The town hospitals were in mourning, and more than a dozen nurses and five military doctors were responsible for all the treatment work.
The wounded German soldiers were carried in as soon as possible and given priority for treatment. However, the puppet troops also suffered casualties, and the two sides simply clashed over the treatment of the wounded. The Germans and Ukrainians, although they were allies, had a fight in the hospital.
.
Until the heavily armed German troops used their numerical superiority to forcibly expel the Ukrainians.
The German army and the puppet army can fight over the treatment of injuries, but as for the civilians, they can only save themselves.
For civilians in towns, each family has limited food surplus, and medicines are even non-existent. Hospitals controlled by the German army rarely treat civilians, so civilians have to fight against the disease on their own. Many people are injured now, and civilians
They completely lost all thought of the occupying forces. Due to lack of medicine, they had no choice but to tie the limbs of the wounded with hemp rope and apply bandages to stop bleeding.
After dawn on August 4, another forty civilians died of serious injuries.
The sky is getting brighter, the whole world is still gray, and people's mood is the same as the bad weather.
Versigora doesn't fire many shells, and the tactical effect of its explosive shock wave is really great for a town with a lot of wooden buildings.
Thirty-five houses in the town collapsed during the bombing, and three of them caught fire (the fire was extinguished at dawn).
Whether they were civilians or German puppet troops, everyone in Lierchuch Town had a sleepless night.
The self-rescue of civilians began after the battle. They found the bodies of their companions in the rubble, looked for the wounded who were pressed down, and pulled out frightened children from nooks and crannies. They also numbly dug holes, buried the dead on the spot, and
I feel glad in my heart that these people are freed.
As for the Germans, they personally participated in clearing the rubble on the streets and insisted on setting up defenses outside the city to prevent a possible second attack by the enemy.
Fuller, the German commander with bloodshot eyes, had no time to clean the dust from his woolen coat.
"Hey! There are soldiers over there! Lay out the barbed wire for me. This is a barrier to block the enemy's charge!"
"And the people over there, go to the ruins of the building and move some scrap bricks to use as a bunker to protect your damn machine guns!"
He shouted orders to hide his inner anxiety.
After daybreak, Fuller finally understood that the battle at night was more than a blur. The observer standing at the highest point of the town saw that the wheat fields in the west of the city had been destroyed in large areas, which meant that the harvest period at the end of the month would increase the grain output.
fall.
Fuller knew that he didn't care about what happened in the past three weeks at the moment. Since the guerrillas had captured half of Mozyr, could it be that their attack on Lierchuch would not proceed after a brief attack?
No! The Russians must be around here.
Fuller understood the geography around the town. The town was adjacent to the river, and all water was drawn from the river. There were large forests to the north and south of the town, and there were many ponds in the forest. This kind of environment is really a good place for guerrilla warfare. Its scale
It was too big. Looking at the troops on hand, Fuller felt it was wisest to continue to hold on.
However, at eight o'clock in the morning, Fuller, who had just fallen asleep, was hurriedly awakened by the guards.
"Hey! What's going on? Are the Russians coming?"
You know, when an extremely tired person is woken up just after falling asleep, the pain is so painful that it is difficult to put into words.
The guard said nervously: "It's civilians! Many civilians are fleeing. They are escaping from the city!"
"Civilians? Are those guys of any use to defending the city? They are just a group of ants, their only function is to harvest wheat. Let them get out of the city, at least they will not eat our military rations."
"Captain! You..." The guard realized that the commander had given a new order, but the order was so incredible.
Then, the regimental chief of staff intervened and Fuller's intentions became clear.
"My God, please give me a break! What use are those civilians to us? Who can guarantee that there will not be guerrillas among them? If executing them will damage the honor of our 60th Division, we will not do it in vain.
Those bandits from Ross’s 707th Division.”
"But, who will harvest the wheat in the future?" The regiment chief of staff still clings to this question.
Fuller was furious and blushed: "Give me an order! Drive away all those civilians! Get out of the town within two hours. Anyone who doesn't leave by then will be shot as guerrillas!"
After saying that, the commander violently collapsed on the bed and closed his eyes to watch the flood.
The staff officers were helpless, and so was the deputy commander. As subordinates, they must obey Fuller's order, even if the order was somewhat unreliable.
The well-armed German soldiers attached bayonets to their rifles. They walked on the street to announce the orders of their regimental commanders, and then started to drive away the residents.
If possible, honest and peaceful residents would of course seek advantages and avoid disadvantages and flee. Ever since the fighting broke out at night, they had begun to think of fleeing.
