Stemermann chose to break out at night because of the limited visibility at night. As long as the troops did not make too much noise, they would not be discovered by the Soviet army. Moreover, fog would occur in the early morning of February every year.
Even if the soldiers heard any movement, they would not dare to leave their positions easily under limited visibility, which would be conducive to their breakout operations.
Facts have proved that Stemmermann's judgment was completely correct. During the breakout operations in the first two days, the Viking Division and the 72nd Infantry Division led by General Giller were not blocked by the Soviet army and successfully moved forward.
After entering the defense area of the 18th Tank Corps, there was only a mere two or three kilometers away from the siege of the Baker Heavy Armor Regiment.
The German troops stationed near Hill 239 received the breakout order from Stemmermann and quietly moved north under the cover of night, intending to follow the leading troops commanded by General Giller and jump out of the Soviet encirclement. In order to
During the preventive action, the movement was so great that they had to abandon their tanks, armor and cars and march on foot to the north.
When the army chief of staff evacuated with the troops directly under the army, he reluctantly asked Stemmerman: "Your Excellency, army commander, are you really not going to break out with us?"
Stemerman shook his head and said with a wry smile: "We still have thousands of wounded people who are unable to move. As the commander of the army, I cannot leave them alone. I want to be with them." He held the hand of the army chief of staff.
Holding up his hand, he said with some emotion, "I wish you good luck, I'll see you outside the encirclement!"
Although the German army tried their best to conceal their whereabouts, many sounds that could be basically ignored during the day would become extremely clear late at night.
The 252nd Infantry Division currently standing on Hill 239 is commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov. Although he did not stay with Sokov for a long time, he learned a lot of useful things. In order to prevent the Germans from sneaking into the position at night,
He sent his most capable soldiers to take charge of the sentries on duty at night, and told him to report them immediately if anything unusual was discovered.
That night, there were five soldiers on duty. The corporal leading the team was a veteran with ten years of military service. He had fought in different areas and had rich battlefield experience. While on duty, he vaguely heard something in the distance.
There were some strange sounds coming from everywhere. He tried his best to look in the direction of the sounds, but he couldn't see anything.
Seeing the corporal staring into the distance, a soldier came over and asked, "Comrade corporal, what did you find?"
"I heard some faint movement in the distance, but it was too dark to see anything clearly."
"Then what should we do?"
"Go and invite the company commander over and let him make an idea!"
The company commander came back soon. He asked the corporal: "Hey, veteran, what did you find?"
"Comrade company commander, look!" the corporal pointed to the location where the sound came from in the distance and said to the company commander: "One mile away from here, there is a sound. It seems that there are troops in action."
The company commander held up the telescope and looked in the direction of the veteran's finger. He adjusted the focus and scanned the area over and over again, but because it was too dark, he could not see anything clearly.
"Veteran," the company commander put down the binoculars and turned to the corporal and said, "fire two flares to see what's going on."
Although the corporal was carrying flares, he did not dare to fire them without permission from his superiors. Upon hearing the company commander's instructions, he agreed, raised his flare gun, and fired two flares into the air.
As the flare took off, the company commander raised his telescope again. After a moment, he couldn't help but trembled because he saw countless black figures marching in the distance. Needless to say, they must be Germans.
His breathing became rapid, and he hurriedly put down the telescope and said to the corporal: "Veteran, you take the people here to keep an eye on it, and I'll call the battalion headquarters."
Although the corporal did not have a telescope, he also saw a black shadow in the distance. The moment he saw this scene, he first thought that the Germans were trying to break out, but the direction of the breakout was no longer on Hill 239, but was preparing to break out to the north.
The company commander returned to his command post and gave a detailed report to the battalion commander on the phone about what he had seen. The battalion commander did not dare to neglect and called the regiment commander again. The regiment commander called Kirillov again to report the situation.
report.
After receiving the news, Kirillov did not report to Sokov immediately. Instead, he took his people to the high ground. He planned to see the situation with his own eyes and make sure that it was correct before reporting to avoid any unnecessary incidents.
