Chapter 111 Encounter
“Buzz…”
The sound of the fighter planes' engines gradually faded away in the thick smoke. After sensing that there was no danger, Yuri left the forest where he was hiding and returned to the road. Arseni was busy looking for the horses that were panicked by the bombing.
The narrow road was in great chaos, with wounded soldiers with bandages everywhere, and a noisy crowd. There was also a truck that was bombed by a German plane on the side of the road, with thick smoke billowing from the front of the car and the heat wave was oppressive.
This is the road from Novosili to Yelets. Although it is controlled by the Soviet army, German planes have frequently visited this area in the past two days, bombing any targets on the road that are worth bombing. In order to resist the German bombing, the Bryansk Front Command set up anti-aircraft artillery in this area, but the effect was not very significant.
Arseny and the guards quickly found the horses, and they set out again, heading straight for the Novosili railway station. A brigade of reinforcements had arrived today, and Yuri needed to take over this force.
Previously, when the front command issued a notice, it specifically mentioned the situation of this brigade. According to the notice, all the soldiers in this brigade were criminals who voluntarily applied to fight on the front line in order to obtain amnesty from the Soviet government. The front command reminded the military that although they were willing to believe that the criminals' willingness to fight was spontaneous, considering various factors, the command suggested that they should remain cautious in commanding this brigade.
After less than half an hour's riding, Yuri and his party arrived at the Novosibirsk railway station. In recent times, this railway station has become a large military camp. Troops deployed from all directions from Moscow basically take the train to Novosibirsk first, and then are assigned to the subordinate units of the front.
At the temporary transit camp command post set up at the train station, Yuri revealed his identity and stated his purpose. Soon a major took him to the camp to take over the troops.
Currently, this special infantry brigade has no number and its command system is not sound. There is only a military commissioner named Tolonin who temporarily commands the troops, mainly managing the special squad that supervises discipline in the troops. Criminals have no personal rights to speak of. If they violate military discipline during their service, or even retreat without permission, the special squad can execute such soldiers on the spot.
To be honest, Yuri doesn't like such special forces because there are many unforeseen risks among them. However, it is fortunate that the soldiers of this unit have received two months of training before coming here. In terms of combat effectiveness, their quality is much stronger than that of ordinary recruits.
In the transit camp, Yuri met the brigade's military commissar Tolonin, a real young man, two years younger than Yuri. However, in terms of personal resume, Tolonin, who also participated in the Soviet-Finnish War, was not much worse than Yuri in combat experience. It's just that he had never directly served as a commander.
"You must take them to the 284th Division's base before tomorrow afternoon and quickly join the battle there," Yuri began to assign tasks to Tolonin after a short conversation. "As for the brigade's command personnel, the 284th Division will assign them to you, and the soldiers' weapons will be replenished here."
"When we set out from Moscow, the garrison command told me that the troops could get some anti-tank weapons here," Tolonin said.
"I'm very sorry, Comrade Military Commissar Tolonin," Yuri said, "I'm sure you've seen that the situation here is very bad. We are not only short of soldiers, but also weapons and equipment. Right now, the transit camp can only provide you with some rifles and submachine guns. I'm afraid the number of anti-tank guns and anti-tank rifles cannot meet your needs. Perhaps the 284th Division can provide you with some, but nothing can be said for sure now, and I can't give you an accurate answer."
Tolonin didn't say anything else, but he couldn't hide the worry between his brows.
After completing the handover formalities, the soldiers began to leave the transit camp in an orderly manner. At the exit of the camp, there were several trucks parked, and each soldier could receive a marching backpack and corresponding guns and ammunition when passing through there. The process of their evacuation from the camp was actually a process of arming.
Leading the soldiers of this brigade, Yuri returned to the military headquarters along the same route. He did not choose to continue riding a horse, but instead led the horse and walked with the soldiers.
The troops marched westward in an orderly manner for more than an hour, and just when they reached the town of Noziarsky at the bend of the Korobka River, an accident occurred.
On the road outside the town of Noziarsky, the troops led by Yuri encountered two tanks that were hastily moving towards Novosili. Each tank was covered in mud and was crowded with seven or eight soldiers with dull and dejected expressions. Just by looking at their miserable appearance, anyone could guess that this was a team retreating after a defeat.
