Belkin was still taking a chance, thinking that he might be able to rescue the surviving commanders and fighters of the 44th Regiment, but after seeing clearly their positions on the map, he couldn't help but take a breath. The opponent's position could be said to be... It is the hinterland of the German army and is surrounded by heavy troops. It is only a matter of time before they are annihilated.
He could only say regretfully: "The commanders and fighters of the 44th Regiment are too far away from us. Otherwise, we could send troops to pick them up. Now I can only wish them good luck and hope they have a chance to escape from the enemy's encirclement." come out."
Belkin felt the need to report this situation to Sokov immediately, and asked tentatively: "Comrade General, can your phone here be able to communicate directly with our defense area? I need to report the situation here to the commander immediately. Comrade reports.”
Sivarenko turned to his chief of staff and asked: "Comrade chief of staff, can the phone number of our division headquarters communicate directly with the friendly defense lines?"
"Yes, comrade division commander." The chief of staff nodded and replied: "Since I discovered that the friendly troops who handed over the defense to us did not go far away after leaving the town, but began to build fortifications nearby, I ordered people to lay them. A phone line has been set up so that we can contact them by phone if needed.”
"Well done, my comrade chief of staff." After learning that the chief of staff had laid a telephone line to the friendly defense zone without his knowledge, Sivarenko couldn't help but praise him, and then called Through the communications company commander, he ordered: "Comrade Captain, immediately connect Colonel Belkin to the friendly defense area's phone."
The call was quickly connected. After Belkin thanked the communications company commander, he picked up the phone and put it to his ear. He recognized that the person who answered the phone was a communications staff officer from the division headquarters, so he said bluntly: "I am Belkin." Colonel Erkin, please ask Comrade Commander to answer the phone."
The staff officer heard Belkin's instructions and did not dare to neglect. He quickly put the microphone on the table, stood up and reported to Sokov who was talking to Fomenko and Koida: "Comrade Commander, your phone number is Colonel Belkin called from the town of Ratseve."
Sokov felt that Belkin must have something important to call if he called at this time, so he quickly walked over. The staff officer picked up the microphone on the table, held it in both hands and handed it to Sokov.
"I'm Sokov." Sokov put the phone to his ear. According to his understanding of Belgin, if there was nothing important, he would never call himself at this time, so he spoke into the phone. Asked: "Is it Colonel Belkin? What happened there?"
"Comrade Commander," in front of outsiders, Belkin could not call Sokov by his nickname, but by his position: "Not long ago, Sivarenko received a telegram. We thought The 44th Guards Regiment, which had been completely wiped out, actually had about two hundred men break through the enemy's encirclement."
"Oh, there are still survivors in the 44th Regiment?" Sokov was surprised when he heard the news and asked curiously: "Where are they now?"
"After they broke out of the German encirclement, because the road leading south to Ratsewe town had been cut off by the enemy, they had no choice but to move in the opposite direction. Now they are staying in..." Belkin finished talking about where the remnants of the 44th Regiment stayed. After reaching the place, he asked Sokov tentatively: "Comrade Commander, do you think we can provide them with some help within our ability to rescue them from danger?"
"Map!" Sokov turned to Fomenko and said: "General Fomenko, find me a map."
Soon, the map was placed in front of Sokov. He found the location, checked it carefully, shook his head and said: "No, Colonel Belkin, judging from the current situation, our troops are temporarily unable to Get there and rescue the remnants of the 44th Regiment."
"That's such a pity." Although Belkin had already guessed such a result, he still felt quite regretful when he heard Sokov say it, "These commanders and fighters who can stand out from the enemy's encirclement, if they can If he comes back alive, he will definitely be the backbone of the army in the future. It is such a pity to die in vain like this."
Compared with the big action to be carried out next, Sokov could only put aside the life and death of more than 200 commanders and combatants for the time being. He then asked: "Colonel Belkin, I wonder if you have discussed it with General Sivarenko?" How is it going? Is he willing to lead his troops to retreat into our defense zone as planned?"
