With a ball of grass above her head, Natasha lay quietly in the grass. In order to be more concealed, her firearm was also wrapped with some dogtail grass.
The only thing that can expose herself is the scope lens that can reflect sunlight. Since the haze is still there today, she has no worries in this regard.
"Igor, tell me, are there any enemies among those people?"
"Enemies? I think they are all civilians." Igor's mouth tightened. He held up the binoculars and followed his own judgment. "My dear, look at these people. If they are soldiers, they can't help but hold their heads high when they walk!
Look at them, it's not like that at all."
"Okay. Maybe the superiors are worrying too much."
"You must not underestimate the enemy. I will continue to help you observe. We cannot expose ourselves and continue to hide."
Indeed, there was not a single German or puppet soldier among the crowd, they were all busy strengthening the city's defenses!
Because of a sneak attack at night, the German commander realized that he had made a serious mistake in his defense. Due to negligence, the German army did not set up a post outside the city, which caused the guerrillas to directly attack the city.
For all this, the regiment leader Fuller blamed his own stupidity. He learned a lesson from every mistake, so at the edge of the wheat field, the German army began to set up machine gun positions.
As a result, the closest distance between the ambushing Soviet army and the German army will be only three thousand meters. When neither side has long-range artillery, three thousand meters is an insurmountable gap. The Soviet army is somewhat resistant to reckless sieges.
The German army is completely passive defense.
Fuller knew nothing about the strength and ambush location of the guerrillas outside the city. He reported the incident to the division headquarters and also received news that the division headquarters had sent 500 "Ukrainian police" reinforcements.
"Five hundred reinforcements? What's the use? I need heavy weapons, not a group of Ukrainians with inferior combat effectiveness!" Fuller was dissatisfied. He thought carefully about it. Because he had expelled the civilian burden in the city, what would happen in the future?
After the wheat harvest, these "Ukrainian policemen" can be used as labor force.
Kovpak knew nothing about the enemy's reinforcements. Of course, even if he knew about it, no one would worry. The place where the army ambush is in the forest. Fighting in the forest, Kovpak prides itself on being a little weaker than the guerrilla republic.
At present, the important task of the army is to accept the fleeing civilians, and the work has already begun.
Carrying linen bags, leaning on crutches, or pushing flatbed trucks or handcarts, the evacuated civilians were by no means scattered. They gradually gathered together and moved slowly toward the south.
The size of the civilian group was quite huge. Excluding the victims at night, there were more than 5,000 people who fled the town! In addition, they also carried some luggage, and they were getting hit more and more. In the eyes of the Soviet scouts in the distance,
, that is a behemoth.
"Brothers, get ready! They are coming. Machine gunners and snipers are ready, beware of the enemy!" After a team leader said this, he led more than ten people to crawl forward for more than fifty meters.
All the soldiers were lying in ambush close to the forest, and behind them was a blocking defense line deployed by the corps.
For the troops at the outermost part of the formation, they will negotiate with civilians and face tremendous psychological pressure. It is said that if an enemy really breaks out, they will be the first to die.
As for the civilians, they are in a very low mood. There will be a difficult road waiting for everyone. Everyone will pass through the forest in front of them, and all they have in their hands are some freshly dug potatoes. There are also bears wandering in the forest.
The only thing that can be used for self-defense against ferocious beasts is wooden sticks and a few kitchen knives.
To make matters worse, most of the civilians are women, children and elderly men. Young men in towns have long been drafted by the Germans, some to do coolies, and some to become policemen wearing armbands. No matter what they do, young men are miserable
Yes, some of the "policemen" who guard the city are conscripted into the town, and they will all die in the future battles.
Some of the escapees were even glad that they left the town. They didn't know their future, but as long as they found a new town through the forest, everyone would be safe.
They were getting closer and closer to the forest, and some women suddenly quickened their pace. They urged their children: "Children, run! Go and look for mushrooms under the big trees. If you are too late, there will be none!"
Many people ran wildly towards the forest, which shocked the civilians behind, and panic spread immediately. Under the herd effect, everyone ran madly towards the forest, as if they were being chased by thousands of German troops.
The crazy behavior of the civilians instantly aroused the vigilance of all the ambushing guerrillas.
