Teterikhs obviously did not realize that the Kamensk defense line, which he had hoped for, had become a broken sieve, and he did not know that the Red Twelfth Army was rushing in the direction of Shakht, and he could not care about that anymore, but only buried his head in his head and fled.

In addition to letting Hamsik hold on to Kamensk, he left a regiment of each division at hand as a rear unit, which was placed under the unified command of another lineage, Lieutenant Colonel Rossi. These included Major Fillett's 101st Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Meyer's 202nd Regiment and a separate cavalry regiment under the acting command of Captain Crow.

It seems that two infantry regiments and a cavalry regiment have pieced together the strength of a division, and it seems that it is very good and powerful to use one division to come to the rear of the palace. However, these so-called regiments only exist on paper, and the establishment of the Czech Legion was originally different from the standard infantry divisions at that time, according to the standards of that year, a "division" of the Czech Legion was only equivalent to a brigade, and so on, the so-called regiment is probably more like a battalion-level combat unit.

For example, Major Fillett's 101st Regiment had only 300 soldiers left in May 9, 202 was slightly better, there were probably more than 500 people, and the real cavalry of Captain Crowe's Independent Cavalry Regiment was only two companies left, and the remaining 500 or so cavalry mounts were transferred by Titerrichs, and he still had a lot of belongings to pull.

In other words, Rossis had more than 1,500 troops at hand, but fortunately, when the large army ran away, he abandoned a lot of heavy weapons, the only problem was the lack of ammunition, and the muddy roads of the Don River made these bulky guys very difficult to serve.

Rossius's soldiers had to use the available qiē resources (Captain Crowe's two cavalry companies) to drag the heavy guns. After a long period of hard work, there was no special effect. Rosis had to throw away most of the unused artillery.

Rossius's first crisis came in the early hours of May 11. A company of the 202nd Regiment was attacked head-on by the Red Army cavalry on the open field because it failed to do a good job of concealment, and the officers and men of the company were either killed or wounded, and they were thrown out of their positions like rabbits and completely routed. So much so that Rosis had to personally organize a counter-charge to drive the Red Army cavalry away.

With the arrival of dawn on the 11th, the Red Army units after a short rest sounded the horn of attack again, and Rossius, who had lost the cover of the night, could only fight and retreat. Shells were constantly falling around the Czechs. Captain Crowe's company of horses was reduced to a pile of minced meat under heavy shelling. If it weren't for the fact that Rosis still had a little artillery, and returned the opponent with the last bit of cannonball, and somewhat knocked out the arrogance of the opponent, otherwise, his poor cavalry unit would have been bombarded into slag.

The situation was bad, and there were more and more Red Army troops in front of Rossius, so much so that the lieutenant colonel wondered if Kamensk had already fallen. This was also the case, and at the same time the Czech troops in Kamensk had reached their last moments, Colonel Hamsik had already been killed, and most of the strongholds of the city were occupied by the Red Army. Only a small contingent of Czech troops was struggling to survive......

Wolff, a veteran of the Kamensk battle, remembers it all the time: "I could hear the Red Army's shelling all the time. But I was surprisingly calm, and I took this rare opportunity to take a nap, which would relieve a little of the discomfort of hunger...... The main force took most of the food with them when they retreated, and the only food we had last night was a bun, and from the expression of the quartermaster at that time, it was not difficult for me to see that his meaning was very clear, this was the last ration, and if you want to eat your stomach, then you have to figure it out yourself. ”

"In fact, there is nothing to think about, since 1917 Russia has been short of food, and after the outbreak of war, the inhabitants of Kamensk tried every way to hide their rations. Previously, the quartermaster had shot and killed many Russians who were unwilling to hand over their rations, but the amount of food they had obtained was very limited. Luckily, though, I scoured a cellar and found a few potatoes and a small bag of tobacco. I carefully hid these treasures in the crotch of my pants, so I didn't want to share this qiē with anyone else! ”

"Because of the lot of thoughts in my head, I didn't even take a nap, the company commander at the entrance of the cellar cautiously poked his head out and looked, he was not wary of the Russians, we have no interest in the Russians, we have killed enough Russians in the past few days, and now I feel annoyed when I see them...... The company commander and all of us were anxiously waiting for the order to retreat, we had been holding out in this ghost place for a day and a night, and now we just wanted to know when we would be able to leave this ghost place! ”

"The order to retreat could not wait, and the company commander constantly ordered the communicator to send a telegram to his superiors, but the superiors always asked us to persist and work harder, and carry forward the spirit of fearless sacrifice...... I just want to scold at this qiē and give it a middle finger to those bastards! ”

"At ten o'clock in the morning, the Russians resumed their massive attack, heavy artillery and mortar shells rained down on us again, and soon I heard dense machine-gun fire, followed by the feeble return fire of our troops. We were in the basement, and no one wanted to get out and fight until the company commander waved a pistol and drove us out......"

