Chapter 2178:

   While the 1st and 6th Guards Divisions were still fighting fiercely in the town of Puutusk, the army artillery aimed at the position of the 5th Jaeger Division south of the town and fired.

   This firing stunned the Germans.

  Because the shelling of the Soviet army was only aimed at the 5th Jaeger Division, but not a single shell fell on the position of the 592nd People's Grenadier Division, which was close at hand.

When the German commander received this report, his eyebrows were frowned. He said to his chief of staff: "Chief of staff, tell me, what is going on? Why did the Russians bombard the position of the 5th Jaeger Division? And the positions of the 592nd Volksgrenadier Division were completely silent?"

"Your Excellency, Commander," the chief of staff replied cautiously, "could this be a conspiracy by the Russians? They pretended to concentrate artillery fire on the positions of the 5th Jaeger Division, and when our attention was diverted to this direction, And they attacked the positions of the 592nd Volksgrenadier Division by surprise?"

  After listening to the chief of staff's analysis, the commander didn't finish speaking, but tapped the table with his fingers quickly, thinking carefully.

After a long time, he raised his head and said to the chief of staff: "Chief of staff, the enemy we are facing is the devil Sokov. He is full of tricks, and if we are not careful, we may be deceived. Don't forget, he The defense map provided some time ago caused us to make wrong deployments, thus weakening the troops in the attacked area, otherwise this battle would not have been so passive."

Hearing the commander talk about the fake defense map bought for 10,000 pounds, the chief of staff hated it. Originally, his side had deployed heavy troops in the direction of the Soviet army's attack. Even if the other side wanted to break through the defense line, they would have to pay a heavy price. the price. However, the wrong information caused the headquarters to make a wrong judgment and transferred the main force to the wrong direction. Even if they boarded the vehicle and returned immediately, they would have to wait until tomorrow morning before they could enter the combat position.

  Seeing that his chief of staff was silent, the commander ordered him to be thinking about the fake defense map, so he asked coldly, "Have you found that Polish man?"

"No." The chief of staff shook his head and said, "As soon as the Russians started attacking today, I ordered people to go to the residence of the Poles and prepare to arrest him. But after we went there, we found that there was already a People go to the empty house, and there is no one at home."

   "Did you ask your neighbors where they went?"

"I've asked." The chief of staff gritted his teeth and said, "The day after the Polish man named Henrik sold the information to us, he took his family and left the ancestral city by car. As for where he went, No one will know."

   "Bring the intelligence officer." The commander said to the chief of staff: "I want to ask him if he knows where his intelligence officers have gone."

As soon as today's Soviet offensive started, the German commander realized that he had been deceived. In this case, some scapegoats must be found to admit responsibility for the misjudgment, and the intelligence that is inseparable from this false information Officer, he was put in prison directly.

  The chief of staff heard the commander said that he wanted to see the intelligence officer, and quickly reminded him: "Your Excellency, the intelligence officer you mentioned is currently being held in our prison."

"No matter where he is, immediately bring him to see me." The commander said in an unquestionable tone: "I want to ask myself, where did his intelligence agents escape to after they gave us false information? "

  The chief of staff did not dare to neglect, and quickly ordered someone to bring the intelligence officer out of the prison and bring him to the commander's office.

As soon as the commander saw this intelligence officer, he suddenly became furious. He slapped the table and scolded angrily: "Be honest, you have taken so many benefits from the Russians, and you dare to provide us with false information, which has caused our army to die today." suffered heavy losses in the battle."

  The intelligence officer realized the seriousness of the problem when he learned that the Soviet army had launched an attack on his own defense line today. Immediately took the manpower to arrest Henrik, but unfortunately, when his men arrived, they found that the Henrik family had long disappeared. Just when he was about to find out the whereabouts of Henrik's family, someone sent by the commander to arrest him arrived, and the other party disarmed all his subordinates without any explanation and threw him into prison.

Seeing the commander right in front of him at this moment, he knew that this was his only chance to survive, so he hurriedly shouted desperately: "I am wronged, Your Excellency Commander! I was also deceived by that damned Polish, you can check Be clear about this."

  The commander snorted coldly, and then asked, "Then tell me, where is that Pole now?"

