The German commander who was hiding on the side of the carriage saw the engineer who was detecting mines being knocked down by a cold gun. He turned to the engineer platoon leader who had just arrived and said: "Lieutenant, hurry up and send people up. We must remove the mines on the roadbed as soon as possible." Clear them all.”
The engineer platoon leader glanced ahead and saw five of his subordinates lying in a mess on the roadbed and railway tracks. He suddenly felt a chill running down his spine to the top of his head. He knew he had to kill them under the muzzle of the sniper. If your subordinates go to clear mines, they will definitely die as many as they go.
Seeing the engineer platoon leader's delay in responding, the German commander was a little angry. He shouted at the engineer: "Lieutenant, you are deaf. Didn't you hear what I said to you?"
"Mr. Colonel!" the engineer platoon leader said tremblingly: "There are Russian snipers hidden in the forest on the north side of the roadbed. If I send people to clear mines again, they will definitely be killed by snipers."
"Damn Russians!" The German commander cursed angrily, called a captain, and ordered the other party: "Immediately use machine guns and mortars to suppress the snipers in that forest. They must not be allowed to stop them. Disturb engineers and deminers."
After receiving the order, the captain immediately bent over and ran out of the hiding place next to the carriage to assign tasks to his men. It is a pity that those who are doing cold shooting in the forest at the moment are just sharpshooters of the guerrillas. Their level is at best higher than that of ordinary guerrillas. They are not like the well-trained snipers in the army who know how to choose important targets for sniping.
They lay in their hidden positions and watched helplessly as the German captain commanded several machine gunners to use the railway tracks as cover to set up two machine guns. They even set up a cannon on the other side of the railway tracks in the blind spot. Mortar. The German gunners moved very quickly, loading the mortar almost at the same time as it was set up. With a soft "bang" sound, a cannonball roared towards the hiding position of the sharpshooters.
Since the gunner did not know the specific location of the sharpshooters, the fired shells missed and landed more than 20 meters away from the sharpshooters, exploding without causing any harm to them. Seeing that the situation was not good, the team leader of the sharpshooters was about to order the sharpshooters to move. Suddenly, the German machine gun rang out, and countless bullets flew like water splashing towards the hiding place of the sharpshooters. Although the machine gunners' shooting was very blind, many bullets still hit the tree trunks behind them, making a series of "bang bang bang" sounds.
The squad leader knew very well that if he organized the sharpshooters to relocate at this moment, they would definitely suffer heavy casualties under the German machine gun fire. He could only shout to the surroundings: "Everyone, stay down where you are. No one is allowed to move without my order."
Seeing that the marksman team's ambush position was attacked by enemy machine guns and mortars, the bearded man a few hundred meters away became a little anxious. He knew very well that if the sharpshooter team was killed by the enemy, even if he filled in the remaining team members, he would not be able to slow down the enemy's progress.
The bearded man pointed at the middle-aged man with his hand and said to him: "Go over there immediately and inform the team leader. Tell him to have the sharpshooter team move to another place and continue shooting German engineers." The middle-aged man He agreed, climbed up from the ground, bent down and ran towards the hiding place of the sharpshooter team with the gun in hand.
Yina watched the middle-aged man leave and made a request to the bearded man: "Comrade Captain, please allow me to come over too. The sharpshooter team was hit by enemy machine guns and mortars, and there will definitely be casualties..."
"I don't allow it." Bearded Beard interrupted Yina without hesitation before she finished speaking, "Don't you see how dangerous it is there? How could I let you, a future mother, take risks? ?If something happens to you, what will your comrades say to me?"
After hearing what the bearded man said, Yi Na realized that she could not get through. I don’t know since when, women have become the objects of protection in the army. If women are allowed to do certain dangerous things, the person who gives the order will usually be criticized by others. Although she couldn't rush over to treat the wounded, Yina still kept her eyes fixed on the location that was under fire, wondering how many people could be withdrawn from there later?
