There were too many Germans rushing up, and by the time the Soviets opened fire, they were very close to their positions. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Fifty meters away, it only takes a dozen seconds to rush up. In a short time, the Germans jumped into the trenches and engaged the Soviets in close combat.

Seeing the enemy rushing into the trenches, Shebelyuk threw the depleted pistol aside, stooped down to pick up the bayonet-laden rifle in the hand of a fallen soldier, and shouted: "Kill! Then he rushed towards the place where the fighting was most intense.

A German soldier with a gun lunged at Shebeliuk, who turned to one side and stabbed the German to the ground. Several German soldiers next to him, after killing the Soviet soldiers who were fighting with them with bayonets, saw clearly that Shebelyuk was a commander and immediately rushed towards him together.

Shebeliuk raised his gun and fired the bayonet of a German soldier, and then stabbed him to the ground with a single shot. He drew his bayonet and was about to stab again, when he found three German soldiers fanning towards him. Just as he was hesitating which one to deal with first, he heard three gunshots, and three German soldiers fell in response.

Shebelyuk looked back and saw that it was the battalion commander under him. The battalion commander held a pistol in his hand, panting and said to Shebelyuk: "Comrade regiment commander, the casualties of the troops are too great, what should we do?" ”

Shebelyuk replied with a serious expression: "Comrade Captain, the division commander has an order that as long as there is still one person, it is absolutely not allowed to retreat." We can only fight, we have no other way but to continue fighting! ”

The battalion commander agreed, brandished the pistol in his hand, and rushed towards the place where the Germans had the most. After taking a few deep breaths, Shebelyuk also rushed forward with his gun in his hand without hesitation.

At this moment, on the position, except for a few sections where shooting was still being fired, the Soviet commanders and fighters in most places were fighting together with the German soldiers who rushed up.

Shebeliuk had just stabbed a German soldier when he was stabbed in the left arm by another German soldier. He yelled, raised his leg and kicked the other party to the ground, and forced the pain to step forward and make up for the other party. Just as he was covering his injured arm and looking for the next target, he suddenly heard someone shouting to himself: "Commander, commander......"

Shebelyuk turned to look at the soldier who shouted at him, and when he was about to open his mouth to ask, the other party pointed behind him and said excitedly: "Commander, look, reinforcements, our reinforcements have arrived!" ”

Shebelyuk looked in the direction of his finger and saw a force of several hundred men running quickly towards him. He fixed his eyes and saw that it was none other than Major Sakhno, the commander of the regiment, who was running at the front. Seeing the arrival of reinforcements, he couldn't help but be thrilled, and shouted at the commanders and fighters who were fighting with the Germans: "Comrades, our reinforcements have arrived, work harder and drive the Germans out of our positions." ”

Hearing Shebelyuk's shout, the morale of the Soviet commanders and fighters was immediately boosted, and the Germans were overwhelmed. When a regiment of commanders and fighters came up, there was a burst of crackling fire, and dozens of Germans were lowered to the ground. Seeing that the situation was not good, the German soldiers immediately turned around and ran back.

Seeing that the commanders and fighters of the regiment were about to follow the enemy, Shebelyuk hurriedly shouted: "Stop the pursuit, stop the pursuit, and immediately return to the trenches." With that, he grabbed him and passed past Sakhno, and together they hid in the trenches.

Puzzled, Sakhno asked: "Major Shebelyuk, the Germans have been repulsed by us, and now is a good time to pursue, why did you let us stop the pursuit?" ”

Shebelyuk said with a stern expression: "The German tanks are still not far away, and as soon as they see their infantry disengaging from us, they will immediately carry out shelling." Didn't you let the troops catch up, didn't you send them to their deaths? ”

As soon as Shebelyuk's words were finished, the German tanks parked in the distance began to fire, and the shells fell near the position and exploded, immediately knocking some commanders and fighters who could not dodge to the ground.

Fortunately, at this time, the rumbling of artillery sounded on the side of the Wopi River, and the Germans thought that the 16th Army was ready to cross the river to fight, so they hurriedly ordered the tanks to stop the shelling and transfer them to the river to strengthen the defense.

