Ukrainians generally dislike Russians, and they are even more dismissive of Romanians.
It's just that the Romanians are currently in the German camp. Battalion Commander Moise is naturally very dissatisfied with the fact that the reinforcements are actually Romanians.
So during the emergency mobilization of city defense, he shouted to more than 500 of his brothers: "The Russians are a bunch of idiots! The Romanians are even more idiots! We don't expect this group of Romanians to reinforce us. Now, we only have to defend the city.
We can rely on ourselves!"
His inflammatory words filled with contempt and disdain did help boost morale.
This police battalion has nine platoons. Considering that Slavdzic is a small city built with a cross street as its core, he arranged the five platoons on the periphery and the remaining four platoons to guard the city.
Moise speculated that if the enemy really existed, they would appear within the next week, giving the troops a very short time. Faced with the stretched troops, he decisively ordered the civilians in the city to also participate in the city defense.
He did not need to point a gun at his head to force civilians to dig trenches for them. Instead, he knew the interests and benefits, saying, "We are all Ukrainians. If those so-called guerrillas, who are actually bandits from the Russians, come over, we will fight."
If the city is broken, all Ukrainians will be shot." This statement is logically sound and makes my hair stand on end.
These Ukrainian civilians already have strong resentment against the Soviet Union. No matter what the Germans do, they must find a way to save their lives now!
Currently, there are 1,100 people in Slavtich, all of whom are Ukrainians. All their weapons are more than 500 rifles and nine machine guns. The civilians are not unarmed. They have meat-cutting knives from the kitchens of private houses tied to their
On a wooden stick, they use it as a short spear. Some people also carry grenades in their waists, and they serve as grenadiers.
In one day, Moise recruited 120 militiamen from civilians. The remaining 400-odd people were either too old, too young, or women. They were placed in all the basements found in the city.
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City defense construction began in an all-round way on May 17. On that day, five thousand troops led by Yang Mingzhi began to cross the river on a large scale at Misi Ferry.
After all, Slavdich is still ten kilometers away from the nearest river in a straight line, and nearly twenty kilometers away from Misi Ferry. It makes sense that the police camp is located in a chaotic and noisy city defense construction site, so it is not aware of the encounter in the distance.
Yang Mingzhi was worried that the battle with the gunboats would alert the enemy. But it turned out that his guess was accurate: Slavdzic had set up a fortification!
Militia and police battalion soldiers dug foxholes outside the city and transformed many residential buildings into fortresses.
On both sides of Slavdzic's Cross Street, most are two-story attics, which are houses with reinforced concrete structures. Considering the possibility of street fighting, soldiers dispersed and guarded the houses, setting up shooting towers next to the windows.
Position.
Except for the solid buildings on both sides of the street, there are a large number of wooden houses on the edge of the city. These wooden houses may have turned into a ball of flames during the war, so naturally there are no soldiers guarding them here.
Just this little city defense is not enough! Moise knew that he needed sandbags to build bunkers and roadblocks, but what sandbags were there? There was a lot of wood here, and the logs that were too late to be transported were put into use immediately, and they were piled up on the cross street.
There are four exits, and there are many placed in random directions outside the city. Moise hopes to interfere with the enemy's attack in this way.
The defense line of the police camp is not circular, but a huge arc facing the northeast, especially the defense line facing the north, where the troops are most abundant.
Even so, the city defense still required a large amount of wood, and many soldiers immediately entered the forest carrying axes and double saws.
They cut down trees around the city indiscriminately, allowing the fallen trees to form a line of defense.
Moise had not received any training in street fighting. He just used his brain and used all the tricks he could think of to block the enemy's attack.
They were busy throughout the 17th, and at night, the city defense work was still in progress.
In fact, those old and weak women and children who could not fight could escape for their lives, but Moise decisively prohibited it. Because he did not know where the enemy was, maybe they had already entered the forest. He asked the old and weak women and children to walk forty kilometers to Chernihiv.
This is unrealistic, and who can guarantee that they won't encounter the Russians along the way?
