Angels Are Crazy

Soon after sending the armored train to reconnaissance east, Chentian received Bialystok According to the reconnaissance report sent by the troops from the west, about 230,000 Russian main forces have all arrived by train in the city of Vape, 19 miles east of Bialystok, and 10 infantry divisions and 5 cavalry divisions are rapidly preparing. attack. There is only this railway line between Warsaw Bialystok. The Vape railway line is located west of the Leif River and the nearest city to the river. From there, the distance to the Leif River is only 6 miles, and it takes less than an hour to walk. time.

At noon, François' 1st Army had all entered the 8-mile-long defensive battlefield along the river. 150 77mm rapid-fire guns and 46 mortars were also deployed in 17 artillery positions behind the position. In terms of artillery firepower, the improved 77mm rapid-fire gun of the German army is still slightly inferior to the 75mm rapid-fire gun of France in terms of fire rate, but it does not lose wind in the confrontation with the 76.2mm field gun of the Russian army, not to mention the lack of ammunition and old artillery. To a large extent, the Russian army's shelling power was restricted. Although the Russian army on the opposite side had more than 800 artillery pieces, General Francois did not show much concern.

The 1st Army of the East Prussian Army built a position along the river on the east bank of the Leif River. It consisted of two interconnected trenches-one was dug up and down the river bank, and the trenches were reinforced with wooden or bamboo fences at intervals of about 20 meters. There is a machine gun battle station built with sandbags. The whole army has more than 1,000 light and heavy machine guns. A large amount of ammunition has also been transported to the defense line. The ammunition points are scattered in the trenches and behind the trenches. On the west bank of the Leif River, the Russian army raised several huge observation balloons, and the Russian army even used two medium-sized airships.

In the evening, Chen Tian took a few staff officers to the 1st Army field to inspect. The army command post was set up in a bunker behind a small hill 300 east of the river bank.

"General Francois, how is the situation here?" When Chentian arrived at the command post, Francois was standing on the top of the mountain bag and using a telescope to observe the situation on the other side of the river.

"His Royal Highness, from the afternoon. The Russian army launched a small bombardment on our position, causing some casualties. I ordered me to put two artillery positions to fight back, and then transfer the artillery to the new position. Russians. Approximately 700 small wooden boats have been recruited, and the ones placed on the shore have been blown up by us. Now they have dragged the remaining 600 boats ashore and hid them behind their positions. Two small Russian gunboats appeared here in the afternoon. , We have let them lie there quietly!" François pointed to the corner of the lower reaches of the river, where the surface of the water suddenly revealed the small half of the two small boats.

Standing on the mountain bag. Chentian could vaguely see that the opponent's large forces were actively mobilizing, and orange fires appeared from time to time in the distance, and then some artillery shells fell on this river bank.

"It seems that the Russians will attack soon, it is expected tonight or tomorrow morning!" Chentian and Francois chatted as they walked down the mountain. "I think so too! It seems that they are going to make a forcible crossing while attacking the bridge, and maybe they will build a pontoon bridge on the river! In addition, an airship from the Russians flew to the river bank an hour ago. I ordered the soldiers to use it. The machine gun fired at him, and it took more than ten minutes before it slowly swallowed back to the river, causing our artillery to move again. I have told them to hide the artillery with branches and camouflage nets! Our plane tomorrow Can you take off? The Russian airships and balloons are so annoying!" François said, looking back at the huge floating objects again. "At the latest tomorrow morning, our reconnaissance aircraft can take off. They should be able to kill the Russian observation balloons and airships! In addition, I have already issued an order to the Air Force to stay in East Prussia, and there will be a group of bombers in front of them tomorrow morning. Come for the bombing! This is a full 130 miles from Königsberg. The planes that take off from the base must return as soon as possible even if they fly here. So don't expect too much air support. There will be only one bombing tomorrow, and the main target It's the Russian artillery position!"