The intelligence officer hesitated for a moment, and then said: "When I learned that the Russians were attacking, I realized that I might have been deceived, and immediately took people to arrest the Polish intelligence agent. But unfortunately, when we went, His whole family has disappeared. Just as I was deploying personnel to inquire about his whereabouts, the arresters you sent arrived and detained me and my subordinates, so that we could no longer inquire."

   "Can you find out the whereabouts of the Pole?"

   "Yes." The intelligence officer nodded and said, "Your Excellency, as long as you give me two days, I will definitely be able to capture that Polish man and bring him to you for your disposal."

   "I can't give you that long time." The commander said, "I can only give you two hours at most. After two hours, I hope to find out where the Poles are."

  The chief of staff quickly called an officer and asked him to accompany the intelligence officer to check Henrik's whereabouts. After everyone left, the chief of staff closed the door, came to the commander, and asked respectfully, "Your Excellency, what should we do next?"

   "Order the 35th Infantry Division to speed up its march and arrive at the defense zone of the 592nd People's Grenadier Division as soon as possible to assist them in strengthening their defenses and prepare to meet possible Russian attacks."

"Okay, Your Excellency, Commander." The chief of staff nodded and replied, "I will immediately issue an order to the commander of the 35th Infantry Division to speed up his march and strive to enter the position of the 592nd People's Grenadier Division as soon as possible. defense there."

Seeing that the commander nodded in agreement with his statement, the chief of staff asked again tentatively: "Your Excellency, after the intelligence officer finds out the whereabouts of the Poles, how do you plan to deal with him, let him perform crimes and perform meritorious deeds, and bring the Poles back to you?" Are people going to capture the Poles?"

"You are wrong, Chief of Staff." Unexpectedly, the commander shook his head after hearing this and said, "Because of the false information he provided, we made a huge mistake in deployment. Now that the troops have suffered such heavy losses, he is He deserves the blame. When he finds out the whereabouts of the Pole, he will be executed on the spot as punishment."

   The chief of staff has no meaning for the decision of the commander. This time I was caught off guard by the Soviet army, which was related to the fact that the intelligence officer provided the wrong intelligence officer. Even if he finds out the whereabouts of the Poles, it will not be able to make up for the mistakes he made, so shooting him should be the only option.

Just when the German army thought that the Soviet army shelled the position of the 5th Jaeger Division to cover up their intention to attack the 592nd Volksgrenadier Division, they specially ordered the 35th Infantry Division to speed up their march and rush to reinforce the 592nd Division as quickly as possible. At that time, the 3rd Infantry Division led by Kirillov entered the town of Puutusk.

   To the north of the town, there are personnel sent by Tolstikov, waiting here to meet Kirillov's troops.

  Seeing a troop of his own coming towards the town, the lieutenant who led the team stepped forward to greet the troop: "Hey, brothers, which part are you from?"

  Hearing the lieutenant's inquiry, someone immediately replied loudly: "We belong to the 3rd Infantry Division. Which part do you belong to?"

  The lieutenant confirmed that it was his own people who came, and quickly replied: "I am from the 1st Guards Division, and I was ordered to meet you here. Can anyone tell me where your division commander is?"

"I'm here, Comrade Lieutenant." Kirilov came out in front of the lieutenant and said to him, "I'm Major General Kirilov, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, are you here to meet us? "

   "Yes, Comrade General." The lieutenant quickly straightened his waist and replied, "The division commander ordered me to act as a guide for you and guide you through the town smoothly."

   Under the leadership of the lieutenant, the commanders and fighters of the 3rd Infantry Division entered the town.

  There are traces of battles everywhere, bombed-out buildings, rail-welded horses are scattered all over the street, and the corpses of both the enemy and us have not had time to be collected all over the ground. Due to too many corpses, the commanders and fighters of the 3rd Infantry Division had to slow down when marching, staring at their feet, fearing that they would accidentally step on the corpses.

  The lieutenant leading the way also asked Kirilov curiously: "Comrade General, you are going through the town, where are you planning to attack?"

   Although the battle is about to start, it is still a secret where to attack. How could Kirillov tell an ordinary lieutenant casually? He rolled his eyes and said displeasedly: "Comrade Lieutenant, have you forgotten the confidentiality regulations? Don't inquire about things you shouldn't ask, and don't ask questions you shouldn't ask."

   Hearing what Kirillov said, the old lieutenant blushed, and immediately admitted his mistake: "I'm sorry, Comrade General, I am too talkative."

