Because of this, many local people joined the German army...... A considerable part of them were voluntary, and it is estimated that more than 100,000 Latvian people had served in the German army alone.

At this time, the most common practice of the German army was to mix them into German infantry platoons in groups of 21 people, so that they could become familiar with the German tactics in the shortest possible time and play a role on the battlefield.

Kuruts was apparently one of these Latvian soldiers.

"Kuruts was a worker at a tractor factory before!" The oil-stained soldier explained: "Later the Soviets asked him to fix the tank, and he said he had repaired the T34!" ”

"Hmm!" Qin Chuan nodded, looked around and said, "Be careful not to let the light out, and, be quiet!" ”

"Yes, Captain!" Several soldiers glanced at each other excitedly.

Although the smell in the repair shop was a little unpleasant, the kerosene lamp could bring a little warmth, and Qin Chuan felt even stronger when he lifted the poncho and walked out.

Continuing along the street for more than a hundred meters, Qin Chuan saw a few sentries hiding behind the snow wall and constantly stepping on their feet to warm himself up.

"How's it going?" Qin Chuan asked.

"Everything is fine, Captain!" The sentry replied, "It's just too cold!" ”

"In such cold weather, the Soviets would not choose to attack at this time!" Another sentry said.

"Not necessarily, corporal!" Qin Chuan replied: "They are Soviets, and they have long been accustomed to life here!" ”

"Yes, Captain!" The sentry replied.

Then he immediately added: "Don't worry, Captain, we'll take care of this place!" ”

Qin Chuan nodded with satisfaction, turned around and was about to leave, but he heard a faint "rumbling" motor sound in the dark, dull and powerful.

Qin Chuan couldn't help but look back at the two sentinels, and the sentinels also looked at Qin Chuan with wide eyes.

"Flares!" Qin Chuan ordered.

With two "bursts", two flares were fired into the air, and in an instant, dozens of tanks and patches of Soviet troops in snow-white military uniforms appeared in the bright light.

Seeing that they were discovered, the Soviets shouted and rushed towards the German positions.

Gunshots rang out, and the German sentries fired several warning shots in the direction of the Soviet troops at the first time.

The Germans, who were resting in the trenches or buildings, went into the trenches with their guns and set up their guns. Then, under the command of their respective company commanders, they fired at the Soviets.

Qin Chuan also entered the trench and fired two shots to knock down two Soviet officers, and then couldn't help but gasp...... The Soviets threw more than a dozen tanks in one fell swoop in this direction, and most of them were T34s, and only a few were light tanks T26.

At first, the Soviet tanks were lined up as a cover for the infantry to press on the German lines, but they soon realized that this was not working.

The reason for this was that it was a steep slope from the Soviet position to the German position...... Although there are not very steep slopes in this area, if the area is swampy in the summer and frozen in the winter, the tanks will slip or even go backwards when they drive on the ice.

This put the first wave of the Soviet offensive in a difficult situation, and the infantry could only rush past the tank line towards the German line.

But such an offensive was unsurprisingly beaten back by the Germans...... Mines and barbed wire, combined with thick layers of snow and extremely low temperatures, caused a large number of Soviet soldiers to advance in slow motion under German machine guns and rifles, with the result that one after another fell under the guns of German soldiers.

It wasn't long before the Soviets realized that there was only one place for their tanks to attack, and that was the road to the town.

Although there was no road to see in the white snow, the Soviets were familiar with the terrain in the area, and they quickly concentrated their tanks on the road and attacked, while the mortars were slamming all the way forward.

So Qin Chuan knew that it was time to retreat...... Otherwise, as soon as these tanks broke through the line of defense and went around from the flanks or even around the rear to face the Germans in the trenches with a field of machine guns and shells, the losses of the Germans would have been great.

Of course, Qin Chuan could choose to throw bazookas and anti-tank guns here to stop the advance of the Soviet army.

But the range of the bazooka is too close, there are not many buildings near the defense line and it is not easy to hide, and the anti-tank gun only has the PAK40 found from the cellar, Qin Chuan didn't want the only anti-tank gun to be blown up by the Soviets as soon as it was fired.

This is one of the reasons why Qinchuan intended to abandon the area west of the Lovati River from the very beginning.

"Retreat!" Qin Chuan ordered: "Withdraw to Hedong!" ”

If this order had been given to the first corps, there would have been no problem, and they would have consciously divided into several groups to cover each other and gradually retreated, so that when they retreated to the east bank of the Lovati River, they would be able to organize their defenses in an orderly manner and take advantage of the location to resist the Soviet attack as planned...... The eastern bank of the Lovady River has a height difference of more than five meters from the river, and it is so steep that in most places, not to mention tanks, it is impossible for tanks to climb it, and even people cannot climb the bank walls covered with snow and hard frozen soil.

Especially in the area where the Lovady River and the Cunha River meet, the river turns a bend here to form an arc facing the Soviet army, that is, to form a natural fire encirclement against the Soviet army.

Qin Chuan had the 3rd Battalion set up fortifications there early in the morning and prepared to receive the soldiers of the 1st and 2nd Battalions to retreat there to defend.

However, what Qin Chuan didn't expect was that these were stragglers, most of whom were second-line troops with no combat experience, such as engineers and transport soldiers...... In fact, none of this is important, although they have no combat experience, they do not lack the courage to fight, the important thing is that this unit has just been formed and does not know coordination.

This weakness is not obvious when defending in the trenches, and once you enter the tactical mode of retreat, which requires high-bottom coordination, it will immediately go into chaos...... They didn't know whether to leave cover or who to retreat, and the Soviet mortars were bombarded indiscriminately, which soon turned them into a rout and fled east of the river.

Seeing this situation, Qin Chuan secretly said that it was worse, but under the heavy artillery fire of the Soviet army, he could not organize an orderly retreat.

"Fuck it!" Qin Chuan couldn't help but scold fiercely, he should have thought that this situation would occur a long time ago.

However, even if you think about it, it will not help, because this unit has just been formed and has to face the enemy's attack, and there is simply no time for training and exercises.

Qin Chuan shot backwards while retreating, and when he saw that there were still lights inside when he passed by the maintenance shop, he couldn't help but pick up the poncho and rushed in and shouted: "The enemy is coming, let this thing go, retreat immediately!" ”

"Captain!" The oil-stained soldier with a kerosene lamp said, "I want to ...... We've fixed it, but don't know what to do now! ”