At dawn the next day, the German troops who had broken through the siege split into three routes, quietly left the fortress, and marched northwest along the Vistula River to carry out the breakout.

The Soviet infantry division was in charge of the defense in this direction, and since the division commander believed that the Germans in the fortress were turtles in the urn, they would not take the initiative to leave the fortress at all, except for waiting in the fortress to be destroyed by the Soviet troops. Therefore, he lacked sufficient vigilance and deployed only an infantry battalion of less than 200 men at a distance of 800 meters from the fortress.

The Germans who broke through thought that from the moment they left the fortress, they would engage in a fierce exchange of fire with the Soviet troops, but it was not until they approached the Soviet positions that they were discovered by a sentry on duty.

Seeing the dense German troops outside the position, the sentry was so frightened that his legs were weak, but fortunately he did not forget his duty, and hurriedly fired a warning shot, and then shot at the German soldiers who rushed over. If he had been armed with a submachine gun, he might have been able to stop the Germans for a while, but unfortunately he used a pull-bolt Mosin Nagant rifle, and he had to pull the trigger once for one shot, and before the five rounds in the magazine were finished, he fell under the Germans' random guns.

The commanders and fighters in the battalion were all asleep in the shelter, and when they were awakened by the gunfire outside, most of them just opened their eyes in a daze, wondering why the guns were fired outside, could it be that the sentry guns on duty had gone off?

After the battalion commander was awakened by the sound of gunfire, he listened to the outside for a moment, and then he heard the sound of German Mauser rifles and submachine guns in addition to the gunfire of Mosin Nagant, and he immediately realized that the enemy might have touched it, and he didn't care about putting on his clothes, so he rushed out of the cover with a pistol, and at the same time shouted loudly: "Battle alarm, battle alarm!" He shouted as he shot at the German soldiers who appeared in his field of vision.

Hearing the shouts and gunfire of the battalion commander, more commanders and fighters came to their senses, and they rushed out of the shelter with their weapons in hand, trying to stop the Germans from rushing to their positions. However, it was too late, and the German officers and soldiers, who were anxious to flee for their lives, showed extraordinary combat effectiveness, and they condescendingly strafed the Soviet commanders and fighters who rushed out, knocking them down in pieces in the trenches.

The radio operator who stayed in the battalion command post heard the sound of gunfire like beans outside, and immediately realized the seriousness of the problem, and without the battalion commander giving him an order, he began to call the regiment headquarters with the intercom: "Regiment headquarters, regimental headquarters, a battalion is calling." We were attacked by German troops of unknown origin, and we asked for reinforcements......"

The telegraph operator at the regimental headquarters heard a cry for help from the first battalion, and before he could ask about the scale of the attack on the Germans, he heard a dense burst of gunfire from the headphones, and then there was no sound at all. The operator did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly reported to the regiment commander: "Comrade regiment commander, something happened, the position of the first battalion was suddenly attacked by the Germans. ”

"A battalion was suddenly attacked by the Germans?" The regimental commander sat up abruptly from the marching bed and nervously asked, "How many troops?" ”

The operator shook his head and said, "I don't know, the operator of the first battalion has not had time to explain, and the contact has been interrupted." Realizing the seriousness of the problem, the regiment commander hurriedly rushed to the telephone, picked up the phone on the table, and connected to the division headquarters.

The division commander, who was sleeping, heard the orderly report to him that the commander of the regiment deployed on the fortress had called him, so he took the microphone and said with some displeasure: "I said, Comrade Colonel, you called me so early, is there anything wrong?" ”

"Comrade division commander, something is wrong." As soon as the regiment commander heard the voice of the division commander, he said nervously: "Our battalion deployed near the fortress was suddenly attacked by the Germans, and now we have lost contact with them. ”

"What's the fuss about," the division headquarters was seven or eight kilometers away from the fortress, and naturally it was impossible to hear the gunfire coming from that direction, so the division commander felt that the regiment commander was making a little fuss, and he yawned and said: "It must be a small group of German troops harassing the troops, just drive them back." ”

"But, Comrade Division." Seeing the division commander's disapproving tone, the regiment commander was a little anxious: "If it was a small group of German troops, the first battalion would not have lost contact with me in such a short period of time......" Before he finished speaking, gunshots came from outside, and the regiment commander hurriedly covered the microphone with his hand and instructed the radio operator sitting on the side, "You go out and see, what's going on outside." ”

It took less than a minute for the operator to rush in from the outside and report to the regiment commander with a panicked expression: "Comrade regiment commander, the Germans, the Germans, they are rushing towards our positions. The fighters in the regiment are blocking ......"

"How many, how many Germans?" The regiment commander asked nervously.

The operator's lips trembled, and he said, "Many, at least tens of thousands, and they are rushing towards our position. ”

The division commander was on the other end of the phone, and he also heard what the operator said, and he said to the microphone with dissatisfaction: "Colonel, who is that fuss guy next to you?" The Germans are already besieged by us in the fortress and cannot move, how can they send tens of thousands of men to attack your defense area. ”

The regimental commander did not argue, but put down the phone, rushed to the trench outside, raised the binoculars and looked into the distance. I only saw a black oppressive German army, like a tidal wave rushing to my position. Several machine guns on the position were firing incessantly, knocking down the soldiers who rushed into range in pieces, but the soldiers who followed behind still rushed forward without hesitation.

The regiment commander returned to the command post, picked up the phone on the table, and said into the microphone: "Comrade division commander, I just went to check, and the German army has dispatched at least tens of thousands of troops and is attacking the positions of our regiment. In the face of the fire interception of our regiment, they behaved tenaciously and rushed forward regardless of casualties. ”

"It can't be." The division commander still refused to believe that the regimental commander's report was true, "According to the information we have, the Germans only have 20,000 or 30,000 people in the fortress, how can they send tens of thousands of troops to attack your regiment's position?" You must be mistaken! ”

The regiment commander did not continue to argue, but said lightly: "Comrade division commander, I have already reported to you what should be reported." Now I'm going out to command the battle, goodbye! After saying that, he hung up the phone directly. However, before leaving the command post, he was deeply afraid that his report would not attract the attention of the division commander, and he specially instructed the telegraph operator, "Reporter, send a telegram to the headquarters of the group army to report to the higher authorities the information that the enemy has mobilized heavy troops to launch an attack on our regiment's position." ”

In order to break out of the encirclement, the Germans desperately launched an assault on the positions of the Soviet troops. After paying more than a thousand casualties, they finally captured the positions of the Soviet troops. More than 600 commanders and fighters of the Soviet army who held their positions, from the regiment commander to the cooks, all died heroically.

Seeing that the escape route was opened, the heart that Rudek was hanging in his throat was finally put back in his stomach. He ordered the commanders of the other two columns via the radio station: "The passage has been opened, and while the Russians have not yet come to their senses, immediately rush over at a faster pace." Whether you can successfully break out of the encirclement among the Russians depends on the speed of your actions. ”