Chapter 479: Way Out

"First, our pilots found that their skiers had crossed your two wings and were outflanking you!" Kruger explained: "You can't outrun their skiers!"

"That's good news, Marshal!" Colonel Slaine said: "Do you mean for us to lay down our weapons and surrender?"

"No, Colonel!" Kruger said: "I hope you can fight to the last moment, you know... buy time for us, we will try our best to provide you with air support! The longer you hold on, the more time we can retreat!"

"So what about our retreat?" Colonel Slaine asked.

There was no answer on the other end of the phone, and then Colonel Slaine replied weakly: "I understand!"

Then he hung up the phone.

The officers and soldiers around, including Qin Chuan, all stared at Colonel Slaine in a daze. They all understood something from the conversation just now.

"Colonel!" Adjutant Lucas asked Colonel Slaine: "What army group, the enemy's army group?"

Colonel Slaine nodded, then stood up and said casually: "Yes, guys, this is different from our battlefield in Africa. Here we will encounter an army group at any time. We should get used to this!"

"What is the order?" Lucas asked.

Colonel Slaine spit out a word from his teeth: "Hold on!"

Everyone was silent, they knew what it meant.

Then suddenly someone stood up and said: "Fuck, let us stop an army group with a regiment, they must be crazy!"

"We came to save them, but they treated us as sacrifices!"

...

"Shut up!" Colonel Slaine shouted loudly: "We are surrounded, we have no choice!"

Colonel Slaine did what a regimental commander should do. Although he also had complaints in his heart, as a colonel, he could only consider the issue from the perspective of the interests of the entire army or the interests of the country.

Otherwise, what can he do?

Retreat?

It was too late. Just as Kruger said, the two wings were surrounded by ski soldiers. The Soviets only needed these ski soldiers to pile up the First Infantry Regiment.

Surrender?

The Soviets were not good men and women. Surrendering was also a dead end.

So, from these aspects, Kruger's order was still correct. The First Infantry Regiment should play a little more role before being annihilated by the enemy.

"The enemy is interspersed!" Qin Chuan said while looking at the map.

"Of course, Captain!" Colonel Slaine said, "Everyone knows!"

"Their target is not us!" Qin Chuan continued.

"What do you mean, Captain?" Colonel Slaine asked.

"To the north of us is the Northern Army Group!" Qin Chuan pointed to the map and said, "To the south is the Central Army Group. The Soviets' goal is to pass through the middle of the two army groups and cut off the connection between the two army groups!"

"So..." Colonel Slaine didn't quite understand what Qin Chuan meant.

"So we still have a chance!" Qin Chuan said, "They won't hold on to our regiment, which will only slow down their penetration speed!"

Colonel Slaine nodded: "You mean we have to find a strategic location to hold on to?"

"Yes!" Qin Chuan replied, "And at least a town, because we don't have enough supplies. If we stay in the forest, we will either starve to death or freeze to death!"

So, Colonel Slaine turned his attention to a small town a few kilometers away... Holm.

"Holm!" Colonel Slaine said, "Only Holm Town can meet these requirements!"

Qin Chuan certainly knew this, because he knew that Holm was the last place to hold on in history, and it was also the only way for the First Infantry Regiment to survive.

"Colonel!" Adjutant Lucas said, "Holding on to Holm is also holding on, and this is not considered disobeying orders! We just retreat a few kilometers and continue to hold on..."

Looking at the expectant eyes around him, Colonel Slaine nodded and ordered, "Withdraw from Holm!"

Just as the First Infantry Regiment withdrew to Holm, the Central Army Group Command was busy.

Kruger immediately sent a reconnaissance plane to the direction of Lelot, and found that the Soviets were attacking in that direction with not just one army group, but three.

"An enemy army is attacking towards Staraya Russa south of Lake Ilmen!" Treskov said while marking the attack direction on the map: "One army is attacking towards Velikiye Luki with Lake Selig as a breakthrough point, and another army is attacking towards Toropets!"

After a pause, Treskov continued: "Their purpose is very clear. After reaching the Lovat River, they can cut off and destroy our troops on the east bank of the Lovat River to the north, and then deploy along the Lovat River all the way, so as to cut off the connection between the Central Army Group and the Northern Army Group. Or, they may reach the Baltic coast to cut off the retreat of the Northern Army Group and cooperate with the Suvorkhov Front to encircle our Northern Army Group. Or, they can fiercely penetrate the rear of the Central Army Group."

Kruger's face was ashen. Each of the possibilities mentioned by Treskov would cause a devastating blow to the German army, and the German Northern Army Group was particularly dangerous.

Because the Northern Army Group was responsible for attacking Leningrad (also known as St. Petersburg) in the north, it was surrounded by the Baltic Sea to the west, and the Soviet Union to the east and north. If the Soviet army succeeded in penetrating the south again... then the Northern Army Group would have to either surrender or jump into the sea.

So Kruger no longer hesitated and immediately ordered: "Retreat immediately, the entire army retreats 100 kilometers!"

"But... Marshal!" Treskov replied: "The Führer's order is not to retreat a step!"

"Don't pay attention to the Führer's order!" Kruger said: "We must first survive before we have the strength to obey the Führer's order!"

"Yes, Marshal!" Treskov replied, with a flash of strangeness in his eyes.

What Kruger didn't know was that his chief of staff, General Treskov, was actually a member of the German resistance movement. To be precise... Treskov was actually one of the leaders of the organization that planned and organized the assassination of Hitler.

Treskov believed that in order to assassinate Hitler and seize power in Germany, he had to seize military power.

So Kluge, the new commander of the Central Army Group, was one of his targets.

The current situation, that is, Kluge's behavior of disobeying Hitler's orders, was of course what Treskov wanted to see.