"At twelve o'clock in the afternoon, bad news continued to reach the battalion headquarters, and as time passed, the cacophony of the fighting became clearer and clearer. The Red Army is already very close to us, and if you don't want to be caught by the Russians in an urn or killed by a grenade thrown in, it is better to get out of the cellar quickly. The company commander gathered us together, only to find that there were only 15 people left in our company (maybe 16?). ）。 Led by the battalion commander, we carefully got out of the cellar and came to a corner of the street, and then ran quickly in the direction of the railway station. At this time, the sky began to darken again, and it seemed that it was about to rain. The dark clouds are so low that only the glow of the burning houses around us can illuminate the way......"

"On the way to retreat, we came across a squad of Red Army troops, and under their fire, I felt that death was so close. But who would have thought that a small group of soldiers from the third battalion unexpectedly appeared behind the Red Army, after a fierce charge. We got a life back by luck......"

"After joining up with the remnants of the third battalion. We could barely form a platoon. Under the leadership of the company commander, we were determined not to wait for any more orders from our superiors to retreat. Because we all realized that that order was impossible, we were determined to break through! We shouted and rushed out of cover and fired at the enemy with our weapons - we had completely forgotten about the shortage of ammunition, and there was only one thought in our minds - to rush forward, to rush forward! ”

The defenders of Kamensk were coming to an end, and Rossi's troops were not doing well. The 202nd Regiment, which had been beaten to the ground by the Red Army cavalry, was once again put to the test. Lieutenant Colonel Meyer took his last 120 soldiers and 5 heavy machine guns to take charge of the break, and under the constant onslaught of the Red Army, Rosis could not hold on, and he chose to retreat. And Lieutenant Colonel Meyer's task was to temporarily hold back the pace of the Red Army and buy him time to escape.

Of course, Rosis was a little kinder than Titerikhs and did not fool the 202nd regiment like the defenders of Kamensk. Rosis didn't expect the 202nd Regiment to hold on, just a few hundred people couldn't hold it even if they wanted to, he just needed the 202nd Regiment to fight a little time.

However, the hapless Lieutenant Colonel Meyer was really unlucky, and he only wanted to put on a show of resisting the Red Army a little. As a result, before he could react, he was surrounded by ten times the number of Red Regiments. This poor creature can't escape even if he wants to!

The Red Army surrounded the remnants of Lieutenant Colonel Meyer's troops, and at two o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, Lieutenant Colonel Meyer sent his last telegram to Rossies. Captured or all killed, anyway, the Czech army seemed to disappear out of thin air, and no one remembered that they had saved their lives, and no one cared that they had saved them.

In the evening of the same day, Rossi's men easily disengaged with the Red Army, and during this rare break, the Czechs remained restless. When the night gradually darkened, the gunfire began to rise one after another, and everyone wondered: "Could it be that the Red Army pursuers have caught up?" It's horrible! ”

Soon after, the Red Army's machine guns began to speak, and the sound of the gunfire made Rossius uneasy, and he was annoyed and determined to fight the Red Army to the death, because he knew very well that once the Red Army caught up, he would have to resign himself to fate.

Just as Rossis was sending his soldiers to set up the fortifications, the sound of machine guns suddenly came from the opposite direction. Rothes immediately realized that this was only the opening words of an ambush by the partisans of the Red Army.

Grenades flew through the air, and every now and then machine guns poked their heads out of the grass and woods in a fierce burst of fire, flashes of explosion everywhere. The first to hit were a few horse-drawn carriages parked on the side of the road, which quickly turned into balls of fire, and the Czechs who were constantly exposed were attacked with cold guns.

In the darkness, panic quickly spread among Rossius's troops, but fortunately there were some veterans with extensive combat experience, who quickly placed effective machine-gun fire points in some important locations with the help of the flash of the explosion, saving and stabilizing the situation.

After all, Rosis was only confronted by the Red Army's partisans, and the Czechs, who had survived the initial panic, took control of the form before dawn. However, the distraught Rosis was still determined to leave this haunted place that made him feel uneasy, and before dawn on the 12th, he continued to flee south with his troops.

It is necessary to mention Wolf again, who, under the leadership of the company commander, miraculously broke out of the Kamensk encirclement, and after a night of wild running, when the early morning sun shone on their faces as they had been defeated, the joy of the aftermath of the catastrophe made some people almost break down.

Some soldiers threw away their weapons and knelt on the muddy road and cheered, while others fired fiercely into the sky until all the bullets in the chambers were gone. Everyone is like a mentally ill person.

Later in the day, Wolf caught up with the cavalry at the back of Rossis's line, the muddy road turning the men who were supposed to be the fastest into cripples, and even a considerable part of the cavalry simply abandoned their unfortunate mounts and fled with their legs.

For the hungry Wolf, the abandoned horses became his best memory: "Horse meat tastes good, and to tell you the truth, you can eat anything after two days of hunger." We gnawed the poor brute into a pile of bones like locusts, and the company commander, who was still hungry, even killed another horse, and then went on a wild ......"

