The battle to defend the landing site started in the early morning of the next day.
The German army, which was preparing to launch an attack on the landing site, learned from the tactics of the Soviet army and dispatched a reconnaissance unit of 200 people before the battle began. This German unit went deep into the Soviet defense area and was prepared for both things:
The first is to conduct reconnaissance on the Soviet positions and figure out the Soviet defense deployment; the second is to occupy some forward fire support points without disturbing the large Soviet troops, as the starting point for the German attack.
The German reconnaissance force reached an outpost position south of the landing site. The troops holding on here were a platoon of the 764th Infantry Regiment of the 254th Infantry Division. Shortly after dark, the platoon leader received a call from the regiment headquarters informing him that
He will have friendly forces take over their defense.
Therefore, when the German reconnaissance force appeared nearby, the platoon leader naturally regarded the other party as a friendly force coming to take over the defense. The German commander, wearing a Soviet uniform, saw that the other party regarded him as a defensive force, so he took the initiative
Welcoming him.
When the Soviet platoon leader saw a captain, he quickly raised his hand in salute and reported: "Comrade Captain, I am the defending platoon leader, and I have been ordered to hand over the position to you."
After the German captain returned the salute, he pretended to say: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, after you hand over the position to us, you can take your people to the back to rest."
In this way, the unsuspecting Soviet platoon leader handed over the commanding heights held by his platoon to the German troops disguised as Soviet troops. After completing the handover, the platoon leader took his men and left the position along the mountain.
Go back on Qiu Xiaolu.
Watching the Soviet troops leaving in formation, another German commander was about to order his subordinates to fire and kill all the Soviet commanders and fighters who had been kept in the dark. But the German captain stopped him and whispered: "Lieutenant,
Don't shoot. Once you shoot, it will alert the Russians and be detrimental to our next move."
Hearing what the captain said, the German lieutenant withdrew his gun, looked at the Soviet commanders and soldiers in the distance, and said through gritted teeth: "Those Russians are lucky. I will definitely not spare them lightly when I see them next time."
The Soviet commanders and fighters who withdrew from the hill had no idea that they had handed over their positions to the Germans disguised as Soviet troops. They were still retreating along the designated route, preparing to rush over as soon as possible to join the main force of the division.
.
Unexpectedly, not long after walking, the second squad leader's shoelaces came loose. He quickly bent down to tie his shoelaces. When he accidentally saw a footprint on the ground, his eyes widened in surprise.
At this time, the platoon leader came over and saw his second squad leader bent over in a daze. He patted him on the back and asked: "Hey, second squad leader, what are you doing in a daze?"
"Comrade platoon leader," the second squad leader grabbed the platoon leader, pointed to the footprints on the ground and said to him, "hurry up and look at the footprints on the ground."
"Footprints on the ground?" The platoon leader looked at the footprints on the ground with the help of the moonlight and said disapprovingly: "The footprints are so strange. Maybe they were left by the friendly troops who came to defend them just now."
"Comrade Platoon Commander," the second squad leader said anxiously, "If it is really left by the friendly troops who just took over the defense, that would be terrible."
The platoon leader had not noticed anything wrong with the defending troops until now, and asked in confusion: "Second squad leader, don't scare me. What's wrong?"
"Comrade platoon leader, please look at these footprints quickly." After the second squad leader pulled the platoon leader to squat down, he pointed to the footprints and said to him: "The spikes at the bottom of our military boots are all round, but the German boots are
They look the same as our boots, but their soles use square spikes."
After listening to the words of the second squad leader, the platoon leader quickly lay down on the ground and looked at the shoe prints carefully. The shape of the spikes on them was indeed square. He raised his head and asked the second squad leader with a bloodless face: "Second squad leader, if these shoe prints are really
The ones were left behind by the defending troops, which means they are Germans in disguise!"
"That's right, comrade platoon leader." The second squad leader nodded and said, "I think the troops taking over our defense should be Germans in disguise."
Hearing what the second squad leader said, the platoon leader was even more frightened. He knew that the mistake he had made could cost him his life, so he reluctantly said: "Second squad leader, tell me, could it be us?"
Did the Germans leave their footprints here before they captured the hill?"
