There were no wounded in Balzen's troops. All the wounded, including the two girls, and the two medical soldiers boarded the gunboat.
After receiving the exact order from the headquarters, Balzen immediately issued combat readiness orders to the four battalions under his command. He planned to place the defense center north of Loyev.
Voroshitin and Yevgeny obeyed unconditionally, and the next battle may turn into a positional battle, but no one complained at all.
The only one who raised objections was Reichev, and his explanation surprised Balzen.
Because the current location of the main force of the paratrooper brigade is only the last five kilometers away from Reichev (if the map is correct). According to the pre-war deployment, after the main force of the paratrooper brigade arrived, the Reichev battalion automatically returned to its original unit. Balzen
The strength of this task force was reduced to three battalions.
The troops he personally led were condensed, and the strength of the frontline troops was greatly strengthened, reaching 5,000 men.
The main force of the Soviet army reached 5,000 men, which is incredible. 5,000 men were enough to defeat a German infantry division!
Reichev is about to return to the army. By then, the paratrooper brigade will be stationed in Reichev's current camp. The Soviet camp on the left bank of the river will be very large. Not only will it have more troops, but it will also carry a larger amount of ammunition.
…
At 1:30 in the afternoon on June 23, the vanguard reconnaissance company of the paratrooper brigade successfully joined forces with Reichev.
Tepunov was overjoyed and immediately ordered the troops to speed up.
Due to the placement of some artillery and a large number of baggage carriages, the total number of personnel under Tepunov's command reached 3,000, including about 2,400 combat troops, and the rest were carriage drivers, horse breeders and a small number of frontline civilians.
They carried a large amount of potatoes in preparation for sieges and battles. As a result, after all the baggage had crossed the river, they learned that the frontline troops had unexpectedly seized a large amount of flour. Nowadays, a large amount of potatoes still have to be transported to the front line, and Tepunov is really too lazy to do so.
Crossing the river is a hassle again!
The development of the war situation exceeded Tepunov's expectations. He never expected that one of his battalions would encounter a guerrilla force.
Where did the guerrillas come from? He didn't know the specific situation. Fortunately, the guerrillas were controlled by his own troops. When they arrived at the frontline camp, he could naturally talk to them.
"Perhaps this group of guerrillas can provide me with some other valuable information?"
With this attitude and expectations for future battles, Tepunov finally came here - the forest camp east of Loyev City.
And here, next to Battalion Commander Rechev who greeted him, those so-called guerrilla fighters suddenly appeared.
The appearance of the guerrillas was indeed sudden.
They were dressed in shabby clothes, their hair was disheveled, and they looked slovenly, but they smiled brightly.
Seeing this, Reichev quickly reported: "Brigade commander, this is the local guerrilla we encountered by chance. We call it the Little Ivansky Brigade. This person's name is Ivaniko, and he is a squad leader."
As soon as Reichev finished speaking, the squad leader assumed the posture of a regular soldier and stood at attention in front of Tepunov and saluted.
"Hey! I'm talking about the brigade commander, this one is quite serious!" the brigade political commissar teased.
"Not yet." Tepunov shook his head and took it upon himself to straighten the guerrilla's posture, especially telling him where to raise his saluting right hand.
Squad leader Ivaniko could not understand the meaning of the epaulettes of these officers. Since this was a brigade commander, he should have great military power.
Ivaniko was very nervous and trembling: "Brigade Commander...Comrade Brigadier, please let me...let me join you."
"You?! Join us?"
"Yes, I beg you. We all really dream of joining a real army to fight against the enemy."
This man was anxious and nervous. Tepunov looked at him again, but without directly expressing his opinion, he patted his shoulder to ask him to be quiet.
Tepunov first needed to understand the current situation of the troops, and then arrange for the army to camp and deploy here. It would take some time to complete all of this. In particular, he received a new warning from the commander that enemy reinforcements might arrive as early as the evening.
Regardless of whether the commander's speculation comes true, Tepunov must also prepare a good defense. During this period, although he is very interested in the so-called "Little Ivansky Brigade", he really has no time to deal with it until the basic defense is completed.
As the sun gradually set, the Soviet army continued to bombard Loyev at fixed points for several hours. Tepunov understood that this was to keep the Germans awake and torment them to have a nervous breakdown. This "vicious" method was naturally a crooked move by the commander.
The effect is surprisingly good.
Under the harassment of artillery fire, the enemy's spirit must be suffering. When Tepunov saw his own troops, they were all in high spirits.
The paratrooper brigade was deployed east of Loyev City and on the left bank of the Dnieper River. They formed a fan-shaped defense system. Some soldiers even deployed on the banks of the Sozh River, a tributary of the Dnieper River.
All the soldiers of the paratrooper brigade were expecting the enemy to appear. The result? Except for some birds flying in the sky, nothing strange appeared. If the enemy arrived in the evening, the friendly forces west of Loev City would report that they had discovered the enemy.
.
The telegram from Balzen was straightforward - nothing happened.
The Soviet sentries were placed two kilometers outside the main position. There were many of them. Once they found the enemy, they fired directly. Because the enemy must have come to reinforce Loyev, there was no need to disguise and just started fighting! They could kill the enemy.
The entanglement of reinforcements is to lay a solid foundation for the second echelon to achieve the tactical goal of encirclement and annihilation.
The enemy has not been found yet, so it is impossible for the enemy to appear today. The enemy's reinforcements have either not yet gone south, or they have set up camp somewhere.
As the sun set, most of the soldiers of the Parachute Brigade were still digging their foxholes. The machine gunners and recoilless gun teams cut down some trees and then cut them into small sections, doing their best to strengthen their positions.
The captured Romanian army's small-caliber field artillery was set up as a fixed fire point, and the gun mantlet was covered with branches. Such an artillery team relied on the cover of the bushes in the forest, making it difficult for the enemy to detect it.
"Only the most elite German troops dare to attack in the dark! Tonight, I am safe!"
Tepunov calmly analyzed it, and based on all the information he had, he finally had a basic understanding of the battlefield situation, and also had some unique ideas of his own.
In short, Tepunov does not want to simply stick to the defensive line. They are elite paratroopers who are naturally good at mobile combat. Holding the position like this is exactly what ordinary soldiers should do. He wants to take the initiative to attack as if the enemy's reinforcements
If they really exist, after finding their location, there is nothing better than taking the initiative to kill them. Even if he currently does not know how many reinforcements there are from the top German army.
To continue to understand the defenders in Loev City and to understand the enemy situation in this area, no one knows better than the guerrillas who encountered them by chance.
Now, Tepunov finally had time to interrogate the so-called guerrilla squad leader.
When he saw the squad leader Ivaniko again, he was not alone. There were more than a dozen guerrilla fighters standing beside him. These people were in good spirits, but their poor clothing was worrying.
"Um... I think you should change into new clothes. If you don't have any, you should also patch up the old clothes." In fact, what made Tepunov even more uncomfortable was the masculine smell on these people. Because it involves people's self-esteem, he
No more talk.
Ivaniko was also very embarrassed. He stood at attention and saluted like a real soldier in order to win the favor of the Soviet brigade commander.
"Okay! You don't need to salute. I found you just to ask where you came from. You don't need to be nervous! Come, let's sit down around the campfire and say..."