21-31July/1915
I watched as the convoy of vehicles moved forward. Explosives had been placed along the road to cut off both escape and retreat, trapping them completely. All that was left was to trigger the detonator at the exact moment and we would have a good result.
"Move quickly, get in position, stay alert… if you can capture high ranking officers we get out of here and wait for the offensive to reach the area", I said, warning the others as they moved toward the road.
With the binoculars pressed to my eyes, I observed the vehicles and waited until the convoy positioned itself perfectly within the kill zone. Then I triggered the detonator, hitting the maximum number of vehicles possible.
The explosion echoed across the entire area. As the smoke began to clear, we saw vehicles thrown into the air or reduced to fragments flying in all directions.
I grabbed my rifle while chaos erupted with screams filling the air and ran toward the combat zone. It did not take long before I heard our rifles firing and bursts of machine gun fire.
I reached my men quickly. They were cutting down soldiers who were jumping out of vehicles and trying to escape.
We advanced slowly, firing to wound Russian officers. Taking prisoners mattered. Capturing someone important could be the ticket to another audience with the Kaiser and a chance to present the agricultural plan again, this time with far more information, or secure a generous reward to fund more factories and ideas to push Germany's war effort forward and end this damn war.
I joined the firing line, advancing steadily. With my rifle I dropped two Russians, then slung it over my back and switched to my submachine gun, moving toward the road to search bodies and identify ranks or capture wounded officers among the wreckage. I had to step over twisted metal and debris from the destroyed vehicles.
More jaegerkommandos arrived from the other side of the road. We had not coordinated with them, but they reacted to the explosion, knowing it was time to act. They did not know the full plan though, and they could end up killing valuable officers who would be far more useful alive.
We finally reached the road and it was complete chaos. Bodies were torn apart everywhere. Arms and legs scattered across the ground, a head rolling across the dirt, blood everywhere. It had been a massacre. Anyone who had survived that explosion intact would be a miracle.
We quickly began killing those who resisted, some pulling revolvers or trying to use rifles. Most of them were only armed with sidearms, which suggested we had hit the transport convoy of a high ranking Russian officer.
A single armored vehicle remained mostly intact despite being close to the blast, though its wheels were completely destroyed. That was the first thing I moved toward.
I approached it with a group and we opened the door, which was not locked from the inside. Inside were three Russian officers covering their ears.
"Well… well… well… Alexei Brusilov, commander of the Eighth Army", I said, grabbing the general by his uniform, recognizing him instantly by his distinctive mustache, and pulling him out of the vehicle. He was still stunned from the explosion.
"What do we do with him?", Ferdinand asked as he arrived beside me.
"Check the vehicles further back and away from the blast. See if any of them still work. We need to get him away from troop movement and hide in a nearby forest before cavalry catches us", I said while dragging the other two officers out. They also appeared to be high ranking.
"They are dead here", one of my men said while inspecting another armored vehicle that had been much closer to the explosion. It was completely deformed. No armor could withstand a blast like that at such range.
I moved closer and began checking faces, though many were badly damaged and covered in blood. The explosion had torn them apart, and internal fragments had turned into shrapnel.
"I think this is Platon Alexeyevich Lechitsky, a Russian general, but I am not sure. Part of his face is unrecognizable", I said, studying what remained of the officer.
"Do we take the body then?", Ferdinand asked.
"If it is him we confirm it later", I replied, pointing toward other wounded officers on the road who were trying to crawl away. We moved to grab them.
It did not take long before more jaegerkommandos arrived who knew how to operate the vehicles. We loaded the prisoners onto trucks after throwing out anything unnecessary for our escape and took every vehicle that could still move.
We began driving away across the terrain. Fortunately, the ground was dry. With rain this would have been impossible. These vehicles could barely handle the terrain as it was. In mud they would sink completely.
Half the group had to move on foot. We pulled away from the area as fast as we could, though gunfire echoed behind us. Russian cavalry units had already begun pursuing us. Those who escaped the blast must have reported the attack.
