Soon, a red flare appeared in the sky, which was a signal to retreat.

Although everyone still wanted to continue to expand the results of the battle, the order was given first, the troops were forbidden to fight, and even more cruelly, they had to be forced to abandon the corpses of their comrades. Everyone was forced to retreat.

So, after Evgeny's battalion was cut off, Balzen ignited the gasoline flowing from the oil depot during the retreat, and soon the railway station was on fire! Both armies were shocked by the raging fire, and the Germans ceased their pursuit of Yevgeny's troops.

Yang Mingzhi and everyone ran wildly all the way, including the meritorious anti-tank gun, which was also dismantled and retreated. Just twenty minutes later, the warriors who were still alive left the city of Cherobi.

However, everyone did not dare to slack off, and rushed into the forest in one breath, and then settled down.

The troops retreated with a small number of ordinary citizens, who were almost carried away and fled. However, these people were both excited and shocked to see the army of their homeland.

The darkness gave cover to the retreating people, and Yang Mingzhi could look at the red-burned sky in the distance. "That fire was really good, it reminds me of the fire in Luvanka."

"Well, that time it was an explosion at an ammunition depot, and this time it was a fire at a fuel depot. Look at this fire, I think it's going to be burning for a while. Yerenkina said calmly.

Yang Mingzhi and her stood on a small dirt slope, and the soldiers lined up in two teams in the moonlight and firelight to shuttle through the forest. Everyone navigated with a compass and headed due north.

The troops in this battle must have lost a lot of people, and Yang Mingzhi could detect it. Similarly, the fighters consumed a lot of ammunition, some of the ammunition discs of the DP machine guns were missing, and the drums of the submachine guns were also lost. The consumption of ammunition is large, and the consumption of weapons is also serious. These are consumables, and the more frequent the fighting, the more supplies are needed, but with the current situation of the 284th Division, it is really difficult.

"Alas, the task of this battle is fully completed, and we still consume a lot. If the higher authorities continue to order us to do several such tasks, not to mention the attrition of personnel, our ammunition will be exhausted first. Yang Mingzhi muttered to himself, his forehead couldn't help frowning.

He said this, and Yerentina also knew what the troops were most afraid of. "Our combat effectiveness is very strong, we are not afraid of fighting, we are afraid of fighting without playing."

"yes. Even though we have been fighting the invaders, we have rescued some people. But the price paid is very high, and if the fight continues like this, the thousands of people gathered will gradually be reduced to nothing. When winter comes, I'm afraid we won't have such a large-scale raid again. ”

Yerentina patted him on the shoulder, "No matter whether it's winter or summer, the battle still has to be fought, and as a soldier, you must obey the orders of your superiors." When we get back, we will continue to try to contact the Front Command and continue to ask for support. ”

"That's all there is to it. Let's go, let's follow the troops! ”

Yang Mingzhi did not know the casualties of the troops, considering that this was a surprise attack and it was out of the battle relatively quickly, the final casualty statistics should not be exaggerated. He felt so, because when he retreated, the troops still stretched a long way.

The warriors marched continuously, knowing the rising of the sun. The morning light shines on the forest, and the mist ripples in this forest full of birch trees. An army marches through this wonderland, which is like some fantasy story, except that the travelers are not dressed in armor and armed with swords, but a modern army with loaded guns and steel helmets.

"Let's work hard, find a flat place and we'll rest immediately!" Yang Mingzhi greeted. The news immediately spread throughout the army, and everyone had been walking all night, and the speed of walking through the darkness was slow, so it was necessary to walk a long way to reach the so-called safe area.

Finally, in a flat area full of fallen leaves, the troops stopped. Suddenly, the soldiers were like deflated balls, they unloaded their backpacks one after another, put their guns on the ground casually, took out the kettle one by one to drink water and then gnawed on dry food, and many people casually ate a few mouthfuls of bread and lay down to rest.

Yerenkina attaches more importance to military discipline, they are free and loose like this, and it is too easy to be served by the enemy once they are attacked.

Yang Mingzhi immediately grabbed the angry woman. "My commissar, you take your breath. We are all tired, the warriors are the same, not all of them are Paul Kochakin. ”

"But what if the enemy suddenly appears?"

Her face was full of fear of the unknown, and it was true that the area where the troops were resting was surrounded by fog, and it was the early morning of October, and the cold water vapor had settled on the ground, and the fog would only dissipate when the temperature slowly rose.

