The Flag Guard Division soon received the order from Hauser to move towards the east of the city to gather the Soviet troops trying to break out from that direction.
They left, and the 230th Infantry Division of the German Army then rushed to the hospital. The commander of the vanguard regiment, seeing the lost wounded people in the hospital, immediately reported the situation to the division commander.
When he learned that there had been a serious massacre of prisoners in Kharkov, the commander of the 230th Infantry Division felt that the situation was serious and quickly reported to Hauser: "God of General, a terrible incident occurred in the hospital in the city."
Hauser, who was being frustrated by the Soviet army who broke through, heard the division commander's words and said impatiently: "If you have something to say, don't go around in circles."
"My troops have just entered a hospital in the city center. In the hospital yard, a large number of bodies were found." The infantry division commander reported to Hauser: "After inspection, it was found that these bodies were all slaughtered wounded."
After hearing the infantry division commander say this, Hauser was silent for a moment, and then asked back: "Did these wounded people die at the hands of the Russians? You know, it is probably difficult for them to succeed in breaking through with the wounded people."
"No, General." The infantry division commander quickly replied: "According to my subordinates' reports, we had the troops of the Flag Guard Division here before. And after inspection, these wounded men were killed by German weapons."
Hauser did not refute the statement of the infantry division commander. He knew very well that the bullet calibers used by the Soviet and German armies were different. Since the infantry division commander said that the wounded were all dead under German weapons, it must be true. After a brief shock, he asked: "Sir, which unit do you think this matter was done?"
"Before us, the first thing that broke through the Russian defense was the Flag Guard Division." The infantry commander said cautiously: "I think this matter has nothing to do with them."
"I get it," Haussel said in a plain tone: "Sir, I will deal with this matter. Your task is to clear the remaining Russians in the city."
"Hissergeant," saw Haussel dropping the phone, his chief of staff immediately asked: "It seems that this incident of massacre of prisoners should be an order from Joseph Dietrich. Look, how should we deal with him?"
"Chief of Staff, we have no right to blame a winner. You must know that his troops are the fastest advancement after breaking through the Russian defense line south of the city." Haussel said helplessly: "As long as they can win a battle, even if they do something excessive, we should pretend not to see it. Do you understand?"
The Chief of Staff knew very well that the three SSs suffered a great loss under the Soviet army some time ago, and they would definitely find ways to retaliate. The massacre of the wounded in the hospital is only the first step, and perhaps even more inhumane things will be done in the future. But even as the Chief of Staff, he could not accuse the Flag Guard Division. As General Haussel said, the winners do not need to be blamed.
The battle lasted until 8 o'clock in the evening. Except for some of the Soviet troops successfully breaking through, the remaining troops were surrounded by the German army in the Kharkov locomotive factory. Although the factory, which first produced T-34 tanks, was renamed Factory 183 as early as the second half of 1936, everyone was still accustomed to using the original name. Since the Soviet army recovered Kharkov, the remaining workers in the factory were organized to form a militia. At this moment, they were cooperating with the remnants of the Soviet army retreating into the factory, relying on the solid factory building to carry out tenacious resistance, and successfully repelled the German two attacks.
Hauser, who had just entered the city, learned that the remaining Soviet troops were trapped in the Kharkov locomotive factory, and hurriedly asked Tansen, who was responsible for besieging the factory: "Mr. Flag Captain, tell me, how many Russians are there in the factory?"
"Mr. Commander," Tansen replied respectfully, "From the location of the firepower points exposed in the factory, there are about two thousand Russians."
"More than two thousand people." After repeating this number, Hauser nodded and asked, "Mr. Flag Captain, I wonder how long it takes you to destroy this damn Russian group?"
Tansen thought for a while and replied, "Mr. Commander, my soldiers have become exhausted after two days of fighting. I plan to let them have a good rest for a night and launch an attack tomorrow. I believe that after a night of rest, they can definitely take down the entire factory before dark tomorrow."
Hausel had no meaning for the deadline proposed by Tansen. He just told the other party: "Mr. Flag Captain, remember to tie the hole tightly and never let the Russians sneak out in the dark."
"Don't worry, your lieutenant commander." Tansen replied: "I have deployed tanks in all directions of the factory, so the Russians can't even break out."
The ones trapped in the factory at this moment were the remnants of the 19th Infantry Brigade and the 179th Tank Brigade. The highest commander was Lieutenant Colonel Bronnikov, the Chief of Staff of the Infantry Brigade, followed by Captain Chiwen of the Tank Brigade.
After repelling the enemy's attack, Bronnikov summoned all the commanders and said, "Comrades, although the buildings in the factory are strong, we have few ammunition and supplies left now. It is no longer realistic to continue to stick to it. We must find a way to break through."
"Breakthrough, how to break through?" said the militia captain with a sad face: "The factory is surrounded by Germans, and there are tanks arranged at the main intersection. We are all infantrymen. If we forcefully break through, the entire army will probably be destroyed."
"Captain Qiwen." After Bronnikov and other militia captains finished speaking, they turned their heads and looked at Captain Qiwen and asked, "I remember your tank company has four tanks. I don't know if it can cover us to break through."
Hearing Bronnikov say this, Captain Chiwen couldn't help but complain: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, it's not that I don't want to cover the infantry's breakthrough. It's because our tank's ammunition and fuel have been exhausted long ago. Otherwise, when you repelled the enemy's attack just now, we wouldn't have stood by and watched the fun."
"Yes, the tank has no ammunition and fuel, it's just a pile of scrap iron." Bronnikov said thoughtfully: "It seems we need to ask our superiors for help to see if they can provide us with some help."
"Help, what help?" A second lieutenant from the 17th Infantry Brigade asked back: "Now our main force has broken through, and we are only a little force left in the city. Do you think your superiors will provide us with help?"
"Yes, the main force broke through, but the superiors may not necessarily want to give up on us." Bronnikov said to the second lieutenant: "Fortunately, we still have a radio station here, so we can continue to contact our superiors to see if they can help us." After that, he ordered the radio operator sitting in front of the phone, "Send a report to the Front Command immediately, which means that we are now facing the situation of being out of ammunition and food. I hope they can provide us with ammunition and supplies."
When he heard Bronnikov ordering himself to send a newspaper to the Front Command, the radio operator hesitated and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, is this appropriate? You must know that if we send newspapers at this level, our superiors may think that our radio station has been seized by the Germans, and they may not pay attention to us at all."
"In the current situation, we can only try our luck." Bronnikov told the radio operator: "Send a report immediately."
A few minutes later, the radio operator received a call back: "Please indicate your identity!"
"Reply: I am Lieutenant Colonel Bronnikov, Chief of Staff of the 19th Infantry Brigade."
Soon, the radio operator received another message: "Please report your identification code!"
After receiving Bronnikov's identification code, the other party sent a telegram again: "What can I do for you?"
"We have more than 2,000 people trapped by Germans in the Kharkov locomotive factory, facing the point of exhaustion of ammunition and food. We hope our superiors can find ways to replenish our ammunition and supplies so that we can have the ability to break through."
After a long wait, Bronnikov finally waited for the telegram he wanted: "The Air Force will airdrop supplies to your area at one o'clock in the morning. Then you can set fire and indicate the airdrop target for the Air Force."
At one o'clock in the morning, when the roar of the aircraft engine came from the night sky, Bronnikov immediately ordered his subordinates: "Immediately ignite the fire and instruct the air force to the short target."
As the fire ignited, Bronnikov's heart was full of hope. He thought that as long as the transport aircraft hovered in the air could drop a few barrels of fuel and the ammunition needed by the troops, he could immediately prevent the breakthrough. But what he did not expect was that when the transport aircraft that had lowered the altitude was implemented, the place where the airdrop materials landed was not the location where the fire was ignited, but the German defense zone outside the factory.
Seeing this scene, Bronnikov was stunned. He looked at the umbrella flowers blooming in the air, and with boxes of supplies, falling towards the German positions, murmured: "Hehe, what's going on? Why did he throw everything into the German defense zone?"
Captain Chiwen, who was standing beside him, was stunned for a moment, and then found the problem: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, our superiors asked us to use the fire to guide the Air Force to airdrop. But we all forgot that before dark, we had exchanged fire with the Germans inside and outside the factory area. There were many buildings burning in the fire area. Our Air Force might have regarded those as airdrop locations."
"What should I do?" After figuring out what happened, Bronnikov stomped his feet in a hurry. "In this way, aren't our supplies cheaper than Germans?"
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, we can take advantage of the darkness to arrive at the place where the supplies land and find a way to grab some of them back." Captain Chiwen suggested to Bronnikov: "With such supplies, we can hold on for a while."
"Second Lieutenant," Bronnikov called the lieutenant of the 17th Brigade and said to him: "I will give you fifty people, and you will immediately rush to the place where the supplies land, and you will grab some of them at all costs."
The second lieutenant understood that this batch of supplies was related to the life and death of the internal team in the factory, and quickly replied with a serious expression: "Don't worry, comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I will definitely find a way to grab more supplies back."
The Soviet transport aircraft airdropped materials also alarmed the enemies besieging the factories. Seeing the materials falling from the sky and falling into their defense zones one after another, Tansen immediately issued an order to their officers and soldiers to collect more Soviet airdrop materials as soon as possible. Just as the German officers and soldiers were collecting airdrop materials, they encountered the Soviet army that came to snatch the materials, and the two sides immediately launched a fierce exchange of fire.
Whether it was Bronnikov or Tansen, when he heard the fierce gunfire and explosions outside, he immediately realized that his troops had exchanged fire with the enemy, so he quickly sent reinforcements to rush to reinforce. As a result, it turned out that the exchange of seventy or eighty people quickly turned into a battle involving three or four hundred people.
Just as the battle was in full swing outside, the militia captain said to Bronnikov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I'm attracted by the lieutenant and others while the Germans are attentive. Why not give me a team of people and I will take them to other directions to grab airdrop supplies."
The proposal of the militia captain made Bronnikov's eyes lit up. Yes, now that there is a lot of fighting outside, the attention of both sides is attracted to that direction. If someone is sent to other directions to grab supplies, it may be successful. Thinking of this, he nodded and drew up a company to hand it over to the militia captain, and asked him to take it to grab supplies.
A few hours later, after more than 100 casualties in the Soviet army, the lieutenant had to take the rest and retreat to the temporary command center. He said to Bronnikov with shame: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I'm sorry, I've let you down. The enemy's defense is too tight and we can't grab the supplies at all."
"Comrade lieutenant, don't feel guilty." Bronnikov raised his hand and patted the other party's shoulder, comforting him and said: "Although your robbery failed, we now have sufficient supplies."
Hearing Bronnikov say this, the lieutenant couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I don't understand what you mean. Didn't I tell you that our robbery of materials failed? Where did you get sufficient materials from?"
"When you exchanged fire with the enemy, I took advantage of the enemy's attention to be drawn to your side and sent militias to collect airdrops in the opposite direction." Bronnikov looked at the militia captain wearing a baseball cap and said with a smile: "They successfully completed the mission and brought us more than a dozen barrels of fuel and a large amount of ammunition. In this way, we do not have to worry about insufficient ammunition, whether we continue to stay in the factory or carry out a breakthrough."
"Lt. Colonel," Captain Chiwen suddenly said, "In the city, there are hundreds of wounded people. I want to ask, what should they do?"
Chapter completed!