The two forces quickly joined forces. After they eliminated the German troops who were blocking the north gate, they protected the residents who escaped from the sea of fire and hurriedly evacuated outside the city.
Prochenko and Vanya left the city through the north gate. When they turned back, they found that the entire north of the city had turned into a sea of fire. Although they were far away, they still felt waves of heat rushing towards them, and felt burning pain all over their bodies. Looking at the soldiers and residents who escaped from the city with him, he found that they were all in a smoky and miserable state.
Prochenko's eyes turned red when he thought of his subordinates and the residents of the city who died in the fire. He raised his hand and wiped it on his face, cursing and saying: "Damn it, even from such a distance, the smoke still stuns my eyes."
Next to him, Vanya felt like a mirror, but he refused to expose it. He did not expose Prochenko's lies in public, but echoed: "Yes, the fire is too strong, the smoke is so thick that my eyes are covered with smoke." Can’t open it.”
"Colonel Prochenko," a lieutenant colonel in the distance walked towards the two of them and asked from a distance, "Are you okay?"
"Lieutenant Colonel Ivan, thank you for your concern." It was clear that the person coming was Lieutenant Colonel Ivan, the leader of the 764th Regiment. After a long sigh, Prochenko said sadly: "But many of my subordinates and residents have stayed. In the city."
Ivan looked at the burning city and said through gritted teeth: "Damn Germans, their fire has burned countless innocent residents to death. Sooner or later we will get back this blood debt from them."
After saying this, Lieutenant Colonel Ivan said to Prochenko: "Comrade Colonel, the division commander has an order to take you to see him once you are rescued."
Prochenko suffered such a big loss and was originally embarrassed to see Shechtman, but when he heard what Ivan said, he did not dare to disobey his order. He could only bite the bullet and said to Vanya: "Chief of Staff, I Go see the division commander, you stay here to contain the troops."
Just when Vanya agreed and was about to stay, he heard Ivan say: "Chief of Staff Vanya, the division commander asked you to follow Colonel Prochenko."
Hearing what Ivan said, Vanya readily agreed, but Prochenko's heart began to beat: his troops were attacked by German fire and were driven out of the city. At this time, the division commander saw Are you preparing to take yourself to a military court?
With such questions, Prochenko followed Ivan to the location of the division headquarters.
When he saw Prochenko and others walking into the headquarters, Colonel Billing took the initiative to greet them, shook hands with everyone one by one, and said: "Thank you for your hard work, comrades, you have worked hard!"
Shechtman came to Prochenko, looked at this subordinate who was as black as a kitchen king, slapped the other man's arm with both hands, and said excitedly: "Comrade Prochenko, I feel relieved to see that you are still alive. ”
"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander." Prochenko lowered his head and said with a look of shame: "I only took a small number of soldiers and residents of the city to evacuate. The rest either died in the sea of fire or fell to the ground. Under the enemy's gun."
"I know, I know." Shechtman sighed and said: "Comrade Commander has long warned me that I should worry about any conspiracy by the Germans. I also thought he was neurotic. Unexpectedly, his judgment was Correct, the enemy retreated so quickly in the face of our attack just to dig a hole for us to jump into.
Comrade Prochenko, I'm sorry for you, the soldiers who died and the residents of the city. If I could follow the commander's order and strengthen the security in the city, maybe such a tragedy would not happen. "
As soon as Shechtman finished speaking, Vanya intervened and said: "Comrade division commander, the enemy has already planned to set fire to the city. No matter how good our security work is, it will be difficult to prevent the enemy from setting fire."
Seeing the surprised expression on Shechtman's face, Vanya continued: "When I was blocked at the north gate, I went to the roof with the regiment commander to observe the enemy's situation. I found that the enemy was using a flamethrower. They set fires, and they also placed oil barrels in many buildings, so that as soon as they started setting fires, the fires could spread in a very short period of time, causing huge casualties to us who were downwind."
"The enemy is really too cunning." Shechtman said through gritted teeth: "Sooner or later we will recover this blood debt from the Germans and make them pay back ten times a hundred times for the crimes they committed today."
