"Second Lieutenant Sasha," Ruhle asked impatiently after the other party finished speaking: "I would like to ask, do you know which road to Lugansk can avoid contact with the enemy?"
"According to our observations along the way, the Germans are stationed in residential areas or villages. If you want to continue moving eastward, you only need to avoid the residential areas and villages." After answering Ruhle's question, Sa
Sha also reminded him: "But you must pay attention to the fact that the snow in many areas of the forest is too deep, which is not conducive to the march of the troops."
Ruhelie knew that a battle was taking place here, and the nearby enemies would come over soon. He planned to gather his troops and leave immediately. However, before setting off, he wanted to know more about the situation along the way, so he continued to ask Sasha: "
Comrade Second Lieutenant, can you tell me more about the situation of the Luhansk garrison?"
"Comrade Colonel, I can only tell you briefly." As a grassroots officer, Sasha didn't know much about the defense situation in Luhansk, but since Ruhle asked, he still told what he knew.
What we know: "Now in the Luhansk area, there is one of our combat groups, with three to four Guards divisions, plus several tank brigades and artillery divisions. Stationed in the west of the city is the 41st Guards Division, where I am
The 67th Guards Division is stationed in the south of the city."
"Thank you, Comrade Second Lieutenant. Thank you for telling us such important information." Ruhlie extended his hand to Sasha and said friendly: "I hope we have a chance to meet again."
"We will definitely meet again." Sasha saw his subordinates loading the collected ammunition into the car, raised his hand and saluted Ruhle, and said: "Comrade Colonel, please take care, we are about to set off.
"
Looking at the several armored vehicles going away, Ruhlie said to the Chief of Staff with emotion: "Comrade Chief of Staff, with the guidance of friendly comrades, we know how to avoid the enemy. In this way, we can put more
The soldiers were successfully brought to Luhansk."
"Comrade Brigadier, I don't understand." The chief of staff frowned and asked: "Since our army has deployed heavy troops here in Lugansk, why didn't they take the initiative to rescue us when our army was fiercely attacked by the German army?
"
"Chief of Staff, don't forget that the enemy has heavy troops stationed in Donetsk. Once our army attacks from Lugansk, it will be intercepted halfway." After Ruhle finished speaking, he urged the Chief of Staff:
"Okay, time is running out, let's move the troops quickly. Otherwise, when the enemies around us come over, we may be entangled by them."
After the commanders and fighters of the tank brigade buried those fallen comrades, they hurriedly moved eastward. When the nearby enemies arrived, they only saw corpses on the ground and the position still smoking. The Soviet troops who had captured the position had already
Disappeared without a trace.
The news that this position, where the Romanian army was stationed, had been breached by the Soviet army, quickly reached Manstein's ears. But he didn't care about it. After all, in his mind, the Romanian army's combat effectiveness was too great.
Poor, it is inevitable that the position will be captured by the Soviet army. The Soviet army that can destroy a battalion of Romanian troops is probably not too large. His main attention is still on Popov's rapid group that is making an all-out breakout to the east.
On the main force.
Following Sasha's prompts, Ruhle commanded the troops to carefully bypass the enemy's garrisoned settlements and villages, and trudged through the vast forest. After five days of continuous march, they finally successfully arrived at the position of the 122nd Guards Regiment.
defense zone.
Looking at the looming position in the distance, the chief of staff asked tentatively: "Comrade Brigadier, do you think the position in front is ours or the Germans?"
Ruch raised his telescope and looked across the way. The trench was so quiet that no one could be seen. No one appeared, and there were no signs for identification. How could one tell whether the people stationed in the opposite position were Germans or Germans?
He had no choice but to tell the chief of staff: "Chief of staff, send two soldiers over to take a look."
After receiving the order, the two soldiers wearing white camouflage uniforms immediately rushed out of the hiding place. After reaching the middle of the positions of the two armies, they changed from bending and running to crawling. But they were still two meters away from the opposite trench.
More than a hundred meters away, a machine gun in the civil firepower point started firing, and the bullets made the snow around the scouts fly like a boiling pot.
"Comrade Brigade Commander," the Chief of Staff was not surprised but overjoyed when he heard the gunshots coming from the other side. He exclaimed: "The people on the other side are shooting with Deggarev light machine guns. They are our own people. Yes, they are.
Our own people.”
Ruhelie felt that the statement of the chief of staff was very reasonable. However, the machine gun on the opposite side was firing. Even if he sent people to contact him again, they might be greeted by a series of dense bullets. He frowned and thought for a while.
Then he told a soldier behind him: "Go find the flag bearer!"
Since Ruhle's tank brigade is an independent organization, it has its own military flag and full-time flag bearer. After a while, the flag bearer ran over carrying the military flag wrapped in a flag cover and asked Ruhle: "Brigade Commander
Comrade, what are your instructions?"
"Comrade flag-bearer," Ruhle pointed to the position opposite where machine guns were firing, and said to the flag-bearer: "The opposite side is our own people, but there is a misunderstanding with us at this moment. In order to avoid unnecessary casualties, you immediately put us
Raise the military flag to let the other side understand that we are not enemies."
The flag-bearer agreed, squatted down and untied the flag sleeve on the flag. After unfolding the flag, he found a relatively high mound and erected the flag.
The bright red military flag rustled in the cold wind, and the machine guns firing on the opposite position also stopped. Not long after, a red flag was also raised on the position. Although it was not a military flag with a number, the red flag also represented the defense of the position.
The army is our own.
Seeing the red flag raised on the opposite side, the commanders and soldiers of the tank brigade who had finally arrived here after all the hardships immediately cheered and rushed forward. From the opposite position, countless officers and soldiers wearing the same uniforms also rushed out, and they shouted
Shouting "Ula", he rushed towards the officers and soldiers of the tank brigade.
A few minutes later, two troops belonging to different fronts met in the middle area. The commanders and soldiers of both sides immediately hugged each other regardless of each other or in different ranks, causing the originally silent battlefield to become boiling.
Seeing that his troops had joined forces with friendly forces, Ruhlie was particularly happy. He twisted and shouted excitedly to the soldiers around him, and then led them to run quickly towards the meeting point.
As soon as Ruhle walked into the crowd, a strange soldier rushed towards him and gave him a warm hug. At the same time, he shouted loudly: "Comrade, you have worked hard!"
"You have worked hard too!" Ruhelie patted the opponent's back hard twice and said excitedly: "From now on, we can fight side by side."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Captain Kogor came to Ruhlie's side, leaned into his ear and loudly reported: "The friendly commander is here!"
In a short time, Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko, the leader of the 122nd Guards Regiment, appeared in front of Ruhlie. Seeing that the other party had a higher military rank than himself, Papuchenko quickly saluted and said respectfully:
"Comrade Colonel, I am Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko, commander of the 122nd Regiment of the 41st Guards Division. I am very happy to join you."
"Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Ruhelie returned the salute and said loudly: "I am Colonel Ruhelie, commander of the 19th Independent Tank Brigade. I led my troops to break through the enemy's encirclement and came to meet you.
Reunion."
After saying that, Ruhle opened his arms towards Papuchenko and said with a smile: "Comrades of the 41st Guards Division, in order to celebrate this hard-won reunion, let's give him a hug."
The next second, these two commanders from different units hugged each other tightly.