The relaxed mood of the Germans was certainly gone, and the whole position fell into a deathly silence. Cowering in a ball with their heads bowed and motionless did not give the soldiers any sense of reassurance, and the tremors that swept through their bodies whenever the sound of an explosion was heard showed the fear they felt. At the risk of eating a mouthful of dirt, the guy who put the cigarette butt back to his mouth was in front of the rapid bright and dark orange fire, and it was obvious that they were not really as calm as they looked.

Every German knew how bad his condition was at this moment, there were no fortified trenches, no strong fortifications, no defensive lines to retreat from, no artillery groups to counterattack, not even an enemy to kill, they could only huddle here and wait for the verdict of the heavy artillery, and at this moment, courage could not stop them from feeling fear.

No matter how many shellings have been experienced, even if they have seen the more intense artillery preparations of the Russians, it is impossible for mankind to remain indifferent when faced with the power of the god of war.

"Damn, can you call back?" Erhard yelled at the field phone.

"The Russians have a range of 122 farther than ours! And we don't even know where the artillery positions of the Russians are! Where are you going to tell us to fight? The artilleryman on the other side of the microphone was obviously also angry with this passive situation.

"Damn, what the hell is the 20th Division doing!" Erhard angrily hung up the phone, feeling the constant vibration from the ground and scolding: "Can't they even catch up with the Russians who are dragging heavy artillery and fleeing?!" ”

The 20th division said that I was wronged.

The Russian 17th Army that Erhard faced was not a rout, but a reserve of the 3rd Army, and when the Russian defense line was completely broken through yesterday, the 17th Army was still rushing to reinforce it, but a large number of routs crowded head-on to block the way forward, and only then did they realize that the defense line had been broken through, and the 17th Army was in a dilemma for a while.

The Russians, whose command system was already in disarray, could not grasp the movements of each unit in real time, and the 17th Army, which could not communicate with the command of the army group, did not know whether it should continue to advance or retreat, and then ran headfirst into the advance of the 17th Army with the 20th Infantry Division of the German Army, which was chasing after the rout.

The 20th Infantry Division, which had been fighting for a day, was exhausted, and the rout without fighting was quite relaxed, but in the face of the 17th Army, which was neatly organized and fully organized, it was a bit of a state of strong crossbow. And as the Russians gathered up the rout, and then re-filled the battlefield with the bayonets of the warlords, although the Russians did not have time to build defensive positions, but relying on their numerical superiority, the 20th Division would not be able to eat for a while and a half.

After a whole day of high-intensity fighting, the 20th Division did not dare to rashly launch a night assault when it was not sure whether the Russians on the opposite side would have reinforcements, so they could only stop and rest, and the Russians also took advantage of the night to step up digging trenches and building fortifications.

And the Russians were not stupid at this time, knowing that if they could stop the Germans today, they would not be able to stop tomorrow, so while letting the troops who exchanged fire with the Germans improve their defensive positions as much as possible, the rear team became the front team, and began to retreat overnight, with the result that the artillery brigade of the 17th Army, which was originally the slowest and dragged at the end, became the front unit of the 17th Army.

And then Erhard is now being shelled here.

Of course, at this time the reason was no longer important, and the German soldiers of Soldau were of no use to anyone and could only rely on themselves.

Erhard hurried back to the wall where the map hung and slammed his butt on his chair. Now there is nothing Erhard can do but sit back and wait for the Russians themselves to stop shelling. Listening to the sound of artillery outside, Erhard couldn't help but scold: "I don't believe that the Russians can really blow us all up!" ”

No matter how bad the situation is now, the fact that the Russians are retreating will not change. The Russians could not have carried out a long artillery bombardment of their own lines for hours or even days, as they had done in East Prussia. Although it was unknown why the Russians were able to push the heavy artillery up so quickly, Erhard did not think that the Russians had the time or ammunition reserves to prepare such a high level of firepower.

Moreover, if the Russians really bombed the Soldao to the ground with shells, without the multiple railroad tracks at the freight station for train stopping, and the trains only relied on the double rails on the railway line, the Russians would not have been able to evacuate many people by rail. The Russians, who were about to walk back to Poland on their legs, would also be blocked by the 1st Army, which had captured Mvava.

Of course, the First Army's logistical supply lines were expected to be cut off for a while before the Germans recaptured Soldau and repaired the railway line. But that has nothing to do with Erhard, because he's been blown up to the sky.

Erhard was right, the Russians were indeed incapable of long-term fire preparation, but the 122-mm M1910 still inflicted considerable losses on the Germans. Nearly 23 kg of shells can cause considerable damage to unreinforced trenches.

