While the Russians were baptized by the rain of steel falling from the sky, the Germans in Soldau were also baptized by shells.

The Germans had a good time last night, the No. 12 armored train was not late, it arrived on time, Erhard had 8 more platoons of men in his hands, and the construction of defensive positions was much faster. Moreover, these 8 platoons also brought something that made Erhard very happy - 4 75-mm field guns, and it is not known from which dusty corner the logistics department of the army group found this obsolete goods.

Although it is a knockout product, it is just right for Erhard, if he really wants to send over 2 105mm howitzers, it will be a big trouble just to move them to the position, and the shells are estimated to be finished in a few rounds. There are shells left to himself by Lieutenant Colonel Orzevisky, and these obsolete goods can play a much greater role than 2 105-mm guns.

Of course, more important than 4 guns is 4 groups of artillery, each of these professional artillery groups has the skills to operate the gun, naturally can not be wasted, ammunition handling and loading this kind of manual labor to the infantry to do, the 8 people drawn out are divided into 4 groups, so that the 4 Russian guns have a full-time gunner.

After setting up the position, with enough men and the railway station behind them, the young men under Erhard's men who had gone through a day of fighting and labor did not need to stay in the trenches and freeze. Except for one company in the ring to be guarded, the rest of the people can go back to the house with a roof and walls to rest.

The Russians did not meet any resistance when they entered the Soldau, so the facilities in the railway station were basically intact, there was coal and water, and the boiler room was on fire, and the dry food was nibbled on the unpalatable canned food found in the Russians' supply pile, and then the hot tea made from the tea leaves also provided by the Russians was kindly provided, and the whole person relaxed. Then the windows were closed, the clothes were wrapped, and lying down on the bench chairs in the waiting hall was much more comfortable than sleeping in the trenches outside.

The Russians in the city did not launch a night attack, and everyone was fine. Everyone knows it's not necessarily a good thing, but no one cares, there's nothing better than a good night's sleep before the war. People who can rest will find a place to lie down, and there is a lot of snoring in the waiting hall. Maybe it's the last sleep, and it's a little bit of sleep.

But this enjoyment ended at 5 o'clock in the morning, accompanied by the shrill whistle blowing from the position, and the Russians arrived.

"The forward observation posts found the Russians, northeast, 5 kilometers from us, there are not many of them, presumably the vanguard of the Russians." Ensign Fergt, who was on rotation, said to Erhard, who had just been lying down for less than two hours, and bounced off the bench.

"The observation post hasn't been taken down yet, has it?"

"Not yet." Fergut shook his head.

"Didn't they have a cannon mirror?" Erhard thought for a while and said: "Let's let our artillery fight a few rounds first, the Russians can't figure out our situation, they won't attack directly, we can delay for a while." ”

"Confirm the target, Russian infantry." In the observation post, in the field of view of the artillery mirror, the observer can already clearly see the facial features of the marching Russians.

"Confirm the target, Russian infantry." The words recited by the communications corpsmen were transmitted to the artillery positions in the rear through the wires of the field telephones.

"424 in front, 30 in height, 020 in gauge."

"424 in front, 30 in height, 020 in gauge."

"Type of ammunition, grenade, single-shot reloading."

"Ammo type, grenade, single shot!" On the artillery position, with the shouts of the artillery commander, four 75-mm howitzers had raised their barrels high.

"Four volleys." The communicator, who had his ear firmly pressed to the earpiece, looked up at the gunner, then nodded sharply.

"Ready! Put! "The gunner's hand was raised in the air, and then he swung it down hard!

Four 75-mm field guns roared, and 6.5-kilogram shells whizzed towards targets 5 kilometers away.

Knowing that Soldao had fallen into the hands of the Germans, although the Russian army was advancing in a horizontal formation instead of a column, the formation of the Russians who were ready to disperse before reaching the German line was still very dense, and they did not expect to be shelled by the Germans at all!

"Hit!" In the artillery mirror, 4 flowers of death bloomed in the queue of the Russians, and the originally neat formation instantly collapsed into a mess.

"422 ahead, 25 high, 011." He turned his head and looked at the marker on the map that he had pointed with his finger, and after checking again, there was an observer who put his eyes in front of the artillery mirror again and gave the instructions to bring death to the Russians: "Suppress the fire, all the artillery salvo!" ”

Four 75-mm field guns, armed with firing tables and forward observation posts, accurately hit the Russians. The dense queue was instantly enveloped by the flames of the explosion, and the Russians, who were caught off guard, tried to disperse in a hurry, but the shells that followed firmly nailed them to the ground.

Along with the indication of a full-gun salvo, four 76.2 mm field guns were added. For these Russian goods, which did not have a shooting table and only fired two test shots before nightfall yesterday, the German artillerymen could only say that direct shooting was not a big problem, but it was a matter of luck to shoot at intermittent sight and scatter. At a distance of 5 km, it is good to be able to score 200 meters in the dispersion. But now for the Russians who were bombed on their backs, how can a 200-meter dispersion take away a few unlucky ghosts, and it is enough to scare people.

