And the change in the situation cannot really develop according to Yang Mingzhi's assumption. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info After many defeats, how could the Germans not ask questions about the Soviet partisans on this side of the swamps?

In particular, the German army has increased its troops, and the newborn calves of the new 722 Division are not afraid of tigers, and they naturally know the tragic experience of the German army in this area before, and many soldiers are jealous. But if the knife is not against their necks, how can they know that they are afraid?

Florid, commander of the German 722nd Division, ordered his troops: "You immediately forget what happened to the 707th and 715th Divisions, their defeats were all light on the enemy. We are in the rear, but we will face the same enemy as the Soviets on the front. Just to the south of us, in the Pripet Marsh, where the enemy in ambush must be the regular army of the USSR, who are not at all so-called partisans, but regular armies that fight with partisans understand! ”

These words really made the soldiers of this army correct their mentality and did not go to the front line of the war, which made this group of young people who were strong and strong and responded to Hitler's call very dissatisfied. Their competitive spirit seems to have been suppressed by orders, as if the troops were going to deal with the guerrillas and conduct a law and order war.

Now, when they heard that the so-called guerrillas were actually regular troops, the vast number of officers and men became excited again. They no longer complain, they are not afraid, they are eager to fight, they do not even think about dying.

But before advancing in the direction of the swamps, the 722nd Division also had to sweep the Soviet villages around the road, as the 715th and 707th Divisions did.

According to the words of the governor of the occupied territories of Belarus, John Kube, the whole army must carry out a high-pressure policy against the partisans. Therefore, the 722nd Division tacitly acquiesced that all the villages on both sides of this road were fornicating with the guerrillas, and everyone from the eighty-year-old man to the newborn baby was suspected of being a guerrilla.

So, the German soldiers were inhumane and became complete killing machines?

Maybe some of them still have a conscience, but then there were minority. Soldiers regard obedience to orders as their duty, and superfluous thoughts will only confuse the command of the army, and these Wehrmacht troops have indeed fulfilled the orders of their superiors. Therefore, after the defeat of Germany, when the Wehrmacht punished war crimes, the Wehrmacht was almost exonerated from responsibility, because they did carry out the orders of the top brass of the army honestly.

However, the massacre of the villagers made these recruits completely unaware of the glory of victory. Individual soldiers even complained to their battalion commanders and regimental commanders. "We joined the army to build Greater Germany, and we, as soldiers, should fight against Soviet soldiers, rather than in the occupied areas of our army, firing at women and children, which has no honor."

How could the commander of the soldier not know these meanings?

The destruction of villages, the conduct of scorched earth operations, is indeed an effective means of dealing with the guerrillas. But as the massacres go on, the soldiers become confused and even forget that they are regular Wehrmacht and not auxiliaries of the Gestapo and the German occupation forces in the field.

Florid, commander of the 722nd Division, finally decided to conduct a small-scale military operation, and the goal of the operation was to send small troops to march towards Homnitch.

He meant much the same as the 715th Division, which was now in ruins, and because of its strategic location, it was very suitable as an outpost. This, it is very obvious that the Soviet army was also aware of this, and in the previous battles, the 715th Division and the Soviet troops in the swamps, fought a big battle around the city.

In that battle, the Germans dispatched heavy artillery and two regiments, but because of the harsh environment, the strong resistance of the Soviet army, and the strategic crisis of Lechicha, the Germans were forced to choose a tactical retreat.

After much deliberation, Flored decided to send a battalion to first conduct a tentative offensive to probe the enemy's reality and reality.

The infantry battalion he selected, the battalion commander Holstofen, had more than 600 men under his command.

But the armament of this unit was not strong, they had only four large-caliber mortars.

In German terminology, the mortar noun was granatwerfer, which literally means "bomb ejector". The mortar that Hallstaufen is armed with is the Type 67, the granatwerfer 67, which is a mortar of eighty mm caliber. Its range is very long, reaching 2,500 meters.

Due to their duties, the 722nd Division also lacked heavy weapons, and for this battalion, four Type 67 mortars were their most powerful weapons. In addition, the Germans also had a lot of small mortars of fifty mm caliber, which had a firing range of only four hundred meters, were simple to operate, and their power was average.

In addition, this German army was also completely in accordance with the German Army's war philosophy, and the infantry units were formed around universal machine guns. Hallstaufen's battalion was therefore armed with seventy MG34 general-purpose machine guns, and the firepower configuration on the table was already very luxurious.

This made the division commander very confident that in the current weather conditions, the sky began to snow, and the harsh environment would definitely have an impact on the Soviet troops. If the Germans had overcome these unfavorable natural conditions, coupled with the fact that the last battle had just ended, the Soviets would have considered the Germans weak and thus lowered their defenses, all things considered, it seemed that the Germans were facing a good opportunity to fight.

Holstauffen's unit was about to depart, and all the soldiers of this unit were wrapped in white cloaks, and it was not denied that the guns were also wrapped in cotton cloth to protect them from the cold, and at the same time as a tactical camouflage.

Before the move, Florid's review of the troops. I saw that this group of young men of 1.8 meters each, all of them stood like statues, their spirit was very good, and their weapons and equipment were also reassuring.

