Max, understandably, expected resistance, but nothing like what he encountered. The Wolf's Lair proved too tough a nut to crack and too valuable for the gang to surrender so easily. Initially, Rodionov's men were met with heavy but poorly organized fire from light and heavy small arms, armored personnel carriers, and grenade launchers, and were driven back into the forest. On his second attempt, through maneuvers and cunning, Rodionov managed to suppress a significant portion of the firing positions and destroy three armored personnel carriers, including one infantry fighting vehicle, but was ultimately forced to retreat again.
The defenders had two opportunities to counterattack and utterly defeat the attackers, but they failed to do so. In Max's opinion, either their commander was incom
