At ten o'clock in the evening, on the German position, Colonel Pickler, the commander of the 25th Armored Regiment, stood on the body of a defeated Panther tank, waving his arms constantly, and shouted to his men in a low voice: " Stay quiet and move quickly!"
The 25th Armored Regiment lost almost all its tanks and armored vehicles in the daytime battle, and now only has more than 300 people left, most of whom are non-combatants. After receiving the retreat order from the division headquarters, Pickler arranged for his men to begin retreating at the specified time, with the destination being Königsberg.
Retreating during a night battle must not alert the Russians on the opposite side, lest the troops be followed and pursued during the retreat. However, Pickler believed that with his own abilities, he would be able to successfully bring the remaining troops of the 25th Armored Regiment to Königsberg. His superiors promised him that as long as the unit's organization could successfully return to Koenigsberg, he would be replenished in a short time and an armored regiment equipped with Tiger and Panther tanks would be reorganized.
In the process of urging the troops to retreat, he couldn't help but glance in the direction of the Soviet position, gritting his teeth and thinking that his troops were originally ordered to ambush Sokov's 48th Army, but somehow the news leaked out, and at dawn , was bombed indiscriminately by Soviet aircraft. Many of the Tiger tanks that terrified the Soviet army were blown up into piles of burning scrap metal by Soviet aerial bombs without firing a single shot.
The chief of staff climbed onto the tank and whispered to Pickler: "Mr. Colonel, our troops have almost withdrawn. There is still a complete Panzer IV tank. The tank crews are staying inside and are unwilling to leave, saying they would rather blow it up." Nor left to the Russians.”
"Damn it." After hearing what the chief of staff said, Pickler cursed in a low voice and asked, "Where are they? Take me there!"
The chief of staff jumped off the tank first, then reached out to support Pickler as he came down from the tank. After he stood firm on the ground, he continued: "It's right in front, about eighty meters away."
Pickler followed the chief of staff forward and asked in a low voice: "Didn't I tell you to abandon all technical equipment and retreat quietly towards Königsberg? Why is it that now, there are still people who are reluctant to abandon this damn tank?" "
The chief of staff smiled bitterly and said: "Mr. Colonel, I have conveyed your order to everyone, but there are always people who are reluctant to give up their own technical standards."
Soon, the two came to the No. 4 tank. The chief of staff climbed forward first, then bent down and pulled Pickler up. The chief of staff knocked hard on the top cover of the turret with his hand several times. The closed hatch opened, and a head poked out from inside. After seeing the person clearly, he said: "Your Excellency, chief of staff, I have already said that any I won’t give up my tank even at this time, so please stop trying to persuade me.”
"What's your name?" Pickler's voice sounded next to him: "What's your rank?"
"Huber!" After the tank soldier saw clearly that the person asking him the question was the regiment commander, Colonel Pickler, he replied respectfully: "The commander of my Panzer IV has the rank of captain."
"Captain Huber." Pickler asked with a straight face: "Why didn't you obey my order and abandon the tank?"
"Your Excellency, Commander." Huber said aggrievedly: "After the air raid in the morning, our battalion was the only one left with one tank, and we couldn't bear to leave it behind."
"Don't you know that if there are tanks moving with us during the night transfer, the huge roar of the engines will reveal our whereabouts?"
"But I am not willing to just throw the tank to the Germans like this." Huber said with a pinched neck: "Our entire crew has decided that we will live or die with this tank."
"Captain Huber, if your actions affect the retreat of the entire army, can you bear this responsibility?" Pickler said to Huber earnestly: "Although we abandoned this tank today, , but when we get to Königsberg, our superiors will add new tanks to us. Maybe then you will not be driving this old Panzer IV tank, but a Panther tank with better performance, or even a Tiger tank."
"Your Excellency, Commander, you don't know something." Seeing that Pikler repeatedly persuaded him to abandon the tank, Huber said with some dissatisfaction: "When this tank was under my command, my unit participated in Kharkov During the battle, the Russians who attacked the city were beaten to pieces. In one battle, my tanks destroyed four Russian tanks, five armored vehicles and a dozen trucks, and also wiped out hundreds of infantry."
