Chapter 67
Fahnenjunker They were one of the many German combat groups that retreated after being cut off, and when the main force retreated, they served as a mobile force to cover the retreat. When they retreated, the Soviet pursuit was so fierce that they suffered heavy losses.
Along the way, Fawzi and other surviving tanks and infantry often had to stop to block the Soviet troops pursuing from behind, and sometimes they also had to attack the towns already occupied by small groups of Soviet troops in front to open up an escape route. The most unfortunate thing was that while attacking the Soviet blocking positions, they also had to set up their own positions to block the Soviet Red Army pursuit units behind them.
His tank is gone, and now Fafnir can only fight for his own survival as an infantryman. 2 days ago he lost his loader, the young man was hit by a Russian grenade; yesterday his driver was injured - shot in the abdomen by a Russian rifle, now lying on the truck; He himself wears a steel helmet, holding a Mauser 98K in his hand, with several M24s attached to his waist, and bullets in his backpack. As for the Ruger pistol? This high-end stuff Fafnir doesn't have...
"Enemy raid!! It's a Russian guerrilla squad!" A soldier shouted loudly in front, accompanied by intense gunfire. The Russian guerrilla squad emerged everywhere in the occupied area of Germany like mushrooms after rain, especially during this Moscow campaign retreat, becoming the most troublesome enemy for small units like Favniel - they may not cause much damage, but can slow you down to a crawl and eventually be caught up by the Russian army.
The mortar and machine gun in the convoy fired fiercely towards the direction of the guerrilla, while the trucks and armored vehicles carrying ammunition and wounded soldiers in the center quickly retreated along the highway. The tanks that could still move were escorted to the rear, firing a few rounds at the direction where the guerrilla was located, trying to get out of contact as soon as possible. Fafnir, as a sergeant "infantry", naturally had his own subordinates. He ordered them to disperse quickly and used his golden finger "type" or "force" to shoot at the Russian guerrillas with his Mauser rifle from a distance. He fired based on feeling, couldn't see clearly from far away, but he could feel that every bullet hit its target. Soon the guerrilla retreated. His comrades didn't see the result of his shooting and naturally didn't feel how powerful it was. Everyone just celebrated another narrow escape.
"Russian tanks!!! Infantry! They're catching up!" This was the report from the soldier on night watch. Although everyone wanted to run as fast as possible, humans aren't machines and need rest; even tanks and armored vehicles, which are machines, require maintenance - otherwise they'd become pure infantry by tomorrow... Fafnir's unit stopped for the night at a Soviet collective farm, where the soldiers rushed to get some rest while the tank crew worked overtime to inspect and repair their tanks. But the Soviets had their own advantages, and another Russian army unit was closing in under cover of darkness. The officers went around kicking awake the exhausted soldiers, while the tank crews quickly jumped onto their freshly inspected but still unrepaired tanks. Fortunately, this village had probably been swept clean by the SS - the entire village was empty, so they didn't have to worry about partisans popping out to stab them in the back during battle.
The Russians' T26 and T34 tanks turned on their headlights, covering the infantry who charged forward. Favniel saw that there were not many Russian tanks, only 1 T34 and 3 T26s could be seen, and the infantry behind them was estimated to be around 200 people based on Favniel's night vision. In comparison, his own side had: 2 remaining No. 4 E tanks, 1 remaining No. 3 tank, and 1 remaining No. 3 assault gun, all of which were still operational; over 100 infantrymen who could still fight, and 3 Sd.Kfz. 251 armored personnel carriers equipped with machine guns, making it possible to engage the Soviet Red Army's known forces in a single battle.
As expected, the Soviet Red Army is now in high spirits. The T34 leads the infantry to charge directly into one side of the village, while three T26s and about 50 infantrymen begin to circle around to try to encircle the other exit of the village. At the same time, they fired several illuminating shells into the sky, lighting up the midnight village, and certainly informed the Soviet pursuit troops in other directions - there is prey here!
The highest officer of the German troops, a lieutenant and several sergeants, after brief consultation, ordered tank No. 4 and tank No. 3 to turn around with all their might to destroy T26 first, dispersing the Soviet soldiers who were ambushing from behind; while assault gun No. 3 used terrain cover to hold up the T34 attacking the village entrance, the infantry mainly reinforced the village entrance, striving to use the terrain to heavily damage the Soviet infantry and try to destroy the T34.
