There are still many burning flames in Lechica, including burning wooden buildings that were blown up by the German army, and some bonfires lit by the Soviet army.
The Soviet army placed potatoes and flour in many cellars in the city, so even if the camp in the forest was blown to pieces by the Germans and the flour and potatoes were turned into carbon, the Soviet army would still have a certain amount of food. But the soldiers were faced with numbers.
With not much food, their confidence was naturally shaken.
The soldiers gathered around the bonfires everywhere and roasted potatoes casually. They collected the corpses of their comrades as much as possible and personally buried the remains of unknown owners. They completed these tasks personally, and they felt really bad, even the hard-hearted people.
It was impossible not to be touched at all, so that everyone could barely swallow the dinner.
Ordinary soldiers discussed the future of the team. Everyone was not afraid of death in battle, but they were very afraid of hunger.
"How many days can our food last? Two days? Or three days? Ivan, I heard from the brothers at the headquarters that a German army cut off our communication with the swamp."
"Are you talking nonsense? Are there many German soldiers?"
"Yes, I heard they have three infantry divisions. Can we really handle it?"
The soldier's conversation was overheard by the company's political commissar, who stopped the words that disturbed the morale of the soldiers.
These conversations between soldiers were by no means an exception. Soon, a grassroots political commissar informed Lavrenty of such changes in the soldiers' mentality, which worried him greatly.
Yevgeny sighed: "Tomorrow will definitely be the most brutal battle. If our soldiers are afraid, the city will collapse. We must stabilize their mentality."
"Then tell them the truth?"
"Yes! And the latest orders we received from our superiors!"
Lavrenti originally conveyed the orders from his superiors to the battalion-level commanders. He did not consider whether the orders would be implemented in the ears of every soldier. He indeed had no intention of thinking about this. The frontline headquarters was thinking about how to put it into effect.
The city defenses should be made stronger.
Now, Yang Mingzhi's order has finally reached the ears of every garrison soldier in Lechicha. Those who were once worried about the future finally have a backbone.
All we have to do is hold on for one more day. Hold Lechica and let all the friendly forces in the north withdraw to the swamps. The brothers will take the rear. With the friendly forces withdrawing, Lechica, which has been reduced to ruins, will be given to the enemy.
Many loyal soldiers had a serious psychological misunderstanding of the general's plan, and thousands of people sacrificed their lives for the city. The city was liberated, why should it be handed over to the Communists? In this way, wouldn't the sacrifices of their comrades have been wasted?
.However, they must carry out this order. They are soldiers after all.
Fortunately, as long as we defend for one more day, the problem of food shortage will no longer exist, and the hunger problem that the soldiers worry about will be solved.
Just hold on for one more day! Tomorrow will be a decisive battle, and many people will die! How many people will survive?
On the other side of the battlefield, the vast number of German soldiers are also worried about their future.
If the morale of the Soviet army was shaken, the morale of the German army was shaken.
The officers and soldiers of the 370th Division have never encountered such brutal street fighting as today. Even though they may be brutal in the street fighting, when they really start fighting, everyone realizes the frailty of the guys at hand and the terrifying power of the Russians' powerful firepower.
There was a widespread rumor among the soldiers that the Russians were able to evade the ground like groundhogs, so much so that six thousand artillery shells hit their fur. The division commander decided to start a decisive battle tomorrow, and the city of Lechica must be captured. This was also a very difficult task.
The casualties of the German army were also very shocking. Among the three main regiments that were withdrawn, which were the combat troops of the division, only 5,900 of the 7,000 soldiers could continue to fight.
In just three hours of fighting, the German casualties reached 1,100. The 370th Division participated in the war for two full years. This was the most serious loss of troops suffered by the division since its establishment.
In the headquarters tent of division commander Gnus, facing such heavy casualties, he was not angry. His spirit was so greatly impacted that he was a little afraid of the Soviet army.
"Are these Russians monsters? We lost a thousand people just because of this small city. This is the war on the Eastern Front. If we end the fighting here and go to Rzhev, won't we be annihilated?!"
The teacher's remarks made everyone uncomfortable.
The chief of staff murmured: "Now, we are not discussing the issue of casualties, but what to do tomorrow? The army commander is in Mozyr, and he is waiting for news of victory. After all, our mission is to go to Smolensk, and we cannot
Spend a lot of time here."