Will the Germans let everyone leave? Finally, in the morning, someone took the risk. Seeing that the Germans had no strong intention to stop them, more people began to flee.
When the time reached nine o'clock in the morning, the Germans suddenly behaved uncharacteristically. Many civilians thought that the Germans were here to prohibit escape, but they did not expect that they were actually carrying out expulsions.
This can be called a wonder on the battlefield!
Thousands of civilians began to flee, and the fleeing of civilians was exactly the tactical effect that the Kovpak Corps hoped to achieve. It can only be said that the war situation developed smoothly beyond the imagination of the Soviet army, and they were about to receive a large number of refugees who fled into the forest!
German soldiers broke into civilian houses and forced the residents to leave with black muzzles and sharp bayonets. They could not tolerate any indifference from the residents.
Many people were deported with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Of course, the valuable belongings of these residents had been looted by the occupying forces a few months ago, and their homes were worth millions. Even the last bit of clothing was crucial to everyone.
Those shabby clothes are indeed related to their future life. The deportees can understand this without even thinking!
"Please, let me bring my clothes. Otherwise we will freeze to death in September!"
However, the German army ignored the residents' pleas and forcibly escorted them out. Their violent actions caused chaos throughout the city. Many people who did not know the truth even thought that the German army was going to shoot them all.
Several violent incidents occurred in the city, when German soldiers deliberately killed civilians who refused to leave. They were shot mercilessly and their bodies were dragged to the street. The cruel scene was witnessed by all the refugees who rushed to the street.
A German platoon leader stood on a cart and pointed at the murdered man.
"You Ukrainians, this is what you will get if you don't want to get out. Now you have all been expelled. If anyone messes around, we will shoot them with machine guns."
This verbal threat is extremely powerful. The civilians who are reluctant to leave will not care about their property. The most important thing is to save their lives.
In the entire Lierchuch expulsion incident, only the area where the puppet troops were responsible was relatively harmonious.
The Ukrainian pseudo-policemen and puppet soldiers with yellow and blue armbands were quite polite to their compatriots who were unwilling to evacuate.
"Do you want to die if you stay here? How can we take care of you when we are fighting the Russians?"
"The Germans are checking for spies everywhere. If you don't want to leave, you will be regarded as spies by the Germans!"
"You are women. If the Russians invade, will they let you go?"
They say things like this over and over again, but these remarks themselves are wrong.
Is it safe to leave the town? Bah! The Russian guerrillas have already arrived at the city. In the night battle, the guerrillas displayed firepower equivalent to that of the regular army.
If everything is as they say, and the guerrillas are a group of devils who eat people without spitting out their bones, then wouldn't leaving the town be like a sheep entering a tiger's mouth?!
At least, if you stay in the city, even if you are not killed by your own people, you will definitely be executed by the Germans.
The puppet army gave civilians some time, which caused many residents to hurriedly stuff bedding and clothes into linen bags, and even precious personal items buried under the floor. After these items were packed, they were either carried on their backs or thrown into simple carts.
.
Worried about the destruction by the Germans, these people left their homes without being urged by the pseudo-police. The mother pestered the child, the son pestered the mother, and the family pushed the cart and ran away.
The civilians quickly left the village, and Versigola's reconnaissance team, who stayed in the distance to observe with high-power telescopes, saw this strange scene!
I saw a large number of civilians wearing turbans leaving the still smoking town, and they hurriedly walked through the paths in the wheat fields.
Some people suddenly squatted down after leaving the wheat field.
"It's really strange. What are these people doing? Semyon, what do you think?"
"Probably tying shoelaces, right?"
"Shoelaces? If they had such shoes, they would have been snatched away by the Germans. I highly doubt whether they have shoes."
"Is this...or are they digging the ground?"
After more than ten minutes of observation and analysis, the two scouts, with a ball of grass above their heads, basically figured out the actions of the civilians.
The civilians were expelled by the Germans. As for the behavior of the civilians squatting on the ground, they were definitely digging potatoes! Because when the reconnaissance team was operating, they noticed that what grew in some areas was not alfalfa and foxtail grass at all, but a kind of
Grass with palm-sized leaves - those are potato leaves.
After clarifying the situation, the scout ran to the reconnaissance team headquarters to report this major incident to Versigola.
Multiple investigation teams sent out received very similar intelligence, and a large number of people in civilian attire began to leave the town with a few luggage.
He immediately sent a telegram to the army ten kilometers away to report the incident.
Versigola is by no means simply the "eyes" of the Corps, he has his own thoughts.
Who can guarantee that those who leave the town are all civilians? Who can guarantee that those wearing headscarves are definitely peasant women, not disguised enemy soldiers?