The battle quickly escalated into a fierce fight, and the commander of the Soviet attacking forces was still inexperienced - the aftermath of the Great Purge still lingered. In the first round of tank battles, his three T26s were destroyed or damaged and withdrew from combat, while the infantry was illuminated by the burning T26s and suffered heavy casualties from the machine guns on the 251; The T34 in front made progress smoothly, but the German No. 3 assault gun had poor luck, and when using terrain to cover its shots, it was dodged by a T34 that entered a village's broken brick house corner, only able to kill some Soviet infantry with grenades. When moving positions, they were discovered by Soviet infantry, who guided the T34 to hit the No. 3 assault gun, and Favniel saw the engine of the No. 3 assault gun catch fire, fortunately, all the tank crew members jumped out safely. Favniel knelt behind a mud wall with his 98K rifle firing to provide cover for the escaping No. 3 assault gun crew members. He knocked down one Soviet soldier after another, reloading every five shots and changing positions after two clips to avoid being covered by Soviet mortar fire. In front of him, more and more Soviet corpses piled up, and the T34 also noticed this side, turning its attention towards his hiding place. Favniel quickly ran from one house to another, occasionally turning back to aim at exposed Soviet infantry or the observation window of the T34, the T34's shells couldn't hit him, the T34's attention was attracted by Favniel, this despicable fascist rabbit, forgetting about the other German tanks...
Retribution has arrived! From a corner, the No. 4 tank that had been ambushing after destroying the T26 suddenly rushed out and hit the T34's rear with an armor-piercing shell, causing it to stop immediately - no one jumped out... Then the No. 4 fired another high-explosive shell into the T34's turret at close range, blowing the turret off the tank. The Soviet infantry suffered heavy casualties in front of the German infantry who were using the complex village terrain to shoot back and were forced to withdraw from combat. The remaining German soldiers immediately assembled, abandoned the No. 3 assault gun, and quickly retreated from the village.
After running out for more than ten kilometers, I saw from afar that the village was shrouded in flames and explosions - the Russian shells had completely pulverized this village.
Fafnir has now left Moscow about 120 kilometers away, and it seems that with a little more effort, he can escape into the control circle of the German army. On this day, when passing through a small town, a gunshot suddenly rang out, and a German soldier was injured and fell to the ground. When his companions tried to pull him away, another bullet killed the rescuing German soldier. "Russian sniper!! Damn it!"
Fyodor immediately sensed the direction of the shot, he stood up and aimed at a certain window without hesitation. With a slight movement of his finger, a bullet was fired out. He quickly pulled the bolt, and the second bullet was fired again. At a distance of 300 meters, in the window of a small church, a Red Army soldier had just killed a fascist bandit. Before he could retreat behind the wall, a 7.92mm bullet hit his shoulder. As he was about to roll back, the second bullet passed through his head... Vasily Zaitsev, a young Soviet soldier, lost his life and his future legend. Fyodor did not stop shooting, the third bullet killed a Soviet soldier at 500 meters away. He stood outside a house, calmly firing a shot, killing a Soviet warrior at 600 meters away. Until no more Soviet soldiers appeared, at least six Soviet warriors had fallen under his gun.
There were no more adventures on the way, and this small unit returned to the German-controlled zone. Upon entering the controlled zone, they first saw men, women, and children hanging from trees and street lamps - the accompanying reception officer said that they were all guerrillas or sympathizers of the guerrillas.
As they went on, in the wilderness they saw a miserable scene: there were more than ten tree stumps covered with white snow and frozen hard on the ground, with people pierced on the stakes. The sharp stakes penetrated from under them and came out of their mouths, the people had long been dead and frozen hard, but their faces still showed extremely painful expressions... Fafnir saw his subordinates, comrades-in-arms looking at all this with disgust, the officer said in a low voice: "This is what the SS troops from Eastern Europe did, they say it's their traditional punishment for traitors and guerrillas." One of them was still a teenager, his face twisted beyond recognition, but it could still be seen that he was a chubby boy before.
After the war, the Soviet government erected a series of tombstones and a small monument there. The inscription on the monument reads: "In memory of those who gave their lives in the anti-fascist war. Berezga Matyanovsky and his friends, young people who fought against fascist bandits for their homeland until the end!"
