Fire standing
At the beginning of November 1914, the city of Soldau was taken for the second time during the war by Russian troops - units of the 1-th Turkestan Army Corps, which included, in addition to the Turkestans, the 11-I Siberian Rifle Division.
After a series of hot but successful for Russian weapons fighting in the vicinity of the city, the Russian troops received a sudden and upset all the order for an immediate night retreat on the city of Mlawa.
The withdrawal was carried out safely, unnoticed by the Germans, and the connection with the latter was lost. The corps settled down to rest in the area of Mlava, setting up the 6 th Turkestan rifle regiment as a guard, which was arranged in the order indicated in the diagram.
The last battles and the hike just made under the continuous cold rain strongly weary the soldiers of the 6 regiment - and the guarding soldiers, carrying guard duty, fell asleep. But the night went well.
A gray misty morning has come. One of the shooters of the left flank of the 3 th company, while in the bushes on the northern edge of the pine forest, suddenly saw some kind of column - moving along the road along the railway line from the 1 th company. The distance from him of the column was 400 - 600 steps, but despite this, he clearly recognized the Germans helmets.
After waking up his comrades, the fighter let the 2 company know about the movement of the enemy convoy. The commander of the 2 Company, Captain Ganturia, ran out to reconnaissance, after giving the order to push the machine guns that had been in his 2 company to the edge of the woods. After the captain was convinced of the correctness of the information received, the 2-i company opened rifle and machine-gun fire at the column - the head of which was already opposite the patrol section of the 4-th company.
Neighboring companies: 4-I, 3-I and 1-I, awakened by fire, in turn, opened a deadly fire on the Germans.
The Turkestan shooters, standing without taking advantage of the closures, fired at the distraught Germans — from whose side only individual shots were heard. The Germans rushed back at first, but the 1s of the company met with fire tried to cross the railway embankment - they did not succeed. Part of the column, which did not have time to cross the railway on the section of the 1-th company during the movement, ran to the north. Another part of the column, which was on this side of the railway, was destroyed - only a few people escaped through a viaduct, which was on the left flank of the 4 of the company.
There were no prisoners - there were only dead and wounded. A German wounded officer said that their convoy, consisting of 2 battalions, got lost and, without intelligence, ran into the guards of the Turkestanians. As a result, a whole battalion of Germans was destroyed.
And the battle showed how vital the quality work of reconnaissance and combat escort is.
After a series of hot but successful for Russian weapons fighting in the vicinity of the city, the Russian troops received a sudden and upset all the order for an immediate night retreat on the city of Mlawa.
The withdrawal was carried out safely, unnoticed by the Germans, and the connection with the latter was lost. The corps settled down to rest in the area of Mlava, setting up the 6 th Turkestan rifle regiment as a guard, which was arranged in the order indicated in the diagram.
The last battles and the hike just made under the continuous cold rain strongly weary the soldiers of the 6 regiment - and the guarding soldiers, carrying guard duty, fell asleep. But the night went well.
A gray misty morning has come. One of the shooters of the left flank of the 3 th company, while in the bushes on the northern edge of the pine forest, suddenly saw some kind of column - moving along the road along the railway line from the 1 th company. The distance from him of the column was 400 - 600 steps, but despite this, he clearly recognized the Germans helmets.
After waking up his comrades, the fighter let the 2 company know about the movement of the enemy convoy. The commander of the 2 Company, Captain Ganturia, ran out to reconnaissance, after giving the order to push the machine guns that had been in his 2 company to the edge of the woods. After the captain was convinced of the correctness of the information received, the 2-i company opened rifle and machine-gun fire at the column - the head of which was already opposite the patrol section of the 4-th company.
Neighboring companies: 4-I, 3-I and 1-I, awakened by fire, in turn, opened a deadly fire on the Germans.
The Turkestan shooters, standing without taking advantage of the closures, fired at the distraught Germans — from whose side only individual shots were heard. The Germans rushed back at first, but the 1s of the company met with fire tried to cross the railway embankment - they did not succeed. Part of the column, which did not have time to cross the railway on the section of the 1-th company during the movement, ran to the north. Another part of the column, which was on this side of the railway, was destroyed - only a few people escaped through a viaduct, which was on the left flank of the 4 of the company.
There were no prisoners - there were only dead and wounded. A German wounded officer said that their convoy, consisting of 2 battalions, got lost and, without intelligence, ran into the guards of the Turkestanians. As a result, a whole battalion of Germans was destroyed.
And the battle showed how vital the quality work of reconnaissance and combat escort is.
Information