"Second Lieutenant Sasha," Ruhle asked impatiently after the other party finished speaking: "I would like to ask, do you know which road to Lugansk can avoid contact with the enemy?"
"According to our observations along the way, the Germans are stationed in residential areas or villages. If you want to continue moving eastward, you only need to avoid the residential areas and villages." After answering Ruhle's question, Sa Sha also reminded him: "But you should be aware that the snow in many areas of the forest is too deep, which is not conducive to the march of the troops."
Ruhelie knew that a battle was taking place here, and the nearby enemies would come over soon. He planned to gather his troops and leave immediately. However, before setting off, he wanted to know more about the situation along the way, so he continued to ask Sasha: " Comrade Second Lieutenant, can you tell me more about the situation of the Luhansk garrison?"
"Comrade Colonel, I can only tell you briefly." As a grassroots officer, Sasha didn't know much about the defense situation in Lugansk, but since Ruhle asked, he still told what he knew. What we know: "Now in the Luhansk area, we have one of our combat groups, with three to four Guards divisions, plus several tank brigades and artillery divisions. Stationed in the west of the city is the 41st Guards Division, where I am The 67th Guards Division is stationed in the south of the city."
"Thank you, Comrade Second Lieutenant. Thank you for telling us such important information." Ruhlie extended his hand to Sasha and said friendly: "I hope we have a chance to meet again."
"We will definitely meet again." Sasha saw his men loading the collected ammunition into the car, raised his hand and saluted Ruhle, and said: "Comrade Colonel, please take care, we are about to set off. "
Looking at the several armored vehicles going away, Ruhlie said to the Chief of Staff with emotion: "Comrade Chief of Staff, with the guidance of friendly comrades, we know how to avoid the enemy. In this way, we can put more The soldiers were successfully brought to Luhansk."
"Comrade Brigadier, I don't understand." The chief of staff frowned and asked: "Since our army has deployed heavy troops here in Luhansk, why didn't they take the initiative to rescue us when our army was fiercely attacked by the German army? "
"Chief of Staff, don't forget, the enemy has heavy troops stationed in Donetsk. Once our army attacks from Lugansk, it will be intercepted halfway." After Ruhle finished speaking, he urged the Chief of Staff: "Okay, time is running out, let's move the troops quickly. Otherwise, when the surrounding enemies come over, we might be entangled by them."
After the commanders and fighters of the tank brigade buried their fallen comrades, they hurriedly moved eastward. When the nearby enemies arrived, they saw only corpses on the ground and the position still smoking. The Soviet troops who had captured the position had long since disappeared without a trace.
The news that this position, where the Romanian army was stationed, had been breached by the Soviet army, quickly reached Manstein's ears. But he didn't care about this matter. After all, in his mind, the Romanian army's combat effectiveness was too poor, and it was inevitable that the Soviet army would capture the position. The Soviet army that could wipe out a battalion of Romanian troops was probably not too large. His main attention was still on the main force of Popov's rapid group that was making an all-out breakout to the east.
Following Sasha's prompts, Ruhle commanded the troops to carefully bypass the enemy's garrisoned settlements and villages, and trudged through the vast forest. After five days of continuous march, they finally successfully arrived at the 122nd Guards Regiment. defense zone.
Looking at the looming position in the distance, the chief of staff asked tentatively: "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you think the position in front is ours or the Germans?"
Ruh raised his telescope and looked across. The trench was so quiet that he couldn't see a single person. No one showed up, and there were no signs for identification. It was impossible to tell whether the Germans or our own people were stationed in the opposite position. He could only helplessly tell the chief of staff: "Chief of staff, send two soldiers over to take a look."
After receiving the order, the two soldiers wearing white camouflage uniforms immediately rushed out of the hiding place. After reaching the middle of the positions of the two armies, they changed from stooping and running to crawling. But they were still more than two hundred meters away from the trench on the opposite side. A machine gun in the civil firepower point started firing, and the bullets made the snow around the scouts fly like a boiling pot.
"Comrade Brigade Commander," the Chief of Staff was not surprised but delighted when he heard the gunshots coming from the other side. He exclaimed: "The people on the other side are shooting with Deggarev light machine guns. They are our own people. Yes, they are. Our own people.”
Ruhelie felt that this statement by the chief of staff was very reasonable. However, the machine gun on the opposite side was firing. Even if he sent people over to contact him, they might be greeted by a series of dense bullets. He frowned and thought for a while, then told a soldier behind him: "Go find the flag bearer!"
Since Ruhle's tank brigade is an independent organization, it has its own military flag and full-time flag bearer. After a while, the flag bearer ran over carrying the military flag wrapped in a flag sleeve and asked Ruhelie: "Comrade Brigadier, what are your instructions?"
"Comrade flag-bearer," Ruhle pointed to the position opposite where machine guns were firing, and said to the flag-bearer: "The opposite side is our own people, but there is a misunderstanding with us at this moment. In order to avoid unnecessary casualties, you should immediately put us Raise the military flag to let the other side understand that we are not enemies."
The flag-bearer agreed, half-crouched and untied the flag sleeve on the flag. After unfolding the flag, he found a relatively high mound and erected the flag.
The bright red military flag rustled in the cold wind, and the machine guns firing on the opposite position also stopped. Not long after, a red flag was raised on the position. Although it is not a military flag with a number, the red flag also represents that the defenders in the position are our own.
Seeing the red flag rising on the opposite side, the commanders and soldiers of the tank brigade who finally arrived here after all the hardships immediately cheered and rushed forward. From the opposite position, countless officers and soldiers wearing the same uniforms also rushed out. They shouted "Ula" and rushed towards the officers and soldiers of the tank brigade.
A few minutes later, two troops belonging to different fronts met in the middle area. The commanders and soldiers of both sides immediately hugged each other regardless of each other or their ranks, causing the originally silent battlefield to boil.
Seeing that his troops had joined forces with friendly forces, Ruhelie was particularly happy. He twisted and shouted excitedly to the soldiers around him, and then led them to run quickly towards the meeting place.
As soon as Ruhle walked into the crowd, a strange soldier rushed towards him and gave him a warm hug. At the same time, he shouted loudly: "Comrade, you have worked hard!"
"You have worked hard too!" Ruhelie patted the opponent's back hard twice and said excitedly: "From now on, we can fight side by side."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Captain Kogor came to Ruhelie's side, leaned into his ear and loudly reported: "The friendly commander is here!"
In a short time, Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko, commander of the 122nd Guards Regiment, appeared in front of Ruhlie. Seeing that the other party's military rank was higher than his own, Papuchenko quickly saluted and said respectfully: "Comrade Colonel, I am Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko, commander of the 122nd Regiment of the 41st Guards Division. I am very happy to be here." Join you."
"Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Ruhelie returned the salute and said loudly: "I am Colonel Ruhelie, commander of the 19th Independent Tank Brigade. I led my troops to break through the enemy's encirclement and came to meet you. Reunion."
After speaking, Ruhle opened his arms towards Papuchenko, smiled and said: "Comrades of the 41st Guards Division, in order to celebrate this hard-won reunion, let's give a hug."
The next second, the two commanders from different units hugged each other tightly.
