"Boom!"

The earth shook with a loud roar, and the earth on the ground was lifted up in the tremor, and then blown apart by the spread of the muzzle shock wave, and the sand and rocks were scattered within a radius of 5 meters.

"It's been four hours, aren't they going to stop?" Looking at the fire that shredded the night with a roar that resounded through the night sky not far away, Pony Kenson leaned against the hull of a wasp belonging to a self-propelled artillery company and complained to its owner.

This kind of slow but uninterrupted long-term artillery bombardment is basically invisible in the current Imperial Army, and the Imperial Army, which has been liberated from the idea of destroying the enemy's defensive line by fixed artillery bombardment, has been transformed into the idea of supporting artillery bombardment and suppressing the enemy's counterattack as its artillery use idea, and the fire preparation stage before the barrage advances often does not exceed 2 hours, and the subsequent barrage extension phase does not last too long.

As a result, the Reich's artillerymen were better at firing as many shells as they could in a shorter period of time, and now the divisional heavy cannon battalion showed no signs of stopping after four hours of fighting.

"You're done with your job?" Captain Lewinsky, who was sitting in a pile of ammunition boxes, did not answer the question, which he did not know the answer to, but asked instead.

"When it comes to digging pits, those people are more professional than us." Pony Kensen raised his chin at the position of the artillery position that was still roaring not far away: "Their guard company has gone to 'guide the work'. ”

Although he was dissatisfied with a group of artillerymen running into his company to "point fingers", he was still very happy that the guard company of the divisional artillery regiment came to help.

All the tactics of the armored cavalry are mobile operations and rapid advance, let these people do the work of civil engineering, dig a foxhole and bury themselves, and the estimated efficiency is quite high, but if you want to make a few trenches, you can only say that you can barely get something that meets the regulations, and you can't really talk about how good it is, let alone speed.

After a day of marching, two battles, and then picking up a shovel to dig trenches, such physical exertion made all the armored cavalry tired and did not even have the strength to spit fragrant in their mouths, and they just wanted to finish as soon as possible.

Therefore, it is naturally impossible to ask for professional guidance, and people are not just talking when they come, and it is also a lot of strength to pick up a shovel and demonstrate it yourself.

"It's all artillery, but it's easy for you." Pony Kenson teased jokingly.

Self-propelled howitzers do not need to build firing positions, and the direction of the defense line where they are now is not the center of gravity of the defense, so even the gun emplacement bunker is also saved, compared to the counterparts who have to dig firing positions and artillery bunkers for towed heavy cannons next to them.

"Carrying shells is also heavy physical labor!" Lewinsky pretended to pat the ammunition box under his buttocks: "We also went to help unload those shells over there, otherwise do you think they can fight like this for 4 hours without stopping?" ”

"Do you know how many cardinal numbers there are?" Pony asked, and from the amount of ammunition, he could estimate how long the artillery position next to it would be noisy.

"10" is a number that Pockson Jr. doesn't want to hear.

"So much? Damn, there's a fuss tonight. Pony Kenson couldn't help but scold.

The ammunition of the 150-mm cannon for one base is 50 rounds, and at the current rate of almost one base per hour, it can continue to fight for 6 hours.

Tired and half-dead, it was hard to lie down, and the movement of the cannon made it impossible to sleep, so that everyone could greet the whole female member of the artillerymen's family.

"I thought we would be able to clean up for a while, but it turned out to be good, the east side was so quiet that we wouldn't let people live in peace on the first night." Lewinsky couldn't help but complain.

After the capture of Wovich, the 1st Panzer Cavalry Division and the 4th Cavalry Division, which arrived later, began to move to the defense on the spot, and to the north of Wovich was the natural defensive line of the Buchula River. At this time, the main forces of the 1st Army were about to reach Plock on the north bank of the Vistula River, and as long as the river could be crossed smoothly, then the Kutno-Lodz line to the west did not need to worry about Wovich's defenders.

Therefore, it is only necessary to pay attention to the east and south sides, and the east side facing Warsaw is naturally the focus of defense.

