Without waiting for the squad leader who went to reconnoiter to return, the Germans began shelling. The shell landed near the ski detachment and exploded, and in the dazzling light of the fire, Guchakov saw that the surrounding trees were from time to time blown off by the shell, or exploded into several pieces and thrown into the air. The thick snow was lifted by the air wave and fell on him overwhelmingly.

Guchakov, who was buried half of his body in the snow, listened carefully for a moment, and with his many years of combat experience, he heard that the heavy artillery that was being shelled would not be less than 20 pieces. "Hell, what the hell is going on?" He cursed in his heart, why did the Germans, who fled in a hurry, deploy so many heavy artillery in this place? Could it be that their rout was a conspiracy to lead the main forces into their ambush circle?

Realizing that the Germans had so much heavy artillery, Guchakov's first reaction was to send someone back to report to the division commander Vamko, saying that there was a large number of German heavy artillery here, and the enemy's rout could be a conspiracy. However, his shouts were muffled by the rumbling of artillery around him, and no one heard his shouts from the soldiers who were hiding nearby.

Vamko, who was directing the pursuit of his troops, saw the red light of the explosion of the shells in the distance and heard the rumbling sound of cannonballs. He ordered the driver to stop, then stood on the hood of the jeep and raised his binoculars to look into the distance. Unfortunately, due to the obscuration of the forest, he could not see anything clearly except the light of the fire and the smoke of gunpowder.

A regiment commander came to his side and asked him for instructions: "Comrade division commander, the situation ahead is unknown, should we stop the pursuit and send someone to find out the situation first?" ”

Vamko put down his binoculars, looked down at the regiment commander standing next to the car, shook his head and said: "No, comrade regiment commander, our pursuit must not stop. Tell your warriors to bite the enemy so tightly that they can't stop to build a defense, so that we can destroy them at the least cost. ”

"But, Comrade Division." The regiment commander pointed into the distance and said in embarrassment: "Listen to the sound of artillery in the distance, it is obviously the heavy artillery of the German army." It seems that our intelligence is wrong, and we are not fighting a regiment of the German army, but at least a division of troops. ”

"The original order remains unchanged, and your regiment continues to pursue." After getting out of the hood with the help of the guards, Vamko said to the regiment commander with a serious expression: "Remember, if you get entangled with the enemy, the enemy's heavy artillery will be useless." Execute the order! ”

The regimental commander reluctantly agreed, returned to his troops, and continued to chase the fleeing Germans. Vamko looked at the departing back of the regiment commander and thought to himself that if the German army in front was really a division, then with his current strength, it would be very difficult to eat the enemy, and he would have to get the support of friendly forces. Thinking of this, he immediately called the telegraph operator and ordered: "Send a telegram to the front headquarters, saying that in the course of our pursuit, the vanguard has been bombarded by German heavy artillery, and there may be a large army of the enemy in front, please order the friendly troops to quickly move closer to us." ”

The rumbling sound of artillery in the distance was also heard by many people in the headquarters. The artillery commander, General Sokolsky, was far more familiar with artillery than Guchakov, who was being shelled. He walked outside the door and listened for a while, then walked back and reported to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, the artillery that the Germans are firing is 150 mm K39 heavy guns, and there are about 21 of them. ”

"What, a regiment of Germans actually has so many artillery?" As soon as Sokolisky's words were finished, Bogolyubov was shocked, he stared at Rokossovsky and said in a bit of a panic: "Comrade Marshal, it seems that the intelligence of the 81st Infantry Division is wrong, the enemy is not a regiment, but a division or even more troops, otherwise they would not have so many heavy artillery. ”

Rokossovsky did not speak, but walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. Su Bojing, who was sitting at the table, stared at his figure for a while, and then said to Bogolyubov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, tell me, why did the Germans place their artillery so far away?" ”

To Subotin's question, Bogolyubov thought for a while and replied: "I think the Germans probably put the artillery in that position because of the range of the artillery." Comrade Marshal," he turned to look at Rokossovsky, who was still pacing, "what should we do now?" Do you order your troops to stop and wait until you have a clear picture of the strength of the German army before deciding whether to attack or not? ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, if the strength of the German army is really a division or more, as you say, then we must not only not stop the offensive now, but on the contrary, speed up the attack, so that the enemy assembled in that area cannot be effectively deployed." Saying this, Rokossovsky stopped and instructed Bogolyubov: "Immediately send a telegram to the troops that are approaching us, tell them to speed up their march, be sure to arrive before dawn, and encircle and annihilate this group of enemies." ”

Bogolyubov had expected Rokossovsky to order the troops to halt for a moment and wait until the German forces and equipment in the area were ascertained before taking the next step. Unexpectedly, the other party actually gave the order for a general attack without hesitation, and couldn't help but hesitate. Seeing Bogolyubov standing still and not moving, Rokossovsky couldn't help frowning: "Chief of Staff, what are you still doing standing here, didn't you hear my orders clearly?" ”

After Bogolyubov left, Rokossovsky said to Sokolisky: "Comrade artillery commander, immediately contact all the artillery that can be contacted, carry out artillery bombardment on the area where the German troops are assembled, and we must kill their heavy artillery in the shortest possible time, so as to relieve the pressure on our next encirclement and annihilation work." ”

Sokolisky, after calculating in his heart the artillery forces he could muster, nodded and replied: "Understood, Comrade Marshal, I will go and send a telegram to the artillery units, ordering them to shell the area where the German heavy artillery is located." ”

The squad leader sent by Guchakov to carry out reconnaissance missions, after seeing clearly the strength and equipment of the German army, could not help but be frightened into a cold sweat. When he was about to return with his people to report to Guchakov, he was discovered by the Germans, and dozens of soldiers rushed towards their hiding place with guns. Seeing that the situation was not good, the two soldiers accompanying them hurriedly said to the squad leader: "Captain, we will leave cover, you go back and report to the lieutenant." ”

The squad leader knew that the situation he had detected was extremely important and that he had to report it to his superiors immediately, so when he heard his subordinates say this, he didn't pretentiously, just nodded at the two of them, and ran back with a hard grip on his poles and sled. There was a dense burst of gunfire behind him, but it quickly calmed down, and the team leader knew that his subordinates should have been sacrificed, his eyes couldn't help but become moist, and he desperately waved the snow pole in his hand, just wanting to send the reconnaissance information back as soon as possible.

When he arrived at the place where he had just been hiding, he found that the original woods and snow were long gone, and there were craters more than a man deep and still emitting green smoke everywhere. Fortunately, the blackened trunks of the trees at the edge of the pit were still bubbling with flames, illuminating the surroundings as if it were day. The squad leader put the sled aside, stumbled between the crater and the scorched wood, and shouted loudly at the top of his voice: "Comrade lieutenant, comrade lieutenant, where are you?" ”