The corporal who was sent out to understand the situation hurried back only a few minutes later and reported to the battalion commander somewhat incoherently: "Comrade Major, yes, we have figured it out. They are our own people. They are the 124th Infantry. The first battalion of the brigade came specially to support our breakout."
"Great, this is great." The battalion commander confirmed from the corporal that the other party was in charge of his breakout. He couldn't help but be overjoyed, and immediately wanted to give the order to break out.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, a voice came from the side: "No, we can't break out!"
"Why?" The battalion commander recognized that the speaker was his political deputy battalion commander, so he frowned and asked, "Comrade deputy battalion commander, I would like to ask why you can't break out of the encirclement?"
"Comrade Battalion Commander," the political deputy battalion commander walked up to the battalion commander, looked at him and asked: "Have you forgotten Order No. 227 issued not long ago? If you evacuate the position without permission from your superiors, The commander of the unit will be court-martialed."
The battalion commander was just happy about the arrival of reinforcements. When the deputy battalion commander said this, he felt as if someone poured a basin of ice water on his head, and his heart suddenly went cold. He thought to himself: "The ammunition and supplies of the troops are now insufficient. If they continue to stay in the fortified area, they will not be able to escape the fate of being wiped out by the Germans. But if they order the troops to retreat, I may be sent to a military court. What should I do now?" How to do it?"
The battalion that came to respond waited outside for a long time, but no troops from the fortification area came out. Just as the company commander leading the team was considering whether to enter the fortification area in person to find out what was going on inside, he suddenly heard someone behind him shouting his order. He turned around and saw that it was his battalion commander, Captain Shashika. .
The captain held the pistol and trotted to the company commander. He asked dissatisfiedly: "Comrade Captain, why haven't the friendly forces in the fortification area broken through? What on earth are you dawdling about?"
"Comrade Battalion Commander," the company commander who received Shashika's criticism said aggrievedly: "When they sent people to contact them just now, I told them that we were here to support their breakout. But I don't know how. As soon as the few soldiers who came to contact us returned, there was no movement there."
"Hell, the Germans may rush over again at any time, but they are lingering." Shashika became anxious when he heard this. He walked quickly towards the fortification area with his pistol in hand and said: "I Go talk to their commander."
The commanders and soldiers in the fortification area stayed in the trenches, looking at the friendly troops close at hand, but due to Order No. 227, they did not dare to abandon their positions and go out to join them. Seeing a figure walking quickly towards the position of the position, a dedicated soldier shouted to the figure: "Who is coming?"
When Shashika heard someone asking him, he quickly stopped and responded loudly: "I am Captain Shashika, the battalion commander of the 124th Brigade, and I want to see your commander."
Not long after, Shashika was taken to the battalion command post. Here he met the battalion commander and political deputy battalion commander who commanded the troops in the fortification area. Seeing that the other party's military rank was higher than his own, he first raised his hand and saluted, and then asked politely: "Comrade Major, I would like to ask, in order to meet you, my troops finally broke through the German defense line before arriving. Here. Why are you holding back your troops for so long? Don’t you know that the enemy may counterattack at any time?”
"Comrade Captain, please don't get angry." The battalion commander glanced at the political deputy battalion commander sitting opposite him and said helplessly: "I also want to retreat, but we can't retreat until we get the order from our superiors."
"Unable to retreat?!" Shashika was confused by the battalion commander's words. He asked puzzledly: "Comrade Major, please explain to me, what is going on?"
"That's it, Comrade Captain." The political deputy battalion commander interjected: "According to the latest Order No. 227, any commander who leads the troops to abandon their positions without permission from their superiors will be sent to prison. A court-martial. If we withdraw from the fortified area without receiving orders from our superiors, what awaits us is a court-martial."
After learning the reason why the troops in the fortification area were stationary, Shashika was really dumbfounded. He looked at the political deputy battalion commander and asked: "Comrade first-level instructor, can your radio station get in touch with the superiors?"
"We don't have a radio station." The political deputy battalion commander replied with some embarrassment.