"Comrade Division Commander," the Chief of Staff came over from the side and handed the telegram he just received to Shechtman: "This is the telegram just sent by Comrade Commander."
"A telegram from Comrade Commander?" Knowing that it was a telegram from Sokov, Shechtman did not dare to neglect this time, and quickly moved closer to check it carefully. The content of the telegram was very simple, ordering Shechtman to withdraw all troops from the city immediately to avoid unnecessary losses.
After reading the telegram, Schechtman showed an annoyed look on his face. The reason why things have developed to this point is because he underestimated the enemy. He handed the telegram in his hand to Colonel Billing and said with a wry smile: "Comrade Political Commissar, look at the telegram from Comrade Commander. He said that in order to avoid unnecessary losses, the troops in the city should be withdrawn as soon as possible. If I If we had listened to him earlier and withdrawn all the troops from the city, I’m afraid the losses we would suffer now would be much smaller.”
"Comrade division commander, now is not the time to regret." The chief of staff reminded Shechtman, "The troops in the north of our city paid a huge price under the German fire attack. I am worried that when the fire weakens, The Germans will take the opportunity to attack, should we prepare for battle?"
Shechtman felt that what the Chief of Staff said was very reasonable. Considering that there were very few soldiers left in the 762nd Regiment, he decided to hand over the defense task to Lieutenant Colonel Ivan’s 764th Regiment: "Lieutenant Colonel Ivan , order your men to switch to defense on the spot and be ready to meet the German attack at any time."
"Understood, Comrade Division Commander." Lieutenant Colonel Ivan replied resoundingly: "Our regiment promises to complete the tasks assigned to us by our superiors."
…………
Besides, Sokov, who was far away in October Town, couldn't help but become anxious since he received the news that the Germans had set fire to the city and the commanders and fighters of a regiment were trapped behind the enemy's rear. He called Sameko to him and asked him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the enemy has launched a fire attack on our troops occupying the north of the city. Do you have any good ideas?"
"No." Sameko shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Delgach is an ancient city. There are a large number of wooden houses in the city. As long as there is a fire, the entire street is usually swallowed up by the fire. We The only thing we can do is to withdraw the troops in the city, and we will count every one we can."
"Especially tonight, the wind is very strong. If the enemy really sets fire, even if we give the order to retreat in time, it is still unknown how many people can escape safely."
"Chief of Staff, what you just said is right: if you can withdraw one by one, it will save seeds for our army." After Sokov said this, he ordered Samyko: "Send electricity to Shechtman immediately. Report and order them not to launch a counterattack into the city, but to find a way to free the trapped troops."
After Samyko waited for Sokov to finish speaking, he immediately asked: "Do we need to order Major General Gritsenko's 384th Division to quickly approach Dergach to support the troops there?"
"Wait a minute, Comrade Chief of Staff, under the current circumstances, Major General Gritsenko's troops are not suitable to rush to Dergach immediately." When Sokov said this, he saw a look of confusion on Samyko's face. With an expression on his face, he explained: "Since the enemy launched a fire attack on our troops entering the city overnight, they will take a series of actions next. If Major General Gritsenko's troops also gathered in Dergach's city Outside, it is very likely to be surrounded by German troops."
"No way, Comrade Commander." Regarding Sokov's statement, Samyko expressed doubts: "You know, our main force is attacking the Kharkov defense zone, and the enemy simply cannot draw out enough With our four divisions holding together, we cannot defeat the enemy with their existing strength."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, as commanders, we must not underestimate the enemy." Sokov reminded the other party: "You must know that General Kenff of the German Army is not an ordinary general. He has rich command experience and knows how to Use tactics. Otherwise, several of our army groups will not be able to stop his combat group outside Prokhorovka."
The two forces quickly joined forces. After they eliminated the German troops who were blocking the north gate, they protected the residents who escaped from the sea of fire and hurriedly evacuated outside the city.
