The sun was setting on the horizon, but it wasn't completely dark yet, and the forest was still full of tension.

Six T-26 tanks were burning, blazing flames and smoke rising into the air, and a choking smell of burnt flesh could be smelled in the distance, mixed with a heavy smell of blood and a faint smell of roasted meat.

Half of the soldiers were on guard, and the other half were in pairs, carrying the corpses of the Soviet soldiers in the position and throwing them behind the position, and the corpses were quickly piled up into a small mountain.

Looking at his watch, Captain Winter hesitated for a few seconds, but gave the order to attack.

Using shrubs and piles of corpses on the ground as cover, the four soldiers lay on the ground and quietly crawled in the direction of the Soviet retreat.

Behind them, the MG-42 in the hands of the machine gunners pointed towards the jungle, ready to provide fire support.

The four soldiers worked in pairs, first behind the dirt slope, and then climbed to the side of the two T-26s that were not on fire, using the T26s as cover to observe the movements of the Soviet troops on the opposite side.

The Soviets on the opposite side seemed to have retreated, and they quickly ended their cautious observations, left the T-26, and continued their crawling advance towards the jungle to the south.

Captain Winter also became emboldened, and with a wave of his hand, the soldiers of the two squads left the position and quietly crawled towards the Soviet position, following the route crawled by the four scouts.

Could it be that the Russians were frightened by the previous battle and fled all? Captain Winter's mind was full of doubts.

After listening with his ears pricked up for a while, he heard the gunfire behind him completely cease, indicating that the fighting had stopped on all fronts.

The Russians should see the night and do not want to attack at night, or be attacked at night. That's why it's out of the battlefield.

Think about it. Captain Winter thought only of this one answer.

However, the answer was not what Captain Winter had expected. The Soviet infantry withdrew from the battlefield, but another powerful branch stepped into the battlefield.

With a whistling sound, countless shells fell on the German bridgehead, and in the sound of explosions one after another, the birch trees were blown off one after another, and the broken trunks and branches fell on the heads of the German soldiers under the trees.

Even more terrifying, some shells hit tree trunks and thick branches, triggering the fuse. Directly exploded in the air, and countless deadly shrapnel fell straight down, piercing the bodies of German soldiers, causing a bloody storm on the German soldiers.

After scolding, Captain Winter took three steps and two steps, and pulled Friedrich into a foxhole to avoid the shelling.

The other scouts were also very experienced, and the moment the shells fell, they sensed that something was wrong, and each looked for a hiding spot to avoid the shelling.

The Soviet shelling continued for a full hour, and did not stop until night completely covered the forest.

In the headquarters of the village of Vasd, it was learned that the battle to encircle and suppress the German troops crossing the river had failed. Colonel Fedorov couldn't hold back the anger in his heart and scolded: "Pigs, waste. A regiment of infantry is unable to destroy the enemy crossing the river, are all the sticks you hold in your hands?

Did you know that in one night, there will be a few enemies smuggling across the river? How much will the enemy's bridgehead expand in one night? How many pontoon bridges will German sappers erect in one night? I don't care what method you use, give you another morning tomorrow, the German bridgehead must be wiped out, and I will send you more tanks tomorrow. What you have to do tonight is to keep a close eye on the Germans and not let them rush out of the forest. ”

Putting down the phone, Fedorov hesitated for a while, then picked up the phone and said, "Pick up the military department for me." ”

"I'm sorry, Comrade Division Commander, the telephone line of the military headquarters is broken, and the sappers and communications corps are rushing to repair it, and they cannot be connected to the military headquarters for the time being." The operator said.

The operator's words were like a spark falling from a gasoline barrel, which instantly detonated Fedorov's "barrel of gasoline".

"From the morning to now, for a whole day, even the telephone line could not be repaired, is the communication battalion fighting with this efficiency? Where did your usual training go? ”

The operator did not dare to talk back to the division commander, so he could only quietly listen to Fedorov's angry scolding.

Fedorov received no response, so he had to sing a one-man show with a microphone alone, and soon lost his interest in swearing.

