Chapter 1297: Night Raid on Prisoner of War Camps

  Chapter 1297 Night Attack on Prisoner of War Camp

  The infantry brigade of Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov paid a huge sacrifice when assisting the 188th Division in defensive warfare. Of the four battalions in the brigade, two had become empty numbers, and the casualties of the remaining two battalions exceeded one-third.

At this moment, after receiving the notification from Sameko, Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov suddenly felt that the bread was falling from the sky, and quickly called together several battalion commanders, and said to them: "Comrades battalion commanders, I have good news for you... "

  Before he finished his sentence, the battalion commander couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade brigade commander, is the superior going to give us additional troops?"

  The words of the first battalion commander immediately aroused the interest of several other battalion commanders, especially the third and fourth battalion commanders. Their battalions had already been marked with empty numbers, and all the commanders and fighters added up could not make up a platoon.

"Yes, no." After Uzakov finished speaking, seeing everyone looked at him with doubts, he quickly explained: "I just received a call from the chief of staff, General Sameko, saying that the commander ordered We went to the forest near Yakovlevo to capture the enemy's prisoner-of-war camp and free our commanders and fighters who were imprisoned inside."

"Comrade Brigadier," the third battalion commander lost interest when he heard that his superior ordered the infantry brigade to attack the prisoner-of-war camp: "Even if we rescue all the commanders and fighters detained in the prisoner-of-war camp, they will be sent to the rear for review. Why waste troops on these places?"

"Comrade Major, I don't think you understand the commander's intentions." Seeing the commander of the third battalion come out to pour cold water, Uzakov felt a little displeased, but he still patiently explained to everyone: "If the other superiors Give us such an order, maybe I will try to shirk it, but I must unconditionally implement this order issued by the commander.”

   "Why?" The third battalion commander asked curiously.

"The reason is very simple," Uzakov explained to the commander of the third battalion and everyone: "As far as I know, every time the troops commanded by the commander liberate the prisoner-of-war camps, they will not send the commanders and fighters detained inside to the rear. Instead, after a simple screening, they were directly incorporated into the army. His purpose in doing so was to consider that the captured commanders and fighters were veterans or backbones with combat experience. After being incorporated into the team, they could not only make up The lost soldiers can also ensure that the combat effectiveness will not be diluted."

   "Brigade Commander," the Second Battalion Commander couldn't help interjecting when he heard this, "Aren't he afraid that his superiors will hold him accountable for what he did?"

"Anyway, so far, he has not been reprimanded by his superiors for this matter." Uzakov said here, suddenly remembered a sentence of Sokov, and said it casually: "Comrade Commander once I said: The victors should not be blamed. If these rescued officers and fighters can achieve a series of victories after being added to the army, who will pursue their identities?"

  After Uzakov’s explanation, everyone finally understood that Sokov was different from the superior leaders they were familiar with. In the past, knowing that there was a prisoner-of-war camp nearby, many troops were unwilling to liberate, because the rescued commanders and fighters could not replenish the troops, and they had to be escorted to the rear for inspection, so no one wanted to do such a thankless thing. .

"Comrade Brigadier," the Second Battalion Commander asked again, "I don't know how many German guards there are in the prisoner-of-war camp we are going to liberate, and how many of our comrades-in-arms are there? How many troops will the brigade replenish?"

"About the situation of the prisoner-of-war camp, all I know now is that there are about a thousand commanders and fighters in it, and the guards are not Germans, but Italians." Uzakov said to his subordinates: "Comrade Commander wishes I promise that once this prison camp is liberated, the officers and fighters rescued inside will be the priority to replenish our brigade."

  Uzakov's words made several battalion commanders happy. They no longer questioned whether they should liberate the prisoner-of-war camp, but asked the brigade commander when to set off and which battalion would take the lead? What they thought in their hearts was that since the defenders defending the prisoner-of-war camp were not Germans but Italians with low combat effectiveness, it would not be easy to take down the prisoner-of-war camp.

"The third battalion and the fourth battalion, now there is only an empty frame left, and they are not suitable for participating in any battles. They will act together with the brigade headquarters later." Seeing several battalion commanders looking eager to try, Uzakov began to arrange Mission: "The second battalion takes the lead, and the first battalion serves as the reserve team."

   "Comrade Brigadier Commander," the commanders of the 3rd Battalion and 4th Battalion had all their troops wiped out, knowing that this time the main attack mission had nothing to do with him, so after hearing Uzakov's deployment, he looked indifferent. But the commander of the first battalion was anxious when he learned that his troops were going to serve as the reserve team: "Our battalion has the most troops left in the whole brigade. Why should we be the reserve team? You know, we are fully capable of serving as the main offensive force." Task."

