The city of Slutsk is located about 120 kilometers northeast of Pinsk, about 100 kilometers south of the Pripyat River, with a population of nearly 10,000. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

South of Slutsk, Colonel Beckenbauer, commander of the 1st Parachute Regiment of the German 7th Parachute Division, stood on the roof of a four-story building, staring due south.

In the telescope, a column of black smoke rose from the horizon in the distance, and the sound of explosions kept reaching his ears.

Putting down the binoculars, Colonel Beckenbauer looked at his watch, and it was nine-forty, about an hour before it got dark.

"Order a battalion, give permission to retreat, and withdraw to Slutsk. This is our last line of defense. Beckenbauer turned to one of the heralds beside him.

The herald turned and hurried downstairs, and Beckenbauer picked up his binoculars and looked at the southern outskirts of Slutsk.

Hundreds of paratroopers were busy laying mines there, setting up barriers at street crossings.

Inside the city, hundreds of paratroopers also set up barriers at various street intersections.

Anti-tank guns and recoilless guns were deployed at street corners, and in buildings near each street corner, paratroopers were stationed, with MG42 machine guns pointed at the street in a cross-pointed manner.

The entire city was turned into a barracks.

The road that crosses from the center of Slutsk is the closest road from the Pripyat River to Minsk, and Colonel Beckenbauer does not think that the Russian army will ignore the city, so he places the regimental headquarters and the main force of the regiment in the city.

The town of Soligorsk, about twenty kilometres south of Slutsk, was defended by a company of the 1st and 2nd Battalions.

Despite being on the more advantageous defensive side and having a large number of town buildings to serve as fortifications, Colonel Beckenbauer was still very concerned about the situation of the first battalion.

In addition to the inferiority in troops, the paratroopers who lacked heavy weapons still had to bear a major test head-on against the Soviet army, which was equipped with tanks, heavy artillery and other heavy weapons.

Although there is air support provided by naval aviation, judging by the frequency of aircraft in the sky, the air power of the two sides can be said to be evenly matched.

Staring at Soligorsk in the distance, which was covered in gunsmoke, Colonel Beckenbauer looked at it for a while, then turned around and returned to the regimental headquarters in the center of the city with concern for the first battalion.

Immediately after returning to the regimental headquarters, Colonel Beckenbauer received a near-bad news that the regimental headquarters had lost contact with the 1st battalion in Soligorsk.

Colonel Beckenbauer rubbed his head worriedly and shouted to the communications staff officer: "Contact naval aviation, in any case, let the bombers go to Soligorsk again." ”

In the town of Soligorsk, where Colonel Beckenbauer was worried, Soviet soldiers in grass-green uniforms, following the tanks, rushed into the town that had been bombed beyond recognition by shelling from three directions: west, southwest and northwest.

"The Ivan are in, the anti-tank group is ready." In the buildings of the town, the shouts of German paratrooper officers and non-commissioned officers were heard one after another.

Facing due west, about a platoon of Soviet infantry, divided into two columns and sticking to both sides of the road, followed by a T-34 tank, cautiously marching deeper into the town, another T-34 tank following the infantry.

The T-34 tank had just passed through a brick-red roof on the second floor, and in the attic window on the top floor of the second floor, a German paratrooper suddenly flashed.

The German paratrooper had an Iron Fist anti-tank rocket launcher under the creaking socket of his right arm, and after the paratrooper's sight and Iron Fist's warhead moved with the tank for some distance, the Iron Fist flew out of the window with a puff of smoke and shot straight at the T-34 tank with its back to the paratroopers.

Shooting the "iron fist" in his hand, the paratrooper made a turning motion in the window, took another iron fist from the hands of his comrades behind him, and shot at the T-34 tank that had not yet reacted.

Two iron fists, one hit the engine compartment and one behind the turret.

Almost at the same time, on the second floor of the building across the street, two M24 long-handled grenades flew out and landed in the Soviet infantry group on the street.

In the sound of the explosion, gray-black gunpowder smoke filled the streets, and in the buildings on both sides of the street, muzzles of guns stretched out, and dense bullets set off a bloody storm among the Soviet infantry, and more than 20 Soviet soldiers were wiped out in the deadly crossfire almost instantly.

