Chapter 1391

Just when we were worried about the 96th division we contacted, in a swamp in the middle of the forest area, there was a camp that was not marked on the map. It used to be a resting place for the guerrillas. But at the moment, it was bombarded by German tank guns. All the huts were destroyed by the gunfire. Some of them were burnt down, and there were short flames on the dark wood of some huts.

More than 200 people from the 96th division headquarters and the units directly under them were trapped in this narrow area, which is less than 800 meters long and less than 500 meters wide. Due to the barrier of the swamp, the German tanks could not pass, so they could only stop on the other side of the swamp and bombard our troops in the middle of the swamp with artillery fire. The seven or eight attacks launched by the German infantry were all defeated by the tenacious resistance of our commanders and fighters.

According to what we learned later, in schoken's plan, they are going to use one hour to annihilate our troops who broke into the ambush circle. However, as I asked rokosovsky to send the air force in time to continue to support, the aerial bombs dropped by the fighter planes during the dive destroyed many German tanks, greatly weakening the enemy's attack capability. In this way, the troops entering the ambush circle can escape into the forest and deal with the German forces.

At that time, the division headquarters of the 96th division was surrounded by German troops covered by tanks. The commander of the division, Colonel Yakov, had a bad situation and knew that if he wanted to survive, he had to rush out. So he personally carried a submachine gun and charged the German army with his troops.

When the German army saw our commanders and fighters trying to break out of the encirclement, the machine guns on the tanks and armored vehicles began to fire fiercely, trying to destroy them on the road of charge. Although he saw one after another of the commanders and fighters fall beside him, and the casualties of the troops made Yakov feel like a knife in his heart, he rushed forward in front of the whole team without fear and braved the enemy's bullets. Seeing that their own division leaders are taking the lead in charge, and their commanders and fighters are unwilling to lag behind, they rush forward one after another.

After paying half of the casualties, the officers and men of the 96th division finally rushed in front of the enemy, waving their weapons, entangled with the enemy, and started a white-edged battle.

There was a guerrilla soldier in the group. He knew that there was a guerrilla camp nearby. When the troops opened a bloody path from the middle of the German army, he volunteered to act as a guide, and with the remaining troops, he withdrew to the isolated island in the middle of the swamp.

The German army saw that our troops rushed out from their encirclement and immediately followed them. And under the cover of tank fire, launched an attack on the swamp. As the enemy was slow in the waist deep water, he became the target of our army's commanders and fighters, so their several attacks ended in failure.

Unfortunately, when the division radio station was passing through the swamp, the operator was hit by a stray bullet, and even the man and the radio station fell into the swamp together. In an instant, they were engulfed by the swamp. In this way, the small forces trapped on the isolated island completely lost contact with the outside world.

After the troops settled down, the division commander, Colonel Yakov, looked around at his troops. He could not help feeling dejected. There were more than 1500 troops in the division headquarters and the troops directly under it. At this time, the three or four hundred who retreated to the island with him were also scattered. They suffered a great loss.

At this time, the chief of staff came up and asked, "Comrade division commander, what should we do next? Is it to organize the troops to rush out? "

Yakov pointed to the bodies floating on the water and said to the chief of staff, "see, chief of staff? When the troops pass through the swamp, they can't speed up at all. Walking slowly in the water is tantamount to letting the enemy shoot. It's better to wait until dark. After dark, we'll send someone to sneak out quietly and get in touch with the other three regiments, so as to cooperate with each other inside and outside and eliminate the enemy. "

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, the chief of staff said bitterly: "Comrade division commander, listen to how fierce the gunfire is outside. I think not only our division headquarters was ambushed by the enemy, but the situation of the other three regiments is not much better. And I think the 260th infantry division, which opened the way in front of us, was also attacked by the German army. They are all unable to protect themselves. How can they rescue us? "

"What about the radio?" Yakov thought of the radio station and asked, "chief of staff, where is our radio station? We can report our situation to the headquarters of the group army through radio. "

"No, no radio." The chief of staff said with a sad face: "it is said that when the radio operator was carrying the radio across the swamp, he was hit by a stray bullet, and he had sunk into the bottom of the swamp with the radio and his men. We have not only lost contact with our superiors, but also with the other three regiments. "

Although the chief of staff said so, Yakov said with a fluke: "even if we temporarily lose contact with the outside world, the three regiments will definitely report our situation."

"Comrade teacher, have you forgotten?" The chief of staff reminded Yakov that "after repeated battles, many communication equipment were damaged, and the replenishment from the superior was so slow that the communication between us and the regiments was carried out through telephone lines or communication soldiers."

As they were talking, a sharp whistling came from the air“ Artillery, cover up After the chief of staff yelled, he pulled Yakov into a nearby crater.

Soon, German tank shells fell on the isolated island one after another, blowing up the soldiers who had no place to hide. When the shelling was over, the huts on the island began to burn. The disheartened Yakov stood up and told the chief of staff: "count the casualties of the troops immediately, and let the health workers treat the wounded." In the afternoon, just when Yakov was pessimistic that his troops could not support themselves until dark under the attack of German tank fire, the sharp whistling of the trajectory across the air suddenly came from the distance. In a moment, the fire of the enemy's position burst into the sky. In the deafening explosion, the artillery hit with unprecedented density. The enemy on the edge of the swamp had been completely blinded by the heavy artillery fire, although most of them rushed into the temporary trench at the beginning of the artillery fire Made a variety of evasive actions, but in an instant hit nearly a hundred shells under the heavy blow, will still blow their bones“ Sir, look Pointing to the German position on the other side of the swamp, the chief of staff said to Yakov excitedly and incoherently, "the enemy's position is being shelled. It's our artillery. Our reinforcements are coming. We are saved."