"Hurry up and get all the loot away before the sun rises!" Balzen stood on top of the ruins, shouting at the top of his lungs.
In front of him, a dozen horse-drawn sleighs were being loaded nervously.
There are various kinds of trophies. In line with the glorious tradition of implementing the 284th Division, no piece of cloth can be collected. The vast number of soldiers were groping on the ground, as if the battlefield was full of "gold".
"Originally, I came to take away the steel bars, but now it's over. The steel bars and other scrap metal obtained by the militiamen who peeled off the concrete were all blown away!" Balzen was very helpless. The steel bars were blown to pieces, and the fragments may be outside the city.
Also scattered all over the ground.
It is also feasible to collect these fragments again, which will take a lot of time, but the enemy will never rest.
The division headquarters gave him an early warning, which was personally given by the deputy division commander. There was a high chance that the enemy would launch a counterattack at dawn. Balzen did not dare to take risks. Since the enemy could launch an air strike, he could launch a second air strike once.
three times!
And things unfolded exactly as Yang Mingzhi and Yevlov expected.
After Holstaufen fell into a tight siege, after suffering huge casualties and psychological shock, even if the breakout was successful, there would be no way to see one's superiors. It is estimated that if one returns safely, he will be arrested by the battlefield Gestapo. After that, not only
It's a loss of honor.
It was better to die in battle than that, so he kept the last bullet for himself. Before committing suicide, he also reported his tragic ending to the 722nd Division.
The message came in the early hours of the morning, and the German radio operator was drowsy. It was not until Holstaufen's battalion reported in plain language, and coupled with the noisy gunfire around him, that the radio operator immediately realized that something was wrong.
This man still managed to remain calm as he described the final lament of the infantry battalion attacking Homnich.
The information was immediately reported to the staff on duty. The matter was serious and etiquette was simply ignored. Therefore, the commander of the 722nd Division, Floride, received this bad information at two o'clock in the morning.
He sat on the bed and listened very calmly to the guard's final report on the battalion. He finally sighed coldly: "The one who deserved to die finally happened. As expected, Homnich is a dead end, a Soviet hiding in the forest."
We will definitely fight to the death for this city.”
Homnich can be regarded as a gateway to the Pripet Swamp. It is an excellent landmark in this area. If the German army wants to encircle and suppress the bandits in the swamp (the German army sometimes calls the guerrillas guerrillas, and sometimes also calls them bandits)
), this is an excellent troop assembly point. The same is true for the Soviet troops dormant in the swamp. If they attack the highway again, the troops will probably use this city as a reference.
Let Holstaufen's battalion capture Homnich. First, it maintains the strategic initiative and scares the hiding guys. Secondly, there is a slight change in strategy. They become meat scouts. So the meat scouts are wiped out, which is reasonable.
, also unexpected.
Now, Florid had to admit that these Soviets were very capable!
"Now, please wake up all the staff officers, no matter how sleepy they are, and order them to assemble at the division headquarters immediately."
When it came to important events, Floride was unequivocal. He immediately rushed to the division headquarters, and soon everyone who was supposed to be there arrived.
These staff officers, including the deputy division commander, were all sleepy-eyed and yawning, and some of them were muttering rather critical words.
Floride slammed the table and shouted: "Everyone! Stay awake!"
This was a wake-up call, and everyone's bodies were shaken up, and every hair on their head stood on end!
"There is only one reason to wake you all up. Our army attacking Homnich has been completely wiped out. Battalion Commander Holstaufen fought until the last moment, and the entire battalion was killed!"
People's expressions were predictable, and shock was written on everyone's faces. Their eyes were wide open, their mouths were wide open, and they couldn't believe this.
"How is it possible?! Could it be that within a few hours, all the more than 600 people were killed? Are there thousands of enemies?" asked the deputy division commander.
Florid shook his head and corrected his words first. "In this operation, our army's first round of attack encountered fierce street fighting, and the entire battalion suffered 150 casualties. After our air force was dispatched, the enemy should have been the entire army.
The enemy was destroyed and our army successfully entered. However, in just over a day, the same tragedy happened to us!"
The division commander's description made it seem as if the Soviets also used some heavy weapons, which is even more unbelievable.
"Do they still have tanks? Did they launch assaults on the cities we occupied? Or do they have airplanes?" a staff officer asked, these questions clearly showing disdain.
The 722nd Division was not stationed on the highway in southern Belarus before. Before they were deployed here, they were stationed near Bialystok. There, this unit had encountered a variety of guerrillas. For example, the stragglers of the Soviet Army were separated.
The Polish nationalist guerrillas fought against the guerrillas organized by the Communist Party of Poland (Bolsheviks). After all, they were a group of desperadoes, and their attacks were mostly trivial. They were just like mosquitoes biting people, and there was no threat.
When the defense was transferred to the Mozyr-Gomel highway, the 722nd Division had to execute John Kube's order and conduct a raid on the villages around the road to eliminate the guerrillas' soil. This made these defense forces feel shameless. In fact, John Kubei
Bay didn't want this either. He ordered: "Necessary cleanup is very critical to the re-establishment of order. The soil for the survival of guerrillas on both sides of the highway must be eliminated, and we must ensure the safety of traffic lines."
