At 4:55 a.m. on August 7, 39, Lin Jun looked at 6,000 soldiers in front of a megaphone and asked them: "Comrades, do you remember the Battle of Warsaw?" Remember the martyrs who fell under the guns of the bourgeoisie and died under the city of Warsaw?! ”

The soldiers replied with a shocking answer: "We remember! ”

At that moment, the life and demographic changes of the inhabitants of Vilnius were already decided again. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 InfoLike countless migrations of peoples over the centuries, war is the biggest driver of them - like shuffling the cards, whoever sits in the bank has the power to control the game.

During World War I, Vilnius and the rest of Lithuania were occupied by Germany from 1915 to 1918. On February 6, 1918, with the introduction of the Act on the Independence of Lithuania, German troops withdrew from Vilnius. Immediately after that, the Lithuanian forces that entered the city were repulsed by the advancing Russian troops. Vilnius changed hands several times during this period, and the Polish Self-Defense Forces took control for some time, trying to prevent the city from being captured by the Russian Red Army.

Shortly after the defeat of the Red Army at the Battle of Warsaw in '20, the retreating Red Army signed a peace treaty with Lithuania on July 12 and abandoned Vilnius.

In October, Poland recognized the Vilnius region as belonging to Lithuania, but on October 9 of the same year, the Polish army broke the peace treaty and launched a surprise attack to occupy Vilnius. By February 20, 1922, the entire Vilnius region became part of Poland, and Vilnius became the capital of Vilno Province. The majority of Lithuanian residents were forced to leave the city and the use of the Lithuanian language in public was forbidden, at a time when Poles and Jews gradually made up the majority of the city's population, and Lithuanians were a small minority, at least 0.8 percent of the population!

During this period, Vilnius experienced a period of rapid development, and the Poles seemed to be doing quite well.

The outbreak of World War II turned the world upside down: Poland spent 20 years to provoke the two major powers on both sides to have a deep grudge against it, and swallowed the bitter fruit of its annihilation within a month, despite the fact that it was not a great power. The Vilnius region was quickly conquered by the Red Army during the liberation march, and by the 40th year the whole of Lithuania was incorporated into the Soviet Union and the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was formed, with Vilnius becoming the capital.

Alexander's men acted very quickly, and 40,000 residents of the Vilnius city were arrested by the NKVD, some were exiled to concentration camps in the Soviet Far East, and most were deported to German-occupied areas. However, due to the adjustment of central policy, the Soviet Union did not destroy the city's industry, which is why the rumors were rampant and finally subsided.

Just as many Russians left Western Belarus and Western Ukraine to escape Polish rule after the Battle of Warsaw in 20 years, a large number of Lithuanians left Vilnius during Polish rule. When Lithuania was incorporated into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Central Committee advocated the return of Lithuanian residents who had been forced to leave Vilnius and supported them in policy.

The demographic composition of Vilnius changed considerably, and in just half a year, Lithuanians became the majority of the population again, slightly outnumbering the Jews.

By the time German troops occupied Vilnius, the fascist Nazis had established two ghettos in the heart of Vilnius' Old Town, the main Jewish ghetto. One of the smaller enclaves was "liquidated" four months later, some of them were slaughtered inside the enclave, and the others were expelled from the enclave and driven to a recess south of the city: everyone was forced to strip naked and, driven by bayonets, along a path up the hillside, where the Germans on the opposite hillside fired directly at the people on the road with machine guns, and the bodies were thrown into the bottom of the col.

Batch after batch, until all the Jews have been settled, and then as soon as the bulldozer fills the top with earth, the problem is solved cleanly - the col becomes a man-made hill!

Not to mention the Jews who remained in the ghetto, the life of the Lithuanians in the city became more and more difficult after the arrival of the German army, and they were always in fear. Needless to say, there is a sudden and unprovoked expropriation of houses and property, and people are arrested every day on the streets, and sometimes gunshots are heard; The food supply is getting scarcer, the quality is getting worse, and the price of bread on the black market is unbearably high!

Every day people die, and the Russians take care of the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled, but the Germans simply ignore these people and leave them to fend for themselves. There is not enough fuel, someone freezes to death in their own homes in winter, and of course, there are not as many homeless people who freeze to death on the streets!

