On August 4, the Corps received more than 5,000 refugees. Through the confessions of the refugees, the Corps also had a very clear understanding of the German situation in Lilchuch.
Next, the big question of where the Corps will go next lies before Kovpak.
If he strictly follows the general's orders, the troops must continue to attack the city. The battle situation is developing faster than he imagined. It is true that he is the one who applied for the attack. Under the current situation, it is undoubtedly risky to attack rashly.
After the five middle-aged people left, Kovpak directly asked everyone for their opinions.
In particular, he asked Balzen: "Comrade, the enemy's strength is 4,000. Even if there are many ragtag groups among them, an integrated German infantry regiment, we will definitely encounter a stubborn resistance if we attack rashly. So what I mean is, we should not continue
The city is under siege.”
"You...your attitude changed too quickly."
Originally, Balzen had already made preparations for the attack. Especially since the troops received the civilians and learned that only the enemy was left in the city. As a result, the troops did not have to worry about the ensuing siege.
Of course, the confessions of civilians must also be taken into consideration. Regardless of the quality of the soldiers, the German puppet troops are superior in terms of troop strength. It is said that there are several half-track armored vehicles in the city, which further enhances their strength in defending the city.
Balzen hesitated for a moment, then asked: "Sir, have you made up your mind to evacuate? The siege plan we made before..."
"There is no need to enforce it anymore! We have too few troops, and attacking rashly is just seeking death. The Germans expelled the civilians just to strengthen their defense! These enemies have a conscience and know that civilians will be killed and injured on a large scale during the battle."
"Okay. Since you are so insistent, we should explain this situation to the headquarters."
Kovpak was the commander of the corps, and Balzen should obey his orders. Besides, his decision to retreat was also reasonable. Balzen estimated that the general would agree to his retreat if he learned the details here.
On the evening of August 4th, an urgent telegram was sent to the headquarters in Blacksmith Village.
On that afternoon, Yang Mingzhi formally met with the top commanders of the two guerrilla brigade "Red October" and "Gypsymen" in his headquarters.
They were all veteran warriors who had worked hard and accomplished great feats. Their faces were full of vicissitudes of life. They had no time to take a shower because of the long battle. Their clothes were torn and their bodies exuded an unpleasant odor of sweat.
The peculiar smell does not make Yang Mingzhi uncomfortable, but it is like a proof of meritorious service.
Yang Mingzhi had the most basic understanding of Kovpak because he knew some old Soviet stamps. However, these two guerrilla brigade were also the leaders of the guerrilla movement on the Eastern Front, but their reputation was far less than that of Kovpak, and their military strength and combat effectiveness were not as good as those of Kovpak.
Weaker.
Two guerrilla brigade, their elite troops suffered heavy casualties in the battle, and the newly developed guerrillas seriously lacked military training. Many had just learned to aim and shoot, and could not even control the recoil of Mauser rifles.
It makes sense that they would have to retreat quickly.
Captains Pavlovsky and Boumazhkov of the Red October Brigade met their savior, Lieutenant General Berekov, the Hero of the Soviet Union Yang Mingzhi.
Compared with the complete command system of the Red October Brigade, the situation of the Gypsy people is terrible. Their captain died in the bombing, and the deputy captain died of infection due to serious injuries during the evacuation. As a last resort, many squadron leaders of the brigade held a meeting to elect
A middle-aged man named Kalmanov was appointed to serve as the temporary battalion captain. The reason why he was chosen was because he had served as a local official before the war. At least he knew how to unite people.
As of the morning of August 4, all the retreating Soviet troops on the right bank of the Dnieper River had crossed the river. As commanders, they crossed the river and urged the remaining troops on the left bank of the river to move quickly. It was not until this afternoon that they
Taking a jeep captured from the Germans, we arrived at the headquarters of the Blacksmith Village.
They were shocked by the wealth and large population of the Guerrilla Republic, and noticed that the refugees who had evacuated here not only had good food, but also resumed production. During the journey by car, they saw many farmers digging potatoes in the mud, and even
I saw farmers walking on the dirt road heading south carrying the big fish they had just caught.
The command center of the Guerrilla Republic headed by Yang Mingzhi had a great time chatting with these people.
It was impossible to finish talking in an hour or two, and besides, they were quite tired, so Yang Mingzhi invited them to rest first.
