Mironov now commanded the 347th Guards Heavy Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment of JSU-152s equipped with howitzers with a range of well over 9,000 metres. Their high explosive shells, weighing 96lb, and the armour-piercing shells, weighing 107lb, were so bulky that only twenty rounds could be carried. The vehicles had a crew of four (or five if equipped with radio).
Prelude
On the 30th January 1945 the brigades of Colonels Chotimski, Vainrub and Yeshov, as well as our regiment and a regiment of medium self-propelled guns (SPGs), thrust into Küstrin from the north and took up the fight for the town. That same day Captain Ivan Koslitin sent me a bottle of Oder water as evidence that the scouts had reached the east bank of the river in the Alt Drewitz–Küstrin sector. The Political Officer, Major Nikolai Ossadtchi, took a gulp out of the bottle and proudly reported: ‘The Oder has good water.’ Adjutant Michail Sacharkin added: ‘Suvorov and Kutusov have already slaked their thirst from this river.’
So we had reached the Oder, the last big water obstacle to be defended by the enemy on our way to Berlin. The river had frozen over a few days before. The ice was free of snow and reflected the sun’s rays like a mirror. The east bank dropped steeply.
I drove to Alt Drewitz to find our corps commander, General Krivoshein. On the way I met Koslitin, my reconnaissance officer. He briefed me on the layout of the German defences. The enemy was making every effort to defend Küstrin in order to evacuate fighting equipment, factory equipment and transport to the west bank and win time for the construction of the Oder–Neisse line of defence. Koslitin showed me a sketch with the indicated objectives that had been compiled from lengthy observation, prisoners’ statements as well as details from airmen, infantry and armoured soldiers.
In front of the Oder bridges the enemy had erected two rows of bunkers. Between Küstrin and the Oder bridges were crammed military transports and convoys. The railway station was full of trains and war material. ‘This transport must certainly be destroyed. If the enemy can bring it over the Oder, he can throw it against us in battle’ was Koslitin’s opinion.
This comment seemed to me so important that I decided to ask General Krivoshein to be allowed to attack immediately. I came to Alt Drewitz. Suddenly someone called me. I turned round and saw Major Loslov, my former deputy in the light SPG regiment.
‘Where’s the corps staff?’ I asked.
Koslov pointed to the neighbouring building and groaned.
‘Has something happened?’
The major shrugged and said to me in a breaking voice, ‘I have finished as a regimental commander. Here is the order.’
We sat down on a heap of rubble and the major recounted: ‘The light SPGs were deployed east of the railway in defence as they had no more fuel. Then, when the enemy tanks attacked, they could neither manoeuvre nor withdraw. Nearly all the regiment’s guns were destroyed in this action.’
‘How could you let things go like this?’
Koslov took a deep breath. ‘The Rear Services had not sent us any fuel and I dared not report to the regiment as not fit for action and pull them out of battle.’
We said goodbye to each other. Subdued voices came from the roomy cellar of a building. General Krivoshein was sitting at his desk and assailed me straight away with the question of how many self-propelled guns (SPGs) I had had to leave behind me on the way. ‘Except for two trucks that should arrive any moment, the regiment is complete,’ I answered him.
Krivoshein silently took my map and drew a cross on the Oder bridges and the Küstrin railway station. These were precisely the objectives that Koslitin had spoken about.
‘Take into account’, the general exhorted me, ‘that the leaving of covered firing positions to fire over open sights requires especially rapid handling by the crews.’ Following this remark I was dismissed and was able to return to regimental headquarters, where Sacharkin, my adjutant, and Major Shabalin were already waiting for me. I told them what the general had ordered and we discussed the details. Finally Shabalin and Koslitin worked on the plan of battle while Sacharkin and I set off to the company commanders to select the firing positions and observation posts.
Before us lay the picturesque panorama of the old town of Küstrin and its fortress, from where the German artillery was firing. Right on the edge of town, at the most prominent point, was a factory with a tall chimney.
Our SPG went through a depression. ‘Stop here!’ I called to the driver. ‘This is the right place for our firing position!’
I ordered Lieutenant Muraviov to take up position with his submachine-gunners on the forward slope of the high position to secure the SPGs’ position. A little later the first soldiers went forward, their spades flashed faintly and clods of earth flew through the air, the soldiers working without a break.
Soon the SPGs were able to roll out of the woods into their prepared positions. Startled by the noise, a wild boar decamped, its young following, grunting and squeaking. When Lieutenant-Colonel Pashitnov, our training officer, saw the boar, he was immediately overcome with hunting fever. ‘To hell with the camouflage,’ he swore. ‘Can I shoot now? We could have a tasty roast this evening.’
I went through the positions. Our Communist Party Secretary, Captain Anatoli Postnikov, was telling the soldiers that we were standing on historical ground. The great army commander Kutusov had defeated the Napoleonic troops here 132 years ago on the 31st January 1813. Postnikov ended his explanation with an appeal for them to be worthy of their famous predecessors.
The observation posts of the regiment and companies were constructed on the same heights 2 kilometres from the enemy defences on the northern edge of the town. From there we could concentrate our fire on the railway station, the Oder bridges and Küstrin fortress. The heights on which we found ourselves were dug up in all directions, but the sappers’ constructions went on and soon there was a thick net of positions in this narrow area.
As Major Shabalin saw the telephone lines being laid openly to the command post he waited furiously for the communications men to arrive. ‘They seem to me to be signallers,’ snarled Shabalin. ‘Is it really so difficult to understand that a cable laid in the open can be torn apart by shell splinters or the tracks of an SPG? Damned incompetence!’
There were guardposts with machine-guns in front of the command posts for the regimental commander and the adjutant, and the observers had taken up their positions. Meanwhile all the queries were answered except for that of cooperation with Colonel Vainrub.
‘If we haven’t resolved the cooperation problem by nightfall, it looks bad,’ Sacharkin said concernedly. I too was slowly becoming unsettled. The connection had to be implemented. ‘Yudin! To the command post with the Jeep immediately!’
My driver climbed out of the trenches and hurried to a bush behind which the vehicle stood. At that moment an SPG appeared in the distance with my deputy on his way. Shortly afterwards it stopped at my command post. Lieutenant-Colonel Pashitnov, our training officer, climbed out slowly and came reeling towards me. He was wearing a thick bandage around his head. ‘Sorry for being late, but I came under fire from the enemy artillery three times,’ he announced.
We squatted in a trench and Pashitnov reported what he had learnt. The attack was due to begin at 0700 hours next morning. ‘How is it with the motorised infantry?’