At five o'clock in the morning on the 24th of May, the tail of the night was slowly fading, and the sky was gray, and after arranging the affairs of the dock warehouse, Koval carried the surplus weapons onto the big ship. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

When the Soviets retreated last night, they took all the boats with them, but all the small steamers with steam engines remained.

Ivanovsky and his artillery platoon picked out two 77mm field guns and one 105mm howitzer from the houses at the West Gate, and the rest of the guns had to be left in place.

The few horses in the town had long since been taken away by the Soviet troops. Horses are a very important material for the armies of European countries, and they can afford ammunition and food for the army. If an army wants to be equipped with more machine guns and artillery, it needs more horses to provide supplies.

"Sir, what if you don't have a horse?" A soldier asked in surprise as he looked at the huge cannon in front of him.

In order to keep quiet during the night operation, all the horses and artillery of the army were left in the original camp

"Let's pull these three guns into the camp together." Ivanovsky gritted his teeth and said.

"Sir, you're not kidding! Such a heavy artillery, at least a ton, let us pull it! A soldier said with a disgruntled expression.

"At this time, the battalion commander's order, who has so many problems, we have resisted the artillery in the forest, and now what are you afraid of! Who doesn't want to stand up? Majewski stepped forward and shouted a rebuke.

As soon as Maevsky, the battalion commander's guard, came out to speak, the soldiers who had just been transferred to Ivanovsky's command obediently stopped talking.

A platoon of soldiers pulled forward and pushed back, finally letting the three guns move slowly.

The artillery slowly passed through the western gates, and the sound of rolling iron wheels gradually woke up the Lithuanian soldiers.

"What sound? Check it out! ”

"It's like the sound of a carriage."

The Lithuanian soldier listened carefully for a while, and found that the source of the sound was constantly moving towards the vicinity of the western gate, and immediately reported to the top.

At that moment, Koval ordered his soldiers to start the steam engine, and the small steamer rumbled and woke up the entire town, and the small steamer quickly headed west.

"General, the little steamer on the dock is heading downstream!" An officer hurriedly ran in and reported.

"They want to escape, order the troops, machine guns to block the dock for me, eat breakfast immediately, and launch an attack." General Zukauskas commanded decisively.

The war had reached such a point that he would not allow the Soviet troops to escape from the palm of his hand, otherwise it would become a joke.

"Yes, sir." The officer replied.

Koval drove three to five kilometers downstream on a small steamer and docked the steamer at the edge of the river. Jacob came with his troops to meet and bring down the ship's weapons and ammunition.

Because there was no pier downstream, a small wooden pontoon bridge was built to lead to the small steamer by the river.

At 5:30, the Lithuanian troops finished breakfast and launched an attack on the dock area.

Lithuanian soldiers found that the Soviet troops had abandoned many outlying strongholds, and some weapons were left there without taking them.

"It seems that the morale of the Soviet army is very low, and they are not manpowered, and with a little more effort, they can be completely eliminated." When General Zukauskas heard the news from the front, he said viciously, and when he thought that the troops had lost more than a thousand people this time, Zukauskas's heart was very sad and angry.

The entire dock area was silent.

The Lithuanian army quickened its pace and rushed towards the warehouse, and the thought of being able to end the battle today made everyone relax their vigilance.

At this moment, a dense barrage of bullets shot from the windows of one house after another, knocking dozens of soldiers into the street at once.

"Watch for secrecy!"

"Don't rush hard, go around, go around!"

The Lithuanian officer shouted loudly, suddenly sobering up from the desire to compete for the first credit.

The Lithuanian army regrouped, first having soldiers occupy houses near enemy strongholds, and then sending squads to make a detour behind enemy strongholds・・・・・・

"Didn't the Lithuanians say that they would attack at seven? Why is there a sudden fight now? General Goltz said strangely when he heard the dense gunfire in the town.

"Sir, it seems that the Soviet army is about to flee by boat, and the Lithuanian army has attacked in advance." An officer replied, "Well, sir, are we going to go to war in advance?" ”

"Well, get ready for breakfast, listen to the gunshots, the Soviet army can hold out for half a day, let's go to the battle at half past six in advance." General Goltz said lightly.

Hearing the dense gunfire in the city, Koval commanded the soldiers of the two reorganized battalions to move quietly towards the south of the city.

Standing in the forest south of Makmelgay, Koval looked at the two huge camps standing four or five kilometers east of the town, one of which was the German barracks, and many soldiers could be seen moving in them.

"Stop moving forward and hide where you are." Koval ordered.

In the absence of a solution to the German army, he did not dare to rashly continue to surround the entire town to the east, which was likely to be counter-encircled by the German army.

"You come with my letter and ask the German commander on the other side to come and talk." Koval said to a herald.

"Yes, sir."

・・・・・・

"General, there is a Polish courier with a letter to you, saying that their commander has requested a meeting with you."

General Goltz was preparing to lead his troops into the siege and was surprised to hear the news.

"Polish troops? How can there be Polish troops here? General Goltz said to himself.

"Let him come!"

"Yes, sir."

"You're from the Polish army?"

"Yes."

"Who is your commander?"

"Our commander is Major Koval, commander of the separate regiment of the Lithuanian infantry division."

Goltz opened the envelope and saw that it was written succinctly and clearly:

"Our army has conquered Makmergey last night, and in order to maintain the friendship between the two countries and avoid unnecessary misunderstandings between the two armies, we hereby announce it. In order to occupy the territory of our country, the Lithuanian army started a war in vain and launched an attack on our army. It was hoped that the Germans would remain neutral. --Victor Francis Koval, Commander of the Separate Regiment of the Lithuanian Infantry Division of the Polish Army"

Sending the messenger back, Goltz slapped the envelope on his desk and immediately understood that the Lithuanians had fallen into a trap designed by the Poles.

"Sir, shall we remind the Lithuanians that there are Polish troops in the city?" An officer suggested.

"What's the use of talking about this now, the Lithuanians have already launched an attack, so I don't know how it will end!" General Goltz sighed feebly as he listened to the fierce gunfire coming from inside the town.

The battle suddenly exceeded his expectations. (To be continued.) )