The squad led by Christopher approached the Gumlak Station guarded by the Soviet army before dawn. After receiving the report from the previous car, Christopher immediately ordered: "Don't alarm the defenders in the station, look for roads from other grounds to go around." The reason why he issued such an order was because he was worried that the sentry found that his fake German convoy would immediately issue an alarm. Once a misunderstanding occurred, it would be difficult to end.
Drive forward for seven or eight kilometers, the armored vehicle that opened the road notified Christopher with a vehicle-mounted radio station: "Comrade Lieutenant, a unit was found on the road ahead, with about 300 people. It is impossible to detour on both sides. What should we do?"
Hearing that a unit of hundreds of people appeared in front of him, Christopher hurriedly asked: "Is it ours, or the German?"
"It's our man, comrade Lieutenant." The commander of the first car, a sergeant, reported to Christopher: "They have found us and looked for cover on the spot, seemingly ready to fire at us! What should we do now?"
Christopher knew that there was no way to detour ahead. If the armored convoy drove forward forcibly, he would likely fight with his own people. In desperation, he could only order the convoy to stop: "Stop the convoy and stand by on standby!"
After the car stopped, Christopher stood in the carriage, raised his telescope and looked forward. He saw hundreds of Soviet commanders and soldiers lying on the gullies or grasslands on the roadside, and the black muzzles were aimed at the location of the convoy. "What should I do?" Christopher asked himself in his heart: "Do you forcefully rush over, or retreat to find the road again?"
"Comrade Lieutenant, what should we do?" Corporal Aino from the Fourth Company saw that Christopher held up his telescope and never put it down, so he kindly reminded the other party: "If our convoy had been parked here, it would have been unnecessary trouble before."
Christopher, who was facing a dilemma, heard Corporal Aino's reminder and asked casually: "Comrade Corporal, tell me, what should we do now?"
"If we move forward, we will clash with our own troops." Corporal Aino looked ahead and said, "But if we turn around and look for other ways out, it will delay unnecessary time. Therefore, both methods are not advisable."
Corporal Aino's words aroused Christopher's interest. He put down his telescope and turned his head and asked, "Comrade Corporal, do you have any good solutions?"
Corporal Aino pointed his hand forward and said, "The best way is to continue driving forward along the road."
"But you just said that once we continue to move forward, we will clash with the troops ahead." Christopher looked at Aino and said coldly: "Do you really want us to fight with our own people?"
"Comrade Lieutenant, I just observed carefully that there should be no enemy nearby." Aino said to Christopher: "We just need to send someone to show our identity and let them make a way for us."
"Send someone to show our identity?" Christopher thought for a while about Corporal Aino's bold proposal, thinking that he could try this plan, which was better than being stalemate like this. He asked back, "Comrade Corporal, who do you think you should send to complete this task?"
“Since I made this suggestion,” Aino said, “then I will be responsible for the implementation.”
After obtaining Christopher's consent, Aino got out of the car and looked for a branch on the side of the road, tied a white handkerchief to it, and walked forward with one hand.
The Soviet commanders and fighters who were hidden on the other side thought that a fierce battle would take place after they encountered the German armored convoy. Not only did they not fight, but on the contrary, the other party also sent a soldier to come over with a white flag. The highest rank was a captain. Seeing someone coming over with a white flag, he quickly leaned up from the ground and shouted left and right: "Don't shoot, don't shoot."
After shouting, the captain stared at the German soldiers walking towards him and thought to himself: "What the hell is going on? After this German armored convoy encountered him, not only did not open fire, but someone came over with a white flag. Are they planning to surrender to us?"
Aino walked to a place more than ten steps away from the Soviet commanders and fighters and stopped, then shouted loudly: "Who are you the commander of this army?"
Hearing that the German soldiers who were holding the white flag spoke fluent Russian, the captain stood up and said to him: "I am Captain Goria, the company commander of the 192nd Infantry Division. Are you ready to surrender to us?"
"What did you say? Why do we surrender to you?" Aino said unyieldingly without being influenced by Goria's higher rank than his own: "We are from the 73rd Infantry Brigade and are carrying out special missions. Please move the way out."
"The 73rd Infantry Brigade?" Captain Goria was stunned when he heard Aino say this, and then asked back: "Is it the unit that is holding onto Mamayev's hill?"
"Yes, we are indeed stationed in Mamayevgang." Aino asked in surprise: "Have you heard of our troops?"
"Yes, I've heard of it." Goria nodded and said, "Our division's original mission was to station Mamayevgang. Who knew that it was almost at Stalingrad, but he notified us that the 73rd infantry brigade had been stationed there, so he transferred our division to the left bank of the Don River to block the German attack."
"Comrade Captain, if you don't object, you can follow me to meet our commander." Aino said with a whisper to the convoy behind him, "He is on the armored vehicle in the middle."
"Deputy Company Commander," shouted Goria, who was lying not far away, and shouted: "Get the troops together immediately and prepare to continue on the road."
"But, Comrade Commander." The second lieutenant pointed his hand at the armored vehicle in the distance and said embarrassedly: "The armored vehicle in front blocked our way."
Goria said, "Don't worry, the car is full of our comrades, you can just hurry up."
The second lieutenant agreed, got up from the ground and began to regroup the troops. Goria followed Aino and walked towards the armored vehicle where Christopher was located.
Seeing that Corporal Aino came over with an officer, and the other party's rank was higher than his, Christopher got out of the car and stood by the car. As soon as the other party came over, he immediately raised his hand to salute: "Hello, Comrade Captain. I am Lieutenant Christopher, the reconnaissance company commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade."
