The refugees who gathered in Simon Town to cross the river saw that the refugees who crossed the river first were strafed by Soviet planes, some were killed by bullets, but many more were squeezed into the river by others or jumped into the river themselves in a panic. Although the plane only fired one round, few of the refugees who fell into the river were able to climb ashore without any problems, and most of them were frozen in the water and sank to the bottom.

What happened to the refugees in front of them frightened the refugees who were still waiting to cross the river in the town, and some of the refugees who fled back from the pontoon bridge exacerbated this fear. So much so that the planes of the Soviet army had already flown away, but the refugees preferred to hide in the town than risk crossing the river, fearing that they would repeat the mistakes of the past.

Seeing that the refugees were crowded to the west of the town, and that they were reluctant to cross the river, Rolf proposed to Lüdeck: "Your Excellency, you have all seen, the refugees are frightened by the Russian plane. Since they don't dare to cross the river, do you think we let our troops cross the river first? Otherwise, we will all be crammed into this town, and once a large number of Russian bombers arrive, our troops will suffer huge losses. ”

Rüdek hesitated for a long time about Rolf's proposal, but finally nodded and agreed: "Immediately send someone to evacuate the refugees crowded by the bridge, so that they can make a way for our soldiers." We must take advantage of the fact that there are no Russian planes in the sky at this moment and cross to the other side as soon as possible. ”

As the order was given, the refugees, who were crowded by the river and did not dare to cross the river without delay, were driven aside by the soldiers who had arrived from the town to make way for the troops who were about to cross the river. The women and children among the refugees thought that the army was ready to abandon them and flee for their lives alone. For a moment, cries and shouts rang out by the river.

But after the refugees made way for the town's troops, the river crossing began again. The soldiers feared that Soviet planes would arrive at any moment, so as soon as they got on the bridge, they trotted forward without waiting for the officer's order.

Lüdecker asked his chief of staff: "How long will it take for the 73rd Infantry Division on the right to reach Simon?" ”

"They had just withdrawn from the battle and needed to regroup, and at the same time they had to draw their forces to deal with the pursuing forces of the Russians." The chief of staff said cautiously: "I don't think I can reach Simon Town until noon tomorrow at the earliest." ”

"No, they're too slow. Tomorrow at noon, perhaps the main force of the Russians has already surrounded Simon, and then we will have to fight another breakout battle. Rüdek frowned and said, "If the Russians arrive, we will pay huge casualties if we want to cross the Vistula River smoothly from the pontoon bridge." General Rolf! ”

Hearing Lüdecker call out his name, Rolf hurriedly agreed: "Your Excellency, Commander, what instructions do you have?" ”

Pointing to the map on the table, Lüdeck said to Rolf: "General Rolf, you immediately send men to Kulm, north of Simon's town, and try to establish a new crossing there. In this way, we can leave a part of our forces behind when the Russians besiege the town of Simon, while the main force retreats to Kulm in time. ”

"Your Excellency, your decision is very wise." Hearing Lüdek's order to Rolf, the chief of staff hurriedly said flatteringly: "Kulm is close to the forest, even if our army is attacked by the Russians when crossing the river there, and our crossing operation is interrupted, we can calmly retreat to the nearby forest and continue to deal with the Russians." Then choose the right time to cross the river to Schwyz and join the defenders there. ”

As soon as Rolf left the headquarters, the roar of aircraft engines could be heard outside. Hearing this voice, the chief of staff was suddenly frightened into a cold sweat, he grabbed Ludek's arm, dragged him out desperately, and shouted in his mouth: "Your Excellency, the Russian bomber formation is coming, hurry up and transfer." ”

Unexpectedly, Ludek gently broke free of his hand, shook his head and said, "Chief of Staff, don't worry, the Russians will never bomb the town, because they just knew that there are thousands of civilians in the town. In my estimation, they will definitely bombard the west bank of the Vistula to cut off our retreat and buy time for their ground forces to encircle us. ”

What happened next, as Lydek had anticipated, a squadron of bombers skimmed over the town of Simon towards the west bank of the Vistula River to prevent the Germans from crossing the river from this section. The German troops, who arrived on the west bank, saw the Soviet bombers flying over, and immediately scattered and hidden.

When the Germans saw the appearance of Soviet bomber formations, they immediately stopped crossing the river. The soldiers who arrived in the West Bank also decisively looked for suitable places to hide. Due to the proper precautions, the ground was blazing and the smoke was billowing from the bombing, but the casualties of the German soldiers in the bombing were not serious. The pontoon bridges connecting the banks of the Vistula also survived the bombardment.

After dropping all the bombs they carried, the Soviet planes turned around and returned one after another. Seeing the departure of the Soviet planes, the German soldiers all breathed a sigh of relief, and they came out of their hiding places and prepared to continue crossing the river and transferring. Who knew that a new round of river crossing operations had just begun, and a Soviet bomber formation appeared in the sky.

Seeing the new Soviet bomber formation, the German soldiers thought that they had just flown away, so they did not disperse and hide, but continued to cross the bridge in a neat formation. When they saw the bombers swooping down on them, the soldiers thought they were scaring them, and some of them even pointed at the pilot.

Immediately after the Soviet bombers lowered their altitude, they began to strafe and drop bombs. The bullets sprayed by the machine guns were like whips of fire, slamming the enemy soldiers fiercely, drawing them to a bloody blur; The fragments of the explosion sliced the soldiers near the explosion point in pieces. For a time, the blood of the Germans stained the white ice.

Rolf, who was standing on the shore, saw that his soldiers had suffered heavy casualties in the strafing and bombing of Soviet planes, and hurriedly shouted at the soldiers who were still in a daze on the pontoon bridge: "Lie down, lie down quickly!" However, the sound of gunfire and explosions drowned out his shouting, and even the soldiers who were close at hand could not hear what he was shouting, let alone those in the distance.

Fortunately, the German soldiers were well-trained, and after being bombed, they would take various countermeasures in a timely manner, even if there was no order from the commander. Some quickened their pace and continued to rush forward along the pontoon, trying to find a safe place to hide on the opposite bank in the shortest possible time; Others jumped off the pontoon bridge and threw themselves on the ice, trying to dodge the flying shrapnel and life-threatening bullets.