When the Engineer Company blew up the bridge on the Aksai River, Andre and the commanders and soldiers of the Third Battalion heard the huge explosion, and the black smoke that had risen. Seeing that their retreat was in front of the front, some people would become panic, especially those soldiers who had been prisoners of war in the Ninth Company, and even cried: "The bridge was blown up, we are finished. When the Germans come up, we will become prisoners."
The crying warriors inevitably had a negative impact on the other soldiers around them. At this moment, Lieutenant Guchakov, the commander of the ninth company, came over and slapped the warrior several times without saying a word. After the other party calmed down, Guchakov said angrily: "Don't say that the Germans have not come yet, even if they come, what's the scary thing? Can't we kill the weapons in our hands?"
"But...but...comrade of the company commander." The slapped soldier said stutteringly: "As soon as the two bridges on the river exploded, our retreat will be cut off."
"Although the bridge was blown up, we can move from other places." Guchakov swept across the soldiers present one by one, and then said, "Everyone packs up their things immediately, we are about to move."
In fact, there was nothing to deal with. The soldiers carried any of them at any time, except weapons, a rucksack, ammunition, food and some personal supplies, all of which were placed inside. They said they wanted to set off, and they carried things on their backs. In less than five minutes, the 200 soldiers from the Ninth Company lined up in a neat square, waiting for the battalion commander Captain Andre to issue an order to set off.
Not long after, the soldiers of the 7th Company and the Eighth Company lined up in the fourth column and passed the location of the Ninth Company at the speed of a marching force. When he saw the eighth Company commander Lieutenant Yegor passing by, Guchakov also asked specifically: "Lieutenant Yegor, have you seen the battalion commander?"
"The battalion commander and the direct troops are still behind." After Yegor finished speaking, he waved his hand at Guchakov and said, "Lieutenant Guchakov, we will leave first and wait for you in front."
After a while, Guchakov saw Captain Andrei and walked towards him with a group of people. He hurriedly met him and asked respectfully: "Comrade Battalion Commander, can our Ninth Company set off?"
Andrei walked to Guchakov, put his hand on his shoulder, and walked forward with his arms around him, while saying, "Lieutenant Guchakov, judging from the current situation, the location of our battalion may have been discovered by the Germans. I need your company to stay and cover the entire battalion's retreat. How about it, is there any problem?"
Guchakov did not expect Andre to leave his company behind. After hesitating for a while, he shook his head and said, "No problem, I firmly obey your orders."
"Although your company is responsible for the task of cutting off the rear, there may not necessarily be a battle." Andrei said to Guchakov: "Walking downward for two or three kilometers, there is a small town, where your company will take on the blocking mission. After the main force of the battalion crosses the river, I will send a correspondent to notify you of retreating."
Guchakov brought his Ninth Company to the town. Due to the haste, he had no time to build fortifications outside the town, so he let the soldiers scattered in various rooms. He just waited for the Germans to come and caught them off guard.
Of course, not all houses have his subordinates. In any house where soldiers hide, there are two bricks or equivalent stones at the door; in the houses where there are no bricks or stones, there are thunders arranged on the door. As long as the Germans rashly push the door, they can be blown to pieces.
Time passed by minute by minute, but the German army had no movement at all. Guchakov, who was staying in the town cinema, was anxious and called the Zhendong Observatory almost every few minutes and asked, "How is it, is there any movement?"
"No, comrade commander." The observation post heard Guchakov's voice and immediately replied: "So far, I have not found a German."
After putting down the phone, Guchakov called a soldier and ordered: "Go to the observation center in the west of the city to ask if the battalion commander has sent someone to inform us of the retreat."
Although there is an observation center in the east and west of Zhen, since there are only two telephones in the company, when the communications soldiers lay the route, Guchakov ordered one of them to be installed in the observation center in the east of Zhen, so that he could understand the movements of the German army at any time in the company. As for the observation center in the west of Zhen, its importance is obviously not as important as that in the east of Zhen, so when I asked for information, Guchakov asked the soldiers to go there.
Waiting around, and at 2:00 p.m., the roar of the tank engine came from the east of the town. Before Guchakov could call, the observation center took the initiative to call: "Comrade Commander, we heard the roar of the tank engine coming from a distance. Judging from the sound, there were at least five tanks."
