Red Moscow

"Gentlemen," Joseph Dietrich, the commander of the Banner Guard Division, is a ruthless character. It was under his leadership that the Banner Guard Division changed from a vase force to a brave and fierce force in the German army. After suffering such a big loss this time, his heart was filled with anger. After a moment of silence, he said: "Before we report this to General Hausser, we must first find out where the Russians have gone. After we figure out where they are going, we will immediately catch up and defeat them. Revenge for these dead officers and soldiers."

"According to the characteristics of their activities in the early stage, I judge that they must have gone to Ijum." Major General Val, the commander of the empire, said: "I think we will be able to find their whereabouts if we advance north."

Colonel Simon, as the lowest rank among the three, waited for the two to finish speaking before he said cautiously: "Two generals, as far as I know, the Russian commander Sokov who is fighting us is Manstein. Because the marshal has repeatedly reminded us to be careful. Therefore, I think the direction of his retreat may not be north."

"It's not north, is it going east?" Dietrich said angrily.

"Your Excellency, I think this possibility is entirely possible." Colonel Shimon explained to Dietrich: "They only need to move more than 30 kilometers northeast to join their Southwest Front Army. If they really The convergence has also been achieved, and the difficulty for us to deal with them will increase exponentially."

"No matter how many Russians there are, what's the use?" Dietrich said disdainfully: "Don't forget, in the past half a month, our three divisions have wiped out many Russian troops. I don't know Do you believe there is any Russian army in the world that can block the joint attack of our three divisions?"

Regarding Dietrich's arrogant statement, both Colonel Shimon and Major General Val showed disdainful expressions on their faces. Not to mention, Sokov relied on a 41st Guards Division, and played around with his three divisions. If he had more troops in his hands, then he might be the one who suffered.

Although Ximon and Val have thoughts in their hearts, they are all in the same group now, so naturally they can't speak out to hurt each other's feelings. Major General Val said cautiously: "General Dietrich, do you think we should send a search force to the east to find the whereabouts of the Russians?" After he finished speaking, he stared at Dietrich intently, watching How did he react?

Dietrich also knew in his heart that if it was other Russian troops, after putting themselves together in this way, they would definitely continue to move in the direction of Igyum according to the original plan. But the enemy he was facing at the moment was Sokov, who made even Manstein a headache. The tactics he adopted would definitely be unexpected.

Thinking of this, he nodded and said to Major General Val: "Major General Val, please send scouts to the east on motorcycles to find the whereabouts of the Russians. Once we have the whereabouts of the Russians, the three of us The division rushed over to destroy them together."

Not long after Major General Val's scouts were dispatched, Hausser rushed to Barvenkovo ​​in an armored vehicle. Looking at the corpses all over the ground, he asked the three division commanders who came to greet him with some annoyance: "Gentlemen, I would like to hear your explanation why our army suffered such heavy casualties here?"

"Your Excellency General," Dietrich waited for Hausser to finish, and quickly argued: "Our troops have encountered Sokov's elite troops. They have many new weapons, which can not only kill and injure our soldiers in large numbers, but also Can easily destroy our tanks. We were caught off guard by him to cause such heavy casualties."

After hearing Dietrich's justification, Hausser fell silent. He had heard a long time ago that during the Battle of Stalingrad, the troops defending Mamayev Gang had a new type of extremely lethal weapon that could attack their own important targets anywhere. The headquarters of the German regiment was destroyed yesterday, and it is said that it was attacked by this weapon.

Thinking of this, Hausser couldn't help but looked up at the sky, worried that a similar rocket would fly towards him at this moment, and then blow up his position into a sea of ​​flames. Fortunately, it was quiet all around, and there was no weapon like the one I was worried about appeared at all. After he felt a little relieved, he said to everyone: "Do you know where Sokov's troops have gone?"

"Report to Your Excellency the General," Major General Wahl stepped forward to report, "I have dispatched scouts from the Armored Reconnaissance Battalion to take motorcycles and search north and east to find out where the Russians are going."

Seeing that his subordinates hadn't even figured out the whereabouts of the Russians until now, Hausser was very angry. However, considering that his subordinates had just lost a battle, if they scolded them in public, it would definitely have a negative impact on the morale of the troops, so the words changed again: "When can I get an accurate answer?"

"Your Excellency, I sent the most elite scouts." Major General Val replied, "I believe they will be able to provide us with accurate information in the shortest possible time."

"The shortest time?" Hauser repeated Major General Val's words, and then asked: "Major General Val, I hope you can give me an accurate time. Is it one hour or two hours, or even longer?"

Hausser's words stopped Major General Wahl. He said that his scouts would send back reconnaissance information soon, but it was just a customary way of saying, who knew that Hausser would take it seriously, and asked the exact time in a serious manner. It looked a little awkward.

At this moment, one of his officers came out of the armored vehicle not far away and reported to him: "Your Excellency, the rearguard has something to report to you."

"Rear guard?" Hearing what the officer said, Major General Val couldn't help but be full of doubts. What would happen to the guard looking for him at this time? He came to the armored vehicle, took the earphone and microphone handed to him by the communicator, and said loudly: "I am Major General Val, what happened to your rear guard?"

"Master Commander," the person who called Major General Val was a deputy head of the German Regiment. Because the regiment suffered heavy losses, Major General Val let them serve as guards. At this moment, the deputy commander said anxiously: "We have been attacked, repeat, we have been attacked by the Russians, I ask for support, I ask for support."

"Lieutenant Colonel," Major General Val interrupted the other party, and asked, "Tell me, how many Russians are attacking you?"

