Lieutenant Colonel Sikenius was driven out of his station by the Soviet army. This incident was a great shame and humiliation for him. Therefore, at dawn, his 2nd Armored Regiment launched a counterattack from the north towards the defensive positions of the 149th Brigade. Although most of the tanks and armored vehicles were lost during the retreat, fortunately there were still more than a dozen mortars that could provide artillery support to the infantry during the attack.
When mortars were bombarding the 149th Brigade position, the German machine gunners were not idle. They quickly established a machine gun position more than a hundred meters away from the trench and pointed their guns forward.
As soon as the artillery fire stopped, the German infantry launched a charge. The disgraced soldiers hurriedly placed their guns on the edge of the trench, aimed at the charging enemy, and pulled the trigger. Seeing that the Soviet positions had begun shooting, the German machine guns also opened fire. They concentrated on the machine gun fire points that threatened the most on the ground to suppress fire.
Seeing the lively fighting ahead, the German mortars were not idle either. They bombarded the exposed fire points with artillery fire from a distance to reduce the casualties of the attacking infantry. The gunner fired accurately, and with a few rounds, the two Soviet machine guns and the shooters were blown into the sky.
As the machine gun firepower points were destroyed, the firepower on the Soviet position suddenly weakened a lot. The German infantry approached the Soviet position without suffering many casualties. It seemed that in just a few seconds, the fastest soldier would be able to jump into the Soviet trench and engage in close combat with the defenders inside. Suddenly, an earth-shattering "Ula" sound came from the trench, and then Hundreds of soldiers jumped out of the trenches. They bravely charged towards the Germans with their bayonets fixed on their Mosin Nagants.
The German soldiers never dreamed that the Soviet army would launch a counterattack at this time, and they suddenly became a mess. The officers and soldiers of both sides suddenly collided with each other. Their bayonets faced each other, and they struggled and fought each other face to face, just like a duel between cold weapons in the Middle Ages. They howled, stabbed each other ferociously, picked at each other with bayonets, and smashed them with rifle butts. There was no fancy show, and they did everything they could to kill each other.
The fighting between the two sides lasted for half an hour, and the German officers and soldiers who were inferior to others retreated in defeat. Seeing the enemy retreating, the surviving Soviet soldiers returned to the trenches one after another, and some even carried the wounded into the trenches.
From an observation post not far away, Bolvinov witnessed with his own eyes the battle between his men and the Germans. Although his troops won, the price paid was not small. He told his chief of staff: "Go outside and see how many troops have broken out of the encirclement?"
The chief of staff did not leave immediately, but stood behind him and asked: "Comrade Brigade Commander, how long are we going to hold on here?"
"I don't know." Bolvinov said angrily: "In order to ensure that the besieged troops can successfully break out of the encirclement, we must hold on here until we are ordered to retreat."
Some of the troops surrounded by the Germans were close to the breakthrough point, while others were far away. The troops close to the breakthrough broke out of the encirclement smoothly, perhaps within a few hours; while the troops farther away, due to poor communication, had no idea that there was a breakthrough here, and were like headless flies. He seemed to be running around, searching hard for a way out of danger.
Bolvinov obviously knew this. In order to ensure that more troops in the encirclement could successfully break through, he had to stick here so that the enemy could not close the encirclement. In order to achieve this, before receiving the order to retreat, even if all his troops were exhausted, he could not retreat even half a step.
After the chief of staff left, Bolvinov called Gorokhov in the south and asked in a forced smile: "Colonel Gorokhov, how is the situation over there?"
"The German army just launched an attack on us, but was repelled by our soldiers." Gorokhov said with some pride: "Those captured German tanks are the best forts for us. It's a pity. There are no more shells, otherwise we could inflict greater losses on the Germans."
Thinking that after the two brigades captured the German 2nd Armored Regiment and divided their troops to guard both sides of the breakthrough, Gorokhov once asked himself whether he should divide several tanks, but he refused without hesitation at that time. Now that I think about it, I really regret it. If I had put a few tanks on my own position, when the enemy's mortars bombarded the position, I could use tank guns to destroy them.
