689 is left to fate
"The military headquarters of the 178th Army did not retreat a step in the end...... Probably, the commander of the army, Comrade Garrylev, has already been martyred......" put down the phone, and the officer looked at the face of Marshal Budyonny and said.
Budyonny nodded, waved his hand without saying a word, and motioned for the other party to stop talking about it.
The enemy shelling began again, and the whole earth seemed to shake. Everyone in the command had not seen the sun in the sky for two days, much to Budyonny's despair.
As Soviet positions were gradually compressed, German artillery fire became more dense and accurate.
Previously, the Germans' own sniper team was required to observe and direct artillery fire from a distance, but now it is possible to directly suppress the Soviet army through blind fire.
After all, they now only have a defense area of a few dozen square kilometers, and it is not particularly difficult to bombard them with shells.
The reason is simple: there are some places where it is impossible to hide soldiers, including the margins of the Line of Control between the two armies, and some areas that have been bombed to the ground.
After excluding these areas, there are only a few square kilometers left where the Soviet troops are hiding.
It would be much easier to cover this area than it was to shell dozens of kilometers of undulating lines on the Somme Line.
"Hello? Where did the shelling fall? Yes, I'm the Command! Grabbed the phone, and amid the dust falling from the roof of the shed, the Soviet officer asked the other side of the phone.
The person on the other end of the phone apparently didn't understand the situation, and the answer was very vague: "We heard the sound of cannonballs, but no shells fell nearby." ”
Budyonny pushed away his chair at once, stood up and walked to the door of the basement: "What is there to ask, don't you go out and have a look!" ”
Now he is no longer a marshal commanding hundreds of thousands of troops. At that time, he could not go to the front line to inspect it personally, so he could only confirm the enemy's attack point by telephone.
But now, he is on the front line. At this time, I still asked on the phone, what is the use of pretending to be this reserve?
Seeing that his marshal was about to venture out of this reinforced basement, his officers hurriedly put down their work and stepped forward to stop them.
"Marshal! The shelling has not stopped! It's dangerous to get out now! An officer stopped in front of Budyonny and spoke bitterly.
"Get out of the way! I'm a soldier, and there's something wrong with a soldier going to face enemy fire? "Budyonny is also a general who has led troops and commanded battles, and he still has a strong momentum on him.
And for the current Budyonny, there is no essential difference between being killed by a shell and finally shooting himself himself.
Death in battle and suicide are not glorious things for a general anyway. It didn't matter which one she chose, Budyonny wanted his death to be decided by fate.
Pushing his men open, Budyonny opened the door in front of him. Then he saw the tired eyes of the soldiers curled up together, staring at him.
Because the hiding place was already small, the doorway corridor in the basement of Budyonny's headquarters was also crowded with soldiers who had been replaced to rest.
After all, it is very safe here, and the safety of Marshal Budyonny must also be ensured, so it is generally reserved for elite troops, and the soldiers are more combat-ready.
The soldiers with their weapons looked at Budyonny, who had not been out of his headquarters for two days.
The range available to the marshal is getting smaller and smaller, enemy mortars can be fired here, and the surrounding environment is not safe at all.
The battle was still going on outside, and the sound of the shells exploding was even louder as the doors were pushed open.
You can still faintly hear the sound of machine gun fire in the distance, and it is dense and impossible to tell the number.
The air was filled with the stench of men's sweat and the faint smell of sulfur, the battle was already nearby, and the shelling had clouded the air.
Glancing at the soldiers who were trying to get up from the floor of the hallway, Budyonny motioned for everyone not to stand up.
He opened his mouth and said slowly: "Soldiers, you are the pride of the Soviet people! It was my Budyonny incompetence that got you to where you are today. ”
As the marshal walked out, he opened his mouth to cheer up his soldiers. When he reached the door, he saw sandbags sealed outside the door.
A machine gun was mounted on a sandbag, and several officers and soldiers were using binoculars or the naked eye to see distant bullet points.
It seemed that the direction in which the shells fell was still some distance away from his headquarters, and the danger was not as great as expected.
Budyonny picked up the binoculars in his hand and looked in the direction of the German shelling. A half-collapsed building obscured more than half of the view, but black smoke could still be seen billowing into the sky.
"Which unit is defending in that direction?" Budyonny remembered the years when he was still a regimental commander and division commander, commanding battles.
The officer behind the sandbag bunker at the door saw his marshal come out and was so frightened that he quickly replied: "Comrade marshal...... That side may be the station of the 277th Division, which suffered heavy losses and had just repelled a German attack. ”
Fighting off the torrent of German steel with flesh and blood, you can imagine how heavy the losses were. In a single battle, there may be only one battalion left in a regiment.
It is quite possible that a battalion will be completely wiped out in one battle, and not a single person will be left. The battalion commander became an officer who could be killed at any time, and the fierceness of the battle was evident.
Budyonny, who was holding the telescope, heard his men's answer and continued to ask: "How many reserves do we have, if there are enough......
Only halfway through the questioning, he couldn't go on. He thought of the tired soldiers resting in the corridor behind him, and he could imagine how many reserves there were.
"Forget it! Send someone to the division headquarters of the 277th Division and tell them to retreat a block back if necessary to relieve the pressure. Budyonny, moved by compassion, opened his mouth and commanded.
His subordinates heard this order, glanced at the back of their marshal, and reminded: "Comrade marshal...... The flank of the 277th Division, but the 178th Army that has been crippled......"
The 178th Army that has been crippled? Hearing this number, Budyonny felt very familiar. He thought about it for a moment, and remembered that just now, the military headquarters of the 178th Army lost contact.
"......" He knew that he couldn't say anything more, whether it was the 277th Division or the 178th Army, they could only rely on themselves and resign themselves to fate.
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Today, Long Ling has a new computer, the original one has been used for many years, and it really doesn't work. It's just that the input method has to start from the new recording habits, and the typing speed is obviously affected.
When the dragon spirit recovers, he will make up for it!