"Yes, he has already agreed." Belkin replied: "Just wait until the troops repel this German attack, and then immediately organize a retreat, leaving an empty town for the Germans and letting them have a headache. "
After learning that Sivarenko agreed to withdraw his troops from the town of Ratseve, Sokov couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. You must know that if Sivarenko insists on fighting the enemy to the death in the town, then If your own troops throw a trap, it may disrupt the original plan.
Sokov said happily into the microphone: "It's great that Sivarenko is willing to voluntarily abandon the town of Ratseve. Colonel Belkin, please tell him that if his superiors want to hold him accountable for voluntarily retreating today, I am willing to help him bear all the consequences."
To be honest, Belkin persuaded Sivarenko to withdraw from the town of Ratseve. Sivarenko promised well, but there was always a knot in his heart. He was worried that after his troops withdrew from the town, the Germans would not Sent heavy troops into the town of Ratseve, thus foiling Sokov's plan. When the time comes for the superiors to hold him accountable, he, the military chief, will be unable to absolve himself of the blame.
But when he heard Belgin conveying Sokov's words and saying that he was willing to bear all the consequences when his superiors held him accountable, he completely put down the stone in his heart and commanded the battle wholeheartedly, preparing to lead himself after repelling the enemy's attack. The troops withdrew from the town of Ratseve, allowing Sokov's troops to use artillery fire to destroy the enemy who was seeking death.
The battle lasted for more than an hour. Seeing that their attack was not effective, the Germans stopped their useless attempts and retreated to their starting positions.
Seeing that the enemy was retreating, the two Guards commanders lost no time in conveying the order to retreat to their men. What they didn't expect was that this order actually caused an uproar. The soldiers, who were still immersed in the joy of victory, were dumbfounded when they learned that their superiors were ordering them to retreat.
Soon there were soldiers in the trenches roaring: "Why are we retreating? We have just repelled the German attack. Doesn't this retreat mean that we are actively handing over our position to the Germans?"
"So many of our comrades have shed their last drop of blood on this battlefield, and we must not abandon them and leave."
"No matter who gives this order, I will never leave the position."
Not only were the soldiers angry, but the commanders at the battalion and company levels also didn't understand why their superiors would issue such an order. They either made phone calls in person or sent communications troops to the regiment headquarters to suit the orders they received. Is it true.
However, due to confidentiality reasons, Sivarenko did not tell the commanders of each regiment the reason when he issued this order. So when faced with calls from the battalion and company commanders below, or when they saw the communications troops sent by them, the two regiment commanders gave the same answer: "I don't know why the superiors issued the order to retreat. But as soldiers, our bounden duty is to obey. Since our superiors have given us an order to retreat, we can just follow it without discussing or questioning it."
In this way, under the strong pressure of the two regiment commanders, no matter how reluctant the grassroots commanders were, they could only choose to obey and withdraw from the position with their troops in accordance with the orders of their superiors.
But when these commanders and fighters came to a place two kilometers away from the town, they unexpectedly discovered that there was an extra defensive position where a large number of troops were stationed.
Seeing this scene, the commanders and soldiers who had become depressed due to the retreat became excited again. They pointed their fingers at the assault rifles in the hands of friendly soldiers and whispered: "What kind of guns are they holding in their hands?" , why have I never seen it before?”
The knowledgeable soldier immediately told his comrades: "That is a new type of gun, called an assault rifle. It is said that the rate of fire is about the same as that of a Bobosha submachine gun, but its shooting accuracy is comparable to that of a Mosin-Nagant rifle."
"Oh my god, isn't that as powerful as a machine gun?" The surrounding soldiers exclaimed: "If all our companies were equipped with such guns, then our speed of repelling the enemy would be greatly improved."
"Hey, don't count on it." The soldier who was the first to recognize the assault rifle said with a wry smile: "As far as I know, this kind of gun is only equipped with General Sokov's 27th Army, and the rest of the troops are temporarily taking turns. Not on."
Immediately, other soldiers captured an important message from his words: "What, this weapon is only equipped with General Sokov's troops? So, the troops stationed here are the subordinates of General Sokov. "
"That's right," another soldier said: "Look at the captain standing by the trench over there. I saw him yesterday when we took over the defense of Ratsewe town. He is from the 254th Regiment."
