When the German commander saw his soldiers, under the fire of the MG42 machine gun, they fell in the snow in pieces, and they couldn't help but retreat. He knew very well that to continue the attack was to send the soldiers to their deaths; Choosing to retreat, although it can reduce the casualties of the troops, but if you make your own assertions, you may be sent to a military court.

But he was worried about what decision he would soon make. A bullet hit him in the chest, and after two spins in place, he fell to the snow, blood gushing from his wounds, and soon stained the snow beneath him.

Seeing the commander who led the charge, killed by the bullets of the Soviet troops. The German soldiers, who had participated in the battle for the first time, panicked, and some timid soldiers turned around and ran back without saying a word. Their flight immediately had a chain reaction, with more soldiers and even some officers joining the fleeing band.

Yegor, who was watching the battle from the water tower, saw that the enemy was beginning to flee, so he quickly picked up the phone that was put aside and said loudly into the microphone: "Commander of the first battalion, attack!" ”

"Yes!" The commander of the first battalion who received the call hurriedly and loudly agreed, threw the microphone to the signal soldier, walked quickly to his horse, turned over his horse, and shouted to the cavalry soldiers lined up nearby: "Brothers, follow me!" ”

A battalion of soldiers brandished sabers and roared out of the station, and the sound of the iron hooves of hundreds of war horses trampling on it was like rolling thunder, and the ground trembled. The fleeing Germans were stunned by the sound of rumbling horses' hooves.

As the Germans watched in horror, the Soviet cavalry crashed straight into their ranks, their jumping hooves breaking the spines of the soldiers and stamping them into the snow. The sabers of the horsemen on horseback flashed with cold light in their hands, and slashed backwards, the sharp blades slashing the standing soldiers to the ground. Even if the soldiers who reacted more quickly raised their guns to resist the cavalry's sabers, they were split into two pieces by the guns of the people under the impact of this high speed. Wherever the cavalry passed, in an instant, hundreds of soldiers fell in pools of blood.

The remaining German soldiers, seeing that the Soviet cavalry was so strong, where did they still have the courage to continue fighting, they threw away their weapons one after another, raised their hands and surrendered.

Yegor, who was standing on the water tower, saw that the enemy who was attacking the station was actually eliminated so easily, and said with some disdain: "Comrade division commander, you see, the enemy is really too weak. They sent a battalion, and our regiment wiped them all out at almost no cost. When Blicori heard Yegor say this, he just turned his head to look at him, and without speaking, he raised his binoculars and looked into the distance.

Seeing that the division commander did not answer his words, Yegor continued to himself: "Comrade division commander, I don't know when the 23rd Cavalry Regiment and the 28th Cavalry Regiment will arrive here, it is better for our regiment to attack the city in front, maybe it will be easy to take it." ”

Blicori couldn't help but frown when he heard Yegor behave so lightly. He put down the binoculars in his hand, turned to Yegor and said: "Comrade Colonel, do not think that because you have won two battles, you will think that the enemy is a fragile crumb, and you will suffer sooner or later. ”

Yegor, who had been criticized, was somewhat unconvinced and said: "Comrade division commander, you have also seen that the German soldiers who participated in the battle had no combat experience and dared to attack us without fire cover. ”

After waiting for Yegor to finish, Blikori said in a deep voice: "We now have only one regiment of troops, and if we want to attack the city of Arunstein, which has strong fortifications, it is simply looking for death. Not to mention that the Germans had a division in the city, even if they only had one battalion, as long as they relied on strong fortifications for defense, our army, lacking heavy weapons, would not be able to storm into the city at all. ”

Yegor felt extremely depressed when he saw that his proposal was rejected by Blicori without hesitation. Just as he was sullen, he heard Blicori continue: "Your defenses around the station are too weak and need to be strengthened. Taking advantage of the fact that the enemy is not attacking, you immediately organize your men and dig trenches on the east side of the station......"