If the Russians wanted to stop the main force of the 1st Army, which wanted to move south, the best way was naturally to block the 1st Army on the north bank of the Vistula River. Even if it was too late, a defensive line should be established around Kutno, so as to ensure that central Poland would not be cut off by the Germans, so that the line east of Wöwicz would be the first to be attacked by the Russians.

To the south, Skernievice is only about 20 kilometres from Wavicchi, and it is impossible to get under the noses of the Germans. Moreover, the railway to the south was to Lodz, and if the Russians wanted to stop the First Army's southward movement as soon as possible, they would naturally give priority to attacking Wovich. So the southern line of defense, which defends against a possible flank attack of the Russians, will not face at least the first wave of the offensive.

Therefore, although they also had to help dig trenches together, the reconnaissance battalion and the divisional artillery regiment, which were mobile forces and reserves, were placed next to each other to the south, and everyone thought it was a good errand at first.

But now, it looks like it's the south side that won't stop for a night.

"Can they hit like that?" Pony Kenson Jr. asked suspiciously: "Such a distant goal, it can't be blind." ”

Horse Kenson Jr. had no doubts about the performance of the 12 K10 cannons of the division's heavy cannon battalion.

The overall design of this gun comes from the Krupp 45 times diameter 150 mm naval gun, in order to meet the needs of the army, the weight is reduced by reducing the thickness of the barrel wall by reducing the chamber pressure, but because the elevation angle is increased, it can still shoot at a range of 22 kilometers.

The K10's 360-degree firing range with disc support base and small spinner wheels, and the dual-chamber percussion muzzle brake to further reduce the recoil of the gun's firing made the K10 undoubtedly the best 6-inch cannon of its time.

But in the unobserved firing mode, shelling targets at a distance of 20 km only on the map, the high performance of the K10 does not solve the problem of accuracy.

"The target is a city about the same as Wavich, and it won't be missed." Lewinsky turned his head to look at the orange-red fireballs that were still flashing in the distance, and sighed in a somewhat incomprehensible tone, "That's why they have to shoot so many shells." ”

"That is, the talk of destroying the railway station and railway system in Skernievice is just a front?" Pony Kenson asked, frowning.

Little Ma Kensen didn't have much resistance to the bombardment of the city, and he didn't know what the Imperial Army on the Western Front had done to Baledik.

The father of an army commander who was trusted by His Majesty the Emperor also gave him some knowledge of some of the theories within the Imperial Army.

How to legitimize the problems arising from the attack on the city was a research project of the General Staff of the Army, and the whole study was about how to distort the law in order to produce an interpretation in its favor.

This kind of dishonorable behavior is not approved of by Pony Kenson, but his rational thinking about the nature of war makes him not resist this kind of behavior, so he only frowns.

"It can't be said to be a pretense." Lewinsky sighed: "The goal is indeed to destroy the railway system in Skernevilice, if this goal can be successfully achieved, it is naturally hoped to reduce the collateral damage to the city, after all, the 5th group of Junde people will also defend there." ”

According to the plan, after the 5th Army arrived in Lodz, it was necessary to divide part of its forces to Skelnevice to build a defensive line and connect with Wovich.

Only two cavalry divisions and an infantry division that would arrive later wanted to hold off the Russians' 9th Army, and no one in the army group command dared to play this package.

Even if these 3 divisions can crush the Russians in terms of the number of machine guns, and the superiority in the number of heavy guns can make the Germans, who are inferior in the total number of artillery pieces, not suffer in the artillery battle.

However, in the case of absolute numerical disadvantage and the risk of logistical transportation, the advantage in firepower does not necessarily translate into an advantage in the battle situation, so it is necessary to deploy in Skernevilice.

Then the best situation is naturally to destroy the Russians in the city like the capture of Wovich, and reduce the collateral losses as much as possible.

In this way, the direct railway from Skerniesice to Lodz would increase the efficiency of logistics and transportation, and the city's facilities would be as good as possible for the garrison of troops.

However, the best-case scenario is often not possible, and the 5th Army's current speed is unlikely to reach Skellnevice before the Russian 9th Army launches an offensive, and their arrival in Lodz in five days is already well underway.