"The results were good." This was the first time that Pickler heard that his subordinates had such brilliant results. He quickly asked: "How did your superiors reward you later?"
Hearing Pickler's question, Huber said proudly: "I was just a sergeant at the time. Because of the results I achieved on the battlefield, I was promoted to second lieutenant by my superiors and received an Iron Cross."
"It's amazing, it's really amazing." Pickler also felt honored for the results achieved by his men, but he did not forget the mission of coming here: "But even so, Captain, you can't disobey My order is to stay here and not leave."
"Your Excellency, Commander, I have thought about it carefully." Huber replied: "Even if the troops want to retreat, there must always be someone left to cover it. What if the Russians find out that we are retreating and catch up, there must be someone Come and stop them. I think our tank crew is qualified for such a task. Please allow us to stay, Commander."
The chief of staff had tried to persuade him here several times, but Huber just couldn't get enough of it. No matter what, he just refused to give up his tank. The chief of staff was also dissatisfied with Huber when he repeatedly encountered difficulties. He took the opportunity to say to Pickler: "Mr. Colonel, since they are willing to stay to cover, let them stay."
Pickler also had to command the remnants of the 25th Armored Regiment to retreat, so naturally he would not be distracted by the crew of a Panzer IV that was unwilling to leave, so he nodded, agreed to the chief of staff's proposal, and then told Huber Said: "Well, Captain Huber, since you are willing to stay, I will leave the important task of covering the retreat of the troops to you."
When the two left the tank, Pickler sighed softly and said: "It's a pity that such an excellent tank soldier was sacrificed in vain. If they could follow us back to Königsberg, they might be able to eliminate them on the battlefield. More Russians."
"There is nothing we can do about it." The chief of staff gloated: "You personally go out to persuade him, but he refuses to give in. Even if he dies at the hands of the Russians, there is nothing to regret."
"Let's go, let's go." Pickler urged: "Let's go quickly before the Russians discover our actions."
Arriving at the barrel truck parked on the roadside, Pickler looked back again at the Soviet positions in the distance, thinking that this unit had caused huge casualties to him, and he didn't know if there would be a chance for revenge in the future. But at this moment, he suddenly discovered that there were flashes of light, large and small, on the Soviet position where there was no movement in the distance.
"No, it's a shelling! Get down!" After Pickler finished shouting, he immediately fell to the ground with his head in his hands.
The flash was in front, and the roar of artillery was behind. No one knew when the Soviet army deployed artillery on the position, and used direct-aiming shooting to bombard the location where the retreating troops gathered. Before the chief of staff could recover, a shell fell and exploded next to him. Two pieces of flying shrapnel hit his vitals, allowing him to receive his lunch box in an instant.
Amidst the dense gunfire, one could faintly hear the screams one after another; with the help of the firelight, one could see the broken limbs flying high in the air. The retreating team became chaotic, and everyone was scurrying around like headless flies, hoping that they could be lucky enough to avoid the shells. But in today's intensive artillery fire, most people's thoughts are just a luxury hope, and they fell in pieces under the artillery fire.
Pickler, who was the first to lie down, was miraculously uninjured. He got up from the ground and ran from one place to another. Although warm soil kept falling on his body and head, It didn't cause him any harm. But he was already in disarray at the moment, his mind went blank, he just kept thinking: "It's over, it's over! My 25th Armored Regiment is completely finished."
After the shelling stopped, the Soviet position returned to calm.
Pickler got up from the ground and stared blankly at the Soviet position where artillery fire was roaring not long ago. He didn't understand why the Russians on the opposite side didn't attack yet. What were they waiting for? This was obviously the best time to attack. What?
On the 48th Group Army's position, there were thousands of commanders and soldiers squatting in the trenches, just waiting for an order from their superiors to launch an attack on the German position that had just been shelled not long ago. But what surprised them was that the order to attack was not issued for a long time.
The troops have not launched an attack on the German army for a long time, which is naturally Sokov's intention. He told the commanders of the participating troops through Sidorin: "If we attack the German positions as soon as the bombardment is over, we can indeed gain some upper hand. However, the troops will be greatly restricted in their command during night battles and cannot As quick as the battle was during the day, once the German army woke up from the chaos, the war was likely to fall into a stalemate.