"You are all commanders of the army. You have worked hard and brought back more than 10,000 soldiers in victory! You are all heroes, so we have prepared a very good room for you. Please don't mind. After viewing the room,
The guards will take you to the bathhouse. I think you all should relax."
Yang Mingzhi hopes to hold a meeting directly after they recharge their batteries to summarize the battles that have taken place over the past month.
The meeting is not just convened, there is a lot of information to be sorted out. Furthermore, all the troops need further rest and recuperation. At least in August, it is not suitable for the Guerrilla Republic to carry out any military operations. The popular railway bombing operation is not among them.
After they left happily, the atmosphere in the headquarters was peaceful.
Yevlov said optimistically: "Although the people they brought back have weak combat capabilities, they are still good soldiers after training. Now, we still have to wait for Comrade Kovpak's good news. Maybe they have swept through Lierchu
It’s amazing.”
"I hope so. I hope nothing happens."
To be fair, Yang Mingzhi had doubts about attacking Lierchuch. Lyudbarev claimed that the town was already considered a small city, and it would be best if it could be successfully captured. Even if the city could not be broken, it was not unacceptable.
Yang Mingzhi waited in the headquarters. About an hour later, he finally received a telegram from Kovpack himself.
This telegram was expected by everyone, and its content was unexpected.
Political Commissar Fumin was most concerned about how many people the operation saved. After all, in Kovpak's previous telegram, he stated that one of the goals of the operation was to save as many people as possible.
"We were so lucky. The Germans actually expelled the entire city's civilians. They didn't want these people, but we got them all without any effort! We saved five thousand people at once!"
"In other words, we achieved this tactical goal without a full-scale attack on the city, and we don't have to worry about anything in our next attack." Yevlov also advocated continuing to fight, but in the follow-up text of the telegram, Kovpak clearly stated
Backed off.
Yevlov was furious: "It's incredible, hasn't he experienced hundreds of battles? He still has thousands of soldiers on hand. What? He's retreating! Little Lilchuch doesn't dare to fight? There must be a granary there,
There must be an arms warehouse, why doesn't he dare to attack!"
"Deputy Commander! Please calm down!" Yang Mingzhi shouted sharply.
"Yes! Calm down. I want to see what this Ukrainian guy has for his reasons."
You have to be patient when working with a hot-tempered guy. Yang Mingzhi hopes that his close comrades are calm and wise. For someone like Yevlov, his most suitable position is as a frontline commander, not as a command center in the rear shouldering important duties.
.
Yang Mingzhi examined Kofpak's reasons and found that they were indeed reasonable.
"Yevlov, the Germans have increased their troops to 4,000. But Kovpak only has 3,200 fighting men at hand. However, a rough calculation of the civilians they control shows that there are 5,600! There are also 5,600 civilians under their control.
More than 400 sick and wounded people need to be taken care of! Some soldiers have to take care of the sick and wounded and civilians, and the only ones that can be put into combat are the size of an entire regiment. Their artillery shells are almost exhausted, and most of their weapons are rifles. You said, this
How should the battle be fought?"
"This..." Yevlov is indeed belligerent, he is by no means a simple reckless man. "If... if the situation is like this, we will suffer big losses if we attack rashly."
"Yes! So Kovpak came up with the idea of retreating. They continue to attack Lilchuch. It is no longer necessary."
"You mean, you support his decision?" Yevlov asked.
"Yes, I will tell you this clearly. I think if Comrade Salinchkin were here, he would definitely criticize me for not going to attack the invaders even though we were approaching the city. Kovpak is not a regular army after all.
, according to the principles of guerrilla warfare, it is only reasonable to choose to give up in this situation. Some people may think that this is cowardice, but this is not the case at all.
They control nearly 6,000 civilians. If they suffer heavy casualties, who has the ability to send the civilians to us?
Compared with the enemy, they also face a major threat - food. Looking at Kovpak's report, today they accepted five thousand civilians who had nothing, and the troops had to distribute rations to these people. This left them with only enough food
They have food for three days! Any delay will be fatal to their actions, and we also need to study their food problem. If someone starves to death during the retreat, we will also be responsible!"
Yevlov had nothing to say. After listening to the commander's explanation, it seemed that the siege was a failure!
He continued to say stubbornly: "Since they are short of food, wouldn't it be nice to just capture the city? The enemy has four thousand people stationed, and there must be a large granary for the food supply of this group of people..."
