Soul to the Rhine

Chapter 126 Turning Point
Time flies so fast.

Rosiya followed the army to evacuate to the large garrison in Kharkov. There were no Soviet troops blocking the road along the way. However, a few days after arriving, the retreating army received orders again. They were to go to Kurdistan. Ersk supports the Fourth Armored Army.

Then Rosia knew that the war was almost over.

There is an extreme shortage of frontline medical staff, but medical staff in the rear are also indispensable.She now had two choices, either to go to Kursk with the army, or to evacuate to Minsk with the Red Cross.

She may meet Heinrich a little bit at the front, but she has a greater chance of dying.And evacuated to Minsk, holding the Red Cross certificate, she can basically live safely until the end of this war.

Because Ilana was traveling with her, Rosia did not hesitate for too long and chose to go back to Minsk.

Even if she went to the front line, nothing would change. The battlefield was chaotic and dangerous, and she might not be able to see Heinrich.The wisest thing is to wait in the rear.

Kharkov is a troubled city. As the Kursk front continued to shrink, it ushered in countless battles. A large number of Soviet troops came from elsewhere and had fierce battles with the German troops stationed here. Confrontation.

The logistics team quickly arranged their evacuation, preparing four or five vehicles late at night to send them north overnight.

This retreat will pass through countless cities, some of which are still in melee, and there are many guerrillas along the way.Even if their cars were painted with big red crosses, they still couldn't avoid being bombarded by stray bullets.

Now each other has gone crazy, and some actions of the Allied Forces have lost their justice as the war deepens, and the regulations of the convention have become useless.If they can withdraw, their safety will naturally increase in the future, but now, on the way to retreat, the danger is no less than a war.

Most of the medical staff are nurses, and there are only a few doctors. Many military doctors are not on the evacuation list. They must follow the army to the front line.Therefore, 90.00% of the people who retreated this time were women. Unlike Soviet female soldiers, they had basically no combat effectiveness.

And the only person with fighting ability in the car, apart from a few drivers, was MacArthur.

"MacArthur? Why did he retreat with us? Shouldn't he go to the battlefield?" Elana also didn't like that SS officer who had nothing to do and put on airs. Of course, what she remembered most was when he shot and killed Catherine. cold-blooded and ruthless.This incident caused her to turn and run away in fright every time she saw someone.

"We don't know either." A nurse replied: "He got up on his own when he got into the car."

"What a coward. So many soldiers went to the front line, and he was the only man to follow us to the rear. Even if he got to Minsk, what he could do was not eat, drink, and have fun every day."

"Shh, keep your voice down, Elana, he has good hearing, be careful not to be heard."

Elana curled her lips in disapproval, but did not continue.She leaned to the side and touched Rosia, who had been silent. "What are you thinking about?"

Rosia shook her head: "I didn't think about anything."

"You're still so obsessed without thinking about it, tell me, do you want to go to the front line to find your boyfriend?" She stretched out two hands to tickle her, Rosia had no choice but to surrender.

"Well, I'm actually just thinking about when I can get to Minsk. I always feel that the journey will not be peaceful."

This topic was a bit heavy. After Ilana paused for a moment, she slowly let go of her hand.

The car had only been driving for two hours at this time, but they had already encountered four melees. Although the personnel on both sides saw the Red Cross and did not make it difficult for them, who can guarantee that they will be so lucky in the future.

From here to Minsk, you have to follow the Dnieper River, cross the borders of the three countries and go northwest. There are countless guerrillas in the border areas. Some of them don't care who you are and will shoot if they see you.

It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day that the convoy entered Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, without any danger.The Soviet Union was relatively powerful in Ukraine and there were many secret organizations. The driver did not dare to stay for a long time. After replenishing fuel at the station, he continued on the road.

Along the way, they passed through dense jungles, and also encountered a railway battle taking place in a city. The railway tracks were tied with explosives, and if they were not careful, they could blow up the vehicles parked around them.

They also witnessed demolition experts lurking on the road, blowing up bridges with assembled explosives, and chaos everywhere.When they entered Belarus a few days later, they all suspected that they were still alive.After seeing so many miseries and dangers, they are still alive.

Either way, it's a good thing.

Belarus is still in the hands of the German army, and you can feel the difference between it and Ukraine as soon as you enter.The most obvious thing is that the number of guerrillas has decreased, more formalized troops are seen on the road, and the procedures for inspecting their vehicles have also been reduced a lot.

These carloads of nurses came from all over Europe, but most of them were assigned to German hospitals.Even if they are enemies, they have some feelings for each other after getting along a lot. At this moment, when these nurses saw the familiar German military uniforms, their expressions suddenly softened a lot.

The car did not stop and drove all the way into a Red Cross hospital in Minsk. The hospital was large, but very crowded inside.

This is the largest logistics center of the German army near the Eastern Front. Wounded soldiers from nearby fronts are sent here, so medical staff are in short supply.

Rosia and this group of nurses were rushed into the hospital without even having time to see clearly what Minsk looked like.Before entering, she only glanced back. Her only impression of this city was that it was empty.

A typical empty city under German rule.

At a glance, they are all Germans. The indigenous people here seem to have disappeared, and even the breath of life no longer exists.

This was even more true in the hospital. It seemed that no matter how many hospitals she changed, no matter where she was, no matter whether it was big or small, the inside would always look the same.

There was a bloody sorting assembly line at the door. The nurse who came with Rosia hadn't reacted yet and was assigned to assist here with her eyes darkened.

Rosia held a medical certificate, so she was pulled into the ward by the head nurse here to do preliminary treatment.Ilana took advantage of her and was unwilling to sort things out at the door, so she stayed with her as an assistant.