Walking to the foot of the mountain bag, Chen Tian added another sentence: "This should be the main direction of the Russians. In the afternoon, one of their detachments tried to cross the river downstream and was hit by the Fourth Army stationed near Mengchi. Russia People left hundreds of corpses and fled back, and never showed up there again! We have sent two armored vehicle teams to monitor the situation there. So far, the Russians have not had any idea to fight there! "

Afterwards, Chentian, accompanied by Francois, inspected the defense of the bridge over the Leif River. All the railroad tracks on the bridge have been removed. Two battalions of soldiers are deployed to the east of the bridge. The entire bridge is cross-blocked by more than 80 light and heavy machine guns and two artillery battlefields with 30 rapid-fire guns.

After night fell, the searchlights on the German battlefield east of the river bank began to illuminate the river, but the Russian army on the west bank of the river was not active during the day, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers suddenly stopped breathing, and the Russian army's position was silent.

Since it has been unable to get in touch with the armored train reconnaissance eastward, and the reconnaissance plane searching eastward before dark found no trace of the train, Chentian ordered his Second Army to start 2 miles east of Bialystok. Construct a three-mile-long outer position.

3 o'clock in the morning is the darkest time before dawn, and people are also the most sleepy at this time. Only the searchlights on the river bank are still tirelessly patrolling the river. Suddenly, thousands of cannons on the west side of the Leif River blasted, and countless cannonballs dragged their bright tails across the silent night sky. The east bank of the river seemed to be hit by a meteor. The sound of explosions one after another, and the fires were like a whole box of matches. Burning generally rises intensively. The rapid-fire artillery shells hit the German positions below the river bank with a slightly flat arc, carefully combing the empty trenches over and over again; the howitzer landed behind the river bank with a smoother arc , Exploded in places that were artillery battlefields or suspected artillery positions during the day. Although most of the German artillery battlefields have been moved to new locations, the Russian artillery fire still hit some artillery positions and ammunition storage points. The chain explosion was accompanied by the sound of falling shells, and played a strange symphony.

After an hour and a half, the symphony finally ended. Hundreds of thousands of Russian troops were divided into three waves and began to attack within 5 miles of both ends of the bridge, with a density of 3 to 5 people. In contrast, the 45,000 infantrymen of the 1st Army of the East Prussian Regiment were distributed over an 8-mile line of defense. There is only one person at an average of 3 to 4 meters, but the Leif River, which is 80 meters wide and 2 to 4 meters deep, has become the best barrier for the defense.

Then the German soldiers who entered the first trench hardly had a chance to raise their heads, and the firepower on the opposite side firmly suppressed them. Under cover of rapid-fire guns and machine guns. Some Russian troops started crossing the river in hundreds of small wooden boats, other Russian troops started to build 8 pontoon bridges with small boats and planks, and a few people tried to cross the river on foot from shallow waters, but they quickly gave up. The water level of this river in summer is much deeper than they thought.

The fiercest contention was naturally the steel-structured railway bridge. Thousands of Russian assault troops surged onto the 6-meter-wide bridge like a tide. At the same time, the Russians continued to bombard the east side of the bridge with about 50 cannons. The German soldiers guarding the bridge braved the enemy's artillery fire to shoot at the Russian soldiers on the bridge. Many of the Russian soldiers who were shot were stepped on the ground by the follow-up troops before they could groan. The east part of the bridge was quickly thickened. Covered by the corpses of the Russian army, the soldiers charging behind seemed to be stepping on cotton. Russian soldiers continued to fall from the bridge into the river, and the sound of falling into the water was instantly obscured by the sound of killing, the rattling of machine guns and the rumbling of artillery fire.

On the front of the bridge. The bunkers built by the German sandbags had long been destroyed by Russian artillery fire. Several small houses near the bridgehead were also blown up. Only the machine guns in the trenches on both sides of the bridgehead were still firing desperately. There, two German soldiers rigged a one-stop Marksson machine gun. The sub-machine gunner was busy sending new cartridges into the machine gun time and time again, and the machine gunner in charge of the design no longer needed to aim, their fingers were numbly on the shooting button, and the muzzle was in a small range of no more than 5 degrees to the left and right. The inside moved back and forth, but this was enough to cover the place where the Russians appeared. Countless strings of white machine gun bullets rushed straight to the front and sides of the bridge, splashing countless sparks on the steel bridge. After a few minutes, it was not only the barrels of the German soldiers, but also the bridge. It's hot.