   "Be more careful in the future, so as not to leak some secrets because of casual remarks."

   After passing through the town, Kirillov dismissed the lieutenant, and then called the three regiment leaders to him, and assigned them the next combat mission.

   When the three regiment leaders learned that the target they were about to attack was not the 592nd People's Grenadier Division, which seemed particularly weak, but the powerful 5th Jager Division, they couldn't help being stunned. One of the regiment leaders asked: "Comrade commander, we have always fought against weak enemies first, and then against strong enemies. Why are you upside down?"

Kirillov laughed after hearing this, and then explained to them: "Comrades, regiment commanders, to tell you the truth, I also found it incomprehensible when I received this task. The 592nd People's Grenadier Division is nothing more than a Our militia, what kind of fighting power can such a force have? If our first attack target makes them, I am confident that they will be completely defeated within two hours. But the commander told me that if we attack the weaker enemy first, then The 5th Jager Division adjacent to it sent troops to reinforce it, and maybe the battle would be stuck in a stalemate.

   But if we fight the 5th Jager Division first, then the 592nd Volksgrenadier Division adjacent to them, because they are too weak to send troops to reinforce, can only watch this unit be defeated by us. After we've defeated the 5th Jaeger Division and turn around to deal with the Volksgrenadier, the battle will become very easy. "

  After listening to Kirillov's narration, the regiment leaders finally understood that Sokov would make such a decision. According to Kirillov's deployment, they each returned to their regiments to make final battle preparations. Just listen to the artillery preparations of the army artillery, and immediately attack the German positions.

  In the past, in combat, the regiment was used as a unit, and they were put into battle one after another. This time, in order to solve the German 5th Jaeger Division as soon as possible, Kirilov ordered the 9th and 10th Infantry Regiments to be the main attack, while the 12th Regiment was used as a reserve team. If the attack of the troops is not going well, he will promptly put the 12th regiment into battle in advance,

When the artillery preparations stopped and the German positions were still shrouded in gunpowder smoke, Kirillov gave the order to attack. Thousands of commanders rushed to the German positions with shouts. , and seized ground from them.

  Facing the Soviet attack, the Germans were caught off guard again. Almost everyone in the 5th Jaeger Division, from the division commander to the soldiers below, believed that the Soviet bombardment of the 5th Jaeger Division's position was just to cover up their intention to attack the 592nd Division's defense line, so the officers and soldiers hid in the fortifications I dodged the shelling here, probably because I felt that the Soviet army would not attack my place, and I didn't even release the observation post.

   It was precisely because of the underestimation and negligence of the German army that when the vanguard of the 3rd Infantry Division rushed to the edge of the trench, the German soldiers who were belatedly discovered them and shouted loudly: "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

   But it was too late.

   Before the German army could react from the shelling that had just ended, the commanders and fighters of the 3rd Infantry Division had already jumped into the trenches one after another, engaging in melee and hand-to-hand combat with the German officers and soldiers inside.

  If the German army had prepared first, even if the Soviet army rushed to the edge of the trench, they would still be able to block the opponent and wait for the arrival of follow-up reinforcements. But this time they made a wrong judgment, thinking that the Soviet army's offensive target was the 592nd Division, which was a friendly neighbor. The shelling of their own positions was just to cover up their offensive intentions and suppress them with artillery fire, so that they could not be deployed. The troops went to reinforce the attacked 592nd Division.

   Now that the two sides are engaged in close combat and hand-to-hand combat in the trenches, the German commander finally understands that the emotional Russian shelling is not to cover up and prevent himself from sending troops to reinforce friendly positions, but to really use himself. Fight back deliberately. Because the troops were not prepared in advance, they were caught off guard by the Soviet army. Now the organizational system is completely messed up. The officers and soldiers are fighting on their own, and they can't organize a decent counterattack at all.

   In desperation, the German division commander made a difficult decision and ordered the troops to abandon the existing position and move to the rear defense area, preparing to rebuild a new line of defense there to prevent the next Soviet attack. Of course, before ordering the troops to retreat, he did not forget to send a telegram to the headquarters. In the telegram, he exaggerated the losses suffered by his troops and the number of Soviet troops participating in the attack. It felt necessary to retreat, otherwise the troops would be in danger of being annihilated.