"Your Excellency, there are a lot of people." The deputy head of the lieutenant colonel replied in a panic, "According to my estimation, there are at least five or six thousand of them."

"What, there are five or six thousand people?" Hearing the deputy head's report, Major General Val's first reaction was that the other party made a mistake: "You must have made a mistake, how could there be so many Russian soldiers around you?" Man, I think you must be mistaken."

"That's right, sir." The deputy head of the regiment reported in a crying voice: "I have observed through a telescope, and the Russians attacked our regiment from several directions at the same time. We can't stop them at all. If If you don't reinforce us, our entire army is in danger of being wiped out."

"What, thousands of Russians emerged from your rear guard?" When Hausser came over, he just heard the conversation between Major General Val and the deputy commander. He said in surprise: "Where did they emerge from?" , why didn't our scouts notice it at all, did they fall from the sky?"

"General Hausser," Dietrich thought for a while, and immediately thought of a possibility, and said to Hausser: "The 41st Guards Division that was attacked by us disappeared under the cover of night. It may have touched the rear of the Imperial Division."

"How is this possible?" Major General Val questioned Dietrich's statement: "It is a full twenty kilometers from here to the rear of our division. How did the Russians get there? Did they fly over? ?”

"Now that I think about it, the Russians may have started to push towards the rear of your division after dark." Dietrich analyzed to Major General Val: "By now, they have just arrived at the rear of your division."

"I agree with General Dietrich." Colonel Simon also echoed, "I think the main force of the Russians should have moved towards the rear of the Imperial Division after dark."

"But our troops have been fighting against the Russians all the time?" Major General Val said unwillingly, "How could they have moved towards the rear of our division immediately after dark?"

"Major General Val, haven't you understood yet?" Dietrich reminded him: "The Russian troops that fought with our two divisions were actually just the small troops left behind by Sokov. The attention of the entire division was attracted by him to Barvinkovo, and he secretly led the main force of the division, went around to the rear of your division, and launched a surprise attack on the rearguard."

"Then what should we do?"

"What else can we do?" Seeing Major General Val's distraught look, Dietrich said angrily, "Of course, send troops back to rescue immediately, you can't just sit back and watch the rearguard troops be wiped out by Sokov. "

"Yes, I want to rush back to rescue immediately." Major General Val said, and before Hausser could speak, he began to issue orders to his subordinates: "All regiments immediately turn around and go south to rescue our rearguard troops."

"General Dietrich," Hausser said to Dietrich, taking advantage of Major General Wahl's dispatch of troops, "immediately dispatch the Führer's Regiment and take it with the Imperial Division to destroy the Russian army that was attacking the rearguard." force."

"Your Excellency," Dietrich did not immediately agree to the order that Hausser gave himself, but said cautiously: "Do you really think it is too late for us to turn around and rescue the rearguard of the Imperial Division?" ?”

"Anyway, the Imperial Division is also one of the most elite units in our army." Faced with Dietrich's questioning, Hausser said confidently: "Don't say a few thousand Russians, even if there are tens of thousands of Russians, I believe they are also fully capable of holding out until our reinforcements arrive."

"Okay, Your Excellency General." Although Dietrich felt in his heart that even if he sent troops to rescue at this moment, it would probably be too late, but since it was an order issued by Hausser, he could not disobey it, so he could only say helplessly: " I immediately went back to make arrangements, and let the head of state regiment follow the imperial division to rescue their rear guard."

Colonel Shimon, who left with Dietrich, took advantage of Hausser and Val's attention, and asked in a low voice: "Your Excellency, do you think you are going south now in time to rescue the Imperial Division?" Guards?"

"If it is other Russian troops who attack the Imperial Division's rearguard, then let alone start now, even a few hours later at night, it is completely in time. After all, you and I have fought against the Russians and know their tactics. In order to win The next target can be launched again and again." Dietrich sighed and said: "It's a pity that the troops attacking them now are commanded by Sokov. If he finds that the attack in a place is not going well, he will Change to a new place and continue to attack, his tactics make us hard to defend."

Half an hour later, the Imperial Division, which had reassembled, turned around and went south to rescue the attacked rearguard. Accompanying them was the Head of State Regiment belonging to the Banner Guard Division. Before the head of state regiment set off, Dietrich specifically called the head of the regiment aside and told him: "Colonel, Sokov is full of tricks. You rush to rescue the rear guard this time, and beware of being attacked by them halfway." ambush."

"Your Excellency, Commander," said the head of the head of state regiment with some surprise, "do the Russians also know how to ambush our army halfway?"

"Colonel, I can only tell you that most Russian commanders have not learned the tactic of ambush until now. They will only fight with our army in a rigid manner. But the opponent you are facing this time is Russia. Sokov is the most troublesome in the army, so it is absolutely necessary to maintain sufficient vigilance."

"I see, sir." The person who can be the head of the head of state is naturally not an idiot. Hearing what Dietrich said, he immediately realized that his troops might encounter the Russians during the march, and he quickly assured Dietrich: "I will send the vanguard to explore the way ahead, sir. The troops followed slowly. Since the vanguard was ambushed by the Russians, we can rush to support them as soon as possible."

"Colonel, you're right if you think so." Dietrich nodded slightly, and said to the regiment commander, "Your regiment is the most elite regiment in my division. I don't want you to suffer any losses."

"Don't worry, Master Commander." Seeing Dietrich repeatedly reminding himself, the regiment leader realized the seriousness of the problem, and replied with a serious expression: "I will definitely bring the whole regiment back safely, so don't worry." After finishing speaking, he raised his hand to salute Dietrich, opened the door and got on the barrel cart to catch up with the troops marching ahead.