Red Moscow

"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel," just as the adjutant was about to drive these soldiers into the water, an old soldier stood up and said to the adjutant: "We are not familiar with the swamp, so we can't rush into the water like this, otherwise, as many people go down, they will die." How many people."

The four soldiers just walked 20 to 30 meters into the swamp, and they were quickly swallowed up by the swamp if they were not careful. If you act recklessly now, even if ten times as many people go to explore the way, I am afraid that there will be no return.

Considering this, the adjutant put away the arrogance on his face, but asked the veteran modestly: "Do you have any good ideas?"

The veteran did not answer the adjutant's question immediately, but picked up a branch on the ground, cut off the branches and leaves on it with a dagger, and muttered in his mouth: "Russia is full of this kind of swamp. In winter, it is so hard that people can get out of it." Walk on it. In summer, it is a quagmire, and people sink in it, and the harder they struggle to get out, the deeper they sink, until they are submerged in the quagmire."

"I know that there are swamps like this all over Russia," the adjutant said impatiently to the veteran. "What I want to know now is how we can get through this swamp."

After the veteran sharpened the stick, he handed it to a young second-class soldier beside him: "Hans, take this stick, it will come in handy when we cross the swamp later."

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the veteran sharpened another wooden stick quickly, raised it high above his head, and said to the surrounding soldiers: "If you want to pass through the swamp safely, you need wooden sticks. Hans, let's go find the way first." Let's go." Although the adjutant did not appoint the veteran to participate in the pathfinding, the veteran still took the initiative to undertake this dangerous task.

Before stepping into the swamp, he grabbed Hans' hand and said loudly: "When marching in the swamp, besides using wooden sticks, it is best to move in groups of two or three, even if someone accidentally falls into the swamp , his companions can also rescue him in time."

The veteran took Hans' hand and walked forward, while walking, he kept urging: "If you want to survive, you must pay attention to the route I walked, and you can't miss half a step."

The German officers and soldiers around watched the veteran and Hans step into the swamp, and the muddy water quickly flooded their waists. Every step they took seemed to be stepping on spring cushions. There is a possibility of falling.

The veteran and Hans stopped after walking more than 20 meters. The veteran turned his head and shouted at the officers and soldiers who were still standing on the shore: "What are you still standing there for, why don't you come down quickly?"

Hearing the veteran's shout, a young second lieutenant stepped into the swamp recklessly, but he lost his footing and threw himself directly into the muddy water. Several soldiers on the bank hurried forward and helped him up with all their might.

"Crossing the swamp empty-handed is not a wise thing." Seeing that the second lieutenant fell down as soon as he entered the swamp, the veteran quickly reminded the others, "If you don't want to die in the swamp, you'd better prepare a wooden stick each. , can be used to support your body when crossing the swamp."

Hearing what the veteran said, the officers and soldiers standing on the shore scattered, looking around for wooden sticks that could support their bodies. Fortunately, here is the edge of the forest, where all kinds of trees and shrubs abound. The officers and soldiers pulled out their daggers and started chopping branches to make sticks for swamps.

The adjutant waited for the soldiers to make sticks, and then picked three out of them. Keep one for yourself, and give the other two to Huot and Meilinjin.

The officers and soldiers made wooden sticks and came to the edge of the swamp. When they saw the veteran and Hans standing in the swamp waiting for them, they made a group of two and stepped into the swamp one after another, walking towards the veteran and the others.

The veteran's patience was very good. He waited until a group of soldiers came to him, and said to them: "You stay here and wait for the others. We will go ahead to explore the way." Tentatively, he walked forward cautiously.

When the German officers and soldiers entered the swamp, they were very anxious. After all, they all saw with their own eyes that the four soldiers had no chance to call for help, and the man-eating swamp of Russia was swallowed up. But walking forward along the road protruded by the veterans, although the feet are soft, they will not fall into the quagmire.

Since crossing the swamp is a very exhausting task, the officers and soldiers were all exhausted and out of breath after walking more than 300 meters in the swamp.

