"The Grey Dog is in the trenches! Get them out! ”

By the time Erhard returned to the front position, the German position was already shaky. The Russians, who had gone forward with huge casualties, broke through the death zone blockade of the muzzle blockade of the Maxim machine gun and rushed into the German position, and there were 5 gaps in the German line!

Although there were not many people rushing in, in the narrow trenches for white-knuckle combat, the Germans' skills and tactics could not be used, and the two sides could only engage in a bloody hand-to-hand battle to compete for physical fitness and will to survive!

And this was overwhelmingly disadvantageous to the Germans, who were facing the frenzied attack of the Russians as if they were not afraid of life and death, and who were worried about the Slavic cattle that were being killed from the side along the trenches!

If they had been allowed to kill the machine gunners along the trenches to the point of fire, the German line of defense, which had been pulled out of the point of fire support, would have completely collapsed!

The bad situation made Erhard almost give up thinking! The only thought left in my mind was to dominate the Russians in the trenches. If it weren't for the rigorous training that carved the tactical qualities of an officer into his bones, Erhard would have jumped into the trenches and fought the Russians without even giving orders.

"The light machine gun seals the gap for me! Don't let the Greyhounds in again! The rest scattered to clear the trenches! Move fast! ”

The addition of several light machine guns sealed the way for the Russians to continue to advance towards the gap, temporarily relieving the pressure on the defensive line, and the German soldiers who jumped into the trenches began to advance along the trenches on both sides.

The trenches were filled with a disgusting smell mixed with gunsmoke and blood. At first glance, the narrow trenches were full of corpses, both their own lads and the damned greyskins.

Erhard, who had just jumped into the trench, saw the corpse of a young German soldier, and his comrade who was slumped at the bottom of the trench was pierced by the four-edged bayonet of the Mosin Nagant rifle, and his eyes that had lost their light were still not closed. The corpse was littered with bullet casings and empty magazines thrown on the ground, and next to him was the corpse of a grey-skinned dog that had been scooped open by sappers.

Erhard could imagine how the young lads were shooting like crazy and then tangling with the greyskins who jumped into the trenches to fight for their lives.

However, anger calmed Erhard, and fighting in such a narrow trench could kill him even for a moment's carelessness. If you want to slaughter all the damned Russians, you have to be more careful and cautious than those gray dogs.

Reaching out and closing the eyes of the young soldier, he set aside the semi-automatic rifle in his hand, and then pulled the sapper shovel from the Russian's head, Erhard turned and motioned backwards, and a small group of people bent down, pressed against the base of the breastwork, and moved cautiously forward.

Just approaching the first corner, a figure sprang out from the opposite side. The sudden encounter stunned both sides for a moment, and then they saw the identity of the other side, the enemy!

The Russian holding Mosin Nagant instinctively pushed the bayonet forward almost as soon as he saw the military uniform on the other side, and in the face of the bayonet handed to his chest, Erhard, who was robbed of the first hand, could only fall to the other side with force, and at the same time he fell with the left hand holding the sapper shovel and slashed down at Mosin Nagant's gun.

The narrow trench kept Erhard from falling to the ground, but the right arm against the trench wall prevented him from raising his hand to shoot the Russians on the other side.

In desperation, Erhard leaned his right shoulder against the wall of the trench, raised his left foot and kicked hard at the muzzle of Mosin Nagant, who had been cut to the side by the sapper shovel just now, and slammed the bayonet into the other side of the trench with great force.

Immediately after, two gunshots rang out behind Erhard, and the tall body, which was trying to regain its shape from the force of Erhard's kick just now, shook violently, and then lost the strength to support his body and fell into the trench.

There may be more than one person on the other side, and they have to quickly recover their posture, and if the Russians rush at this now, they will not be able to hide again. But before Erhard could straighten up, a figure flashed out behind him.

The Russians didn't expect that the comrades-in-arms in front of them would fall back as soon as they turned the corner, and subconsciously took a few steps back, and just a few steps back cost the Russians' lives.