"This is impossible, comrade platoon leader." The second squad leader poured cold water on the platoon leader: "After our platoon stationed in the hill position, I once inspected the vicinity and found no footprints on this road at all. It should be
Just left behind."
The words of the second squad leader made the platoon leader even more confused. He grabbed the other person and asked nervously: "Then what should I do?"
"We should find a way to take back the position."
"How to seize it?" the platoon leader replied in panic: "We only have forty people, and I think the opponent has two hundred people."
"Comrade platoon leader," a soldier ran over from the front of the team at this time, and he reported to the platoon leader: "We found a small unit in front of us. They should be our own. The squad leader asked me to come over and report to you."
The second squad leader was still somewhat uncertain about his own judgment. Now when he heard the soldier's report, he immediately understood that the small unit in front should be a real friendly force coming to take over the defense.
"Second squad leader," the platoon leader asked the second squad leader in a tearful voice, "What should I do?"
The second squad leader thought for a moment, and then asked the confused soldier: "How far is that small unit from us?"
"It's about three hundred meters away." The soldier replied, "In five minutes at most, we can meet up."
"Comrade platoon leader," the second squad leader said to the platoon leader after waiting for the soldiers to finish speaking: "Let's go say hello to the small unit on the opposite side and see which part they belong to."
A few minutes later, the troops retreating from the hill met the oncoming troops.
The two sides stopped twenty or thirty meters apart, and then a lieutenant officer walked out of the other side's camp. He shouted five or six meters away: "I am the commander of the fifth company of the second battalion of the 21st brigade of the 1st Mechanized Army.
We were ordered to come here to take over the defense, which part are you in?"
After hearing the other party's self-report, the platoon leader and the second squad leader quickly stepped out and saluted the other party: "Hello, comrade lieutenant, we are from the 764th Regiment of the 254th Infantry Division, and we have been ordered to hold the hill position behind us."
The lieutenant glanced at the hill behind the two men, frowned and asked: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, our company has not reached the position yet, why did you withdraw first?"
"Comrade Lieutenant," the platoon leader said sadly, "not long ago, a unit arrived at our position and said it was here to take over the defense, so I handed over the position to them."
"That's nonsense. Except for our company, the superiors did not send troops to take over the defense." The lieutenant asked with a straight face: "Tell me truthfully, who did you hand over the position to?"
"Comrade Lieutenant, please listen to my explanation." The second squad leader saw that his platoon leader was confused and didn't know how to answer the other party's question. He quickly stepped forward and said to the lieutenant: "I will report the situation to you truthfully."
"Tell me about it, Comrade Sergeant." The lieutenant slowed down his tone and said reasonably: "What on earth is going on?"
"Comrade Lieutenant, if my judgment is correct, then it is a group of Germans disguised as our troops who pretended to be you and took over our position."
"What, there is a group of Germans disguised as our troops, pretending to be us and taking over your position?"
"Yes, that's true."
Regarding the second squad leader's statement, the lieutenant felt that it was simply a fantasy: "Then how did you detect it? Also, since you found out that they were Germans in disguise, why did you hand over the position to them?"
"Comrade Lieutenant, the situation is like this." The second squad leader continued: "When our platoon was withdrawing from the position, I accidentally saw a footprint on the mountain road. The shoe spikes in the footprint were square."
The lieutenant also knew that the studs of Soviet military boots were different from the studs of German military boots, so he asked tentatively: "Based on this, you judged that the troops taking over your defense were Germans in disguise?"
"Yes, Comrade Lieutenant, I judged based on this." In order to make his words more convincing, the second squad leader continued: "After our platoon entered the position, I once inspected the rear of the position and found nothing at all.
Those footprints can only be left by the people who took over our defense."
"Comrade Second Lieutenant," the lieutenant waited for the second squad leader to finish, then turned to the platoon leader and asked, "What are you going to do next?"
"There are too many enemies and we can't defeat them." The platoon leader had already lost his position. He was not thinking about how to regain the position, but wanted to leave this place of right and wrong as soon as possible: "I think we should retreat."
"What did you say?" the lieutenant pulled out his pistol, pressed it against the platoon leader's forehead, and said sternly: "Believe it or not, I will shoot you!"
