Chapter 1578 Desperate

After the two soldiers in charge of contacting the patrol team left, Vanya came to the patrol team and said to everyone: "Comrades, now I issue a battle order: the enemy force is 20 German soldiers disguised as our army, They are moving in the direction of the Dnieper Bridge, trying to blow up the bridge and cut off our connection with the left bank. There are 13 of us in total, and we are at a disadvantage in terms of strength, but we must resolutely block the enemy and hold on until reinforcements arrive. "

"Comrade Chief of Staff," the captain asked after Vanya finished speaking, "Although our numbers are at a disadvantage, as soon as the battle starts, not only the other two patrols will rush over quickly, but even the patrols stationed nearby Troops will also come to support. What I am worried about now is that if the Germans see the situation is not good, they may turn around and flee, and we may not be able to wipe them out by then."

  Vanya agreed with the captain's statement very much. He nodded and asked with such an expression: "Then do you have any good ways to wipe out this group of enemies?"

   "You can send people to go back to the enemy's rear, and cut off the enemy's retreat after the battle begins." The captain replied: "The enemy who will be flanked by us at that time will have to jump into the Dnieper River if they want to escape."

   "Comrade Captain, I will leave it to you to complete the task of cutting off the enemy's rear." Vanya looked at the captain and asked, "How many people do you need?"

  The captain thought about the existing strength in his mind, and then said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, our number is limited, just give me two."

"No." Although Vanya also hoped that the more people here, the better, but he knew very well that once the German army saw that the situation was not going well, they would turn around and run back before the reinforcements arrived. They couldn't stop them at all: "Two people are too few, I'll give you four." According to Vanya's thinking, if there are five people blocking the German army's back, then even if the German army tries to break through, it can support them more. a period of time.

Now that Vanya assigned four fighters to himself, the captain was secretly happy and not hypocritical, but assured Vanya: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please rest assured that as long as one of us is alive, we will never Let the enemy escape from our defended sector."

   But after hearing this, Vanya shook his head and said, "Comrade Captain, I hope you all survive and live to see how we defeated the invaders."

  After watching the captain and the four soldiers leave, someone in the queue asked Vanya: "Comrade Chief of Staff, seeing the enemy approaching our defensive area, should we shoot at them directly, or call out first?"

  Vanya did not answer this question immediately, but asked the soldiers in the queue: "Which of you understands German?"

   Soon a young soldier wearing glasses raised his hand: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I understand German!"

  Vanya came to the front of the glasses, smiled and asked, "Do you understand German?"

   "Yes, I understand German." The glasses nodded vigorously, and said in a positive tone: "I can even read German newspapers and Goethe's "Faust"..."

   "Reading German newspapers and reading "Faust" aloud, I don't need it for the time being." Vanya asked politely, "Will you say 'hands up' and 'put down your arms'?"

   "Of course it will." After the glasses read out the two words Vanya wanted to know in one breath, he asked tentatively, "Comrade Chief of Staff, are you going to shout to the Germans before we shoot?"

Seeing that the glasses guessed his intentions, Vanya nodded slightly. He knew very well that these Germans who had penetrated into their own defense zone would never lay down their weapons easily, but he was still unwilling to give up this glimmer of hope easily, so he Say in an affirmative tone: "Yes, let's call on the Germans first. It is naturally the best if they can lay down their weapons. If they don't surrender and try to resist, then we will shoot without hesitation, completely and cleanly. Eliminate them."

  After the mobilization in front of the station was over, Vanya led the soldiers into the ambush position, lying motionless on the ground, vigilantly observing the approaching enemies in the distance.

  The Germans may have moved so smoothly when passing through the defense zone of the 84th Division that they lost the necessary vigilance after entering the defense zone of the 254th Division. Especially when I heard gunshots and explosions from the direction of the Dnieper River Bridge, I knew that my companions had started an exchange of fire with the Soviet army in the direction of the bridge. The captain who led the team made a wrong decision. Instead of sending his subordinates to lead the way, he gathered everyone together and hurried on the road, trying to get to the bridge as soon as possible and join the friendly troops who were fighting there.

