Red Moscow

"Second Lieutenant Sasha," Ruhlie waited for the other party to finish speaking, and asked impatiently: "I want to ask, do you know which road to Lugansk can avoid contact with the enemy?"

"According to our observations along the way, the Germans are stationed in settlements or villages. If you want to continue moving eastward, you only need to avoid settlements and villages." After answering Ruhlie's question, Sa Sha also reminded him: "But you must pay attention, the snow in many areas of the forest is too deep, which is not conducive to the marching of the troops."

Ruhlie knew that there was a battle here, and the nearby enemies would rush over in a short time. He planned to gather his troops and leave immediately, but before he set off, he still wanted to know more about the situation along the way, so he continued to ask Sasha: " Comrade Second Lieutenant, can you tell me a little more about the Luhansk garrison?"

"Comrade Colonel, I can only tell you briefly." As a grassroots officer, Sasha didn't know much about the defense situation in Lugansk, but since Rukhle asked, he still told what he said. What I know: "Now in the Lugansk area, we have a combat group with three to four Guards divisions, plus several tank brigades and artillery divisions. The 41st Guards Division is stationed in the west of the city. The 67th Guards Division is stationed in the south of the city."

"Thank you, Comrade Second Lieutenant. Thank you for telling us such important information." Ruhlie stretched out his hand to Sasha and said in a friendly way, "I hope we will have a chance to meet again."

"We will definitely meet again." Seeing his subordinates loading the collected ammunition into the car, Sasha raised his hand to salute Ruhlie and said, "Comrade Colonel, take care, we are leaving. "

Looking at the several armored vehicles going away, Ruhlie said to the chief of staff with emotion: "Comrade chief of staff, with the guidance of friendly comrades, we know how to avoid the enemy. In this way, we can take more fighters, successfully brought to Luhansk."

"Comrade Brigadier, I don't understand." The chief of staff frowned and asked, "Since our army has deployed heavy troops here in Luhansk, why didn't they take the initiative to rescue us when our army was attacked by the Germans? "

"Chief of staff, don't forget that the enemy has heavy troops stationed in Donetsk. Once our army attacks from Lugansk, it will be intercepted halfway." After Rukhle finished speaking, he urged the chief of staff: "Okay, time is running out, let the troops move quickly. Otherwise, when the enemies around come over, maybe we will be entangled by them."

After the commanders and fighters of the tank brigade buried those sacrificed comrades in arms, they hurriedly moved eastward. When the nearby enemies arrived, they could only see corpses all over the ground and the positions that were still emitting green smoke. The Soviet troops who captured the positions had long since disappeared without a trace.

The news that the position where the Romanian army was stationed was breached by the Soviet army soon reached Manstein's ears. But he didn't care about this matter. After all, in his mind, the combat effectiveness of the Romanian army was too poor, and it was inevitable that the Soviet army would capture their positions. It is estimated that the Soviet army that can wipe out a battalion of the Romanian army will not be too large. His main attention is still on the main force of Popov's rapid group that is breaking through to the east with all its strength.

According to Sasha's prompt, Ruhlie commanded the troops to carefully bypass the enemy's garrisoned settlements and villages, and walked through the vast forest with difficulty. After five days of continuous marching, he finally succeeded in reaching the camp of the 122nd Guards Regiment. zone.

Looking at the positions looming in the distance, the chief of staff asked tentatively: "Comrade Brigadier, do you think the positions ahead are ours or Germans?"

Lu He raised his binoculars and looked towards the opposite side. It was so quiet in the trench that no one could be seen. No one appeared, and there were no identifiable signs. How could it be possible to tell whether the Germans or our own people were stationed in the opposite position. He could only helplessly tell the chief of staff: "Chief of staff, send two soldiers over to have a look."

After receiving the order, the two soldiers in white camouflage uniforms rushed out of their hiding places quickly, and when they reached the middle of the positions of the two armies, they changed from bending over to crawling forward. But they were still more than 200 meters away from the trench on the opposite side. A machine gun in the civil firepower point began to fire, and the bullets knocked the snow around the scout into the air like a boiling pot.

"Comrade Brigadier," the chief of staff was not surprised when he heard the sound of gunshots on the other side, he exclaimed: "The other side is shooting with a Teggarev light machine gun, and it is our own people. That's right, it is Our own."

For the statement made by the Chief of Staff, Ruhlie felt that it was very reasonable. But the machine gun on the opposite side was firing, even if he sent someone over to contact them, they might be greeted by a series of dense bullets. He frowned and thought for a while, then told a soldier behind him: "Go and get the flag bearer!"

Since Ruhlie's tank brigade is an independent organization, it has its own military flag and full-time flag bearer. After a while, the flag bearer ran over carrying the military flag wrapped in a flag cover, and asked Ruhlie, "Comrade Brigadier, what instructions do you have?"

"Comrade standard bearer," Ruhlie pointed to the position where the machine guns were firing on the opposite side, and said to the standard bearer: "The opposite side is our own people, but at this moment there is a misunderstanding with us. In order to avoid unnecessary casualties, you immediately put us Raise the military flag to let the other party know that we are not the enemy."

The flag-bearer agreed, squatted down and untied the flag cover on the outside of the flag. After unfolding the military flag, he found a relatively high mound and erected the flag.

The bright red military flag fluttered in the cold wind, and the machine guns firing on the opposite position also stopped. Not long after, a red flag was also raised on the position. Although it is not a military flag with a number, the red flag also means that the defenders in the position are their own.

Seeing the red flag rising on the opposite side, the commanders and fighters of the tank brigade who finally came here after untold hardships immediately rushed forward cheering. In the opposite position, countless officers and soldiers wearing the same uniform rushed out, shouting "Ula" and rushing towards the officers and soldiers of the tank brigade.

A few minutes later, two troops belonging to different front armies met in the middle area. The commanders and fighters of both sides immediately hugged each other regardless of each other and ranks, making the originally silent battlefield become boiling.

Seeing that his troops and friendly troops joined forces, Ruhlie was very happy. He twisted and shouted excitedly to the soldiers around him, and then led them quickly to the meeting place.

As soon as Luhlie entered the crowd, a strange soldier rushed over, gave him a warm hug, and shouted loudly: "Comrade, you have worked hard!"

"You have worked hard too!" Luhlie patted the opponent's back twice, and said excitedly: "From now on, we can fight side by side together."

"Comrade Brigadier," Lieutenant Kogoer came to Ruhlie's side, leaned close to his ear and reported loudly: "The commander of the friendly army is here!"

After a short time, Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko, head of the 122nd Guards Regiment, appeared in front of Ruhlie. Seeing that the opponent had a higher military rank than himself, Papchenko hurriedly saluted first, and said respectfully: "Comrade Colonel, I am Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko, commander of the 122nd Regiment of the 41st Guards Division. Meet with you."

"Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Ruhlie returned a salute and said loudly: "I am Colonel Ruhlie, commander of the 19th Independent Tank Brigade. Join us."

After finishing speaking, Rukhle opened his arms towards Papchenko and said with a smile: "Comrades from the 41st Guards Division, in order to celebrate this hard-won meeting, let's give a hug."

In the next second, the two commanders from different units hugged each other tightly.