Even veterans like Natasha couldn't help but become nervous when faced with thousands of people running wildly.
She was dissatisfied with the sweat on her forehead and asked Igor beside her: "Uncle! Why are they charging at us? They are not Germans at all! They are a large group of women and children."
"The devil knows what's going on! My dear, get ready for battle."
Yes, Kovpak and Balzen were completely confused when faced with this situation. Kovpak gave the order to all the soldiers to fix their bayonets, and they were ready to fight as if they were facing regular enemies.
The women and children running wildly to pick mushrooms had no idea of what was ahead.
Suddenly, more than 300 soldiers who were ambushing outside the position suddenly appeared from their hiding place.
The appearance of the soldiers frightened the people who were running wildly. They even shouted in Ukrainian: "You all stop! Otherwise I will shoot!"
The mother carrying the basket hurriedly protected her children. But how could the crowd behind know what was happening in front of them? They rushed over the stagnant people.
The scene quickly descended into chaos. The soldiers continued to shout in Ukrainian and fired warning shots.
Speaking of the gunshots, they were not sporadic. The entire regiment was prepared, and all the soldiers were highly concentrated. When someone fired, many soldiers followed suit. Where was the enemy? No one cared. Many bullets actually flew away.
There were also bullets that killed and injured the fleeing people.
The bullets killed civilians, something Kovpak did not expect.
"Everyone give me a ceasefire! Everyone stop!" Kovpack was furious. He was running around the front in his leather jacket.
The oolong farce happened quickly and ended quickly.
The Naihe Corps received weapons reinforcements from the Guerrilla Republic, and together with the seizures on the battlefield, the entire army currently has as many as ninety machine guns!
After a rough fight, more than 40 civilians were killed or injured, while the rest ran back as soon as possible.
Civilians don't know what they are encountering. If someone shoots at them, they should run for their lives.
However, their escape speed was not as fast as the guerrillas. The first three hundred soldiers to intervene began to take on the work of containment.
The scene became increasingly chaotic. Balzen ran towards Kovpak who was wandering in front of the formation, and then grabbed him.
"Commander of the Corps! The civilians are in chaos now. What are you doing? Stop them quickly!"
"well!"
After waking up, Kovpak could no longer care about so much. He ordered the entire army to attack and surrounded the civilian population in a pincer-like offensive.
The exhausted civilians had no physical strength to flee into the town. Many people simply sat down, mothers held their children and cried loudly, and the elderly sat down and waited for death.
All the escapees were surrounded. The bright bayonets were the best advice. No one dared to hit the bayonets.
After they were surrounded, more soldiers came out of the forest. More than 2,000 people participated in the siege, and the encirclement became smaller and smaller, eventually compressing more than 5,000 civilians into a small area.
They didn't shoot! They were not Germans! They actually spoke Ukrainian! They were guerrillas attacking the city at night!
As people gradually calmed down, they gradually understood their situation.
For Kovpak, he had never had such an experience catching so many people in one day!
Thousands of civilians were squatting on the ground. When Kovpak saw a tilted flatbed truck, he walked over, stood on the truck and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Everyone! Be quiet!"
Due to the majesty of the soldiers, the noisy crowd quickly fell silent, and only Kovpak continued to speak.
"Citizens of Lilchuch! We are the Red Army guerrillas. Don't be afraid, let alone have any resistance! I order you in the name of the leader, Comrade Stalin, everyone to follow us! I will take you to a safe place.
, Anyone who dares to resist will be shot without mercy..."
Many people in the war seriously lacked the courage to fight the enemy, and they just wanted to live a submissive life. It is difficult for such people to become excellent soldiers, but they cannot be abandoned. As long as they are won over, the Germans will seriously lack slaves.
.As long as we can get as many people back from the Germans as possible, the Germans will be under increasing pressure later on. Kovpak understands this truth better than most guerrilla commanders.
He estimated that the "Carrot Offensive" could only be launched after all these civilians had settled down. At present, the troops must deter them. Severe threats and sharp bayonets were better than all good words and persuasion.
The civilians who died due to unintentional shooting were dragged aside and buried on the spot, while the injured were quickly treated.
