As the jeep drove towards the northern suburbs of the city, Prochenko turned to look at the place where he had been not long ago, and found that the fire was swirling towards him. The entire block was burning, and the flames were carried by the wind.
The fire burned the sky red, everything where the fire dragon passed was ignited, houses were burning, street trees were burning...
The streets were crowded with people fleeing, and more and more people were coming from other directions. During the escape of the frightened residents, some people kept falling or tripping, but no one paid attention to them.
He walked over or stepped on them, trampling one unlucky resident to death one after another. Hearing the noisy cries and screams in the distance, Prochenko couldn't help but burst into tears.
When Prochenko and some of his soldiers were about to withdraw from the north gate, a hail of bullets suddenly flew towards them, knocking down many of the soldiers at the front. "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" Those who were lucky enough to escape the enemy bullets
The officers and soldiers shouted, hid behind steps or telephone poles, and fired back in the direction of the bullets.
"Comrade leader, there are enemies in front of you, get out of the car quickly!" As soon as the jeep stopped, Vanya opened the door and pulled Prochenko out of the car. As soon as the two jumped out of the car, a series of bullets flew
The driver who came over and had not had time to get out of the car was suddenly shot to death on his seat.
After the commanders and soldiers exchanged fire with the enemies blocking the way in front of them, a large number of fleeing residents began to appear on the street. In order to escape the fate of being burned to death, they rushed into the fighting area in a panic. The residents who rushed to the front soon rushed into the area.
Just as they fell in pieces under the fire of German machine guns, the residents behind did not know what was happening in front, and they kept pushing forward.
The residents in the front fell to the gunfire of the Germans, and the residents in the back stepped on their bodies and continued to rush forward, but were soon knocked down in pieces by the oncoming bullets. After a while, the streets were filled with layers of people.
On the opposite side, there are layers of corpses of dead residents in various postures.
An officer who was directing the soldiers to fight back saw the residents falling in pieces under the enemy's guns. His eyes suddenly turned red. He took off the steel helmet on his head, threw it to the ground, and shouted loudly.
: "Brothers, we cannot let the enemy kill our comrades so unscrupulously anymore. If you are not afraid of death, come with me!"
A dozen soldiers around him responded with a roar, holding weapons and following their commanders towards the enemy's fire points. Their bravery inspired more soldiers, and they came out of their hiding places one after another, shooting at the enemy's firepower points.
He rushed towards the German temporary position.
The officer shouted loudly and rushed in front of everyone. Facing the enemy's intensive firepower, he did not hide. Instead, he kept shooting with an assault rifle while running, trying to suppress the enemy's firepower. Unfortunately, the enemy
The location was very concealed, and the bullets he fired did not hit the target at all.
When the German commander who was responsible for blocking the attack saw the officer taking the lead, he immediately ordered a machine gun to shoot at him. A hail of bullets flew in, and countless blood mist was splashed on the officer's body. He turned around in circles several times.
After that, he fell softly to the ground. Seven or eight of the soldiers following him fell under the enemy's gunfire. The remaining soldiers could only find hidden positions on the spot and start shooting with the enemy.
The fire and fighting in the city alerted Shechtman outside the city. He quickly ordered the chief of staff: "Chief of staff, get in touch with the 762nd Regiment immediately and ask what happened in the city."
The chief of staff did not wait for Shechtman to finish, and reported to him with a grimace: "Comrade division commander, we lost contact with the city half an hour ago."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Colonel Billing, who came with Shechtman, asked the Chief of Staff nervously: "Have you figured out what happened in the city?"
"Comrade Political Commissar," after hearing Colonel Billing ask himself, the Chief of Staff quickly reported to him: "According to our observation post report, there were more than a dozen fires in the city first, and it was soon burned to ashes. I ordered at that time
People contacted the 762nd Regiment to find out what happened, but they were never able to get in touch with them."
"Chief of Staff, immediately send people to the city to conduct reconnaissance and find out what is going on..."
Before the chief of staff could accept the order, the phone on the table rang. The chief of staff picked up the phone and found out that it was Major General Fomenko, commander of the 84th Division, who had opened it. The other person asked straight to the point on the phone: "What happened in the city?"
