There is a small village southeast of Qijilin where a squad of German troops is stationed. When they received the order from the city defense commander, they immediately drove the villagers to dig trenches outside the village and build fortifications to prevent the Soviet army from advancing.
Since there has never been a war here, the German soldiers in the village are not very vigilant. They let the villagers sit in a newly dug bunker to eat, smoke and chat while they were digging trenches.
Several people were eating happily when they suddenly heard a strange sound coming from outside. The villagers in the nearby trenches also stopped what they were doing, stood up straight with their tools and stared blankly at one place.
A German soldier stood up curiously and looked towards the bunker. After he saw the scene in front of him clearly, he was stunned and stood there in a daze.
The squad leader, who held the rank of corporal, saw the soldier standing there in a daze after he got up. After raising his leg and kicking him, he asked dissatisfiedly: "What did you see, standing there in a daze like a fool?"
The soldier who was kicked turned to look at his squad leader and replied in horror: "Russian... Russians, so many... so many Russians..."
The squad leader thought the soldiers were talking nonsense, so he stood up and looked into the distance. When he saw clearly the tidal wave of bicycles on the road and the Soviet commanders pedaling hard, he was stunned.
Before he could react, more than twenty bicycles rushed in front of them. The Soviet soldier on the bicycle threw the vehicle to the ground, took off the assault rifle from his back, and aimed at the German soldiers in the bunker.
The German soldiers staying in the bunker at the moment had no weapons in their hands because they were busy eating. Facing the condescending muzzles of more than twenty black holes, they had no courage to resist. They hurriedly raised their hands high above their heads to avoid being misunderstood by the Soviet army that they wanted to resist, and they would be beaten to death by random gunfire.
When the villagers who were repairing the fortifications were sure that they were their own people, they scrambled out of the newly dug trenches and pounced on the soldiers who got out of their cars and parked on the roadside. After a while, both sides cheered. Hugged each other.
After Belkin learned that a village had been occupied in the front, he immediately rushed over to check the situation.
When he entered the village, he was immediately warmly welcomed by the villagers. An old man in the village also welcomed Belkin with bread and salt according to the ancient Russian custom. He said with tears in his eyes: "Comrade Commander, I have finally waited for you to come back for two years. This time you are back." , you won’t leave again, will you?”
Belkin held the old man's hand tightly and said with a smile: "Old man, we are back. This time we come back to drive away the enemies who occupied our cities and villages. We not only want to remove them from our We must drive them away from the land and completely eliminate them.”
"That feeling is good, that feeling is good." The old man couldn't help but get excited when he heard what Belkin said: "You don't know how we got here in the past two years..."
After Belkin comforted the old man for a few words, he ordered people to escort the German prisoners over.
While waiting for the prisoners to arrive, the regiment chief of staff asked him for instructions: "Comrade Colonel, do we need to report this news to the division headquarters immediately?"
"Don't be anxious, my comrade chief of staff." Belkin waved his hand to reject the proposal of the regiment chief of staff and said to him: "Let's figure out the situation here first."
After pausing for a moment, he then asked: "Have all the scouts been sent out?"
"Yes, Comrade Colonel." The regiment chief of staff nodded and said, "They have all been sent out."
"Our soldiers have been riding for several hours and are very tired. Let them take a rest here first." Belkin said to the chief of staff: "We will continue after we have figured out the enemy's situation in the Chijilin area. It’s not too late to move forward.”
The German squad leader was quickly escorted over. He was just a small corporal. After becoming a prisoner, he had been frightened out of his mind. Now being interrogated by Belkin, he naturally did not dare to have the slightest conspiracy and hurriedly gave his name , military rank, positions held, and the reasons for building fortifications were all truthfully explained.
After listening to the translation, Belkin pondered for a moment and asked: "Corporal, I would like to ask, since you knew that our army was going to attack Qijilin, why were you not prepared for battle at all?"
"Mr. Colonel," the corporal replied nervously, "the order I received is to dig enough trenches after dawn tomorrow, and the defensive troops will arrive before noon tomorrow."
The prisoner's words made Belkin curious: "Why do the garrison have to wait until noon tomorrow to arrive?"
"It's almost fifty kilometers from Svetlovodsk District to here," the corporal replied tremblingly: "This road is severely damaged and it is difficult to support a large convoy. If you want to attack Chigilin, just We can only march on foot. The city defense commander estimates that you will not be able to reach us until noon tomorrow at the earliest, and you are all exhausted. And the newly arrived troops can completely defeat you."
Belkin was not angry about what the prisoner said. On the contrary, he realized that although Chijilin's enemies were preparing for war at the moment, various defensive measures were obviously not perfect yet. If he pursued the victory, he might still be able to defeat them before the enemy completed their preparations. Rush into Qijilin City.
He waved his hand, indicating that the prisoner should be escorted down. Then he turned around and ordered the Chief of Staff: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please contact the division headquarters immediately and tell us that we have occupied a small village near Qijilin. From various signs, the Germans are not ready for battle at all..."
When the chief of staff heard this, he couldn't help but interrupt and asked: "Comrade commander, you don't want to use our regiment to attack German cities, do you?"
"Since we have a great opportunity in front of us, why not?" Belkin asked his chief of staff: "Do you plan to wait until the German army completes its defense preparations before we launch an attack? Do you want to If so, our army will pay a heavy price."
The chief of staff was convinced by Belkin's words. He nodded and went to find the telegraph operator, preparing to report the situation here to the division headquarters to see what the superiors' intentions were.
After receiving the report, Fomenko couldn't help but be overjoyed. He said to Manoxin and the Chief of Staff: "I really didn't expect that although the enemies in Chijilin were repairing the fortifications, their garrison troops were not in place in time. This is a big problem for our division. Capturing the city quickly created favorable conditions."
