Guchakov's Ninth Company rushed to the front of the pursuit team. The Ninth Company originally had more than 300 people. In addition to leaving two platoons to monitor the enemy, the remaining seven platoons were brought here by Guchakov to participate in the battle. After the hand-to-hand combat ended not long ago, there were less than 100 people left in the entire company. Guchakov's leg was also stabbed by the German bayonet, so that he limped a little when running.
His company had just conducted a round of supplements not long ago, and he couldn't even call out the names of many soldiers. Unexpectedly, before the battle was over, many people were gone. Not to mention that Sokov issued an order to pursue and flee the German army, even if he did not give the order, he would volunteer to pursue the enemy.
Although his legs were a little inconvenient, he still rushed to the front of the team, and while running, he turned back to greet his subordinates: "Comrades, come on, the enemy who killed our comrades is right in front. We want to kill them and avenge our comrades who died!"
Many soldiers had almost exhausted their physical strength in hand-to-hand combat. Before they could rest, they started to pursue the German army. They carried guns and moved forward mechanically with the troops, shaking their bodies, looking like they were about to fall down at any time. However, after hearing Guchakov's words, they cheered up and accelerated their pace to continue running forward.
Lieutenant Colonel Siknius, who led the troops to retreat, thought that the Soviet army must have been exhausted after the fierce battle just now, and could not pursue him in a short period of time. He guessed that the Soviet army was exhausted and exhausted, but he did not expect that the Soviet army would pursue the troops he led despite his own fatigue.
Because the retreat began very hasty, the troops had lost their establishment during the retreat. Without the establishment, the German army was just a mess. Facing the Soviet army that was catching up, they could not stop effective resistance. In addition to speeding up the escape, all they could do was raise their hands and wanted to catch up to surrender.
But the Soviet army, who was pursuing, ignored the enemies who were standing on the roadside to surrender, and continued to pursue them tirelessly. As for these prisoners, naturally, there were troops behind them to contain them.
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Andrei followed Sokov, and asked breathlessly, "I...we...at least...at least...at least seven or eight kilometers to chase, what...when will we stop?"
"What, I've been chasing for seven or eight kilometers?" Sokov was so tired that he had no idea how far he had pursued. He only saw that German troops were surrendering everywhere on both sides of the road, so he slowed down and said, "I think it's almost done, just stop here...."
Sokov knew that the Third Battalion and the 149th Brigade were at the end of their strength. If he continued to pursue, once the German army launched a counterattack, there would be danger of the entire army being destroyed. Therefore, he stopped when he saw the opportunity, ordered the troops to stop advancing and contained prisoners on the spot.
As soon as the order to stop chasing was issued, the soldiers stopped, sat on the ground regardless of the silence, and began to breathe heavily; some people even lay directly on the ground and began to sleep loudly.
Seeing that the soldiers were so tired and were equally exhausted, Sokov said to Bolvinov and Andrei who were walking over: "The soldiers were all tired, so let them have some rest. In addition, arrange for the officers to take over the prisoners on the roadside and count the results of the battle."
Siknius, who led his troops to flee to death, saw that the Soviet army suddenly stopped pursuing, and couldn't help but secretly glad that he had good luck and actually escaped successfully from the Soviet army. As for the troops and technical equipment lost in the battle, after returning, the division commander would ask him to replenish him.
After arranging the personnel to contain prisoners, Andrei came to Sokov to sit down, and said with a bitter face: "Comrade Brigade Commander, our battalion suffered a lot in this battle. Except for the artillery positions and the few platoons who were staying in the artillery positions and monitoring the enemy, the rest of the platoons participating in the battle suffered heavy losses."
Sokov glanced around and found that there were less than 300 commanders and fighters in the Third Battalion, and the situation of the 149th Brigade was not much better, at best, with seven or eight hundred people left.
When Bolvinov heard what Andre said, he also echoed: "Yes, Comrade Commander, our brigade suffered more than half of his casualties when he was holding his position. Later, he launched a hand-to-hand battle with the German army, and many more casualties were killed and killed. Now there are only a few hundred people left. Maybe we can't participate in the next battle again."
"Comrade Colonel, don't worry." Sokov comforted Bolvinov after he finished speaking, saying, "I think the superiors will replenish you lost soldiers soon so that you can continue to participate in other battles." Sokov knew very well that what he said was just a scene. If the 149th Brigade wanted to be supplemented, he probably could only wait until the day when the base camp transferred them to the rear.
The troops rested for an hour, and the officers had already taken over the prisoners and counted the results of the battle. Seeing that the time was about the same, Sokov ordered the troops to retreat.
When Sokov took more than two hours to return to the place where hand-to-hand combat had just happened, he found that there were corpses of enemies or his own people everywhere, and the air was filled with an indelible smell of blood.
At this moment, the radio operator reported to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, General Cuikov sent a telegram and asked you how the situation is here?"
From the radio operator's name, Sokov knew that he was from the Third Battalion, so he ordered him: "Immediately call back to the Army Command, saying that after fierce fighting, our troops had successfully defeated the 2nd Armored Regiment of the German Army, the 16th Artillery Regiment and the 79th Infantry Regiment, and protected some of the surrounded troops to break out of the encirclement..."
The radio operator was squatting on the side of the road to send a message when a group of soldiers came from a distance. Sokov's eyes were sharp and he recognized the person walking in front of him at first glance Colonel Gorokhov, the commander of the 124th Brigade.
After Gorokhov approached, he was startled to see Sokov's face covered in blood, and he thought he was injured. After learning that it was the enemy's blood, he said to Sokov with some complaints: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are the commander of the northern cluster. How can you charge like a company commander?"
Sokov grinned, instead of answering the question, he asked back: "Col. Gorokhov, how is your situation there? Have the enemies been repelled?"
"Yes, comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Gorokhov nodded and said, "After a day of fighting, the enemy launched no less than ten charges on our brigade's position, but we all repelled. They dropped more than three hundred bodies in front of the position, and after more than ten tricycles had already been used, they retreated in a hurry."
Chapter completed!