Although mortars cannot be used to avoid accidentally injuring comrades among the prisoners of war, it is not a big problem for the battalion commanders participating in the war to suppress a few enemy machine guns. They used machine gun fire suppression and sharpshooters to quickly kill the watchtower and several machine guns on the front.撒
Seeing that the enemy's machine gun had misfired, the commanders and soldiers who had been suppressed by the fire got up from the ground one after another, picked up their guns and rushed towards the prisoner of war camp.
The German guards who reacted at this time rushed to the barbed wire fence, picked up their weapons, and shot wildly outside the barbed wire fence. Some charging soldiers were knocked to the ground by oncoming bullets. The uninjured soldiers jumped over their comrades who fell on the ground and continued to rush towards the barbed wire fence.
When the soldier at the front was still about twenty meters away from the barbed wire fence, he took out a grenade, pulled the string and threw it. After a "boom" sound, several German guards inside the barbed wire fell down immediately.
The exploding grenade startled the German guards. In order to avoid the oncoming bullets and the shrapnel of the flying grenade, they had to lie on the ground and continue shooting at the Soviet commanders and fighters.
Seeing that the German guards were lying on the ground and shooting with the guns in their hands, it was difficult to cause any harm to them. Those commanders and soldiers who were close to the barbed wire threw grenades towards the barbed wire. Amidst a series of explosions, smoke and shrapnel flew everywhere, and several unlucky guards could not escape the fate of being killed by grenades even if they were lying on the ground.
After two rounds of grenades were thrown, the Soviet commanders and soldiers, under the cover of machine gun fire, once again launched an attack on the barbed wire fence. With the coordinated machine gun fire, the covering infantry continued to approach the barbed wire fence. With the help of firelight, rows of small mud pillars could be seen inside and outside the barbed wire fence. The German muzzles that had been flashing not long ago were basically muted.
The grenades that had just exploded had already blown holes in the barbed wire fence. From these gaps, Soviet commanders and fighters continuously poured into the gaps and started hand-to-hand combat with the surviving German guards.撒
These pampered German guards were no match for the Soviet commanders and fighters. After a few were picked over in a row, the remaining ones threw away their guns and ran towards the camp on a rolling crawl.
When the battle started, the prisoners of war living in the wooden houses watched what was going on outside through the gaps in the wooden boards. After watching for a long time, in the room full of people, low cheers rang out sporadically: "It seems to be our troops!"
"The troops are here to rescue us!"
When they saw the troops outside breaking into the prisoner-of-war camp through the gap in the barbed wire fence, the cheers in the room became enthusiastic: "Yes, they are our people, they have already broken in!"
"God bless us, we are saved!"
A few minutes later, the closed wooden door was opened from the outside, and an officer and a group of soldiers rushed in. In familiar Russian, they loudly said: "We are the Soviet Red Army, you are saved!"
After the officer finished speaking, the whole room fell into silence.撒
When the officer saw this situation, he couldn't help but feel stunned and secretly asked: Could it be that none of the prisoners of war held here could understand Russian? Just when he was about to repeat what he just said, cheers like a mountain roar and a tsunami suddenly sounded in the room.
Soon, the skinny prisoners of war in prison uniforms rushed to the door from all directions, surrounding the officer and his men. Just when the officer thought that this group of prisoners was preparing to riot, he heard a man say in a choked voice: "Comrades, we have been waiting for you for three years, and we have finally waited for you."
After the man finished speaking, he gave the officer a warm hug.
After a while, when the room became quiet again, the officer asked loudly: "Are there any officers here? If so, come to my place."
Hearing the officer's shout, a middle-aged man with gray hair and a staggering walk soon came to the officer and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant, my name is Shef Moxiang. I was a mechanized man before I was captured." A battalion commander of the 20th Tank Division of the 99th Army, with the rank of major."
"What, you are from the 9th Mechanized Army?" As a subordinate of Rokossovsky, the officer naturally knew that the Soviet Marshal who served as the commander of the front army was the commander of the 9th Mechanized Army at the beginning of the war: " Is it Marshal Rokossovsky’s old unit?”
