suppressive artillery fire at the rear, and this area was going to be covered by heavy artillery fire anyway.

"The distance is 400 meters, the height is 20 meters, and it is directly ahead."

The observer shouted the shelling readings, but he was now doing his routine - it was only 400 meters away, and the sightman had already pointed the apex of the inverted V from the scope at the tower: the two cannons were coordinated, one on one side, and it would be interesting to see if any German fire points would be exposed.

Time 20:40, "High explosive shell, reloaded." ”

"Put!"

With the order of the artillery company commander, the two ZIS-3s opened fire almost at the same time, and in an instant, two close explosion points appeared on the opposite side of the river, and the infantry in front of them could clearly see the explosions on the two towers in the bright light, but the towers did not collapse, and the Gothic columns were strong enough!

No more shells to give them, if there were people up there, they wouldn't have survived!

With the shelling, several mortar shells flew from the opposite side in response, but the threat was not great for the Red Army, which was concealed by their respective sides. Two mortar shells were relatively accurate, landing near the cannon position, and the artillerymen could even hear the "clatter" of shrapnel embedded in the sack, but there were no casualties.

、、、、、、

St. Peter-Paul's Cathedral, the artillery positions commanded by Shuklin were piled with fused shells: two ten-wheeled trucks pulled almost ten tons of shells to them. The infantry comrades helped to unload half of the shell boxes, and all the artillery worked together, and it took a lot of time to assemble the fuse.

Most of these shells will probably be fired tonight, and the boys will be busy, and everyone will be roasting in the anti-artillery trenches dug by the infantry, reserving their strength, and preparing for their lives.

Shuklin checked the readiness of all artillery crews for the last time, and he had received a clear order to support the infantry in their current position and suppress the German commanding heights opposite the park. If no new orders arrived, the four cannons would not have to move before dawn.

With red eyes, everyone had not closed their eyes for two days and one night, and when they saw that Granov was closing his eyes to recuperate, Shuklin leaned against him: "How is it, can you still stand it?" “

"It's okay, it doesn't hurt if you don't have to do it."

"After a while, I'll go to the hospital and stay in the hospital for a few days."

"It's okay to rest, there's no hope, it's lucky to be able to let me be idle for a few days without moving the nest."

Granov did not expect to be comfortable in the warm hospital bed for a few weeks, open his mouth for dinner, idle to see the female nurse, and if he was lucky, he would be content to recuperate in the camp.

The phone rang, Shukelin picked up the phone, and heard the voice of the commander: "Everyone is on the table, there are still 10 minutes, all the troops are in place, and the attack will be launched at 21 o'clock." Each suppressed artillery was prepared for artillery fire 5 minutes in advance! ”

"Understood, Comrade Major."

At this time, by the river, the assault troops had already rushed to the rubber boats, with wooden pulp beside them, and were preparing to launch an assault at 21 o'clock in various hidden places. The machine guns in the machine-gun positions along the river had been turned on, and the shooters were glued to the other side of the river, ready to suppress the German fire as much as possible when the intensity was launched.

"It's all up, there's still 5 minutes!"

All the gunners immediately jumped up from the anti-gun trenches and ran to their respective gun positions, and the loaders loaded the cannons with the first high-explosive shells. Everyone was in a fighting position, waiting for the moment when the shelling began.

At 20:55, with the roar of the Red Army's heavy artillery group on the north bank of the Nelis River, all the suppressed artillery fire began to fire fiercely!

Suddenly, the entire west bank of the Vilnya River was enveloped in explosions, and in the explosion of large-caliber shells, buildings were turned into flying rubble in the firelight!

The power of the 122 mm and 76.2 mm shells, although not as great as the larger calibers, was also fatal to those old buildings! What is terrifying is the shells fired by 120-mm and 160-mm mortars, especially the latest M41 160-mm mortars, with a range of 8 kilometers and a high-explosive shell weighing more than 40 kilograms!

Although only one battalion of heavy mortars equipped with M41s was put into the Vilnius battlefield, and their rate of fire was only 3 rounds per minute, as long as a three-story building was hit, a centuries-old residential building would be completely reimbursed!

When falling at a large angle, the cannonball smashed through one or two floors before exploding, and the entire roof of the house could be completely removed!

The 120-mm mortars, which were distributed in positions on the left and right at a distance of 3 km, used not ordinary explosive shells close to conical in shape, but super-heavy high-explosive shells of much larger length and cylindrical shape in order to deal with those fortified old buildings! The blasting power is greater than that of a 122mm grenade!

At 20:58, the position of the rocket artillery battalion on the north bank of the Nereis River. 16 "Katyusha" launched a salvo, and the rockets roared and dragged the long tail flame to the target several kilometers away, and the entire sky was suddenly illuminated by firelight!