Sergeant Thomas, who was shocked by the explosion at close range, fell to the ground and was stunned for a while, his head was dizzy from the ringing in his ears, and he shook his head to get the noise out of his head, but it was useless. After eating a dirty face, his mouth was full of strange smells, and he spit out several mouthfuls but didn't make his mouth feel better.

When he was a little sober, he raised his head and looked left and right at the trench, only to realize that the breastwork on the right side of the firing port where he was staying had collapsed a little bit, and the ground next to him was raised by the pouring earth.

But I don't think I've had any problem other than my damn tinnitus. Well, the G3 semi-automatic rifle in his arms is also intact, which is really good news.

Wrong! There were people around me just now! Thomas, who reacted, crawled onto the mound of dirt and kept pulling, and then revealed a military uniform. I want to pull the military uniform up, but I can't pull it! I had to continue to pull along the military uniform, and finally got the guy buried in the soil out. If Thomas hadn't reacted quickly, this guy who had already carried his back would have been buried alive.

The air is filled with the smell of gunsmoke, and almost all the trenches are playing out such a scene of digging people!

But the Russian shelling finally stopped. The Russians had not yet learned the high-end skill of barrage Xujin, so after their shelling stopped, the Germans still had some time to count their losses.

There was no long preparation of fire, no effective reconnaissance and proof-fire of the German positions, and the actual results of the Russian shelling were not ideal.

The Germans' positions were full of craters and many of the collapsed trenches, which looked miserable. But the main body of the trenches is still there, and the impact is not great.

In addition to the 21 killed and 14 people who were seriously incapacitated by direct or close hits, most of the other wounded were cochlear perforated hearing loss, which did not affect their ability to continue fighting. In general, as luck would have it, the Germans claimed that the casualties were minor.

"Forward observation posts are evacuated immediately."

"Don't open fire at all fire points, put the Russians within 200 meters for me!"

"Guys who can hit people within 400 meters can fire freely."

"Artillery fires after the infantry fires!"

Through field calls, orders were transmitted to the positions.

Thomas picked up his beloved rifle and moved it to another reserved firing position not far away, opened the safe, pulled the bolt, and the crisp sound of the bolt made Thomas never get tired of listening. Pressing the butt of the gun tightly on his shoulder, he turned his face sideways, adjusted his aiming posture, and then swung his arm slightly, and the muzzle of the gun swung left and right to sweep the battlefield in front of him.

Everyone in the position straightened up, patted the dirt off their bodies, picked up their weapons, and then lay down behind cover with their guns pointed forward. The Russians were not yet in the sight of the Germans, but everyone knew that they were coming.

The Russians, having learned their lesson, cautiously appeared, and the slow-advancing skirmisher line was clearly a bit tentative in it. But soon the Russians found that there was a dead silence on the German positions opposite, and the German artillery should have started to block the shelling behind them at this time, and then the mortar shells would explode around them, forcing the soldiers who were cut off from the rear to rush forward, and then crash headlong into the fire network composed of German machine guns. But now, the Germans on the opposite side are not moving.

How effective is your own shelling? The Russians don't know, but this boosts the morale of the Russians a lot. The Russians, who were slowly advancing in a skirmish line with their knees hunched over when the Germans attacked, began to speed up their advance.

The smooth advance at the front gave the Russians more courage, and the troops that had been waiting and watching from the back slowly followed.

800 meters, 600 meters, 400 meters. Through Zeiss's triple scope, Thomas could already see the Russian's face.

400 meters is a bit close for GSG professional snipers with a bolt-action sniper rifle developed from the Ge.86 with a Zeiss 5x scope, but it is a good distance for Thomas, an accurate shooter with a G3 semi-automatic rifle paired with a Zeiss 3x scope, and the semi-automatic rifle has a greater advantage in today's environment.

Thomas's index finger, which was originally on the trigger guard, was hooked on the trigger and slammed it on a guy with a pistol. In the scope, the bullet flew over a distance of 400 meters, tearing a gap in his neck, and blood gushed out instantly. The guy was an officer, but Thomas wasn't interested in the creeps running towards the dead guy.

Aim, fire, and drag a Sokolov wheeled M1910 heavy machine gun, the Russian's Celestial Cover was lifted, and then plunged headlong to the ground. The guy next to him who was carrying an ammunition box was sprayed with brains and stopped blankly. Thomas adjusted the muzzle of the gun slightly, took a slight aim, and then pulled the trigger again, so that he no longer had to worry about where the bullet was coming from.