The howls of the wounded, the desperate cries of Russian soldiers as they lay lay out through the streets.

A second T-34 tank came to an abrupt stop in the street, shook its turret, and fired shells at the building where the Germans were hiding.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to suppress the German fire with the help of tank fire, the Soviet infantry following the tank swarmed up and rushed to the houses occupied by the Germans.

The fighting quickly moved from the streets to the buildings, which were turned into cemeteries for Soviet and German soldiers.

With six KV-2 tanks thrown into battle, under the powerful fire of 152-mm tank guns, the efficiency of the violent demolition of the Soligorsk town by the Soviet army took a qualitative leap.

Buildings that would have required the infantry to fight hard and pay several or even a dozen lives to capture could be solved with just one 152mm grenade.

As the KV-2 tanks progressed through the town, the number of dwellings in ruins increased rapidly.

Flesh and blood were unable to compete with the overwhelming steel, and the paratroopers in the town of Soligorsk retreated to the east and northeast of the town until they received the order to retreat.

As night fell, the surviving paratroopers fled into the wilderness outside the town, in the direction of Slutsk, due north.

Some of the paratroopers who had escaped too late in the town became the last defenders of the town, and it was not until nearly eleven o'clock that the battle in the town of Soligorsk came to an end.

On the road leading to Slutsk, west of the town, tanks, armored vehicles and trucks loaded with infantry lined up in a long line and marched overnight towards the city of Slutsk.

In Pinsk, Spudent took a sip of the coffee handed by the adjutant, the coffee was not sweetened, and the feeling of drowsiness caused by lack of sleep disappeared a lot under the stimulation of the bitter taste.

"Colonel Beckenbauer reported that the Russian army would launch an attack on Slutsk by tomorrow morning at the latest, and he hoped that after dawn, naval aviation would be able to provide timely support."

Glancing at the map, Slutsk was only about a hundred kilometers from Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

"He was ordered to hold on to his place, not to retreat a single step, and Slutsk was his last battlefield. As for naval aviation・・・・・・ General Garand was informed that it was necessary to form a unit that would provide air support to Slutsk on a full-time basis, and as for the number, it could not be less than two brigades. ”

After drinking the rest of the coffee in one gulp, Student asked the adjutant, "How is the preparation from General Figlein?" ”

"His troops have arrived at the predetermined position and can launch an offensive at the scheduled time."

"Very well, inform the Polish Governor's Guard that everything is going according to the scheduled plan, and that it will be launched on time at four o'clock tomorrow morning."

After the arrangements were made, Stepent said: "We cannot win the battle by defense alone, we must attack." ”

・・・・・・

In the middle of the night, long columns of cavalry weaved through the roads scattered among the jungles.

Figlein's divisional headquarters, sandwiched between the assault gun battalion and the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, followed the marching brigade north of the Pripyat marshes, and only then did Figlein leave the brigade with his command and settle into a small village called Pogost.

After the division headquarters was settled in Pogost, Figlein looked at his watch and found that it was only about 11:40 p.m., and it was still early in the morning.

Pointing to the map, Figlein said to the chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Gale: "You see, we are now at the northernmost point of the Pripyat marshland, which is only forty kilometers in a straight line from the city of Pinsk, how long do you think we will be able to reach Pinsk. ”

"It's up to the Russians to be prepared for our arrival, but in any case, tomorrow before dark, we'll meet with friendly forces and give the Russians a sandwich biscuit."

"Tomorrow it will be too late after dark, and if you attack at four o'clock sharp, make sure to turn with the friendly forces before two o'clock in the afternoon, and tell the 1st and 2nd regiments my orders."

While Feglein and Lieutenant Colonel Gale waited for the attack to begin, in the wilderness, in the forest, the troops of the 1st Cavalry Regiment, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and the Assault Gun Battalion hid in the darkness with 120,000 enthusiasm, "gritting their teeth" in anticipation of the beginning of the offensive.

Under the attack of countless mosquitoes, even the strongest soldiers in the army could not maintain their inner peace and could only be like other comrades.

Four villages stood in the way of the two regiments, and in front of the four villages that were in the way was a large field that could be driven straight into the two regimental commanders.

Four villages, two regiments each responsible for two.

With the assistance of mosquitoes, a "biological refreshment", the cavalry of the two regiments ushered in the dawn with the highest enthusiasm.