The chief of staff took the opportunity to enlighten him: "Maybe there is a fault in the telephone line outside our jurisdiction, so let's hurry up and send a report to the military headquarters by radio." ”

The military situation was urgent, and Fedorov immediately dictated the contents of the telegram:

The Germans are fighting fiercely with our troops in the city of Alitus, and the battle is now in a stalemate. A large number of German infantry crossed the river in the lower forest area and established a bridgehead. Because the terrain in the forest is complicated, which is not conducive to the attack, the first encirclement and suppression operation launched by our unit failed, and we are currently suppressing the enemy with artillery, and launching the second encirclement and suppression after dawn.

In view of the limited strength of our troops, which could not provide sufficient forces for the defense of the city of Alitus and the destruction of the German bridgehead at the same time, we requested that the defenders of the city of Alitus be withdrawn overnight, and that the bridge be blown up, so as to concentrate on destroying the German bridgehead and taking advantage of the dangerous defense of the Neman River.

After rechecking the contents of the telegram, Fedorov confirmed that it was correct, and sent it to the military headquarters with the communications staff officer.

"I hope that the military headquarters can call back in time, and in one night, we will withdraw the troops in the city on the other side, and our time is very short."

The chief of staff questioned: "Is it too early to blow up the bridge now?" ”

"I have a hunch that this bridgehead of the German army in the forest will cause us big problems, and I think that it is better to concentrate our forces and destroy this bridgehead is the most important task. Blowing up the bridge was originally a part of the planned plan, and blowing it up as soon as possible has the same effect as postponing it for a while, so in order to avoid risks, I think it is better to blow it up as soon as possible. ”

After Fedorov persuaded the chief of staff, the two waited for a call back from the military headquarters while planning the next battle.

After waiting for more than an hour, Fedorov saw a call back from the military headquarters.

It is permissible to blow up the bridge, but it must be carried out only after all the soldiers in the city of Alitus are withdrawn, and we must not leave our comrades who are fighting on the front line.

Having received the order, Fedorov excitedly stuffed the telegram to the chief of staff.

"Comrade Commander agreed to our application, immediately notified the 126th Division and our tank units on the opposite bank to organize a retreat overnight. Sappers are also to hold the bridge. Set up the explosives. When all our troops are withdrawn, blow up the bridge. ”

When Fedorov excitedly organized the retreat of his troops, he did not know that a crisis had befallen him.

Just as Captain Winter was fighting Soviet tank units in the forest, more than thirty kilometers upstream of the Neman River, on the road leading to the Lithuanian town of Merkin.

The tank columns of the 21st Panzer Regiment of the 20th Panzer Division of the German Army received orders to park one after another on the right side of the road, giving up as much space as possible to guests from the rear of the column.

Four GAS AAA trucks and two BA-10 armored vehicles drove past the tank column. The commanders could clearly see that the driver in the cab of the truck was wearing a Soviet military uniform.

The Soviet drivers were not nervous when they noticed the strange gaze of the tank commanders, but instead nodded to the commanders with a smile and walked away humming a small tune, leaving only a dashing back and a cloud of dust.

Although they wanted to turn the guns and give these arrogant Soviet trucks a shot, the commanders had already received an order to strictly prohibit firing, so they could only watch the convoy turn around and disappear on the other side of the forest.

In the back of the first truck, Captain Yashin of the DreamWorks Special Forces sat in the car with eight of his men, just like the drivers. They were also dressed in Soviet uniforms.

Fiddling with the Bobosha submachine gun in his hand, Captain Yashin said with a smile: "Did you see the eyes of those commanders just now? I'm worried that they'll be tempted to shoot at our truck. ”

One corporal said, "If they do it right, it means that our acting is realistic enough." ”

Captain Yashin fastened his large dusty cap to his head, rubbed his right hand hard under the carriage a few times, and then touched his cheek, and when he put it down, his face was covered with traces of dust.

"In a few minutes, it will be the moment when our performance begins, all cheer up, you have to remember that we are Russians, and Ivan standing in front of us is our comrade."