The first wave of the Russian attack on the bridge was bluntly blocked by machine guns. There were less than a hundred Russian soldiers in one regiment. However, the heroic sniping of the German machine gunners suffered more. Russian artillery fire almost plunged the east bank of the bridge into a sea of ​​flames. The German casualties here also exceeded 300, and the two battalions guarding the bridge lost almost half of their soldiers.

The fighting on the river was also extremely fierce. When most of the Russian ships reached the middle of the river, Francois ordered the artillery to start a full counterattack. In an instant hundreds of water jets rose on the river surface. Countless Russian soldiers were driven into the water by shrapnel and waves. Several unlucky boats were even directly hit by artillery shells. Sawdust mixed with cloth strips flew into the air, and then slowly scattered on the water. Above, the entire river surface began to be covered with silt and blood. After the Germans bombarded the river for two consecutive waves, the Russian artillery covering the German field on the river bank began to search for the German artillery positions. The artillery shells that landed near the trenches stretched backwards, and the Russian balloons floating in the air pointed the direction of the artillery fire. , Francois' artillery began to encounter concentrated attacks from the opponent. However, the artillery of the East Prussian Army was not stupidly placed on the ground during the battle. The artillery was asked to dig a bunker on the ground, and then put half of the artillery in the bunker, leaving only the muzzle extended outside. The mortar is almost completely hidden in the bunker, so the low arc of the Russian rapid-fire gun has reduced the damage to the German artillery and artillery to the lowest level, and the accuracy of the powerful Russian howitzer is really unimpressive. Compliment. The Russians were often surprised to find that they had clearly covered the German artillery field, and soon the Germans opened fire from that position.

Just when the Russian artillery was exhausted to deal with the German artillery positions, the German soldiers in the trenches finally got a respite. Strings of machine gun bullets scurrying across the river, and Russian soldiers on the ship and on the pontoon were hit. In the middle, one by one screamed and fell into the water. Then the machine guns of the German army began to fire at the Russian army on the opposite bank. When the Russian army found that the situation was not right and repressed the German trenches with artillery fire, the Russian army crossing the river had suffered heavy casualties. Hundreds of small boats were running along the river without being maneuvered. Drifting slowly downstream.

After the failure of the first wave of crossing the river, the Russian commander decided to stop the forced crossing and concentrate firepower on the offensive from the bridge. Hundreds of cannons focused on bombarding the east of the bridge, and the originally anxious German bridgehead position was once again caught in a suffocating fire net. In desperate circumstances, General Francois ordered the German troops guarding the bridge to begin to retreat. At the same time, the reserve teams of two infantry regiments were mobilized to enter the inner ring position with a radius of about 500 meters centered on the east bank bridge head. The armored combat vehicles concealed in the village of the bridge east were also ordered, ready to launch a counterattack against the bridge at any time.

After pouring thousands of artillery shells on the battlefield of the bridgehead of the two moral forces on the east bank, which is 400 meters wide, the second wave of the Russian assault force rushed across the bridge. The Russian commander had not had time to be happy for occupying the bridge. The Russian soldiers rushing across the bridge were fired at a 180-degree angle from the front. Dozens of mortar shells also took advantage of the opportunity to penetrate the crowd and lift groups of Russian soldiers into the air. As the number of Russian soldiers rushing across the bridge increased, the number of people who fell on the ground full of large and small craters east of the bridge also increased, and the Russians could not even rush to a place 100 meters away from the east of the bridge. The Russian who rushed across the bridge had no other choice but to lie down in the crater.

Soon, the Russian infantry stopped the attack. Their artillery was preparing for a new round of shelling, and soon the entire battlefield fell into a dead silence. At this time, the East had already become white. People found that on the bridge, on the east of the bridge, on the west of the river bank, and on the river, there were corpses of Russians everywhere, and many fallen German soldiers were scattered on the east and west of the bridge. The flames that have not been extinguished and the smoking bomb craters are all over the battlefield. The German soldiers clearly saw the huge balloon on the opposite side, just as the Russians on the balloon clearly saw the German artillery positions.

