But Haldeman has a different view. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

"It's really hard to explain if we have casualties just because the prisoners escaped. In the forest we found the bodies of three people, two from the Polish battalion, the rest were our soldiers. And the most critical soldier died from a gunshot wound, and the bullet directly shattered his head! Do you believe that all this was done by escaped prisoners of war? ”

As soon as this remark came out, the regiment commander Lothaheim had to rethink his previous inference.

He pinched his chin and fell into deep thought with many people.

Are prisoners of war really so powerful? If they really had the ability to kill and escape, they would have fled long ago. But the prisoners of war were as weak as sheep, and when they heard the sound of gunfire, they ran away. However, the result was the death of a German soldier in the forest, apparently caused by the escape prisoners of war who seized their guns and killed them.

Or maybe this reliable statement is completely wrong! Lothaheim looked at the regimental chief of staff in amazement and asked, "Is it possible that this was actually done by the guerrillas?" ”

"Quite possibly!" Haldeman said.

The 707th Division replenished its strength after being disabled, and the officers were also replaced. The soldiers are mainly new recruits, because the highest quality soldiers are selected by the front-line troops, and they are fighting on the front line at the moment. The rear are all secondary units, so the 707th Division has regained its strength, and its combat effectiveness is actually not as good as before.

There were not many heavy weapons, and the soldiers lacked combat experience. They all knew that their troops were sent here, not only because this was their former defense area, but also because a major war had just ended here, and the Germans had suffered heavy losses! After the 707th Division suffered heavy losses, the 715th Division filled the vacancy, and as a result, this division suffered even greater losses and could only repeat the mistakes of the 707th Division.

So Haldeman had to think a little more, even if it had a tendency to be unfounded.

He quoted the confession of a German soldier at the time: "Our fighters found footprints on the ground while supervising the logging of prisoners of war!" You know, we haven't gone deep into the forest yet, but the footprints are indeed trampled on by our boots. But the soldiers found other footprints, identical to the shoes worn by prisoners of war! Could it be that these footprints appeared out of thin air? Therefore, the soldiers followed the prisoners of war to investigate, and the prisoners of war who had not returned to us for a long time also went to investigate, and the result of the final reconnaissance was a gunshot.

What's in the forest? Now, do you still think that everything today is caused by the escape of prisoners of war? I think we've been targeted by the guerrillas! ”

Lotahim wasn't trembling yet, but he was not lightly frightened.

Ordinary soldiers just knew that a month ago there was a series of wars here, the losses of troops were large, and the partisans were very combat-ready. But as a "veteran" of the 707th Division, last year, the pain of being dominated by explosions and flames is still vivid.

The German casualties amounted to eight thousand people, and the sheer number of dead and missing exceeded six thousand. The enemy's number was also officially revealed, it was a Guards Army, the 284th Guards Infantry Division of the Soviet Union, and it was simply an ace unit in the war for production. They were wiped out, but like ghosts, they mysteriously disappeared on the outskirts of Minsk and reappeared hundreds of kilometers away in the Pripet marshes.

According to the inference of the regimental chief of staff, the events of the afternoon were definitely mixed in by Soviet partisans, and Haldeman even boldly deduced: "Our soldier who was shot in the head was not killed by fleeing prisoners of war, but died by the sniper fire of the partisans!" If we send hounds to that area, we might be able to find clues. Or if we intensify the interrogation of the prisoners of war and the soldiers who were present at the time, some details will surely prove that the guerrillas are coming! ”

"It's the regular army of the Soviet Union!" Lotharheim sighed deeply, his heart pounding, his eyes looking in the direction of the swamp. "We built our positions to defend against them. Contact is going to happen sooner or later, and I'm really not sure if this line of defense will be able to stop them, but we must complete the tasks assigned to us by the front. If they choose to attack now, we have to be prepared. ”

The people at the regiment headquarters agreed with the regiment commander's pertinent opinion, and the battalion commanders who came urgently couldn't help but ask themselves. Normally, the fighters live in a comfortable way, the defensive line is built in full accordance with the regulations, there are canteens, toilets, bars, recreation rooms, and even special services provided by Ukrainian women.

Even these could hardly hide the tension of the soldiers, and the forest not far away was full of darkness, and no one wanted to go deep into it, only to pour fire on the forest.

Lothaheim issued an order to increase vigilance, most of the soldiers' entertainment was terminated the next day, the number of soldiers on the night vigil increased, and the latest active infrared night vision devices were also installed on general-purpose machine guns, which at least improved morale, regardless of performance.

After receiving the order, the battalion commanders went to deploy, and the senior personnel in the regiment headquarters were left with the chief and deputy regiment commanders and chief of staff.

Lotharheim opened a bottle of red wine and three glasses, and the three of them quieted down for a drink to sort out the logic.

Compared with Lao Maozi's rough vodka, the Germans still savor the grace of this fine wine. When the mood quieted down, Haldeman said something else.

"Gentlemen, my informants among the prisoners of war told me that they were planning to escape."

Lothaheim was startled and immediately put down his glass. "I haven't reported to the division headquarters about the afternoon, and now you tell me that the prisoners of war are planning to escape, isn't that what they did in the afternoon? More than thirty people have mysteriously disappeared! They went to the forest. ”

Haldeman shook his head: "No, I mean, in fact, this group of people wants to flee as a whole, and they even have an escape route. ”

This aroused everyone's interest, and in this half-crypt of the front-line headquarters, there was a small map on the table, and this was the area that this infantry regiment was responsible for defending. Holding a pencil to sketch out the escape routes of the POWs he had learned, Haldeman said: "Our POWs were involved in the construction of our positions, and they know all about where the defenses are thorough and where they are weak!" This route is the safest, they will flee into the forest and eventually flee to the swamp, where they will make peace with the Soviets. ”

Unbeknownst to the chief and deputy head of the regiment, Lotharheim looked bewildered, and then turned into anger, the pen in his hand was broken, and the ink was spilled. "These Russians, are they pretending to be obedient, but behind their backs they are working with bad intentions?!"

"That's right! You only know this now, and I also deliberately kept it a secret, I just want to see what kind of reputation those prisoners of war can make. In fact, it was very easy to stop their escape, and those stupid Slavic pigs had no idea that their comrades, who thought they considered loyal and thirsted for revenge, had already betrayed them! Now that everything is under control, to stop the escape, we can kill some people now to scare them. "Haldeman doesn't get complacent because of the unexpected things that make everything a little bit responsible.

Lothaheim and Hausenfried wiped their heads, after all, the escape of five hundred prisoners of war was not a trivial matter. "What now? The prisoners of war had a plan to escape, and in the afternoon they took advantage of the chaos to carry it out, and some of them really ran away! Now you think that the guerrillas are operating in the forest, and we ......"

Seeing that the head of the regiment did not have a backbone, Haldeman seemed to have some good ideas, but it was difficult to think of a brilliant countermeasure. He said helplessly: "Regiment commander, you can report to the division headquarters for the time being, saying that the bolt incident in the afternoon was a riot caused by a prisoner of war riot, and that's it. Let me think about whether or not there are guerrillas involved. ”

Lothaheim nodded: "That's all we have to do for the time being." ”