After the chief of staff returned, he reported to Bolvinov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I have already gone to inquire. So far, the only ones who have broken out of the encirclement are the infantry of the 35th Guards Division and Colonel Jahoua. The 131st Division, Colonel Sorogub’s 112th Division, Colonel Avelin’s 196th Division, and part of Major General Barinov’s 98th Infantry Division.”
Hearing that so many divisions had successfully broken out of the encirclement, Bolvinov showed a relaxed expression on his face: "I really didn't take any action, but there are so many troops that have successfully broken out of the encirclement..." "
"Comrade Brigade Commander," the Chief of Staff saw Bolvinov's expression and continued quickly: "the casualties of these divisions were very heavy. When I just went to inquire about the news, I happened to meet the commander of the 196th Division. He He was seriously injured and was carried out on a stretcher by several soldiers. There are now less than a thousand people left in the division. And the situation of other divisions is not much better."
Bolvinov's pupils shrank violently: "What, there are only less than a thousand people left in one division?" The chief of staff's report made him realize the seriousness of the problem, "Even if such troops withdraw to the city, they will not be able to survive." Unable to participate in the battle, we can only immediately move back to the rear for repairs."
After a pause, he asked again: "So how many troops are there in the encirclement?"
"Not sure." The chief of staff shook his head and said, "I once asked several passing commanders, but they couldn't tell me the specific number. Later, a colonel told me that there were at least seven or eight more people in the encirclement. A teacher."
"I understand." Bolvinov knew very well at this moment that it would take at least a day or two for the troops of these seven or eight divisions to successfully break out of the encirclement. He couldn't help but smile bitterly at the thought of holding on here for a day or two. Let alone holding on for a day or two, even if he held on until this evening, it was still unknown how many people would be left in his army. He waved his hand to the chief of staff and said: "Go and tell our commander that if the enemy is allowed to rush through our position, then the enemy will be able to re-close the breakthrough that was finally opened, and our troops remaining in the encirclement will be Danger of total annihilation."
…………
While the two infantry brigades were fighting fiercely with the enemy who was trying to re-seal the breach, the third battalion led by Sokov and Andrei was rushing towards the fighting area.
What their men encountered was the teaching battalion of the 35th Guards Division. Sokov saw a group of troops in disorder in front of him, heading towards his position, and quickly ordered the third battalion to hide on the spot and prepare to fight. Prepare.
Major Ibaru, the commander of the teaching camp, also discovered Sokov and the others. Seeing that the opponent's troops were hiding on the spot and preparing for battle, in order to prevent misunderstandings, he only brought one soldier over to meet Sokov.
Seeing a major approaching him, Sokov stood up from his hiding place and asked, "Which part are you from?"
"I am Major Ibaru, commander of the teaching battalion of the 35th Guards Division." After identifying himself, Ibaru asked Sokov: "What part are you from, and what are you doing here?"
"I am Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the commander of the Northern Group of the 62nd Army." Sokov said with his hands behind his back: "The task I accepted is to pick up the main force of the group army that was cut off by the Germans. If I am not mistaken, I will assist you. The troops that stood out from the German encirclement were the 124th and 149th brigades under my command."
When Ibaru heard about the northern cluster, he thought to himself that these were troops that came out of nowhere, and he had never heard of them. When he heard Sokov specifically mention that the troops that responded to their breakout belonged to the Northern Group, he immediately stood in awe of Sokov. He straightened his body and said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, Ibaru is willing to obey your command, please give instructions!"
"You have been trapped behind enemy lines for so long, so you should go back to the city early to rest." Sokov turned and pointed to the road he came from and said: "You go forward along this road and walk for two or three hours. , you will reach the factory area. There, you will find the new commander, General Chuikov. Well, I will also go to assist other friendly forces to break out. I wish you good luck!" After saying that, he shook hands with Ibaru, The commanders and fighters of the third battalion continued to advance against the retreating troops.
