Chapter 1618

  As night fell, the battle in Qijilin City came to an end.

  Under the joint attack of the 188th Division and the 1st Division of the 84th Division, the dense gunfire in the city became sparse, and only some German stragglers were still in individual locations, making the final stubborn resistance.

  Among these German officers and soldiers who were stubbornly resisting, the officers and soldiers of the Viking Division were the main ones, because they knew very well that ordinary Wehrmacht soldiers would be sent to prisoner-of-war camps after surrendering to the Soviet army. The officers and soldiers of the SS Army, because they did too many bad things and their reputation was too ugly, would be shot directly after being captured by the Soviet army, even the Sokov troops who had always treated the captives preferentially. Because of this, in order to save their lives, the officers and soldiers of the Viking Division could only continue to fight hard.

Sokov learned that the battle in Chijilin City was coming to an end, so he directly ordered Fomenko who was standing next to him: "General Fomenko, although most of the enemies in the city have been wiped out, the officers and soldiers of the Viking Division who reinforced Chijilin , Still fighting fiercely with the 384th Division, I plan to dispatch the 188th Division to rush to reinforce, and the task of clearing out the remnants of the enemy in the city will be handed over to your division.”

"No problem," Fomenko said with a relaxed expression when he heard the task assigned by Sokov, "Although the resistance in the city is still going on, the enemy's ammunition has been almost exhausted, and I believe it won't take long. , and wipe them out.”

Taking advantage of the time when Fomenko assigned tasks to the troops, Sokov got in touch with Koyda again by phone: "Colonel Koyda, the remaining enemies in the city, I have ordered General Fomenko's troops to Continue to clear up, you immediately gather your troops and rush to support the 384th Division."

   Knowing that Sokov was going to let him go to support the 384th Division, Koyda asked cautiously: "Comrade Commander, is the situation at Major General Gritsenko's place very bad?"

   "That's right." Regarding the battle in the 384th Division area, Sokov was also very speechless. He was originally ambushing reinforcements, but he didn't expect that the battle would turn into a battle of fortified positions. The two sides fought very fiercely, and the tug-of-war in many areas continued to occur. In order to turn around the military, Sokov could only transfer the 188th Division, which had just completed the task of attacking the fortress, to the warring area to relieve the pressure on the 384th Division: "Since the reinforcements sent by the German army were the Viking Division, although our commanders and fighters fought It is very tenacious, but it has certain difficulties in repelling the enemy."

"Understood, Comrade Commander." After listening to Sokov, Koyda immediately realized that if the commanders and fighters of the 384th Division hadn't tried their best to prevent the enemy's reinforcements, their own troops would have been kicked out, let alone liberating Chijilin. good. Wanting to understand this truth, he quickly replied: "I will rush over to reinforce as soon as possible. Once I gather a troop, I will send another troop over there."

Sokov felt that it was necessary to remind Koyda, so that he would not suffer later: "Comrade Colonel, I think it is necessary to remind you that the Viking Division is the most elite unit in the German army. Fighting against them must be done by you." You must maintain a high degree of vigilance, so as not to suffer a big loss for underestimating the enemy."

Hearing what Sokov said, Koyda grinned and replied: "Comrade Commander, I always remember that you once said that the bite of a wounded beast is also very painful. The Viking Division troops who came to reinforce, after such a After a long battle, their strength must have been greatly weakened, but at this moment they are more like a wounded beast, if we are careless when fighting them, we will suffer a big loss."

  Since Koida understood what he meant, Sokov didn't say anything more, just nodded slightly, and said, "Comrade Colonel, I wish you good luck!"

After finishing the phone call here and putting down the receiver, Fomenko came over and said: "Comrade Commander, Colonel Rusov's 254th Regiment, after occupying the towns of Ratsve and Kinky, has turned its defenses to the nearby towns across the river. The 15th Guard Division has been handed over. I would like to ask, what should they do next, should they continue to stay where they are and wait for orders, or should they withdraw and return to the construction first?"

  Before making a decision, Sokov asked a rhetorical question: "Has the 15th Guards Division all crossed over, or only part of it?"