The sharpshooters fell silent immediately after being suppressed by German machine gun and mortar fire. Although the German commander did not know whether the sharpshooters in the forest had been eliminated or moved, he was anxious to hurry up and urged the engineer platoon leader: "Lieutenant, my people have suppressed the Russian snipers. You You can send people to clear mines again.”
The engineer platoon leader nodded, called a few engineers, and sent them out to continue demining. Perhaps because he was worried that his men would die, he personally picked up a mine detector and cleared the mines at the front. He bravely searched for mines while looking towards the forest that was being suppressed by fire from time to time, worried that at some point, a few bullets would fly out.
This time they were lucky. After walking seventy or eighty steps, they discovered a dozen landmines. The engineer platoon leader handed the mine detector to another engineer and asked him to continue moving forward to detect mines, while he lay on the ground and carefully removed the fuse of the mine.
Magruth stayed in his carriage and waited for a long time. Before receiving the report from the commander of the 544th Regiment, he ordered his adjutant: "Get in touch with the commander of the 544th Regiment immediately and ask them where they are heading now." Location?"
After receiving the order, the adjutant immediately used the walkie-talkie to contact the 544th Regiment's radio station. After a brief inquiry, he reported to Magruth with some surprise: "Your Excellency, Division Commander, the 544th Regiment has only advanced less than three hundred meters so far."
"What, only advanced less than three hundred meters?" Magruth walked to the walkie-talkie, took the microphone and earphone from the adjutant's hand, and asked loudly: "Colonel, I am Magruth, what are you doing? Let me explain, twenty minutes have passed, why have you only advanced less than 300 meters? Are you trying to learn how to crawl like a tortoise?"
"Your Excellency, Division Commander!" Hearing Magruth's reproachful tone, the German commander quickly defended: "The damn Russians have laid a lot of mines on the roadbed, and there are also snipers hidden in the nearby forests. We Many engineers were killed by them while clearing mines,..."
"That's enough, you don't have to explain to me anymore." Magruth interrupted the other party before he finished speaking, "The military department only gave us one hour. If your regiment cannot arrive on time, At the 564th kilometer station, you will lose your colonel's epaulettes and may even be court-martialed."
Hearing Magruth's threat to him, the German commander became anxious: "Your Excellency, division commander, although I have ordered people to use firepower to suppress the snipers in the forest, who knows whether they will move to a new position and continue shooting Our engineers. If we do not clear the mines laid by the Russians, it will be impossible to reach the designated location in such a short period of time."
"You idiot, a born idiot." Seeing his subordinates chattering to him about the troubles they encountered, Magruth suppressed his anger and said, "You never thought that the Russians would concentrate their forces to attack the station. So what is blocking us here must be a small force. You only need to leave the roadbed and continue to advance close to the railway line. No matter how many Russian mines there are, can they cover all the areas?"
Magruth's words made the German commander realize that he had entered a misunderstanding. Why did he have to clear all the mines on the roadbed before moving forward? You can have your men leave the roadbed and march on the south side of the railway where there is no forest. In this way, no matter how many Russians are hiding in the forest, it may be difficult to stop your troops from moving forward. Thinking of this, he immediately gave the order to the troops, and everyone left the roadbed and marched on the south side of the railway line.
However, the troops marching into the south side of the railway line stepped on a landmine less than a hundred meters further, killing four people and wounding eight others on the spot. As a result, the soldiers, who were already frightened, refused to move forward. Seeing that the troops had stopped again, the German commander jumped in anger. He cursed angrily: "Damn Russians, if I catch you, I will tie you to these mines and blow you to pieces."
After the mad German commander cursed, he called the engineer platoon leader over and asked them to clear mines in the front, trying to get to the 564th kilometer station as soon as possible to eliminate the Russian guerrillas occupying there.