Thomas, who dodged over, raised his pistol and fired 4 shots at the 2 Russian soldiers directly opposite him, then turned around and retracted the corner, leaned down and poked his head out, and fired 2 more shots at the guy who was at a loss because the body of his comrade in front of him had fallen. Then he slowly straightened up, first refueled the Russian lying around the corner with two shots, then turned the corner, entered the section of the trench where the Russians were, and shot each of the three Russian soldiers lying on the ground.

Erhard, who followed up, looked at the corpses of the Russians who had fallen in the trenches, walked up to Thomas, who was leaning against the trench wall, and patted him on the shoulder: "Good marksmanship. ”

Looking at Thomas's left hand hanging from his chest, Erhard asked, "Do you want to help?" ”

"No, I can do it."

Press and hold the magazine button and press hard, the empty magazine will slide down, then clamp the pistol with the armpit of the left arm, and then use the right hand to take out the new magazine and replace it, and then use the thumb to reset it with the sleeve of the empty magazine hang-up, and push the bullet to load.

Then Thomas looked up and responded, "Thanks, but I'm an accurate shooter." ”

The confidence in his words made Erhard finally show a smile that was not ugly: "I should say thank you to you." ”

Thomas twitched the corners of his lips and squeezed out a smile in response.

The four lost interest in speaking again, bent down and continued to move forward against the wall.

The corners of the trenches blocked the Russians as well as the Germans' own view, and the ears were more useful than the eyes, and everyone pricked up their ears to pay full attention to the movement ahead, but all they could hear was the sound of their own heavy breathing.

At each corner, Erhard had to stop, press his back against his breastwork, and force himself to slow down the pace of his breathing, so that the heavy breathing in his ears would be reduced a little, and he would hear if there was any movement.

Although everyone was anxious at this point, it worked, and when the team stopped again around a corner, Erhard heard movement on the other side.

Shoveling the sapper into the wall of the trench, Erhard made a grenade gesture before holding his breath and dodging violently.

"!"

Erhard flashed back faster than before, and the muzzles of the two Mosin Nagant guns were facing his side!

Although it was only for a moment, Erhard still roughly saw the situation in the trench next to him, the Russians took this trench, at least half of the squad of Russians squatted in the trench, probably treating the wounded, so someone guarded the corner, if he reacted slowly, there would be two more holes in his body!

The Russians on the other side also reacted, and Erhard could hear the shouts of the Russians next to him, and then the sound of footsteps getting closer and closer. There are only 4 people on my side, and one of them only has one hand to use, so I can't let them rush over!

Erhard pressed his body against the wall of the trench, and did not show his head, reaching out to hold the pistol in a flurry of slashing. I don't care if I hit someone or not, I immediately retracted my hand after picking out a magazine.

"Grenades!"

In fact, there is no need for Erhard to remind that the experienced German veterans have long been prepared. Two wooden-handled grenades flew behind him in smoke and landed in the nearby trench, and Erhard could hear the panicked screams of the Russians on the opposite side.

Explosions rang out, smoke mixed with dirt rushed out of the trenches, and air currents carrying fine crumble dirt erupted from the corners, and then smeared the Germans in the face.

Ready to close his eyes and hold his breath, Erhard, who was holding a sapper shovel in front of his face with his left hand, rushed out almost as soon as the air was blowing through him.

The Russians are all crammed into the narrow trenches, and it is difficult for 2 grenades to kill them all, so the sooner you can kill the stunned Russians, the safer it will be on your side.

There were indeed still Russians alive in the trenches, but even if the bodies of the comrades who were directly killed blocked most of the fragments of the explosion, the shock wave and loud noise of the explosion made the Russians who were still alive almost incapacitated, and the Russians who had not recovered from the explosion were powerless to stop Erhard who rushed towards them.

Two shots were raised and the Russians were killed by blood flowing from one ear and nostril, with a distorted expression, trembling but desperately trying to pick up the rifle that had fallen beside him and fight for a chance to live.

Bending over and moving quickly through the trenches, as long as he could still move, Erhard would not hesitate to fire two shots first. Walking through a pile of Russian corpses to the other end of the trench, a Russian spitting blood saw Erhard rushing towards him with a pistol, his eyes revealing horror and pleading, and he struggled with his body with minor internal injuries to raise his hands.