Although there were only two tanks and a dozen soldiers, Yuri still became more vigilant, because in his memory, this area should be the defense zone of the 5th Tank Army commanded by Comrade Lizukov, and there should have been no fighting here.
With some vigilance, Yuri stopped two tanks and asked the tank commander who hurried out of the cockpit: "Where are you from and which unit do you belong to?"
"Comrade Colonel, we are from the 137th Tank Brigade of the 5th Tank Army," the commander who answered the question was a second lieutenant who was already wounded and bleeding from his forehead. "We have just withdrawn from the direction of Latulinsko."
"Where are your troops?" Yuri didn't know where Ratulinsko was, so he continued to ask.
"We were dispersed by the fascists, Comrade Colonel," the lieutenant replied dejectedly, "Our brigade commander, Comrade Major Dmitri Artemyevich, was also killed. The brigade headquarters has completely lost contact. In our entire company, only the two tanks I command are left."
Yuri was stunned. He knew very well that according to the second lieutenant, the situation of the 5th Tank Army was probably not good. They should have encountered a surprise attack by the German army, and at least one tank brigade was defeated. In Yuri's impression, the entire 5th Tank Army seemed to be equipped with three tank brigades and one motorized brigade.
"Arseny, bring the map here!" Without caring about anything else, Yuri turned around and shouted at Arseny who was leading the horse.
"Yes, Comrade Colonel!" Arseni obviously knew that something was wrong. He quickly took out a map from the saddle bag and ran to hand it to Yuri.
The map was directly expanded, and Yuri quickly found the location of Laturinsk. Looking at the small town on the edge of the hilly belt on the map, Yuri couldn't help but his heart beating faster.
Laturinsk is a small village located on the north bank of the Korobka River bend. It is less than 13 kilometers away from the town of Noziarsky, where Yuri is now, and less than 20 kilometers away from Novosili.
How did the Germans suddenly appear in this position? What was the Fifth Tank Army doing? What was Lizyukov doing? What was the Southwestern Front defense force doing at the junction?
Yuri believed that if Rokossovsky knew this news, he would probably go crazy. The loss of Laturinsko meant that the German army had established a landing site on the north bank of the Korobka River. They only needed one assault to reach Novosili.
How important is Novosili? Not to mention that the transit station there still has tens of thousands of soldiers waiting to be assigned, as well as a large number of weapons and equipment assigned to the Bryansk Front. The strategic importance of the location alone means that the Bryansk Front cannot lose this place. If Novosili is lost, the subordinate troops of the Bryansk Front will be cut into two parts, east and west. At the same time, Tula will directly face the German offensive.
The German army must be blocked in the area south of the town of Nozyaalsky, or at least their offensive in the direction of Novosibirsk must be delayed to buy time for the front command to mobilize defensive forces. Otherwise, once Novosibirsk falls, the Bryansk Front will suffer a devastating disaster in the next ten days or even a few days.
Its troops west of Novosili, including the entire main force of the 28th Mechanized Army and most of the 1st Tank Army, will be surrounded by the German army.
However, in order to stop the German army in the area of Noziarsky, Yuri could only mobilize this pure infantry brigade, which had never participated in a formal battle. Yuri had no artillery or tanks... Oh, there were two tanks. After asking, one tank had 9 different types of shells, and the other had only 5.
After careful consideration, mainly after carefully studying the terrain near the town of Nozjarsky, Yuri came to the conclusion that if the invading German force exceeded one brigade, then his existing troops could probably hold out for 2 to 3 hours - the German troops must be elite armored forces, while he only had an infantry brigade composed entirely of recruits and not equipped with any heavy firepower.
Of course, if the troops of the 5th Tank Army had not been completely defeated, or if the defeated troops could be quickly gathered together, then he might be able to command this force to resist a little longer.
After a thorough analysis of the current situation, Yuri believed that he had to fight this encounter. If he was defeated without a fight, even if the Supreme Command did not hold him accountable in the future, his future promotion would be greatly affected. On the contrary, if he could hold on and buy precious time for the Front Command, then his gains would be huge. It could even be said without hesitation that this battle would be the most critical and most prominent one he had ever fought since he commanded the troops.
