Stemerman chose the breakout time at night because of the limited visibility at night. As long as the troops did not make too much noise, they would not be discovered by the Soviet army. Moreover, there would be fog in the early morning of February every year. Even if the Soviet army heard any movement, they would not dare to leave their positions easily due to limited visibility, which would be conducive to their breakout operations.
Facts have proved that Stemmermann's judgment was completely correct. During the breakout operation in the first two days, the Viking Division and the 72nd Infantry Division led by General Gille successfully moved forward without any obstruction from the Soviet army. Entering the defense area of the 18th Tank Army, there was only a mere two or three kilometers away from the siege of the Baker Heavy Armor Regiment.
The German troops stationed near Hill 239 received the breakout order from Stemmermann and quietly moved north under the cover of night, intending to follow the leading troops commanded by General Giller and jump out of the Soviet encirclement. In order to prevent too much noise during the operation, they had to abandon their tanks, armor and cars, and marched northward on foot.
When the Army Chief of Staff evacuated with the troops directly under the Army, he reluctantly asked Stemerman: "Your Excellency, Army Commander, are you really not going to break out with us?"
Stemmermann shook his head and said with a wry smile: "We still have thousands of wounded people who are unable to move. As the commander of the army, I cannot leave them alone. I want to be with them." He held the hand of the army chief of staff. holding his hand, he said with some emotion, "I wish you good luck, we'll see you outside the encirclement!"
Although the German army tried their best to conceal their whereabouts, many sounds that could be basically ignored during the day would become extremely clear late at night.
The 252nd Infantry Division currently standing on Hill 239 is commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov. Although he didn't stay with Sokov for a long time, he learned a lot of useful things. In order to prevent the German army from sneaking into the position at night, he sent the most capable soldiers to take charge of the sentries on duty at night, and told him to report them immediately if anything unusual was discovered.
That night, there were five soldiers on duty. The corporal leading the team was a veteran with ten years of military service. He had fought in different areas and had rich battlefield experience. While on duty, he vaguely heard some strange sounds coming from the distance. He tried his best to look in the direction of the sounds, but he couldn't see anything.
Seeing the corporal staring into the distance, a soldier came over and asked, "Comrade corporal, what did you find?"
"I heard some faint movement in the distance, but it was too dark to see anything clearly."
"Then what should we do?"
"Go and invite the company commander over and let him make an idea!"
The company commander came back soon. He asked the corporal: "Hey, veteran, what did you find?"
"Comrade company commander, look!" the corporal pointed to the location where the sound came from in the distance and said to the company commander: "One mile away from here, there is a sound. It seems that there are troops in action."
The company commander held up the telescope and looked in the direction of the veteran's finger. He adjusted the focus and scanned the area over and over again, but it was too dark to see anything clearly.
"Veteran," the company commander put down the telescope, turned to the corporal and said, "fire two flares to see what's going on."
Although the corporal was carrying flares, he did not dare to fire them without orders from his superiors. Upon hearing the company commander's order, he agreed, raised his signal gun, and fired two flares into the air.
As the flares took off, the company commander raised his binoculars again. After a moment, he couldn't help but trembled because he saw countless black figures marching in the distance. Needless to say, they must be Germans.
His breathing became rapid, and he hurriedly put down the telescope and said to the corporal: "Veteran, you take the people here to keep an eye on it, and I'll call the battalion headquarters."
Although the corporal did not have a telescope, he also saw a dark shadow in the distance. The moment he saw this scene, he first thought that the Germans were trying to break through, but the direction of the breakout was no longer from Highland 239, but to the north.
The company commander returned to his command post and gave a detailed report to the battalion commander on the situation over the phone. The battalion commander did not dare to neglect and called the regiment commander again; the regiment commander called Kirillov again to report.
After receiving the news, Kirillov did not report to Sokov immediately. Instead, he took people to the high ground. He planned to see the situation with his own eyes and report after making sure it was correct to avoid any own incidents.
