The telegram came very suddenly and the content was staggering.
Salinchkin, who also came to the headquarters urgently, knocked on the table, surprise written on his face.
"It's really amazing. Those two guerrilla brigade actually rescued 20,000 people from the Germans. What a great achievement!"
Yang Mingzhi nodded: "It is indeed a meritorious service. These war refugees do not want to stay in their hometown. They all know that once the guerrillas withdraw, the German army will surely launch bloody revenge. If they stay in their hometown, they will sit and wait for death. However, if they leave their hometown, they will lose everything.
production means, their survival has become a huge problem.
Therefore, our superiors gave us the task of taking care of a huge number of refugees."
"This is a good thing!" Salinchkin continued to say with excitement, "Looking at the entire Bailuosuo, only our corner of the country is still under the firm control of the Soviets. Hasn't the land here been transformed quite a bit?
Is it fertile? We can definitely feed 100,000 people by planting potatoes. What we lack most now is human resources. With the migration of refugees, the huge difficulties we face will naturally be solved.
With the arrival of these people, we can quickly increase our troops. We suffered a lot in this battle. Soon after accepting these refugees, our strength will increase."
Yang Mingzhi shook his head: "Are you too optimistic? According to the telegram, excellent soldiers have been prioritized by the two guerrilla brigades. The refugees to be transferred to us are all women and children, and a considerable number of elderly people.
These people can be armed, but don’t expect to have high combat effectiveness. The most they can do is support personnel and potato farmers!”
"Even so, it's good. Our superiors give us orders and we must implement them. There is no doubt about it. As for what the refugees can do after they arrive, it is my job to allocate personnel at that time."
"Then there is Comrade Lausar Lynch."
Yang Mingzhi stopped talking nonsense and immediately started to receive refugees.
Many military officers, and even officials from the Guerrilla Republic, gathered around the map table.
This huge area map, which temporarily serves as a sand table, is also covered with red and black wooden blocks to represent the enemy and ourselves.
A staff officer pointed to the map and said: "The Red October Brigade has controlled almost all the villages outside Svetlogorsk, and there are 15,000 refugees under its control. This number may continue to rise."
The straight-line distance between Vetlogorsk and Lechica is only 35 kilometers, and most of the refugees are actually only about 20 kilometers away from Lechica. No matter what our attitude is, the friendly forces have already arrived at noon and started
Large-scale deportation of refugees. Theoretically, the first batch of refugees will enter Lechica before the sun sets."
"No!" Yang Mingzhi shook his head: "Xie Miao, you and your comrades are too naive. They are refugees, not soldiers. Twenty kilometers is really too far for them. Besides, I guess refugees
He will also carry a large amount of belongings.”
"Property?" Yevlov was stunned, "What other property do they have?"
"A broken family is worth a thousand dollars."
Yang Mingzhi sighed. Based on his understanding of the Soviet Union, these refugees should be mainly farmers. The Soviet Union had to sacrifice the interests of farmers for the sake of industrialization. Farmers are generally poor, but at least they are much better off than during the Tsarist Russia. They are already
They lacked the means of production and must have been plundered by the German army during the war. The few remaining possessions they had were the basis of their lives and they would not throw them away.
"I estimate that they will carry a lot of clothes, as well as axes and sickles for digging and cutting wood, or other tools. They should also have many carriages and drive some livestock, and even the chickens and ducks they raise will be packed in.
The cages were taken away together. I have no doubt about their ability to move. They were able to pack up everything they could take away. Only the frame of the house was moved. There was really nothing useful left for the Germans."
"If this is the case, they will indeed move slowly." Yevlov pinched his chin, "Perhaps, we should send troops to respond to them."
"I think so. The telegram shows that the refugee group will be ordered to go along the Berezina River, and then turn around and go along the Dnieper River until they enter Lechicha. As for the Gypsy Brigade, the refugees in their hands will go west.
Go to the Dnieper River and go directly to Lechitsa.
Therefore, the refugees of the Red October brigade are mainly on the right bank, and the refugees of the Gypsy brigade are mainly on the left bank. The guerrillas almost blew up all the bridges on the Dnieper and Berezina rivers, making it very difficult for the refugees to cross the rivers."
"It's not difficult to cross the river. Didn't we capture a batch of German kayaks?" Yevlov pinched his waist, proud of his clever idea.
