The battlefield was littered with corpses, and because of the darkness, cleaning the battlefield became very difficult.
When there was nothing to be afraid of, Yang Mingzhi ordered the troops to light bonfires, firstly for lighting, secondly for cooking and roasting potatoes, and thirdly, to use a large number of bonfires to create a posture for the German sentries who might be spying.
.
The faces of the Soviet soldiers were filled with the joy of victory. Regardless of whether they were men or women, they had relieved all their burdens. They carefully inspected the battlefield and did not let anyone who fell to the ground go.
They kicked every fallen person a few times, then squatted down and inspected them carefully. If it was a corpse of a German soldier, they would remove their armed belts, helmets, and shoes. If the uniforms were not seriously damaged, they would take them off as well.
As a result, some pitiful German soldiers were stripped down to their underwear. However, how many complete corpses were there on the battlefield? Most of those who were hit by bullets had a small hole in the front and a huge hole behind them.
Hole.
The Soviet army could not collect much wearable clothes at all, but they did collect a lot of precious ammunition. They even found boxes of ammunition boxes in abandoned German armored vehicles. The soldiers were shocked. Only in the armored vehicles
There were 50,000 rounds of machine gun ammunition found. Apparently, the German army also used the armored vehicles as supply vehicles.
The Soviet army killed all the wounded German soldiers and gathered the German corpses in one place. There were many mud ponds near the battlefield. The soldiers threw the corpses directly into them and then covered them with shovels.
The dead soldiers of the Soviet army benefited from the fact that the battlefield was relatively close to Catfish Village. After the bodies were collected, they were placed directly on simple stretchers and brought back to Catfish Village overnight.
On July 20th, the fallen soldiers lay in the cemetery established by the Soviet army a year ago. Among them were men, women, and even some children. They were heroes of the Patriotic War, and they would naturally be honored by future generations of Belarusians.
the respect of the people.
After the sacrifice, they will be buried in the military cemetery. The surviving soldiers will feel comfort that they do not have to die in the wilderness. Objectively, it also stabilizes the morale of the troops.
In front of the largest bonfire, Yang Mingzhi sat cross-legged and ate a few roasted potatoes for dinner.
Out of love, Yang Mingzhi specially called Natasha to his side. Under the light of the flames, Yang Mingzhi saw the child's exhaustion and her relief.
All the main officers involved in the battle gathered here, and everyone's faces were filled with the joy of victory.
In this battle, Qiao Shuya boasted of her outstanding performance. In front of Yang Mingzhi, she deliberately took off her helmet and pulled her braids, as if to attract Yang Mingzhi's attention.
The officers were talking and laughing. They did not talk about their own casualties at all. Their thoughts were still on this battle.
Balzen approached the commander and asked loudly: "Sir, we have reported our respective casualties. You seem a little regretful? Alas, war always requires sacrifices."
"Yes! I understand, this battle has been going on for a whole month! A whole month!"
Yang Mingzhi deepened his tone. Indeed, in a few hours, starting from the march into Loev, the battle will last a full month.
Seeing that the officers were listening to his eloquent remarks, Yang Mingzhi was determined to speak out his heartfelt words.
What he means is very straightforward, that is, the appropriate end of this battle and the way it will end are unknown.
"We have serious logistics problems. Fortunately, we have severely damaged the enemy this time. As long as our core area is not invaded, we still have strong stamina. I really hope that we can breathe for a while, even if it is for a week. We
It is a pity that our main force is still fighting in Lechica. It seems that now that our army has taken the initiative to withdraw from Lechica, I, the commander of the group army, must be removed by my superiors! We are really riding a tiger now.
Our superiors will definitely order us to defend Lechica. By then, you might have to go north again."
"What's the matter?" Balzen stood up grumpily: "To be honest, I am very happy to serve as your subordinate. I will die for my motherland without any regrets."
"I...I am willing too!" Joshua raised her hand decisively, her heroine's eyes were shining brightly under the flames.
Looking at the attitude of the officers, no one hesitated at all. They all had an attitude of fighting to the end as long as there was a battle order.
Yang Mingzhi also noticed Brimayo out of the corner of his eye. Although this guy led people to escape without authorization, Yang Mingzhi didn't say much more because of the fact that the Romanians were actually weak in combat effectiveness.