A very young special forces soldier who looked to be only twenty years old smiled and said in fluent Russian: "Yes, Comrade Company Commander." ”

Chen Dao's three special forces were all under the command of the Brandenburg Army, the originator of the German Special Forces, and a prerequisite for joining the Brandenburg Special Forces was to be able to speak at least one foreign language fluently.

Under the teaching of the Brandenburg special forces, there are no unfamiliar members of the DreamWorks force in all European countries.

The personnel recruited by the special forces must belong to the German nation, and these people have lived all over the world.

The team members living in Eastern Europe can speak Czech, Polish, Ukrainian, and the dialects specific to these regions.

Germans living on the Baltic coast speak Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Finnish and, of course, Russian.

The rest of the team members come from these regions, having lived in Africa and even further afield in South America, and are fluent in the local dialect in addition to English, Spanish and Portuguese.

A small number of elite members can speak as many as six languages, and a small number of people can even speak some lesser-known languages, such as Tibetan and Afghan.

In addition to their language skills, the DreamWorks team members are also familiar with the local customs because they have lived in these areas, which makes it difficult to distinguish them from the locals, and they can easily blend in with the enemy population.

In the words of Colonel Spelberg, a veteran director and leader of the DreamWorks Force, every member of the DreamWorks Force who enters Russia knows how to "spit like a Russian."

Captain Yashin and his men were no exception, and received targeted training before entering the Soviet Union.

Recalling the jokes of his past training, Captain Yashin pulled out a silver flask from his coat pocket, unscrewed the lid and handed it to the young soldier.

"I order you, drink these vodkas, Comrade Gagarin." Captain Yashin said with a pretense of seriousness.

"Yes, Comrade Berekov." said the young soldier under the pseudonym Gagarin.

Taking the flask, Gagarin leaned his neck and drank half a pot of vodka, stimulated by the alcohol, his fair face was instantly dyed with a layer of red.

Snatching the flask back, Captain Yashin drained the remaining half of the jug and slipped it into his waist pocket. Then leaned into the carriage. Quietly wait for the battle to come.

It's not the same as the city of Alytus. The town of Merkin is located on the east bank of the Neman River, and the west bank of the bridge is all densely wooded, and the road under Captain Yashin's car passes through the forest and leads to the bridge.

A bridge across the river appeared ahead, and Captain Yashin stood up and looked at the bridge deck.

The Soviets had apparently abandoned the west bank of the bridge and retreated to the east bank of the bridge.

On the banks of the river on both sides of the east bank of the bridge, there are four machine-gun emplacements made of sandbags. At the entrance of the bridge, there is a wooden barricade, behind which there are two anti-tank guns in addition to machine guns.

The convoy rumbled up the bridge and headed straight for the opposite bank, and Captain Yashin was lying on the roof of the carport with a big grin, as if looking at the scenery, but squinting his eyes for the most crucial target, the fuse for the detonator.

The convoy was stopped before it reached the obstacle.

A lieutenant crossed two BA-10 armored vehicles, walked to the first truck, squinted at the epaulettes on Captain Yashin's shoulder. Then he asked, "Comrade Captain, please show your ID." Quote your number. ”

Captain Yashin walked to the side of the carriage, pulled out the document from his left breast pocket, bent down and handed it to the lieutenant.

"Comrade Lieutenant, my comrades and I are exhausted, can you provide us with something to eat and drink, it would be better if there was vodka. Oh, I almost forgot, we are the commander of the 9th Frontier Company attached to the 3rd Frontier Regiment, Sergey . Captain Berekov. ”

The lieutenant guarding the bridge carefully looked through the military ID card and found nothing suspicious.

Captain Yashin snickered in his heart, this officer ID card was found from the captured Soviet officer, and after careful processing by the DreamWorks Troop Props Team, it was replaced with his photo.

Lieutenant Shouqiao looked at the photograph and then at Captain Yashin's dusty face in the car, and then handed his military ID card to Captain Yashin.

"How far are the Germans from you?" The lieutenant asked.

