Major General Rolf, commander of the 31st Grenadier Division, did not immediately order his troops to attack, but instead ordered his troops to build fortifications outside Simon's town while sending people to reconnoiter the town.

The 126th Infantry Regiment is responsible for the defense of Simon Town, not to mention the formation of a regiment, but the troops have been reduced by more than two-thirds in more than a month of fighting, and now the strength of the whole regiment is only more than 300 people. Seeing a large number of German troops gathered outside the town, the regiment commander realized that it was impossible to hold the town with his existing forces, so he could only call the division commander in the hope of getting support.

The division commander, who received the call, could not help but be taken aback when he learned that a large number of German troops had appeared outside Simon's town, and hurriedly asked: "Colonel, how many troops does the enemy have?" ”

The regimental commander looked out of the window of his observation post, estimated the number of enemies who were assembling and building fortifications outside the town, and reported: "Probably several thousand. ”

"Thousands," the division commander gasped, "so many? After a pause, he continued: "Comrade Colonel, judging from the present situation, the Germans may be trying to occupy the town of Simon and cross the Vistula from here, do you have the confidence to hold your position?" ”

The regiment commander silently calculated the troops and equipment in his hand in his heart, and then replied with a wry smile: "Comrade division commander, if the Germans launch a fierce attack, our regiment can hold out for a maximum of an hour. ”

The division commander was silent for a moment, and then said into the microphone: "Comrade Colonel, you have to find a way to support it a little longer, it won't be long before the main force of the group army arrives." Do you understand? ”

"Understood." The regimental commander gritted his back molars and replied: "The Germans want to storm the town, and they will not be able to rush in with our corpses unless our whole regiment is killed." ”

The division commander put down the phone and thought about it, and then instructed the operator: "Send a report to the headquarters of the army group that the German army that broke through is preparing to attack Simon Town." Due to the limited strength of our army, we may not be able to hold the town, so we ask our superiors to send troops to reinforce immediately. ”

The telegram sent by the division soon reached Popov. After reading the telegram, he frowned and asked the chief of staff: "Has our main forces passed through the Vistula?" ”

"It has already passed, and the pursuit is being carried out one after another along the German breakout." The chief of staff replied briefly, and then tactfully raised the difficulties that the troops were currently facing: "However, the enemy is almost seventy kilometers away from the fortress, and it will take at least two days for our troops to catch up with the enemy by marching on foot. ”

"Hell yes, it will take two days to catch up with the enemy." Hearing the chief of staff say this, Popov's brows suddenly furrowed: "But our troops holding on to Simon Town may not be able to support it for even two hours." By the time our main forces arrived, it was estimated that the enemy had already crossed the Vistula and fled. ”

The chief of staff had wanted to suggest to Popov that the fast column be turned to support Simon, but when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back. That force with limited numbers and equipment can contain the enemy, but letting them attack the main force of the German army is tantamount to sending them to death.

He stared at the map for a while, and then his eyes suddenly lit up, and then he said to Popov: "Comrade commander, don't we have two more divisions that have reached the west bank of the Vistula? We can let them go up the river to attack the Germans who are preparing to cross the river from Simon. ”

Hearing what the chief of staff said, Popov hurriedly came to the map, carefully checked the situation map of the enemy and us, and felt that what the chief of staff said was very reasonable, so he nodded and said to him: "Immediately send a telegram to the division commanders of these two divisions, except for a small number of troops to hold the existing positions, the rest of the troops will quickly move north to cut off the retreat of the German army." ”

The scouts sent by Rolf soon completed the reconnaissance of Simon's town. Knowing that the town was only guarded by a few hundred Soviet troops, he decisively gave the order to attack.

A dozen 50-mm mortars were the first to open fire and shell the Soviet defensive positions outside the town. But as soon as the MG42 machine guns fired in a row, the soldiers, who had already been ready to attack, quickly rushed towards the town in a short leap.

The Soviet defensive positions outside the town were very rudimentary, there were no reinforced concrete fire points, and the trenches more than half a person deep had not been reinforced with logs, and in the face of the rushing enemy, as soon as the machine guns fired, they were destroyed by the German mortars, and the rest of the soldiers lying in the trenches were also suppressed by the enemy's machine gun fire so that they could not raise their heads.

In order to quickly seize Simon's town, Rolf took advantage of the superiority of his forces and launched a charge from three directions at the same time, so that the Soviet troops who held the town had to divide their forces. In order to block the German attack, the Soviet commander even sent the guards beside him to the battlefield, and there was only one telegraph operator left by his side, so that he could keep in touch with the division headquarters at any time.

After more than ten minutes of fighting, the Germans rushed into the trenches one after another and engaged in a white-knuckle battle with the soldiers inside. Although the fighters behaved very bravely, they were too few in number and were quickly overwhelmed by the swarming German troops. Some of the surviving fighters fought and pushed, trying to enter the town and engage the Germans in street fighting.

But as soon as they retreated into town, the Germans followed. A fast second lieutenant rushed to the regimental headquarters and said to the regimental commander who was still standing in the room: "Comrade regiment commander, the enemy is rushing up, you should move quickly!" ”

"Transfer, where to transfer?" The regiment commander sneered and said, "Simon Town is my combat post, even if I die, I will not leave here." With that, he took off a Popov submachine gun hanging on the wall, turned to the operator sitting in the corner, and said, "Smash the radio station, and you must not let it fall into the hands of the Germans." ”

After the operator smashed the radio station and burned the code book, the regimental commander rushed out of the headquarters with a submachine gun and the second lieutenant and opened heavy fire on the German soldiers rushing through the street. The soldiers who rushed to the front were caught off guard and fell into the street one after another, followed by the soldiers behind them to quickly find a place to hide, and shot back.

The regimental commander and the second lieutenant soon fell into the dense rain of bullets of the German army, and the operator who rushed out of the house, seeing the regiment commander lying to the ground, hurriedly threw the weapon in his hand to the ground, grabbed the regiment commander's hands and tried to drag him into the house. But he didn't get far, and he was also hit by German bullets. He threw himself back, then fell to his knees, paused for a moment, and then collapsed limply beside the corpse of the regimental leader.

Seeing that Simon Town had been taken, Rolf hurriedly contacted Lüdeck through the radio: "Your Excellency Commander, my troops have taken Simon Town, and the bridge over the river has long been destroyed by the Russians, please send sappers to build the bridge immediately." ”

"General Rolf, I'll send sappers over to build the bridge at once." Knowing that Simon's town had been taken, Ludek felt relieved, and hurriedly said to Rolf: "Your task now is to hurry up and repair the fortifications to prevent the Russians from retaking Simon's town. ”