Andrei heard the sound of gunfire from the front and asked Sokov tentatively: "Comrade Brigadier, listening to the sound of gunfire, it seems that the fighting is very fierce in the front. Like the two infantry brigades, we are going to block the attack. Enemy?"
"Who said we were going to stop the enemy?" Sokov asked, "Did I say that?"
Andrei said with a confused look: "Comrade Brigade Commander, didn't you say that Colonel Gorokhov and his friends are in trouble and we should help them? Why, you changed your mind."
Sokov sneered: "Captain Andrei, do you know why I am the brigade commander and you are just the battalion commander?"
"I don't know." Andre shook his head and answered honestly.
Sokov gently tapped his temples with two fingers together, and said to Andre: "Comrade Captain, fighting a war requires not only bravery, but also brains. Let's go help Gorokhov." Colonel and others, but it does not mean that we have to stay in the trenches and fight the Germans. The Germans are attacking Gorokhov and Bolvinov. Their attention is focused on the frontal positions, while the flanks and rear are There is no defense, we can attack from their side and rear and beat them to a pulp. Do you understand?"
"Understood, Comrade Brigadier." Andrei had been following Sokov for a day or two. After hearing his explanation, he immediately understood what was going on. He nodded quickly and said, "The Germans must pay attention. As for the two infantry brigades, they would never have dreamed that we would attack them from the side. As long as our soldiers rush forward, we will be able to defeat this enemy force."
Sokov nodded, then stared at the endless stream of soldiers on the road, thinking to himself: "If these troops can obey my command, I will be sure to annihilate part of the 16th Armored Division near here."
But Sokov could only think about this kind of thing in his mind. Along the way, he saw that among the retreating troops, there were not only soldiers, but also many commanders. Several of them had higher military ranks than himself, so much so that he had to salute them from a distance and even briefly Report your actions. Apart from Chuikov, no one may be able to command such an army.
Sokov could tell the direction of the German troops based on the sound of gunfire. After walking for a certain distance along the road, he ordered the troops to change their marching direction and dive into the forest beside the road. He planned to make a surprise attack on the German army after passing through the forest.
After Andrei learned of Sokov's intentions, he sent scouts to scout the location of the German army. They walked in the forest for almost an hour. A scout came back and reported to Andre: "Comrade Battalion Commander, I have discovered the German position."
"Where?" Sokov couldn't help but ask.
The scout squatted on the ground, picked up a branch, pulled away the fallen leaves on the ground, and then began to draw a simple diagram. As he drew, he said: "The enemy has an artillery position, in the northwest of this forest, about 100 meters away. There are more than thirty artillery pieces. According to my observation, the enemy's artillery may have run out of shells. The front is fighting so fiercely, but the artillerymen are all sitting on their positions to rest."
"Except for the artillery positions," Sokov suddenly lost interest when he heard that they were artillery without shells. He then asked, "Besides the artillery, are there any other troops?"
"Yes, there seems to be a German army stationed in the forest to the north of the artillery position." When the scout said this, he said with some embarrassment: "The enemy's defense is too tight, I can't touch it to find out, so I don't know What is their specific military strength?"
Sokov knew that this kind of thing could not be forced, so he asked casually: "How many enemies do you estimate there are?"
"At least one regiment, and it's an infantry regiment."
When Andre heard this, a troubled expression appeared on his face: "Comrade Brigade Commander, our battalion has less than a thousand people, so it is no problem to deal with the German artillery. If we face the German infantry regiment, I'm afraid...I'm afraid …”
"Afraid of what?" Sokov looked at Andre and asked with a sneer: "Are you worried that our troops will be completely destroyed by the Germans?"
Unexpectedly, Andre nodded after hearing this and said in a positive tone: "Yes, Comrade Brigade Commander. If our small force can resist the German infantry regiment, there is a real possibility that the entire army will be destroyed."