After you have eaten and drunk to your heart's content. Wolf went on to recall: "We threw away all the qiē. In addition to his own life and horse meat in the package on his back. When you have the experience of hunger, you will understand what is most important! At the intersection of a forest and a road, we were attacked by the enemy, but that didn't cause us panic or anything, and you'll get used to it after a few more encounters. After a fierce and rapid exchange of fire, the pesky Red Army partisans disappeared again. Six more of us were wounded, and the houses and pine forests along the road were the best cover for Ivan......"

The battle has been fought to this extent, and the result can be said to have been decided, near Kamensk. The formed Czech army was almost gone, and only groups of Czechs were making the last resistance. As the position fell, the soldiers, who had been almost desperate, began to become more depressed.

For many people, death had completely numbed them, and Lieutenant Colonel Galase, who had taken over from Hamsik to command the battle, glanced at the last 150 soldiers around him, and his task was to bring these people out of the encirclement less than 500 meters in diameter and almost without any support, even the lieutenant colonel himself could not believe that this would become a reality, but he had to try.

The houses in Kamensk, mostly made of wood, simply could not resist artillery fire and machine guns. Often a shell falls, crushing and injuring a large area. The only cellar was used to house the wounded.

Looking at the Czech soldiers who were suffering in the flames of war, with their beards, haggard faces and numb eyes, it is difficult to find a more desperate expression in this world. Food was the biggest problem, drinking water was desperately scarce, even just 500 meters away from the Don River, but no one could get back water from the Red Army fire blockade.

Without water, the wounds of the wounded could not be washed in time, many of the soldiers' lips were already chapped, and the few vodka that they got from the cellars of local residents turned into treasures at this moment!

After waiting for a day, there was still no order to retreat, and even Titerikhs could not be contacted at all. Despair pervaded, and individual weak-willed soldiers committed suicide with their guns raised their guns because they could not resist the tremendous pressure.

Lieutenant Colonel Galase knew that this situation would not last long, and at 10 o'clock in the evening of the 12th, he summoned all the officers and commanded the command to break out.

Of those present at the time, Ensign Petr Cech was the only one who left Russia alive, and his recollection described the breakout plan as follows: "The lieutenant colonel divided all of us into two lines, about 70 men each, and broke through at the same time in both directions, east and south. The lieutenant colonel himself would be responsible for leading the breakout force in the southwest, and I was placed in his breakout force. The Lieutenant Colonel's last words for us were: 'Good luck, boys!' By the way, don't forget to bring the wounded! ’”

At two o'clock in the morning, Lieutenant Colonel Galase fired the first shot of the breakout, and the two Czech soldiers broke through separately as planned. The initial progress was so smooth that even the Czechs themselves did not expect that they broke through the encirclement of the Red Army very easily. The Red Army soldier who woke up from his sleep did not even have time to pick up the rifle next to him and died.

However, after breaking through the encirclement of the Red Army, the good fortune of the Czechs came to an end, as guerrillas and patrols were active everywhere outside the city, rifle and machine-gun bullets were coming from all directions, and a single shuttle of machine-gun bullets could knock down a single Czech, as Second Lieutenant Cech recalled: "It was a complete massacre!" ”

Soon, disaster befell Lieutenant Colonel Galase, who tripped over a corpse and fell to the ground, and the bullets of the Red Army soon nailed him completely to the mud...... Continuing such a massive mass breakout was clearly self-defeating, and the Czechs soon split into groups of two or three and began to flee for their lives, but most of them were knocked to the ground by the trailing bullets, and only Second Lieutenant Cech and his heralds rushed out of the nightmarish area.

There were very few Czechs who escaped Kamensk alive, and none of them wanted to recall the terrible experience. Of course, the more important reason is that the newly established Czechoslovak Republic did not like this "glorious history" of the Czech Legion's participation in the Russian Civil War, and all the parties involved were forced not to talk about this qiē, and if they wanted to talk about it, they could only talk about the future of the new Czechoslovakia with the help of the Entente, and a beautiful and happy life was just like in the news broadcast.

However, not everyone was as unlucky as Lieutenant Colonel Galase and Second Lieutenant Cech, such as the aforementioned Wolf and his friends. Even the luckier ones were not lacking in the Czechs, and the Czechs who broke through to the east immediately surrendered after being killed and wounded by the Red Army.

More than a dozen people were tied up into rice dumplings by the Red Army, and just when this group of poor worms thought they would not escape death, after being suddenly interrogated by a Red Army political commissar, most of these poor worms were released on the spot!

The reason is quite funny, because the commissar thinks that most of these Czechs are class brothers of the proletariat. Since the creed of the Red Army is to work for the well-being of the proletariat of the whole world, that is, to liberate the oppressed proletariat of the whole world, it is natural that these class brothers who have been sent to Russia by imperialist hooligans to be cannon fodder cannot be persecuted! (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to hzwangdd, spike potatoes and comrade Juventus!