Then he saw a pair of bloodshot emotionless eyes and the muzzle of a black hole pointed at him, the muzzle of the gun spewed fire, his body shook violently, and then his consciousness fell into darkness completely.

By the time the soldiers in the back followed, the trenches were already full of Russians lying there motionless.

The soldier behind him silently began to stab each Russian twice in the body with his bayonet in his bayonet, a semi-automatic rifle with a bayonet.

Erhard, who was leaning against the wall of the trench, calmed his breath a little, and then straightened up as soon as his back pressed against the wall. The Russians have not yet retreated, and they themselves do not have time to rest.

Just as Erhard was putting on a new magazine for his pistol and preparing to move on, a series of explosions were heard in the direction of the Russian position in the distance.

The huge movement made Erhard can't help but stick his head out of the trench, and then he saw a huge smoke rising from the direction of the Russian position, and then Erhard saw an exciting figure gliding through the air!

In an instant, Erhard reacted to what was happening on the positions of the Russians!

"Airplanes! It's our plane! The artillery positions of the Russians are finished! ”

The same cheers were heard at once from the trenches, and the reinforcements from the air boosted the morale of the German side, and every German soldier hoped that the overwhelming air strikes would completely crush the Russians.

However, reality was destined to disappoint them, and there were only 12 Ha-1Js from the FFA Wing of the 8th Army in the skies above Soldau, which was the only air support available to the German defenders of Soldau.

Due to the great appetite of the General Staff, it was too difficult for the 8th Army to hold back the Russians and wait for the 4th Army to move north to completely encircle and annihilate them. In order to achieve this goal, all available air combat forces in the entire East Prussian region, including the three air wings of the First Army and the two attack aircraft wings of the navy, which were rapidly advancing in an attempt to penetrate into Polish territory, were already engaged in delayed operations against the Russian army. Even so, the long front that stretched almost all of East Prussia was stretched.

And the Russian army, which was originally thought to be routed head-on, will find it difficult to reorganize an effective defense, and the 20th Infantry Division will not encounter any resistance. Coupled with the securing of the railway transport line, it was possible to get reinforcements of about one regiment, and in the worst case, the troops who only had to resist the rout of the Russian army and held out until about 8 a.m. did not need to provide any air support in the Soldau area.

As a result, the plan could not keep up with the changes, not the worst, only the worst, and the 20th Division and a corps of the Russian reserve collided head-on, making the whole situation extremely bad.

By the time the General Staff received the news that the defenders of Soordao had been shelled by heavy artillery of the Russian army of more than 120 mm, the General Staff no longer had any air power at its disposal.

The Ha-1J, which had arrived at Soldo now, was improvised from among the planes returning from the first wave of ground attacks in the various squadrons.

By the time the Ha-1J formation arrived at Soldao, the Russians on the ground had already begun a second attack.

From a few kilometres away, Lieutenant Kurt Artur Benno Student could see from the air that the Russians were rushing towards Soldao like a tidal wave, while the friendly lines looked precarious, constantly lapping like a reef in the sea.

However, the order he received was to give priority to removing the threat of Russian heavy artillery to Soldao, and the clumsy maneuverability of the Ha-1J under the maximum payload was not suitable for low-altitude fire support.

"This is the Vulture 16, now start the two-plane formation glide bombing! 50 kg of aerial bombs will be dropped first, and the follow-up crew will follow into the field after evaluating the attack effect! ”

The 12 Ha-1Js immediately dispersed, and with a slight press of the joystick, Kurt began to slide down at a small angle with his wingman.

There must have been a problem with the coordination of the improvised patchwork squadron, and with only 12 aircraft, Kurt, who was the temporary squadron leader, preferred to attack more slowly, just to be on the safe side.

While Kurt and his wingman began to descend at a small angle, the remaining 10 Ha-1Js remained at an altitude of 800 meters and circled to assess the bombing effectiveness of the first group.

Through the windshield in front of him, Kurt could see that the Russians on the position were in disarray. The artillery positions of the Russians were apparently also built in a hurry, and there was not even a trench around them to hide in.