Seeing that the enemy's shelling stopped, Sakhno began to count the number of people. After ordering, he looked at Shebeliuk, and said with a somewhat complicated expression on his face: "Major Shebeliuk, my soldiers are fighting with the Germans with bayonets, and only two were sacrificed and a dozen were wounded. But in the shelling just now, I suffered more than 50 casualties. ”

Hearing Sakhno say this, Shebeliuk just smiled bitterly, and then changed the topic and asked, "By the way, Major Sakhno, why are you here?" ”

Sakhno pouted at the rear of the position and said, "It was Comrade Division Commander who saw that the situation here was not good, so he asked our regiment to reinforce you." ”

Shebelyuk raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder, and said gratefully: "Fortunately, you came in time, otherwise my regiment would have been completely lost in this white-knuckle battle." I really didn't expect that the Germans were so good at fighting bayonets. ”

Fierce positional battles were fought in the lower reaches of the Waupi River, while in the upper reaches there were one-sided routs. Since the Germans had transferred most of their forces from the upper reaches to the lower reaches to meet the troops of Lidyukov and Gryaznov, the defensive positions with empty troops in the offensive area of the 19th Army could not stop the fierce offensive of the Soviet troops at all.

The commander of the Soviet vanguard regiment, who had captured two settlements in succession, said to his men with a wry smile: "These Germans are running faster than rabbits, and I feel that we are not here to fight today, but to race against the Germans." After saying that, he immediately instructed the telegraph operator beside him, "Immediately report to the division commander that we are going to attack the next settlement, and ask him to immediately send troops to receive this settlement." ”

Rokossovsky, in his own command, received a telegram from Konev. He looked at the map for a long time, then slammed the table and shouted hello.

Seeing him so emotional, the faces of Lobachev, Kazakov and Malinin next to him were full of doubts. In the end, Lobachev asked: "Comrade commander, the current situation of the 1st Mobu Division is very bad, both regiments have almost been lost in the battle, why are you still applauding?" ”

"Comrade Military Commissar, come and see." Rokossovsky calmed his emotions for a moment, pointed to the map and said: "The shape of the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Vopi River resembles a bow. You see, the offensive line of General Konev's 19th Army, which began from the upstream, was a straight line. ”

Lobachev looked at the map, and then said disapprehantly: "I can see that the Vopi River is a bow, and the offensive route of General Konev's troops is like a bowstring......" At this point, he was suddenly stunned, and then he was shocked, and said in surprise, "Comrade commander, do you mean that if General Konev's troops maintain the current line of attack, as long as they join forces with Gryaznov's troops, then the German troops deployed on the Vopi River will be surrounded by us." ”

Rokossovsky saw that Lobachev's thoughts coincided with his own, so he smiled and nodded, and said affirmatively: "That's right, Comrade Military Commissar, judging from the current situation, it is very likely that this German army will be surrounded by us. ”

"Comrade commander," Malinin interjected, "the key to encircling this German force is whether the 1st Division of General Lidyukov can hold back the enemy's ferocious attack. If the enemy tore a gap in them, then our encirclement would be meaningless. ”

Kazakov continued: "Judging by the current situation, the defense of Colonel Lidyukov's 1st Motor Infantry Division is still very good. They withstood three ferocious attacks by the enemy, making it impossible for the enemy to repel or destroy them. Of course, our troops have also paid a huge price, as far as I know, the positions are already very difficult at the moment, the combat potential of the troops has been almost depleted, and we now have to figure out how long they can continue to hold out with their current capabilities. ”

Rokossovsky said: "I knew Colonel Lidyukov before the war, he was an excellent commander with a lot of combat experience, and I think he should still have hidden strength and be ready to use it in a decisive battle with the Germans." Chief of Staff," he turned to Malinin, "you immediately send a telegram to Colonel Lidyukov and ask him how many troops he still has in his hands and how long he can hold out in his existing positions?" ”

"Yes." Malinin agreed, and went to send a report to Lidyukov.