"I'm touched by your fighting will. Not many soldiers are really tired. Especially our female soldiers. I'm not being sexist. You came from the north to fight here. You don't have time to rest. You are better than ordinary men.
The soldiers have paid more, and you are also the main force in today's battle. Comrades, you must seize the time to rest and recuperate. As for delivering the final blow to the enemy, leave it to the 21st Guerrilla Brigade!
After everyone finished eating, they returned to their respective campsites to rest.
And I, I will give the commander of the guerrilla brigade Fyodorov an order to launch a night attack at two o'clock in the morning. Maybe these people cannot defeat the enemy, but it is still possible to defeat them."
When the battle reached this point, Yang Mingzhi had a premonition that the battle for the settlements on the right bank of the Pripet River would end on July 20. The result was that the German army suffered heavy losses and some troops fled.
On the other hand, the German troops began to retreat, and they were indeed advancing unswervingly towards the area agreed with the police regiment.
Twelve half-track armored vehicles retreated along the same route, and eight Type III assault guns also retreated. The German army actually did not have much fuel left, and they had already thrown a large amount of baggage to the police regiment, including a large amount of fuel.
Sean and Krieger had used the police force like cattle instead of horses during the march. Now that they were needed, they suddenly regarded this force as their last resort.
They followed the map and groped under the stars and moonlight, and seemed to have arrived at their destination. However, there was no police group in this area.
"Oh my God, are we on the wrong track?" Sean was exhausted. He was disappointed when he saw no friendly troops around.
Glick compared the map carefully, "I think this is the promised place. It's not wrong, absolutely not wrong!"
"But what about the police force?"
"them……"
The soldiers reported their findings, that is, traces of their own troop activity were found in the area. Even during the morning meeting, a German flag had not been put away, and that flag was actually used as a signal flag.
Faced with all this, there was only despair in Sean's eyes. He sat on the ground as if he had lost his strength and beat the ground hard: "What should we do now? It's all over! The police group, our allies, they simply disappeared out of thin air."
"No way!" Suddenly, Krieger thought about how he had been trying to contact the police group during the retreat, but there was no reply. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but become nervous: "Could it be that the police group was also annihilated by the Russians?
?”
"It's very possible! Yes! That must be the case. We underestimated the strength of the Russians. Since they invaded Lechica, it proves that they are very powerful. So it is natural that they are annihilating the police group."
The two German commanders were really horrified to hear what they said. Nearly 3,000 soldiers gathered here. The soldiers only carried two days of rations. After a fierce battle, the ammunition was greatly consumed. They were able to evacuate here quickly.
I had great expectations for the police force, but I never expected that they didn't exist at all.
Panic instantly began to spread among the army. Public opinion spread that the police regiment had been defeated by the Soviet army and the army was isolated and helpless.
But another voice was even more terrifying, that is, the police group had not been annihilated at all, nor had they disappeared mysteriously. They had defected to the Soviet camp. They were hiding deliberately, waiting to deliver a fatal blow to the Germans at night.
To be honest, this statement made the majority of German soldiers feel too bizarre. Moreover, everyone wanted a sense of security so much that they naturally did not want to believe the betrayal of the police regiment. Everyone would rather believe that the police regiment was annihilated by the Soviet army.
The essential iron bucket on the back of the soldier's waist does not have a gas mask, but there are several cans. Before fighting, the soldiers always stuff some miscellaneous things into the cylinder, most of which are stuffed with food or spare ammunition.
, I never thought that it would come in handy in order to prevent the worst possible behavior.
The soldiers lit a large bonfire here, heated the cans slightly, and ate them with pieces of bread.
After fighting for a day, the soldiers ate the salty and greasy food in their hands quickly without hesitation. After eating and drinking enough, quite a few people simply fell asleep, but the lower-level officers were not allowed to do this.
A platoon leader kicked his drowsy subordinates: "Idiot, you are not allowed to sleep before you are ready for defense. You all sit up and wait for the commander's order!"
This is Krieger's subordinate of the 734th Division. It has the largest number of troops and a fairly complete organization. As for Shawn's infantry regiment of the 700th Division, after this battle, the entire regiment's organization was in dilapidated condition, so it was natural for them to withdraw to the country for rest and recuperation.
After further deliberation, the two regiment commanders concluded that continuing the attack was simply courting death. For the sake of the overall situation, they could either build a line of defense in the swamp to prevent the Soviet troops from moving north, or go back home.