"Do I want to delay? Does the commander understand our current situation? Who would have thought that Lechica is so strong? It is like a fortress. If we take it down, we will definitely suffer heavy casualties!"
The deputy division commander shook his head helplessly: "The commander is still waiting for our response. As gentlemen, we must answer truthfully, even if he will get angry."
"I'm not afraid of being scolded by him. I know Hangte. He is a complete snob. He longs for achievements. We are his tools to build achievements. When our attack is frustrated, what he needs is not my excuse, but an explanation."
A reasonable plan.”
"Plan? Siege plan?" the chief of staff thought for a moment, "Maybe we should invite the 371st Division to reinforce us. The main force of the Soviet army did not escape south. They will fight us to the end. Therefore, the 371st Division has no need to build a defensive line.
"
"Forget it! We have killed so many people and fired nearly 7,000 artillery shells in total. The strength of the Soviet army has been weakened. I just can't bear the soldiers to continue to suffer massive casualties. If the victory is given to the 371st Division, what are you sitting here?
All of you have been insulted, haven’t you?”
Most of the soldiers were brave warriors, and the officers in front of Genus were all aggrieved that they had lost the battle during the day. Genus's words aroused their fighting spirit.
Especially for Schumacher's regiment, which had suffered the most losses, the regiment leader reacted violently: "In the worst case, I will die on the battlefield and give the credit to the 371st Division? Bah!"
Seeing this, the other regiment leaders expressed their own opinions. Their opinions were surprisingly unanimous. The so-called heavy casualties were not a reason to be afraid.
But this did not make Genus happy at all. It was a good thing to use his life, but he really hoped that his troops would not die on a large scale again.
He said helplessly: "In this case, I have no choice but to use that method. Just shoot out all the artillery shells. I don't believe that the Russians are really like moles and marmots, able to burrow deep into the ground.
No loss at all!”
In a sense, the German 370th Division commanded by Hangtai will only fight dull battles. The combat routines include pincer offensives and artillery bombardments after the infantry rushes.
With the honor of a soldier, he explained to his superiors what had happened to the 370th Division. His guess was also correct, and Army Commander Hang Te was furious about this.
In the commander's curse, he also revealed today's results of other troops.
Throughout the battle on the 28th, both the 371st Division and the 771st Division achieved significant results. One defeated the Soviet stragglers in Homnich and reached the Dnieper River in one breath. The other was quickly defeated by Svetlogo.
The siege of Ersk was lifted, and the next day the siege of Zhlobin was to be lifted, and at least 2,000 guerrillas were annihilated.
The battle results reported by various units are somewhat exaggerated. All aviation experts believe that the 370th Division's encounter may be even worse.
But the division commander Genus actually used his own honor to guarantee that the number of casualties he reported was true.
Everything went as Genus expected. Hang Te was tired of scolding, so he gave the 370 Division a fatal order, that is, the following Qica must be captured on the 29th.
However, Hangte did not mention what kind of punishment he would punish his subordinates if he could not win tomorrow. The artillery of the three divisions was given to the 370th Division, which bombed the city indiscriminately and actually consumed more than 6,000
Even so, the Russians could organize a strong defense.
So half an hour after ending the communication, Hangte made a major decision.
Because the 100th Army is legally a unit of the Ninth Group Army, in terms of status, this group army is ten thousand times more important than the Army Group that deployed Wagner who is responsible for public security in Belarus! Using this as a reason, the aviation authority forced the 734th Division to use their inventory of artillery shells
Contribute it all.
"Your army group is very incompetent, which is why the guerrillas are raging in the Gomel region. You will only support the enemy by keeping the artillery shells. Now leave it to us. When Ichicha is captured, you will also be responsible for the attack."
Does Borisman dare to refute? Of course he doesn't, but the number of artillery shells in the 734th Division is really small. The division has been reduced to only twenty 75mm howitzers for a long time, and the heavy artillery has long been supporting the front-line friendly forces. The inventory is
There are not many artillery shells. It originally supported the 100th Army with 1,000 rounds, but now there are only 1,000 rounds in stock.
In this way, the 734th Division supported the friendly forces with the last thousand rounds of artillery shells.
Naturally, this number was not satisfactory to the pilot. He also knew that the 734th Division could not magically produce a large amount of ammunition. Fortunately, the 100th Army still had some reserve artillery shells, and it was time to transport them to the 370th Division.