Hans, who was exploring the road with the veterans in front, was too tired to bear it. He tentatively asked, "I can't walk anymore, can I rest here for a while?"

"No." The veteran replied without thinking, "The soil under the feet here is too soft to stand on. You can't stop and rest and continue walking."

The two walked forward for more than ten meters. When the veteran turned his head inadvertently, he found that many groups of soldiers had stopped to rest, and shouted at them loudly: "The soil here is too soft to stand on. Don't stop, keep going."

But it was too late when the veteran shouted. A soldier who had already been exhausted tilted his body and fell directly into the mud. The soldiers who were holding hands with him were led into it. The two were soaked in the muddy water, and after a while, they started calling for help in unison.

The soldiers following behind quickly stretched out the sticks in their hands and shouted loudly: "Grab the sticks, grab the sticks quickly."

The soldier who sank in the back quickly stretched out his hands, tightly grasped the wooden stick extended by his companion, and struggled to climb out of the swamp. But the soldier who fell first was not so lucky. He had already fallen into the deep quagmire and disappeared.

It took an hour for the officers and soldiers to finally pass through this wide swamp. Although there were veterans and Hans exploring the way ahead, more than 30 soldiers and officers still lost their lives in the swamp.

Huot and Meilinjin were lucky, and with the support of several strong soldiers, they passed the swamp smoothly. The two German generals, who always paid attention to their appearance, were covered in mud at this moment, sitting facelessly on a fallen tree trunk, panting heavily.

"Your Excellency, Commander," the adjutant came over and said to Holt, "It's getting dark, shall we find a place to camp and rest?"

"Your Excellency, Commander," Mei Linjin was worried that Huot would order them to march overnight, and quickly reminded the other party: "Going forward, there is another forest. We don't know if there is a swamp in the forest. If we march rashly, we may encounter into danger."

How could Huot, who just came out of the swamp, take risks. Hearing what the chief of staff said, he quickly ordered his adjutant: "Adjutant, order everyone to rest on the spot."

When the adjutant was about to leave, he added: "The nights in Russia are very cold in summer, especially in the forest. Let the soldiers build more fires to keep warm. Don't get sick from the cold. There is still a long way to go tomorrow." Woolen cloth."

"Your Excellency, Commander," Mei Linjin said in horror when he heard Huot ordering his subordinates to keep warm: "Will we build a fire here, will the nearby Russians be recruited?"

"Don't worry, my chief of staff." Holt had already figured out at this moment that even if there were pursuers, they would be blocked by the swamp just now. No matter how brave the Russians were, they would not dare to pass through unfamiliar swamps at night, so he boldly ordered his soldiers to set up bonfires in the forest. "If the Russians wanted to chase us, they would have caught up long ago. I think it's because Sokov doesn't have enough troops. In order to deal with our main force with all his strength, he couldn't spare any troops to pursue us."

In order to find out what was going on outside, Holt ordered the communications soldier to turn on the radio and get in touch with Manstein.

As soon as the communications soldier turned on the radio, he received a call from Manstein's headquarters. He quickly reported to Holt, "Your Excellency, Marshal Manstein is calling us."

"Can I talk to him?" Holt got up and walked behind the messenger and asked.

"Where we are now is an effective communication area, and wireless communication is completely possible."

"I want to speak to Marshal Manstein."

"Your Excellency, Commander," Mei Linjin saw that Holt wanted to talk to Manstein directly, and hurried out to dissuade him: "This will expose our location."

"Chief of Staff, we are trying to do everything we can to get out of this damned place as soon as possible." Holt said displeasedly: "Even if the Russians monitor our call, they will have too little time to come over. No When they arrive, maybe we have joined forces with the supporting troops and returned safely."

Hearing what Huot said, Mei Linjin shut up. In order to get out of danger as soon as possible, it is indeed necessary to take risks. Now that my group of people are in the forest, even if the Russians monitor my location, if I want to get here, I am afraid I will have to wait until tomorrow afternoon, and I may have reached a safe place by then.