They first contacted the group army headquarters directly and reported the truth about today's fierce battle.
The two of them could already imagine Commander Wagner's expression after he learned that they had suffered heavy losses. Was he furious, sad and angry, or was he grabbing the things on the table and throwing them? In any case, the infiltration and sneak attack operation had failed, and the attacking troops themselves were also
Precarious.
It turns out that the German command center in Bobruisk, the city where it is located, suffered two explosions just after nightfall recently.
Air raid sirens sounded throughout the city, and a large number of pseudo-military police swarmed onto the streets of the city.
The explosion was aimed at the puppet police station. Whether it was the German puppet troops or ordinary residents in the city, they did not hesitate to believe that the explosion was the work of guerrillas.
It turned out that the guerrillas disguised themselves as peaceful residents and took advantage of the dusk to successfully stuff a briefcase into a car. The guerrillas did not expect that when the car would drive to the entrance of the fake police station, the entire car was blown to pieces.
Several sentries on duty were injured, but its impact suddenly made the whole city panic. This is an indisputable fact.
The extremely angry Wagner ordered: "The whole city is under martial law, and the curfew order will be implemented from now on. All police will go to the streets to search for anyone walking around wantonly, whether they are men, women, or children. As long as they are walking around, they will be arrested directly. All of them will be executed tomorrow!"
"
Wagner vented the unfavorable situation of the war on the peaceful residents of Belarus. A large number of military police arrested people indiscriminately on the streets. So, what guerrillas did Wagner really capture?
The answer is no. What the military and police captured were peaceful residents. These people were killed. The result could only accelerate the vigorous development of the guerrilla movement and give Wagner the title of executioner.
However, Wagner had long lost his patience.
When he received the telegram from the surprise attack force, this guy who was still very angry about the explosion almost fainted from anger.
After he regained consciousness, he asked one question three times: "How many Russians are there in the swamps in the south?"
All the staff officers who were summoned to the meeting all remained silent. Their silence further aroused Wagner's anger.
July 19th was a disaster for the German army.
The war situation has further deteriorated, and the Soviet guerrillas have made major breakthroughs on multiple fronts. For example, the northern guerrillas have penetrated into the outskirts of Svetlogorsk, and all villages near the city have fallen.
Lechica is still occupied by the Soviet army. Although the Air Force conducted an air raid in the afternoon, it is impossible to estimate how many people were killed. Moreover, the Air Force also discovered a tragedy that the Germans could not tolerate, that is, Lechica's
The Dnieper River railway bridge has been blown down by the Soviet army.
The German air force did not hesitate to bomb the urban area of Lechica because most of the buildings in this city had no substantial strategic value. Only the railway system that ran through the city and the bridge across the river were the most important.
important.
The railway was blown up and repaired, but the bridge collapsed. The Air Force had a detailed report on this, that is, the bridge was blown into at least eight sections. Obviously the Soviet army deliberately blew up all the bridge piers. There is no need to say much about rebuilding a new bridge.
It will take a month. There are two railway junctions in Belarus leading to the east, and Lechica is at the southern junction. The consequences of the collapse of the bridge in this city are self-evident.
So, what can Wagner do? The fall of Gomel and the indefinite interruption of the railway line not only made William Kubet anxious. Kubet urgently reported the situation to the German base camp in Wolfsburg, and all the generals were aware of the problem.
severity.
That night, Hitler received this advice: "We must recover Lechica, but we need a large number of troops to complete this tactical operation. We need to withdraw a small number of front-line troops to complete this task."
The suggestion was refuted by Hitler, and the frontline troops should be withdrawn to Belarus to suppress the bandits? Bah! "The main force of the army is fighting in southern Russia, and our northern troops are still blocking the Russians' never-ending offensive. The Russians are operating on a large scale in our rear.
, in order to allow us to mobilize troops from the front line, so that Stalin can find an opportunity to break through. Therefore, as long as we occupy the Caucasus and occupy the entire southern Russia, all problems will not be a problem."
Hitler used his strategic logic to deny the plan of deploying troops and reinforcements to the front line, but it was feasible to put newly formed and rested troops into the battlefield.
Therefore, when Wolfsburg sent Wagner a clear mission, it was already July 20th.