As the soldiers on both sides approached, the company commander immediately shouted. "Fire."

The soldiers who had been waiting on the position immediately aimed at the enemy who was rushing towards them in accordance with the three-point line required for shooting. Then there was a dense burst of gunfire, and the Germans attacking the position fell nearly ten at once.

The company commander, who was observing the position, immediately shouted loudly with joy when he saw the results. "It's a good fight, continue to shoot like this to suppress the enemy."

However, the ensuing battle gave the defenders a glimpse of the enemy's fighting prowess. Immediately after being attacked by the defenders, the attacking Germans began to approach them using craters, dirt bags, trees and other obstacles. It also mostly walks in a curved curve during its travel, and will also fight back when it can use obstacles as cover.

The Germans' counter-attacks were not as dense as theirs, but they were much more accurate than theirs, often hitting the defenders with a single shot. This made the Romanian soldiers who were defending their positions jealous, and felt that in order to ensure their own safety, they should try to shrink in the trenches to reduce the danger of being found and hit by the enemy, so many soldiers dodged and shot at the enemy.

It's just that this kind of shooting leads to a decrease in interception firepower, so that more enemies can calmly attack them.

The young company commander in the defensive position saw that the situation was not right, and did not care about the results of the exposure of the hidden fire, and immediately commanded. "Machine gun fire to suppress the momentum of the enemy's offensive."

As the words fell, the only machine gun in the position let out an angry roar. With the suppression of machine guns, it was really different, and in the face of the continuous output of firepower from machine gun outbreaks, the German offensive was stagnant, which improved the morale of the soldiers, and even the shooting efficiency was improved a lot.

However, all this was known only to the company commander himself, and this was only a temporary advantage, and his exposed firepower would immediately attract a German counterattack. Sure enough, the machine guns did not suppress the enemy for long, and with the bombardment of the accompanying artillery of the German troops, several 57 and 75 shells fell on the machine gun positions, and the machine guns, which had previously given the defenders a huge advantage, were destroyed in this way.

Faced with a good opportunity for the defenders' firepower to weaken, the attackers, who have been fighting for many years, will certainly not let it go. The German soldiers, who used a large number of natural cover on the battlefield to advance interactively, accelerated their movements, which immediately accelerated their advance and put a lot of pressure on the defenders. Many of the defending soldiers' shooting movements involuntarily accelerated, and there were even soldiers who closed their eyes and shot without aiming.

This made Major General Antich, who was watching the battle from behind, feel the slightest discomfort, and he immediately gave orders to the division commander who was defending the outer position. "Immediately arrange for your reinforcements to come up, the front line will not be able to stop."

The division commander defending this position replied a little nervously and shyly. "I'll go up with the reserves."

In the face of the first attack of the German army, his position was crumbling, which made the colonel and division commander feel shameless, so this time he planned to go to the front-line position himself to see.

Major General Antici casually instructed the division commander. "Then there you go"

After saying that, he immediately took the field phone. "Immediately give me the headquarters of the 33rd and 45th Divisions."

The reason why Major General Antich called the two divisions was that according to observations, the strength and artillery of the German offensive were far higher than his previous estimates, and the performance of his soldiers in the front-line positions did not meet expectations, so it was a last resort to use reserve forces in advance.

One might ask, is it not possible to abandon the outlying positions and retreat to the fortifications inside the city? Major General Antich's answer, of course, is no. The reason is simple, because most of the defenders are untrained recruits, and if they abandon their outlying positions at the first opportunity, the effect of Zhaocheng will make the soldiers doubt the rest of the battle, and it is absolutely impossible to hold the position when there is no morale army. Therefore, this is also what Major General Antioch would rather suffer some losses in the early stage, but also send more troops to block the German attack first.

Soon the phone call from the two divisions was answered on the other end of the line, and Major General Antici immediately gave the order for the two divisions to reinforce the outlying positions.

With the arrival of Romanian reinforcements, the defenses on the outlying positions were gradually stabilized. There were many positions that had been attacked by the Germans, and the enemy was driven back by the superiority of the reinforcements. There was even a section of the position that had already been taken by the enemy, abandoned because it was besieged by the superior forces of the defenders.

Looking at the German soldiers who were reluctant to give up their hard work to seize the position and retreated, the Romanian soldiers who endured huge casualties cheered heartily. Even if it was only a one-time defense against a German attack, it was a joy for the Romanian soldiers who defended their homeland, after all, after a life-and-death battle, everyone who survived had reason to cheer for themselves.

Soldiers can forget their grief and pain for a moment and cheer for themselves, while commanders need to prepare for the next battle, knowing that more difficult battles await them.

As for Major General Antich, who commanded the defense, he now realized that he did not know enough about the German army.

"Is this a casualty figure wrong?"

Looking at the statistical casualty report in his hand, Antici questioned the chief of staff who sent the report.

"That's right, this is the result of the statistics that I am personally responsible for, and I have repeatedly compared it with the front-line commanders, so I can't be wrong."

Hearing the chief of staff's explanation, Antici felt like a bucket in his head. Of course, he knew that this could not be a miscalculation by his chief of staff, but the casualty report showed a total of 14,764 casualties in red, which made him feel too glaring. He lost a division (conscription and mobilization division) in just one battle, how could he accept such a result. However, the statistical report shows that the three divisions defending the outer positions suffered 3,961, 3,684, and 3,781 casualties respectively, and there were more than 3,000 casualties among the two reinforced divisions, which also fully demonstrated the enemy's tenacity.

Looking at Major General Antich's eyes in disbelief, the chief of staff couldn't help but suggest. "Such casualties are too great, should we withdraw to the city to defend first?"

The chief of staff's suggestion made Antici worry about the casualty figures, and he immediately stopped it. "Not now, now we can't and can't withdraw from the outer positions."

"Why?"

Antich's words puzzled the chief of staff.

Faced with the question of the chief of staff, Antici explained. "Chief of Staff, I know you're worried about the casualty figures, but we can't withdraw right now. Because if we retreat to the city now, then the enemy will immediately know that we can't bear the casualties and retreat, then the next attack is estimated to be larger, which is a result that we can't afford at the moment, so we need to make the illusion that the casualties are still within the acceptable range, so we can't withdraw from the outer positions. ”

Major General Antici patted the casualty statistics report and continued. "I'm saying, according to your statistics, the German casualties have also reached 4,000, and I believe this number is not comfortable for the other."