These women and children themselves did not want to leave. They were too afraid of those Soviet guerrillas and were afraid that their lives would be wiped out by them! They were very self-aware. Since they were already on the same rope as the Ukrainian compatriots in the police camp, they simply helped as much as possible.
them.
Moise was quite pleased that those women were cooking for the soldiers, even...
Under night, there was an atmosphere of indulgence and joy in Slavdzic, which was incompatible with the battle that was about to break out.
In fact, many officers and soldiers in the police battalion even believed that their superiors were overly worried. How could the guerrillas who had been defeated and fled have any fighting capacity? If they came to attack the city, it was purely for the purpose of robbing supplies. They expected a group of hungry people to fight.
The defeated guerrillas captured the city, at least the grassroots officers and soldiers did not believe it.
Battalion Commander Moise was still calm. Seeing that the city fortifications had been repaired in one day, he felt much relieved.
He drank some vodka and spent a pleasant evening in the same room with a woman he liked.
Slavdzic spent the early morning of May 18th peacefully. Moise never imagined that this would be the last peaceful night in his life. He even less imagined that the enemy not only had other people, but also their fighting power.
Completely subverts the three concepts.
With the arrival of a new day, the construction of Slavdzic's city defenses continued. Soldiers and militiamen carrying axes entered the forest, and some patrols tried to go further.
The forests in this area are lively behind the silence. There are some wild deer here and ferocious brown bears. Whether they are deer or bears, they are delicious game.
On the other hand, Balzen moved at two o'clock in the morning. They had to walk about 19 kilometers to reach Slavdzic. Marching under night, their advancement speed was very slow. As they got closer to the target, the troops had to be cautious.
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To make matters worse, the morning fog that emerged from the forest before dawn seriously interfered with the vision. Balzen had to stop. After turning over the map to mark the approximate new location, the reconnaissance camp had to rely on the guidance of the compass to move forward.
The straight-line distance was nineteen kilometers, and Balzen estimated that he should have walked fifteen kilometers.
The team had been marching continuously and cautiously for four hours. It was time to take a good rest, especially to eat.
Because there will be a war soon, the soldiers' food naturally becomes high-energy dry food-biscuit powder. The soldiers eat in a rough way, that is, stuffing a handful of biscuit powder into their mouths, and then drinking a few sips from this kettle.
Swallow the sweet paste mixed in your mouth.
The biscuit powder is so sweet and addictive that many people eat the entire bag, which is 500 grams, in one sitting! According to the rationing standards, this meal has been eaten for a whole day!
Balzen didn't take it seriously. He only hoped that his soldiers would eat well and have enough physical strength to win the battle.
He even reminded: "Comrades! We are still roughly four kilometers away from the target! The further we go, the more dangerous it becomes. Everyone should be more vigilant."
This is a clichéd warning. The majority of elite soldiers do not need to be deliberately spurred. Besides, the thick fog also forces the soldiers to be more vigilant! After all, this is a forest. Who knows whether the black shadow in front is the trunk of a big tree, whether it is a bear infestation, or whether it is a damned thing.
of enemies.
While the troops were resting on the spot, Balzen called Tokov to his side: "Tokov, as the vanguard, your company will immediately advance in a triangle formation. Our large force is five hundred meters behind you. If there is any situation, we will report it immediately."
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Tokov naturally agreed decisively, and he also raised an additional question: "Suppose we find a lone enemy during the search, or an enemy search team."
"Then kill them!" Balzen responded decisively. "Remember, you must not use firearms once you encounter an enemy. You must kill the enemy with a dagger, leave one alive, and bring him to me!"
Therefore, the reconnaissance battalion ended its rest at 7:10 in the morning. At this time, as the sun rose and the morning fog dissipated, Tokov opened the way in front, followed by the large troops.
They were marching in the correct direction, and they would soon reach Slavtich in the forest. That city was definitely under the control of the enemy. From Balzen to the grassroots officers and soldiers, everyone's eyes were wide open.