In the area between the south bank of the Nereis River and the west bank of the Vilnya River, the whole area was enveloped by the explosion of covered shelling in the terrifying howl characteristic of the "Stalin Organ"!

An even more dense explosion appeared in the city, just like the hell scenario is coming!

It is often said that a salvo of rocket artillery is enough, and the dense explosions swept a large part of the city, and the entire area covered was shattered and blown to pieces, except for a very few buildings!

Shuklin and his men opened fire with their lives, firing 15 shells from each cannon in the first minute, and then shelling according to the limit of what the body can withstand!

The bullet casings that had been withdrawn from the barrel of the cannon were thrown into the open space behind, and the yellow light was everywhere against the firelight! Shuklin shouted "fire" a little farther away and it was inaudible, and the leaders of each artillery squad controlled the rate of fire by themselves, and it was no longer a salvo, but a free fire.

At 21 o'clock, dozens of rubber boats and boats appeared on the riverside, and suddenly the remaining German troops on the opposite side began to shoot fiercely in this direction, and the river was full of splashes caused by dense bullets! However, the suppressive fire of the Red Army covering forces was more intense, not only ordinary direct-fire weapons, on the east bank of the Mickiewicz monument, several remnants of the wall had been torn down, and the double-barreled 23mm anti-aircraft guns began to fire flat!

The machine-gun bullets crossed the river like a curtain, enveloping the remaining German fire points on the opposite side, and tracer bullets were denser than the stars in the night sky; The power of the machine gun is even more terrifying, the 23mm armor-piercing projectile easily penetrates the thick brick wall, and the explosion point formed by the high-explosive shell is like the Grim Reaper dancing!

Once a building is targeted by a 23mm anti-aircraft gun, it will be completely enveloped by a barrage in an instant, and the people inside will be completely torn apart in just a few seconds!

Before the attack, an entire anti-aircraft artillery battalion was broken up and deployed on the east bank of the Vilnya River - the power of the small-caliber anti-aircraft guns was so terrifying that the suppression effect of each anti-aircraft gun was the sum of all the firearms of the previous infantry platoon!

Although 23-mm shells cannot completely flatten a solid building, the psychological shock of the opponent can be compared to large-caliber shells! Moreover, they had a fast rate of fire, dense firepower, and flexible firepower adjustment, which immediately suppressed the entire firepower of the German army!

The commandos risked their lives to cross the river, and despite the bitter coldness of the river, they dragged the rubber boat into the water and only got into the boat when the water was knee-deep. Paddle as hard as you can, keep your body as low as possible, avoid the broken ice floating in the river, and shoot the commandos in front of you with their weapons. People are constantly being hit and killed, but the living have only one belief - row to the opposite shore and rush forward!

Finally, the first boat reached the west bank of the Nereis River, and eight commandos jumped onto the bank and immediately pounced on the ruins of the nearest building in two combat groups.

In a short period of time, rubber boats and boats continued to arrive on the west coast, and a hand-to-hand battle broke out!

The commandos were the first to occupy the commanding heights on the west bank, and a company of commandos took control of a section of the river bank about 100 meters wide in two minutes. The second leather commando on the east bank of the river had also boarded the boat, and the covering fire began to extend to the depth and both flanks.

At 21:15, at the southern strength point, the commandos finally temporarily controlled a landing site with a width of more than 300 meters, and at the landing site on the north side, there was also a section of the riverbank with a width of about 150 meters that was captured by the Red Army.

In the cannon position outside St. Peter-Paul's Cathedral, the herald conveyed the latest coordinates to Shuklin, "Add 230 at a distance, 50 to the left, rapid fire!" ”

The light of the distant artillery fire gave a good view to the artillery observation point on the church tower, and the artillery fire began to extend - in a small boat for the second crossing of the Vilnya River, two telephone lines were put directly into the river by means of rollers: the radio was greatly interfered with, and for the time being the wired telephone was still reliable!

The crossing was formed, and troops of assault battalions were constantly being transported to the west side of the river and began to storm the flanks. At 21:40, the two landing fields were finally opened, and they also advanced an average of more than 200 meters to the west, and the assault arrows had reached the west side of the architectural museum.

The Germans began to retreat, retreating to reserve positions, trying to rely on the hills to prevent the continuation of the Red Army's assault.

At this time, the momentum of the Red Army's strong offensive was temporarily halted and the landing field was consolidated. On the east bank of the Vilnya River, sappers drove up to the river, and a huge pontoon bridge was lowered into the river.

The soldiers climbed onto the prefabrication, took control of the steel pontoon, and hammered the steel pins into the connecting holes - along the rope that the boat had taken the lead to pass, the sappers had to erect a pontoon bridge that could pass through heavy equipment in half an hour.