   "First battalion commander, please be quiet!" Uzakov raised his right hand and pressed his palm down, signaling the first battalion commander to listen to his explanation. After the commander of the first battalion calmed down, he said, "I know that your first battalion has the most troops in the whole brigade. That's why I decided to let you serve as the reserve team."

Seeing the puzzled look of the first battalion commander, Uzakov continued: "As a commander, when formulating a battle plan, you must take the worst case into consideration. Now your battalion is the main force of the whole brigade. If your battalion is the main offensive, if an accident occurs, the prisoner-of-war camp will not be taken down for a long time, and the reinforcements will come up from other directions, will the second battalion, which is weaker than yours, be able to stop them?"

   After listening to Uzakov, the battalion commander thought about it carefully and found that what the brigade commander said was very reasonable. Although the enemy's prisoner-of-war camp guards were not very strong, no one dared to guarantee that there would be no accidents during the attack. If it really happened that the prisoner-of-war camp could not be taken down for a long time, and the reinforcements rushed up from other directions, with the strength of the second battalion, it might not be able to stop the enemy.

  Thinking about this, the battalion commander changed his mind. He quickly straightened his body and said to Uzakov: "Comrade brigade commander, please rest assured that our battalion will never disappoint your expectations."

  Soldiers are extremely fast. Less than ten minutes after the meeting ended, the commanders and fighters of the second battalion had assembled and set off for the prisoner-of-war camp. The distance from here to the prisoner-of-war camp is about ten kilometers. If they do not encounter the enemy along the way, they can reach their destination within two hours.

   Half an hour after the second battalion set off, the first battalion, the third battalion, the fourth battalion and the brigade headquarters also left the camp after completing their assembly, and set off in the direction of the prisoner-of-war camp.

  The second battalion, which served as the vanguard, approached the forest where the prisoner-of-war camp was located after marching for one hour and forty-five minutes. At this time, he served as the platoon leader of the sharp knife platoon and sent a scout to the second battalion commander.

  The young scout came to the Second Battalion Commander, raised his hand to salute him, and reported: "Comrade Major, Scout Sashiko is reporting to you. I will obey your orders, please instruct!"

"Hello, Comrade Sashiko!" Although Sashiko was just an ordinary soldier, for the second battalion commander, the other party could provide him with useful information, so he quickly held his hand and said enthusiastically: "I don't know if you can tell me about the situation in the prisoner-of-war camp?"

Sashiko nodded and said to the second battalion commander: "Comrade major, there is a relatively large prisoner-of-war camp in the open space outside the forest, in which about a thousand captured commanders and fighters of our army were detained. Watch them It was not Germans but Italians, about a company's strength."

   "Do they have heavy weapons?" asked the second battalion commander.

Sashiko shook his head slightly, and said: "Except for the six watchtowers around the prisoner-of-war camp, each with a machine gun and two machine guns at the gate, there are no other firepower points. Presumably there are no heavy weapons such as mortars." arms."

After the second battalion commander got the information he wanted from Sashiko, he raised his hand and patted the opponent's shoulder vigorously twice, and said in an approving tone: "Comrade soldier, thank you. Wait until we take down the enemy's prisoners of war." Ying, I will definitely ask for credit for you."

  When the Second Battalion Commander continued on his way, he suddenly remembered an important matter, and asked again: "By the way, Comrade Warrior, why are you the only one and the others?"

"There are six people in our reconnaissance team. The team leader is Sergeant La Curry. He is leading people at the edge of the forest to monitor the enemy's prisoner-of-war camp." Sashiko replied: "Once there is any movement, he will promptly sound the alarm."

  Ten minutes later, the second battalion commander met Sergeant La Curry, the head of the reconnaissance team. He shook hands with the other party, and then asked, "Comrade Sergeant, how is the situation?"

"It's still the same." La Currie replied: "There are six watchtowers around the prisoner-of-war camp, but after careful observation, I found that only three of them had people on them, and one of them used a searchlight to observe the situation in the camp. There are Several patrol teams have been patrolling non-stop, other than that, no other enemies have been found."

   "Ah?!" After listening to La Curry's narration, the Second Battalion Commander was a little surprised and said: "The enemy's defense is so lax, there must be no tricks?"

