The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Because of this, many local people joined the German army...a considerable number of them voluntarily. According to statistics, more than 100,000 people in Latvia alone have served in the German army.

At this time, the most common practice of the German army was to mix groups of 21 of them into German infantry platoons, so that they could become familiar with German tactics in the shortest time and play an role on the battlefield.

Kuruc was apparently one of these Latvian soldiers.

"Kulutz used to be a worker in a tractor factory!" the greasy soldier explained: "Then the Soviets asked him to repair tanks, and he said he had repaired T34!"

"Yeah!" Qin Chuan nodded, looked around and said, "Be careful not to let the light shine through, and keep your voice down!"

"Yes, Captain!" Several soldiers looked at each other excitedly.

Although the smell in the repair shop is a bit unpleasant, the kerosene lamp can bring a little warmth. The feeling was even stronger when Qin Chuan took off his poncho and walked out.

Continuing along the street for more than a hundred meters, they came to the defense line. Qin Chuan saw several sentries hiding behind the snow wall and constantly stepping on their feet to keep themselves warm.

"How's the situation?" Qin Chuan asked.

"Everything is fine, Captain!" the sentry replied, "It's just too cold!"

"In such cold weather, the Soviets would not choose to attack at this time!" another sentry said.

"That's not necessarily true, Corporal!" Qin Chuan replied: "They are Soviets and have long been accustomed to life here!"

"Yes, Captain!" replied the sentry.

Then he immediately added: "Don't worry, Captain, we will take good care of this place!"

Qin Chuan nodded with satisfaction, turned around and was about to leave, when he heard the faint but powerful sound of a "rumbling" motor coming from the darkness.

Qin Chuan couldn't help but look back at the two sentries, who also looked at Qin Chuan with wide eyes.

"Flare!" Qin Chuan ordered.

With two "chuuk" sounds, two illumination bombs were shot into the air. In an instant, dozens of tanks and patches of Soviet troops wearing snow-white military uniforms appeared in the bright light.

Seeing that they were discovered, the Soviet troops shouted and rushed towards the German position.

Gunfire rang out, and the German sentry immediately fired several warning shots in the direction of the Soviet army.

The German soldiers who were huddled in trenches or resting in buildings got into the trenches with their guns and set up their guns. Then under the command of their respective company commanders, they fired at the Soviet troops.

Qinchuan also entered the trench and fired two shots, knocking down two Soviet officers. Then he couldn't help but take a breath... The Soviet army invested more than a dozen tanks in this direction, and most of them were T34, with only a few tanks. It's a light tank T26.

At first, these Soviet tanks lined up as cover fire for the infantry and pressed towards the German defense line, but they soon discovered that this was not feasible at all.

The reason is that there is a steep slope from the Soviet position to the German position... Although there is not a very steep slope in this area, if the area around this area is a swamp in the summer, and it is frozen in the winter, it will be ice. Tanks drive up these areas. The ice will slip or even slide backwards.

This put the Soviet army's first wave of attack into trouble. The infantry could only rush past the tanks and rush towards the German defense line.

But such an offensive was pushed back by the German army without any surprise... Landmines, barbed wire, coupled with thick snow and extremely low temperatures, caused a large number of Soviet soldiers to move in slow motion under the German machine guns and Advancing under the rifle, the result was that one batch after another fell under the guns of the German soldiers.

Soon, the Soviets quickly realized that there was only one place their tanks could attack, and that was the road leading into the town.

Although the road could not be seen at all in the white snow, the Soviet army was very familiar with the terrain in this area. They quickly concentrated their tanks on the road and launched an attack. At the same time, mortars continued to bombard them all the way forward. .

So Qinchuan knew it was time to retreat... Otherwise, once these tanks broke into the defense line and fired machine guns and artillery shells at the Germans in the trenches from the flanks or even from the rear, the Germans would suffer huge losses.

Of course, Qinchuan can choose to invest rocket launchers and anti-tank guns here to stop the Soviet army from advancing.

However, the range of the rocket launcher is too close. There are not many buildings near the defense line and it is difficult to hide. The only anti-tank gun is the PAK40 found in the cellar. Qinchuan does not want the only anti-tank gun to be blown up by a burst of Soviet fire as soon as it is fired. Gone.

This was one of the reasons why Qinchuan planned to abandon the area west of the Lovaj River from the beginning.

"Retreat!" Qin Chuan ordered: "Retreat to Hedong!"

If this order is given to the 1st Infantry Regiment, there will be no problem. They will consciously divide into several groups to cover each other and gradually retreat, so that they can organize defense in an orderly manner when they retreat to the east bank of the Lovaj River. Taking advantage of the geographical location to resist the Soviet attack as planned... There is a height difference of more than five meters between the east bank of the Lovaj River and the river surface, and it is also very steep. Most places, not to mention tanks, cannot get up, and are covered with snow and hard Even people can't climb the permafrost walls.

Especially in the area where the Lovaj River and the Kunya River meet, the river turned a corner here to form an arc facing the Soviet army, which formed a natural fire circle for the Soviet army.

Qinchuan asked the third battalion to build fortifications there early in the morning and prepare to support the soldiers of the first and second battalions to retreat there to defend.

However, what Qin Chuan did not expect was that these were scattered soldiers, most of whom were second-line troops with no combat experience such as engineers and transport troops... In fact, these are not important. Although they have no combat experience, they do not lack the courage to fight. The important thing is that this force has just been formed and does not know how to coordinate.

This weakness is not obvious when defending in the trenches. Once they enter the tactical mode of retreat, which requires high-level coordination, things immediately go wrong... They don't know whether to leave cover or who to retreat, plus the Soviet mortar A burst of artillery bombardment soon reduced them to chaos, and they fled towards the east of the river.

Seeing this situation, Qinchuan secretly thought that things were going to be worse, but under the fierce Soviet artillery fire, he was unable to organize an orderly retreat.

"Go to hell!" Qin Chuan couldn't help but cursed fiercely. He should have expected this situation to happen.

But even thinking about it is of no use, because this unit must face the enemy's attack as soon as it is formed, and there is no time for training and exercises.

Qin Chuan fired back while retreating. When he passed the maintenance shop, he saw that there were still lights inside. He couldn't help but angrily opened his poncho and rushed in, shouting: "The enemy is coming, let this kid go to hell, retreat immediately!"

"Captain!" the soldier with a greasy face said, lighting the kerosene lamp: "I think... we have fixed it, but now we don't know what to do!"