Although it is only twenty or thirty kilometers away from the Glodenz Fortress, the vast majority of refugees feel that it is more than two or three hundred kilometers. In the crowd, there were already people who began to question: "Will we be able to reach the Glodenz fortress alive?" But no one answered him, and the people continued to move forward mechanically, heading toward unknown destinations.

However, after walking not far, the person in front suddenly stopped. The unknown person behind was hurriedly asking, "What's going on, why did you stop?" Although no one answered this question, a middle-aged man who was a little breathless stuffed the luggage he was carrying into the hands of others and said, "Help me take care of things." Then he trotted to the front to find out what had happened.

It took five or six minutes for the refugees who had gone to explore the way to run back out of breath. Shouting at the refugees who were standing on the side of the road waiting for news, he said: "There was a commander in front who ordered us to immediately divert and rush west to the town of Simon, from where we crossed the Vistula River. ”

The refugees were shocked when they heard the middle-aged man say this. You must know that Simon Town is at least more than ten kilometers away from where it is now, and everyone is already exhausted at this moment, let alone ten kilometers, even if it is another kilometer, it is very difficult.

After the middle-aged man took back his salute, he saw that everyone was still standing in a daze, so he asked them loudly, "Didn't you hear what I said?" We are to immediately turn around and rush west to the town of Simon, from where we will cross the Vistula. ”

After he finished speaking, several refugees beside him put the luggage they were carrying on the ground and said weakly: "You go first, we really can't walk, sit down and rest for a while and then catch up." ”

"Listen to me," the middle-aged man saw that the refugees around him were reluctant to move, and hurriedly raised his voice and said, "The army has sent a special truck to pick us up and take us to Simon Town. Now the convoy is parked in front, and if we don't move quickly, we won't be able to catch up. Come with me! ”

Hearing that there was a convoy in front of them to pick them up, the refugees, who were already unable to walk, suddenly became energetic. Everyone immediately stood up, picked up their luggage, and ran forward after the middle-aged man, fearing that if they ran slowly, they would not be able to catch up with the truck that picked them up.

When the group of refugees arrived at the boarding site, they found more than two dozen trucks parked on the side of the road, surrounded by people. Countless hands reached out to the soldiers standing in the carriage, hoping that they would pull themselves onto the carriage. The soldiers standing in the carriage saw the countless arms in front of them shaking, and they didn't care to distinguish whether the owner of this hand was a man or a woman, an old man or a child.

More than two dozen trucks were quickly filled, and more than 700 lucky refugees got into the trucks sent by Rüdek. The refugees who did not get on the bus were afraid that they would be left behind, and they were afraid to leave the truck for a long time. The German captain sitting on the passenger seat, seeing that the truck could not move because it was surrounded by refugees, hurriedly opened the door, stood on the pedal and shouted to the refugees around: "Quiet, everyone is quiet!" ”

However, his shouts were drowned out by the voices of the refugees around him. The captain quickly pulled out his pistol and fired two shots into the air, waiting for the refugees who heard the gunshots to calm down again before continuing: "Don't worry, everyone, we will send all of you to Simon Town by truck." Now because there are not enough trucks, they can only be delivered in batches. Now, please get out of the way and let our trucks pass, if you keep crowding here, if you keep crowding here, once the Russian planes come, it will cause you great casualties. ”

When the surrounding refugees heard the captain say this, they reluctantly made way for the convoy, and then stood on the side of the road with numb expressions, looking at the distant convoy in a daze. The only ones who were not affected were the refugees in the wagon, who waited for the truck to pass them, then drove the wagon back into the middle of the road and followed the convoy on.

For refugees, it may take a day to walk 10 kilometers in the icy wilderness. And at this moment, the truck carrying them arrived in Simon Town in less than an hour. As soon as the car came to a stop, the captain jumped out of the bridge and shouted at the soldiers in the car: "Get out of the car!" As the order was given, the soldiers jumped out of the carriage first, opened the baffle at the back of the carriage, and helped the refugees in the carriage to get off.

Seeing that more and more refugees were getting off the bus, the captain did not gather them, but walked through the crowd and kept shouting: "All people, do not stay where they are, immediately cross the town and cross the Vistula River from the pontoon bridge west of the town." All of them do not stay where they are, immediately cross the town and cross the Vistula River from the pontoon bridge west of the town......"

After the refugees got off the bus, the German captain immediately ordered his soldiers: "Get in the car, go back to the place just now, and pick up the other refugees!" ”

The refugees who had passed through Simon's town saw a pontoon bridge made of planks and logs on the side of the Vistula River to the west of the town, and there were many soldiers standing beside the bridge. Seeing this, the refugees who were at the forefront hesitated a little, and thought to themselves: Why didn't the soldiers cross the bridge first, but let us cross first? Is there something wrong with this pontoon?

The German sappers guarding the bridge stopped when they saw the refugees walking to the bridge. The captain of the sapper couldn't help but be a little anxious, and he shouted at the hesitant refugees: "Hey, what are you still doing in a daze, don't you hurry up and cross the bridge!" If it had been a little later, a large army of Russians would have arrived. ”

Hearing that the large forces of the Soviet army were about to arrive, the refugees did not dare to slack off, and rushed to the bridge, trying to rush to the opposite side of the Vistula River in the shortest possible time.

Just as the group of refugees came to the middle of the Vistula River, two Soviet warplanes suddenly appeared in the sky. Seeing that the pontoon bridge below was crowded with people, the Soviet pilots swooped down and strafed the crowd. Refugees crossing the bridge were caught off guard, and some were beaten to the ground, falling straight on the bridge or falling into the river. The refugees, who were lucky enough not to be hit by the bullets, panicked when they saw their comrades who had been killed around them. So they ran like headless flies, some toward the west of the river, and some in the direction of Simon's town. If all this happened on land, it would have been a chaotic scene at best, but they were now crowded on the narrow bridge deck, and in such a mess, many refugees were squeezed into the water.

Although the soldiers on both sides of the Vistula River saw that the refugees in the middle of the river were strafed by Soviet planes, because they had no anti-aircraft weapons, they could only watch as civilians who had just been strafed by machine guns crowded on the bridge, squeezing more and more people into the river.

After the Soviet fighter plane was pulled up again, one of the pilots suddenly said: "Hell, I just saw the bridge deck, and it's still all civilians." We are shooting at civilians. ”

The other pilot was silent for a moment, then said, "Let's lower the altitude and see, if it's civilians, stop the attack and return to the base to report to the higher-ups." ”

The two planes again lowered their altitude and skimmed over the pontoon. Although they did not open fire this time, they still scared the refugees on the bridge enough, and some even jumped directly into the cold river water to escape the possible strafing.

"It can be confirmed that the bridge is full of civilians." After confirming the target on the bridge, the pilot decisively decided: "We will immediately return to the ship and report the situation here to our superiors, and we must not open fire on civilians." ”