the commander of the ninth army of the wehrmacht, general hans jordon, built the defense in a formulaicer. the troops were dispersed exclusively inside. three fortified areas, in a wooded and swampy area south of bobrusk, the enemy forces were not so great. it could not even occur to the germans that soviet troops would advance through almost impassable swamps, but it was there that rakosovsky decided to attack. to overcome topias and impassable places, the fighters , on the advice of local partisans, wove macro-stomps from willow branches. these are bast shoes that look like large tennis rackets; they were tied to boots and calmly slapped around the quagmire. the guns were carried on special wooden rafts, and gatis were built for light tanks. to avoid getting sick while working in cold water, the soldiers, again, on the advice of the partisans, smeared their bodies with fat. the formation of the sixteenth air army was planned to be used in the direction of action of the strike groups. the dnieper military flotilla was supposed to support the offensive of the troops and transport them a