   They were marching, and suddenly there was a shout in front: "Hender Hoch!"

  The German soldiers who had just heard this voice were stunned, because they heard that the other party was shouting in German, and the pronunciation was very standard. For a moment, they thought they had entered the ambush circle of the friendly army. Otherwise, how could the other party shout "hands up" in such standard German?

   Before they could respond, the voice sounded again: "Hender Hoch!"

After hearing the shout this time, a soldier came out of the queue and shouted loudly in the direction of the sound: "It's our own, it's our own, don't get me wrong, we are just wearing Russian uniforms, we All German."

  When the soldiers shouted, the rest of the officers and soldiers responded immediately. They quickly dispersed, formed a guard formation, and aimed their guns in the direction of the sound.

Vanya, who was lying next to the glasses, saw the German soldiers not far away chattered a lot after listening to the call, but he couldn't understand a word, so he turned to ask the glasses: "What are they talking about?" ?”

  Glasses tilted his head and explained to Vanya: "Comrade Chief of Staff, he said that he is one of his own people. Let us not misunderstand them. They are all Germans, but they are just wearing the uniform of our army."

  After listening to the translation of the glasses, Vanya confirmed that the squad in front of him was undoubtedly the enemy, and immediately shouted: "Fire!" After shouting, he took the lead in shooting at the position of the German soldiers.

  Seeing that Vanya opened fire first, the surrounding soldiers also pulled the triggers one after another. For a while, there were loud gunshots.

  Seeing that his squad was ambushed, the German commander immediately ordered his subordinates to fight back, trying to break through the Soviet ambush circle through the advantage of firepower. If he had encountered ordinary Soviet troops, or even mechanized troops, his attempt might have succeeded. But he never dreamed that he was facing Sokov's troops. Most of the commanders and fighters of this army were equipped with assault rifles. Even if the number was small, they could still form a firepower advantage on the battlefield.

  After just two or three minutes, half of the officers and soldiers of the German army fell in a pool of blood, while only one soldier died on the patrol side, and two soldiers were injured. The casualties were much smaller than that of the German army. Since the German army still had the upper hand, Vanya could not order the soldiers to charge and could only lie on the ground and shoot at the enemy.

  According to Vanya's thinking, the battle would take at least ten minutes before the other two patrols could arrive. And it may take longer for the nearby troops to arrive after hearing the news.

   But the patrol came faster than Vanya imagined. He picked up the assault rifle of the sacrificed soldier and was shooting at the enemy in the distance, when suddenly there was a sound of chaotic footsteps behind him. He turned his head and saw more than a dozen Soviet soldiers were holding their weapons and bending over towards him. run over here.

   Soon, the soldiers just dispatched lay beside Vanya and reported to him, "Comrade Chief of Staff, I brought the first patrol team here!"

"Good job." After Vanya raised his hand and patted the soldier's body twice, he rolled on the spot and rolled to a safe position, then raised his body and said to the team leader who came over: "Comrade captain, Immediately organize your subordinates to shoot at the enemy, and be sure to suppress them with firepower."

  Not long after the first team joined the battle, the second team also rushed over.

Vanya ordered the captain of the second team to say: "Comrade captain, the leader of the third team led four soldiers back to the enemy's back to cut off their escape route. Now you lead people to rush to support, and make sure not to let a single German soldier escape. "

   "Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." The captain of the second team agreed, and rushed over with his subordinates to join the leader of the third team.

  The shooting between the two sides continued, but Vanya was a little flustered. According to the number of muzzle flames on the opposite side, he found that the enemy had only about ten people left, and on his side, the original three teams, plus himself and the subordinates who rushed back, there were still 9 people who could fight, plus The first patrol team that just arrived has a total strength of 21 people, which already has an advantage in terms of strength.

   Just as Vanya was hesitating in his heart, whether to use the existing force to attack the Germans, dense and chaotic footsteps came from behind again. When Vanya heard this voice, he couldn't help being surprised: Who is it?

