As soon as he heard that the regiment commander actually sent a bunch of people from the Eastern Battalion up there, Lawrence immediately lost his composure.
He asserted with a straight face: "Captain, your decision is wrong! Those people usually only abuse a prisoner, help our army carry ammunition, dig holes and cut trees. Let them go to fight, they will really die!"
"
Lotharheim, who was trying to calm down, also got angry. He slapped the table and roared: "You didn't complete the task well. Because the battle situation has changed, I won't pursue it. Since you think they can't do it, you can do it! Now!
You withdrew and chatted with me at the regiment headquarters, which is really unreasonable! Get out quickly!"
Seeing his attitude, Lawrence didn't say much.
If Haldeman, the wise regimental chief of staff, were to act again at this time, he would definitely not let the regiment commander act so recklessly. But on second thought, if the Dongfang Battalion was sent up, the casualties would not be the Germans. The lives of German soldiers are precious.
In the occupied territories, many people who were willing to be loyal to the Third Reich could be recruited, and there seemed to be nothing wrong with them being used as cheap cannon fodder.
Staying at the regiment headquarters any longer would only make the regiment leader upset. Lawrence knew that his judgment was definitely correct, and the Eastern Battalion had to withdraw.
…
Just as Gernsfield said, the moisture in the air finally had condensation nuclei. The dust blown up by the bombardment and the haze from the burning forest quickly absorbed a large amount of water vapor. At ten o'clock in the morning, accumulation actually appeared in this area.
Rain clouds.
Balzen's troops fled another five kilometers. This place must be beyond the range of German artillery fire. The tired soldiers took the time to rest.
At half past five in the morning, a strange cold wind hit. The soldiers who got up at night were shocked by the scene in front of them. Because the sky at dawn was not dark blue, but gray, and the air was quite humid. It was almost going to rain.
.
Balzen was awakened quickly. He sniffed and found a strong earthy smell in the air. He consciously told him that rain would definitely follow.
"It's really bad! I hate rain. Fortunately, the combat cloak can be used as a raincoat!" Gritting his teeth and stamping his feet, with Balzen carrying him, the soldiers untied the cloak trapped on the side of the tactical backpack. It was greased.
Made of thin canvas, moderate weight and the key is covering a large area.
Perhaps it was the rising sun that brought warmth, and the condensed water vapor began to accumulate more and more, eventually turning into raindrops.
The forest fire was still burning, and it became serious a few hours later. Losaheim was worried that Gensfield's words would not come true, and finally at six o'clock in the morning, huge raindrops hit the ground.
The rain soon turned into a heavy rain, and no one in the dormant Soviet army could sleep anymore. The soldiers still wearing cotton-padded clothes were most worried about the damn rain. If the clothes got wet, it would really be like falling on their backs.
If you wear a basket of sand, you are more likely to catch a cold or have a fever, and the treatment of the wounded becomes troublesome due to the interference of rain.
These difficulties were being overcome with great efforts. Everyone put on their cloaks and went in to escape the rain.
If we say the most difficult thing is to build the signal tower, the ground has become muddy, the tree trunks are too slippery, and the antenna cannot be inserted into the top of the tree. How to report to the division headquarters. Besides, this damn wet weather is a disaster for manganese batteries.
When he was at a loss, Lavrenti came to comfort the old man. He pointed to the sky and said: "I think this rain will stop soon. After the war, there is often heavy rain. Although I don't know the reason behind this, it will stop eventually.
.”
What else can we do now? Balzen sighed and said: "I hope you are right. The more than a thousand of us also need to rest. Being exposed in the wild on a heavy rainy day is simply a disaster. I really don't want to
Hope this kind of hard life."
"We have experienced more hardships than this in the past. There is nothing to worry about now." Patting him on the shoulder, Lavrenti took out a pack of cigarettes...
At present, the Lavrenti Battalion and the Yevgeny Battalion immediately formed a circular defense line, with the reconnaissance company and the rescued prisoners of war located in the center.
Because they are elite troops, even if these soldiers believe that they are very safe, they still set up machine gun positions step by step. The infantry spread out and simply dug the soil to build defenses. This meticulous character is very important to soldiers.
But in most Soviet units, few soldiers are particularly meticulous.
Under the rain, the Soviet army's positions were quickly established in an orderly manner, and some scouts were also distributed outside the positions to monitor every move in the forest.
Balzen knew that there was still a certain chance that the enemy would order the group of people who were fighting with him to pursue him. Because the retreat road left many traces, such as bullet casings, and some debris abandoned by soldiers in desperation.
.
As expected, the two Eastern battalions found these clues and stopped searching aimlessly in the forest. They at least determined the general direction, and the next thing was simple - the soldiers lined up in skirmish formations, like combs
Sweeping through the forest.
The rain was indeed what Lavrenti had expected. The heavy rain gradually turned into light rain, and finally stopped completely. The dark clouds gradually dispersed at eight o'clock in the morning, and the sun shone on the land after the rain.
Balzen took off his cloak excitedly and lit another cigarette for himself. He sighed excitedly: "Now I can report the specific situation to the division headquarters. I have to tell them that our army's losses are very small."
During the fighting at the operation, more than 40 Soviet soldiers were killed or missing, most of whom were exposed to shelling. The so-called missing bodies were probably shattered by the shells and destroyed in the fire!
These painful things are all taken for granted by these veterans who are used to seeing death. People are still unusually calm and simply commemorate their fallen comrades.
It would take a while to contact the division headquarters, but Balzen did not stop everyone. At this moment, the camp was really filled with "rolling smoke." It was not a picnic. After the soldiers had eaten their dry food, they smoked cigarettes one by one.
The atmosphere in the entire camp was good. No one was frightened by the thrilling battle yesterday. If there were any, it was the rescued prisoners of war...
However, things always change dramatically when people relax. The sentries on the periphery immediately noticed something unusual in the forest. Several people were surprised to see a large number of figures moving around. They immediately stood up from the ambush and ran towards the camp.
As a result, at this juncture, gunfire actually came from the forest. The scattered gunfire at the beginning turned into intensive.
The sentry knew what this meant, and immediately retreated while firing back.
The Soviet soldiers who were smoking and chatting suddenly tightened their relaxed faces as if they were conditioned to hear the sound of gunfire. They threw away their cigarette butts and gave them to everyone. Within a few seconds, there was a crisp sound of being loaded everywhere.
Soon, the sentries ran back and entered the camp one by two. They immediately ran to Balzen and said calmly: "It's the enemy! They are firing at us!"
There is no need to question anything now. When the sentry comes back, the enemy will arrive on the back. Balzen immediately comrades with Lavrenti and Yevgeny on both wings, and the blocking battle is about to begin. 8