Lieutenant Colonel Siknius was driven out of his garrison by the Soviet army, which was a shame for him. Therefore, as soon as the sky was dawn, his 2nd Armored Regiment launched a counterattack from the north to the defensive position of the 149th Brigade. Although the tanks and armored vehicles were almost lost during the retreat, fortunately there were still more than a dozen mortars that could provide artillery support to the infantry during the attack.
When the mortar was bombarding the 149th Brigade position, the German machine gunners were not idle. They quickly established machine gun positions more than 100 meters away from the trench and pointed the muzzle in front.
As soon as the artillery fire stopped, the German infantry launched a charge. The dusty soldiers hurriedly put their guns on the edge of the trench, aimed at the enemy who rushed over and pulled the trigger. Seeing that the Soviet position had already started shooting, the German machine guns also fired, and they concentrated on suppressing the firepower point on the position that posed the greatest threat to the machine gun fire.
Seeing that the German mortars were fighting so lively, they were not idle. They bombarded the exposed fire points with artillery fire in the distance to reduce casualties of the offensive infantry. The gunners fired very accurately, and a few shells blew up two Soviet machine guns and the shooter into the sky.
As the machine gun fire point was destroyed, the firepower on the Soviet position suddenly weakened a lot. The German infantry approached the Soviet position without paying much casualties. Seeing that in just a few seconds, the fastest soldiers could jump into the Soviet trenches and engage in close combat with the defenders who were standing inside, suddenly a shocking "Ula" sound came from the trenches. Then hundreds of soldiers jumped out of the trenches. They rushed towards the Germans bravely with the bayonets.
The German soldiers never dreamed that the Soviet army would launch a counter-charge at this time, and it was suddenly in chaos. The officers and soldiers of both sides suddenly collided. They fought and fought each other face to face with the bayonet, just like a duel between cold weapons in the medieval period. They howled, stabbed each other fiercely, and used bayonets to pick and smash them with the butt. They did not have any fancy stands, and they did everything just to kill each other.
The thorns between the two sides lasted for half an hour. The German officers and soldiers, who were not as skilled as others, were defeated and retreated. Seeing the enemy retreating, the living Soviet soldiers returned to the trenches one after another, and some even carried the wounded into the trenches.
In the observation center not far away, Borvinov saw with his own eyes the battle between his subordinates and the Germans. Although his troops won, the price was not small. He ordered his chief of staff: "Go outside and see how many troops have rushed out of the encirclement?"
The Chief of Staff did not leave immediately, but stood behind him and asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, when will we stick to here?"
"I don't know." Bolvinov said with anger: "In order to ensure that the surrounded troops can successfully break through the encirclement, we must stick here until there is an order to retreat."
Some of the troops surrounded by the German army are close to the breakthrough, while others are very far away. The troops close to the breakthrough may successfully break out of the encirclement in a few hours; while the troops far away have no idea that there is a breakthrough here due to poor communication, but run around like headless flies, searching hard for a way to escape.
Borvinov obviously knew this. In order to ensure that more troops in the encirclement could successfully break through, he had to stay here so that the enemy could not close the encirclement. In order to do this, even if he had to fight all the troops, he could not take a step back even if he had to fight them all.
After the chief of staff left, Borvinov called Gorokhov in the south and asked happily: "Col. Gorokhov, how is your situation?"
"The German army just launched an attack on us, but was repelled by our soldiers." Gorokhov said proudly: "The captured German tanks are the best turrets for us. Unfortunately, there are no shells, otherwise we can cause greater losses to the Germans."
When he thought of two brigades seizing the garrison of the 2nd Armored Regiment of the German Army, and seizing troops to guard both sides of the breakthrough, Gorokhov once asked himself if he wanted to divide several tanks, but he refused without hesitation. Now he really regrets when he thinks about it. If he put a few tanks on his position, he could destroy them with tank guns when the enemy's mortar bombarded the position.
After the Chief of Staff returned, he reported to Borvinov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I have already gone to inquire. So far, the 35th Guards Division, Colonel Jahua's 131st Infantry Division, Colonel Sorogubu's 112th Colonel Avelin's 196th Division, and Major General Barinov's 98th Infantry Division."
Hearing that so many divisions had successfully broken out of the siege, Borvinov showed a relaxed expression on his face: "I really didn't take action. There were so many troops who had successfully broken out of the siege..."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," the chief of staff saw Bolvinov's expression and quickly continued: "The casualties of these divisions are very heavy. When I just went to inquire about the news, I happened to meet the commander of the 196th Division. He was seriously injured and was carried out by several soldiers on stretchers. There are only less than a thousand people left in the division. The other divisions are not much better."
Borvinov's pupils contracted violently: "What, there are only less than a thousand people left in a division?" The Chief of Staff's report made him realize the seriousness of the problem. "Even if such troops retreated to the city, they would not be able to participate in the battle. They could only be transferred back to the back to make up for the replenishment."
After pausing for a moment, he continued to ask, "So how many troops are there in the encirclement?"
"I don't know very well." The chief of staff shook his head and said, "I have asked several passing commanders, but they can't tell the exact number. Later, a famous colonel told me that there were at least seven or eight divisions in the encirclement."
"I understand." Borvinov knew very well at this moment that it would take at least one or two days to wait for the troops of the seven or eight divisions to successfully break out of the encirclement. Thinking of holding on here for one or two days, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. Not to mention holding on for one or two days, even if he persisted until this evening, how many people would be left of his troops was still unknown. He waved to the Chief of Staff and said, "Go and tell our commander that if the enemy rushed through our position, the enemy would be able to re-enclose the breakthrough that had finally been opened. The troops we left in the encirclement would be in danger of destruction of the entire army."
