Yang Mingzhi sat firmly in the headquarters, waiting for telegrams from the front line.
How is the fighting over at Balzen? What actions will the Germans take?
He looked out the window and couldn't help but sigh: "It's a cloudy day today. I hope it won't rain on the front line."
The weather has changed significantly. It has rained in all areas of Pripet Swamp in the past few days. Fortunately, it is a shower, which comes and goes in a hurry. According to the intelligence, there is no rainfall in the Homnich and Lojev areas.
It was even sunny for a while. Balzen's latest telegram stated that it was already cloudy there and that it might rain in the next few days.
The rain came at the wrong time!
Yang Mingzhi continued to wait anxiously. Soon, the correspondent came to report, so Yang Mingzhi himself had to get into the communication room. Everyone, including Yevlov, Fuming and others, got into the small room.
Communications room.
Yang Mingzhi put on his headphones and heard the news: "I am Catfish! My Catfish! Owl, how are you doing?"
"Report Catfish! We encountered artillery fire from what was suspected to be the German 634th Division, and we suffered casualties!"
"What?!" Yang Mingzhi was suddenly stunned. After a pause of more than ten seconds, he continued to ask: "What are your casualties?"
"Our unit has suffered few casualties and can continue fighting."
"No! It's dawn now. I'm ordering your troops to leave the battlefield and retreat immediately. Execute it immediately! Quick!"
"As you command!"
Balzen had long wanted to withdraw. He knew that it would be unwise to stay here and engage in firefights with the enemy. Who knows if the German army will launch a second round of bombardment? If the bombardment is really about to be carried out, the entire battalion will suffer heavy casualties in the new round of bombing.
.
Balzen boasted that he had achieved good results, but the actual situation was similar to his assumption. It was the sudden attack of the reconnaissance battalion that suddenly interrupted the actions of the SS59 regiment, and then forced Muller's headquarters more than ten kilometers away.
The arrival of the required reinforcements and supplies will inevitably be delayed.
Balzen stood up, relied on the cover of a big tree, and called all four company commanders over through the messenger.
"Comrades, the latest order from the headquarters is that we retreat immediately. Now I give the order, Tokov."
"arrive!"
"Your company moves immediately as rearguard."
"I promise to complete the mission!"
"Very good, you are covering the retreat of the large forces, and I will allocate you more heavy weapons. Looking at the weather today, I am worried about rain. We lack waterproofing measures, and the propellant packs of recoilless rifles are easily affected by moisture. Your company will
Shoot out the remaining shells. Remember, the firepower must be fierce."
Tokov instantly understood the battalion commander's intention. He straightened his back and sternly declared his loyalty to the motherland.
The Soviet army's retreat began quickly. Tokov's entire company of officers and soldiers took possession of ten recoilless rifles, and they began the most ferocious bombardment.
The German army was more than a thousand meters away, with a large number of infantry lying on the ground or hiding in bomb craters. Five tanks were even directly exposed in the wilderness. Confident in the thickness of their armor, some German machine gunners hid behind the tanks.
Lie on the ground and wait for opportunities to project firepower.
"Everyone is here! Fire!"
"Every gun fires freely!"
"Hit me hard and I will allow you to shoot out all the shells!"
Tokov roared at the top of his lungs, and his men also seemed to have been beaten to death.
According to the thinking of the German army, after being bombarded by a round of artillery bombardment, the Soviet army should have suffered massive casualties. How could the Soviet army burst out with powerful firepower on a battlefield that should have been quiet?
The majority of the German soldiers were mentally prepared. They were about to go south to wipe out the enemies who were lucky enough to survive. They never expected that bursts of bangs came from the forest, and artillery shells hit the German defense line solidly, causing casualties.
come behind.
Blücher became angry at this situation. He first scolded the Soviet army, then used the radio to complain directly to the friendly 634th Division.
"Mr. Hendryson, your shelling has no effect at all! The Russian shelling came again, and my soldiers suffered casualties again."
"That's why I plan to launch another artillery bombardment! You are not an artilleryman after all, and you don't know that the combat effectiveness of artillery shells in the forest is far inferior to that on the plains! We also need to rest some of the artillery positions, and even carry out extended bombardment..."
Blücher didn't want to hear this guy show off his knowledge, so he asked: "Stop dawdling! Hurry up and open fire and kill all the Russians!"
Hendryson didn't like the French-German's urging, but they were also friendly forces, and it was not his style to remain unmoved when friendly forces were in trouble.
A new round of artillery bombardment from the 634th Division is coming again!
The howitzer was forced to shoot at a relatively high elevation angle, the shells flew farther, and the impact point spread of the shells when the artillery group fired a salvo was also larger. These were all small adjustments by Hendryson, and the results were very significant.
When the German army launched a new round of artillery bombardment, Balzen was leading other troops to retreat quickly. However, there was a sudden roar in the sky. No one had time to think about how the enemy artillery hit here. Many people did not even have time to hide, and the explosion occurred.
Already.
After all, Hendrickson suspected that there were a lot of Soviet guerrillas ambushing in the forests south of Loev. In order to maximize the results, he shelled a very large area, but at the expense of the intensity of the shelling.
Thanks to the powerful power of the 105mm howitzer, it exploded in the woods. The shock wave swept across a radius of ten meters like a knife, shattering everyone inside, including tree trunks. The generated air wave had a radius of fifty meters.
People from a distance of 500 meters can feel its terror! The shrapnel can even kill people 500 meters away. Of course, most of the shrapnel is blocked by big trees.
What was very bad was that Balzen's large army was within the range of German artillery fire.
Balzen, who was lying on the ground, gritted his teeth and was surprised to see the two soldiers blown away more than thirty meters by the blast of air and directly hit a tree trunk nearly twenty meters high. They were as lifeless as dolls.
of falling.
Some soldiers were seen being blown to pieces, with red things flying directly on the trees and the ground.
At this moment, no orders can be issued, no one can be cared for, and even one's own wealth and life are hanging by a thread.
Balzen was baptized by the Orthodox Church when he was born. Later, when the Bolsheviks came to power, he no longer believed in God and angels. Now that he was being bombarded, he still prayed silently, hoping that he would be lucky enough.
Most of the soldiers were lying on the ground. Although the shells exploded at a close enough distance, they would be dead anyway. But if they stood up rashly, the flying shrapnel would kill them.
Those puppet soldiers who rejoined the Soviet army had their spirits broken under the bombardment, and they instinctively fled south one by one. This was an absolutely wrong decision. Many people were pierced by flying shrapnel or blown by air waves while fleeing.
Unfortunately, they were all killed in the bombing.
The bombardment lasted for more than ten minutes, and Hendryson was also cruel. When he announced that the bombardment had stopped, only 30% of the howitzer shells in the 634th Division's control were left.
The sound of artillery calmed down, and patches of lush forest collapsed. Balzen's reconnaissance camp suffered heavy losses.
The most serious losses were caused by the Tokov Company at the forefront. Of the 120 soldiers in the company, 40 were killed in the shelling, and more than a dozen were seriously injured and unable to move.
Even though he was severely wounded, Tokov, who had already suffered a red eye, roared with his torn throat to the surviving soldiers: "Those who can still continue to fight, keep shooting."
When the battle reaches this point, individual lives no longer matter.
Human beings are really a strange existence. They should be instinctively afraid when encountering danger. At this moment, the soldiers of Tokov Company have put life and death aside.