He faced the soldiers and said, "Children! This will be your first time on the battlefield, and your mission is to capture Homnich. It was the territory we occupied, but it was taken by the Soviets, and your task is to occupy it. Turn the city into a sentry post, and in the future, our army will go south into the swamp to sweep, and the city will become an important stronghold! The enemy must still be there now, and what awaits you is likely to be a tough battle. Are you afraid? ”

"Don't be afraid!" The soldiers replied in unison.

"Good! Depart now, and I await news of your victory. After this battle, all of you will receive the Iron Cross of the Second Degree, and those who show bravery in battle will receive the Iron Cross of the First Degree. ”

The temptation of military merit, as well as the honor of the Wehrmacht, drove these soldiers to battle.

They carried large quantities of dry rations, as well as field tents, which were pulled by horse-drawn sleighs, and under the leadership of the battalion commander Holstaufen, they made their way to Homnage.

Perhaps because of their high morale, bad weather could not stop them at all, so the Soviet sentinels on the outskirts of Khomnich suddenly found a team moving towards the city.

The bad information was immediately communicated to the headquarters of the 284th Division through the radio, and the time was the day after the night talk between Yang Mingzhi and Yevlov to pass the time.

When the herald urgently knocked on Yang Mingzhi's door, he still hugged his wife and dreamed of spring and autumn.

"What's the matter in such a hurry, is it possible that the Germans have been killed in the village?" Yang Mingzhi was dazed and didn't want to get up.

"The deputy division commander guessed correctly, the Germans are attacking Homnitch!"

"What?!" Yang Mingzhi sat up like a spring, it was really a prophecy, the German army was indeed going to make a move on the swamps in the south sooner or later, but I didn't expect to do it now?!

Yang Mingzhi immediately got dressed and rushed to the division headquarters. Here, Yevlov and Yerentina were clearly in a hurry to get up, sleepy-eyed and sleepy-eyed on everyone's faces.

Yevlov yawned and said: "Our men in Homnich have spotted the movement of the German army, they seem to have a battalion-sized force, they are moving towards Homnich, and war seems to be on the verge of breaking out!" ”

"That is, the war could break out today at the earliest? So, what the hell are these guys in that part. Is it the 715th Division or the new 722nd Division, did those militiamen make it clear? Yang Mingzhi asked nervously.

Yevlov and Yerentina shook their heads. Instead, Yevlov asked: "Berekov, with your wisdom, can you judge the attributes of these enemies?" Is it the 715th Division or the 722nd Division? ”

"It should be the 722nd Division." Yang Mingzhi said.

"You're so sure, why?" Yerenkina asked.

Yang Mingzhi made such a judgment for a very simple reason. One German infantry division had three main infantry regiments, the others were various special operations forces, such as artillery logistics units. In the previous battle, two regiments of the 715th Division suffered heavy losses and almost lost their combat capability, and the remaining one regiment had to be stationed in Lechicha, and the other units had very low combat effectiveness. And the 722nd Division is new, there is no problem with the formation of troops, and only they can carry out this offensive

"Not bad! Let's hope the Germans won't be so impulsive and give us some time to react. Yevlov said with a stiff face.

This is really in response to the Soviet proverb: the enemy does not sleep. Yang Mingzhi asked: "Since they are definitely going to attack, war is inevitable, unless they are fools who can deliberately indulge the fighters." How many people are there now in our house-demolished militia in Homnich. ”

"There were only about two hundred." "To make matters worse, their armament is mediocre, with soldiers mainly armed with rifles and grenades, as well as a small number of submachine guns and light machine guns. ”

That's bad. Yang Mingzhi believed that his troops, even the militia, had a strong will to fight. However, the poor equipment will affect the results of the battle to a great extent, and if the German army has a battalion, it will be around 600 people, and it cannot even be ruled out that this is a reinforced battalion with a strength of nearly 1,000 people. Of the 200 people in our military district, there are only a very small number of regular army soldiers, and the rest are militiamen.

Although Yang Mingzhi was unwilling, he still said weakly: "If I can, I really hope that they will all be withdrawn." If we had known that the Germans would have been carried out today, the militia would have been replaced by our regular troops. ”

"It doesn't have to be this way!" Yevlov again put on the real meaning of the militia. "Those people are eager to fight, they are militia, and I think I, as a division commander, should not deprive them of a fighting opportunity. Besides, I personally don't think that their combat effectiveness is very poor, so I think we can let them hold on first and buy time for our counteroffensive. ”

Yang Mingzhi nodded: "That's the only way." I am also very worried that this action of the German army is to force a large number of our troops to be dispatched, so that their 715th and 722nd divisions, and even those occupation troops will also be dispatched, and our army will encounter tens of thousands of German troops. Hopefully this won't happen. ”

"Who knows? But Homnich is so important to us, and how can we sit idly by? Yevlov stood up. Now let's start working on the aid plan! ”

Yang Mingzhi let out a long sigh, maybe the battle would break out in a few hours, maybe after a while, everyone would be greeted by a blood-red dawn! (To be continued.) )