The eight field guns on the position were all firing desperately, and the continuous explosion and fire from 5 kilometers away made it a luxury for the Russians to disperse, so they could only lie on the ground with their heads held and could not move.

After seven or eight rounds of shelling, the Russians, stunned by the shelling, began to retreat.

It was not clear from the distant position, but it was clear from the artillery mirror at the observation post that the Russians began to turn and run backwards. It was clear that the intensity of the artillery fire was beyond their imagination, and the Germans in front were clearly well prepared and had strong firepower.

The Russians, who had been bleeding more than once in front of the German lines, also understood that continuing the attack in this way would only give them their heads in vain, and that they could only organize an attack after the arrival of the large forces behind them to suppress the Germans.

The Germans sitting in the trenches didn't bother to look at the situation in the distance, wrapped their coats tightly, buttoned up their steel helmets, and then calmly continued to smoke.

The Germans also know what the Russians are going to do, but it doesn't matter, Russians, you take your time, anyway, we are not in a hurry. Everyone knows that the best is yet to come.

6-70 minutes later, a sharp whistling sound appeared overhead, as the Germans expected.

"Shelling!"

In fact, there is no need to shout, everyone is a veteran and knows what to do. The Germans were a little impatient with the Russians waiting for so long to start shelling. If you can hear the whistling sound of the shell, it means that the shell is over your head, so it will not fall on your head.

People who don't want to eat a mouthful of soil calmly extinguish the cigarette butt in the trench, then lower their heads and curl up in the trench to honestly start pretending to be their grandson, and many people continue to smoke the cigarette that they don't know if it is the last cigarette in their lives.

The sparse artillery bombardment fell on the German lines, and it was not very powerful, and it seemed that there were only a few M1902s on the Russians' side.

"Hahaha, it looks like we won't be able to straighten up in a few hours." Ludvik didn't even sit down in front of his machine gun, but leaned against the back wall of the machine gun fire point and said happily to Brandt, the new assistant shooter assigned to him.

How many 76.2mm field guns do you want to destroy your own defense? Then the Russians, you can slowly bombard for a few hours, anyway, it's not the Germans who are in a hurry.

"It's so monotonous." Ludwick muttered.

"Sergeant?" Brandt asked, confused.

"I mean the shelling of the Russians." "If this were a concert, this kind of solo would be too monotonous, not as good as our musicians," said Ludwick.

Ludvik was talking about his own artillery. In Ludvik's opinion, the speed of the Russian shelling was slowly swallowing, and the shells were falling sparsely. Originally, when the Russians were on the offensive, the scale of the battle was large, and the Russians could put in more artillery, this problem was not obvious, but now this situation, compared with the rapid fire of 7-8 rounds of their own artillery, and the dense and rapid smashing of shells among the Russians, the level of the Russians' artillery is really not very good.

"Concert?" Brandt obviously couldn't understand for a moment how the sergeant was making the connection between the bombardment and the concert, but it would be good to distract himself from the conversation at this time, so he continued: "Then their conductor's ears must be bad, so they can make such ugly music." ”

"Bad ears have nothing to do with music skills." Ludwick laughed and said, "Don't forget, Beethoven's ears are not good. ”

"Haha." Brandt also laughed: "Then if you are a sergeant, how do you want this concert to be played?" ”

"What if me?" Ludwick thought for a moment, then laughed: "The level of solo performance is not good, so it will always be better to become a concerto, right?" ”

"Concerto?"

"Well, concerto." Ludwick nodded: "For example......"

Before he could finish speaking, a heavy whistling sound that was different from the previous one passed over Ludvik's head, and then a violent explosion was heard behind him.

Immediately afterwards, explosions of completely different power from the M1902 field guns rose from the position, and the earth shook so that the walls of the bunker, which were not too strong, continued to crumble into the trenches, and the flying dust smashed into the trenches.

"Heavy artillery of the Russians!"

"120-level heavy artillery!"

The shouts of the comrades-in-arms from the position were finally no longer so calm and calm.

"Damn." Ludvik only now understands why the Russians delayed for so long to start shelling, because the Russians were building artillery positions for their heavy artillery!

Ludvik, who gave himself a hard slap in the mouth, was no longer in the mood to make fun of the Russians: "We are in big trouble!" ”

The trouble is not only because of the fact that the Russian heavy artillery joined this "concerto" with his crow's mouth, but more importantly, the Russian artillery is not only poor in level, but also poor in equipment, and the divisional artillery is generally only 76.2 mm field guns, and the appearance of 120 mm heavy artillery here only represents one reason, the Russians on the opposite side are at least an army!