"It's close, right behind our butts, and if there are no surprises, we'll see them tomorrow morning, or tonight."

"How's the battle going ahead?"

A sad look crept over Captain Yashin's face.

"It's miserable, my company used to have 178 comrades, but now, all the people I can find are here."

The lieutenant's gaze swept over the convoy, and two suffices erupted from his nose.

"We will avenge the sacrificed comrades, after you enter the town, rest first, and then wait for orders."

As he spoke, the lieutenant turned to the back of the carriage, climbed into the carriage with the handguard behind the carriage, looked inside the carriage, found no suspicious objects, and was about to jump out of the carriage when he suddenly smelled a familiar smell of alcohol.

Looking at the young soldier with a flushed face, the lieutenant smiled and said: "Comrade, how much vodka did you drink?" ”

The young Gagarin said in fluent Russian: "Together with Comrade Commissar, I took out the last pot of vodka. ”

One of the soldiers next to Gagarin said: "There will be bread, there will be vodka, as long as we enter the town, right?" Comrade Lieutenant. ”

"Everything will be there." The lieutenant jumped out of the car and looked back at the three sentries who were inspecting the other trucks, the three sentries said that there was nothing unusual, and the lieutenant waved his hand cheerfully to signal the sentries to carry away the barricade.

When the truck started, the lieutenant stood behind the truck, smiled and waved goodbye to Captain Yashin, then turned around and waved to the young Gagarin, "Goodbye." ”

Hearing this goodbye in German, Captain Yashin bit his tongue fiercely and forced a German "goodbye" back to his stomach with astonishing restraint.

However, a piercing voice rang in his ears.

"Goodbye."

Hearing this "goodbye" in German, Captain Yashin and Lieutenant Morihashi reacted in shocking way.

Lieutenant Shouqiao reached for the pistol on his waist and shouted: "Pull the alarm, they are Germans, quickly pull the alarm." ”

Captain Yashin jerked up the Bobosha submachine gun in his hand and pointed it at the lieutenant guarding the bridge, shouting, "Fire." ”

In a few seconds, with a violent click, the lieutenant who guarded the bridge and three Soviet soldiers spasmed and fell in a pool of blood.

Jumping out of the carriage, Captain Yashin hid behind the carriage and fired as he rushed across the bridge.

In the carriage, several special forces also stood up and fired Soviet soldiers on both sides of the bridge with Bobosha and SVT-40 semi-automatic rifles.

Two BA-10 armored vehicles brutally rushed across the bridge, strafing and ramming into anti-tank gun positions.

Receiving an unexpected blow, the Soviet troops guarding the bridge ran in all directions one by one. Frantically looking for concealment. Dodge the rain of bullets from the Germans.

A barrage of grenades flew out of the truck bed. Fall into two machine-gun emplacements at close range.

The turrets on the two armored vehicles turned, and the 45-mm guns fired one after another, shelling the Soviet positions on the banks of the river.

The tranquility of the entire riverbank was shattered in an instant, and it turned into a bloody killing field.

Captain Yashin didn't care about anything else, his eyes were only the sentry box at the head of the bridge, and the fuse sticking out of the sentry box.

A few sharp steps, followed by a sharp forward roll, Captain Yashin rolled behind the sentry box. Allowing the bullets fired by the Soviets to hit the sentry box, he took out the pliers in his coat pocket and cut the fuse-cable.

He grabbed the severed end of the fuse and tossed it aside, re-picking up the Bobosha submachine gun and focusing on the situation on the battlefield.

In the town of Merkin, there are countless Soviet troops rushing out, and the black pressure rushes towards the bridgehead with great momentum.

Looking at the bridge again, the special forces have already jumped out of the truck.

Behind the sandbag positions of the Soviet troops guarding the bridge, in the grass on the banks of the river on both sides of the bridge, there were special forces fighting everywhere.

The two armoured vehicles took on the task of resisting the Soviet counterattack, constantly moving forward or reversing. Between the Soviets and the Germans, 45-mm guns and two 7.62-mm machine guns opened fire. The Soviet infantry could not get close to the riverbank.