As soon as he walked to the walkie-talkie, the operator handed him a slender roll of telegram and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, this is a telegram just sent by the First Mobu Division." ”

After opening the telegram and reading it for a while, Malinin quickly walked back to Rokossovsky and reported with some emotion: "Comrade commander, Colonel Lidyukov is calling. He said that he currently has a fully equipped three regiments, an artillery regiment and a tank detachment, ready to be used at the most critical moment. He wants to ask you when you can use his reserves. ”

Rokossovsky raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then said: "Chief of staff, you go and call Lidyukov back, saying that at the moment the troops of the 19th Army are progressing well, they have occupied a number of settlements and villages in the rear of the enemy's flank, and are advancing to the depth of the enemy's defense. Let them hold out until dark anyway, and the encirclement of the Germans may be completed. ”

After receiving Rokossovsky's telegram, Lidyukov read it several times, and then said to his chief of staff: "Chief of staff, look at this telegram from the commander, although he did not say when we would use the reserves, but mentioned that we should hold out until dark. Was he implying that we should launch a counterattack against the Germans in front of us after dark? ”

The chief of staff read Rokossovsky's telegram twice, then nodded and said: "Comrade division commander, I have contacted Colonel Gryazhnov, although they have also been attacked by the Germans, but the intensity of the attack is obviously not as great as ours. As soon as the units of the 19th Army have completed the encirclement of the Germans, then the enemy will certainly choose us as a breakthrough, so that by that time we will be able to put three regiments and artillery regiments and tank detachments into battle. ”

The German commanders were deeply confused by the artillery shelling of German positions on the west bank of the Woppi River, as well as the feints of the 108th Division to cross the river. They thought that the Soviets wanted to take advantage of the dispersion of the German forces and cross the Wopi River by surprise, so they redeployed the troops that were preparing to attack Lidyukov's division to the river.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the German commander found that the so-called river crossing operation of the Soviet troops on the east bank of the river was thunder and rain, and finally realized that he had been deceived. By the time they tried to regroup their forces to attack the positions of Lidyukov's division, it seemed that it was too late.

The vanguard of the 19th Army pursued a fleeing German army. Seeing that the enemy in cars and motorcycles was about to disappear from under his nose, suddenly a fierce gunfire rang out in front of him. When the commander of the vanguard regiment heard the continuous gunfire in front of him, he couldn't help but stop, and asked the deputy regiment commander beside him in surprise: "I said comrade deputy regiment commander, isn't our regiment the vanguard of the whole army?" Why did other troops run ahead of us? ”

The deputy regimental commander listened sideways, and then replied: "Commander, our commanders and fighters have never stopped along the way, and even if a friendly army wants to overtake us, they will be discovered." Since we did not see any friendly troops overtaking us, and there was a fierce battle ahead, there was only one possibility: the troops of the 16th Army were engaged in a fierce battle with the Germans. ”

After hearing this, the regiment commander could not help but be overjoyed, and he hurriedly called a lieutenant and ordered: "Comrade lieutenant, your reconnaissance company immediately sent people to the front to reconnoiter and find out what was going on. Do you understand? ”

"Understood!" The lieutenant agreed, and ran to the front with a few fighters.

Looking at the back of the lieutenant and their departure, the deputy regiment commander asked tentatively: "Comrade regiment commander, do you need to immediately report the news that we are about to join forces with friendly forces to the division commander?" ”

After hearing this, the regiment commander waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, we'll report after the reconnaissance company understands the situation." ”

Ten minutes later, the lieutenant hurried back and excitedly reported: "Report to the regimental commander, in front of you is the 64th Infantry Division of Colonel Gryaznov, and they are blocking and defeating the retreating enemy. Then he pointed to an officer next to him and added, "This is a liaison officer sent by friendly forces." ”

When the regimental commander heard the lieutenant's report, the stone hanging in his heart fell to the ground, and he immediately ordered the operator: "Send a report to the division headquarters that we have joined forces with Colonel Gryaznov's troops. ”

The news was reported one after another, and soon it reached Konev. After reading the telegram, Konev showed a smug look on his face, and he directly ordered the chief of staff: "Send a report to the headquarters of the front army, saying that our unit has joined up with friendly forces in the lower reaches of the Wopi River after bold assaults and intersperses, and the German troops stationed on the west bank of the Wopi River have fallen into the encirclement of our army." (To be continued.) )