The decisive battle against the Third Reich

There were 2,397 skirmishers in total.

Of course, this does not include the wounded who were hors de combat and the police battalion maintaining law and order in the town.

Colonel Slain has preliminarily organized these troops into a regiment with three battalions, each battalion has more than 700 people, and has registered the battalion commanders, company commanders, etc. in detail in the document. The regiment leader is Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard.

Of course it makes sense to do this, because only in this way can the entire army form a unit to carry out planned operations, instead of a few here and there that cannot be commanded at all.

Of course, in principle, at this time, this unit is only the situation as a whole... Usually after establishment, training is conducted to allow the soldiers to become familiar with each other and even their superiors, so that they can cooperate more closely during combat.

"So, what they said is true?" Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard asked Qin Chuan: "I mean, what are your achievements in North Africa?"

"You can say that!" Qin Chuan replied: "Of course, those are not my alone's credit!"

"This is amazing!" Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard looked at Qin Chuan with envy and said, "You know, I am an engineer, and I also hope to fight a few battles as happily as you!"

"Didn't you independently command two battles?" Qin Chuan asked.

"Oh, forget it!" Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard replied with some embarrassment: "Those two games... were just guerrillas, you know, we were building roads, and then the guerrillas launched a sneak attack on us without mercy! "

Judging from Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard's expression, Qin Chuan guessed that the number of those guerrillas was not large, which made Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard embarrassed to elaborate more.

"Lieutenant Colonel!" Qin Chuan said, "Believe me, you won't want to face such a 'happy and happy' scene!"

"It's up to us whether we want it or not, right?" Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard spread his hands: "We have to face it now!"

Qin Chuan nodded in agreement.

Then he quickly realized why this group of skirmishers, with only over 5,000 wounded including the wounded, still maintained their morale when facing a Soviet army... This was not because they were too good, but because they were too good. It's because quite a few of them have never experienced a real war.

This mentality is easy to understand. Most of them are second-line troops, such as engineers, police, transport troops, etc. These troops have been coming and going behind the front line for a long time. They have guns in their hands but they are always unable to use them. We were subjected to enemy air raids and bombings one after another... Naturally, we were holding back our breath, thinking that one day we would be able to fight the enemy face to face.

This is a bit like new recruits, but better than new recruits because at least they have been bombed or dealt with guerrillas.

"Well, Captain!" Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard asked, "What should we do?"

"In addition to defense, you need to evacuate all our supplies to the east of the Lovaj River in the shortest possible time!" Qinchuan said: "Especially the supplies at the airport, look at what is left in the warehouse!"

"Withdraw to the east?" Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard was a little confused: "Why?"

"The terrain west of the Lovaj River is low!" Qinchuan replied: "And there is no danger to defend, so be prepared to give up!"

Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard couldn't help but open his mouth. That was almost giving up one-third of Holm's territory.

Qin Chuan raised his head and glanced at Gerhard, who quickly responded: "Yes, Captain!"

Then the order was passed on immediately.

This search was quite fruitful. Several barrels of gasoline and some boxes of cans forgotten in the corner were found in the airport warehouse. A Pak40 anti-tank gun and several boxes of artillery shells were found in the cellar. There was also a parked vehicle. The T34 tank in the repair shop... Apparently, this is a tank that was captured by the Germans, but it was left here because it broke down.

"Do any of us repair tanks?" Qin Chuan asked.

"I need to ask!" Gerhard replied.

Fortunately, there were a few mechanics among the skirmishers, and several tank crews were also ordered to take charge of the tank.

Regarding this tank, Qin Chuan just treated it like a dead horse, but he didn't expect that in the end it not only played a role but also made great contributions.

At 3:55 in the afternoon, while Qin Chuan was still looking at the terrain map, there was a whistling sound of artillery shells in the sky, and then several German soldiers shouted: "They are coming!"

Qinchuan and Gerhard ran out of the headquarters and saw a group of ski soldiers firing mortars into the town in an open field a few miles away.

However, they also knew that it was impossible to attack the town of Holm with the light weapons carried by the ski soldiers. Perhaps it was also because of the destruction of a previous ski camp, so they had no intention of attacking and just fired mortars at will outside.

"Boom" a shell exploded on a building. A big hole was blown into the building on the spot, and several screams of Soviet people came from inside.

Kuhn couldn't help shouting: "God, don't they know there are still their people in the town?"

Gerhard smiled and replied: "They don't care about that, Lieutenant!"

"Yes!" said another German soldier: "You didn't see what they did when they retreated..."

"What's going on?" Kuhn asked.

"They burned down the people's houses and food!" the German soldier replied.

"What? Why?" Kuhn was very surprised.

"In order to prevent us from getting supplies!" Gerhard replied: "By the way, we will leave a lot of people in need of food for us!"

Kuhn looked at Gerhard in disbelief. He couldn't believe that these were true.

But Qin Chuan knew this was true.

This was the method of the Soviets, and it could even be said to be premeditated... The walls were fortified and the fields were clear along the way, leaving nothing to the Germans. Then when the Germans reached Moscow, winter entered again.

However, there is nothing wrong with the Soviets doing this. Otherwise, the Germans would only need to plunder Soviet people's clothing and food along the way to survive the winter. Then the defense of Moscow might have another outcome.

Therefore, as it is now, it can be said to be a piece of cake for the Soviet army to bomb the houses of its own people without any scruples.

"Do you need us to fight back, Captain?" Kun asked, with some hatred in his eyes.

"No!" Qin Chuan replied: "It's better to save some shells, they will stop soon!"

Sure enough, after firing more than a dozen shells and seeing no reaction inside, the ski soldiers lost interest... They just wanted to test how much firepower there was in the town and the location of the enemy's defense line.

But the town neither fired guns nor cannons, so it would be a waste of artillery shells to continue blindly.