The panicked Russians didn't even know how to hide, some were lying on the ground holding their heads, some hid behind the cannons in the hope that the steel in front of them would provide them with some cover, and some even tried to return fire with rifles.

Descending to a height of 300 meters, Kurt pressed the bomb drop button, and the 50-kilogram bomb broke off the pylon, casting the shadow of death.

Kurt, who sensed the lightness of the fuselage, pulled the lever back slightly, making the glide angle of the fuselage smaller, and then tightly grasped the fire button on the joystick, and the bullets of a 12.7mm and two 7.62mm machine guns swept the ground like whips.

Although the machine-gun bullets did not destroy the Russian artillery, the artillerymen next to them suffered heavy casualties, lying on the ground may have been able to dodge the flying shrapnel, but not the long whip from diagonally above.

The flaming Ha-1J played a low-altitude pass from the Russians' heads before pulling up the nose and starting to climb, at which point the third two-plane formation was beginning to descend into the bombing route.

When Kurt climbed to a height of 800 meters to join the hovering formation, the Russian artillery positions on the ground were already in disarray, the ammunition stacked on the positions was constantly detonated, and the fireballs were constantly rolling, twisting, and rising with thick smoke.

The Russian artillerymen were torn into sacks by shrapnel that swept across the position, and even those who were lying on the ground dodging shrapnel were not spared, and the shock wave of the explosion of the 50-kilogram bomb shook their internal organs into broken cotton wool through the conduction of the surface.

And in the air, the German planes continued to pounce on the ground, casting the shadow of death on the earth.

By the time the 12 Ha-1Js were regrouped in the air, the Russians' artillery positions were already covered in smoke, and the Germans could no longer see from the air whether there were any targets on the ground.

"This is Vulture 16, and the next thing is close ground support. The target, the Russian infantry in front of the position of our army in Soldao, all planes attack freely, don't drop bombs on your own heads! ”

The weight of a 25-kilogram aerial bomb is about 120 mm of army artillery shells, but because the charge is higher than that of artillery shells, the effect of explosion in dense crowds is quite considerable. There is not even a complete corpse within a radius of 10 meters around the blast center, and even if it is within a radius of 20 meters, it will be torn by shrapnel and the flesh will be blurred.

The 24 25-kilogram aerial bombs brought a lot of casualties to the Russians, and the heart-rending screams of the Russians who would not die for a while and a half strongly stimulated the nerves of the Russian army!

After throwing away all the mounted German planes and becoming more flexible, Kurt operated his own plane to pass through the field at a low altitude above the heads of the Russians, decisively pulled the control stick, the lightweight fuselage was quickly raised, and began to hover and climb at a large angle, and after climbing to the attack height, he pushed the control stick violently, and attacked from the top of the Russian's head again from the opposite direction!

All the German pilots were repeating the cycle of all-up-climb-hover-dive-through-field, and the dense machine-gun bullets plowed over and over the Russians.

In this case, there is no need to save ammo, and you can go after all the bullets are fired!

The Russians, who did not have any anti-aircraft firepower, could only allow 12 planes to wreak havoc back and forth over their heads, and the machine guns on the opposite position continued to fire a dense number of bullets, and in this situation, the Russians could not hold on to the attack.

The Russians began to retreat again, and the Russian soldiers, who had already rushed into the German trenches, also desperately climbed out of the trenches and ran in the direction from which they had come.

However, they could not run a few steps before they were knocked to the ground by bullets from behind, and the German soldiers, who had been crushed in the trenches and unable to raise their heads, straightened up as if catharsis, aimed at the back of the Russians in front of them, and kept pulling the trigger, until they emptied the magazine of the semi-automatic rifle in their hands, and then bent down and leaned themselves back against the breast wall of the trench.

However, before the joy of the Russians being repulsed could ferment, the Germans on the ground saw their planes leave with the Russians, and the praise from the position immediately turned into a curse.

"They just flew away?" Thomas leaned against the trench, looked at the black smoke that was still rising in the distance, and calmly asked, "Do we have any other air support?" ”

"I don't know." Erhard shook his head: "At least we don't have to continue to suffer Russian shells." ”

"Well, at the end of the day, we're on our own."