"According to Colonel Rusov's report," replied Fomenko, "Major General Vasilenko's 15th Guards Division has all crossed the Dnieper. Meanwhile, the rest of the troops are gathering on the left bank, waiting for the pontoon bridge to be erected." , and began to cross the river on a large scale.”

"Oh, it turns out that the 15th Guards Division has crossed the river safely." Sokov nodded slightly after hearing Fomenko's words, and said to him: "Since the vanguard of the 7th Guards Army has successfully crossed the river." After crossing the Dnieper River, there is no need for Colonel Rusuf's troops to stay there any longer. Let's withdraw them to rest. If the superior really wants to order us to return to the original landing site, they can also take less time. road."

Fomenko raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, it's already dark. If they drive all night, I'm afraid it will cause some unnecessary confusion. I think it's better to wait until dawn tomorrow morning." , it’s not too late to return.”

Sokov thought about it, and what Fomenko said made sense. Although the nearby area is under the control of his own troops, who can guarantee that there will be no German stragglers in the dark. If they find the returning troops, Hiding in the dark and playing cold shots will cause unnecessary casualties to the 254th regiment.

   Wanting to understand this, he nodded in agreement with Fomenko's proposal: "General Fomenko, what you said is very reasonable. To be on the safe side, I think it's better to wait until dawn before letting the 254th Regiment return to construction."

As the troops of the 188th Division entered the battlefield, the German army, already at the end of its strength, could no longer resist the Soviet attack. In addition, Qijilin had been lost, and it was meaningless to advance to the city. The German division commander could only give the troops an order to retreat.

   Seeing that the German army was about to collapse, he chose to retreat. Lieutenant Colonel Majewo, the head of the 562nd regiment, planned to pursue the victory, but was stopped by Koida. He said to Ma Gewo who proposed to pursue: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, it is already dark today, and the visibility on the battlefield is limited. Although the Germans have retreated, who knows if they have set up an ambush along the way. It might be a big loss."

   "Comrade Commander," Majwo said unwillingly, "Should we just watch the enemy flee like this?"

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Seeing that Majwo was still entangled in this matter, Koida said to him with a straight face: "I will be responsible to my troops and commanders. Once the enemy's situation is unknown and the enemy pursues, I will be hit." The enemy's ambush caused huge losses to the troops, who will bear the responsibility? Is it you or me?"

  Kaida's harsh tone made Majwo shut his mouth obediently, and he didn't dare to mention the matter of chasing after the victory. He paused for a moment and asked tentatively: "Comrade commander, what is the next task of our regiment?"

   "Hurry up and clean up the battlefield, and collect the weapons and ammunition that can be used." Koida said to him: "After all this is done, you can take your regiment to find a place to rest nearby."

  When the 562nd regiment began to clean the battlefield, an officer came to Koida, raised his hand and reported to him, "Comrade commander, Major General Gritsenko, commander of the 384th division, is here."

   As soon as he finished speaking, Gritsenko appeared in front of Keida.

  Because they were worried that there were German snipers nearby, the two did not salute after meeting, but simply shook hands.

   "Colonel Koida," Gritsenko said first after the two men let go of their hands, "Thank you very much for coming to support in time, otherwise I don't know what the end will be if I continue to fight."

"You fought hard, Comrade General." Koyda responded, "I learned from the interrogation of the prisoners that the enemy who reinforced Chijilin was the 10th Armored Grenadier Regiment and the 5th Armored Light Infantry Battalion of the Viking Division. The 5th Armored Regiment. Even though they don’t have many troops, it’s not a problem to defeat one or two divisions of the friendly army.”

"You're right." Gritsenko agreed with Koida's statement: "The combat effectiveness of our division is not the strongest in the entire group army, but it is definitely far better than that of our friendly forces. But we Even with such strength, I still fought an ambush by the German army, but still failed to resolve the battle quickly, and instead fell into a bitter battle. If you hadn't arrived in time for reinforcements, I am afraid that even the victory would be a miserable victory. The next series of battles, It will completely miss our teacher."

"General Gritsenko," Koida waited for Gritsenko to finish, and quickly explained: "Comrade Commander was worried that you would not be able to stop the onslaught of the German army, so as soon as he learned that the battle in the city was basically over, he ordered I gather the troops and rush over to support you."