"Marshal Rokossovsky?!" Sergeant Shevmosian had been imprisoned in a prisoner of war camp for more than three years, and the news was blocked. Naturally, he could not believe that his former army commander, Major General Rokossovsky, had now become Marshal of the Soviet Union, and also served as commander of the Second Belorussian Front. When he heard what the officer said, he asked tentatively: "Comrade Lieutenant, are you talking about Major General Rokossovsky, who served as the commander of the 9th Mechanized Army in the early days of the war?"
"Yes, Comrade Xiefu is the same." The officer nodded vigorously and said in a positive tone: "Of course it is him. But now he is no longer a general, but a marshal."
When the Soviet-German war broke out, Rokossovsky, the commander of the 9th Mechanized Army who served as the commander of the Zhitomyr garrison, led his troops to Lutsk and Rivne at a rapid march, where they stubbornly blocked the attack. German attack. Originally, he could still control the situation in the area he was responsible for, but his superiors launched the Dubno counterattack impractically. This unprepared and uncoordinated counterattack resulted in heavy losses for his troops, who had to abandon their original defense zone and retreat.
In July, he was transferred from the 9th Mechanized Army to command a combat group in the Yartevo area to block the German attack on Smolensk. This transfer prevented him from being captured or sacrificed in the Battle of Kiev, otherwise the Soviet Union would have one less wartime marshal.
Knowing that his former superior had now become a marshal, Xiefu Moxiang couldn't help crying with joy. While wiping tears with his hands, he said to the officer: "Comrade Lieutenant, I originally thought I would die in the prisoner of war camp, but I didn't expect that I would see the light of day again. It's really surprising."
"Major Shevmoxiang." The officer asked Shevmoxiang tentatively: "Are there any members of the original 9th Mechanized Army in the prisoner-of-war camp?"
"No more." Xiefu Moxiang replied without hesitation: "Originally, there were about two hundred people captured with me, but they all died one after another during the heavy labor in the past few years. Now only Myself."
After hearing this, the officer couldn't help but sigh, and then asked: "Are there any other commanders besides you in the prisoner of war camp?"
He just asked casually, not expecting to get any answer. But what surprised him was that Xie Fumoxiang actually nodded and said: "Yes, Comrade Lieutenant."
"Oh," Shef Moxiang's words aroused the officer's interest, and he quickly asked: "Who is it?"
"Major General Potapov, former commander of the 5th Army."
"Where is he?"
"I'll take you."
The officers and soldiers did not immediately follow Shevmosyan to find Potapov, but first took him to see their superior, the regiment commander Colonel Dimitri.
"Comrade Commander," after seeing Dimitri, he immediately reported the situation of Sergeant Shevmo to him, and then said: "According to the former major, the original prisoners of war were still detained in the prisoner-of-war camp. Major General Potapov, commander of the 5th Army."
When the officer said this, Dimitri's first reaction was: he had found a treasure and rescued a former army commander from a prisoner of war camp. This was a great achievement, and a medal would definitely not be able to escape.
He originally asked the radio operator to report to the division headquarters immediately, but then he thought about it and he didn't know whether the information provided by the prisoner of war was true or false, so he decided to verify it himself before considering whether to report it to his superiors.
"Major Movsheiyan." Dimitri looked at Movsheiyan and asked: "Where is General Potapov? Take me there quickly to meet him."
Prime Minister Movshey had been in a prisoner of war camp for three years. The news was kept secret, and people were a little stupid, so they did not see Dimitri's obvious intention at all.
Under the leadership of Movsheyan, Dimitri and others came to a nearby wooden house. From the outside, this is a small wooden house with only a dozen square meters, far away from the large wooden houses with bunk beds that ordinary prisoners of war live in.
Sergeant Movshey walked to the door and saw that the door was locked with a padlock. He turned to Dimitri and said: "Comrade Colonel, the door is locked. It seems that we have to go to the guard to get the key." .”
"No need." Dimitri shook his head, and then ordered the officer: "Lieutenant, unlock the door."
The lieutenant nodded and said to Movsheiyan who was standing by the door: "Comrade Major, please stand back." After saying that, he took out his pistol.
Prime Minister Movshey didn't know what the officer meant at first, but when he saw the other person pull out a pistol, he immediately understood that he wanted to use the gun to break the lock, and quickly took two steps back to avoid being hurt by ricocheting bullets.
After the officer broke the padlock with two shots, he immediately opened the door and walked in.