It seemed that the rest of his life was decided all of a sudden.

A group of people were arranged to live in collective dormitories by the hospital. They came out every day to treat the injured, exchange supplies, and provide medical assistance.This kind of life is busy and mechanical. After a whole day, I am so tired that I don’t even want to say anything. I usually fall on the bed and fall asleep. When I wake up the next day, I don’t know what I did yesterday.

Time passed quickly, and a few days later, on August 8, the Battle of Kursk came to an end.

The last German offensive in Kursk was about to end in failure. The already exhausted Second Army and Ninth Army continued to retreat until they entered Ukraine.As the main force, the Fourth Armored Group was also forced to retreat while fighting. They tenaciously blocked the Soviet offensive rhythm. Although it temporarily delayed the Soviet offensive rhythm, it did not really stop the Soviet advance.

As time passed and fuel continued to be consumed, the war came to an end, and Hitler's plans for the Eastern Front were exhausted.

Before the war began, he told his generals that a victory at Kursk would "light up the world like a beacon" and inspire German soldiers to launch a new offensive toward Moscow.

But such bravado did not save the situation of the war.Either total victory or total loss, the future of the war depends on the outcome of this battle.

A few days later, the crowd in the rear received a battle report on August 8.

After a day of constant fighting, the Soviets were victorious.The Fourth Panzer Army lost 300 tanks and was forced to retreat.Hitler's last offensive on the Eastern Front ended in failure. There is no doubt that the German army was close to total defeat in the Soviet Union.

This news caused a gloomy atmosphere among the German troops in Minsk, and their morale continued to decline.Even in the hospital, even the wails of the wounded soldiers were silenced. The sensitivity of soldiers is that they have clearly seen the darkness ahead and the hopelessness of this war.

The German myth could no longer continue on the Eastern Front.

What Rosia was worried about was that the Fourth Armored Group evacuated Kursk, but Heinrich did not come back. There was no news from him, and no logistics letter reached her.

Regarding this result, she could only tell herself that Heinrich did not know that she had moved, and maybe the logistics did not know that she was now in Minsk.At this time, no news is the best news.

On August 8, Kharkov was again liberated by Soviet forces, and then in September, Italy surrendered and the Axis alliance began to collapse.This day-to-day life was arranged by God in a compact and dramatic way.

After autumn, the Soviet Union began to get colder. Another winter is coming, and people in Minsk have already begun preparations for winter.The heat of war between the two armies also cooled down as the weather changed.

On November 11, the Soviet army recaptured Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.

The German front continued to shrink in the Soviet Union, and another terrible winter came quickly, making it difficult for the Luftwaffe to make a difference. Many troops who had no time to retreat were cut off from their supply lines, just like what happened in Stalingrad.When the soldiers in the hospital were not silent, they would also talk about how they survived the cold winter in the Soviet Union.

Rosia waited in the hospital for another three months, and Heinrich still had no news, but she dared not ask anything.

This hospital is owned by the Red Cross, so there are many people there, including people from all over Europe.At this time, Minsk is still in the hands of the German army, so no matter how happy some people in other countries are to hear the news of Germany's continuous defeat, they dare not show any outward signs.

But this does not mean that in the future, now in the hospital, because she is Chinese, the German nurses except Ilana will not treat her very much. If she blatantly shows too much concern for the German officers, once After the war, she likely suffered reprisals from nurses in other countries.

She knew how countries that had been invaded after the war treated pro-Germans, so she did not dare to take risks and could only spend more time on duty in the wards of soldiers of the Fourth Army.

"Winter is coming again." A soldier looked at Rosia: "Doctor, do you think my legs can survive this winter?"

The people in this ward are all members of the Fourth Armored Group. They drive armored vehicles and fight at the forefront, so the casualties are very high, and the injuries are generally more serious than others. Anyone who is pulled out will basically have their hands and feet broken off.

Rosia did not deal with him casually. After a brief inspection, she replied: "It should be fine. As long as you eat more, you will be fine."

The soldier pursed his lips and smiled. His smile was very shy, but his eyes were very hollow, as if something had been hollowed out.

"Last winter, I was fighting in Stalingrad." He said softly, looking out the window, not noticing that Rosia's hand holding the notebook froze.

In Stalingrad, the Sixth Army was completely wiped out, and most of the Fourth Armored Army retreated. The soldiers in the current Fourth Armored Army are all people who have experienced that hellish battle.

"It's so cold that we can't bear it at all, so we can only hide in armored vehicles and tanks. But the next day we will find many comrades frozen to death inside, and my second deputy was frozen to death like this." Soldiers used He gently touched the injured leg: "In order to reduce casualties, we could only keep the engine running all night, but there was not enough fuel at all. Germany did not have that many supplies. I still suffered from frostbite in the later stages."

"I feel like my legs are like two pieces of wood now. They seem to have lost their feeling. I may not be able to walk on the ground."

Rosia listened to him quietly for a while, took a deep breath, patted his shoulder, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, young man, I have already checked and your legs are fine. When spring comes, you will definitely be able to go out." Take an outing, trust me.”

The soldier raised his head and glanced at her, and couldn't help but smile: "I'm much older than you, I'm not a young man anymore."

Rosia reached out and patted his shoulder again: "You are very young, really, very young."

They only care about the future of Germany, and they have almost no thoughts. Their minds are frozen in the battlefield. Every growth is piled with blood, tears and sadness. They are still young and have not seen a better future.

Rosia took a few deep breaths, turned around and left the ward with a smile.

When she came into contact with the cold air outside, her nose felt inexplicably sore.

She missed Heinrich a little.

　Alas, it feels a bit like explaining the aftermath, and it will be over soon!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)