There was no artillery preparation, no shouting, and with the gestures of the officers, two cavalry regiments each sent two battalions and quietly approached the four sleeping villages, each battalion in charge of one.

I don't know whether he saw the cavalry approaching on foot, or was awakened by the engine of the No. 3 assault gun that followed the cavalry, and the Soviet sentry on duty sounded the alarm in panic and kicked off the battle.

However, it was too late, and when the Soviet troops in the village woke up from their slumber, took up arms, and rushed out of their quarters in rags to prepare for battle, they found that the German soldiers had already rushed into the village, and with them the No. 3 assault gun.

The powerful firepower of the three brothers of Type 42 in the hands of the assault guns and cavalrymen tore apart the Soviet soldiers exposed on the street in an instant.

Soviet soldiers hiding inside buildings were swept across the battlefield under the blows of assault guns and grenades, and in less than an hour, four villages were captured by the Germans.

"Two villages are medical stations, one is a makeshift transfer station, and one village is empty, and the Russians are better than we thought." Figlein held the telegram with a look of disdain.

"This Russian army unit is from Ukraine and has no combat experience to make such a low-level mistake." Lieutenant Colonel Gale said.

"Since this rookie unit has given us a big gift, I will happily accept it." Feglein said.

While Feglein and Lieutenant Colonel Gale teased the novice behavior of the Soviet troops, the two cavalry regiments that had opened the passage to the march switched horses. Rushing through the mountains to the city of Pinsk.

The southern part of the city of Pinsk also lost the tranquility of the early morning at this time.

Naval aviation fighters and bombers dive, drop bombs, pull up, dive again, drop bombs again・・・・・・

To the east and west of Pinsk, 105-mm and 150-mm howitzers roared from the artillery positions of the two Honorable Jewish Divisions, raining shells on the Russian positions in the south, and the howitzers fired on the artillery positions like a rain of gunpowder.

Countless shells and aerial bombs fell on the Soviet positions, turning the originally flat land into the surface of the moon in an instant, mottled craters replaced green grass and flowers, and the Soviet soldiers who were unfortunately hit by German artillery fire used blood and corpses to render the powerful power of German artillery fire.

The surviving Soviet soldiers could only hide in foxholes or trenches, silently praying that no shells would fall on their heads.

The officers' expressions were more solemn than those of the soldiers.

It is not that they have not been hit hard by German artillery, but they have all encountered German defensive fire during the attack on the city of Pinsk.

And now, the Germans actually took the initiative to open fire, which can only say one thing, the German counterattack began.

The air raids and artillery bombardment woke up not only the soldiers on the front line, but also the drowsiness that pervaded the headquarters at all levels, which were far from the front line.

Telegrams were sent to the air bases in the rear, telephone calls were made to nearby artillery positions, and more often to forward positions to inquire about the state of the battle.

Soon, news of the German counteroffensive spread to every Soviet position.

On the artillery positions, the gunners were busy around the artillery, the armor covering the 122 and 152-mm howitzers was removed, and the muzzles of the guns were pointed in the direction of the orders of the superiors.

In the villages behind, the tankmen also ran out of their quarters to their tanks, lifted off the branches that covered the vehicles for concealment, and then got into them.

At the forward position, the officers bent over and, accompanied by the sound of explosions, ran through the trenches, cheering up the soldiers and preparing to engage the German infantry.

Just as the Soviet troops south of Pinsk were engrossed in meeting the German counterattack, they did not know that two regiments of cavalry charged from the south and rushed straight behind them.

The Soviet artillery positions behind the battle line were the first to spot the German cavalry behind them, but it was too late.

The bulky howitzer didn't have time to turn around, and the No. 3 assault gun, which was rushing in front of the cavalry as a steel shield, was already approaching the artillery position, and the cavalry also jumped off their horses and followed the assault gun on foot to charge.

With only one charge, the cavalry broke the defenses of the Soviet artillery and attacked the artillery positions, leaving the artillery with weak melee skills either dead in positions or turning around, leaving the Germans with their guns intact.

Leaving a small number of cavalry to guard the prisoners and horses, the cavalry followed the assault guns on foot and continued to charge in the direction of the northern city of Pinsk. (To be continued.) )