Chapter 42 Hero
Khrushchev's next words surprised everyone in the command room.
You know, the Lutsk area fell 9 hours after the Germans launched the offensive. What time is it now? Two days have passed, and that was the main attack direction of the Germans. How could the Soviet army still have organized troops defending there?
Seeing the undisguised surprise on the faces of the people around him, Khrushchev felt a sense of superiority rising from the bottom of his heart. As a military commissar with a political background, Khrushchev knew that people like Zhukov looked down on him in the military, but now? He finally found an opportunity to point fingers at them.
"Whose troops are they?" Zhukov stood up from his chair, leaned over the map, and used a map ruler to measure the distance from the 9th Mechanized Army to the Bredev Pass. He asked, "How many people are there? How many tanks and artillery?"
"It's the 209th Infantry Battalion under the 47th Regiment," Khrushchev said. He only knew that the 209th Battalion belonged to the 47th Regiment, but he didn't know which unit the 47th Regiment belonged to. He didn't even remember Yuri's full name. "The battalion commander is Major Yuri."
"Only one infantry battalion?" Zhukov was disappointed. He looked up at Khrushchev and asked with a frown.
"Yes, an infantry battalion," Khrushchev said. "Yesterday when I went to the 4th Army headquarters, I met this unit that had lost contact with the regiment headquarters and ordered them to hold their ground in a narrow area. They are still there..."
As he spoke, he looked at his watch again and added, "Three hours ago, they contacted the military district."
"Only one battalion is too weak," Zhukov frowned and said, "Tomstantin's troops need to break through the German defenses to reach the narrow area. Even if everything goes well, it will take at least six hours. I don't think that with the combat power of an infantry battalion, it can stop the German 29th Army for six hours, or even longer."
Khrushchev stopped talking. Although he wanted to show off, he knew very well that this idea was not realistic.
"Order Constantine to retreat," Zhukov finally made a safe decision. "Also, order the 19th Army to speed up and reach the designated area before noon tomorrow."
Yuri and his 209th Battalion were ignored in the combat order of the Southwestern Front Command. The generals knew that his troops were guarding the Bredev Pass, but no one considered giving him an order to fight or retreat.
…
"boom!"
The huge explosion was very close. Three or four birch trees as thick as elephant legs were completely blown off and fell down. The loud noise of the broken branches was still clearly audible even in the deafening sound of gunfire.
Yuri was awakened by a huge explosion. He struggled to get up from the makeshift stretcher made of branches, but the severe pain in his shoulder made him unable to exert any strength. Moreover, his left ear was buzzing as if it was pierced by a steel needle, and the half of his head was in unbearable pain.
Yuri had just woken up from a coma, and his mind was still a little unclear. He tried to blink his eyes, trying to see what was in front of him clearly, but he could only see vague shadows swaying around him. Faintly, someone was talking loudly nearby: "Aim, shoot it down!"
"Pass!"
The distinctive sound of the 85mm anti-aircraft gun was heard, and then people nearby began to cheer loudly.
"Comrade Major Yuri, don't move, you are injured," someone supported Yuri's shoulders in a daze, and then a cold wet towel was applied to his face.
Stimulated by the cold water on the towel, Yuri instantly felt his mind clear up a lot and his vision became clearer, but his left ear was still buzzing and he could not hear anything.
The person who applied the facial mask to him was Lieutenant Nikita. After arriving at Camp 209, she took with her few remaining people and temporarily played the role of a field nurse.
Looking at the dusty Nikita in front of him, Yuri's mind finally came to its senses. Yes, he was injured, which was lucky for him because he should have been killed in the explosion.
The German large-scale offensive finally came. A German infantry supported by 6 old tanks launched an attack on the position of the 209th Battalion in the early morning.
Fortunately, the tree stump array proposed by Lieutenant Antip did work. The tracks of two German tanks that were charging forward were blown off by mines buried in the tree stump array, turning them into immobile living targets.
In the four subsequent offensives launched by the German army, all six tanks were destroyed. In front of the 209th Battalion's position, the German army suffered heavy losses and did not gain any advantage. Therefore, before the fifth offensive launched at 3 pm, the German planes arrived.
The roaring Stuka dive bombers dropped bombs accurately on the position of the 209th Battalion. Yuri's hidden command post was not spared. A bomb fell on the roof of the command post and collapsed the entire command post. Yuri was seriously injured and fell into a coma on the spot.