Therefore, Holstaufen's battalion was completely wiped out. This was the biggest setback this unit had encountered since its establishment. It was also the annihilation of a sub-formed unit. They simply fought to the death and did not take prisoners. Floyd fought
I admire everyone in this unit from the bottom of my heart, but what should I do next?
The staff members all woke up and immediately started a heated discussion.
Some people say that the enemy may not have escaped yet, and this is a perfect opportunity to send a serious attack to encircle and suppress them.
Some people immediately mentioned what happened to the 715th Division. "They sent two regiments and an artillery battalion to participate in the battle. As a result, hundreds of people were frostbitten in the cold weather, and hundreds more were killed in the fierce battle. The enemy did not sit still and wait for death.
There were even night attacks, like what happened to our men!"
The staff officer's words aroused Floride's alert, and suddenly he felt that he was being plotted by the enemy. "At first, I simply sent troops to conduct a tentative attack to reflect the tactical literacy of my division and to satisfy the soldiers' fighting needs."
**. So the enemy finally launched a large-scale counterattack. If I take advantage of the soldiers' eagerness to fight and send them to join the battle, am I playing into the enemy's hands? The climate is very cold now, and large-scale military operations are a challenge for logistics.
Disaster! My task is to first encircle the safety of the road from Lechica to Gomel. If the army attacks, will the tragedy of Lechica be attacked again?" Floride seemed to be in a deserted place and allowed the group of staff to discuss.
, I first thought of my own job - guarding.
Holstaufen was a man with a very Junker aristocratic spirit. His death could not be in vain. But the army was unwilling to send a large army to avenge him!
He patted the table again, and the staff members fell silent.
"Just now you were all sleepy-eyed and complained that I asked you to come to the division headquarters on such a cold night. Why are you now starting to argue with each other again?"
Everyone, look at me and I look at you. It seems that the commander has a new order.
Florid paused for a moment. It was completely meaningless to send troops to counterattack Homnich.
"Gentlemen, our task is to protect the highway first. I thought about it, what happened to the 715th Division last year, don't you think it is very similar to our current situation? Do we want to be as stupid as those people? Last time, Lechica's party
The representative was accurately killed, and the superiors will not allow us to send troops to attack south, for fear that the enemy will take advantage of the situation. So I decided to make two decisions!"
Floride was very cautious, and he decided to immediately report the bad situation to his superiors, the army group to which he belonged. Especially taking what happened in December last year, the result was that the German army strengthened the defenses of Lechica and Gomel.
Even further north, Slutsk may be tense.
The second point is to send the air force to continue participating in the war. As the staff said, the enemy is likely to hold on to Homnich and strengthen the defense here. And, according to the Soviets’ consistent thinking, this is very possible! All Soviets
They will hold on to the recaptured positions and cities, such as Great Lucki. Their fighting philosophy is to fight head-on, relying on a steady stream of reserve forces from the rear to drag the German army into a war of attrition for national strength.
Furthermore, after Homnich was counterattacked by the Soviets in December last year, it demonstrated the traditional Soviet tactics like a textbook - transforming it into a huge fortress. Based on this idea, Floride fully believed
, the fallen Holstaufen bravely sent his men to attack this "fortress", so the losses in the first battle were heavy.
No one is wise and makes no mistakes. The victory of a war sometimes depends on which side makes fewer mistakes. Now, there is no doubt that the commander of the 722 Division, this decisive figure, made some wrong judgments.
His decision stopped the quarrel among the staff, and he immediately reported the matter to the Army Commander and received permission to apply for the Air Force.
Florid reported the dire situation to the frontline airport at four in the morning and requested immediate air force support. However, the second group of the "Zemelman Air Company" stationed at the airport near the highway was impossible to dispatch at night.
The captain of the battalion, Hans Koch, was also awakened from his sleep. The disturbing dream made him very angry when he woke up. After learning that an infantry battalion was completely wiped out by the guerrillas, Koch became angry.
When he came out of his freshman year, he roared: "Just the day before yesterday, I dispatched ten planes. That damn city should have been bombed to the surface of the moon. There is only death there. Are your people killed by the devil?"
?”
Floride suppressed his temper and said calmly: "If you have any objections, please talk to the army commander. I think you will get direct orders from there soon."
"Okay! I understand. I will dispatch the air force to assist you in the battle again. The fastest, I can only send the first wave of air strikes at dawn."
Floride hung up the phone and kicked over a bench angrily!
"What an arrogant person! Your compatriots are bleeding, but you call them stupid! Your air force did not blow up the enemy. You should bomb them again instead of showing off to me now!" After yelling for a long time, this anger in my heart
Quite frustrated.
The guards were all frightened by the division commander's move, but fortunately Floride calmed down. He continued to wait at the division headquarters, not daring to fall asleep at all, waiting for the results of the Air Force's victory. (To be continued.) 8