Although every shot on the position represented the fall of the Russian, the sporadic gunfire did not raise the Russians' vigilance. The German position in front of them was rudimentary compared to the past, and the Germans estimated that they had suffered heavy losses under the shelling of their own heavy artillery, as evidenced by the sparse sound of gunfire.

At 300 meters, the Russians, who thought that the Germans had little resistance, were reassured, and their originally hunched bodies slowly straightened up and began to rush up at a trot.

200 meters! The sharp whistle sounded, and the originally dead position came to life in an instant, and the tongue of fire from Thomas's machine gun swept across the battlefield, and the Russians who were caught off guard instantly fell down in a row. Tongues of fire flung like whips across the battlefield and back, leaving the corpses of fallen Russians everywhere they went.

The lucky Russians who were caught by the tongue of fire would have been able to join his comrades who had fallen to the ground with the accurate short bursts of the MG4 light machine gun.

However, the Germans' position was close at hand, and the Russians, who were bent on escaping from the ascension, did not choose to retreat, and the crater that had been blown up by the shell became a cover for the Russians, and those who climbed into the crater began to return fire, although the G3 semi-automatic rifle would have made it a luxury to aim the guy with Mosin Nagant on his head.

But the Russians did not give up, knowing that the machine gunners would be taken care of, the Russians left a pile of corpses next to their machine guns, even so, the Russians finally had someone lying on the ground, shielding the front, and pushing the machine gun into the crater little by little and successfully erecting it, and just made 3 machine gun fire points like this!

The rifle could not fire at the M1910, and the machine gun could only leave a few dimples in the shield.

The 3 M1910 heavy machine guns caused a lot of trouble for the Germans, and under the cover of the machine guns, the creeping Russians continued to shorten the distance between themselves and the German positions.

There was no barbed wire in front of the German position at this time, there was no first trench that the Russians could not get out of after jumping in, and if the Russians had climbed this 200-meter distance, the Germans would have had to fight a white-knuckle battle with the Russians in the trenches!

The machine guns of the Russians must be unplugged!

The shield protects the front of the main shooter well, but it can't protect the secondary shooter lying on the side.

Aim, fire. In the scope, Thomas could see that the bullet had hit the right arm of the co-shooter, one arm could not stop the 7.62X54 rifle bullet, and the bullet would go into his torso and pierce his right lung.

The pneumothorax caused by a ruptured lung did not kill him instantly, but the struggle before death was enough to allow the main shooter next to him to lean over to observe his comrade's injuries.

This opportunity is not very easy for a sniper with a bolt-action sniper rifle, but it is a great opportunity for Thomas with a G3 semi-automatic rifle. Aiming at the small half of his head peeking out from behind the shield, Thomas pulled the trigger, and then saw the bloody military hat flying out of the scope.

Just as Thomas aimed the muzzle of the gun at the next firing point, his left shoulder seemed to be hit by something, and he lost consciousness instantly. Hit! The conditioned reflex generally fell backwards and sat in the trench, and the severe pain broke out!

There was a sticky feeling in the back, a penetrating wound, the shoulder blade should be broken, and it was useless to cover the wound with the penetrating wound, but it was good news that the bullet did not remain in the body.

took out the first-aid kit with his right hand, gritted his teeth and stuffed gauze into the wound, and the comrades who rushed over on the side pressed the front and back piercing with two gauze pads, and then fixed them with a triangular scarf, and finally gave Thomas emergency treatment. The pain was so severe that he couldn't scream, and his lips, which had lost their blood, kept shaking because of the pain.

He propped himself up and regained his grip on the rifle, but the pain made Thomas's body tremble, and he could not stabilize the barrel of the gun, resulting in several consecutive misses, and Thomas could only watch as the Russians' machine gun continued to spit tongues of fire.

Then, the sound of mortar shells whistling across the sky, and the precise roll call of the mortars turned the Russians' machine guns and their machine gunners into scattered parts in the sky.

Infantry artillery and mortars then joined in the space 100-300 meters in front of the position, and the Russians could not lie on the ground. Although it is possible to be killed if you stand up, without the blocking shelling of the Germans in the past, it is better to get up and run away than to lie on the ground and wait for death.

The Russians retreated, and although many of them became corpses at the muzzle of Maxim in the process of retreating, the Germans did not have enough artillery to keep the Russians behind.

The smoke of gunfire could not dissipate from the position for a long time, and the Germans, who had repelled an attack by the Russians, did not even have time to rest, so they had to immediately repair the trenches damaged by the shelling, treat the wounded, and count the ammunition.

Everyone knows that this is only the first round.