Yang Mingzhi clapped his thighs and stood up, saying in a slightly mocking tone: "Yeah! Why didn't Kovpak think of it? Why didn't Balzen think of it? If they could fight, would they still apply for an immediate withdrawal? Ben Ke
Fupack is determined to fight. The problem now is that with this small number of troops, we can't take the town quickly! Unless they have a hundred catfish rocket launchers that can blow the town to pieces immediately!"
"Okay! I...I have nothing to say."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Comrade Yevlov, please forgive my gaffe." Yang Mingzhi sighed, walked to the map table and sighed: "The biggest difficulty they face is food. Comrades, we should send people there
Reinforce them."
"Reinforcement?!" Yevlov's eyes shone again: "Haha, I knew you still wanted to capture Lierchuch. Do you want to transport the latest Catfish rocket launcher produced by the arsenal? Let me do it, I
Lead the team myself.”
"You!" This guy was obviously still unhappy, but now he was wagging his tail excitedly. Yang Mingzhi turned his head and said regretfully: "Don't worry! We have to continue to hoard rocket launchers. That thing is what we need to deal with in the future.
strategic weapons. We have to send soldiers westward with food and join them along the road we retreated in May. Listen, we have to make sure that every refugee doesn't starve to death.
Don’t have any more doubts, Lilchuch’s offensive is cancelled! Even if Salinchkin is here, even if Ponomarenko is here, I say so!”
After all, Yang Mingzhi is the lieutenant general, and his decisions are military orders, and everyone must obey them.
So before dinner, Yang Mingzhi suddenly wrote a document and handed it to the communications room, ordering the communications soldiers to send it intact to Kovpak, who was waiting for the news.
…
The return telegram came, and he breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the commander's exact reply.
He excitedly read out the commander's order to several officers in the temporary headquarters. Except that the headquarters canceled the Lilchuch offensive, he ordered the corps to immediately escort civilians and begin to retreat eastward.
Balzen also breathed a sigh of relief: "I have known for a long time that the general would make such a decision. Our General Berekov has always avoided unnecessary casualties. In the battle around Lechica, our 6th Army suffered heavy losses. Originally,
He also resisted the urge to attack fiercely and defended desperately. However, it was a fatal order issued by his superiors and they had to carry it out.
Now that the guerrilla movement headquarters has not given you (Kovpak Corps) an order to storm Lilchuch, you must follow General Berekov’s order to retreat."
"I can hear that you really admire General Berekov." Kovpak was actually a little uncomfortable with Balzen's flattery. Along the way, this guy always said, "If General Berekov commanded the meeting,
"What?" Although the Chinese man is a genius, Balzen keeps nagging him like this because he has calluses on his ears.
Balzen didn't appreciate it at all: "Yes, he made me successful!"
"Let's talk about reality! General Berekov was indeed thoughtful. He ordered a regiment of troops to bring a large amount of food to reinforce us. He specifically mentioned you, Comrade Balzen."
"I?!"
"Yes! The general mentioned the 'road home' in May. He said you know this road."
"Of course I understand!" Balzen stood up excitedly.
"You'd better sit down. Since you understand, there is no need to worry about our retreat. Although Lierchuch is not old anymore, we can escort all the refugees back, which is also a huge achievement."
"Of course, we are only six kilometers away from the town, and the troops are still in danger. Our army should continue on its journey, and it is best to cross the river before nightfall. We camp on the right bank of the river and continue marching after a night's rest."
Kovpak nodded, "Now it's time for me to get the reconnaissance team back."
All the sleeping refugees were awakened, and they received orders to continue moving. Because the future route would pass through primeval forests, swamps, and stream shoals, their carts were useless. Clothes, bedding, and various working tools were all carried by the refugees.
On the body, due to the impact of these weights, movement is somewhat slow.
Kovpak estimated that the walking speed of civilians is only three kilometers an hour, which is a snail's pace for soldiers. He is more pessimistic that due to further consumption of food, less food is rationed to each person, and they
The speed of action will only be slower.
What else can be done? I can only hope that everyone will act faster.
At the same time, in the order given to the retreating Versigola reconnaissance team, Kovpak also urged them to pay attention to the roots of big trees after entering the forest and dig up edible fungi such as Agaricus bisporus to alleviate the food pressure as much as possible. (Unfinished)