When Ruhlie arrived at the field position, the defeated troops were not far from the trenches.
Looking at the defeated troops coming towards his position, Ruhelie couldn't help but frowned. He knew very well that the appearance of these defeated troops would affect the morale and morale of his troops. He quickly crossed the trench that was half a man deep and quickly came to the front of the group of broken soldiers. He raised one hand high and shouted loudly: "Stop, everyone, stop!"
Maybe his voice was too quiet and the defeated soldiers didn't hear him, so they still came slowly towards the field position. A tank soldier following Ruhelie saw that the defeated soldiers did not hear Ruhelie's cry, so he quickly pointed the muzzle of his submachine gun at the sky and fired a burst. The sudden sound of gunfire shocked the dejected soldiers who were walking aimlessly. Some people who were close to Ruhelie stopped unconsciously.
"Stop, everyone, stop!" Seeing that the defeated soldiers at the front had stopped, Ruhelie continued to shout loudly: "Everyone, stop, don't go any further."
The tank soldiers behind Ruhle, fearing that the defeated soldiers in the distance would not be able to hear him, also started shouting, several times in a row. The defeated soldiers who were walking towards the position stopped and stood there in a daze.
"Who among you is the commander?" Ruhelie looked at the dark crowd in front of him and asked loudly: "Come to me!"
After a while, several lieutenant-level officers squeezed out of the crowd. They came to Ruhle and asked with dull expressions: "Comrade Colonel, do you have any instructions?"
Ruhelie glanced at the few people and found that the highest-ranking one was just a captain, so he asked with a straight face: "Comrade captain, can you tell me where you plan to go?"
The captain replied with a panicked look on his face: "Comrade Colonel, can't you see that we were attacked by the Germans and our troops have been defeated?"
"I saw it." Ruhelie said calmly: "But what I'm asking is, where are you going to go next?"
"I don't know, I don't know." The captain continued: "Anyway, as long as we can stay as far away from the Germans as possible."
A soldier standing not far away, whose face was blackened by gunpowder smoke, shouted loudly: "Comrade Colonel, what are we still doing here? Let's move quickly before the Germans come."
"Move, where are you going to move to?" Ruhelie saw a tree stump not far away. With the help of the tank soldiers, he stood on the tree stump and said loudly to the group of defeated soldiers in front of him: "I It is Colonel Ruhle, commander of the 19th Independent Tank Brigade. Not long ago, our brigade used the last artillery shell to repulse a German attack. Now a German armored regiment is following us, heading here Come. If you want to pass through our positions and continue to retreat west or south, you may encounter this enemy head-on. Do you want to be a prisoner of the Germans?"
Ruhelie's words silenced the defeated soldiers as a whole. Everyone worked hard to withdraw from the battlefield just to escape danger, and no one wanted to be a prisoner. Once you become a prisoner, you will not be able to hold your head high in front of outsiders for the rest of your life, and it will even harm your family.
"Our brigade is preparing to continue moving eastward according to the orders of our superiors." Seeing that the defeated soldiers were silent, Ruhlie knew that what he had just said had moved them: "If you are not willing to become prisoners of the Germans, let yourself and your family If you are ashamed, then join us.”
"Time is of the essence." Ruhle understood the principle of striking while the iron is hot. Seeing that the defeated soldiers seemed a little hesitant at the moment, "I will immediately incorporate you into the army and register your name, rank and unit. As long as you can Follow us to break out. When reporting the results of the battle in the future, I will truthfully report to your superiors the personal heroism and bravery you showed in the battle. At that time, not only will you not be deserters, but you will also become the motherland. hero."
"Hello, Colonel Ruhle!" After listening to Ruhle's promise, the captain first made a decision. Rather than being a prisoner of the Germans, it would be better for this tank brigade to fight bravely, and maybe he would be able to return in the future. Can get honors. After making up his mind, he took the initiative and said to Ruhelie: "I am Captain Kogor, and I am willing to join your army."
Ruhelie jumped off the tree stump and came to the captain. He raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder twice. Then he smiled and said: "Captain Kogor, on behalf of the entire brigade commanders and fighters, I welcome you to join. You are now the staff officer Register with the commander, and then you will be the commander of the second battalion."
Captain Kogor thought that even if he agreed to join the tank brigade, the other party would probably give him the position of company commander at most. Who would have thought that he would be given the position of battalion commander? While he was grateful, he quickly straightened his body and said to Ruhle: " Comrade Colonel, thank you for your trust in me, I will definitely perform well in the next battle."
Considering that reorganizing this group of defeated troops is a very time-consuming matter. If we follow the previous reorganization method, I am afraid that before the reorganization is completed, the Germans behind will have already caught up. So Ruhle called the surviving battalion and company-level commanders to him and told them: "Comrades, time is tight, and we cannot reorganize the troops as we have in the past. You now select personnel to organize into your respective companies, and then Register them again during the march.”
The battalion and company commanders all understood the situation of the tank brigade, and after making a resounding agreement, they got into the group of broken soldiers. They loudly shouted the number of their company and asked: "Which one of you is willing to join?"
In this way, in less than twenty minutes, more than 700 defeated soldiers were organized into three battalions of the tank brigade.
Ruhle looked at the tanks and armored vehicles parked in the forest in the distance. He turned to the chief of staff and ordered: "Chief of Staff, those tanks and armored vehicles are all out of fuel. You send people over to blow them up. They will never be intact." The land is left to the Germans.”
After the chief of staff arranged his manpower to blow up the tanks and armored vehicles, he looked at the troops not far away, which had completed their assembly, and asked Ruhle for instructions: "Comrade Brigadier, the troops have been assembled. What should we do next? Should we hold on to our position or seize the opportunity to move east before the enemy comes up?"
"Move eastward." After weighing the pros and cons, Ruhle made a decisive decision: "If we want to completely break out of the German encirclement, we can only continue eastward and rush to Luhansk and the troops who stand there. Rendezvous. Chief of Staff, order the troops to set off immediately!"
