The battle lasted a full half an hour before it ended.

The reason why it took half an hour was not because the Soviet army still had organization or the power to return to heaven...... From the moment the Soviet troops broke through the Lovati River, they were doomed to this defeat.

You must know that tunnel warfare can be difficult to deal with even at dawn, because the enemy will suddenly appear at any unexpected point and launch a surprise attack, not to mention that it is still at night.

It took so long just because the battlefield was too chaotic, and even the Germans themselves couldn't tell who was who.

In fact, the Germans also had "friendly casualties" in this battle, such as some German soldiers who were suppressed by Soviet fire and wanted to drill back into the tunnel, but were mistaken by the Germans in the tunnel for the enemy and killed at the entrance of the tunnel.

War, especially melee, is always inevitably injured.

As long as this accidental damage can crush the enemy and inflict a greater blow on the enemy, then it is worth it.

On the other hand, the Germans knew that the outcome was decided at this time, so they were not in a hurry to destroy the Soviet troops who were in chaos.

Therefore, the battle did not really end until the Soviets unanimously raised their hands and surrendered.

The rest of the Soviet army knew that there would be no point in fighting any longer, so they had no choice but to retreat.

When the battlefield was counted, what we saw were the corpses of Soviet soldiers lying in pieces between buildings and ruins, at least more than 1,000 people, about 2,000 prisoners, and a large amount of Soviet-style equipment and portable ammunition were also captured...... The Soviets apparently did not expect their offensive to fail, so everyone had plenty of ammunition and supplies on them.

Even more exciting, the Germans also captured two T34 tanks and three T26 tanks.

The German soldiers cheered for the end of the war, and even one soldier raised a horn in the trench and shouted in the direction of the Soviet troops: "Soviet friends, we accept your surrender, come to our side, although we cannot give you more food and better beds, but we can give you the most important thing...... Your lives! ”

The Soviets responded angrily with a volley of shells, causing the German soldiers to laugh.

"Great, Captain!" When Gerhard returned to the cellar where he was the headquarters, he excitedly said, "This is the most painful battle I have ever fought, it's unbelievable, we can destroy so many enemies in one night, that's a regiment ......"

Kuhn smiled and replied, "You'll get used to this later, Colonel, it's nothing to the Captain!" ”

"Yes, of course!" Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard nodded and said, "Do you know what they think?" Captain, they believe they can hold this place until the main forces launch a counteroffensive! ”

Qin Chuan understood what Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard meant.

The stragglers were gathered together only out of helplessness...... If you don't resist, you can only die, and the Soviets know how to deal with prisoners of war.

So, at that time, they insisted here with the idea of mortality, even if there were tunnels and warm cellars later. After all, Holm was surrounded by Soviet troops, and the Soviet army had several army groups...... Although there was only one division that directly surrounded Holm, additional troops could be brought in from the three army groups at any time.

As a result, no one was confident that they could win the battle.

But now, because of this great victory and the realization that tunnels can play such a role, the mind has changed.

"That's good, Lieutenant Colonel!" Qin Chuan said: "But I believe that we still have a long way to go!" ”

"Of course!" Gerhard replied.

This failed attack was a great shock to the Soviet troops, and the panicked Major General Vardani could only hope for a way to shirk his responsibility...... Exaggerating the record.

"Comrade Pukaev!" Major General Vardani straightened up and reported on the phone with a pale face: "Although we have paid a huge number of casualties, we have also killed and wounded more than 3,000 enemy ......."

"Shut your mouth, Vardani!" On the other end of the phone came the angry roar of General Pukaev: "More than 3,000 enemies? Any idea what that means? There were only five thousand Germans in Holm in total, do you want to tell me that now there are only a thousand people there? So what are you waiting for? They can't even hold the trenches with this guy, you can take Holm with just one charge! ”

Major General Vardani did not dare to answer, because he knew that the lie would not be fulfilled...... The intelligence from the very beginning details the strength and even the composition of the German army in Holm.

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a while, and General Pukaev ordered: "I'm sorry, Vardani, I have to dismiss you......"

"But Comrade Pukaev!" Major General Vardani said unwillingly: "I still have three days to ......"

"Vardani!" General Pukaev interrupted him impatiently: "Do you think that in this case I will let you continue to waste the time of the Soviet army and me?" ”

After a pause, General Pukaev continued: "You hand over the command to Comrade Matevich and go back to Moscow to explain to Comrade Stalin!" ”

With that, Pukaev hung up the phone.

Vardani froze in place with the phone and didn't move for a long time.

Matevic looked at Vardani with a look of disapproval...... He knew what the phrase "explain to Comrade Stalin" meant.

It took a long time for Vardani to put down the phone, and then walked back to his room and closed the door in a trance.

Matevic knew what Vardani was going to do, but he didn't stop him because he knew it was inevitable.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, a gunshot rang out in the next room.

Matevich and the guards pushed open the door and saw that Vardani was already lying in a pool of blood, with a Tokarev pistol that had followed him for several years in his hanging right hand.

Matevich sighed and looked at the pistol pinned to his waist...... He didn't know if he would be next.

The Soviet guards seemed to have been accustomed to all this, and they carried Vardani's body out with great ease.

Matevic knew that they would call a car to bring the body back, and it wouldn't be long before another person would take Vardani's place.

The phone rang again, and Matevic picked it up.

"You're the commander!" General Pukaev asked: "How much time do you need?" ”

"I don't know, Comrade Pukaev!" Matevich replied: "The Germans were cunning, they built underground fortifications. That is to say...... Our artillery bombardment did not work for them at all! ”

Matevic, of course, didn't dare to set another date, because he knew it would kill him.