Yang Mingzhi nodded: "Our gunboat is also of great use. It can be used as a ferry and a mobile river bunker when necessary. We must mobilize all the ships and order the frontline troops to build more rafts."
The refugees will first arrive at Lechica. The Soviet army seized a large amount of supplies in the city, such as a large amount of flour. After arriving in the city exhausted, they will inevitably have to wait for a long journey of more than 100 kilometers. Such a long distance
, even the regular troops had to march for three full days, not to mention the refugees with their families and carriages.
Therefore, Yang Mingzhi did not have any hope that they would act quickly.
"I estimate that all the refugees will arrive in Lechica before nightfall tomorrow at the earliest, and most of the refugees will arrive tonight and tomorrow morning. The situation is too tense and we cannot give them more time in Lechica.
During their rest time, they would at most have a pot of porridge or noodles cooked in iron plate soup in the city, and then continue heading south without stopping.
We accept these refugees and must get them out of Lechica as quickly as possible.
With Lechicha in our hands, the German army will definitely find a way to capture him. The stable war situation is only temporary, and the German army must be deploying troops. They may even pull their elite troops from the front line to attack us. If that happens
, there are still a large number of refugees stranded in Lechica, and we do not have the ability to protect them and fight at the same time."
Everyone was frightened when they heard that in the past few days, the Guerrilla Republic would not only accept 20,000 refugees, but also 6,000 troops from Kovpak. Everyone was thinking about how to quickly recover after the human resources were strong and delayed by the war.
And logistics is on the verge of collapse.
I never thought that escorting only 20,000 refugees back would be such a huge project.
Sarinchkin and Lyudbarev, the two main persons in charge of logistics dispatch and human resources of the Soviet army, played their part in this issue.
Sarinchkin pointed out: "The situation is not very bad. We mobilized more than 4,000 civilians to march towards Lechica yesterday, and they brought a large number of carriages and bicycles. They will arrive around noon tomorrow at the earliest, and a large number of them will
After the supplies were unloaded, those carriages were empty. Originally, our plan was to transport the captured guns and some ammunition, as well as a large amount of clothes, and scrap metal. Since there are too many refugees, transporting the refugees first would definitely be faster than walking on their own.
quick."
"No."
"What?" Salinchkin was surprised by Yang Mingzhi's sudden objection, "What's the reason?"
"I'm not totally opposed to it. We actually don't have many carriages, but there are too many refugees. The telegram shows that there are a thousand children among the refugees. We should transport children first, as well as the sick and wounded. As for those who are in good health,
Since they have already hiked dozens of kilometers, there is no problem in continuing on foot."
"Your explanation makes sense."
After some discussion, a preliminary "refugee rescue plan" was quickly developed.
The organization of the guerrilla republic is very strong, and the plan will be implemented as soon as it is released. Although it is evening, the order is immediately conveyed to various collective farms, and even to the Homnich military station in the north and the defenders of Lechica and Donajci ferry.
There.
…
Just as they were discussing, a huge group of refugees had already crossed the Berezina River and entered the Dnieper River.
It was already evening, and the orange-red sun was so huge that it soon set below the horizon.
A very thin little girl was just walking behind her mother. Her frail appearance showed her severe malnutrition.
"Mom, how long do we have to walk! I'm so hungry."
"Katya, if you continue to be patient, we will have something to eat as soon as we get to Lechitsa."
"Really...really? Aren't there any Germans there?"
"Of course not, the city has been liberated. So we continued to persevere and soon arrived in the city. There was endless bread and milk."
The mother drew a picture of a serious illness for the child. The hungry child suddenly became excited and his steps became stronger.
This group of refugees totaled 4,000 people, and they were the first group of refugees to go to Lechica.
The current strength of the Red October Guerrilla Brigade has actually become a behemoth of 13,000 people. They lost thousands of people in the battle, but they also recruited thousands of people by surprise. They asked the rescued civilians to go to Lechicha.
They were then promised that they would reach the always-safe Guerrilla Republic.
They would not let the refugees go to Lechica spontaneously. The guerrilla brigade organized thousands of people together, distributed a small number of firearms to the refugees for self-defense, and organized a small team (about one company in strength) to escort them.
The entire refugee group is quite similar to the Russian armed immigrant group from four hundred years ago, but its combat effectiveness is extremely poor.