After the German commander who was waiting for the engineer platoon leader finished speaking, he carefully said: "Mr. Colonel, we don't know how many landmines the Russians have buried here and how large the area of the mines are. If it is only one or two kilometers, the problem still exists. Not big, we will definitely be able to clear it out within two hours. But if they have laid mines between here and the 564th kilometer station, with just the few people under my command, they won’t be able to clear it out even if they line up for a day. .”
The German commander knew the consequences of delaying the fighter plane, especially when the military headquarters only gave him an hour. If his troops stayed here all the time, he would not only be dismissed, but he might also lose his head. Thinking of this, he said to the officer beside him: "Order the troops to spread out and move forward. I don't believe it. The Russians can really lay mines more than ten kilometers away."
The regiment chief of staff quickly reminded him: "Mr. Colonel, if we rush forward desperately like this, I'm worried that the troops will suffer heavy casualties. When they arrive at the station, their combat effectiveness will be affected..."
"I can't care about that much anymore." The German commander waved his hand and cursed: "Those who were killed in the bombing deserve it. Those who are not dead should move on. If anyone dares to linger..." He pulled out his hand. The pistol on his waist was raised high above his head, "I'll shoot him with one shot."
Seeing that the regiment commander became angry, the officers and soldiers of the 544th regiment, whose path was blocked by landmines, started to move forward again. They formed a sparse formation and marched forward cautiously. From time to time, someone stepped on a landmine and was blown away by the blast of air. The flying shrapnel also cut down many soldiers who were close to the explosion point.
No one among the remaining soldiers cared about whether their fallen comrades were wounded or dead. They just continued to walk forward with their guns in hand and cautious men. As for the wounded who fell on the ground, the division headquarters will send health workers to treat them later.
The bearded man hiding in the forest couldn't help but feel anxious when he saw the Germans advancing forward regardless of casualties. After all, there are only more than a hundred mines laid by him, and they are distributed in such a wide area. As long as the Germans pass this area, they can rush to the 564th kilometer station unimpeded.
Because it was too far away from the station, Lu Beard had no idea how the battle was going over there. He saw that the enemy was passing through the minefields he had laid one after another. He was afraid that the attacking troops would be attacked from both sides. He quickly ordered the radio operator next to him: "Send a report to Captain Mihiga immediately, saying that the enemy is passing through our blocking area and let them Be prepared."
Bearded's warning telegram reached Mihiga's hands a few minutes later. After reading the telegram, he handed it to Taflin, who was assisting him in the battle: "Comrade Sergeant, this is a telegram from a bearded man. He said that the enemy is passing through his blocking area one after another. Let us take precautions as soon as possible."
After quickly reading the contents of the telegram, Taflin asked: "Comrade Mihiga, why didn't he say how many troops the enemy had and what kind of equipment they had? Also, how did they stop the enemy?"
When Mihiga heard Taflin's question, he immediately realized that Beard's report was too simple, and quickly ordered the telegraph operator to send a telegram back to Beard, asking the other party to report the battle in detail.
While waiting for Bearded's call back, Mihiga asked Tavlin respectfully: "Comrade Sergeant, what should we do with so many supplies in the station?"
"I saw two warehouses containing German army coats and quilts." After occupying the station, Tavlin sent a telegram to Guchakov and asked him for instructions on how to deal with the captured materials. Guchakov did not dare to make the decision without authorization, so he sent a telegram to Sokov for instructions. Since he did not receive a reply, he did not tell Tavlin how to dispose of these materials. However, Tavlin is Sokov's subordinate after all, and he has some understanding of Sokov's style. Although he has not yet received a reply from his superiors, he already knows how to choose: "Before we evacuate, set a fire and these Burn the military coats and bedding so that the Germans can experience the coldness of the Russian winter.”
The call back from Bearded Beard arrived soon. After reading the telegram handed over by Michiga, Taflin said thoughtfully: "bearded Beard and the others did not engage in direct combat with the enemy, but used landmines and cold guns to attack them. The enemy was delayed for a long time. Even though the enemy passed through the minefields they laid one after another, it was not that easy for them to get here."