When he arrived at the top of the mountain, all the garrison battalions holding their positions had entered their positions and were ready for battle. Seeing Kirillov's appearance, the battalion commander hurriedly came over and reported: "Comrade Division Commander, our battalion is ready for battle."
Ready, ready at any time..."
"Comrade Major," Kirillov glanced at the battalion commander's rank and then asked, "Are there any new trends among the Germans?"
"They are continuing to move north, probably preparing to break out of our encirclement from the friendly defense lines."
Kirillov followed the battalion commander to the observation post, raised his telescope and looked into the distance. The considerate battalion commander made a gesture to the company commander on the side, indicating that he would arrange for someone to shoot flares so that the division commander could work more
Clearly observe the movements on the battlefield.
With the help of the light from the flares, Kirillov clearly saw the movements of the German troops in the distance. He picked up the phone in the observation post, connected to the division artillery regiment, and ordered: "I am Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov.
Immediately send artillery observers to the position on the top of the mountain and let them indicate the targets for artillery fire."
After calling the artillery, Kirillov asked the communications soldier to get through the phone to the army headquarters, preparing to report the situation to Sokov in person.
The person who answered the phone was Smirnov. After hearing Kirillov's voice, he asked: "Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov, I received a report that flares appeared in the sky above Hill 239. What's going on?"
thing?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I was just about to report this matter." Kirillov explained on the phone: "The soldiers on guard heard movement in the distance and thought it was the German army preparing for another night attack, but after firing flares
, only to discover that the enemy was moving to the north under the cover of darkness."
"What, the Germans are moving north?" After hearing Kirillov's report, Smirnov asked with some disbelief: "Are you sure?"
"It's completely confirmed, Comrade Chief of Staff." Kirillov replied in a positive tone: "I have carefully observed that the Germans are indeed moving north. I guess they found that they could not break through from 239, so they made a new breakthrough.
Click and choose the area where our friendly troops are located.”
When Smirnov was about to ask again, Sokov, who had received the news, happened to walk in: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what happened on Highland 239? Why were flares used?"
The person who informed Sokov was Koshkin. He knew that Sokov was very concerned about the affairs of Highland 239 recently, so he privately greeted several staff officers on duty and informed him in time if there was anything important.
He can report to Sokov as soon as possible.
"Comrade Commander," seeing Sokov coming, Smirnov quickly reported to him: "Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov reported that they discovered that the Germans were making a large-scale movement."
"The Germans are moving on a large scale?" Sokov couldn't help being surprised when he heard the news: "In which direction are they moving?" He thought to himself that the Germans were not trying to bypass 239 under the cover of night.
high ground, and then launch a new attack from the side and rear.
In order to find out what was going on, he took the phone from Smirnov and asked Kirillov directly on the other end of the phone: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, tell me, what is going on?"
"Comrade Commander, according to my observation, the German troops are moving." Kirillov truthfully reported to Sokov: "It seems that they have given up their attempt to attack Hill 239 and plan to go north through friendly neighbors.
The troops' defensive area merged with the German troops who came to respond, and together they jumped out of our encirclement."
Although Sokov knew very well that Kirillov's judgment was correct, out of caution, he still asked: "Are you sure that the enemy is moving, rather than trying to bypass Hill 239 and attack you from the side and rear?"
Carry out an attack?"
"I'm not sure, Comrade Commander." Kirillov did not give Sokov an affirmative answer, but said euphemistically: "But I saw that the enemy's tanks, armored vehicles, and even trucks were not used. All
All the troops were marching on foot, and even the wounded were lying on stretchers and being carried away by other soldiers."
Sokov had determined at this moment that the Germans were preparing to break out to the north, otherwise they would not have even brought tanks and armored vehicles, and even abandoned trucks that could transport the wounded. This showed that they did not want to alarm their troops during the operation.
After thinking about this, Sokov quickly asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, have you taken any measures?"
"I ordered the artillery observers to rush to the position on the top of the mountain to provide shooting targets for the division's artillery regiment." Kirillov said this, raised his hand to look at the time, and then replied: "Comrade Commander, it will be twenty more at most."
In minutes, our artillery will be able to bombard the Germans."