When he reached the top of the mountain, the garrison battalions holding their positions were in position and ready for battle. When the battalion commander saw Kirillov's appearance, he quickly came over and reported: "Comrade division commander, our battalion is ready for battle and can be used at any time..."
"Comrade Major," Kirillov glanced at the battalion commander's rank and then asked, "Are there any new trends among the Germans?"
"They are continuing to move north, probably preparing to break out of our encirclement from friendly forces' defense lines."
Kirillov followed the battalion commander to the observation post, raised his telescope and looked into the distance. The considerate battalion commander made a gesture to the company commander on the side, telling him to arrange for someone to shoot flares so that the division commander could more clearly observe the movements on the battlefield.
Stemerman chose the breakout time at night because of the limited visibility at night. As long as the troops did not make too much noise, they would not be discovered by the Soviet army. Moreover, there would be fog in the early morning of February every year. Even if the Soviet army heard any movement, they would not dare to leave their positions easily due to limited visibility, which would be conducive to their breakout operations.
Facts have proved that Stemmermann's judgment was completely correct. During the breakout operation in the first two days, the Viking Division and the 72nd Infantry Division led by General Gille successfully moved forward without any obstruction from the Soviet army. Entering the defense area of the 18th Tank Army, there was only a mere two or three kilometers away from the siege of the Baker Heavy Armor Regiment.
The German troops stationed near Hill 239 received the breakout order from Stemmermann and quietly moved north under the cover of night, intending to follow the leading troops commanded by General Giller and jump out of the Soviet encirclement. In order to prevent too much noise during the operation, they had to abandon their tanks, armor and cars, and marched northward on foot.
When the Army Chief of Staff evacuated with the troops directly under the Army, he reluctantly asked Stemerman: "Your Excellency, Army Commander, are you really not going to break out with us?"
Stemmermann shook his head and said with a wry smile: "We still have thousands of wounded people who are unable to move. As the commander of the army, I cannot leave them alone. I want to be with them." He held the hand of the army chief of staff. holding his hand, he said with some emotion, "I wish you good luck, we'll see you outside the encirclement!"
Although the German army tried their best to conceal their whereabouts, many sounds that could be basically ignored during the day would become extremely clear late at night.
The 252nd Infantry Division currently standing on Hill 239 is commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov. Although he didn't stay with Sokov for a long time, he learned a lot of useful things. In order to prevent the German army from sneaking into the position at night, he sent the most capable soldiers to take charge of the sentries on duty at night, and told him to report them immediately if anything unusual was discovered.
That night, there were five soldiers on duty. The corporal leading the team was a veteran with ten years of military service. He had fought in different areas and had rich battlefield experience. While on duty, he vaguely heard some strange sounds coming from the distance. He tried his best to look in the direction of the sounds, but he couldn't see anything.
Seeing the corporal staring into the distance, a soldier came over and asked, "Comrade corporal, what did you find?"
"I heard some faint movement in the distance, but it was too dark to see anything clearly."
"Then what should we do?"
"Go and invite the company commander over and let him make an idea!"
The company commander came back soon. He asked the corporal: "Hey, veteran, what did you find?"
"Comrade company commander, look!" the corporal pointed to the location where the sound came from in the distance and said to the company commander: "One mile away from here, there is a sound. It seems that there are troops in action."
The company commander held up the telescope and looked in the direction of the veteran's finger. He adjusted the focus and scanned the area over and over again, but it was too dark to see anything clearly.
"Veteran," the company commander put down the telescope, turned to the corporal and said, "fire two flares to see what's going on."
Although the corporal was carrying flares, he did not dare to fire them without orders from his superiors. Upon hearing the company commander's order, he agreed, raised his signal gun, and fired two flares into the air.
As the flares took off, the company commander raised his binoculars again. After a moment, he couldn't help but trembled because he saw countless black figures marching in the distance. Needless to say, they must be Germans.
His breathing became rapid, and he hurriedly put down the telescope and said to the corporal: "Veteran, you take the people here to keep an eye on it, and I'll call the battalion headquarters."
