After the news of the complete loss of the defense line on the west bank of the Leif River, the command of the Russian 9th Army was in a hectic scene, the staff officers and officers tried to contact the troops on the front, but most of their efforts were in vain, and nearly 100,000 Russian troops on the first line of defense had long been crushed under the heavy fire of the German army and armored units.

In the corner of the headquarters, General Retzsky stared blankly at the large map on the wall, and his mind was in chaos at this time. For him, the offensive plan that had taken a whole week to develop had become a pile of waste, and the tactics of hard attack, forced crossing, and striking at the west, which seemed flawless, were meaningless in the face of a sudden German attack. In the afternoon, he was still shouting that if the Germans really attacked, they would have no return, and now, when the other side came, his own defense line was shattered.

"Quick! Send a telegram to Grand Duke Aglini that the main German forces have launched an offensive against our troops, and ask them to quickly launch a fierce attack on Bialystok, where the German defenses must be very empty! After a long time, General Retzsky remembered something, he called a staff officer, wiped a cold sweat and ordered, "Also, order all units of our army group to organize defense on the spot, and must resist the German attack!" Artillery, all artillery positions immediately launched an artillery strike on both sides of the Leif River! ”

The staff officer looked at him suspiciously, and reminded in a low voice: "General, I'm afraid that many of our soldiers have not yet had time to withdraw from their positions on the West Bank......

"I can't care so much now, just think of them sacrificing their lives for the country!" General Retzsky had a determined expression on his face, a look of indifference, to be exact.

On the Leif River bridge, Colonel Olg and his armored command vehicle were moving unhurriedly towards the west side of the bridge. The deck of the bridge was full of follow-up troops involved in the attack, and countless armored vehicles, trucks, artillery, motorcycles, and infantry passed the bridge in an orderly and rapid manner. On the river, several temporary pontoon bridges have also been erected, from which many infantry are rushing to the west bank of the river.

Suddenly, a shrill whistle sounded in the sky, and people could see with the naked eye that orange bright spots were breaking through the sky to the west, as if it were a spectacular meteor shower.

"Get down!" Olg shouted at the infantry outside the car, but before many could react, the Russian shells were already whizzing down. Sparks erupted on both sides of the river, and countless thick white columns of water rose on the surface of the river, and although the bridge was not directly hit by shells, the bridge deck was quickly covered in a white curtain of water composed of waves and shrapnel, and soldiers on both sides of the bridge were constantly brushed under the bridge.

"Ah......h

Olg was horrified to see an officer crouching inside an armored car clutching his chest and collapsing, the wall of the car next to him actually penetrated by a large piece of shrapnel.

"Quick! Hurry up and get out of the bridge! Org shouted at the cab, but the bridge deck was in disarray, and the vehicle could only move forward slowly. He could only pray helplessly, by this time most of the attacking troops had completed the crossing of the Leif River, and the Russian artillery fire would still come a little late, but if he, the commander of the armored corps, was killed in this shelling, the Russian artillery would have made up for it.

"God forbid!" Inside the armored car, several other officers prayed that no shells would explode too closely, but the violent swaying and jolting of the armored car still made everyone's hearts hang. Relatively small pieces of shrapnel continue to hit the steel plate on the wall of the carriage, which makes people feel even more frightened and uneasy.

The explosion of shells outside was incessant, as if the next shot would hit the armored vehicle directly. Olg felt for a moment that his life was so fragile that he began to regret that he had not chosen a tank as his command vehicle, even though the poor transmitter on the tank could not meet the communication needs of the army headquarters. In fact, in this kind of fierce shelling, those German tanks that are cleaning up the defensive positions of the Russian army on the west bank of the Leif River are also greatly threatened, some unlucky German tanks are directly hit by the shells of the Russian large-caliber howitzers, and the entire tank is turned into a pile of scrap metal in a violent explosion, even the huge impact of the shell explosion and the shrapnel that comes from it also bring them a lot of trouble, and the engine and other key parts are likely to fail, so the tankers can only hide helplessly in the tank, Except for attacking nearby Russian soldiers with their tank guns and/or guns, no one can repair tanks in such an environment of shrapnel.

Fortunately, a few minutes later, as the soldiers on the bridge rushed to the west bank of the bridge or retreated to the east of the bridge, the bridge deck finally became clear, and the armored command vehicle drove to the west bridgehead without alarm, and Olg and the others breathed a big sigh of relief.

Olg poked his head out of the car, and the bridge deck was empty, except for a few burning motorcycles and a few corpses lying silently. During the Russian artillery bombardment, the infantry on the pontoon bridge encountered more direct shrapnel hits, and many soldiers were swept into the river before they had time to dodge, and the crossing of the river fell into a temporary halt. On the east bank of the river, the German soldiers who were about to board the pontoon bridge retreated to their starting positions, and the artillery was busy looking for the Russian artillery positions, but there were no balloons and planes to shoot in the dark, and they did not have a good way to suppress the Russian artillery fire.