"Water..." Yuri, who had just woken up, felt as if his throat was on fire. He spoke in a hoarse and unpleasant voice.
Lieutenant Nikita quickly brought the kettle over, helped him to stand up, and held the kettle to his cracked lips.
Nikita had lost her previous pride. During this period of time, she suddenly realized that war was completely different from what she had imagined. Its cruelty almost caused her mental breakdown. Fortunately, the troops commanded by the captain were different from the deserters she had seen before. They seemed to have no idea what fear was. On this battlefield that was almost bombed into ruins, they repelled wave after wave of German attacks.
"What's the situation? Who is commanding the battle?" After taking a sip of water to moisten his throat, Yuri turned his head and looked around. He was shocked to find that he was in the woods. He couldn't help but ask.
"The situation is not very good, but the position is still in our hands," Nikita heard him ask this. For some reason, she felt like crying. She choked and said, "Since you were injured and unconscious the day before yesterday, Lieutenant Antip has been commanding the battle in your place."
"The day before yesterday?" Yuri was startled and asked subconsciously.
"Yes, the day before yesterday, you have been in a coma for nearly two days," Nikita's sobs became louder.
"What time is it today?" Yuri still couldn't believe it. He was silent for a moment and asked.
"It's the 26th, and it's four o'clock in the afternoon," Nikita replied.
"Help me up," Yuri said after struggling and finding that he couldn't get up.
"You hurt your shoulder ," Nikita advised.
"Help me up!" Yuri raised his voice impatiently, and then shouted, "Arkady, Arkady!"
"Comrade Arkady is dead," Nikita cried.
Yuri paused, then changed his tone and shouted: "Signalman, signalman! Find the signalman for me!"
"Comrade Captain, is he awake?" Someone not far away heard Yuri's voice and shouted in surprise.
The person who shouted probably saw the situation here, and then he cheered loudly: "Comrade Captain is awake, Yuri Arkhipovich? Comrade Kulyokov is awake!"
Following this cheer, loud cheers rang out in the nearby woods.
"Comrade Captain, how do you feel?" After a while, a sergeant with his left arm wrapped in gauze ran over and asked with joy on his face.
"Tell me, how has the battle been these past two days?" Yuri didn't care about anything else, he urgently needed to know the current situation.
"Not good, comrade captain, our losses are heavy," the sergeant's mouth twitched and his voice instantly became low.
That's right. In the past two days of fighting, the losses of the 209th Battalion can only be described as heavy. The entire Second Company, which included hundreds of deserters, was equivalent to the strength of a battalion. After two days of fighting, only 87 soldiers were still able to participate in the battle. Including the company commander, all the grassroots commanders in the company were killed.
The situation of the 3rd Company and the Machine Gun Company is similar to that of the 2nd Company. At present, Lieutenant Antip is the only company-level commander left in the 209th Battalion. No wonder he was in charge of commanding the battle after Yuri was injured.
Today, the entire 209th Battalion, which also incorporated many deserters, has less than 400 people alive, including the wounded. All four tanks were blown up by the German army, and an anti-aircraft gun used as an anti-tank gun only has four shells left.
These are not the most fatal things. The most fatal thing is that the troops have little remaining ammunition, and since last night, the soldiers of the entire battalion have begun to restrict rations because the remaining food is very limited.
Most of the original position had been lost, with only a small area outside the jungle still under control. In addition, the Germans had begun to bypass the jungle and attack the flanks of the position. In other words, this narrow passage had been opened by the Germans, and the 209th Battalion's defense was no longer meaningful.
With the help of the sergeant, Yuri stood up from the stretcher. He endured the severe pain in his shoulder and looked towards the position outside the woods with the help of a telescope.
Just as the sergeant said, most of the positions of the 209th Battalion were lost, and they only controlled a small section near the forest. From a distance, they could see German tanks passing by quickly one kilometer in front of the position, raising huge clouds of dust.
Yuri understood that the reason his troops had been able to survive until now was not because of their strong combat effectiveness, but because the Germans simply looked down on such a small force. They were advancing rapidly in the direction east of Lutsk, and it was estimated that the war there was very intense.
"Can we still contact the command?" After looking at the battlefield for a while, Yuri put down the telescope, turned to look at the sergeant and asked.
"Okay, but they haven't contacted us once in the past two days," said the Master.
"Send the signalman over and inform Lieutenant Antip to prepare for retreat." Yuri said without hesitation.