"I understand." Guchakov put down his phone, called several soldiers immediately, and told them: "Go out and send an alarm immediately, so that the soldiers can be ready for battle."
"I understand." Several soldiers agreed and trotted away from the cinema. Soon, whistles sounded one after another on the street. According to the prior agreement, if the soldiers heard a long and two short whistles, it would mean that the German army was about to start the attack and everyone must be prepared for battle.
After seven or eight minutes, the observation center called Guchakov again: "Comrade Commander, the enemy's tanks have appeared in our sight. There are a total of six, and there are two hundred soldiers behind them."
According to Guchakov's idea, the streets in the town were narrow. After the German tanks entered the town, they found a way to use cluster grenades to blow up the two tanks that were opened and broken, and the remaining tanks would be blocked in the street and allowed their troops to destroy them. As for the infantry, once they lost the cover of the tanks and had no advantage of the terrain, they would at least be severely damaged when facing firepower attacks from the buildings on both sides, even if they were not completely wiped out.
Unexpectedly, the German tanks stopped four or five hundred meters away from the town and fired fire at the buildings in the town. As the two rounds of artillery were over, several buildings on the edge of the town collapsed. Except for a few soldiers who responded quickly and escaped in time, the rest were buried in bricks and rubble.
The reason why the German tankers fired fire was that they saw that the town was too quiet, so they fired a few shots and threw stones to ask for directions. Unexpectedly, they bombed out the Soviet soldiers hidden in the building. Seeing that the Soviet army was hidden in the town, but they had no firepower to counterattack, they thought the town was just a group of scattered soldiers, so they issued an order to attack the troops.
Tanks opened the way in front, and infantry rushed towards the town. When they were more than a hundred meters away from the town, the survivors hidden in the ruins shot at them. The bullets fired by the soldiers jingled on the tank armor plate, which could not slow down the tank's movement speed at all.
For those Soviet soldiers hiding in the ruins, the German tanks fired at them with machine guns. The infantry following behind the tanks occasionally poked out half of their bodies, pulled the trigger to the position where the Soviet army was hiding, and knocked down the Soviet soldiers who emerged... In this way, the German army successfully rushed to the edge of the town with almost negligible casualties.
The German commander saw that the Soviet resistance stopped, and based on his determination, he felt that this was just a straitor. He ordered the tanks to stop outside the town, while the infantry scattered into the town to search. The German soldiers divided into several routes, entered the town carefully, and walked forward along the street.
A German soldier walked to a building and saw that the door was closed. He was eager to know if there was an enemy inside, so he grabbed the handle and twisted it, then pushed it hard. With a loud "boom", the soldier and several nearby soldiers were immediately covered with smoke. When the smoke dissipated, the reckless soldiers had been blown to pieces and blood, while the other soldiers fell to the ground and howled.
"Be careful, there are thunders in the building." A German corporal shouted not far away: "Don't open the door at will."
But in order to clear the Soviet army in the town, even though they knew there was danger, these buildings still had to enter. The German sergeant came up with a good idea. He walked to the side of a building, first smashed the window glass with a butt, threw the stringed grenade in, and squatted on the ground with his hands in his arms.
Soon, two consecutive explosions came from the room, and even the closed door was blown down. This was a thunder hidden behind the door and was detonated by a grenade. Seeing that this method worked, the German corporal was overjoyed. He hurriedly urged everyone around him: "Did you see it? The Russians buried the thunder behind the door. As long as they threw the grenade in, they could detonate the mines inside."
When the soldiers around him heard what the corporal said, they followed suit. After smashing the window glass, they threw the smoke-filled grenades in. After some grenades were thrown in, they detonated the thunder buried in the Soviet army and exploded the closed door. But unexpectedly, two grenades thrown into the house were thrown out of the inside and fell into the middle of the German army, and several people were injured on the spot.
Before the Germans could come back to their senses, the streets, which had no movement, seemed to be resurrected. Countless muzzles popped out from the windows on both sides of the street, shooting at the German soldiers standing on the street, knocking them down in batches.
Chapter completed!