Due to Gurov's relatively special status, although he was relatively young, he obviously had a wealth of combat experience, and he was still a party member with 6 years of party experience, and at a meeting in the hospital, he was identified as the "Red Banner Guerrilla Corps" in the Swamp (the title that Melnik and Kozlov came up with, the main body is the 53rd Guards Cavalry Division, which is the general name of dozens of guerrilla units large and small in this area. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info) member of the Party Committee.

The party commands the guns, this is the consistent position of the Central Committee, and Gurov entered the military leadership of the partisan corps, since there was no military committee of the "Red Banner Guerrilla Corps" (note that Kozlov's position as a "commissar of the military council" is somewhat like our "commissar" and not the concept of "member of the committee"). -- A set of teams, the military and the people's livelihood are in charge, but the main responsibility direction of the people in it is different.

As soon as the short meeting was over, everyone went to prepare separately, and the whole camp was immediately busy. Gurov's body still needs to be healed and recovered, and he can't participate in this operation, although it's a bit regrettable, but there is no way: there are still many opportunities to fight in the future, and his main task at the moment is to get his body well.

The camp occupies a very large area, which is for the needs of air defense, and the German reconnaissance planes often appear over the Swamp, and the scattered and hidden camps can hide from the eyes of the fascist air. Now there are more than 1,500 fighters in the camp, a lot of people, pay special attention to air defense, the Germans will carry out air strikes on so many people! There are almost half of the old and weak women and children in the camp, and more than 500 people will be dispatched in this attack!

A small number of combatants are to remain as guard forces in the camps, and more than 100 of the personnel to be deployed will be armed convoys, mostly composed of former civilians.

The 53rd Division originally had not only a large number of war horses, but also mules used to pull carts, and now the surviving mules are the main force of the transport team. Because it was a night attack, the cavalry would be dispatched in its entirety, but most of them would be used as infantry to participate in the battle when attacking, and the cavalry would not have an advantage in such a battle. Because of this, the cavalry of three companies in the detachment did not even put on the saddles of the horses, so they laid a mat on the north of the horses, and put up some rigging and equipment for the expedition - these horses were the best means of transportation when they returned.

Budyonny's war horse is used as a pack horse, which is also a good strategy in the middle of no way. Fortunately, the swamp is frozen now, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to take even a war horse with you to Ratno - this time it's a real thing to pass through the swamp area! Usually it is a forbidden area for humans and large animals, and if you go in, you will find death! But the harsh winter has made the cannibalistic quagmire as hard as iron, and the cold wind has frozen everything.

Armed with the small amount of supplies needed for three days, the soldiers bid farewell to their comrades in the camp and marched west in two long columns. The comrades in the camp watched them leave, and perhaps many comrades would not return, but the comrades had no choice, because they were heroic partisans of the Red Army! The battle is calling them forward!

The camp was a relatively dry, high-lying area in a swamp, surrounded by its own sentinels, who could quickly spot danger if a German encirclement force approached. Watching their own team drive through, the sentries silently blessed the comrades who set out in the dark.

、、、、、、

Melnik did not ride a horse, but led his horse on foot—a dense forest with low branches, which was not as easy to ride as it was to walk. Of course, in addition to their own weapons, other equipment is placed on the horse to save physical strength.

The snow was very deep, and the outpost that opened the road in front was a few hundred meters away, so you couldn't see it at all, and you could only see the traces left on the snow to identify the way. However, no one has to worry about the marching team finding the wrong direction, and most of the soldiers are already very familiar with this area.

There were no superfluous conversations, just simple passwords that were sometimes passed through the ranks. It was a swamp, and the sound of people could be heard far away, and the marching procession was quiet.

The 40-kilometer straight-line distance takes about 15 hours to reach because it needs to be detoured. The team departed at noon, and if it didn't stop all the way, it would be near Ratno by dawn tomorrow. Melnik's large force was not in such a hurry and would camp tonight, but one of the demolition squads would have to travel overnight to reach two road bridges five kilometres north of Ratno before dawn.

It was called a road bridge, but it was actually a stone bridge over two small rivers - if it were blown up, the Germans estimated that it would take a day to erect a temporary bridge, and the passing German convoy could be blocked in Ratno.

If the Germans had repaired quickly, they would have attacked only Ratno; If the German convoy did not set off from Rivwe or Lutsk after learning that the bridge had been bombed, and waited for the bridge to be repaired, it would also indirectly delay the movement of German supplies.

The commander of the second cavalry detachment, Ivan Grigyevich Zadov, walked beside the division commander, who turned out to be the commander of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, an authentic Don Cossack. His horse is just behind him, and the good horses will follow the team on their own, without the need for a rider to lead them, and they will not run around.