"What about the wired phone?" Shashika then asked, "Can you use the wired phone to communicate with your superiors?"
The battalion commander quickly replied: "From the moment the battle started, our wired phone lost contact with our superiors."
"Since you are not equipped with a radio station, the wired telephone is also useless." Shashika looked at the two people and asked coldly: "Then how do you contact your superiors? Your fortification area has been besieged by the enemy. Outside Even if you want to send communications troops in to contact you, you can't do it at all. If you don't take advantage of the opportunity in front of you and organize troops to break out in time, but stay here and wait for the impossible retreat order, you are not doing it at your own expense and Are the soldiers’ lives a joke?”
Although the two battalion commanders felt that what Shashika said was reasonable, the obedience habits they had developed in the army for many years prevented them from giving the order to retreat.
Seeing the two people sitting there without moving, Shashika became anxious, grabbed the battalion commander's lapel, and yelled at him: "Do you know how many of my soldiers died in order to save you. Now they You are still outside blocking the enemies trying to rush over, but you are standing still here. Do you have to wait until all my people are dead before you are satisfied?"
The battalion commander was shocked by Shashika's words. Hearing the gunshots and explosions from far away, he suddenly remembered that the friendly troops who came to rescue him were still fighting against the enemies in the besieged and fortified area. However, because he was worried about going to court-martial, he did not dare to issue a retreat order and allowed the soldiers who came to rescue him to die.
Thinking of this, the battalion commander gently broke away from Shashika's hand and said seriously: "Comrade Captain, you are right. I was wrong. I should not have stood still. I will give the troops a retreat order now." , he shouted outside, "Correspondent!"
Following his shout, a soldier carrying a gun ran in from outside: "Comrade Battalion Commander, what are your instructions?"
"Immediately issue an order to the troops to withdraw from the fortification area through the channel opened by the friendly forces." He may be worried that the correspondent will not be able to convey his order in time, and specifically emphasized: "Tell them to be fast. Whether you can jump out of the enemy's encirclement depends on their speed of action."
"Comrade Battalion Commander," the deputy battalion commander was a little anxious when he heard that the battalion commander actually issued such an order to the correspondent: "Do you know that if you do this, you will be sent to a military court?"
"I know," the battalion commander said with a determined expression, "I can't not issue a breakout order just because I'm worried about going to court-martial, and let hundreds of soldiers accompany me to death."
In this way, due to the persistence of the battalion commander, the troops stationed in the fortification area, along with the first battalion that came to meet them, successfully broke out of the German encirclement and withdrew to the location of Sokov's temporary headquarters.
The battles fought by the attacking troops on the other side were even more intense. They were attacking a German armored regiment. Unexpectedly, they were discovered by sentries on duty just as they approached the enemy's camp. Although the soldiers who rushed ahead killed the enemy's sentry in time, they were still a step too late. The German soldiers on duty in armored vehicles and tanks immediately fired machine guns at the Soviet commanders and fighters outside. The dense bullets knocked down a large number of the soldiers at the front.
After finally wiping out the enemies hiding in tanks and armored vehicles, the enemies in the camp were awakened. They quickly seized advantageous terrain and started a melee with the Soviet troops that rushed in.
Facing enemies with tanks and armored vehicles, the 124th and 149th brigades, which lacked anti-tank weapons, fought extremely hard. The sneak attack turned into a strong attack. The two brigade commanders supervising the battle at the front could only use the human sea tactic and launched charges against the German camps again and again.
Unfortunately, their attacks were crushed in the face of the superior firepower of the German army. Five consecutive attacks all ended in failure. Apart from leaving hundreds of wounded and corpses in front of the position, they made no progress at all.
…………
Sokov, who was staying at the headquarters, was not worried at all about the troops rushing towards the fortification area. He felt that they were absolutely sure to rescue the trapped friendly forces. On the other side, although there were as many as seven battalions of attacking troops, it still gave him an ominous premonition.