The room was dark, and he quickly took out his lighter to light it up. Seeing a bed not far away, and someone seemed to be sitting on the bed, he walked over and asked the person, "Who are you?"
In the dark night, even the light from the lighter was still dazzling. The man tilted his head, raised his hand to cover his face, and said: "I am Potapov, who are you?"
Dimitri, who was standing at the door, heard Potapov say his name. He quickly walked into the room and quickly came to Potapov. He first signaled the officer to find a candle, and then he looked at Potapov said: "I am Colonel Dimitri, commander of the 334th Regiment of the 120th Guards Division."
At this time, the officer had found the candle placed on the box next to him, and lit the candle with the lighter in his hand, and the room gradually became brighter. Dimitri also saw clearly that the man sitting next to the bed looked haggard and had a beard all over his face. He had not shaved for an unknown amount of time.撒
"Comrade Potapov," Dimitri was really worried about calling him a general. He was just a prisoner of war in a German prisoner-of-war camp. After thinking again and again, he felt that it would be more appropriate to call the other person by his last name: "We have liberated the prisoner of war camp, and all the commanders and fighters detained here have been rescued. Now please leave us. We will take you home to a safe place." The place."
Hearing what Dimitri said, Potapov stood up slowly and murmured: "Go home, go home, I have been looking forward to it for three whole years, and finally I have the chance to go home."
Since there were many weak and sick prisoners of war, marching on foot with the troops would definitely slow down the pace. If the Germans took the opportunity to catch up, they would probably cause a lot of casualties. Dimitri put all the prisoners of war who had difficulty walking on the newly captured truck and took them back to the defense area.
Before the troops set off, the regiment chief of staff also asked Dimitri for instructions: "Comrade regiment commander, which division's defense area should we go to? The 3rd Infantry Division or the 211th Infantry Division?"
Unexpectedly, Dimitri glared after hearing this and said angrily: "Why are you going to other people's defense areas? If you want to go home, of course you have to go back to our division's defense area."
Before boarding the train, Dimitri remembered something important and ordered the chief of staff: "Remember to send a telegram to the division headquarters and report our situation to the division commander."
"I have already sent a report to the division commander." The regiment chief of staff replied: "I also told the division commander about the rescue of General Potapov."
"You did the right thing." Dimitri felt that this kind of thing required him to say hello to the division commander in advance, so as not to surprise him later: "We will set off immediately."
When Dimitri led the troops back to his own defense area along the gap in the German junction, the telegram sent by the regiment chief of staff had already begun to ferment in the division headquarters.
After reading the telegram, Nikitin was shocked: "What, General Potapov, the former commander of the 5th Army, was rescued from a prisoner of war camp? This is simply incredible."
After reading the telegram, the division chief of staff approached Nikitin and reminded him: "Comrade division commander, this matter is of great importance. I feel it is necessary to report it to the headquarters immediately to hear the commander's opinion."
"Yes, the results of this operation to liberate the prisoner of war camp were beyond my expectations." Nikitin said, "This should be reported to the commander immediately."
After Nikitin answered the call, and when he heard that the person who answered the phone was Sidorin, he asked anxiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I wonder if the commander is at the headquarters?"
"Yes." Sidorin glanced at Sokov, who was sitting next to him chatting with Ponedelin, nodded, and then asked: "Do you have anything to do with him?"
"Yes, I have something very important that I need to report to him personally."
Sidorin was used to his division commanders stepping over him and reporting directly to Sokov, so after hearing what Nikitin said, he handed the microphone to Sokov.
"I'm Sokov." Sokov took the microphone from Sidorin's hand: "General Nikitin, what do you want to tell me?"
"Colonel Dimitri, who I sent to liberate the prisoner of war camp, just sent me a telegram saying that they found a big shot while rescuing the prisoners of war."
"Big shot, what big shot?" Sokov thought that the other party had captured an important task of the German army when they captured the prisoner of war camp, so he asked tentatively: "Is it the commander of the German army?"
Nikitin was stunned and realized that Sokov was now chatting with him across channels, so that he misunderstood what he meant. He quickly explained: "Comrade Commander, he did not capture the German commander, but rescued a A senior officer of our army."
"A senior officer of our army?!" Sokov asked eagerly: "Who is it?"
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