Chapter 524 Easter

I only have one update due to something going on today, I’ll make it up tomorrow, sorry.

After entering April, the breath of spring is getting stronger and stronger, the temperature is rising and the ice and snow are melting. This may be a good thing for the German army, because they no longer need to face the severe cold and the Lovaj River will soon become a moat for the defense line.

But this would also cause trouble for the German army... In winter, the snow wall defenses built with ice and snow began to melt and collapse, and the German soldiers who lost their cover were forced to dig down to build earthen fortifications.

However, this does not mean that the problem is solved, because melted snow will soon fill the newly dug trenches. Although the German soldiers seized all their free time and used various tools to drain the water from the trenches, it was still to no avail.

And this is still fatal for defense. The temperature at this time is still below zero. Stationing in the trenches means that the soldiers have to get wet, so the environment changes from the previous severe cold to damp and cold.

The only thing that makes people feel fortunate is that the Soviet army also faces such a problem, and they are more urgent... Because if this development continues, there will soon be swamps around Holm that are both untenable and impassable.

"We should dig drainage ditches for the trenches!" Qin Chuan said: "Then the same goes for the snow, otherwise when they turn into water, they will flood everywhere, and may even pour into the tunnels!"

"Yes!" Gerhard said: "It's best to pile a few sandbags at the entrance of the tunnel to waterproof it, otherwise you will most likely find yourself in the water when you wake up!"

The soldiers said they would start working on it immediately.

"Lieutenant Colonel!" the baker said, "Easter is coming soon. Should we have some different supplies?"

"Uh-huh!" Gerhard replied: "I will report this problem to the colonel!"

Gerhard did not break his promise, and after the meeting he reported this request to Colonel Slain.

Colonel Slaine then applied for special supplies from the headquarters: 10,500 cooked eggs.

In the afternoon of the same day, supplies were airdropped by bombers. In addition to eggs, the supplies also included dozens of bottles of wine in iron barrels (the reason why they were packed in iron barrels was because they were worried that the bottles would break during the airdrop) and bomb-shaped supply boxes. There is also a cartoon pattern of the Easter Bunny on it, with "Happy Easter" written on it in colored pens, adding a touch of festive atmosphere to Holm.

This also illustrates one point: Holm's supply has been greatly improved at this time, which is obviously due to the V1 missiles.

However, this situation will be weakened for a period of time. Colonel Slain received a telegram from the Army Group Center headquarters: Due to the melting of ice and snow, the airport has become muddy and cannot be used, and various types of aircraft have been transferred to the farther Baltic Sea area. , supply may be interrupted.

Colonel Slain's response was, "We can handle it!"

Colonel Slaine had enough confidence to say this, because at this time the German army had stored food and ammunition needed for five days. Colonel Slaine believed that the Soviet army could no longer hold on before they ran out of ammunition.

Not only Colonel Slain thought this way, but also all the German soldiers stationed in Holm. They were now waiting for the Soviets to leave.

Qinchuan was not so optimistic because he learned from Colonel Slain that at least five Soviet divisions had not withdrawn west of Holm. This was unreasonable.

If the Soviets knew that they could not capture Holm, in order to avoid being surrounded, they should withdraw to the east of Holm before the ice and snow completely melted, otherwise they would have no choice but to die.

But the five divisions did not do this. They continued to attack the German defense line in the west.

Colonel Slain explained this as "Bolshevik madness."

This may make sense, because the Soviets always do weird things, and the Germans are used to it.

But Qin Chuan believed that there might be another possibility, that is, the Soviets believed they could capture Holm.

What else could the Soviets do?

Qin Chuan stared at the map in a daze. He racked his brains and couldn't think of any other offensive method the Soviets could use to threaten Holm.

On the other side, Conrad was playing an Easter egg game with several scientific researchers and cheered loudly... This is a Western tradition. They paint cooked eggs with colors and then roll them on the ground or on a slope. The one that finally breaks is If you win, the winner will get the Easter eggs from all the players.

Conrad looks to be in good luck today as he already has dozens of Easter eggs in his hat.

"Captain!" Conrad waved to Qin Chuan from a few meters away: "Why don't you join us?"

"No, Colonel!" Qin Chuan shook his head.

Conrad stepped forward and handed Qin Chuan an easter egg: "Maybe you are right, Captain. As you said, the Soviets probably have some plan to attack Holm, but we are not God. We can't always guess the enemy's plans."

"You're right, Colonel!" Qin Chuan replied: "But you think of things too simply. Games on the battlefield sometimes depend on seizing a little advantage to determine the outcome. And failure is very important to you scientific researchers. It doesn't matter to you, because you can gain experience and lessons from failures again and again and eventually succeed, but for us soldiers, even if we succeed a hundred times, we may lose our lives as long as we fail once! "

"I didn't know you were so afraid of death!" Conrad laughed, took an easter egg and cracked it on the table while peeling off the egg shell and said: "Relax, Captain, today is Easter, the Soviets will never Would that their dead soldiers could come back to life and attack us like Jesus did!"

Qin Chuan smiled, but the smile froze on his face the next second.

"You're right, Colonel!" Qin Chuan said: "The Soviets may really want to resurrect their soldiers!"

"Are you kidding?" Conrad replied while stuffing the egg into his mouth: "With all due respect, this joke is not funny at all!"

"No, no!" Qin Chuan replied: "We have overlooked a problem...the number of Soviet prisoners is too many, they even exceed half of our total strength!"

At this time, there were more than 2,600 Soviet prisoners in Holm, and the total strength of the German troops in Holm until now was only 5,000.

"You mean..."

"This is a big threat to us, isn't it?" Qin Chuan replied: "The Soviets may not be able to resurrect their dead soldiers, but they can resurrect these prisoners!"

Conrad was stunned when he heard this, then nodded and said: "Captain, I think you may have found a way for the Soviets to attack!"