Soon, the Soviet god of war showed its might.

An eerie whistling of shells sounded in the sky, a screech characteristic of mortar-shells as they fly.

In the town of Merkin, four gunners quietly rolled out a 45-mm anti-tank gun and aimed it at the armored vehicle next to the bridge.

The crisp sound of artillery soon sounded, and it was not until the third shell was fired that the anti-tank gun hit the armored car on the south side of the bridge.

The armoured vehicle stopped moving, and Captain Yashin saw two members escape from the vehicle, one of whom fled to the riverbank, only to be hit in the chest by bullets flying from behind and fell to the ground.

Another soldier first ducked behind the armored vehicle to shield the bullets with the help of the armored vehicle, and then fled to the river bank on the ground.

It didn't take long for an unprecedented explosion to resound across the battlefield, attracting the attention of all the combatants, as well as Captain Yashin.

On the north side of the bridge, the only remaining BA-10 armored body was torn apart, and the turret also rolled into the sky, and the thick black smoke column rushed out of the body surrounded by flames and soared into the sky.

It was clear that the shells on the armored car had been detonated, and in such a violent explosion, there was no chance that the four crew members inside would survive.

Two armored vehicles were destroyed, and the offensive of the Soviet infantry was again active.

The Soviet infantry had the absolute upper hand in both numbers and firepower, and they pressed forward step by step, pressing the Germans on the banks of the river.

Captain Yashin saw an opportunity, and with a lunge sprang out from behind the sentry box and rolled behind a rock on the bank of the river.

As soon as he left, the sentry box was hit by a mortar shell and burst open.

Seeing the tragic situation at the sentry box, Captain Yashin swallowed dryly and celebrated his good fortune.

He leaned out from behind the stone, picked up the submachine gun in his hand, swept it back and forth twice, and then retracted his body, and saw a grenade fall more than a meter away from his right foot, sneering at white smoke.

Finished! Captain Yashin was disillusioned.

At the last moment, a sturdy figure rushed out of the grass, flew to the grenade, and pressed the grenade with his body.

In the explosion, the warrior's body was thrown up by the shock wave, and then fell to the ground, splinters of the uniform and blood splattered on Captain Yashin's body.

There was no time to check the identity of the warriors, because the Soviets had already rushed to the side, and Captain Yashin leaned out again, swept back and forth, knocking several Soviet infantry who rushed to the front to the ground.

Dismantling the drum and finding a spare drum and loading it onto the submachine gun, Captain Yashin pulled the bolt and was about to fire again, when a mortar-shell fell on him.

Captain Yashin slammed into the rocks under the onslaught of the shock wave and slipped limply on the ground.

In the dimness, he saw the face of the corpse lying beside him facing him.

He recognized the owner of the face as Eric, the young soldier under the pseudonym Gagarin.

He must have thought that he had exposed the identity of the troops, and he threw himself on the grenade in order to atone for his sins, this stupid boy, there was no need at all

Cough cough cough out a few mouthfuls of blood, Captain Yashin slowly closed his eyes.

"Captain, captain, reinforcements are here, you have to hold on, the doctor will be here soon."

A sergeant stooped over to Captain Yashin, reaching out to test Captain Yashin's snort, but not to detect any airflow sensation.

Behind him, a long steel dragon composed of tank No. 4 rushed across the bridge and rushed towards the town of Merkin, opposite the tank cluster, the Soviet infantry scattered and fled, no longer as brave as before.

Fifty special forces participated in the battle to capture the bridge, and eleven people, including Captain Yashin and Eric, were killed, and the rest of the special forces were wounded.

Through this bridge that Captain Yashin and his men exchanged their lives for, the 21st Tank Regiment of the 20th Panzer Division rushed into the town of Merkin and drove away the Soviet troops stationed there with the infantry.

After the 21st Panzer Regiment sent the battle report of the successful capture of the town of Mergin to the division headquarters, it soon received a new order.

Turn around and head north to outflank the city of Alitus. (To be continued......)