"The demolition team will separate from us at nightfall, and both bridges will be blown up after dawn."

The demolition team belongs to Zadov, and they are all comrades with experience in blasting, and they are already familiar with this.

Melnik just nodded, and the squad leader returned to the back. In many places along the way, only one horse was allowed to pass, but a small number of comrades who did not have a war horse could open a second march passage on the side.

The march lasted two hours and rested for a quarter of an hour, and then continued the departure. At six o'clock in the afternoon, it was already dark, and the long line arrived at the camp for the night: a small guerrilla camp. This is the camp of the "Voroshinov fighters" partisans, which is very small, and the entire partisan group is more than 50 people, and the members are basically the Red Army that was scattered in northern Ukraine.

The captain of this small partisan detachment was Captain Yefimore, who was originally a company commander of the Lutsk garrison. The comrades of the partisan detachment "Voroshinov fighters" warmly welcomed the comrades of the main forces, and Captain Yefimore had something to report to the head of the partisan corps.

"Captain, your team has grown a lot these days, where did you find them?" Melnik asked Yefimore: in addition to the comrades with weapons, there were two or three hundred civilians in ragged clothes in the camp. The major general knew that the "Voroshinov Fighters" partisans were basically Red Army soldiers, with few men but very effective fighting, and they were good at attacking small groups of German troops, and they had already carried out many sorties, and they were also well-known in the general unit.

"Comrade General, they were all found the day before yesterday from the south of the Piati River. General, is there any surplus food and medicine, ours is running out. ”

The captain's tone was a little bad, "What's going on?" Melnik asked as he walked.

The two came to the side of several civilians who were building fires, "basically refugees who have escaped from the vicinity of Drojichin, who have been hiding in the south of the river for some time." The day before yesterday we were going to the north to attack the German convoy, but we were running out of food, but we didn't expect to meet these people in the woods. Sadly, they said that the fascists in the north were massacring the entire village, and even those who escaped had already starved to death because they had no food. As soon as my heart relented, I brought them back, and five died on the way, and today eight more died, and the others may survive. ”

"Zadov, let the comrades take out the food and leave only the rations for tomorrow's meal to the civilians. Also, give them half of the medicine they are carrying, and let the military doctors and medics help to look at it. Melnik shouted to the detachment commander: In fact, there is no need for the order of Comrade General, many fighters are already taking out their rations to those civilians.

A general appeared here, and the refugees unconsciously gathered: a Red Army general and so many units that looked very elite, this is the hope in everyone's hearts!

The soldiers will eat a little tonight, a dry ration tomorrow, and there will be no problem in participating in tomorrow night's battle, and then the Germans will have prepared supplies for themselves.

The guerrillas practiced absolute egalitarianism, and the food was taken out as a big pot of rice, and there was no need to worry about who shared more and who ate less: individualism was severely punished!

Melnik needs to know what is going on in the north, and the civilians know something that the partisans don't know.

Massacre, no more than enough: the Germans did not just massacre entire villages, the fascists did not bother to pursue the fleeing villagers, they simply plundered all the food and livestock, burned all the houses to the ground - in the eyes of the fascists, the cold and hunger of Belarus would help them devour the Soviets!

These ragged people were basically the original residents of Western Belarus, and they were reluctant to leave their homes and retreat east during the great retreat, so Captain Yeffimore said that he was "soft-hearted". In the eyes of the fascists, all the villages that could help the partisans were controlled by the Bolsheviks, and the fascist bandits killed, burned, and robbed them all, regardless of whether you were a Western Belarusian or not!

Now these Western Belarusians finally know what fascism is, and in Melnik's opinion, these people on the verge of starvation will next understand who is their homeland, who can protect them, who can give them dignity!

"Tomorrow you send a few people to take all these civilians to the camp of the general corps and find Comrade Ivan Andreyevich Kozlov, who is now in charge there." Melnik thought for a moment and said, "You guys are too close to the lines of communication, and there are too many civilians, in case there is a disadvantage. ”

"Yes, General." Comrade Captain had this intention, but he was afraid that Comrade General would not accept it, and for a long time these civilians who could not even walk would be an out-and-out burden.

"General, is there a big operation? Count us in. "It can be seen that the general has pulled out more than half of the strength of the second detachment and the camp of the main team, and it is definitely not a small fight, of course Ye Feimore wants to participate.

"It's for you to participate, you choose the 30 best fighters. According to the intelligence, Minsk is about to go on a major counteroffensive, and we will go to finish off Ratno tomorrow night, support the operation in the north, and replenish some supplies. ”

As soon as it gets dark, the temperature drops dramatically, but there is no need to worry about the Germans attacking at night - the Germans do not dare to operate in the depths of the swamp in the dark night, where the partisans are in the dark, and there are sentinels who keep watch all night in the distance.

