A week ago, Moscow.

It's the height of summer, and the late-night Moscow train is still breathlessly hot. The platform has been cordoned off by heavily armed gendarmes, and groups of neatly dressed soldiers are boarding the train one after another, and there are few people to see them off, no tears and flowers to see them off, and everyone is silent. Not far away, dozens of trains were crammed with heavy artillery and war horses.

Next to an officer-only train stood an officer of distinguished status, wearing a gorgeous military uniform that looked particularly handsome on his young and straight body, and the expression of seriousness and fortitude made it impossible to associate with his young and handsome face.

"Let's go back! Our country is at war with yours, so you should stay at home! But I don't think anyone would dare to accuse you of being a spy or anything like that, I'll be back as soon as I can anyway! In a very slow tone, the officer said goodbye to a young lady in front of him in a black suit and a tulle shawl.

"Come back safely soon!" The noblewoman's eyes were filled with extremely complicated eyes, and she could not have found a better greeting for her husband on one side and her country on the other.

"Hmmm! The war will soon be over! The officer kissed the lady lightly on the lips, and after a moment boarded the train without looking back.

For three nights in a row, hundreds of trains quietly departed from here heading west.

The Tsar was shocked by the defeat of the Russian Northwest Army Group in East Prussia, but his Southwestern Army Group's more than 1 million soldiers were fighting against Austria-Hungary, and Turkey's recent trend of joining the Allies was becoming more and more apparent, and he had to continue to increase his troops in the Caucasus. Under these circumstances, he decided to send the most elite units of the Guards to the German-Austrian front, and soon 180,000 Guards quietly departed from Moscow.

Bialystok, Russian artillery.

"Hurry up! You damned beasts. General Ruzkis said that if the artillery could not be delivered within half an hour, he would remove me from my post. I'll have to cook you and drink you!" Seeing the three horses pulling the 76.2 mm field guns moving slowly, the gun commander, Sergeant Gleb, cursed as he whipped them fiercely.

Looking at his ridiculous appearance, the soldier in a sports car in front of him quipped, "Hey, Gleb. It's useless if you kill them! Half an hour, why don't you try to pull the cannon! ”

"Kishkinov, you don't talk cool there! If we can't get to the front line in half an hour, we will all be punished! Gleb looked back, and the railroad was lined with slow-moving cannons and wagons, and he began to curse the Germans again.

"Damn the Germans. I actually demolished the section of the railway here! Otherwise, we would have arrived at the front by train long ago! ”

"Do you think the Germans are as stupid as you? Leave the intact railroad there for you to transport the artillery to hit them! The guy named Kishkinov laughed at her unrelentingly.

"What color is your heart? Actually towards the Germans all the way! Gleb was about to whip him when he heard the faint roar of an engine in the sky. Everyone fell silent, listening to the humming from far and near.

After a while, a group of black dots appeared in the northern sky, getting closer and bigger. Also getting lower and lower, finally. All 40 biplane bombers, the Ostrich I., with a maximum range of 210 miles, took off from Königsberg airfield early in the morning.

"It's a German plane again! There are no balloons or airships here, they're in the wrong place! "The Russian soldiers here in Glebkh have apparently not seen the power of bombers, and they think that the most they can bully on board is balloons and airships, as they do in the morning.

The bombers soon flew over the Russian artillery flotilla, and after turning 270 degrees, they began to fly along the east-west railway, and the bombs fell from the magazines with screams.

"Oh God! What is that? The Russians were stunned and did not begin to flee until what was dropped on the plane exploded on the ground. Many ammunition wagons loaded with shells were detonated, and the railroad was engulfed in a series of explosions on both sides, and the long line was covered with fire and smoke.

Two minutes later, the German bomber returned and departed with ease.

Just as the Germans dropped the bomb, Gleb jumped into the grass by the roadside, and then lay there with his head clutched, until there was no sound around him, and he crawled out. The ground was a mess, littered with smoking or burning pieces of wood and wheels of the wagon. Although his cannon was intact, the two soldiers in the sports car were all killed, and the three horses pulling the cart were also missing. Kishkinov, who had just been arguing with him, sat next to his cannon with a dark face, which had lost a wheel and was lying crookedly on the ground. As far as the eye could see, many horses and soldiers were lying in pools of blood, many horses had escaped from the reins in great fright, and several cannons near the ammunition truck were only a single barrel left.

Just as the Russian artillerymen were hesitating how to transport the artillery to the front line, the roar of engines was heard around again.

"The German plane is here again!" Thrilled, the Russians sought a place to hide before they could see the plane, and soon after they realized that the sound of the engine seemed too close to them, as if it were right behind them.