"Your Excellency the Marshal," Holt quickly started talking to Manstein: "I am Holt."

"My God, General Holt, you are still alive." Although the effect of the wireless call with the radio was not good, Manstein was secretly relieved when he heard Holt's familiar voice coming from the earphone. Tone: "Where are you now?"

"I don't know, my people and I are completely lost." Huot looked around, and because it was getting late, he could only see the faint outlines of trees, "We should be in the forest southwest of Oboyan inside."

Seeing that Holt could not tell his exact location, Manstein called a communications staff officer and asked, "Can you find a way to locate General Holt's radio station?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." The communications officer quickly replied, "As long as he keeps talking to you, I can locate his exact location within three hours."

Although three hours is a bit too long, Manstein understands that with today's communication technology, being able to locate Hult's specific location in such a short period of time is still very fast. He waved his hand at the communication staff officer, signaling that the other party should proceed with the matter immediately and find Holt's location as soon as possible.

In order to prevent Holt from shutting down the phone and losing the opportunity to locate, Manstein also specifically told Holt: "General Holt, tell your communications soldiers not to turn off the radio at any time, otherwise the people I send to pick you up will not be able to Find your place."

"Understood, Marshal." After expressing his thanks to Manstein, Huot asked tentatively, "I want to ask, how is my army doing?"

"According to the latest report, your Panzer Army already has two armored divisions and three infantry divisions, and has successfully returned to Belgorod, including General Herlein's Grossdeutschland Division." Manstein lamented Said: "Although the troops withdrew to Belgorod, they lost a large number of soldiers and almost all technical equipment because they were attacked by Sokov's troops during the retreat."

Hearing what Manstein said, Huot's heart fell like ice. If he really lost almost all his technical equipment, then his armored army would become an ordinary infantry army.

After being silent for a long time, Holt continued to ask: "Have the 11th and 17th Armored Divisions been withdrawn?"

"They are still fighting." Manstein said in a tone without any emotion: "But the Russians mobilized the troops of two army groups to attack them, and the retreat was cut off by Sokov's troops. I think They won't last long either."

"Your Excellency Marshal," knowing that the 11th and 17th Armored Divisions were still fighting, Huot seemed to see a glimmer of life, and he quickly said into the microphone: "I implore you to dispatch the air force to support the two armored divisions after dawn. , cover them to break through the Russian siege, and return safely to Belgorod."

"General Huot, you should know that this is simply impossible." Unexpectedly, Manstein said on the other end of the phone: "Don't say that the Russian air force has already mastered the air supremacy on the battlefield, even if the air supremacy is in our hands Do you think they can successfully walk over thirty kilometers full of Russians?"

Don't look at Holt's single-minded thought of getting his two remaining armored divisions out of danger, but he is still very self-aware. In order to break through Sokov's troops and establish a blocking position, his most elite Grossdeutschland divisions have attacked almost two In a few days, it was still relying on the cooperation of other troops to barely break through the opponent's defense.

Now there are only two armored divisions with incomplete organizational structures. Not only do they have to deal with the two Russian armies from Oboyan, but they also have to find a way to break through the blocking of Sokov's troops. This is simply impossible.

Thinking of this, he replied truthfully: "No, Your Excellency Marshal. If they are allowed to continue to retreat south, even if they get air cover, they may not be able to return to Belgorod."

"I think so too, General Holt." Manstein said to Holt: "The only way now is to let them change their retreat route from the original south to the west, toward the weakest defense of the Russians." If the area retreats, maybe more troops can be saved."

In fact, as early as when the troops went south and were blocked by Sokov's troops, Huot had considered withdrawing his troops to the west. There were no Soviet troops in that direction, and more troops and technical equipment could be withdrawn to the west. Arm the new location. But it is a pity that his plan at the time was directly rejected by Manstein, so that the troops paid a heavy price.

Now that Manstein also realizes that there is no future for going south, and intends to withdraw the remaining troops to the west, Holt naturally said, "Your Excellency, Marshal, I agree with your plan."