"The 101st Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Tank Regiment and the 1st Armored Regiment of the 202nd Armored Regiment successfully attacked the Russian artillery position 6 kilometers northwest of the Leif River Bridge, captured 15 76.2-mm field guns, 14 122-mm howitzers and some ammunition, and captured 55 Russian artillerymen!"

"The 101st Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Tank Regiment and the 1st Division of the 202nd Armored Regiment successfully attacked the Russian artillery position 6 kilometers southwest of the Leif River Bridge, captured 21 122-mm howitzers and some ammunition, and captured 36 Russian artillerymen!"

"The 1st Battalion of the 101st Tank Regiment and the 201st Armored Regiment successfully assaulted the Russian artillery position 8 kilometers west of the Leif River Bridge, captured 17 76.2-mm field guns, 17 107-mm field guns, 19 122-mm howitzers, 15 152-mm howitzers and some ammunition, and captured 304 Russian artillerymen!"

……

"The right-wing attack force with the 102nd Tank Regiment as the vanguard successfully broke through the Russian positions 5 kilometers north of the Leif River Bridge and captured tens of thousands of Russian troops!"

"The left flank attack force with the 103rd Tank Regiment as the vanguard successfully occupied the Russian position 5 kilometers south of the Leif River Bridge, capturing one Russian lieutenant general, three major generals and thousands of soldiers!"

Looking at the battle reports, Olge finally breathed a sigh of relief, with more than 10 Russian artillery positions and more than 300 artillery pieces of various types falling into his hands, the Russian artillery fire was already much weaker at this time.

"Colonel Olge, your armored forces have seized the Russian artillery positions by surprise, which undoubtedly solves a big problem for the attacking troops, but I think that for the sake of prudence, they should be allowed to blow up the Russian artillery there! After all, the Russians still have a large number of cavalry troops, and I think they will soon launch a counterattack, and if those cannons fall back into their hands, it will cause a lot of trouble for our attack! ”

It was General Mackensen, who had recently crossed the River Reif and transferred the headquarters of the Second Army to the temporary headquarters of the Panzer Corps in Olg, which was closer to the battlefield and easier to coordinate.

With the help of artillery preparation and armored units, Mackensen's approaching infantry did not meet strong resistance when attacking the Russian positions, but suffered considerable losses in the sudden and heavy artillery bombardment of the Russians.

"General, you don't have to worry about this, I believe that my armored forces can repel the counterattack launched by the Russian cavalry!" Org smiled confidently, and then asked in an inquiring tone: "I am ready to order the 104th and 105th Tank Regiments and the 205th and 302nd Panzer Regiments to set out from the Leif River Bridge to reinforce the tanks and troops occupying the various Russian artillery positions as soon as possible. General, are your infantry marching along? ”

Mackensen thought for a while and then nodded in agreement, and then he also gave an order to his troops: "The 1st Infantry Division continues to clear the positions of the Russian army on the west bank of the Leif River, and the 2nd and 3rd Infantry Divisions immediately cooperate with the armored forces to advance into the depth of the Russian army!" Artillery units began to cross the bridge over the Leif River, establishing artillery positions on the west bank of the Leif River as soon as possible! ”

In the night, the Russian routs hidden in the fields and woods on the west bank of the Leif River were surrounded by the roar of engines and the rolling of tracks, unaware that hundreds of German tanks and armored vehicles were advancing like beetles across large fields and roads, and even larger trucks and infantry were advancing closely behind them.

"Second lieutenant, a telegram has been sent from the regimental headquarters, and the reinforcements will arrive in a quarter of an hour!" Law poked his head out of the turret and excitedly reported to Rontilis, who was sitting outside the turret smoking a cigarette.

Lontilis was silent, his eyes fixed on the ground of the artillery position, where everything was hidden in the darkness, including Tank No. 2, which had come out to guard the front.

In this dark environment, hearing is more important than sight, so the No. 2 tank has stopped and turned off, the commander has leaned half of his body out of the turret, the driver has opened the front hatch, and even the loader and machine gunner in the car are listening intently to everything around them.