From the year before last to slowly get used to the communist system and the life of everyone having food, to the hope that the Soviet Red Army can fight back, to the current extreme fear of fierce urban offensive and defensive battles! Vilnius residents feel like they're on a roller coaster ride that is simply out of their control.

The attack and defense of the city that began yesterday showed the residents the destructive power of war, and many people are begging God not to let the shells fly to their homes! However, the shell did not have long eyes, and the Germans turned the entire city into a fortress, and many people desperately thought that by the time the battle was over, the once beautiful Vilnius would no longer exist!

After seeing Vilnius' most important city landmark, Gkiminas Castle, bombed into the sky, the residents were even more frightened, they didn't know what was going to happen next!

、、、、、、

The headquarters of the army group soon received a report that the castle had been completely destroyed, and the top of the hill of Gediminas was covered by bomb explosions!

Forward observation posts also sent reports: they clearly saw the effects of the bombing, and the comrades of the Air Force did a clean job.

"Send a telegram of commendation to the pilots, in my name and Commander Pulkaev."

Lin Jun said to Gusev after listening to the report.

"Yes, Marshal."

When Captain Figuernier returned to the airport, he would get the news, and he would be very happy -- not only the commendation, but also the examination that gave him a headache at the thought of it probably did not need to be written, and even the deputy commander and commander praised himself and his subordinates for a good job, and the regimental commander would not be bored with himself.

Three telephone lines were pulled into St. Peter-Paul's Cathedral, one went to the division headquarters, and the other two went directly to the forward troops. Two branch lines were also divided, and mortar and cannon positions were received. An artillery observation group was also transferred here, under the command of Shuklin, directly under the orders of the division headquarters and direct calls from the forward assault units.

There was a rare silence in the park, and the infantry in front and the observation post on the roof of the building had already identified several important targets, and the target parameters had been determined.

With the order of the division headquarters, not only the artillery positions near the church were threatened, but the artillery fire further east also began to roar, pouring tons of shells on the heads of the Germans!

It was already a little dark, and the flames of the explosion could be seen; In the direction of the park, three assault battalions launched an offensive under the cover of a dozen tanks, targeting the Vilnya River!

The battlefield suddenly exploded, and the German artillery fire came after dozens of seconds, and there were violent explosions everywhere on the west side of the church and around it! However, none of the artillerymen were afraid, and with the cover of the improvised bunkers that had just been pushed up with sandbags left over by the Germans, the artillerymen were full of artillery bombardment.

The sound of "clang" and "clang" was muffled by the loud sound of the explosion, and the telephones in the two artillery positions were also turned into decorations, and the commander could not hear anything even if he covered his ears. Again, Shuklin and the commander on the mortar position tilted their necks to look at the observers sent from the top of the church, while the request for direct calls from the front was passed on by manpower.

Soon it would have to be teleported by manpower, and it was too dark.

"Distance 1250 meters, 560 dense position, rapid fire!"

Shuklin shouted at his subordinates, and the gunners immediately adjusted the angle of fire and fired at a maximum speed of 15 rounds per minute, and the four cannons fired nearly 60 high-explosive shells in one minute!

Viewed from the top of the church, the explosions are as dense as New Year's firecrackers, especially in the western part of the park, one after another!

Regardless of the casualties, the T34 tanks sent in support of the infantry played a great role, rushing along the gaps in the forest at high speed, mercilessly crushing the trenches and blasting the improvised fortifications to pieces!

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the 2nd Assault Battalion saw the bridge over the Vilnya River!

The German army, which was still resisting, began to retreat, but before the Red Army could rush onto the bridge, the Germans detonated the explosives that had been planted under the bridge long ago! In the violent explosion, the bridge broke in two!

The remnants of the German army, left behind on the east bank of the river, began to flee to the south, which was also the river to the north, and there was still a glimmer of life in the south, and they were lucky enough to cross the bridge to the south before the Russians could completely block the retreat.

At 5:30 p.m., the German troops on the east bank of the Vilnya River were basically wiped out, and the attacking troops confronted the Germans across the river.

A large number of Gass trucks appeared on the road on the right wing of St. Peter-Paul's Church, along with American ten-wheeled trucks, pulling wooden boats and rubber boats. Looking at the trucks passing by, Rezeul said to Granov a little sourly: "The sappers will arrive at a fast speed, and even the pontoon bridge will be transported." ”

The ten-wheeled trucks were equipped with the latest steel pontoons, which could be unloaded directly into the river, and the sappers could quickly connect the steel pontoons with steel pins, much faster than the original pontoons.