Once we gained some distance, we secured the prisoners and turned back to support the rest of our men against the cavalry. We brought down multiple riders with our rifles, while bursts of submachine gun fire cut down the pursuers quickly.
We had to keep moving while covering our rear as we were running increasingly low on ammunition. With the Russian horses, we were able to move faster and create distance from the original attack zone, encountering fewer and fewer Russian troops until we finally reached a forest. It was not large, but it was enough to move the prisoners and send the vehicles toward other towns to mislead anyone tracking our escape route.
By the time evening and night fell, we had abandoned the vehicles far from our position and regrouped in the forest. Ferdinand began interrogating the prisoners, especially the general.
General Brusilov did not speak at all. He remained silent the entire time, while his officers were far more vocal.
The Russians were attempting an organized withdrawal from Ukraine while preparing defensive positions to slow the German advance. The German push had been fast because many Russian troops had been diverted to hunt us in the region. They believed we were operating further south near the Black Sea, so most search efforts had been concentrated there, leaving fewer troops elsewhere.
At the same time, Ukrainian desertions had begun. Entire regiments would disappear overnight. It had been decided that the German advance would be contained at Kharkiv.
Orders had also been issued to burn any grain that could not be transported and to kill livestock so nothing would be left for the German army. They intended to leave us with the burden of feeding the Ukrainian population without any stored food. Everything was either harvested or destroyed. The initial plan had been to fall back to the Dnieper and hold the line there, but the scale of Ukrainian desertions forced them to retreat even further.
That created the risk of shifts in force balance during ongoing operations.
Hindenburg's plan had only partially succeeded. We had Ukraine, and the Russians were no longer trying to defend it, at least not in any meaningful way. They were abandoning it.
The problem was feeding thirty to forty million people with empty granaries. There would be famine in 1915, but not in the way originally expected. This would be the year they realized agriculture could not sustain the war. Without Ukrainian grain, which the Russians had largely evacuated, Russia could continue fighting into 1916, possibly even 1917 if they achieved a good harvest the following year.
That meant large scale unrest in Russia would likely not occur until later. The immediate problem would be the Ukrainians themselves. Hunger would drive them toward banditry or espionage against our logistics. It would not take long before they began attacking supply convoys simply to survive.
Something would have to be done. Germany would certainly attempt to restart grain production in the region, but if partisan activity remained constant, it would drain manpower as troops were tied down trying to secure the area.
We continued withdrawing and staying in the most isolated areas possible. Russian patrols had stopped searching and were simply retreating. With little ammunition left, we waited for them to clear the area.
Eventually we began seeing large numbers of German troops. We moved quickly back toward our lines, bringing our prisoners with us.
The first to receive us were infantry units of the Ninth Army. They were visibly startled when they saw us, but calmed down once I spoke to them in German and allowed us through to safety.
The new headquarters of the Eighth and Ninth Armies had been established in Kiev. There was talk that if the advance continued, forward command posts would be moved to locations with major rail connections.
After arriving and being transported by horse-drawn carriage back to headquarters, we did what was customary after missions like this. We collapsed into sleep. The exhaustion hit hard after days of sleeping in short intervals while constantly alert.
When I woke, the first thing I did was take a bath. High command was still occupied. The Russians had launched a counterattack in the north, rapidly moving troops by rail north of the Daugava River. Four Russian armies were attacking the Tenth Army alone. There was concern they might break the front and attempt to reclaim territory or threaten East Prussia again if reinforcements were not deployed immediately.
As before, Polish troops were used as a form of expendable force, sent alongside divisions from other armies to reinforce the line.
The Austro-Hungarians were still behind schedule and had not crossed the Dnieper. Their advance was extremely slow, which prevented German forces from fully reinforcing the Tenth Army until a defensive line had been established.
Because of that, I was not required to give an immediate report. However, they were eager to take the bodies of the dead officers, which had already begun to smell, and attempted to identify them using documents and notebooks.
We handed over a significant number of high ranking officers.
And above all, the prize of the entire operation.
General Brusilov.
He was quickly placed on a train and sent to the rear, likely toward Germany.
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