At 22 o'clock, Shuklin's artillery group received a new order to cross the river to support the ensuing battle for the capture of Mount Gediminas, and to cooperate with the infantry units newly engaged in the siege.

Knock out the steel pins fixed to the ground, lift the gun carriage and hang it on the hook ring at the rear of the medium jeep, put the unused shells back into the shell box, and get ready to pull out as quickly as possible.

Several armored vehicles appeared on the road next to the church, followed by dozens of trucks carrying infantry. The convoy stopped, and the infantrymen got out of their vehicles, everyone seemingly heavily equipped.

By the time the newcomers had finished their procession through the church, Shuklin saw why the infantry were so well treated and could be pulled so close to the line by trucks - all motorized, because they needed it!

They are the new arrivals that Shuklin's artillery needs to cooperate with, and they have "assault" in the name of their formation, and they are real assault sappers!

To make way for artillery and tractors, the assault sappers disembarked here.

Not sappers, assault sappers! None of them were short, all of them were more than one meter eight tall, and they were stronger and stronger than the artillerymen! AK47 assault rifles, light machine guns, and some carrying boxes with explosives on their backs, grenade bags hanging from their waists, and Finnish knives and magazine bags on the other!

There was a sniper in almost every 15 men, and there were flamethrowers that were far larger than the average infantry - and the most exaggerated thing was that almost all of them wore thick steel cuirass!

This protective equipment is simply a copy of the medieval hoplite, and probably there will be no country in the world that still has a formation equipped with cuirass! But they were needed by the tough Red Army assault sappers, who would allow them to block most bullets and shrapnel during close assaults!

The Red Army assault engineer unit did not need to travel thousands of miles, and when it was established, it was expected to do the task of short-distance forcible assault, to complete the seemingly impossible mission!

In order to be able to adapt to this "ancient" protective equipment, all assault engineers have to go through rigorous training, those with less physical fitness will be eliminated, and they will also have to undergo strict hand-to-hand combat training, and all of them need to be proficient in the use of various equipment for explosives and battalion infantry.

It's not an exaggeration to say that they are siege machines! If you defend, it's impregnable!

They are assault sappers, tough assault sappers, fearless assault sappers!

At the time of the Battle of Minsk, the Red Army assault sappers showed their toughness for the first time, showing the strong ability of this special unit to attack the fortifications of urban street battles. This time, Pulkaev had only two regiments of assault sappers in his hands, and they were all thrown into the battle for Vilnius, and they wanted to end the fighting in the city as quickly as possible.

Because of the cuirass, the soldiers could not carry extra equipment on their chests, and the artillerymen saw some very strange ways of carrying equipment for the assault sappers - some fighters carried a bunch of grenades behind their backs, and a dozen of them were strapped to their backs and waists!

What kind of grenade to carry?!

Such a maverick is really strange, probably the "self-creation" of the assault sappers, which is not in the textbooks - but it still makes a lot of sense, in the siege of the city will require a lot of grenades, and in some cases one person in the front, the one in the back can be turned into a human grenadier! Not to mention that this is not in the way when climbing ladders, and a single grenade can be thrown into the windows or holes on the second and third floors of buildings.

From the order of the marching procession, it is clear that the assault infantry were divided into battle groups: four assault men armed with three assault rifles and one light machine gun; Two bazooka operators, the main shooter with a bazooka on his back, the secondary shooter with four rockets on his back, and an AK47 hanging diagonally.

This is an assault group, with a flamethrower for every two groups, and the firepower is reasonable and strong!

When Shuklin and his team reached the river with their cannons, the assault sappers were already trotting across the river from the erected pontoon bridge, and immediately went deep into the line of fire in an assault formation.

After crossing the river, the jeep pulled the cannon through a ruined street, and Shuklin saw a church—a miracle, the church of Santa Anna was still there, and the three towers were still there, but the entire façade of the building was in tatters.

The church is dead, but the city is finished: all but the church is in ruins or in need of future teardown, many of the wooden structures are burning, and the smell of blood and gunsmoke fills the air!

At a distance of 50 meters from the ruins of the westernmost building controlled by the Red Army, the artillerymen took off the towing rings and pushed the cannon forward with manpower into the ambush site, braving stray bullets.

An assault engineer in a cuirass ran over, "We need your artillery cover, the Germans have a fortification ahead, and we can't go up at once." ”

"No problem!"

Following the instructions of the assault sappers, the cannon was pushed behind a section of broken wall, and across the street you could see a relatively intact building a hundred meters away, apparently very strong - the shelling only damaged the external structure of the buildings, but did not destroy them completely.

Desperately digging and stationing hoe pits and preparing for shelling. From time to time, the whizzing German shells fell nearby, but the artillerymen did not care about these and buried their heads in hard work.

"Our men will go up from the flanks, and you blow up the buildings on the left flank first."

