"What do you mean that you have no medicine? You are the field hospital."
Gromov asks in surprise.
"Just in words. You know we are not well prepared, there just aren't sufficient medicines for us."
Kamarov shrugged.
Gromov still does not want to believe it.
"Lead me to the basement."
When he was down there, he knew Kamarov was not lying, only wounded.
"Bylat!" He punched heavily on the wall.
Takes so many risks to get back to the town, just to earn nothing.
However, no time to be mad about it.
They need to leave before the German Panzer Battalion makes contact.
"Bring all the wounded to the tank, especially those unable to move quickly. We need to leave."
"Are there any seriously wounded ones? We might not be able to evacuate them."
The doctor in front of him only shook his head silently.
"Understand. Alright, let's do it. We don't have time."
Gromov knows how things work.
In a situation where medicine is not enough, those seriously wounded will just be given up.
The medicine that takes to save one of them could be used to save 3 or more lightly wounded ones.
Moreover, you can't assure them to be alive after using so many medicines.
Immediately, the wounded start helping each other get back to the ground.
Gromov goes before them. He has to arrange for the evacuation.
"Sidorov, get back to the forest first. We will leave shortly, and will need you to delay the German panzer from chasing us."
Gromov looks for Sidorov, who was alert for any enemy tanks and ordered.
"Affirmative, comrade commander. Another good news, we got another RPG launcher and have resupplied some rockets."
"I take some initiative and form another RPG group, hope you don't mind."
Good news in bad news.
"Great, bring them to the forest too."
At the same time, he also checks on the Panzer battalion.
They were temporarily stuck on the road.
Apart from the Stug III that was destroyed just now, Sidorov has destroyed another that was trying to bypass it.
Now, those who want to bypass have to move through those small paths between houses.
They can't crush the houses anyway. Their men are inside.
He then finds Kirov and sees a soldier carrying a radio.
"Good news, Captain, we found the ruins of the division command post, and one of the radios is still working."
Well, they find anything except for the medicine. Still worth coming here.
"Comrade Commissar, we find another commissar and a few tens of wounded in the field hospital. We need to evacuate them first through the tank."
"I will stay here to the end to make sure things do not go into chaos. I have already arranged for Sidorov to prepare in the forest. I will need you to bring some infantry to support them and meet us there."
Gromov understands, retreat is far more complicated than attacking.
Almost every army can conduct assault operations, but only the most elite ones can conduct retreats without falling into chaos.
"No problem, I believe in you. Do as you want. We will wait for you there."
Soon, all the wounded were carried on the KV.
Looking at it, there is only one famous word that appears in Gromov's mind that can describe it.
The meat reactive armour.
He can only hope that the tank can move without meeting any enemies, as any shooting can cause heavy casualties beyond them.
Just as when they are about to leave, a burst of shell whistling sound rang out.
"Incoming!"
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Three shells explode near them.
The wooden house can't stop them. The woods fly everywhere.
Few were injured, few have lost their legs and hands.
"Enemy mortar team! Tanks move, move, move!"
Kamarov shouted.
Black smoke billowed from the tank's exhaust pipe, instantly giving it powerful thrust. It then turned and began its retreat.
"Comrade Commissar, you may leave with them. I will lead my men to cover the rear."
However, he was rejected.
"There is no way a commissar will leave before his soldiers. I will cover the rear, and you and your men will leave."
Seeing Kamarov refuse to leave, Gromov is not going to persuade him anymore.
"Then we will cover the rear together. It is either we leave or die together."
Both nodded their head in sync.
Despite the panzer battalion being halted due to the tank wreckage. Their infantry was not.
With only this short time, they already have casualties of more than 50, with at least 20 deaths, while the Germans had far fewer than that.
"Comrade Commissar, I will need your men to build a line here to cover my men to retreat."
"We will take turns to cover. After they retreat, I will ask them to build a line and cover your men as well until we are out of the city."
"My commissar has already prepared there and stopped the Germans from chasing us."
After receiving Gromov's order from a few runners, the troops at the front start to retreat.
However, Gromov, looking at it from his RTS view, only feels that his heart is going up.
Instead of calling it a retreat, it is more like a running competition where everyone just runs towards the rear instead of covering each other in turns.
It is just the opposite of the Brandenburgers.
Yet, Gromov was still able to find the appointed commander with his RTS view.
"It is retreating, not escaping. Organise your men and build a line behind us. We will take turns to cover."
Gromov believes the runner has tell this to them, just hope they can actually understand what he said.
Luckily, they have listened and done what he says.
Maybe some were not, but they will still stop by Kirov and organise into the team in the forest.
"Comrade Commissar, your men can leave in 5 minutes as well. I will leave first to make sure my men are doing the job."