After dark, the tank brigade troops quietly entered the latent position without being discovered by the enemy.
Ruhlie stood on a tree stump and looked across with a telescope. He saw many oil drums for heating placed in the forest in the distance. The firelight clearly illuminated the direction of the nearby trenches. Around each oil drum, there were two or three heating soldiers wearing military coats. They put their hands on the fire and stamped their feet from time to time to drive away the cold air on their bodies.
"Comrade Brigade Commander," the Chief of Staff came to Ruhle's side and whispered, "Why haven't you launched an attack yet?"
"Don't be anxious, wait a moment." Ruhle jumped down from the tree stump and said to the chief of staff: "Although the enemy has not discovered us yet, it is not time for them to sleep yet. Once the gunshots sound, the enemy will They can enter their respective positions in the shortest possible time.”
"When can the war begin?" the chief of staff asked anxiously.
"I think we need to lurk for another four hours. It won't be too late to launch a sneak attack after midnight." After saying this, Ruhlie was a little worried about the commanders and soldiers lurking in the snow, so he asked tentatively: "Chief of Staff , can the bodies of the soldiers bear it?"
"It should be no problem." The chief of staff replied: "I ordered people to distribute the remaining vodka to the soldiers. If you feel cold while lurking, you can take a few sips to keep warm."
"It's okay to drink to keep warm." When he learned that the chief of staff had distributed vodka to the soldiers, Ruhleh couldn't help but frowned. He told the other party: "But tell the soldiers, don't drink too much. If you drink it all, Drunk, who is going to fight?”
"Don't worry, Comrade Brigade Commander." The Chief of Staff said confidently: "Everyone knows what kind of environment we are in now, and we will never let drinking cause trouble."
While the two were talking, they suddenly heard an anxious voice not far away asking: "Have you seen the brigade commander and chief of staff? Have you seen the brigade commander and chief of staff?"
Hearing the original sound in the distance, Ruhelie thought it was some soldier who had drunk too much and was making a fuss there. Then he straightened his face and said in a stern tone: "Chief of Staff, go over and see who is yelling there. Aren't you afraid of alarming the enemy on the opposite side?" The Chief of Staff did not dare to say a word, turned around and headed towards the sound. Run in the direction you came from.
Not long after, the chief of staff returned with a soldier wearing white camouflage uniform. As soon as he saw the soldiers following the chief of staff, Ruhlie asked with a straight face: "What's going on? Who allowed you to shout? Do you want to expose our target?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander, don't be angry, this is the scout who just came back from the front." After saying this with a smile on his face, the Chief of Staff urged the scout: "Comrade Scout, hurry up and get the information you have detected. Report to the brigade commander and make him happy too."
Knowing that the other party was a scout who came back from the front, Ruhelie lowered his tone and asked, "Tell me, what is the good news?"
"Reporting to Comrade Brigade Commander, our reconnaissance team went deep into the enemy's rear and unexpectedly discovered a secret." The scout said excitedly: "Although the enemy has about a battalion of troops, they are not Germans, but Romanian troops. .”
"What, the Romanian army?" Ruhelie couldn't help being shocked when he heard the news. He grabbed the soldier and asked nervously: "Is everything you said true?"
"Yes, Comrade Brigade Commander." The scout replied: "In order to find out what was going on, a soldier and I even sneaked into the enemy's position. After careful observation, we found that the position was basically filled with Romanians. Only a few armored vehicles were driven by Germans."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, if the enemies on the opposite side are all Romanian troops, then our attack will be much easier." The chief of staff said from the side: "Do you think we can order the troops to attack early?"
Ruhle knew that there were several divisions in the Romanian army that were particularly capable of fighting. They had defeated the numerically superior Soviet troops to a complete defeat. However, these troops were eventually annihilated together with Paulus's Sixth Army in Stalingrad. Once the strongest troops have been killed, the remaining troops will not be a concern.
However, for the sake of safety, Ruhlie did not immediately issue an order to attack. Instead, he stood on the tree stump again, raised his telescope and looked at the enemy position in the distance. At this glance, he really saw the problem. The uniforms and helmets worn by the soldiers gathered around the oil drums to keep warm were indeed different from the common German soldiers.
"The scout is right." After confirming that the enemy on the other side was not German, Ruhlie breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. After getting off the tree stump, he said to the Chief of Staff: "Chief of Staff, since the enemy in front is not German People, then our original attack time can be advanced."
"Comrade Brigadier, do you think the combat plan should be adjusted?" the chief of staff said enthusiastically: "The Romanian army's combat effectiveness is not strong. I think we can consider annihilating them all. It is better to use the first battalion to attack frontally, and the second and third battalions The battalion will detour from both wings and strive to annihilate this enemy force."
"It's not necessary." Ruhelie waved his hand and said: "The Romanian army's combat effectiveness is not good, but they have a battalion of troops after all, and they also have fortifications. If they find themselves trapped in our siege, they will definitely fight to the death. At the same time, we asked for help from the nearby Germans. Maybe in the end, we failed to eat this enemy, but we were all involved."
Just as the chief of staff was about to say something persuasive, intensive gunshots suddenly came from the Romanian army position in the distance. Since the sound could travel far at night, Ruhlie could easily identify the German MG34 machine gun firing. He turned to the Chief of Staff and asked: "Chief of Staff, what is going on? Why are the enemies shooting? Have they discovered our troops?"
"Probably not." When the chief of staff heard the sudden gunfire, he also looked confused: "Our troops are lurking seven or eight hundred meters away from the enemy's position, and the gunfire came from the enemy's position. It came from the middle of the position. Could it be that our scouts had a firefight with the enemy?" After saying this, he cast doubtful eyes on the scout who reported the news.
The scout quickly shook his head and replied: "No, they will definitely not be members of our reconnaissance team. Because it was only me and another comrade who went deep into the enemy's position to conduct reconnaissance, and both of us evacuated safely."
In order to find out what was going on, the chief of staff stood on the tree stump with a telescope and raised the telescope to observe the movement in the direction of the enemy's position. After a while, he exclaimed: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I can see clearly, it's the armored vehicles on the enemy's position, shooting at the Romanian army, and the two sides are already fighting."