The civilians walked into the forest with fear. They had learned that the guerrillas were all of their own race, Ukrainians. It was really unknown how they would treat them.
When these five thousand people entered the forest, it was already four o'clock in the afternoon. In order to calm people's hearts, Kovpak ordered all officers and soldiers to give part of their rations to the civilians.
Every civilian ate at least 400 grams of potatoes. After swallowing the food, their tension was relieved a lot.
The forest where the corps was ambushed was filled with exhausted people. After eating, many people actually fell asleep with their backs against the big trees.
The soldiers couldn't care less. They were ordered to carry out the census and immediately began to count all civilians.
On the other hand, at the headquarters of Cove Park, five seemingly honest middle-aged men were summoned.
The whole scene was still a bit awkward. Kovpak signaled that his guards took out the captured German cigarette boxes and gave one to each civilian.
"You all know how to smoke! If you smoke one, your nervous mind will calm down."
Everything went as Kovpak hoped, and after he finished smoking, his questions were well answered.
Kovpak wanted to know about Lilchuch's situation over the past year, and the middle-aged man he chose answered truthfully. In the end, even the deployment of German troops was fully known.
"It's amazing. In addition to the German troops, there are also puppet troops! There are really four thousand of them?!"
Not only Kovpak, but also Balzen who was listening could not help but widen his eyes.
"These are what we have seen with our own eyes. Just the day before yesterday, they increased their troops on a large scale. Maybe..."
"What could it be?"
"Maybe it's to protect you! You did launch an attack at night."
"Okay." Kovpak shrugged: "Our battle along the Pripet River has also made the enemies here extremely nervous. So, why don't you run to the north or the east, but attack them all together?
He ran to the south."
"This..." The old civilian hesitated for a moment: "We have all heard that the war in the north is extremely chaotic, and many guerrillas are fighting in the north. Wouldn't it be suicide to run to the north? Besides! We are all Ukrainians, here we are.
In the south, they won't make things difficult for our fellow tribesmen."
"Yes, that puppet regime will never kill you. As for the German army, I can't guarantee it. Obviously, you know nothing about us, especially me." Kovpak deliberately walked to this point.
In front of the old man, he showed his ID.
"The person standing in front of you is a legal official of the Sumy Region! I am Kovpak, I am a Ukrainian, and almost all our soldiers are Ukrainians. When we fought from Sumy to here, in addition to fighting the enemy, we also wanted to save the Germans.
You are enslaved by man! Do you have anything else to say now?"
"I...I have nothing to say. I just hope that we can be safe."
"I can promise you this, and I can promise it to everyone. Our army will escort you to Pripet Swamp, which will be your new home!"
At the mention of this name, the old man's eyes suddenly became nervous.
"What? Do you know that swamp?" Kovpak asked hurriedly.
"Yes! We all know that! The Germans claimed to have defeated the guerrillas there, so what else is there? If you send us there, we will starve to death."
What he said made Kovpak very speechless.
"Don't you believe the lies of the Communist Party rather than your compatriots? I passed by that swamp, which is the guerrilla republic. There are endless potatoes to eat, and the guerrillas there are more powerful! It is obvious that the Germans suffered a disastrous defeat.
They deliberately lied to you in order to cover up their own failures."
"Okay! Who can we trust now? I believe you, we can no longer endure deception!"
To manage the five thousand newly arrived civilians, how to manage them is a problem.
The five middle-aged people selected by Cove Park are honest elders among the refugee group and should have a high say. Let them follow the team with peace of mind and temporarily elect representatives to make them autonomous. This is a
Good choice.
The Corps then divided these civilians into five groups, each with five middle-aged men as group leaders. Rudnev was not idle either. He assigned two grassroots political commissars to each group of civilians and immediately began ideological work.
When on the verge of despair, anyone who makes a promise will listen. Seventy percent of the civilians are women and children. They are the weakest and most willing to believe in the Corps. Rudnev's ideological work is carried out very smoothly, and grassroots
The political commissars even described the guerrilla republic as a paradise, just like it was before the war broke out, although these grassroots political commissars had not actually arrived in the Blacksmith Village.
Women and children quickly became supporters of the Corps. As for the remaining middle-aged men, even if they had doubts, it was of no avail. (To be continued)