"I'm afraid the enemy is still busy fighting fires! You and I are tired, so let's get some rest. Besides, when we retreated, were we chased and beaten by the Germans? ”

"Nope."

"That's right. The enemy did not pursue us at all, and with such a large weapon now, we were hiding in the fog of war. Like the Battle of Waterloo, the French army was exposed to the smoke of gunpowder and fired indiscriminately in all directions. It's like we're hiding now, and now we're safe. ”

Yang Mingzhi's words made Yelenkina feel a lot more at ease, and she herself was very tired, so she simply slept well. "Well, I'll listen to you. I'm so glad your wife didn't participate in this battle, I'm really tired of my wife. Now I'm going to take care of our female snipers, and you, hurry up and contact the division commander. With that, Yerentina waved her hand and left.

Yang Mingzhi pinched his nose and smiled slightly, he immediately summoned the two battalion commanders and other officers.

"Now I'll give you the task, count the personnel before going to bed, how many people haven't followed us to withdraw here, make a count." What he meant was to count the casualties of the troops, settle down and deal with them immediately.

In fact, the statistical work was very fast, and Yang Mingzhi immediately found the radio officer and ordered him to send a report.

Soon, Yevlov received a telegram from the expeditionary forces with a very simple message, only a few words "we have won a great victory."

"It's so good that there has never been a failure in command with Berekov!" Excited, Yevlov immediately gave an order, "Now hurry up and contact the front command, and say that the task has been successfully completed." ”

Yang Mingzhi didn't think too much about it when he sent the telegram, and he didn't report the blowing up of the bridge. The Chenobi railway bridge had been blown up, and the fire at Chenobi had intensified during the day, and the entire city was already in flames, and the reinforced German troops could not enter the city at all, only to see the black smoke in the sky.

The good news has been spread, Yang Mingzhi breathed a sigh of relief, and now he can rest. After eating something like this, Yang Mingzhi surrounded himself with a blanket into meat dumplings, and he immediately fell asleep when he was tired.

Time passed slowly, and the makeshift camp was full of snoring, except for the sentries still on rotation.

The fog slowly cleared, the temperature rose, and by eleven o'clock in the morning, Yerentina woke up. It was when she woke up in a daze that the results of the investigation of the casualties were in front of her.

"More than 300 people didn't come back, so many. They should all be dead! No, I'm going to have to wake up the man. “

Yelenkina acted immediately, no matter how dead Yang Mingzhi slept, a push and shoved in exchange for a burst of muttering. It was a Chinese mutter, which Yelenkina didn't understand, and almost called his wife again.

There was no way, Yelenkina held the kettle and put a little rain on Yang Mingzhi's face, which immediately woke up the sleeping person.

"What's going on? There was a war! Yang Mingzhi asked in horror, his little heart pounding.

"There is no war, my deputy division commander, it's almost noon, you should wake up too!"

Yang Mingzhi rubbed his eyes and learned of the casualty report.

"Three hundred and twenty people did not return, so they will not all be killed in battle!"

"That's right, they're all warriors. Our veterans are all warriors, so it is the glory of every soldier to die in battle. I want to believe that everyone fights to the end. Yerentina said.

"It should be so, although it was cruel, we still lost three hundred and twenty men. They are all veterans, how many elite soldiers have been left over from the battle, and they have lost so much in this battle. "Speaking of which, Yang Mingzhi is very regretful." If this continues, our combat effectiveness will decline rapidly. A large number of recruits poured in, and it was not easy to carry out such a large-scale operation in the future. ”

"Come on. Recruits have become veterans in battle, and we have suffered heavy losses and have not recovered to the present. In the future, new soldiers will be injected into the troops, and the militia will become very good fighters, and combat effectiveness is not a problem. ”

Yang Mingzhi smiled. "Also, it's October, and soon it's winter, and snow is frequent. When the time comes, it will be difficult for us to carry out operations, and it will be difficult for the Germans to retaliate against us. Let's hurry up and train well, and in one winter, we can train into a group of qualified fighters. ”

"yes, so we have to go back first." Yerentina said.

"We don't just have to go back, the division commander has already launched a defense, and we must always be vigilant against German retaliation. Maybe their attack is just around the corner, let's take precautions. Yang Mingzhi stood up and ordered the soldiers to eat quickly and continue on their way. (To be continued.) )