What happened, why were there soaring flames and fierce gunshots?"
"Comrade General," the chief of staff reported respectfully: "Since the fire broke out in the city, we have lost contact with the troops staying in the city, so we are temporarily unclear about what happened."
"Could it be that the Germans took advantage of the darkness to counterattack you?" Fomenko also received a telegram from Sokov, which said that the Germans might take action at night and ordered all troops to be on alert. See you now.
The 254th Division headquarters was unable to contact the troops in the city, so he naturally thought of Sokov's telegram.
"Comrade General, we don't know the specific situation yet." The chief of staff didn't understand the situation in the city at all. Naturally, he couldn't reply to Fomenko casually. He could only say vaguely: "We have sent personnel to conduct reconnaissance.
We will update you once we find out what happened."
"Okay," seeing that he couldn't get any useful information from the chief of staff, Fomenko didn't press for it, "I'm waiting for your latest news."
After Shechtman waited for the chief of staff to put down the phone, he continued to say to him: "Although we don't know exactly what happened in the city, judging from the fact that we can't contact the 762nd Regiment, they may be surrounded by the German army."
"Comrade Division Commander, judging from the current situation, the 762nd Regiment is definitely in danger." Colonel Billing said: "If we wait for the scouts to figure out the situation before sending people to help them, the 762nd Regiment may have been wiped out long ago.
I suggest that while sending out scouts for reconnaissance, we should withdraw the two regiments outside the city and quickly move north of the city. Once we understand the situation in the city, our troops can immediately enter the city to provide support.
The 762nd Regiment in danger."
"Comrade division commander, I think the political commissar is right." After the chief of staff waited for Colonel Billing to finish speaking, he echoed: "This is the safest way."
"Okay, let's do what you said." Seeing that the political commissar and chief of staff were unanimous again, Shechtman did not insist on his opinion, but said in a good-humored way: "While sending people into the city to conduct reconnaissance, at the same time, we will mobilize the troops."
Go near the north gate and be ready to reinforce the 762nd Regiment at any time."
Just when Shechtman and others were discussing sending troops to support the 762nd Regiment, regiment commander Prochenko and chief of staff Vanya were standing on the roof of a three-story building, looking around with binoculars.
After observing the surrounding terrain, Vanya said to Prochenko: "Comrade Commander, I found that the enemy not only set fire in the city center, but also had many fire points to the east and west of us.
, but because the wind direction is wrong, the fire spreads relatively slowly."
"What the hell, how could the enemy set fire so fast?" Prochenko said angrily: "It's only been half an hour since the fire started. Look how the fire has spread."
"Comrade leader, do you remember those oil barrels I told you about?" Vanya was afraid that Prochenko would not be able to remember them, so she reminded him specifically: "They are the ones filled with gasoline that are placed in residential buildings.
Oil barrel."
"I remember, of course I remember." After Vanya reminded him, Prochenko also understood what was going on: "So, the enemy placed oil barrels everywhere in the building just to support the combustion.
Effect."
"Yes, that's it." Vanya pointed to the distance and said to Prochenko: "Comrade commander, look, the enemy in the distance is setting fire with a flamethrower, plus there are a lot of things in the house.
If the oil drum is placed, the fire can become out of control in a very short time."
Perhaps in order to confirm that Vanya's analysis was correct, Prochenko saw a fire dragon rising from under a building in the distance and rushed directly into an open window. A moment later, an explosion occurred in the room, and the flames burst from the window.
It spewed out, and the building immediately began to burn.
"It turns out that the enemy was using a flamethrower to set the fire. No wonder the fire spread so fast." After Prochenko said this, he asked Vanya: "Chief of Staff, what should we do next?"
"Comrade Commander, the fire is coming towards our position. In another hour at most, our place will turn into a sea of fire." Vanya said solemnly: "Therefore, we must break through the enemy's attack at all costs.
Intercept and rush out of the city, otherwise we will either be killed by enemy bullets or burned alive by the fire that is about to spread."
Seeing the fire in the distance burning down the street little by little, Prochenko naturally would not sit still and wait for death. He made a decisive decision and said to Vanya: "Comrade Chief of Staff, we can't sit here and wait to be killed."
