Most of the fighters baked extra potatoes in the morning, and they were eaten for lunch. The soldiers also carried some dry food such as biscuit powder, and even a small amount of canned food.

Because you are already on the front line, collecting firewood and lighting a campfire at the moment may be an act of surprise.

Along the way, the alert scouts found no footprints on the dirt road they were treading on, no footprints of others, and no rut marks. Perhaps the Germans did not send patrols here, but there must be an enemy in Loyev, and even the situation of the enemy is very unclear. What exactly is the strength of the enemy? It is also necessary to conduct reconnaissance after the troops have settled down.

Rychev ordered: "Before tomorrow, all staff are forbidden to light fires." We'll eat the dry food we have on hand, and wait until tomorrow when the battle really begins, and then choose the opportunity to regenerate the fire and roast the potatoes! ”

No one dares to disobey stupidly, and everyone knows what is at stake.

The fighters cut down some small trees, cut them into small pieces, and with the soil in the woods, repaired some of the suggested machine-gun positions. The camp quickly became a circular area surrounded by more than twenty machine-gun positions, after which Rychev was relieved.

He gave the order for the whole battalion to rest for two hours, after which he decided to personally take some people with him and launch the first reconnaissance of Loyev.

Most of the soldiers were eating, they had eaten a lot of potatoes, and a large number of soldiers had reached the time, and after eating, with a trembling stomach, they went to the edge of the camp and squatted down for a while. The air in the camp even smelled of it, and Rychev was a little worried about whether the stench would be smelled by the enemy from afar.

He didn't like potatoes as a military ration, because of his training, he knew that beef and bread kept soldiers strong at all times. Potatoes are eaten because people have no choice.

By two o'clock in the afternoon, it was time for action.

"A company commander!"

"Here!"

"Shkav! Now gather your men, unload your heavy gear, and get ready to scout with me! ”

"Yes!"

The able company commander quickly assembled his men, and the soldiers were all dressed lightly according to the order, and they even took off their backpacks, wearing only their belts, a small amount of ammunition, and a gun.

Looking at them, Rychev nodded: "Very good, continuous march, your Jingsen appearance satisfies me." ”

"Hey, hey! You're laughing! We are paratroopers, and this difficulty is not difficult for us! Company commander Shkav said confidently.

"Your words are very relevant. Come on, let's get moving. ”

Rychev estimated that the camp he was now arranged, with its powerful firepower, could stop the attack of a reorganized German regiment, what else was there to worry about? His only concern was the outcome of this crucial reconnaissance, and he had the burden of trying to figure out as much as possible the layout of Loyev's city, the enemy's firepower, and estimate the enemy's strength.

Led by Rychev himself, more than 100 fighters lined up in an inverted triangle offensive formation, and one after another battle groups continued to use the big trees as a cover, starting from their camp and advancing straight to the edge of the woods. He already knew the location of his camp, and as long as the current map planning was correct, he could actually walk another two kilometers to ambush at the edge of the forest, and raise a high-powered telescope to spy on the small city occupied by the Germans.

That's how they marched, everyone was careful.

However, the unexpected always comes unexpectedly!

The vast number of soldiers heard the abnormal tremors, and all the officers and men found the nearest big tree to serve as a bunker and squatted down.

The company commander Shikav crawled to the position of the battalion commander and asked, "Battalion commander, what is this noise?" Could it be some kind of enemy machine? Or maybe it's an armored car?! ”

"Even armored vehicles are not afraid, we have PRGs." As he spoke, Rychev motioned for everyone to be quiet.

The noise is a low roar, it has no rhythmic pattern, and as time goes on, the new noise gets louder and louder, and the shaking of the earth becomes more pronounced.

Now there is no need to suspect anything, the source of the noise is none other than the train!

Rychev immediately became nervous, and he quickly pulled the map out of his coat pocket, carefully looking for the railway lines that existed here.

The target city of Loyev was the strategic focus of the Soviet army, which was the node of the railway spur line. The railway is not a main road, and the capacity here is very bad in peacetime. Because Loyev is a city in the cracks of a large marshland, not far to the south is the huge Pripet marsh, and directly to the north is a swamp.

The city is located at the confluence of the upper reaches of the Dnieper and the Sozh rivers, in the triangle where the two rivers meet, in a marshy area of twenty square kilometers called the Denippraze region. The marshy area in the north of the city is somewhat similar to the core area of the guerrilla republic, that is, the land is soft, and there are a large number of rivers and ponds, and it is also a place where migratory birds are willing to come to nest and breed in autumn and winter.

Rychev learned some of the history of this city a whole year ago, and that many of the Soviet troops who escaped from the southern flank of the Vitebsk pocket fled to the interior. Some of them withdrew from Gomel and from Zhilobin all the way east. For example, the original large army of the 63rd Army, because of the delay in retreat, had to fight in Zhiluobin, and finally the whole army was annihilated.

So shortly after the outbreak of the war, Loyev was occupied by the Germans, and it had been occupied for almost a whole year. Rychev had the ideal belief that there were no Soviet citizens here, only a large number of German soldiers, or puppet soldiers who had betrayed their homeland.

At that time, the Soviet troops were also using trains when they retreated, because the withdrawal was very hasty, and the serious shortage of weapons and ammunition at hand, they were unable to blow up the railway bridge at all. Today, the train is still running on this railway spur line, and its direction of action is also clearly to the west, and it is clear that the Germans are already making full use of this spur line.

"Comrades! The enemy took advantage of our railroad and must have taken advantage of our trains! The huge amount of supplies they plundered from our land was brought back to Germany, and the train must have passed through that damn bridge first! Comrades, let's change our plans, and all of us will follow me to the north! ”

By Rychev's orders, the team shifted direction and increased the pace of action.

After running two kilometers north, the spearhead finally saw the railway line.

More than 10 years ago, in order to strengthen the capacity of the railway in Belarus, the Soviet Union opened a small number of branch lines near the main railway line. The map shows that the branch line runs through the forests of this area, and the railway starts in Gomel, runs south along the right bank of the Dnieper, crosses the river in Loyev, and connects to the main railway line to the city of Chernihiv.

In that year, the Soviet Union mobilized a large number of people, especially villagers and citizens near Loyev, to participate in cutting down trees and carving a road in the forest. Professional railway workers were able to quickly complete the laying of the branch line east of Loyev.

This branch line is not actually used much in peacetime, and it is mainly responsible for transporting high-quality round logs from logging sites near Chernihiv to Belarus, and it is also another route for transporting Belarusian supplies to Ukraine.

The branch line has two sets of railroad tracks, so the train runs in both directions.

The eyes of the spearheads were keen, and they knew from the current state of the railroad that it was already used regularly. Lo and behold, the tracks have been polished by the wheels of the train!