But after hearing this, the chief of staff raised his own question: "Comrade division commander, currently there are only more than 4,000 soldiers equipped with bicycles in the division. In other words, if we want to continue the offensive, only these four can be put into battle. Thousands of people, we have no idea what kind of strength the enemy has in the city now. If the attack goes well, that's it. If the attack fails, I'm afraid our superiors will hold us accountable."
"You are worrying too much, Comrade Chief of Staff." Now more than five hours have passed since the 84th Division set off. The defenders in the Svetlovodsk District have also changed from the original 188th Division to the 384th Division. The commanders and fighters of the Koida Division and the Koida Division are now also advancing along the road in the direction of Chigilin. Faced with the chief of staff's doubts, Manokhin said: "The troops that want to attack Chijilin are not just our division, but also Colonel Koida's 188th Division. According to my experience, the Germans were like this in Chijilin There will not be many troops deployed in a small city. Not to mention that their defense system is not perfect yet. Even if they have a perfect defense system, with the strength of our two divisions, we can definitely capture the city from the Germans. "
"The political commissar is right," Fomenko said in agreement: "Now that the Belkin regiment is only three or four kilometers away from the city, we can order them to stop resting in the small village and rush to the city immediately. Even if they cannot capture the city, they can still It can seize the city's outer positions and reduce the casualties of our division's commanders and soldiers when they attack the enemy."
Seeing that the division commander and the division political commissar were full of confidence in seizing the city of Qijilin, the division chief of staff could not raise any objections. He could only make vague remarks and turned around to arrange for the telegraph operator to contact the front line and let Belkin group Stop resting in the small village and immediately move towards Qijilin to see if you can capture the city before the enemy recovers.
While the division chief of staff was in contact with the forward commander, Fomenko personally called Sokov, hoping to report to him the situation here in a timely manner. Fortunately for him, the person who answered the phone this time was Sokov.
As soon as Sokov heard Fomenko's excited voice, he immediately guessed that the other party's report was related to the Chigilin that was about to be captured, so he asked directly: "General Fomenko, do you have any good information about Chigilin?" Do you want to tell me the news?"
Seeing that Sokov had guessed the intention of his call, Fomenko laughed dryly, and then replied: "Report to Comrade Commander, Colonel Belkin of the vanguard regiment sent me a message saying that his troops have occupied I found a small village three or four kilometers south of Jilin, and I am currently resting there."
When Sokov learned that the Belkin regiment had occupied a small village, he immediately asked nervously: "Did they have any exchanges of fire with the enemy when they occupied the small village?"
"No." Fomenko shook his head and replied: "There was only one squad of German soldiers in the village. When the Belkin regiment arrived, the enemy was driving the villagers to dig fortifications. But when our commanders and fighters appeared in front of them, All the Germans were frightened and immediately raised their hands and surrendered to our troops."
"Why is there only one German squad in the village?" After listening to Fomenko's report, Sokov felt it was incredible. In such an important area, the Germans only deployed one squad of troops, but instead saw their own troops. When the troops appeared, they surrendered without firing a shot. In order to find out what was going on, he asked: "Also, since we have begun to build fortifications, why are there no defenders stationed anywhere?"
Facing a series of questions from Sokov, Fomenko answered confidently: "Comrade Commander, Colonel Belgin has interrogated the prisoners. It turns out that the enemy thinks that our army is in the Svetlovodsk District, which is a good distance from Chigilin." It is nearly 50 kilometers long, and the road between the two places has been severely damaged, making it impossible to use transportation on a large scale. If our army wants to capture Qijilin, it can only advance by marching on foot. The Germans estimate , even if our army marches at the fastest speed, I am afraid that we will have to wait until noon tomorrow to reach the vicinity of Qijilin."
After figuring out what was going on, Sokov said with emotion: "General Fomenko, it seems that the bicycles have made a great contribution this time. Without so many bicycles, it would have been impossible for our troops to arrive in such a short time. near Chigirin, and captured a German-occupied village without a fight.”
After Sokov said this, he paused for a moment to calm his excitement. After he calmed down a lot, he asked: "General Fomenko, what are your divisions going to do next?"
Fomenko glanced at the chief of staff standing behind the operator and replied: "Reporting to comrade commander, I will ask the chief of staff to give orders to the two commanders of the 252nd and 254th regiments to speed up their march. Rush to Qijilin to join the Belkin regiment and seize the city."
"Very good, General Fomenko, you did a good job." Sokov said into the microphone: "If our army can easily capture this city, it will be another great achievement for you. Maybe your division will A few more place names will be added to the number..."
Within the structure of the Soviet Army, only units that have achieved great feats can have the name of the city they fought in in their designation. The 84th Division’s designation now includes the ground in Kharkov, and it is possible that it will be added in the future. More place names. Therefore, after hearing what Sokov said, Fomenko suddenly became excited. He patted his chest and expressed his stance to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, don't worry, our 84th Division will never let you down." .”
After putting down the phone, Sokov called Samyko in front of him, smiled and said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, let me tell you good news. The Belkin Regiment of the 84th Division has now arrived near Chigilin. , and successfully captured a small village from the Germans and captured a squad of German soldiers."
"The Belkin regiment has arrived near Chigilin?" After hearing the news from Sokov, Samyko immediately lowered his head and looked at the map. After a while, he raised his head and said to Sokov with some excitement: "Comrade Commander, this is really great news. Based on the analysis of this situation, the enemy has no precautions against our army at all. If we seize the time, If we attack, we might be able to capture this city easily.”
"You are right, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov nodded and said: "General Fomenko thinks so too, so he has given an order to Colonel Belkin to stop their regiment immediately in the small village. After resting there, we immediately rushed to Chigilin and tried to capture the city before the Germans were ready."