After a few minutes, the young loader asked curiously, "Commander, even if we find the Russians, it seems that we can't report to the company commander immediately!" ”

"Although we don't have a transmitter on our tank, we will open fire as soon as we find the Russians, so that the company commander will know!" The commander lowered his head and explained to the loader below.

"Then won't the Russians find out about us?" The loader looked worried.

"Don't worry, we can shoot at the Russians while retreating! The infantry of the Russians can't catch up with us again! The commander thought it was a little funny, but the loader seemed to be a natural melancholic, and he continued:

"And what if the Russians' artillery hits us?"

"Then let's go to Heaven to report together!" As soon as the commander's words fell, some voices were faintly heard in the distance.

"The sound of horses' hooves!" The commander and driver whispered in unison.

"Don't be nervous, let's watch for a while, ready to start the tank at any time!" The captain's eyes widened to see what was hidden beneath the night, but all he could hear was the increasingly dense sound of horses' hooves.

"The headlights are ready to turn on, turn on for two seconds and turn off!" The captain whispered, and when he felt that the sound of horses' hooves was not far ahead, he ordered the lights to be turned on.

Hundreds of meters in front of tank No. 2 were a large group of Cossack cavalry, and before they could react, the enemy's shells exploded near them. Tank No. 2 then roared into action, then twisted its clumsy body and turned to the rear, while the turret quickly turned to the rear of the vehicle, and the only machine gun in front of the turret began to fire at the Russian cavalry.

Oh......

The Russian cavalry roared like wolves, the horses began to run, and the ground shook slightly.

In the distance, Lontilis could clearly see two fires in front of each other in the darkness, and the ensuing explosion told him that it was the sound of tank 2 firing.

"They must have discovered the Russians!" Rontilis pressed out the cigarette butt and quickly sat down in the turret, where the tank started with a puff of smoke from the tail, and several other tanks and armored vehicles were also activated.

"Line up!" After Lontilis made a gesture, the tanks and armored vehicles behind him quickly followed. Lontilis stared intently into the distance, where the sound of tank engines and tracks could be heard. Judging by the machine-gun bullets ejected from the tank, Tank No. 2 was strafing the opponent as it retreated to this side.

"Russian cavalry!" Retreating about 1 kilometer from the artillery position, Tank No. 2 suddenly turned on its frontal headlights again, and a large group of Russian cavalrymen brandished their sabers and appeared not far in front of it.

"Helich, reload the shells! Law, send a report to the regiment headquarters! Lontilis sat back in the captain's chair, his eyes fixed on the aiming spot, the figures of countless Russian cavalry swaying under the headlights of Tank No. 2.

"Fire!"

Tank No. 1 slammed into the middle of the Russian cavalry a few seconds later, and the flames and scattered shrapnel knocked down several nearby Russian cavalry and their horses, but Tank 2 was quickly caught up by the Russian cavalry.

In this way, Tank No. 2 remained alone among the Russian cavalry, and on the Russian artillery positions, other German tanks constantly fired shells, and they tried to shoot shells into the middle of the Russian cavalry far away from Tank No. 2, setting off a small storm of blood among the Russians. The machine-gun attack of Tank 2 at such a close range also caused many Russian cavalry to fall off their horses, and a deep depression appeared in the already untidy cavalry formation, but they still quickly surrounded Tank 2 from both flanks.

Plop Plop Plop ......

Soon, a string of machine-gun bullets fired from German tanks and armored vehicles also began to fly towards the Russian cavalry. In the darkness of the night, the Russians had no time to pay attention to whether the bullets had penetrated the bodies of their comrades, and several Russian cavalrymen waved their swords in the air and slashed heavily at the turret and body of the No. 2 tank with all their strength......

Dangdang!

This time flying in the air was not only the sparks emitted by the collision of steel, but also the blades of Russian sabers.

The Russian cavalry looked at the German tank with incredulous eyes, and the bullets flying from the rear quickly put an end to their seemingly great conjecture.

"Rubbish!"