Genus was scolded and he was in a bad mood. However, the urgent telegram sent an hour later made him look at the army commander with admiration.
"It seems that guy still cares about me. If I reinforce with 3,000 rounds of artillery shells, I should be able to capture Lechica tomorrow."
Genus and Hunter had the same idea, which was to use indiscriminate bombing to overwhelm the defenders in the city.
At ten o'clock in the evening, the first German truck transporting artillery shells began to set off from Mozyr and headed for the front line along the lower road next to the railway line. The number of German trucks was limited, so that 70% of the artillery shells had to be pulled by horse-drawn carriages.
Fortunately, the three infantry divisions arrived in Belarus with a large number of military horses recruited from France and Poland. The carriage transport team operates at night, which is a major test for the horses. Don't think that these animals will work crazy for humans. Transportation
The team's night operations were much slower than expected.
The straight-line distance from Mozyri to the battlefield is only thirty kilometers. As long as you keep whipping, the horses can still walk honestly.
At three o'clock in the night, the first truck with its headlights on arrived at the German camp. The logistics soldiers who were keeping watch quickly began to carry ammunition and carried it to the artillery position.
At night, the sound can travel very far, not to mention that the artillery position is only five kilometers away from Lechica.
Not only was it quiet now, but the clear air allowed the Soviet sentries to detect abnormalities in the German positions with the naked eye. The sentries saw a large number of regularly swaying light spots, and their intuition told them that they were German trucks.
So Lavrenti learned about this situation in his sleep, that is, the German army's strength had been strengthened. But what else could he do? Lavrenti slept in his clothes, lying on a "bed" made up of stools.
A submachine gun was placed under the stool. He was ready to fight at any time, and he was also prepared to die in battle.
No matter how the German army increased its troops, the Soviet army could not take better countermeasures. Lavrenti decided to cope with the changes by remaining unchanged and holding on for twenty-nine days.
More and more trucks arrived at the German camp, and at two o'clock in the morning, the first carriage also arrived. However, it took until four o'clock in the morning for the Germans to transport all the ammunition. The reason was that either the carriage got stuck in the mud, or
The horses suddenly became uncooperative.
Finally, the German army received the batch of ammunition safely. Looking at the brighter and brighter east, Genus walked out of the tent and felt much better.
Similarly, the ordinary soldiers who were awakened by the morning horn, especially the three main groups, were tortured by the commotion in the night, and many of them did not sleep well.
Yes, today is the decisive battle. If the battle is still like yesterday, who will sleep well? Presumably, this is the last sunrise that many people will see!
The only thing that can make everyone happy is the ammunition shipped by Mozyr. Rumors suddenly spread among the soldiers that the so-called army commander made a painful decision and decided to blow up Lechica. If this could be done, many people would indeed be alive.
.
After all, the grassroots soldiers are not commanders, not to mention the division commander Gnus, who does not know all the army commander's decisions.
It turns out that Hangt was not as simple as simply sending more artillery shells and ordering the 370th Division to bombard the city. His soldiers were indeed bombing, and his enemies were probably the last fighting force of the so-called "Soviet Guards 284th Division", and they were the only ones.
He could kill a thousand of his own people. He discussed with the local garrison commander Wagner overnight and got a promise of air support.
The Koch Air Group, which suffered heavy losses in the air battle, was ordered to participate in the battle. Although the group currently only has ten fighter jets that can carry bombs, this is enough.
On the 28th, the city of Gomel encountered siege from two directions, that is, the 233rd Paratrooper Brigade of the Soviet Army and the gypsy guerrilla brigade. Starting from the afternoon, the gypsy began to voluntarily abandon some villages occupied in the north (the villagers had already
(walk or flee), their southward movement directly made the 722nd Division guarding Gomel mistakenly believe that the Soviet army was about to attack the city.
During the day, Koch took the initiative to order all fighter planes to fight. To be honest, these fighter planes were not professional bombers after all, and the results achieved were very small. But Koch also realized that his actions were not obstructed by any Soviet air force. This area
He still has control of the airspace, and his own air force can do whatever he wants.
He learned that the German attack on Lechica was blocked, and he also received the order to attack. This was really gratifying news.
Therefore, before the artillery bombardment, there was first a bombing from the Air Force. It was not until five o'clock in the morning that Army Commander Hang Te notified the 370th Division of the situation.