…………
Just as the two infantry brigades were fighting fiercely with the enemy who tried to re-enclose the breakthrough, the third battalion led by Sokov and Andre were rushing towards the battle area.
What they met was the teaching battalion of the 35th Guard Division. Sokov saw a group of messy troops in front of him, heading towards his location, and quickly ordered the third battalion to hide on the spot and prepare for combat.
Major Ibaru, the battalion commander of the teaching battalion, also discovered Sokov and others. Seeing that the other party's troops were hidden on the spot and prepared for combat. In order to prevent misunderstandings, he only brought a soldier to meet Sokov.
When Sokov saw a major coming towards him, he stood up from his hiding place and asked, "Which part of you are?"
"I am Major Ibaru, the battalion commander of the 35th Guards Division." After Ibaru revealed his identity, he asked Sokov: "Which part of you are, what are you doing here?"
"I am Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the commander of the Northern Cluster of the 62nd Army." Sokov said with his hands behind his back: "The task I accept is to receive the main force of the army separated by the German army. If I am not wrong, help you to highlight the troops surrounded by the German army, which are the 124th and 149th Brigades under my command."
When Ibaru heard about the northern cluster, he said in his heart that this was a force that emerged from somewhere, and he had never heard of it. When he heard Sokov mention that the troops that responded to their breakthrough belonged to the northern cluster, he immediately respected Sokov. He straightened his body and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, Ibaru is willing to obey your command, please give instructions!"
"You have been trapped behind enemy lines for so long, so you should go back to the city to rest early." Sokov turned around and pointed to the road he came to and said, "You can walk along this road and walk for two or three hours to reach the factory area. There, you will find the new commander General Cui Kov. Well, I will also go to pick up other friendly troops to break through. Good luck!" As he said that, he shook hands with Ibaru and led the commanders and fighters of the third battalion to continue to advance against the retreating troops.
When Andre heard the sound of guns and cannons coming from the front, he asked Sokov tentatively: "Comrade Brigade Commander, listen to the sound of guns and cannons, the shooting ahead seems very fierce. Are we going to block the enemy like those two infantry brigades?"
"Who said we were going to block the enemy?" Sokov asked back: "Have I said this?"
Andre said with a blank look: "Comrade Brigade Commander, didn't you say that Colonel Gorokhov and his team were in trouble, are we going to help them? Why, you changed your mind."
Sokov sneered: "Captain Andre, do you know why I am the brigade commander and you are just the battalion commander?"
"I don't know." Andre shook his head and answered honestly.
Sokov gently tapped his temple with two fingers that were close together and said to Andre: "Comrade Captain, it is not enough to rely on courage alone in war, but also on his mind. We go to help Colonel Gorokhov and others, but it does not mean we must stay in the trenches and fight with the Germans. The Germans are attacking Gorokhov and Bolvinov, and their attention is focused on the front positions, while there is no defense on the flanks and rears. We can attack from their side and rear and beat them to a fallen water. Do you understand?"
"I understand, comrade brigade commander." Andrei followed Sokov for a long time. After hearing his explanation, he immediately understood what was going on. He nodded quickly and said, "The Germans focused their attention on the two infantry brigades, and they would never dream of us. We would attack them from the side. As long as our soldiers rushed, they would definitely defeat this enemy."
Sokov nodded, then stared at the endless warriors on the road, thinking to himself: "If these troops could obey my command, I would be sure to wipe out a part of the 16th Armored Division nearby."
But Sokov could only think about this kind of thing in his heart. Along the way, he saw that in the retreating troops, there were not only soldiers, but also many commanders, several of whom had higher ranks than him, so he had to salute them from a distance and briefly reported his actions. Such troops may not be able to command apart from Cui Kov.
Sokov could tell the direction of the German army based on the sound of gunfire. After walking a distance along the highway, he ordered the troops to change the direction of the marching and drill into the forest beside the road. He was about to pass through this forest and give the German army an unexpected attack.
After learning Sokov's intentions, Andre sent scouts to reconnaise the location of the German army. They walked in the forest for almost an hour, and a scout came back to report to Andre: "Comrade Battalion Commander, I have discovered the German position."
"Where is it?" Sokov couldn't help asking.
The scout squatted on the ground, picked up a branch, pulled apart the fallen leaves on the ground, and began to draw a simple picture. He said while drawing: "The enemy has an artillery position. There are about thirty artillery guns in the northwest direction of this forest. According to my observation, the enemy's artillery may have no shells and are shooting so fiercely in front of them, but the artillery guns are all sitting on the positions to rest."
"Apart from the artillery position," Sokov suddenly lost interest when he heard that it was an artillery without shells. He then asked, "Are there any other troops besides artillery?"
"Some, there seems to be a German army stationed in the forest north of the artillery position." The scout said this and said awkwardly: "The enemy's defense is too strict, and I can't touch it and figure it out, so I don't know how much of their specific forces are."
Sokov knew that such a thing could not be forced, so he asked casually: "How many enemies do you think do you have?"
"There is at least one regiment, and it is an infantry regiment."
When Andre heard this, he felt embarrassed and looked on his face: "Comrade Brigade Commander, there are less than a thousand people in our battalion, so there is no problem dealing with the German artillery. If he faces the German infantry regiment, he may... I'm afraid..."
"What are you afraid of?" Sokov looked at Andre and asked with a sneer. "Are you worried that our troops will be destroyed by the Germans?"
Chapter completed!