"Just relying on a few artillery pieces of your division's artillery regiment will not cause too many casualties to the Germans." Sokov said: "I will let the group army artillery commander General Tsarev contact you. Don't forget it then.
We also provide him with the parameters of the artillery attack. With the support of the army's artillery, we will surely be able to inflict heavy damage on the German army."
After ending the call with Kirillov, Sokov answered the call from Tsarev's headquarters.
The person who answered the phone was an artillery staff officer. He did not recognize Sokov's voice, but said lazily: "Comrade General, you have already taken a rest. If you need anything, please call me again at dawn!"
When Sokov heard this, he immediately became angry: "I am Sokov! Let General Tsarev get up and answer the phone immediately. I have important combat tasks to arrange."
When the artillery staff member heard Sokov announcing his home address, he was suddenly startled into a cold sweat and hurriedly said: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I didn't know it was you. Please wait a moment, I will immediately ask General Tsarev to answer the phone."
"
When Tsarev heard that Sokov was calling him personally, he immediately rolled off the cot, without even putting on his boots, and ran barefoot to the table, picked up the phone and put it to his ear: "You
OK, Comrade Commander, I am Tsarev. Do you have any instructions?"
"Our troops at Highland 239 observed that the German troops in the distance seemed to be moving to the north, intending to jump out of our encirclement from the defense areas of our friendly troops." After Sokov briefly introduced the situation, he ordered Tsarev:
"You should immediately contact Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov and ask him to share the target parameters of the artillery attack with you."
"Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov?" Since Kirillov had not been acting as the commander of the 252nd Division for a long time, Tsarev did not know what position he held now, and asked Sokov in confusion: "Commander
Comrade, can you tell me what position he holds now and how to contact him?"
Hearing Tsarev's question, Sokov immediately realized that the other party might not know Kirillov's current position, and quickly explained to him: "Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov is now the acting division commander of the 252nd Infantry Division.
The division is currently stationed at Hill 239."
After hearing Sokov's explanation, Tsarev immediately understood how to contact Kirillov, and quickly replied: "Understood, I will get in touch with Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov immediately."
…………
Stemmerman, who was in charge of the rear end, stood on the step outside the cab of a truck. He grabbed the door with one hand and waved the other hand constantly. He kept giving orders in a low voice: "Move quickly behind you, follow up."
, don’t fall behind! Keep quiet, no one is allowed to speak!”
The troops following Stemmermann were just the remnants of the Walloon Assault Brigade of the Viking Division, plus some troops directly under the army, with a total strength of no more than a thousand people. However, there were nearly three thousand wounded who moved with them.
Except for some medical soldiers, the people responsible for carrying the wounded were all Ukrainians recruited from the local area.
Civilians without military training naturally cannot compare with well-trained German troops. Their slow movement speed inevitably slows down the marching speed of the rear troops.
Looking at the slowly moving team and listening to the various noises that the civilians accidentally made, Stemmermann couldn't help but feel anxious. Although the temperature at night was as low as minus 20 degrees, his back was still covered with cold sweat.
.
He glanced in the direction of Highland 239, and couldn't help but sigh. If the troops holding the high ground were not commanded by that person, he might still be able to give it a try. He might be able to break through this damn high ground and rush over to meet the oncoming enemy.
The 1st Armored Division joined forces.
As a result, all his plans came to nothing just because of the appearance of that man. First, when the Walloon Assault Brigade attacked Highland 239 at night, it was hit by inexplicable artillery fire. Not only did the troops suffer heavy casualties, but even the brigade commander was killed by artillery fire.
. The attacks in the next few days, although they also caused a lot of casualties to the defenders, were never able to capture this damn high ground.
When flares started to rise on the high ground, Stemmerman realized that his breakout action had been discovered by the defenders on the high ground. He had no choice but to raise his voice and loudly urge the troops to speed up their march.
Try to get out of this damn area before the highland defenders react.
Transferring at night is inherently a difficult operation, and there are also a considerable number of civilians in the army. At this moment, seeing the flares rising in the distance and listening to Stummermann's hoarse shouts, the crowd suddenly became crowded.
Officers, soldiers and civilians began to fight with each other for the road, and the scene became extremely chaotic.
