Trapped in the city of Loyev, Krist and his men finally did not wait for the reinforcements they had been waiting for on June 26.

The breakthrough not only failed, but also further reduced their already stretched forces. These German puppet soldiers had a nervous breakdown, and they returned to the cellars in the city, where they just sat quietly, no longer caring about the daily shelling of the Soviet army, and had lost the confidence to continue fighting.

However, they did not yet think of surrender.

Crister had no choice but to appeal to his men: "Everyone continue to hold on to the city, and we will have food and drinking water for a few days." Expect a miracle! I believe that our superiors will not abandon us! ”

His words became the soldier's last hope, a very cold-blooded fact, which was originally only enough to eat food for three days, because some people died, and the food was already enough for four days! If you save a little more, it's no problem to stick to it for another week. The premise is that the Soviets will not launch a stormy attack, at least judging from the fact that the Soviets are still shelling at fixed points, they do not seem to have any real intention of attacking the city.

On June 26, as the battle ended, it passed peacefully.

Fifty kilometers away, the German command was not at all calm.

Because Quetzal's troops sent a last telegram to their divisional headquarters, which showed that they were under heavy siege by Soviet troops.

The time of the report was ten o'clock in the morning, after which all the messages sent by the 722nd Division to the front-line troops did not receive any response.

The haze of defeat quickly appeared at the division headquarters, and the division commander Florid, clutching the pen in pain, broke it in anxiety, and the ink stained the entire glove.

His actions were seen by the chief of staff: "Division commander, I'm afraid that our army's operation to reinforce Loyev has failed." ”

"Nonsense! I know! Getzal, this guy swore to attack, but he was defeated after all. I'm stupid myself, how could I make God send me to exclude me? Besides, are those Russians a bunch of monsters?! That's nearly 5,000 people, that's 5,000 pigs, and the Russians can catch them all in two or three days? ”

"However, our enemy should be the so-called 63rd Army of Russia, and we have been fighting against them for a year, and to this day, we really have not won any battles."

"Didn't win a single game!? It's true? ”

"That's right! All lost. The Chief of Staff regretted this fact, citing the various defeats of the 722nd Division.

When Floride heard a few, he became furious: "Enough! These are all our scars, and now the scars that have just healed have been stabbed again. We lost contact with Getzal, so what about the defenders of Loyev? Do they have a new telegram?! ”

"Correspondent!" The chief of staff shouted casually.

The defenders of Loyevfei did send a telegram to the division headquarters, and the content was the same as before, that their own defense was on the verge of collapse. Only this time the wording was more severe, and the telegram specifically emphasized that there were only 300 troops left in the city that could fight, and there were a bunch of soldiers and civilians, and whether they could hold the city or not, the food would eventually be eaten within a week.

The cable, also from their point of view, describes the June 26 operation, in which reinforcements were repulsed by the Russians and their breakout failed.

Unable to communicate directly with Quetzal, the division commander Florid's still fantasized that his subordinates' radio stations might be damaged and lost contact, and they might still be fighting, although this possibility is very slim, and now it is better to believe it as much as possible.

Having received a telegram from the defenders of Loyève, Florid decided that the defenders of the city would be able to hold on. They had been holding the city for days, and should be able to do so for a few more days.

Florid's chin pinched and stared at the map, thinking about his next move.

The chief of staff said: "I think we still have to continue to send reinforcements to reinforce it." Loyev's strategic location is very important, it is clear that the Russians have also crawled out of the swamp in this operation, they must have gathered heavy troops around Loyev, we should seize this opportunity and send heavy troops, it is very likely to hit them hard! ”

"It's easy to say! Getzal thought the same thing before, but what was the result? The fate of our army of 5,000 is uncertain! There is nothing wrong with your reasoning, but we are only an infantry division with a severely reduced strength, and our task is to hold the current line of defense and do everything in our power to prevent the guerrillas from disrupting the lines of communication. Don't you know that our current troubles are not only the so-called Russian 63rd Army in the swamps to the south, but also a group of partisan stragglers in the north. They have attacked convoys and railways in far more so many places than in May that our troops are no longer able to deal with them. ”

"It's true that those police regiments are weak in combat, and if we can't defeat the enemy, they're just cannon fodder. However, the army group demanded that we retake Loyev, and we must not give up. We're still going to ask for reinforcements......"

"There are not enough troops!" Florid's sweat, how he hoped that this battle could be solved by his own troops, it seemed absolutely impossible at the moment!

He suddenly recalled the battle in January, and felt more and more that the battle situation was so familiar.

Florid's gaze at the map on the wall suddenly dawned on him, "Damn! The Russians are recreating history! Today's Loyev is Khomnich half a year ago! Hell, it's no wonder that the 707th Division was very resistant to a very long battle. By the end of that war, their establishment had all but collapsed. ”

The chief of staff looked regretful: "You still have to carry out the order for reinforcements, we don't know the situation on the front line for the time being, then send scouts to investigate!" For example, the Air Force, that air brigade is supposed to assist us, and now, you should no longer invite them to war for the sake of face. Because, we don't have much ability to take the initiative to attack. ”

"Alright! All right...... I will report our defeat to the army group, but we are confident that some troops will succeed in escaping. I'm going to apply to the Air Force to reconnoitre, and we'll bring another batch of food and ammunition to the airport, and we'll have to give the defenders the confidence to defend the city! ”

In this way, the enemy's situation was unknown, his own side was unknown, and the command of the German 722 Division suddenly became blind and deaf.

Florid's wishful thinking was to get a call back from Quetzal until the sun went down, and instead of receiving any telegrams, the army headquarters inquired about the battle situation of the 722nd Division.

How good is that? Florid, too, had no choice but to report to the commander of the army group himself, his defeat that he had basically determined.

On the phone, he could only endure the foul language of his superiors in silence, and the invective was just an outlet for the commander, and Flored knew that his defeat was enough to be dismissed from his post and investigated by the Gestapo.

However, his immediate superiors did not do this, and instead ordered his 722nd Division to hold the current line of defense and stop any kind of Russian attack.

Florid's peace of mind was finally relieved, because the commander of the army group was already raising men and horses to continue the fight for Loyev!

The next battle, whether it will be successful or not, is not something that Florid's should consider. Of course, the group army also made cruel words: "If the defense line of the 722nd Division is broken by the Soviet army, then the division commander will commit suicide and apologize!" ”

In this way, the only time the 722nd Division took the initiative to attack in two months, and it was basically determined that it was a new defeat. The officers and men of the division had to strengthen the defensive line, all the soldiers were on leave, and the city of Gomel was completely under martial law. The two police regiments that the division can mobilize also have to allocate troops to strengthen the defense of the first line, which inevitably weakens the intensity of its daily patrols, and does not objectively reduce the pressure on other Soviet partisans?!

What else can the 722 Division do? Counting the Dongfang Battalion, which has poor combat effectiveness like the police regiment, the strength it can control is only 12,000 troops. Their strength in the defensive line was as high as 8,000 men, and excluding the defenders of Gomel and the airport, there were only 3,000 men patrolling their vast defensive area.

He knew that the guerrillas in the defense area belonged to the straggler class, but they were just a swarm of mosquitoes, and the group of Russians in the south was a group of tigers.

He thought: I have 8,000 people on the front line, machine guns and artillery, as well as minefields and anti-infantry barbed wire, you Russians can still break through such a line ?!