The commander of the Russian cavalry cursed in a low voice, and he brandished his war knife and rushed to tank No. 2, which was spraying tongues of fire. When he was on the Galician front, he once slashed an Austrian soldier in the arm of an iron truck, and then cut a deep cut in the iron sheet of the car. He believed that the turret of the German tank was also made of that kind of iron sheet, so he was confident that he would split the armor with the Germans inside. The cavalry beside him kept falling off his horse, but he rushed to the tank without hesitation, and then slashed with a fierce ......

While!

The Russian watched in horror as the front half of the knife bounced off the steel plate, leaving a deep blood mark on his face, but the pain quickly faded as the German machine-gun bullet penetrated his body a few seconds later.

This is the result of flesh and blood combined with cold weapons against tanks, and this Russian did not understand that he was killed.

Gradually, machine-gun bullets fired at the Russians hit Tank No. 2 from time to time, which made both the German soldiers behind and the tankers in Tank No. 2 feel ashamed. Fortunately, tank No. 2 was not damaged, and the Russian cavalry around it fell one after another.

Finally, 5 tanks and 4 armored vehicles stubbornly blocked the onslaught of more than 1,000 Russian cavalry, and countless Cossacks, who usually did not have to pay taxes, fell on this artillery position.

Tens of thousands of Russian cavalry launched a fierce counterattack before the German reinforcements reached the Russian artillery positions occupied by the armored forces, but they were completely inferior in the confrontation with the German armored forces occupying other artillery positions, and countless cavalry were slaughtered by tank guns and machine guns, while the rest retreated in panic.

It wasn't long before the long-awaited reinforcements of Rontilis and the others arrived.

"Oh God! You're finally here! I only have three shells and a machine gun bullet belt on my tank! "Rontilis sat on the turret and watched as the infantry busily removed ammunition and fuel from trucks to replenish tanks and armored vehicles.

Soon, Lontilis led his tank over the Russian cavalry in front of him and continued to advance westward.

By the time the east was turning white, Olg's Panzer Corps and Mackensen's Second Army had advanced to 20 kilometers from the Leif River, and the armored forces tore the Russian lines to pieces, and many Russian soldiers even found themselves far behind the German forward troops.

In the command of the Russian army, General Lotsky, who found that he had no power to return, gave the order to retreat and build a temporary defensive line 40 kilometers from the Leif River. Naturally, Mackensen and Olg would not let go of this opportunity, and the Germans were pursuing the Russian 9th Army in an orderly and rapid manner.

To the east of Bialystok, the flag of the Russian Guards appeared in front of the German position, and the shells fired by nearly 1,000 Russian cannons fell on the German positions with the first rays of sunlight, and the defense system that Chentian spent nearly half a month building would face the test of more than 200,000 Russian elite troops.

In Aglini's telescope, the defensive line, which is 8 kilometers wide on the front and 3 kilometers deep, is not outwardly remarkable. From front to back are the barbed wire strip, the trench area, the second barbed wire strip, the small pillboxes, the criss-crossed trenches, the large pillboxes, and the artillery positions should be further back, except for those pillboxes and some of the trenches that appear to be composed of gray stone objects.

"Cement and steel, that's what sets my line apart!" In a large bunker beneath the ground behind the defensive line, Tatsuten explained to François, "The thing we use to cast the bunkers is called concrete, and the first user was a French flower merchant. As early as the 19th century, he used to make water pots and flower pots out of cement-covered horn wire mesh. He later applied the method to the manufacture of beams, floor slabs, pipes and bridges, and obtained a patent for placing vertical and horizontal iron bars inside concrete. In this type of concrete, the iron bars are subjected to tension, while the concrete is subjected to pressure, so it is a very good defensive tool. Concrete bunkers, machine guns and mortar positions would be stronger than ordinary fortifications made of earth and stone, I suppose the Russians could destroy some of the fortifications, but the Agrini field guns were less effective against them with the tactics of advancing infantry! ”

François nodded in understanding, "Your Royal Highness, why do you always come up with something that ordinary people can't think of, and I find that there are many different things about this line of defense you designed!" ”

"Hmmm! You'll find out what they do in a moment! ”

Outside, the sound of Russian artillery gradually weakened, and the Russian infantry would soon rush to this black hole defensive position. In the rear of the German defensive positions, more than 70,000 German soldiers clenched their weapons and waited for the order to enter the forward positions.