Not long after, an army of hundreds of people appeared in front of Vanya, and the company commander who led the team came over and reported to Vanya: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I am the company commander of the Eighth Company of the Third Battalion. I heard the news from here." When the gunshots sounded, they rushed over with troops to support them."

  Vanya was a little surprised that the opponent could appear so quickly. He asked in surprise: "Commander Eighth, my battle here has only been going on for a few minutes. How did you come here so quickly?"

"Report to Comrade Chief of Staff," the Eighth Company Commander replied, "I heard gunshots and explosions from the direction of the bridge very early on, and knowing what might have happened, I ordered the entire company to assemble and prepare for an attack. Hearing gunshots here, I knew that I must have exchanged fire with the enemy, so I rushed over with the soldiers."

"Good job, Comrade Captain, good job!" After listening to the report of the Eighth Company Commander, Vanya gave him a thumbs up, and even said: "Now there are only a dozen or so enemies left. If you charge forward, you can completely wipe them out in the shortest possible time."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," but the commander of the eighth company stood still when he heard what Vanya said, and asked tactfully, "Our company is equipped with two mortars. Do you see if they bombarded the Germans twice?" ?”

  In the confrontation just now, Vanya found that it was not an easy task to hit the enemy hiding behind the rock. But if there is curved firepower like mortars, it will be easier to clean up the enemy. Quickly ordered the Eighth Company Commander: "Eighth Company Commander, tell the soldiers to set up the mortars immediately and blast these damned Germans to death."

  As soon as the mortar was set up, it opened fire on the German army in the distance.

  Although the Germans were hiding behind the rocks, the bullets could not hit them, but the shells that fell from the sky still crossed the obstructing rocks and landed behind the Germans and exploded. The air wave of the explosion pulled one German soldier after another from their hiding places and threw them high into the air.

  Seeing the soldiers around him being killed by Soviet mortar shells one by one, the German commander panicked. He knew that if he continued to fight, the whole army would definitely be wiped out. In a panic, he hastily issued an order to retreat: "Retreat, retreat quickly!"

  Hearing the captain yelling to retreat, the soldiers ignored the big boxes on the ground, but retreated while shooting wildly, alternately covering and retreating to the distance.

  Seeing that the enemy started to retreat, the commander of the eighth company couldn't help but feel a little anxious, and quickly suggested to Vanya: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the enemy has been repulsed by us. Look, should we take the opportunity to launch an attack now?"

"No hurry, Comrade Company Commander." Unexpectedly, Vanya said with a smile after hearing this: "I have deployed a force behind the enemy, and with their strength, there is no way to rush out. Wait The enemy is almost exhausted, and your company rushes up to capture the prisoners."

  The commander of the German army, who was commanding the retreat of his subordinates, saw that the Soviet army just stayed in place and fired, and did not start chasing him, so he felt more at ease. He thought that the Soviet army was worried that the sky would be too dark to distinguish between the enemy and ourselves in the dark, so they did not dare to launch a pursuit.

   Then they only retreated two to three hundred meters, and suddenly there were intensive gunshots in front, and the two soldiers walking in the front fell into a pool of blood in an instant. Seeing this, the German commander immediately realized that he had fallen into the ambush circle of the Soviet army, and it was obviously unrealistic to continue to break through.

  The commander of the German army knew that there were two fates waiting for him: one was to continue to resist until he was annihilated by the Soviet army, which was superior in numbers and equipment; the other was to obediently put down his arms and surrender to the Soviet army.

  After a fierce ideological struggle, the commander of the German Army felt that instead of being shot dead, he might as well put down his arms and surrender, and maybe there was still a glimmer of life. Having made up his mind, he quickly shouted to the rest of his subordinates: "Stop shooting, stop shooting, stop shooting quickly."

  The soldiers who heard the captain's shout stopped shooting one after another, and looked at the captain with puzzled eyes, wondering why he would give such an order.

  The captain sat on the ground with his back against a rock, as if all the strength in his body had been drained. Seeing that his subordinates had stopped shooting, he said weakly: "If the fighting continues, none of us will survive. Let's all put down our weapons and surrender. I hope the Russians will give us the same treatment as prisoners of war."

  (end of this chapter)