  After the fierce battle with the Viking Division, Gritsenko felt somewhat shadowed. He was worried that Koyda would retreat with his troops when he saw the enemy retreat. If the 188th Division really retreated, once the German army made a comeback, he didn't think that his broken and incomplete troops could stop the German offensive again. He asked cautiously: "Colonel Koida, although the enemy has retreated, but what do you do next?" What do you plan to do?"

  Koida gave Gritsenko a strange look, wondering why the other party would ask such a question. But soon he guessed what the other party meant, and said with a smile: "Comrade General, the commander ordered our division to come over to support you. But after repelling the enemy, he did not give any further instructions. We We can only stay here and wait for orders."

   "That's really great." Thinking that the 188th Division would continue to stay here, even if the Germans returned, there would be nothing to fear, Gritsenko blurted out: "Now we won't be afraid of the Germans coming back again."

Hearing what Gritsenko said, Koyda realized that his guess was completely correct, just smiled lightly, and then suggested to Gritsenko: "Comrade General, I think some of your troops are in the midst of a tough defensive battle. , must have suffered heavy losses, how about letting my soldiers take over their defense?"

"Colonel Keida, this is not the place to talk. Let's study the defense change in another place." Gritsenko saw a shelter not far away, which should be a regiment-level command post, so he pointed at the staff. Ida said, "Let's go there and continue our research."

  Keida also felt that it was a bit sloppy to discuss such a major event as changing defenses on the road. Moreover, there is no map, and there will inevitably be some deviations in oral narration. In order to avoid unnecessary mistakes, he agreed to Gritsenko's proposal.

The two came to the shelter, and it turned out to be a regiment command post of the 384th Division. Seeing the division commander bring another colonel, the regiment leader quickly stepped forward to salute: "Hello, Comrade Commander. Why are you here?" ?”

  Gritsenko pointed at Koida beside him with his hand, and introduced to the commander: "This is Colonel Koida, the commander of the 188th Division. We are here to discuss the matter of changing defenses. Do you have a map here?"

  Hearing this question from Gritsenko, the head of the regiment nodded hurriedly, and said emotionally: "Yes, yes, Comrade Commander, we must have a map here."

After the head of the regiment brought the map, Gritsenko bowed his head and studied it for a while, then pointed to one of the places and said to Koida: "Colonel Koida, this is where my division's Belinsky regiment is stationed. They are Although the troops that were the first to exchange fire with the enemy caused great damage to the enemy, the commanders and fighters also suffered heavy casualties. Before I came here, I had a conversation with him and learned that there was only one battalion left in the regiment, and there were still Many are wounded."

"Comrade General," although Gritsenko didn't say it clearly, but Koida knew very well that if the defense was not changed, once the Germans counterattacked, the Belinsky Regiment standing here would be wiped out. . In order to avoid such a tragedy, he offered: "It happens that my 562nd regiment is nearby. After they clean up the battlefield, I will order them to take over the defense of the Belinsky regiment."

  Koida took the initiative to express his willingness to take over the defense of the Belinsky regiment, which made Gritsenko very excited. Because the position of the Belinsky regiment is protruding from the entire defense line, after handing over to friendly forces, they can fully defend the defense areas of the other two regiments. Before the Germans seized the position of the 562nd regiment, it would be difficult for them to fight conflicted by itself.

  I only heard Koyda ask again: "Comrade General, I don't know where the defense still needs us to take over?"

"No more, no more." Gritsenko handed over the hot potato to the 188th regiment, and the boulder hanging in his heart fell to the ground. He said to Koida: "You can succeed the Belinsky regiment." The defense area, I am already grateful, how dare you let you take charge of more areas."

"Comrade General." Although it can be seen that Gritsenko is obviously throwing the burden, Keida still said generously: "We are allies. If you have any difficulties, just bring them up. We will definitely try our best to help you. of."

"It's really not necessary." Gritsenko felt ashamed to see Koida's generosity, and he said repeatedly: "I have concentrated all my existing troops on the second line. Even if the Germans attack again, we are completely safe." Ability to stop them."

  (end of this chapter)