Prochenko and Vanya left the city through the north gate. When they turned back, they found that the entire north of the city had turned into a sea of fire. Although they were far away, they still felt waves of heat rushing towards them, and felt burning pain all over their bodies. Looking at the soldiers and residents who escaped from the city with him, he found that they were all in a smoky and miserable state.
Prochenko's eyes turned red when he thought of his subordinates and the residents of the city who died in the fire. He raised his hand and wiped it on his face, cursing and saying: "Damn it, even from such a distance, the smoke still stuns my eyes."
Next to him, Vanya felt like a mirror, but he refused to expose it. He did not expose Prochenko's lies in public, but echoed: "Yes, the fire is too strong, the smoke is so thick that my eyes are covered with smoke." Can’t open it.”
"Colonel Prochenko," a lieutenant colonel in the distance walked towards the two of them and asked from a distance, "Are you okay?"
"Lieutenant Colonel Ivan, thank you for your concern." It was clear that the person coming was Lieutenant Colonel Ivan, the leader of the 764th Regiment. After a long sigh, Prochenko said sadly: "But many of my subordinates and residents have stayed. In the city."
Ivan looked at the burning city and said through gritted teeth: "Damn Germans, their fire has burned countless innocent residents to death. Sooner or later we will get back this blood debt from them."
After saying this, Lieutenant Colonel Ivan said to Prochenko: "Comrade Colonel, the division commander has an order to take you to see him once you are rescued."
Prochenko suffered such a big loss and was originally embarrassed to see Shechtman, but when he heard what Ivan said, he did not dare to disobey his order. He could only bite the bullet and said to Vanya: "Chief of Staff, I Go see the division commander, you stay here to contain the troops."
Just when Vanya agreed and was about to stay, he heard Ivan say: "Chief of Staff Vanya, the division commander asked you to follow Colonel Prochenko."
Hearing what Ivan said, Vanya readily agreed, but Prochenko's heart began to beat: his troops were attacked by German fire and were driven out of the city. At this time, the division commander saw Are you preparing to take yourself to a military court?
With such questions, Prochenko followed Ivan to the location of the division headquarters.
When he saw Prochenko and others walking into the headquarters, Colonel Billing took the initiative to greet them, shook hands with everyone one by one, and said: "Thank you for your hard work, comrades, you have worked hard!"
Shechtman came to Prochenko, looked at this subordinate who was as black as a kitchen king, slapped the other man's arm with both hands, and said excitedly: "Comrade Prochenko, I feel relieved to see that you are still alive. ”
"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander." Prochenko lowered his head and said with a look of shame: "I only took a small number of soldiers and residents of the city to evacuate. The rest either died in the sea of fire or fell to the ground. Under the enemy's gun."
"I know, I know." Shechtman sighed and said: "Comrade Commander has long warned me that I should worry about any conspiracy by the Germans. I also thought he was neurotic. Unexpectedly, his judgment was Correct, the enemy retreated so quickly in the face of our attack just to dig a hole for us to jump into.
Comrade Prochenko, I'm sorry for you, the soldiers who died and the residents of the city. If I could follow the commander's order and strengthen the security in the city, maybe such a tragedy would not happen. "
As soon as Shechtman finished speaking, Vanya intervened and said: "Comrade division commander, the enemy has already planned to set fire to the city. No matter how good our security work is, it will be difficult to prevent the enemy from setting fire."
Seeing the surprised expression on Shechtman's face, Vanya continued: "When I was blocked at the north gate, I went to the roof with the regiment commander to observe the enemy's situation. I found that the enemy was using a flamethrower. They set fires, and they also placed oil barrels in many buildings, so that as soon as they started setting fires, the fires could spread in a very short period of time, causing huge casualties to us who were downwind."
"The enemy is really too cunning." Shechtman said through gritted teeth: "Sooner or later we will recover this blood debt from the Germans and make them pay back ten times a hundred times for the crimes they committed today."
"A telegram from Comrade Commander?" Knowing that it was a telegram from Sokov, Shechtman did not dare to neglect this time, and quickly moved closer to check it carefully. The content of the telegram was very simple, ordering Shechtman to immediately withdraw all troops from the city to avoid unnecessary losses.