On the west bank of the river, many Russian soldiers were still resisting in their positions, and after the German tanks drove over, many rushed out of the trenches to fight the German infantry behind. So, when the Russian artillery shells fell, many entangled Russian and German soldiers were hit by Russian artillery fire together.

Seeing this, Org decisively gave the order:

"Send a telegram and order the vanguard tank units to find the Russian artillery positions as soon as possible and occupy them!"

By this time, Rontilis's tank company and other German armored units advancing westward had advanced several kilometers from the riverbank, where Russian artillery did not frequent, but looking at the flames and smoke rising near the riverbank, they understood the urgency of finding and capturing the Russian artillery positions.

Lontilis braved the sporadic bullets of Russian soldiers to drill out of the turret, he took a flashlight and waved it at the tank behind, and soon the other commanders also opened the hatch and poked out their heads, at this time Lontilis shouted loudly: "Car No. 2 follow me, we are moving to the southwest, car No. 3 and car No. 4 are advancing to the northwest, and through these fields should be the artillery positions of the Russian army!" ”

Tank 1 slowly turned down the field on the left, and on the soft ground, the tank was moving more slowly and the feeling of jolting was more intense, but Rontilis couldn't care about that. After a slight pause in the rear armoured units, their commanders gave similar orders: some tanks and armored vehicles continued along the railway line, while others turned into the fields on either side and scattered in formation to search and advance.

The frogs and crickets in the fields do not seem to have been affected by the war, and they are still singing merrily. It was just that with the rolling tank tracks, the frogs jumped away agilely, and then squatted next to look at the deep marks left on the dirt after the tank drove by.

Rontilis leaned his little half out of the turret and watched the situation ahead with his binoculars. Soon after, he faintly saw ****** white smoke filling the sky over a forest on the other side of the field, and orange bright spots rising from behind the trees, and then whistling across the night sky and flying into the distance. The young lieutenant looked around and saw that in addition to their company's No. 2 tank, there were 3 other tanks and 4 armored vehicles moving in the same direction, and he quickly signaled with a flashlight to ask them to cooperate, and the other party readily agreed.

As he got closer and closer to the woods, Lontilis could clearly hear the roar of Russian artillery firing, with the shouts of Russian artillery faintly mixed in the middle.

At this time, the Russian soldiers on guard in the woods suddenly opened fire. Nearly 100 Russian infantry built a shallow trench in the woods, plus several heavy machine guns to protect the artillery position. White machine-gun bullets and lone rifle bullets kept pouring out of the woods, but at best they were able to peck shallow small craters into the thick steel plates.

Soon, a tank stopped, and the Russian soldiers in the woods were happy, in the dark, they could only see the black outline of the tank, but they did not notice that the turret of the tank was slowly turning, and the muzzle of the black hole was quickly aimed at these Russians who did not know whether they were alive or dead.

The sound of tank gunfire and shell explosion was closely linked, and a brilliant spark emerged from the woods, like a golden cosmos and a white peony, and around this spark, several Russian soldiers and the machine guns they operated disappeared in an instant, leaving only a smoking pit on the ground.

Lontilis's No. 1 tank did not pause in the slightest, and he could see from the viewing window two long strings of tongues of fire shooting from his tank, mercilessly lashing at the Russian trenches and the soldiers there. As Rontilis and his No. 1 car drove up the dirt slope in front of the woods, the steel body easily snapped through the slender trees, and the clattering sound of the Russian soldiers in the woods panicked. They decided to abandon futile resistance, fled from the trenches with their weapons, and without looking back, ran towards the artillery positions, still shouting something incessantly.

Ignoring the fleeing Russian soldiers, Lontilis continued to move violently through the woods with his No. 1 tank, and other tanks began to clear their way through the woods, with armored vehicles following them into the woods.

On this side of the woods is a standard Russian heavy artillery position, with more than 20 large-caliber howitzers neatly arranged on a square position, where there are hundreds of Russian artillery and dozens of infantry of the avant-garde troops who have just withdrawn in embarrassment. After a brief battle, the infantry had already appreciated the terrible beginnings of the German armored forces, but the other Russian artillerymen did not understand what they called "invincible monsters", but they still began to look for weapons at hand. For the artillerymen, their only melee weapons were the few rifles and pistols, and the gunless artillerymen even held the sapper shovel in their hands and tried to stop the tin monsters.

Finally, after the last small tree was crushed, the dark and hideous body of the "Stone II" appeared in front of the Russians, the angular turret, the riveted body, and the short and sharp barrel all exuded a terrifying murderous aura in the darkness. It was confronted by hundreds of Russian artillerymen standing on level ground with simple weapons.

