Chapter 509 Raid
The first thing the troops encountered after advancing forward was the Soviet artillery... Due to the high speed of the German advance and the fact that the artillery was firing shells one after another towards the German-occupied areas, the sound of artillery covered up the sound coming from the direction of the field hospital. The sound of gunfire was so loud that the Soviet artillery did not even notice anything unusual.
It wasn't until a gunner was knocked to the ground by a bullet that the Soviet artillerymen stopped what they were doing and looked back in shock. When they realized that the troops appearing behind them were enemies, their first reaction was to reach out. Get the gun.
But it was too late. The German soldiers pulled the trigger without hesitation, and the Soviet artillerymen fell to the ground one after another.
One of the Soviet artillerymen was injured in the leg, but he still did not give up his escape. He dragged his injured leg and limped in the opposite direction... But it was obviously useless. A German soldier caught up with him. , with a rifle aimed at his head from a distance of only about half a meter and shot him dead.
Therefore, it is a good thing to have artillery. This made the Soviet army on the west bank realize that they were being attacked almost until the German soldiers arrived. This situation lasted until the end of the battle.
Similarly, Matevich and Petrolev did not notice anything strange. They were still analyzing the battle situation on the map in the headquarters, calculating the German army's escape route after breaking through and where the Soviet army should intercept it.
At this moment, there was a sudden panic outside. Just when Matevich and Petnolev were feeling strange, a guard covered in blood opened the door and shouted: "Comrade Political Commissar, the enemy is coming, retreat quickly!" "
Matevitch and Petronolev looked at each other and realized that they had been fooled. The Germans had no intention of breaking out at all. It was not a cover to divert their attention. Their real purpose was actually to raid the Soviet Union. The rear of the army.
"Retreat!" said Matevitch.
He knew that there could be no hesitation at this time, because he knew in his heart that the Soviet army on the west bank of the Lovaj River was too weak and could not stop the Germans even for a while.
"But what about the documents?" Petnolev hurriedly put on his armed belt.
"Don't worry about it!" Matevich blew out the kerosene lamp and said, "It's too late to destroy it. I hope it won't leave anything useful to the Germans!"
With that said, he opened the back door and escaped.
Matevitch was very smart. He chose to escape in the direction of the Lovaj River, which is also the direction of the front line. He knew that the Germans’ goal was the west bank of Holm, and he also knew that the Germans would inevitably lay a heavy ambush at the exit of the town, so The safest place is the front line.
Matevitch was right, so he and Petnolev escaped safely from the German army. Other officers...a lot of colonels, captains, and regimental and battalion-level political commissars all fell to the German army. Under the gunfire, a major general who was passing through Holm and resting here was captured alive. He was the commander of the 31st Infantry Brigade.
However, Qin Chuan did not think that he could provide any useful information. On the one hand, this was because the Soviet army's combat intentions were already obvious at this time. On the other hand, the Soviet army's command system was very confusing. Sometimes even senior generals They don't know what role they play in the battle. They only know to move forward according to orders and destroy the enemies when they encounter them.
In addition, Qinchuan and other commandos also captured an arsenal.
Of course, the German army would not blow up this arsenal easily. They first took out landmines from the arsenal and deployed them inside and outside the town as quickly as possible... At this time, the most commonly used landmine in the Soviet Union was a square wooden shell mine.
This should be said to be another pioneering work of the Soviets. First of all, the production of wooden shell mines is very simple and low-cost. It is just two wooden boxes turned upside down. This advantage is obviously very important to the Soviet Union, because the industrial capacity of the Soviets at this time was greatly damaged by the German invasion, so there was a shortage of materials. The cost of obtaining materials for wooden shell mines was almost can be ignored.
Secondly, because this kind of landmine is made of wood, ordinary metal mine detectors are basically ineffective against it, which in turn can make it very good at blocking enemies.
The German army suffered enough from this kind of mines when they attacked the Soviet Union. Because these wooden shell mines were rectangular, the German army called them "little coffins."
Now, just use them on the Soviets.
While laying landmines, the German army replenished a lot of ammunition from the arsenal...the most common of which were pistol bullets and grenades. Many soldiers in the German army were using Bobosha submachine guns, and these submachine guns needed to be replenished with ammunition.
Finally, explosives were placed in the ammunition depot to blow it up.
The entire battle took only thirty-five minutes before and after, and the German troops withdrew completely from the west bank of Holm, leaving only blood, corpses and ruins on the west bank.
What was painful for the Soviet troops who arrived immediately was that although they already knew that there were no Germans in the town, they still had to face the possibility of landmines everywhere. What was even worse was that these mines were their own and they still could not attack them. detectable.
Matevitch watched the advancing Soviet soldiers being blown down one by one in the mines and screaming, and a sense of powerlessness arose in his heart.
"Where did they come out from?" Petronolev couldn't help complaining: "Are they reinforcements from the Germans? Why didn't our peripheral troops notice it at all?"
"No, they are not reinforcements!" Matvich turned over the body of a German soldier dragged in front of him by a Soviet soldier and said, "Look at the boots on their feet... they are our leather boots, and the scraps of cloth and paper in the cotton jackets..."
(Note: The Soviet boots and cotton jackets are warmer than the German ones. Due to identification problems, German soldiers did not dare to wear Soviet cotton jackets, but often took off the boots from the dead bodies and put them on.)
"Are they Germans from the East Coast?" Petrolev was a little unbelievable.
"Yes!" Matevich said, "They are the Germans on the east bank. They came out of the tunnel. We thought we were going to defeat them, but now it seems... they are far from being defeated!"
"I don't think so!" Petrov said angrily, "We have already captured the Lovat River defense line. Their sneak attack can't change anything. As long as we..."
Before he finished speaking, there were explosions on the Lovat River defense line. Petrov looked back and saw that the slope they had piled up on the Lovat River defense line had been blown to pieces, including the bridge-laying vehicles that allowed tanks to pass through.
"Withdraw the troops!" Matevich said helplessly, "Otherwise they will be surrounded and annihilated again like last time!"