Although he heard gunshots and explosions coming from two directions, Sokov had no idea what the fighting situation was like on the front line because he was unable to establish contact with the two fighting troops.
Andrei, who was staying at the headquarters, saw Sokov looking upset and proactively suggested: "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you think it is necessary to put our battalion into battle immediately?"
"No, it's not time for you to appear yet." Sokov, who was pacing back and forth, immediately stopped when he heard Andrei say this and said to him: "The preparation time for this counterattack is too short. And without the support of artillery fire and air force, it is very difficult to defeat the German army. The main purpose of bringing your battalion with me is to block the oncoming enemies at the most critical moment."
If other battalion commanders heard Sokov say this, they would definitely panic. After all, how can one of his own battalions do it when two brigades cannot stop the enemy? After hearing this, Andrei nodded, patted his chest and assured Sokov: "Don't worry, comrade brigade commander, since the Germans are really coming, as long as our battalion is here, they can't even think of hurting him. You have half a hair on your head."
"Comrade Commander," a second lieutenant officer rushed in from outside at this time. After raising his hand to salute Sokov, he reported: "I am sent by Colonel Bolvinov, the commander of the 149th Brigade."
Sokov looked at the ensign and asked, "What did the colonel want you to report to me?"
"The colonel said that the enemy's firepower was too strong, and all the attacks we organized were repelled by the Germans." The second lieutenant looked at Sokov and asked: "The colonel asked me to ask you for instructions, what should we do next?"
After Sokov waited for the second lieutenant to finish speaking, he realized that he was sent by Bolvinov for instructions. Sokov thought for a while and answered the other party: "The order is very simple. Attack, continue the attack, and must reach those German camps to join the main force of the besieged army."
As soon as the second lieutenant left, Andrei immediately said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, if the attacks launched by the two infantry brigades fail to work, what should we do?"
"What else can be done?" Sokov heard Andre's question and said with a wry smile: "I can only choose to let the troops retreat. As for the attack, let it go to hell and let the infantry attack the German armored forces. Doesn’t this make them seek death?”
Despite the attack of the two infantry brigades, they did not make much progress. But within the encirclement, there were people who had been listening to the gunshots and explosions coming out from here. Major Ibaru, commander of the training battalion of the 35th Guards Division, immediately picked up the phone on the table after hearing the gunfire and spoke to the division commander, Major General Glazkov: "Comrade division commander, there is a call from the other side of the encirclement. The sound of gunfire and explosions was very clear, and I think friendly forces must have come to greet us. I request an immediate attack!"
Major General Glazkov agreed with Ibaru's statement. However, before he figured out the situation, he felt that there was no need to act rashly. At least he had to figure out the size of the troops on the other side of the encirclement to support him. If the number of people is too small, it won't make much sense. Maybe the other party has been eliminated by the enemies besieged outside before taking any action on your side.
Ibaru was a little restless. Although Major General Glazkov ordered him to hold his troops temporarily, he did not have that much time. When the scouts sent out figured out what was going on, he decided to take the risk. Thinking of this, he stood up from the trench and shouted to the soldiers beside him: "Comrades, follow me to destroy the invaders!"
When the commanders and fighters of the training camp heard the gunshots and explosions coming from the other side of the encirclement, they could no longer hold back. However, their superiors did not issue an attack order, so they could only stay in the trenches and stare blankly over there.
I thought this attack would come at a huge cost. But once they started attacking, they discovered that the enemy's attention was drawn to the other side of the encirclement. The one in front of them was just a German security platoon. Facing the soldiers rushing up like a mountain of tigers, the Germans fired a burst of fire randomly, then abandoned their position and fled in all directions.
Although the German officers and soldiers of the armored regiment repelled several attacks from the two infantry brigades, their ammunition also consumed a lot of money. Seeing that they were about to run out of ammunition, unexpectedly, a troop came out from behind, and the German army was suddenly in disarray. In order to prevent being encircled by the Soviet army, the German commander decisively issued a retreat order. Finally, those tanks that had no fuel and ammunition had no choice but to reluctantly throw them to the Soviet army.