Hearing the request of the assault sappers, Shuklin replied loudly that he promised to solve the problem.

Shuklin saw the infantry touch from the flanks, and his own artillery roared, and a single shell lifted the second roof of the second building on the left flank!

However, when three shells were fired, Shuklin and his men had to temporarily drop the cannon, and the men crawled and hid behind the ruins - from the direction of the assault sappers' attack, the dense bullets were fired at the gun emplacements, because it was an oblique shot, and the artillerymen would have died in vain if they stayed a moment too late!

It was a sturdy baroque stone three-story building, with German firepower on the second and third floors: the Germans had access to the back of the building, and they simply blocked all the windows and doors on the first floor in front of them!

An assault team had reached the edge of the building, and grenades were dropped on the second floor, but they were not hit, and the fighters hid behind the sturdy pillars.

"Blow it up! Otherwise, our artillery will not be able to shell! ”

The sergeant, who was the leader of the assault team, shouted loudly to his subordinates - they were carrying nearly 40 kilograms of high explosives on their backs, and if they were in the right place, they could take down the building!

The two Demomen put down the explosives crates they were carrying and slipped into a gap in the wall that had been blown out. Remove the protective cover on the fuse: it is more convenient to use the fuse to explode than to prepare for the electric shock, but it is more dangerous.

The others retreated from the flank first, and the Demoman who was left behind pulled the fuse, and quickly reared in the rising smoke, running dozens of meters in one go!

The assault sappers hid behind a ruined wall, and after more than ten seconds, there was a loud bang, and the explosives exploded violently, and half of the entire target building was torn off at once!

There should be no living people in it now, no one can survive such a violent explosion!

If you can't attack it in a short time, then blast!

The broken bricks and stones "crackled" down, and a few unlucky eggs were hit, but none of them were seriously injured! Without waiting for the smoke to clear, the assault team jumped out of cover and rushed to the west.

Jumping into the ruins of the landlord side of the bombed-out building in a few steps, the soldier who took the lead fired a series of shots at the second floor of the exposed side and rear of the building, and threw two grenades at the hand. However, this did not suppress the German firepower, and the bullets whistled - but the Germans were depressed, and they saw that the bullets hit the target, but in addition to a little spark, the guy threw a grenade.

When the German soldier changed the magazine for his submachine gun, he looked up and said, "Bastard!" And she ran to the door of the room behind her! The bullets kept hitting the window he used to use as a concealment, and if he wanted to shoot, he would risk being killed at any time: he really wanted to pick up his gun and kill a Russian soldier who was hiding next to the "unbeatable Iron King Kong", because the German corporal had just seen the guy with three connected cylinders on his back, the flamethrower, and it was facing him!

The German corporal was running fast enough, and just as he was about to turn the corner of the door, the room he had been in was on fire—a flame was shot in accurately, and then another room was surrounded by flames!

I'd rather be beaten to death than burned alive! This is one thing that is clear to every soldier in battle, and the flamethrower is more psychologically stressful to a soldier than any other weapon!

The Flamethrower is always the first target of the opponent's bullets, but the German corporal sappers can't shoot, they can only run!

In the unique hissing sound of the flamethrower being fired, you can hear the screams of the people in the room who are burning! The Germans who were still alive immediately retreated, they didn't want to be burned to death in their houses like this!

On the other side, as the threatening building was destroyed by blasting, the threat to Shuklin and the others suddenly became smaller, and several people carried shells back to the cannon more than ten meters away.

"High-explosive shells, reloaded!"

Granov removed the starting rod and opened a way for the assault sappers!

From time to time, bullets hit the fighters who rushed forward, but less than a third of them were hit, like a group of supermen who couldn't be killed!

The soldiers loved and hated the heavy steel cuirass, but now they loved the stupid guy on their chests - only the bullets fired by the German MG34 machine guns could penetrate them at a long distance, and if the angle was off, even the bullets fired from the assault rifles at close range could not penetrate them!

Although this "backward turtle shell" produced by the special armor branch of the Leningrad "October Revolution" plant is bulky, it can give the fighters confidence at a critical moment and save their lives!

With the capture of another building, it is already possible to see the façade of Vilnius University at the foot of Mount Gediminas. The assault sappers suspended the attack as planned, more than an hour ahead of schedule.

The assault infantry did not immediately attack the top of the hill, mortar shells kept falling from above, and the infantry waited and waited for the artillery to be ready.

There was a roar of planes in the air, and with the sound of another salvo of Katyusha rocket artillery, a huge fire erupted on the mountain, and the entire Gediminas mountain was surrounded by firelight!

The entire hill, with a stretch of three or four hundred meters on the western side, was surrounded by bombs and incendiary bombs dropped by bombers at low altitudes!

(More today, do you still have a monthly pass?) (To be continued.) )