Holm, in Russian, means "small hill".

It is indeed just a "small hill" because the elevation of the entire town is less than 50 meters.

But it is a hill in the vast wilderness of swamps and woodlands, and in addition to this, it is the intersection of two rivers, and more importantly... the only solid road connecting the old Russa to the major southwest city crosses Holm.

Of course, none of this matters.

At least not important to now.

The reason is that it is winter now, and all the swamps and rivers have formed ice, which makes Holm accessible within a radius of several kilometers.

But the problem is: once the weather gets warmer, swamps, rivers, and woodland are insurmountable barriers for the army. At that time, Holm and the road that crosses it are particularly important.

A reconnaissance unit of the First Infantry Regiment arrived at Holm first.

This reconnaissance platoon used the ski equipment seized by Qin Chuan from the Soviet army... The ski equipment was enough for eighty people to use, but the helpless thing was that only fifty people in the First Infantry Regiment could ski.

Qin Chuan can be said to be able to skate, but he can only roller skate, so he didn't join in the fun.

The first thing the reconnaissance forces did after they arrived in Holm was to report to Colonel Slein via radio: "Everything went well, we have arrived in Holm. It is still in our hands, but the situation is not optimistic!"

"What does it mean?" asked Colonel Slain.

"Uh..." the reconnaissance unit replied: "I don't know what to say, Colonel, you will know soon!"

Half an hour later, when Qin Chuan, Colonel Slein and others arrived at Holm, they understood what "not optimistic" meant: there were broken walls everywhere, and most of the houses had no roofs and were pitch black. From time to time, there were several Russian people like beggars in the houses that looked out and looked at the German army with horror. Cracks several meters deep in the middle of the road were everywhere, so people had to put wooden boards or other hard objects on them to pass. What was even more terrible is that some craters were covered with snow, just like flat road surfaces. If you step on them with one foot...

Several German officers came up and saluted Colonel Slein. A major general led by the leader introduced himself: "I am Hartmann, the commander of the 211th Security Division, welcome you!"

"Col. Slain, the First Infantry Regiment of the 21st Armored Division!" Col. Slain replied.

"The 21st Armored Division?" Hartman looked puzzled.

"We are from the African Legion!" Colonel Slain explained: "It was only airborne to the vicinity not long ago!"

Major General Hartman couldn't help but realize: "Rommeel's troops... do we look like Africa here?"

The officers around couldn't help laughing.

Colonel Slain had no time to talk nonsense to them and asked, "How many of you are, General?"

Major General Hartman was stunned, and then said seriously: "It seems that I should ask you, Colonel!"

"Okay, General!" Colonel Slain replied: "We have a total of two thousand one hundred and thirty-five."

"Hmm!" Major General Hartman nodded with satisfaction.

But Colonel Slain's next sentence made Major General Hartman stunned on the spot.

"I think you certainly don't know that a Soviet in the army is coming in our direction!" Colonel Slain said: "This place will soon become the front line!"

Not only Major General Hartman, but also the officers around him were stunned.

"No, I don't know!" Major General Hartman replied: "We have just taken down from Old Rusa!"

"I know!" Colonel Slain replied.

"I have a battalion!" Major General Hartman said: "But they are police forces!"

Colonel Slain knew this, of course, the security division meant that when the front line troops attacked, they were responsible for the security in the rear. If there were any battles, it would be to deal with the guerrillas in the rear.

"I'm from the Infantry Regiment!" An officer replied: "The 416th Infantry Regiment is a battalion, but most of them are wounded!"

"I am from the 1st Company of the 869th Mobilization Battalion!"

"I am the engineer of the 680th Road Construction Battalion!"

...

The officers reported their numbers one by one, and there were all kinds of people. In the last count, there were 60 troops, either police forces without combat experience, engineer troops or defeated soldiers who had heavy casualties from the front line.

Although the total number of people is more than 2,000, it seems that they can't help much.

"Very good!" Colonel Slain glanced at Qin Chuan helplessly, and then said to Major General Hartman: "General, it seems that we should start to make some preparations!"

"No no!" Major General Hartman replied: "Not us. Sorry, Colonel, the order we received was to retreat..."

"Captain!" Colonel Slain ignored Major General Hartman, and he said to Qin Chuan: "I think it's time to describe the situation to them!"

Colonel Slain was not a good person at speaking, so he handed over this "hard" task to Qin Chuan.

"Yes, Colonel!" Qin Chuan responded and jumped onto a shell box next to him, then shouted to the German soldiers with a loud voice: "Guys, as the colonel said, the enemy has an army, and we only have a few thousand people, this is a big challenge, right? But I like it!"

The German officers and soldiers burst into laughter.

"You may know better than us!" Qin Chuan continued: "The Soviets had ski soldiers, and their movements were much faster than us, so we couldn't run past them. If you think you could, then you should hurry now..."

As he said that, Qin Chuan raised his head to the west of the town.

After waiting for a while, seeing that no one was moving, Qin Chuan continued, "Or, we can only guard this small town and block the Soviets outside and let them breathe out. What if he doesn't matter, the Soviets don't look so afraid of the cold, do you think so?"

"Hao!" the officers and soldiers responded.

"Let me emphasize it a little more!" Qin Chuan said: "This is our only way to live. Join together and exert the strength of everyone under the unified command of Colonel Slein! For Germany, for victory, and for ourselves!"

"Hao!" The officers and soldiers cheered in unison.

"Colin!" Qin Chuan walked down the shell box and asked Colonel Slein to take over.

"Good job, Captain!" Colonel Slain said and walked up to the shell box and ordered: "I need you to count the numbers, equipment, supplies, and the number of people you can fight in the shortest time, and then, it is time for the Soviets to see our experience!"

"其!" The German officers and soldiers cheered loudly, like knights about to set out in the Middle Ages.
Chapter completed!