Goria returned a greeting, "I am Goria, the captain of the 192nd Infantry Division! Comrade Lieutenant, can I ask, where are you planning to go when you disguised as a German and took a German armored vehicle?"
"Sorry," Christopher said politely in the face of Goria's curiosity: "We are carrying out a special mission, please forgive me for not giving any advice. By the way, comrade Captain, where are the other people in your division, and where are you going?"
Goria waited for Christopher to finish speaking, and said with a wry smile: "Comrade Lieutenant, have you not seen that there are only a few hundred people left in our division? Except for me and the deputy company commander, all the officers died in the battle. As for where you ask us, I can only answer you: I don't know! We can only walk along the road and wait for a unit to accommodate us."
Hearing Goria's pessimistic speech, Christopher couldn't help but have an idea, thinking that although this unit had only a few hundred people, if it could persuade them to join the infantry brigade, the brigade commander would be very happy. Thinking of this, Christopher said to Goria: "Captain, if you want, I can send someone to send you to Mamayev Hill, where you can rest and replenish."
Christopher's words made Goria's heart beat, and he asked tentatively: "Is this appropriate?"
"There is nothing wrong." Christopher said, calling Aino over and instructed him: "Corporal Aino, you don't have to participate in this action. Your new mission is to bring the comrades of the 192nd Division back to Mamayev's hill."
When he learned that he could not participate in the mission, Anno showed a embarrassed expression on his face. Just when he was about to say something, he heard Christopher say: "Comrade Corporal, as long as you can bring this army to Mamayev hill smoothly, I believe the brigade commander and others will be very happy. Do you understand?"
Christopher's words made Aino feel enlightened. He immediately thought that if he really brought this army back to Mamayev, the contribution he made would not be worse than following Christopher deep into the enemy's backbone and seizing the enemy's warehouse. Maybe the brigade commander would be happy and would even promote himself to the rank. So he quickly stood at attention and replied: "Comrade Lieutenant, please rest assured, I will definitely bring them back to Mamayev's safely."
At noon, Aino brought the remnants of the 192nd Division to Mamayevgang. Sokov heard that an army of hundreds of people had arrived at his defense zone and hurried out of the tent.
Goria was standing in the open ground and talking to Aino. Seeing Sokov coming, the two of them quickly stood at attention and raised their hands to salute each other. Aino reported: "Comrade Commander, this is Captain Goria of the 192nd Division. We met his troops on the way to perform our mission. Lieutenant Christopher ordered me to bring us here."
"Welcome, Captain Goria." Sokov stepped forward and held Goria's hand, and said with a smile: "I guess you are all hungry. I will arrange for you to fill your stomach and rest."
"Lt. Colonel," Goria glanced at the military rank on Sokov's captain and said carefully: "I want to ask, can you accommodate us?"
When Sokov heard Goriya say this, he was stunned and then asked, "Why, comrade Captain, are you not going to go back to your division?"
The expression on Goriya's face became solemn. He looked at Sokov and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, we are the only ones left in our division."
"Captain, if you have anything, let's talk about it later." Sidolin felt that something was wrong in public and said it was not appropriate, so he called everyone into the tent, and at the same time ordered Corporal Aino: "Take them to the place where the guard company usually trains to rest, and let the cooks get some food for them by the way."
After entering the tent, Cidolin asked at Goria: "Captain, I have served as the commander of the combat department of the 64th Army before. I know that the 192nd Division is deployed on the right bank of the Don River. If I remember correctly, your defense line is at least 120 kilometers away from here. Tell me, how did you come here?"
"Lt. Colonel," Goria suddenly stood up from her seat, staring at Cidolin with wide eyes, and asked angrily: "Do you think we are deserters?"
"Captain, don't be excited." Sokov walked to Goriya, raised his hand and patted him gently twice, and said softly: "I think you must have experienced a lot of things. Can you tell us all?"
After sitting down, Goria raised his chin at Sidolin and said, "This former Comrade of the Operations Commissioner is not wrong. Our 192nd Division was initially deployed on the right bank of the Don River. But in late July, the German army broke through the defensive positions of our division and the 184th Division after a strong attack. They not only sent planes to bomb our division headquarters, but also sent a small group of troops to attack. The division commander Colonel Zaharchenko organized staff to counterattack the attacking enemy, but even shot down an enemy plane with machine guns. But he was unfortunately hit by the bomb dropped by the enemy plane and died heroically on the spot.
Just the day before yesterday, the German army launched a strong attack on our position with the tank troops as the forefront. Faced with the enemy's offensive, we carried out tenacious resistance. During the battle, the new division commander Colonel Rulalev, Chief of Staff Tarantev and the political commissar all died heroically. When the entire division entered the position, there were more than 6,000 people, but in the end, the only ones who successfully broke through the German encirclement were the more than 300 people I led."
"What about the other troops on the right bank?" After hearing Goria's words, Cidolin asked curiously: "Did they also stick out of the German encirclement and return to the left bank?"
"Ltd Colonel, I don't know." Goria shook his head and said, "When we broke through, the 184th and 205th Divisions on the left and right wings were also trapped in the German encirclement. As for whether they broke through, I don't know."
"What are your plans for the future?" Sokov asked briefly.
"Ltd. Colonel, can you accommodate us?" Goria said with a dim expression: "The 192nd Division has almost been exhausted. Perhaps the superiors will abolish our organization. If you do not accommodate us, the rest will be disbanded and divided into other troops."
Chapter completed!