After a light supper, gathered in front of the fire, Melnik was again assigned the task for tomorrow: Captain Yeffimore, with his men and another 20 fighters, was to be put on guard five kilometers south of the Ratno road. After the attack, if the German convoy was found to have reinforcements, it was blocked for as long as it could, and then retreated into the forest. There was also a platoon of interdiction alert units, five kilometres north of Ratno, performing the same task.

The forest was a partisan paradise, and if they blew up a few trees along the road and planted a few mines, the German reinforcements would not be able to use trucks, and it would take half an hour to reach Ratno. It stands to reason that the battle of Ratno should have ended long ago when the blockade took place, and at a distance of 5 kilometers, the sound of battle both warned the attacking troops and gave them enough time to retreat.

As long as there is more than half an hour's buffer time after the battle, the attacking troops and armed convoys will be able to clean up the battlefield -- the guerrillas are super fast in doing this!

If the Germans dared to chase into the forest, a force of more than 400 men could hang a regiment of German infantry around, and if there were fewer people and eat them, the fascists would not be so bold to enter the swampy forest area at night.

Cavalry has an advantage - everyone has blankets, and many people have mats: because it is not cavalry fighting, the war horse can easily carry 200 pounds of supplies on its back. When they came, many war horses still carried a lot of empty sacks, which could be used as mats for camping, and could be used to load things when cleaning the battlefield: a person carrying seventy or eighty pounds of supplies would die, and with war horses, the soldiers could easily go into battle, and hundreds of war horses could take away dozens of tons of supplies, enough for thousands of people to use for a period of time, provided that Ratno had so many things that the guerrillas needed.

The situation of those refugees is very bad, many are starving, severely malnourished, and many are sick. The comrades who cook rice can only make gruel, not to save food, but to digest those solid foods at all, and eating them will kill them! Comrades have already experienced that they have encountered such a situation - people who have been hungry for a long time have to eat thin food for the first few days.

The military doctors and comrades with medical experience were busy late at night, and some of them made crutches and stretchers that the refugees would use tomorrow. Hurry up and rest, at midnight, the camp is quiet at minus 20 degrees, and only the bonfires lit by a few camping comrades are still burning.

At daybreak, the Cossacks found an omen that they did not know whether it was good or bad - it would snow this afternoon, and at the latest after nightfall.

The camp was busy, and while Lieutenant Alexei Petrovich Maresyev parachuted a few hundred kilometers away, two teams parted in the swamp, one staggered east to the camp of the partisan corps, and the other confidently went west to fight the fascist bandits!

At 3 p.m. the outpost arrived on the west side of Ratno, a small city that had originally had a few thousand people, but now had very few Soviet inhabitants except for the Germans, and a whole German military station on the main transportation route (the station was not for troops, but for supplies. ）。

The town is surrounded by forests, and although the Germans have been clearing the woods on both sides, the nearest forest on the west side is only a few hundred meters, which can be touched by night.

A barbed wire fence stretched in the middle, and a hundred meters ahead of the junction were two German fortifications - the partisans had a way of dealing with them, and did not intend to sneak up on them: the fortifications were within the range of the bazookas, and although there were not many rockets, they were sufficient. Against barbed wire, the Cossacks had their own tricks - as long as the fortifications were dismantled, they did not use such low-grade goods as wire cuts, but with hooks, ropes and war horses: rushing up, several cavalrymen threw hooks, rode their horses in reverse, and with one pull it was a large piece!

The guerrillas also have mortars, attack at both ends, and the battle can be resolved in 20 minutes!

At nightfall, snow began to fall, and at 6:30 p.m., several rockets with red tail flames suddenly appeared, and in the midst of violent explosions, two German bunkers flew into the sky! Machine guns in the woods began to fire intensively, and the Germans were having dinner, and several mortar shells hit their canteens!

Five Cossacks rode forward, "brushed" and threw out the hooks, and the horses accelerated violently at the instigation of the knights - as if they were devastating, and when the rope tied to the saddle was tightened, a large piece of barbed wire was pulled up and torn throughout!

"Ulla!" "Ula"! "Ula!!"

There will be nothing to stop the guerrilla fighters from rushing towards Ratno!

Ratno was a military station, and the German troops stationed there were not the main forces, and their numbers were small, so they could not organize an effective resistance under a sudden attack. Those few mortar shells reimbursed a quarter of the German army, and after the rest of the labor was destroyed, in the face of attacks from several directions, the sound of "Ula" was heard everywhere, except for a few people who continued to resist stubbornly, many people chose to flee. (To be continued.) )