Burned to death, the only thing we can do is to attack the enemy, break through their defenses, and cover the remaining residents to evacuate the city smoothly."
Fortunately, after experiencing heavy casualties not long ago, the residents finally understood that although the fire behind them was terrible, it would take a certain amount of time to spread. If they did not wait for their troops to clear out the Germans on the road ahead, they would have rashly
If you rush forward, you will die in vain. The corpses piling up in the streets are a lesson to you.
However, several subsequent attacks launched by the Soviet army were repelled by the intensive firepower of the German army, leaving only more than a hundred corpses and dozens of wounded people on the streets. Since the health workers were missing, those who had fallen after receiving the call were
There was no one to rescue the wounded on board. Some soldiers wanted to drag their injured comrades to a safe place, but they fell to the gunfire of a German sniper as soon as they showed up. The remaining soldiers saw this and did not dare.
If you take risks again, you can only hide in a safe place and shout to your comrades, hoping that they can continue to persevere.
Humans are not machines. No matter how much adrenal glands they secrete, they cannot be eaten. After encountering several failed attacks, the courage originally inspired by their comrades has long been exhausted. Although the soldiers are still launching attacks, their personal
It can be seen that the intensity of the attack was more than one level lower than the initial one. However, the German army relied on its geographical advantage and firepower advantage to continuously consume the Soviet army's effective strength.
Seeing this situation, Vanya couldn't help but feel anxious. He knew very well that no matter how brave and capable his commanders and soldiers were, under the current circumstances, their morale would become lower and lower.
If you break through the German interception, everyone will be burned alive here.
Prochenko, who was furious, snatched an assault rifle from the soldier's hand and said loudly to Vanya: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you will be responsible for this. I will personally lead the soldiers to charge."
.I don’t believe you can’t open a bloody path and lead everyone out of the city.”
"No, Comrade Commander, you can't do this." Although the commander takes the lead and can boost the morale and morale of the troops, if Prochenko personally leads the charge, if there is any shortcoming, then he will be compressed in this area.
The morale of the troops in a small area will drop to the lowest point, and everyone will have no choice but to wait here to die. Vanya chased Prochenko from upstairs to the street, and grabbed Prochenko's arm: "You are a group.
Long, you can't charge like a warrior."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Prochenko said anxiously when he saw Vanya stopping him from leading the charge: "You have also seen that our commanders and soldiers have launched several consecutive attacks without success. Everyone is a little moody.
Low. In their current state, even if you order them to attack again, I'm afraid it won't achieve much effect. I lead the attack and can improve everyone's morale, so that the chance of breaking through the enemy's interception can be greatly improved."
The two were so angry that no one noticed the sudden sound of artillery. A staff officer pulled Prochenko's sleeve, and the angry Prochenko yelled at him: "What's the matter?"
"Comrade commander," the staff officer reported to Prochenko excitedly: "Look quickly, our artillery is bombarding the enemy's position, our reinforcements are coming!"
Prochenko looked back blankly and saw clouds of fire rising from the German positions ahead, and he could even hear the whistling sound of bullets flying across the field.
Soviet commanders and soldiers scattered everywhere, like Prochenko, stared blankly at the fire and smoke rising from the enemy's position, and listened to the rumble of artillery.
After a long time, cheers muffled by the sound of artillery could be heard sporadically: "Reinforcements, our reinforcements!"
"The division commander sent people to rescue us!"
After the sound of artillery stopped, intensive gunfire came again. It seemed that the reinforcements outside the city launched an attack on the enemy's position.
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Prochenko said to Vanya: "The reinforcements outside the city have launched an attack on the enemy. We have to help them, otherwise we will pay heavy casualties when they rush over."
"Comrade leader, you are right, we should help them." Vanya snatched the assault rifle from Prochenko's hand and said to him with a solemn expression: "You stay here to command, I will take the people."
Receive reinforcements from outside the city."
After finishing speaking, without waiting for Prochenko to express his opinion, Vanya shouted to the soldiers standing beside him: "Comrades, our reinforcements are coming, come with me!"
This chapter has been completed!