When the Russian artillery position was fully displayed in front of him, Tank No. 1 stopped, and an orange-red flame appeared in the muzzle, so close that the shell touched the target almost immediately after firing, and the first shot of Tank No. 1 overturned a Russian artillery, and several Russian artillerymen next to it were even thrown several meters away by the air wave.

The Russians were stunned again, they didn't know whether to fight back with the weapons in their hands, or to find a place to hide first. The guns on German tanks looked short and small, but they could shoot at close range, and the howitzers on the Russian positions, although powerful, could not attack German tanks at such angles and distances.

Soon, Tank No. 2 also appeared on the edge of the woods, its first shell hit a pile of ammunition on the Russian position, the violent explosion caused the Russian artillerymen present to fall to the ground, the violent shock wave made Longiris also have to close the narrow observation window, and the flying shrapnel smashed on the tank armor with a dangling sound, like a heavy rain falling. Although the explosion only lasted for a few seconds, the Russian artillery position was shrouded in a thick cloud of smoke and dust, a small area centered on the exploded ammunition pile had become unrecognizable, a cannon next to it was only a thick barrel, the gun carriage and the gun wheel were missing, and the Russian soldiers within more than ten meters around the ammunition pile all became bloody and blurred, and there was a disgusting smell of burnt fire in the air.

After a brief silence, other tanks and armored vehicles roared out of the woods, and Rontilis reopened the observation window, and the rattle of machine-gun fire on the tanks and armored vehicles began to intensify, the bullets swept by, the ground was dusty, the guns were scattered, and the Russian soldiers were constantly fluttering and muffled.

Tanks 1 and 2 were back in motion, and instead of firing from their guns, they began to fire wildly with the machine guns on them. Inside the tank, a waterfall of shells fell from the machine gun to the baseplate, and the crisp sound of impact was completely drowned out by the roaring sound of the engine.

The Russian soldiers, still fighting back weakly, soon discovered that the small arms in their hands could not do any damage to the steel beasts, but the bullets fired from German tanks and armoured vehicles could easily penetrate their bodies, and there was no hiding place here except for cannons and ammunition piles.

The tanks rumbled forward, the tracks thunderously ran over the land, and some Russian artillerymen who had no time to dodge watched those steel tracks appear in front of their eyes, and the bones and steel made extremely terrifying and piercing sounds after encountering, which made everyone feel cold. In extreme fear, some of the Russian soldiers began to get up and flee backwards, countless machine-gun bullets were fired from their backs without mercy, and some fell straight to the ground before they even had time to look at the bloody hole that appeared in their chests.

Finally, the Russian artillery completely collapsed, and those who were closer to the German tanks threw down their weapons and knelt on the ground with their hands held high, while those who were farther away ran towards the rear of the position without their lives. It was not until the figures of these men disappeared into the darkness that the German machine guns stopped.

After the Russians here stopped resisting, Lontilis's tank slowly stopped, and he reopened the roof and drilled out of the turret. The whole position was silent, the ground was littered with Russian corpses, and everywhere there was a pungent smell.

After a while, other tanks and armored vehicles also stopped at the Russian artillery position, and the infantry on top of the armored vehicle quickly jumped down and began to clear this artillery position.

"What do we do now?" Watching the commanders of the other tanks burrow out of the turrets, Lontilis shouted, "Do you blow up these cannons, or wait for reinforcements to arrive?" ”

The others looked at each other and found that the highest-ranking soldiers here were Longiris and the commander of another armored car, and the second lieutenant thought for a while, "I think we should stay here and wait for reinforcements, there are still more than twenty heavy guns here, which is an important trophy for the legion!" ”

Lontilis nodded, and while asking Law to send a report to the regimental headquarters, he sent tank No. 2 to reconnoiter in the direction where the Russians had fled. The infantry on the armored vehicles, after struggling to extinguish the embers on the position, escorted nearly a hundred Russian artillerymen who had surrendered to a corner of the position. The Russian artillerymen, who had fled in despair, were stopped by a large group of Cossack cavalry in dark green uniforms, and one of them, a fierce-looking officer, rode up to the poor artillerymen.

"Are you artillerymen? Where's your cannon? ”

"In the open space over there, the Germans' iron-clad carts suddenly rushed out of the woods in front of our positions, and our rifles and machine guns were useless to them, so we had to withdraw!" One of the artillerymen replied tremblingly.

"Not long ago, when we were fighting the Austrians, we also came across their trucks made of iron sheets, and those things are not remarkable, and our cavalry can chop off the hands of the soldiers above them with their knives as long as they get close to them! How many of those cars have you come across? The cavalry officer looked dismissive, he had indeed fought with the Austro-Hungarian iron trucks, but he had no idea that this time he would be facing real steel chariots.

"It's not very clear, it seems that there are seven or eight iron cars!" As soon as the artillerymen finished speaking, the cavalry officer could not wait to take the troops to the dust.

The artillerymen, you look at me, I look at you, and finally follow the cavalry in the direction of the artillery position.