It is said that this folding pontoon bridge was designed by the deputy commander-in-chief, at least that's what the sappers said - "Plunyakov Bridge". However, there is no need for steel pontoons for the time being, and rubber boats and wooden boats have to be relied on, so the speed of the sappers is too fast.

Rezeoff was apparently still unhappy with the "slow" speed of the sappers at the beginning of the battle, causing them to disassemble the cannon and carry it over the obstacles. But it was just whining, and the sappers did their best.

The soldiers in the church brought food to them, and it was a pleasure to have some hot food in the cold. It was potato and beetroot soup and a bunch of canned food, all thrown into a boiling hot water bucket and added to the superheat.

It was already cold outside, and the soldiers wrapped everything they could to protect themselves from the cold, even the curtains and tablecloths in the church.

A few artillerymen gathered around their cannons, and because they were blocked by the woods, they didn't have to worry about the exposed fires - they smashed open the empty ammunition boxes with pickaxes and lit bonfires to keep warm.

Glebov pried the galvanized tin can with the knife he carried with him, "I don't know what." ”

Each cannon group of canned food can pick two at random, and if there is no identification, what you can eat depends on your luck.

On one side, Valekin cut the black bread with a knife, but not one by one, but into pieces, put on a twig, roasted it on the fire, and then ate it.

"It's cooked corned beef." As he spoke, he took a knife and pried a piece into his mouth, and handed the can to the lieutenant next to him.

Shuklin also sent a piece to his mouth, and since it had been overheated, it tasted very good.

"It's not beef, it's seal meat." Shuklin said.

Valekin picked up the can and looked at it for a long time, it didn't have label paper, maybe it was removed when it was heated, and it was more likely that it wasn't there when it was originally on the scene.

"Produced by the Astrakhan Food Factory, it could really be seal meat."

He finally saw a stamped mark on it, indicating that it came from the distant Caspian Sea.

The brown bread is baked fragrantly and soaked in the soup in the lunch box. A simple but sumptuous dinner, where everyone had eaten meat, including those who were by the river, who were to be forced to cross tonight, and the commanders were organizing commandos.

Fighters don't like to call themselves death squads, or commandos are more appropriate. Everyone was preparing after the meal, waiting for the order of the division headquarters.

At the headquarters of the army group, it has already been decided to launch a forced crossing at 9 o'clock tonight. As the Vilnya River bends east on the south side of the city, it will be the focus of the assault in the direction of Karnu Park, which is closest to the city centre.

On the north bank of the Neris, a large number of artillery units gathered, and the army group concentrated more than 300 barreled guns and mortars with a caliber of more than 76.2 mm, and a battalion of "Katyusha" was prepared next to the ruins of the packing plant, 5 kilometers away.

On the east side of the Vilnya River is the undulating terrain, and there are not too many buildings in the area facing the Kanur Park, and it is not far up to the Gediminas Mountain.

"You should be able to take Mount Gediminas by noon tomorrow." Lieutenant General Kesim Alekseevich Pulkaev seems to be talking to himself.

"The infantry attacking troops suffered heavy casualties in the early stage, and the 284th Division would have no assault capability after taking that piece." Lin Jun pointed to the map and said. Just now the command received a report from the commander of the 284th Infantry Division, Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Filippovich Batyuk, that his troops are currently losing nearly a third, as well as considerable losses in technical equipment.

Army Group was to provide the division with strong artillery support as it crossed the river, but Batyuk also believed that by nightfall tomorrow the troops would need to defend on the spot and would no longer be suitable for assault missions.

"I don't think there's too much to worry about this, tonight there will be two assault engineer regiments crossing the Neris River to support the city, and they will be able to enter the city at 21 o'clock at the latest, and they will be temporarily replenished to Batyuk. And I expect that the Germans will retreat after we capture the central part of the city, and their focus will probably be on the south. ”

This was what the commander needed to foresee, and the German Army Group North focused its counter-assault on the south of the city, while in the northwest of the city, on the south bank of the Nereis River, the Germans had built a strong defensive line -- a flank attack on both sides, and it was difficult to say who would have the last laugh in this area until early spring.

(There's something to deal with tonight, so I'll be more 4000, and I'll update more tomorrow.) (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )