The camp of the Third Grenadier Regiment was attacked by Soviet artillery fire. Such a huge noise must have alarmed the division commander, Tansen. As soon as the sky was dawn, he hurried to the attack site with the chief of staff, several officers and a group of guards.
Looking at the camp full of huge craters, the burned corpses everywhere, and the stench of corpses that could not be dissipated in the air, Tansen's face turned distorted. He ordered an officer: "Go and call the surviving officers over, I want to ask what's going on here?"
A German captain who had been lucky enough to save his life soon came to Tansen and reported to him with lingering fear: "Secretary Commander, the Russians used at least two artillery regiments to bombard our camp in the middle of the night."
"It's nonsense, it's simply nonsense." After hearing the captain's answer, Tansen cursed in anger: "If the Russians had the ability to assemble two artillery regiments to attack you, their defense line would not have been broken through by our army so easily."
Among the officers brought by Tansen, one of the officers had been subjected to a similar night attack. After Tansen finished speaking, he said carefully: "Sir, if I was not wrong, the Russians used their new rockets to carry out shameless attacks on our camp."
"New Rocket?" Tansen asked in confusion when he heard the word, "What is it?"
The officer knew that Tansen had returned to Berlin as early as February and did not know much about what happened later, so he explained to him: "As soon as General Paulus's troops attacked Stalingrad, the Russians developed a rocket that could be fired at any location. Although the size of this rocket was reduced, its power did not decrease much."
"Is that?" Tansen said in confusion: "If the Russians had launched this new rocket so early, why have I never heard of it?"
"Your Excellency the Division Commander, you have never heard of it because this weapon is only equipped with Sokov's troops..."
"Sokov?" Hearing this disgusting name, Tansen's pupils couldn't help but shrink violently: "Is it the Russian commander who severely damaged the SS armored forces?"
"Yes, Master, it is him." The officer continued: "Based on the information we have, he served as commander of the Russian 27th Army a few months ago, and now the troops are living in the Kosky area."
After hearing this, Tansen was silent for a long time and finally said, "If his troops were still in Kosky at the moment, which unit would have used this new rocket to attack our military camp?"
The officer said cautiously: "Can it be other Russian troops equipped with this weapon?"
"This is impossible." Tansen immediately denied the officer's statement: "Based on my understanding of the Russians, if they were equipped with this weapon, they would definitely be used when our army broke through their defense line, and would never be used to sneak attack our military camp in the middle of the night. Arrange personnel immediately and search around to see if there are any traces of the Russians."
"Sir," the captain who had been ignored for a long time finally found a chance to speak: "After dawn, I have organized the surviving personnel and searched nearby."
“Are you gained anything?”
"The search team I sent found a suspected launching position on the north side of the camp..."
"Where is it?" Tansen couldn't wait for the captain to finish his sentence, and asked impatiently: "Take me there quickly."
The group took an armored vehicle to the place where the captain said.
Here, you can clearly see the traces left by the launcher on the mud and the traces of the flame tail burning on the ground after launching the rocket.
"That's right, it's here." Tansen carefully looked at the surrounding ground, pointing to the ground and said, "Look, there are traces of burning flames on the ground, which should be left by the Russians when they fired rockets. Also, there are many traces of track crushing around them. They should have arrived here in armored vehicles."
Chief of Staff, who had never spoken from beginning to end, suddenly spoke: "Mr. Flag Captain, I think the search range should be expanded, and maybe more clues can be found."
"What you said makes sense." Tansen immediately issued a new order: "Call people here immediately and continue to track the traces of the tracks to find out where this Russian group came from."
With the order issued, a motorized company was quickly transferred over and searched along the tracks. Soon, the German soldiers found the place where Geria and the others had rested and found a large amount of garbage left behind. After a look, the Chief of Staff of the Division picked up an empty can box on the ground and handed it to Tansen, and said to him: "Mr. Captain, do you look at this?"
"Isn't this an empty canned meat box?" Tansen took the can and glanced at it, and said disapprovingly: "What's strange about it?"
"Mr. Flag Captain, this kind of canned food is neither distributed by our army nor produced by the Russians." Seeing that Tansen did not pay any attention to his discovery, the Chief of Staff quickly said to him: "This is a canned braised meat from the United States."
"Canned braised meat from the United States?" Tansen said in surprise: "We have never seen such a thing in the supplies we seized from the Russians."
"Then you are right, Mr. Captain of the Flag." Chief of Staff nodded and said, "As far as I know, these canned meat from the United States are given priority to the reserve troops of the Russians."
"Reserve troops?" Tansen couldn't help but frown: "Chief of Staff, do you mean that the Russians have transferred their reserve troops?"
"It's totally possible." The Chief of Staff said with a serious expression: "I have a feeling that in the next battle, we may confront Sokov's troops."
"Is this unlikely?" Don't see Tansen that he had not fought with Sokov, but he knew very well that an enemy who could beat the SS armored troops all over the ground was very troublesome. Although he agreed with the statement of Chief of Staff in his heart, he still had to deny it: "The Russian command system has always been slow to react. After discovering that the defense line of the existing side was broken, it would take at least one or two days to make a correct judgment. By the time the new troops were transferred to the combat area, at least four or five days had passed, and the situation on the entire battlefield had become very beneficial to our army."
"Sokov is different from ordinary Russian commanders. He has a very keen sense of touch," the chief of staff of the division reminded Tansen: "Maybe he started to mobilize troops on the day our army launched an attack on Kursk. Therefore, it is still possible to find his troops nearby in a short time."
Just as Tansen was thinking about the statement of the Chief of Staff, he went out to Shumakovo and sent a corporal back to report the situation to Tansen.
"Tell me," Tansen, who was sitting in the armored vehicle, asked at the corporal standing beside the vehicle, "What have you all discovered?"
"Report to the Commander of the Division." The corporal reported respectfully: "About five kilometers from Shumakovo, we found a motorized patrol team that had been destroyed by a total army. From their deaths, they were attacked at close range without any defense."
"Without any defense, I was attacked at close range?" Tansen asked in confusion: "Why does this happen?"
"Mr. Flag Captain." The Chief of Staff had guessed a possibility from the report of the corporal, and said cautiously: "I think the Russians who attacked them should all wear our uniforms, and even ride our armored vehicles, so that the patrol team would completely relax their vigilance."
"So," after listening to the analysis of the Chief of Staff of the Division, Tansen also had a clearer understanding of what happened: "The Russians who attacked our camp wore our uniforms and took our armored vehicles to sneak into our defense zone. When they left, they also killed one of our patrols."
"Yes, that's what it should be."
Chapter completed!