Although the corporal did not have a telescope, he also saw a dark shadow in the distance. The moment he saw this scene, he first thought that the Germans were trying to break through, but the direction of the breakout was no longer from Highland 239, but to the north.
The company commander returned to his command post and gave a detailed report to the battalion commander on the situation over the phone. The battalion commander did not dare to neglect and called the regiment commander again; the regiment commander called Kirillov again to report.
After receiving the news, Kirillov did not report to Sokov immediately. Instead, he took people to the high ground. He planned to see the situation with his own eyes and report after making sure it was correct to avoid any own incidents.
When he reached the top of the mountain, the garrison battalions holding their positions were in position and ready for battle. When the battalion commander saw Kirillov's appearance, he quickly came over and reported: "Comrade division commander, our battalion is ready for battle and can be used at any time..."
"Comrade Major," Kirillov glanced at the battalion commander's rank and then asked, "Are there any new trends among the Germans?"
"They are continuing to move north, probably preparing to break out of our encirclement from the friendly defense lines."
Kirillov followed the battalion commander to the observation post, raised his telescope and looked into the distance. The considerate battalion commander made a gesture to the company commander on the side, telling him to arrange for someone to shoot flares so that the division commander could more clearly observe the movements on the battlefield.
Stemerman chose the breakout time at night because of the limited visibility at night. As long as the troops did not make too much noise, they would not be discovered by the Soviet army. Moreover, there would be fog in the early morning of February every year. Even if the Soviet army heard any movement, they would not dare to leave their positions easily due to limited visibility, which would be conducive to their breakout operations.
Facts have proved that Stemmermann's judgment was completely correct. During the breakout operation in the first two days, the Viking Division and the 72nd Infantry Division led by General Gille successfully moved forward without any obstruction from the Soviet army. Entering the defense area of the 18th Tank Army, there was only a mere two or three kilometers away from the siege of the Baker Heavy Armor Regiment.
The German troops stationed near Hill 239 received the breakout order from Stemmermann and quietly moved north under the cover of night, intending to follow the leading troops commanded by General Giller and jump out of the Soviet encirclement. In order to prevent too much noise during the operation, they had to abandon their tanks, armor and cars, and marched northward on foot.
When the Army Chief of Staff evacuated with the troops directly under the Army, he reluctantly asked Stemerman: "Your Excellency, Army Commander, are you really not going to break out with us?"
Stemmermann shook his head and said with a wry smile: "We still have thousands of wounded people who are unable to move. As the commander of the army, I cannot leave them alone. I want to be with them." He held the hand of the army chief of staff. holding his hand, he said with some emotion, "I wish you good luck, we'll see you outside the encirclement!"
Although the German army tried their best to conceal their whereabouts, many sounds that could be basically ignored during the day would become extremely clear late at night.
The 252nd Infantry Division currently standing on Hill 239 is commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov. Although he didn't stay with Sokov for a long time, he learned a lot of useful things. In order to prevent the German army from sneaking into the position at night, he sent the most capable soldiers to take charge of the sentries on duty at night, and told him to report them immediately if anything unusual was discovered.
That night, there were five soldiers on duty. The corporal leading the team was a veteran with ten years of military service. He had fought in different areas and had rich battlefield experience. While on duty, he vaguely heard some strange sounds coming from the distance. He tried his best to look in the direction of the sounds, but he couldn't see anything.
Seeing the corporal staring into the distance, a soldier came over and asked, "Comrade corporal, what did you find?"
"I heard some faint movement in the distance, but it was too dark to see anything clearly."
"Then what should we do?"
"Go and invite the company commander over and let him make an idea!"
The company commander came back soon. He asked the corporal: "Hey, veteran, what did you find?"
"Comrade company commander, look!" the corporal pointed to the location where the sound came from in the distance and said to the company commander: "One mile away from here, there is a sound. It seems that there are troops in action."
The company commander held up the telescope and looked in the direction of the veteran's finger. He adjusted the focus and scanned the area over and over again, but it was too dark to see anything clearly.
"Veteran," the company commander put down the telescope, turned to the corporal and said, "fire two flares to see what's going on."