So in the telegram he sent, he elaborated on these views and hoped that his superiors could take precautions in case of unexpected events.
After reading the telegram, Kovpak was in a good mood.
He said to Rudnev, political commissar of the Corps: "The next step is your job. Those civilians will definitely move closer to us in large numbers. Then you have to appease them and tell them that we are the Soviet Red Army and will never harm them.
"
"I hope so! Most of the people leaving the town are Ukrainians, and most of us are Ukrainians. I hope there won't be any conflicts, and at the same time we have to guard against the enemies mixed in."
Balzen was most concerned about the possibility of "infiltrating the enemy" in the telegram.
He agreed with Rudnev's point of view and specifically reminded Kovpak: "Comrade! Please don't be too optimistic. If I were Dejun, I would definitely take this opportunity to mix the elite soldiers with the crowd and wait for an opportunity to touch the opponent's command center.
, even if you fail to assassinate the commander, you can still find out the truth and reality of the opponent."
"This is absolutely impossible!" Kovpak waved his hand, "You are a member of the Guards. You are resourceful and good at fighting. If the enemy has your resourcefulness, the guerrilla movement will almost be strangled in the cradle. You still don't want to be too high.
Look at the Germans, they were showing mercy by not killing these civilians."
"Okay! I am your advisor and I have the obligation to make these suggestions. I also hope you can think about it carefully. My general once warned me that weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival, arrogance is!"
Kovpak felt that there was some truth in what Balzen quoted from General Berekov, but he could not change his mind and still despised the Germans in the city.
What is the 60th Division? They'd better leave the towns and come to the forest, where they can become fertilizer for the big trees!
However, this operation is also a coordinated operation. If the brothers of the 6th Army have objections and report to Berekov, and finally go to Ponomarenko to read his so-called "arrogance and underestimation of the enemy", then it will be
Oh no.
The Corps took some preventive measures, namely planning a large number of machine gun positions, and Kovpak also ordered the soldiers to dig a large number of foxholes on the spot.
He estimated that these measures could easily deal with enemies mixed among civilians. Even if the Germans gave up the city and fought a decisive battle with themselves, this line of defense could easily kill hundreds of enemies!
The Soviet army was waiting in the forest area six kilometers south of the town. The scouts who climbed up the big trees kept observing with binoculars.
On August 4th, the weather was still gloomy. The air pollution level in this time and space was very low. Even on a cloudy day, the visibility was still good.
The scouts who were climbing on the treetops like monkeys reported a special sight, and Versigola, located northwest of the corps, also reported the fact that civilian groups were turning around.
Those civilians who had left the town with their families skillfully dug out many potatoes the size of ping pong balls in the potato fields outside the city.
These potatoes clearly still have huge room to grow, and the residents can't wait for them to expand. They use these small potatoes as dry food, put them in various pockets, and even carry them with their hands.
Soon after they left the town, they all turned south. This move deeply touched Kovpak, forcing him to convene an emergency military meeting based on the observation report.
The tense atmosphere spread throughout the regiment. The soldiers rumored that a large number of enemies had mixed with the civilians and miraculously found the location of the large troops. A fierce battle would take place in the afternoon.
Under the rumors, the soldiers stepped up the digging of foxholes, and under Balzen's instruction, the temporary machine gun fortress was reinforced with wooden blocks and tamped with earth.
Several important commanders gathered in front of Kovpak, and he said straight to the point: "I think, Comrade Balzen, your guess may come true! They actually moved towards our position."
"This... I always feel very strange. How could they know our location? Have we been exposed?"
"Maybe there is a traitor in our team."
As soon as Kovpak came up with this idea, he casually said it but was denied by the captain of the second brigade.
"Commander of the Corps, we are all patriots, and there is not a single traitor! Besides, the guerrilla movement is in great shape. I have only heard that some puppet soldiers turned into guerrillas, but I have never heard of any mutiny."
Balzen also shook his head: "They must have a reason to go south. Look at our current situation, we are in the forest, but in a protruding part of the forest. It rained a few days ago, look around us, most of the
There are mushrooms under the trees. We picked some mushrooms last night to satisfy our hunger. The refugees must know this. Maybe the civilians are seriously short of food.
Of course, I'm glad you took my advice to strengthen your defenses.
I continue to suggest that the defense of the troops should be further strengthened, and soldiers who are responding to civilians must also be warned to remain alert at all times, and the safety of their firearms must be turned on. Well, some snipers and machine gunners should also be ambushed in the bushes to guard against any accidents."
Kovpak nodded: "Okay! Just do as you say!" (To be continued)