"Open fire!"
Inside Smolensk, the artillery of the German 3rd Army Corps, 1st Polish Army Corps, 2nd Army Corps, and 1st Belarusian Army Corps was pouring shells into the city from four directions.
Although the Polish and Belarusian forces had fewer artillery pieces than the German military, and their calibers were much smaller, the Russian Army now cowering within Smolensk had lost nearly all its artillery. Even those remaining were mostly small-caliber guns, utterly incapable of matching the heavy artillery of the German military and its allies. They could only endure the bombardment passively.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Gun after gun fired, shells raining down upon Smolensk like raindrops.
Building after building was reduced to rubble beneath the bombardment of the German military and its allies. The defensive fortifications constructed by the Russian Army within the city were likewise being destroyed. Russian casualties in the city continued to rise.
The headquarters of the Russian Western Front Army was located in the underground warehouse of a department store in Smolensk. After being remodeled and reinforced, it had become the final hiding place for General Timoshenko and the others.
As one of the Russian Army's senior generals, and someone who had even stood a good chance of being promoted to marshal, General Timoshenko undoubtedly possessed immense prestige and influence within the Russian Army. But unfortunately, now that he had failed to lead the Western Front in holding back the German offensive, he had become a discarded pawn.
"Is Moscow still unwilling to send us reinforcements?" General Timoshenko asked.
"Comrade Commander, Moscow's reply remains the same: we are to hold Smolensk until winter arrives. Only then will we be permitted to break out," a general reported.
"Hold until winter? We are surrounded by more than two million German troops. There are only a little