Therefore, the best thing to do is to hold the troops temporarily after the bombardment is over, giving the Germans the illusion that the Soviet army is afraid of the disadvantages of the night battle, so they dare not attack easily. This will force the Germans to make up their mind to stop resisting and choose to retreat quickly. After they began to retreat, the troops launched another attack. No one of the Germans who were busy escaping wanted to stay and break up the rear, and could not organize effective resistance. In this way, our army could achieve greater success at a very small cost during the pursuit. Results. "
The commanders involved in the offensive mission had received Sokov's order and knew that if the timing of the attack was not grasped well, the troops would suffer huge casualties and the war would fall into a stalemate, so the best way was to When the Germans begin to retreat in an unorganized manner, chasing after them and attacking can achieve huge results.
Ten minutes after the German retreat began, three red flares suddenly rose in the sky, signaling an attack.
Commanders at all levels, who had been waiting impatiently for a long time, pulled out their pistols one after another, crawled out of the trenches on their hands and knees, pointed their hands in the direction of the enemy's retreat, and shouted loudly: "Comrades, brothers, charge!"
The soldiers shouted loudly, climbed out of the trenches, and rushed towards the German positions without hesitation with their weapons in hand.
At this moment, on the German position, except for the tank that was lucky enough not to be blown up, there was no force that could resist the attack.
Seeing the Soviet troops coming up like a tide, the gunner asked Huber tremblingly: "Mr. Captain, with so many Russians rushing towards us, should they use artillery bombardment or machine gun fire?"
Huber raised his hand and slapped the gunner on the back of the head, and cursed: "There's something wrong with your mind. If the Russians are coming, can we stop them with just one tank?" He then ordered, " Turn off the lights, no one is allowed to fire without my order."
After a while, the inside of the tank became dark. The driver opened the baffle in front of him, observed the Soviet troops getting closer and closer, turned to Huber and said: "Mr. Captain, the Russians are getting closer to us. What should we do?"
"Damn it, why did you lift the baffle?" Huber cursed angrily: "Hurry up and close it, and then we stay in the tank and don't make any sound, so the Russians will think it is a destroyed tank. There will be no opening of the hatch to look.”
Just as Huber judged, the Soviet commanders and fighters who rushed up did not find any living Germans. Occasionally, some people saw the Panzer IV tank with the help of firelight, but they all thought it was destroyed by artillery fire and did not go up at all. He checked forward and pursued the retreating enemy.
After the position became quiet again, Huber stood up and opened the hatch on the turret. He looked around and confirmed that the rushing Soviet troops had left. Then he patted the hatch with his hand and lowered his head to order the driver below. Member: "Drive!"
After hearing Huber's order, the driver did not dare to neglect and quickly started the tank. Although the roar of the engine was extremely loud, it was covered up by the shouts and gunshots coming from far away. If you were not near the position, you would not be able to find it at all.
"Mr. Captain!" the driver shouted to Huber: "Where are we going?" According to the driver's idea, the escape route has been cut off by the Russians. Even if the tank is started, there will be nowhere to drive.
But Huber had a plan in mind. He lowered his head and shouted below: "Drive along the retreat of our regiment!"
The other people in the tank crew were stunned when they heard this. We are all not blind. We saw with our own eyes that the Soviet troops were flowing over the position like a tide and were chasing the retreating friendly troops. If we drove along the retreat route, wouldn't it be sending a sheep into a tiger's mouth?
When Huber saw that the driver made no move, he immediately retracted into the tank and asked sternly at the driver: "Why haven't you followed my order yet?"
"Mr. Captain," the driver said in a panic: "There are Russians in front of us. If we drive up like this, aren't we going to die in vain?"
"The Russians are chasing the retreating friendly forces. They never dreamed that we would attack from behind them." Huber said proudly: "Even though we only have one tank, we can still cause a lot of casualties to them." After saying that, he pushed the driver's shoulder with his hand, "What are you still doing? Why don't you drive faster!"
(End of chapter)