Seeing their platoon leader with a gun pressed against his forehead, all the soldiers in the platoon raised their guns and aimed at the lieutenant. The lieutenant's subordinates, fearing that their company commander would suffer a loss, also raised their guns.
Seeing that the two sides were at war with each other and could start fighting at any time, the second squad leader quickly turned around and shouted to the soldiers in the platoon: "Put down the gun, put the gun down quickly, don't start fighting among yourself."
Seeing the troops on the opposite side and listening to the words of the second squad leader, they all put down their weapons. The lieutenant also took back his pistol, waved his hand behind and told his subordinates: "Put down the gun."
After both sides put down their weapons, the second squad leader wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to the lieutenant: "Comrade Lieutenant, I think the position should be taken back as soon as possible. Otherwise, once the Germans gain a firm foothold, this place will become theirs."
Attack starting point."
"There are more than 200 Germans on the position now," the lieutenant said. He turned to look at his troops, then at the friendly troops who had withdrawn, and then said, "And our total number is only more than 100 people."
, how can we get it back?"
"You should report it to your superiors immediately." The second squad leader suggested to the lieutenant: "Let your superiors know the situation here, and they will know how to deal with it."
The lieutenant felt that what the second squad leader said made sense, so he turned around and waved to his subordinates: "Operator, come to me!"
Following his shout, a soldier carrying a walkie-talkie trotted over.
When the radio operator came to him, the lieutenant ordered him: "Get in touch with the battalion headquarters immediately and tell them that we cannot complete the defense mission."
The operator put the walkie-talkie on the ground, squatted next to him, put on his earphones and used the microphone to call the battalion headquarters. Soon, he contacted the battalion headquarters and reported the lieutenant's words to the battalion.
After a while, the operator looked up and said to the lieutenant: "Comrade company commander, the battalion commander is on the line and wants to speak to you personally."
The lieutenant quickly took the earphones, put them on, and said into the microphone: "Comrade battalion commander, it's me!"
"What happened?" the battalion commander asked angrily: "Why can't we complete the defense work?"
"Comrade Battalion Commander," the lieutenant glanced at the stunned platoon leader and said into the microphone: "We have encountered friendly troops who have withdrawn from their positions before we reached the designated location."
"What, the friendly forces withdrew before you even entered the position?"
"Yes."
"They dared to withdraw without authorization without handing over the defense. Aren't they afraid of being punished by military law?"
"Before we arrived, there was a German army pretending to be our army to take over their defense."
"What, what did you say?" The battalion commander was stunned when he heard this, and quickly asked: "Then where are you now?"
"After we rejoined the friendly forces, we stayed at the rear of the position and were considering whether we should recapture the position."
"That's for sure, Comrade Lieutenant." said the battalion commander: "If you don't take back the position as soon as possible, the enemy may use it as a starting point for the attack once daybreak."
"But we don't have enough troops." The lieutenant replied: "My company only has more than 80 people, plus more than 40 friendly troops, there are only 130 people. The Germans have 200 people, and there are also fortifications.
We can rely on it, but our strength is simply not enough to regain the position."
"I understand." The battalion commander said to the lieutenant: "You continue to stay where you are and monitor the enemy's movements. I will report the matter to the brigade commander immediately and hear what his plans are."
After ending the call, the battalion commander immediately reported to the brigade commander. After receiving the report, the brigade commander realized the seriousness of the problem and quickly reported it to Army Commander Solomatin.
After listening to the brigade commander's report, Solomatin threw the tea cup in his hand on the ground. The tea cup fell to pieces and shattered, and the tea inside splashed everywhere, even on Sokov's trousers.
"Comrade General," Sokov saw Solomatin being so rude and realized that something big must have happened. He didn't even bother to wipe the tea on his trouser legs, so he asked with concern: "What happened?"
"Comrade Commander, something happened." Solomatin suppressed the anger in his heart, pointed at the outpost where his troops planned to defend, and said to Sokov: "According to the plan, a company of the 21st Mechanized Brigade,
They will take over the defense here at the outpost position. But before they could reach their destination, they encountered troops who had withdrawn from the position."
"We encountered retreating troops without entering the position?" Sokov asked in surprise: "What on earth is going on?"