The current mission of the guerrilla brigade is to avoid frontal combat with the main force of the German army in a wide area, use sparrow warfare and mobile warfare to constantly harass the enemy, and use cold shots and ambush tactics to eliminate small groups of enemies and accumulate a small number into a larger number.
The soldiers were so effective that the German 805th Division guarding Svetlogorsk was completely restrained.
Of course, to continue this long battle, the guerrilla brigade needs ammunition and food. Ammunition can be used sparingly, but the consumption of military food is unprecedented.
Since the refugees were about to arrive in Lechica, their superiors also airdropped a batch of food, and the friendly forces seized a large amount of flour in the city, the guerrilla brigade leader Tikhon Pimenovich Bumazhkov made a decisive decision to seize it.
All the food for the refugees, and then distribute a small amount of food to the refugees
This method was exactly what Lenin did in 1918. The "surplus grain collection system" allowed the soldiers of the guerrilla brigade to have sufficient physical strength to fight the fascists. Since the refugees could reach Lechica in just a few hours, the brigade leader Boumaz
Kokov decisively left the mess to the friendly Guerrilla Republic.
His method was very rational and realistic, but also very cruel. Most of the refugees did reach Lechica safely, but they must have almost fainted from starvation when they arrived in the city.
Yang Mingzhi and others were completely unprepared for this situation, but the Guerrilla Republic also thought of the possibility of starvation of the refugees, and the officers and soldiers on the front line had already begun to produce cooked and dry food on a large scale.
Baking bread is quite troublesome, and the storable bread captured was completely distributed by the soldiers.
The food for the frontline officers and soldiers after that was almost cooked with rice porridge in lunch boxes. Some soldiers also tried kneading the dough to make dough, cooking it and baking it.
Since a large number of refugees are arriving, a large amount of food is necessary for them to have the strength to walk to Lechica.
Therefore, under Yang Mingzhi's order, frontline officers and soldiers actually started making "guokui" on a large scale. In fact, they grilled metal plates and cooked the noodles quickly until they became hard.
There is no way to eat this kind of flour in Belarus, because this kind of cooking is really bad. However, this is the most efficient method of cooking at present, and the food is also given to refugees, so the soldiers don't mind much.
According to the order of the headquarters, the Soviet army set up a "Refugee Transfer Committee" in Rechica. Its main members were grassroots political commissars selected from the army. The first person in charge was Miloshny, the commander of the 17th Guerrilla Brigade.
division.
Currently, the German army has long abandoned the ferry town of Donajci. After the officers and soldiers of the 17th Partisan Brigade liberated this small town, they first moved usable supplies. After that, the town's use value was not great.
After Miroshniko received a telegram from his superior about asking about Kovpak, he did know about Kovpak, and even sent someone to contact Heqi, but he didn't know much about him. He provided some important information to his superior,
After that, he led his troops to be stationed on the right bank of Donajci Ferry.
He was appointed as the first person in charge of the "Refugee Transfer Committee" at a critical moment. Indeed, he was the only one in the entire army who had experience in managing tens of thousands of refugee groups.
Miroshniko did not object to this, so on the afternoon of the 21st, all his men moved to Lechica, and Donajic's defense was replaced by friendly forces.
"In the next two days, troops must be personally involved in escorting the refugees. Everyone knows that the 17th Guerrilla Brigade once led nearly 10,000 civilians to survive in the forest."
These were Lavrenti's words. Miroshniko had no objection as to how to escort the refugees back. He boasted of his rich experience.
After receiving the order, he immediately ordered his subordinates who had just entered the city to move north along the river.
Miroshniko has his own strategy. It is absolutely impossible to expect the exhausted refugees to move forward with their heads held high. Maybe some refugees are already hungry and exhausted and have to rest where they are. Since the refugee group is coming, if it gets dark
It would be too bad if they haven't reached Lechitsa yet.
There are currently more than 700 able-bodied soldiers in the 17th Guerrilla Brigade. Miroshniko divided 300 people and asked them to carry some hot-made hardtack cakes and go north along the Dnieper River. He
It is estimated that if the subordinates go out of the city for a few kilometers, they will encounter a group of refugees.
Everything was exactly as he expected.
At 6:10 p.m., the Soviet Army Command Headquarters in Lechitsa, located in a relatively intact civilian house, suddenly received a telegram from the north.
It was a telegram from the troops dispatched by the guerrilla brigade. The telegram only contained one sentence - We successfully met with the refugees.