With such a small number of people in the two cavalry divisions now in Wovich, it may not be a big problem to take Skernevice, but what about the defense?

So in the thinking that we can't use it, so you don't want to use it, destroying the railway system in Skernice is the best option.

And this will not have much effect on the follow-up of the German Army.

The troops defending Skernevice do not need to worry about logistics, it may be a little more cumbersome, but it is not a big problem, and getting supplies from Wovich, 20 kilometers away, will not be much farther than the distance from the railway station to the front line.

If the siege of Lodz can be successfully completed, then the Russian 9th Army will have to face the three German armies, and it is the right choice for the Russians to abandon Warsaw and retreat to Brest, and it is impossible to take the initiative to attack again.

The General Staff of the Army also did not want to conduct a large-scale military operation after the Battle of Lodz, and the Army of the Eastern Front, which was to rest and prepare for the winter, would only maintain the existing front, so there was enough time to repair the railway facilities in Skernnevice.

"But because there is no observation of the shelling, there will always be some shells that miss?" The little Ma Kenson deliberately accentuated the word "some".

If you can't destroy the railway system directly, then smash the whole city, it always works, right?

"There's no way around it." Lewinsky knew that Pony Kenson Jr. was just whining and had nothing else to do, so he didn't hear the mockery in his tone: "Or do you want to let your company attack there?" ”

Pony Kenson opened his mouth, but eventually closed it.

As a city on the main railway line from Warsaw to southwestern Poland and backed by a tributary of the Buzula River, Skernievice was also garrisoned by Russian troops.

Wavich's battle left 7 men killed and 15 wounded in the company of Dockernson Jr., and even the crew compartment of one cavalry chariot was beaten into a sieve from the side, but fortunately the personnel had already disembarked at that time, otherwise the casualties would have increased.

The armored cavalry, which drove the Russian cavalry on the plain as if they were driving a flock of sheep, suffered 10% casualties in Wovich. Reason kept Pony Kensen from saying what I wanted my company to attack Skernevice. And even if it is defeated, what can it be?

"If you can solve a problem with artillery, don't solve it with people." Although there was no rebuttal, it did not mean that there was no emotion, and Lewinsky teased to the pony Kenson: "You all have no horses, so don't keep thinking of yourself as a knight." ”

Although it is a joke about Pony Kenson, it is not a kind of self-deprecation for Lewinsky himself, who is also from the Junker military aristocracy.

"So they're not going to stop tonight, are they?" Rational thinking made Pony Kenson want to make himself out of sight and out of mind in this matter, but the artillery made such a big move that he couldn't make him an ostrich: "Still let people sleep?" ”

"Shelling at night is better, isn't it?" In Lewinsky's joke is cold military utilitarianism.

Nights are more likely to cause chaos and make it harder to organize effective evacuation and disaster relief. Confusion, which will cause even greater chaos.

"You see, even at night, it's still hit."

The distant night is lit up by a little orange light, and the horizon 20 kilometers away is dyed red like the glow of the sun before dawn.

The German soldiers, who were so awake from the artillery on the position, shouted excitedly at this scene, and occasionally whistled lightly.

Unbeknownst to them, however, during the 10 hours of shelling from late that night to the early hours of the next morning, less than 30 of the 6,000 rounds of 150-mm shells fired by the German artillery hit the Skelnevice railway station.

Most of the remaining shells fell into the city, causing a fire, and the shelling thwarted any attempt to control the fire, resulting in chaos throughout the city.

In a series of man-made disasters such as fires, stampedes, and shooting at the crowd as Russian forces tried to control the situation, nearly 3,000 people were killed and wounded in the chaotic night of Skelnevice, which is less than 20,000 people.

However, all this was only a passing message in the telegram for the war that was taking place at this time.

In the early hours of October 22, 1914, the General Staff of the German Army received a telegram from the 1st Army: "The defensive line has been established in Vovich, the Skelnevice railway system has been destroyed, and the Russians can no longer prevent us from closing the gates." ”

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