On the morning of the fifth day of the siege of Holm, an artillery observer spotted in his telescope a German tank No. 4 appearing west of Holm, which was undoubtedly moving towards Holm little by little, although it was advancing very slowly due to the muddy roads.

Then the artillery observer ran back to Holm excitedly and shouted: "Our men, our tanks, here they are!" ”

But the German soldiers in Holm didn't react much, because they had had enough of the past few days...... Every now and then, the sentries or artillery observers would shout at the soldiers who were trying to build fortifications or drain the water out of the trenches in the mud: "Our men are coming!" ”

Then, when the soldiers excitedly dropped their sapper shovels and ran to the west, they saw nothing but a group of sentries laughing behind them.

Originally, this could be regarded as a "lie about the situation", but Colonel Slein thought that this kind of joke would help relieve the pressure of the soldiers and the eagerness to wait for friendly troops, so he let it go.

As a result, everyone dismissed the shouts of this artillery observer as "another rumor". There were even shouts at the artillery observer:

"You should be an actor, sergeant!"

"They should give you a prize for that!"

……

But it didn't take long for the German soldiers to discover that they were wrong for the artillery observer, because the sound of tank "rumbling" motors could be heard west of Kholm.

The soldiers suspiciously took their weapons and ran to the west to take a look, and sure enough, they saw several tanks with a group of German troops appear in their sight.

When a German lieutenant saw this, he exclaimed: "The arrival of these people really surprised everyone in Holm, as if they were creatures from another world." Then, everyone cheered and hugged each other in celebration, and some took off their white cloaks and waved wildly in the direction of their allies, lest they didn't notice that Holm had missed the ...... However, there is only one road in Holm, and it is impossible for friendly troops to miss it! ”

The first German soldiers to arrive were not many, a platoon of engineers, a tank company, and a number of artillery observers.

But their arrival was like a shot of stimulant to the German soldiers in Holm, convincing them that they had been relieved and that they would be able to get out of this hell in the near future.

Sure enough, the follow-up troops rushed to Holm one after another, and because of the poor road conditions, they were supplemented by small squads, which made the exhausted and exhausted soldiers who were originally stationed in Holm have to withdraw one by one.

The order of withdrawal of troops is as follows:

The first were glider pilots, who risked their lives to voluntarily bring supplies to Holm, and the soldiers of Holm always remembered this sentiment, so they were the first to withdraw.

And that includes Thomas.

Before leaving, Thomas held Qin Chuan's hand tightly and said, "Captain, I'm sorry, I found that what you said is right, I shouldn't come here so rashly, because it will not only harm myself but also drag others down!" ”

"I'm glad you recognized that, Sergeant!" Qin Chuan said: "I hope you will be ready the next time you go to the battlefield!" ”

Thomas nodded, then hugged his comrades one by one before jumping into the car.

The second group is Conrad, these researchers.

Needless to say, they were no less important than the glider crews in Holm, and the reason for the second withdrawal was that they finally directed a batch of V1 missiles to the Soviet positions.

"Well, there's a later date, Captain!" Conrad and Qin Chuan hugged each other: "I'm waiting for your other idea, I'm looking forward to it now!" ”

"As long as I'm alive, Colonel!" Qin Chuan replied.

"Don't worry!" Conrad replied, "No one can defeat the 'Legendary Sergeant', I firmly believe that!" ”

The third group consists of scattered combat units in addition to the police force.

They were actually disbanded, that is, all the soldiers from the 60 troops returned to their units.

Qin Chuan felt a little pity for this, because after the defensive battle of Holm, they had actually grown into veterans who could fight well, but after they returned to the building, they would become engineer troops, transport troops, and even cooking soldiers for cooking.

However, the Germans are more focused on overall combat coordination, so it is understandable to do so.

Gerhard and Qin Chuan saluted each other, and then their two hands clasped tightly together.

"It's an honor to fight with you, Captain!" Gerhard said: "I hope we will have the opportunity to meet again in the future!" ”

After a pause, Gerhard continued: "I have already decided, I will apply to your troops to participate in the battle when I go back!" ”

"You've decided?" Qin Chuan asked.

"Yes!"

"Do you know what you will face when you come to our unit?"

"Of course!" Gerhard replied: "I could be demoted, or worse, I would be in more danger." ”

"So, you still want to do it?"

"Yes!" Gerhard replied, "Because I found ...... It's too boring to go back to the sappers now! ”

Qin Chuan couldn't help but smile at Gerhard.

Qin Chuan can understand Gerhard's thoughts, which is like the feeling of "Wuyue returns without looking at the mountain, and Huashan returns without looking at Yue".

Fighting on the front line is indeed dangerous, and it is accompanied by hardship and pain, but at the same time, it is also stimulating, and it will make the whole person's nerves collapse and remain high at all times, especially after going through hardships to finally defeat a seemingly invincible enemy, and that kind of satisfaction, pride and fulfillment can never be experienced by the second-line troops.

Gerhard was fine if he didn't have this experience, and now that he has this experience, then he can't be a good sapper anymore when he goes back.

The fourth group to be withdrawn was the police force.

They stayed until this time to withdraw because they needed to maintain order before the rest of the troops retreated.

Major General Hartman didn't know where to get a jeep, he parked the car in front of Qin Chuan, wrote the phone number in his notebook with a pen and handed it to Qin Chuan, and after making a gesture to call, he said, "Call me, Captain!" ”

"Okay, General!" Qin Chuan replied: "If I need your help if I have anything!" ”

"Of course!" Major General Hartman said: "Come to me at any time!" ”

The last to retreat, of course, was the First Infantry Corps.

That's because the First Rank Corps was larger in number and was the backbone of Holm's defense.

Therefore, the 1st Regiment had to wait until the German 218th Infantry Regiment arrived and transferred all the points of defense and the information it had to the 218th Infantry Regiment before withdrawing.

By that time, it had been ten days since the first troops had withdrawn.