At this time, there was a buzzing sound from the horizon, first to the east and then to the west. Black spots appeared on both sides. Due to the influence of the shower the previous day, the commanders of Russia and Germany unanimously dispatched reconnaissance planes at this time.

Lined up to the east are 15 German reconnaissance planes in 3 formations. These old "Sky 3" reconnaissance planes with huge iron crosses do not have much difference in aircraft performance compared with Russian planes. However, the machine gun in its co-pilot's position was deadly-the Russians were completely using the aircraft for reconnaissance at this time, and there were hardly any weapons on it, except for a pistol and a few hand grenades that the pilot brought to attack the German ground forces.

The Russian air reconnaissance force includes 7 ordinary reconnaissance aircraft flying from the west, as well as 6 artillery observation balloons and 2 medium-sized airships on the west bank of the Leif River. It happened unexpectedly. Although it seems that the combat effectiveness of the two sides is completely one-sided, the process of air combat is far from simple.

The German plane first flew over the battlefield. They ignored the cheers and praise from the ground troops and flew towards the Russian balloon. The first German plane flew horizontally over the Russian observation balloon. However, the first officer found him at this angle. His machine gun could not shoot at the balloon, so when the second plane flew over, there was a beautiful side flight. A string of shiny bullets shot out from the co-pilot's position, but it stumbled across the balloon and was shocked by the hanging blue under the balloon. Russia The observer was in a cold sweat, and he immediately slid down the rope to the ground. The third German plane finally hit the balloon at a distance of 20 meters, and the huge hydrogen balloon exploded. A huge fireball suddenly appeared in the air. The Russians were stunned. Observers began to slide toward the ground. The Russian reconnaissance plane that had just approached completely forgot about their mission. They actually started chasing the German plane.

"What do the Russians want? Are they crazy?" After the Russians approached, the German pilots found no weapons on their planes, and they were shocked.

A minute later, a Russian reconnaissance plane rushed towards the plane of the German pilot Freeton, and suddenly sank just as he was about to fly over Freeton's head. Then he hit the upper wing of the landline heavily with the wheels, and tore off a large wooden skin. Freeton felt his plane stagger and almost lost his balance. The plane turned diagonally towards the ground. Fortunately, Freeton did not close his eyes and pray at this time, but pulled the joystick tightly. Its plane slid down from an altitude of 200 meters to 50 meters before it resumed horizontal flight. However, the strong turn almost caused the aircraft to fall apart in the air. Freeton even heard the sound of the aircraft frame being torn by force and almost breaking, and he continued to calm down. After flying for a certain distance, I started to lower my flying altitude. After half a minute, I made an emergency landing on the German position on the east bank. uukanshu.com Dozens of German soldiers rushed up to pick him and his co-pilot back into the trenches.

See this situation. Other German pilots finally understood the Russian tactics. In fact, the Russians used this tactic in previous encounters with Austrian aircraft, and even shot down two Austrian aircraft, but they also had an aircraft in use. After losing the wheel, the emergency landing failed, and the pilot was killed on the spot. However, Russian pilots actually thought this tactic was a performance of honor and bravery, and they began to learn and practice this impact tactic.

However, German planes equipped with machine guns had to keep a certain distance from Russian planes, and the Russians would only be beaten. Soon, three Russian planes were planted in heavy smoke, and the Russian pilots who landed on the river were able to save a whole body, and all that landed on the ground was nothing but bones.

When the remaining four Russian planes saw a bad situation, they began to flee westward. The Russian infantry who had just cheered suddenly became silent. Only German soldiers could be heard cheering and singing on the entire battlefield.

After driving away from the Russian plane. The German reconnaissance plane returned to the battlefield and slowly repaired the remaining Russian balloons and airships. The poor Russian airship tried their best to escape, but without the speed of the Russian plane, they were quickly hit by the German plane and exploded. None of the seven Russian pilots on the airship were spared. After watching several other Russian observation balloon fireworks displays, the Russian-German soldiers on the ground began to engage in fierce fighting again.