Although Yegor was 10,000 reluctant to Blicori's order, he felt that the other party was doing too much. But since it was the division commander who had spoken, he could only obey unconditionally, and he hurriedly called the two battalion commanders of the second and third battalions and ordered them to hurry up and dig a trench east of the station, facing the direction of Aerenstein.

Hearing Yegor's order, the commanders and fighters who had just won the battle were very uncomfortable, feeling that the enemy they had destroyed was vulnerable, and as a result, the regimental commander not only did not immediately attack the city, but asked everyone to stay and dig fortifications, so everyone was full of complaints. But it didn't take long for them to change their minds, thinking that this order of the regiment commander was really too far-sighted, and they actually judged in advance that the Germans would launch a new offensive.

When the fortifications of the 2nd and 3rd battalions had just been completed, and Yegor was about to ask Brakov to inspect it, he suddenly heard the scream of shells piercing the air from the air.

After a loud bang, he looked up and found Blicori still standing still, and then he remembered that he was staying on the highest water tower in the station, and if it became a target for German artillery fire, he would not be able to escape death, whether he was standing or lying down.

Yegor hurriedly stood up and said to Blicori in a somewhat anxious manner: "Comrade division commander, the shell just now was a test shot by the enemy, it is too dangerous here, let's leave as soon as possible." ”

Brakov removed the telescope from his eyes, turned his face sideways and said to Yegor: "Comrade Colonel, what are you panicking about?" There is no place in the station with such a wide view except here, and it is not too late for us to leave here after we have at least figured out the strength and firepower of the German army. ”

As soon as Bliccory finished speaking, the German heavy artillery bombardment began, perhaps considering that there was a large amount of weapons and equipment in the station, in order to prevent the jade from burning, so their artillery fire was concentrated on bombarding the fortifications outside the station.

The expression on Blicori's face became serious as he looked at the position enveloped in smoke and fire, so he realized that the artillery fire was not coming from Aerenstein to the east, but from the northeast of the station. He put down his binoculars, pointed in the northeast direction, and said to Yegor: "Comrade Major, according to my judgment, the Germans may attack from your northeast direction, and you must place enough troops in this direction to resist by relying on the station building, using the platforms and attached buildings in the station, and buying time for our main forces to arrive." ”

At this moment, Yegor finally realized that he had just underestimated the enemy, but he repelled a force with little combat experience, so he didn't know what his surname was. The enemy, who is now shelling the positions on the outskirts of the station, looks like a strong force with a lot of combat experience. If they attack here with all their might, they don't know if they can stop it. Thinking of this, he immediately picked up the phone on the side and called the battalion commanders to ask them to prepare for battle as soon as possible.

Blicori, on the other hand, instructed the telegraph operator sitting on the side: "Send a report to the division headquarters that the Germans are about to attack the station occupied by our army, and order the 23rd Cavalry Regiment and the 28th Cavalry Regiment to immediately speed up the march and rush to the station to join the 25th Cavalry Regiment to jointly resist the German attack." ”

After the shelling stopped, the German offensive began again. However, this time they were no longer attacking from the east, and a large number of infantry were also charged from the northeast, accompanied by tanks.

Seeing a large group of enemies appearing from both directions at the same time, Blicori's expression became serious. In order to ensure mobility, the cavalry regiment did not carry many heavy weapons, and although a lot of MG42 general-purpose machine guns were captured at the station, the number of fighters who could use machine guns was limited, and they could not overwhelm the enemy in firepower.

In order for the troops to hold out until the main force arrived, Blicori asked Yegor to tell every soldier that the main force was about to arrive, and that as long as they could repel the enemy attacking in front of them, it would be a great victory.

After relaying Blikory's words to the battalion commanders, Yegor looked at the tanks coming in the distance and said with some concern: "Comrade division commander, we have no anti-tank weapons, and we can't stop the enemy's tanks at all. ”

"Tell the fighters to let the German tanks rush in, and then use fire to destroy the infantry that is following behind." Blicori said coldly: "Tanks don't have the cover of infantry, and it's much easier for us to deal with them." ”

The enemy who rushed from the east did not rush forward as stupidly as they had in the previous attack. They rushed to the station in shifts, following a dozen tanks that had been improvised together, and stepped through the snow.