"Comrade Major, I think the enemy's defense is so lax, probably because they feel that this place is far away from the front line, and our army can't approach here at all, so they seem a little careless." Rakury expressed his judgment to the second battalion commander: " Besides, the combat effectiveness of the Italians is inherently poor, and their defense is lax, which is normal."

"Fourth company commander, your company will take the lead later..." After the second battalion commander learned what he wanted to know from La Curry, he called the fourth company commander to him and said to him: "Although the enemy The fighting power of the enemy is weak, but when you approach the prisoner-of-war camp, try not to make any noise, it is best to wait until you are close to the barbed wire fence before firing at the exposed enemy."

   "Understood, Comrade Major." The fourth company commander replied in a low voice.

   "Comrade Captain," Rakury told him when he saw that the fourth company commander turned around to leave, "Soldiers must be careful when shooting, and don't hurt their own people in the camp."

   "I know." The fourth company commander said lightly, then turned and left, and went back to his company for combat deployment.

"Comrade Sergeant, I understand how you feel." The second battalion commander waited for the fourth company commander to walk away, and said to Rakury: "Our soldiers must be careful when shooting. However, the bullets have no eyes, and there have been some accidental injuries It’s inevitable, and you have to be mentally prepared.”

A quarter of an hour later, the commander of the fourth company saw that his soldiers had entered the attack position, and issued an order in a low voice: "Go forward...!" Following the order, the commanders and fighters of the fourth company got up from the ground and entered in a skirmish line. In the waist-deep grass, he walked towards the prisoner-of-war camp in the distance with one foot deep and one foot shallow.

Seeing that the commanders and fighters of the fourth company were still seventy or eighty meters away from the prisoner-of-war camp, at this moment, the commander of the second battalion saw a ball of fire rising in the queue, and there was a loud noise, and then several soldiers around the fire fell down up.

"Did the enemy fire?" The second battalion commander asked himself silently in his heart, but he quickly denied the guess: "No, I didn't hear the sound and flame of the shell being fired. It should be our soldiers who stepped on the ground." mines."

  As the landmine exploded, shouts came one after another in the prisoner-of-war camp. Soon, the second battalion commander saw countless figures running in the prisoner-of-war camp, and then the machine guns on the watchtower and the soldiers behind the barbed wire began to fire at the moving shadows. The horrific gunshots were particularly crisp in the night, and a large number of soldiers from the advancing fourth company fell down with a whoosh.

  The thing the second battalion commander didn't want to see happened. He immediately stood up straight and shouted at several machine guns erected beside him: "Machine guns, shoot, you must suppress the enemy's firepower!"

  As the order was issued, several machine guns that had been set up began to fire. The machine gunners used continuous firepower to beat the sandbags on the watchtower to dust. The bullets of a disc were not finished, and the machine gunners and searchlights on the watchtower were all killed.

The enemy's machine gun fire was wiped out, and only a dozen submachine guns and rifles were left in the barbed wire and were still firing continuously. More enemies were still in a state of panic. Entering the fighting state, you can only scurry around like headless chickens.

The commanders and fighters of the fourth company rushing towards the barbed wire stepped on the landmines planted by the Italians outside the prisoner-of-war camp from time to time. The soldiers fell in groups of three and four in a pool of blood, but the rest of them did not stop and continued to fight bravely. rush forward.

  Although there are not many stubborn enemies inside the barbed wire fence, whether it is the machine gunners providing fire cover behind or the soldiers charging, they dare not shoot recklessly, so as not to accidentally injure comrades in the camp.

   Some soldiers rushed to a place more than ten meters away from the barbed wire fence, and threw grenades one after another, blasting the barbed wire fence of the prisoner-of-war camp one gap after another. Then they rushed into the camp with bayonets, and started hand-to-hand combat with the Italian soldiers who were still fighting.

  The combat effectiveness of the Italian army is much worse than that of the German army. Under the attack of well-trained Soviet commanders and fighters, their resistance quickly collapsed. In less than five minutes, the gunfire fell silent, and the entire prisoner-of-war camp was completely occupied by the Soviet army.

   When Uzakov arrived with the brigade headquarters and three other battalions, the results of the battle had already been counted: the second battalion killed 32 people, injured 39 people; the Italian army killed 35 people, injured 9 people, and captured 112 people. There were 2,475 Soviet prisoners of war rescued, of which there were less than a hundred wounded.

   Seeing that there were so few wounded, Uzakov couldn't help being puzzled. He ordered the second battalion commander to interrogate the captured Italian captain, trying to find out what was going on.

  (end of this chapter)