Knowing that the troops garrisoned here are actually the 254th Regiment that handed over the defense to their own troops yesterday, even the most stupid person understands that his superiors asked him to withdraw from the town because he intended to use this heroic troops to deal with those damned people. Kraut. After thinking about this, the soldiers raised their lowered heads again, and the originally loose formation quickly turned into a neat four-way column.
The change in attitude of the officers and soldiers of the Guards Division was clearly seen through the telescope by Sokov, who was standing in the distance. He put down the telescope, turned to Fomenko and Koida behind him and said: "Comrade division commanders, have you seen the mood swings of the officers and soldiers of the Guards Division?"
"I saw it," Koida was the first to speak. After looking at Fomenko with envy, he said with emotion: "When the commanders and fighters of the Guards Division first arrived here, almost everyone was downcast, but Ever since they recognized that the troops stationed here were the ones that had handed over defense to them, the spirit of the entire army had changed. If one day our troops could be like General Fomenko's troops, what would happen? Even if you don’t say anything, just standing there can boost the morale of the friendly troops, and I, as a division commander, will be proud of it.”
Hearing Koida's heartfelt praise, Fomenko felt a little embarrassed. He laughed a few times, and then said to Koida: "Colonel Koida, if we had captured the town of Ratsewe and Jinki, The troops in the town are your subordinates. I am afraid that the commanders and fighters who have withdrawn from the town today will be in awe and regain their confidence when they see your troops."
…………
After a burst of artillery fire, the German army launched another attack on the town of Ratsewe.
But to their surprise, there was no resistance at all. Not to mention the mortars that gave them a headache during the last attack, they didn't even hear the sound of gunfire. The whole town was quiet, as if there was no one around.
Seeing this situation, the German army became hesitant. They were worried that it was a Soviet conspiracy to set a trap for themselves in the town, so they stopped advancing and sent only one company of troops into the town to conduct a search.
The German company that was ordered to enter the town spent more than half an hour searching the town. They found that there was no sign of any Soviet troops in the town, not to mention living people, not even corpses. It was obvious that the Soviet troops took away the corpses of their companions when they retreated.
The German company commander was a cautious man. Although no trace of the Soviet army was found in the town, he ordered his soldiers to check those important buildings to see if there were any explosives or mines planted by the Soviet army.
After his soldiers came to report to him one by one, saying that no explosives or landmines were found in the town, the German company commander relaxed his vigilance, and then ordered the radio operator who followed him to send a safe signal to the troops outside the town. .
It was getting late now. The German officers and soldiers waiting outside the town quickly advanced towards the town after seeing the safety signal from the search force.
The German troops that entered the town consisted of two infantry battalions and an armored battalion, as well as a company of the 5th Armored Light Infantry Battalion of the Viking Division. The German deputy regimental commander in charge of these troops was a German deputy regimental commander. Seeing that it was already getting late, he ordered the troops to camp in the town if he returned to the offensive starting position for the night, and was worried that the Soviet army would reoccupy the town overnight.
After receiving the order from the deputy regiment commander, the troops entering the town immediately went into company units to find those buildings that were still relatively intact, and prepared to rest inside for a night before pursuing the fleeing Soviet troops tomorrow.
At two o'clock in the morning, the German deputy commander, who was sleeping soundly, was suddenly awakened by a huge explosion outside. He jumped up from the camp bed and asked loudly: "What's going on? Where is the artillery fire?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a shell landed at the door of the church and exploded. The flying rubble knocked down several soldiers at the door, and they fell to the ground screaming.
"What the hell, what's going on? Why are you firing at us?" The deputy commander heard the sound of artillery outside, and said to the operator angrily: "Operator, immediately send a telegram to Shangfeng, saying that we have been shelled. . Attention, it is the shelling from our own people, please ask them to stop the shelling immediately, so as not to cause us huge casualties."
The deputy commander's decision was correct. If he did not report to the top in time when he was attacked by his own shelling, and asked them to stop the damn shelling, it would not be long before the entire town of Ratsewe would turn into a sea of flames. But to his surprise, the artillery that was shelling them did not come from the German rear, but from a Soviet artillery position several kilometers away from them.