The cavalry soldiers who were stuck in the trenches, in the face of the German tanks and infantry rushing in, were very calm and did not shoot early to expose their targets. It was not until the enemy approached the range of 150 meters that the machine-gun fire began, and many unlucky German soldiers fell under the guns at the sound of "Hitler's chainsaw" tearing linen.

However, the German offensive this time was no longer as reckless as the previous round. The tanks, which accompanied the infantry charge, immediately stopped and bombarded with artillery fire as soon as they found the exposed Soviet fire. The German tankmen were very accurate, and almost two or three guns could destroy a single point of fire of the Soviet army. In just three minutes, all MG42 machine gun fire points of the Soviet army were destroyed, and the machine gun shooters and their machine guns were blown to pieces by shells.

"Hell, hell." Seeing this, Yegor, who was standing on the water tower, was so angry that he punched the wall a few times and said angrily: "When did the Germans become so good at fighting? ”

"Colonel, the enemy who is attacking now, and the enemy we have just repulsed, is not at all of the same grade." Pointing to the enemy who was rushing towards the station, Blikori said to Yegor: "The first group of the enemy, apparently not in battle, actually discharged a dense position during the attack, so that after being intercepted by our machine-gun fire, they will suffer heavy casualties. The attacking enemy is composed of a group of enemies with rich combat experience, and you can see this just by looking at their formation and the level of skill and tactics they show. ”

"But," Yegor said with some unconvincing, "since they are veterans with combat experience, why didn't they use it in the last round of battles, but sent a group of recruits to their deaths." ”

Blicori sighed and said, "It's not that the German commanders didn't want to send experienced veterans, but because they didn't have these veterans in their hands at that time. You can tell from the uniforms of these soldiers that they must have been thrown into battle shortly after arriving in Aerenstein. It will be absolutely very difficult for me to hold the station with just one of you. ”

When Yegor heard Brakov say this, a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He thought that not long ago, because he was worried that the other two regiments would compete with him, he couldn't wait to lead his troops to attack Aaronstein, and if it wasn't for the division commander to stop it in time, maybe he would have met these elite German troops who had just arrived. Although the Germans were exhausted after the long journey, it was not easy to pack up their own army, which had no heavy weapons.

Blicori carefully observed the situation on the battlefield and felt that even if he threw his 6th Guards Cavalry Division into battle, it would be very difficult to defeat the invading enemy. Thinking of this, he again instructed the telegrapher: "To the army commander, General Oslikovsky, say that after the 25th Guards Cavalry Regiment of our division successfully occupied the Arunstein station, it was counterattacked by the Germans. Due to the limited strength of our troops and the lack of heavy weapons, I am afraid that it will be difficult to resist the German offensive, so we ask the army to send friendly troops to support. ”

If Blicory had sent such a telegram to the military headquarters a few hours earlier, perhaps Yegor would have thought that he was making a fuss, a German army that had not been on the battlefield, no matter how numerous it was, was no match for his own battle-hardened cavalry team, so why bother to make more moves and ask friendly troops to cooperate?

Yegor saw a German tank that had passed through the rudimentary trenches of the 2nd Battalion and was heading towards the station. Fortunately, the infantry, which followed behind the tank, was blocked by the fighters of the second battalion. Tanks that have lost infantry support will probably be blown up by soldiers with cluster grenades in a short period of time.

For the sake of Blicory's safety, Yegor once again proposed to the other party: "Comrade division commander, the German tanks have broken through the defense line of the 2nd Battalion and rushed into the station, let's move as soon as possible, if it's too late, it will be too late." ”

The tank that rushed into the station, Blickori also saw it, and he knew that if he continued to stay here, Yegor would not be able to command the battle with peace of mind, so he nodded in agreement, and then left the observation post located above the water tower with Yegor.