"Don't move! Come out with your head in your hands! Gleb in the grass suddenly heard a German shout, he stood up in a trembling voice, and looked back to find German motorcycles and trucks everywhere, a German soldier was aiming his gun at himself, and the gunfire around him was continuous, but most of it was the rattling of German machine guns, only a few rifle cracks mixed in.

Bialystok, command of the East Prussian Corps.

"Your Royal Highness, Colonel Olg's 2nd Mechanized Division of the Panzer Corps has attacked the Russian artillery group, and 2 armoured combat vehicle companies and 2 mechanized infantry regiments of the Panzer Division have also reoccupied their positions on the east side of the Leif River Bridge, and there are about 4 Russian divisions on the west side of the bridge. Now that our pockets have been tied, there are more than 180,000 Russian troops who have lost heavy artillery support, and they are interviewing 50,000 soldiers of General François's 1st Army, and on the left flank are 2 divisions of Colonel Matthew's 4th Army and 1 division of 3rd Army with 50,000 soldiers. On the right flank are 1/3 armored division and 1 mechanized infantry division with 20,000 men, and behind it are 2/3 armored division and 1 mechanized infantry division with 25,000 men. Hoffman held a stack of reports as he spoke, marking them on the huge map of the field.

On the map, the situation looked very favorable to the Germans, but the Russian army in the pocket was much stronger than they had planned. Due to the sudden appearance of the Russian army on the Eastern Front, Chentian had to put the Russian army in his pocket in advance, and in the original plan, François's 1st Army should consume at least 5~80,000 troops of the Russian army in front of the Leif River, but this step was hastily skipped. The Russian forces under the command of General Ruzsky had lost about 30,000 men in one and a half infantry divisions in front of the Leif River, and now he had several intact five infantry divisions and five cavalry divisions, as well as 32 scattered infantry regiments, surrounded by the city of Bialystok and the Leif River, 20 miles east to west and 15 miles wide from north to south. For Chentian, it is worth rejoicing that these Russian troops have lost almost all their heavy artillery and most of their rapid-fire guns, and most of their ammunition is still west of the Leif River.

"Order François and Matthew to consolidate their positions and not to attack for the time being, Olg's armored forces will first separate the Russian army little by little, and then eat it away one bite at a time! If the Russians break through, concentrate their fire and drive them back! "What the Chentiandi plan needs now is time, enough time to digest the large number of Russian troops in his pocket.

20 miles southwest of Bialystok, on the outskirts of the Russian army's right flank, Org's armored headquarters.

"Colonel, the 2 assault regiments you want are ready!" The adjutant woke Org from his musings.

"Oh, good!" Olg answered, and the order given to him by the corps command was to send a force to insert into the right flank of the Russian army, separate the 1 infantry division and 1 cavalry division in the southwest corner of the Russian army from the main Russian force, and then concentrate forces to annihilate the two Russian divisions first. Olg was a little worried about this order of the General Staff, and it was not too difficult to divide the Russian infantry, the problem was that the Russian cavalry units with great mobility and combat effectiveness obviously did not obediently stay in the fishing nets.

He walked outside the headquarters, where an assault force of 46 armored combat vehicles, 37 armored personnel carriers and 522 three-wheeled motorcycles was ready to go. Each armoured combat vehicle has 11 soldiers and 5 heavy machine guns, each equipped with 40,000 rounds of machine gun ammunition, and the armored personnel carrier has 2 heavy machine guns, 2 light machine guns and 1 platoon of infantry, equipped with 10,000 rounds of ammunition for heavy machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition for light machine guns and rifles. With nearly 3,000 soldiers here to separate the 30,000 Russian troops from the main forces of the Russian army, Org had to admire the courage of the regimental command and the fearlessness of these German soldiers. He waved his hand at the soldiers of the assault force. Amid the roar of destruction and the puffs of smoke, the soldiers set off silently.

Knowing that he was besieged, the commander of the Russian army, General Ruzkis, was not too frightened, after all, this German army had annihilated more than 400,000 troops of the 1st and 2nd armies of the Northwest Army not long ago, and he felt that the German army should have similar tactics, and now he just regretted his rash advance. Ruzkis sent a distress telegram to the Russians to the east, but soon received a reply that the main German force was still holding back, and he immediately ordered the besieged Russian troops to dig defensive positions on the spot, and at the same time sent cavalry units to charge westward, in an attempt to regain the bridge over the Leif River and join the remaining troops separated west of the Leif River.

In the southwest corner of the Russian right flank, 13,000 soldiers of the Karcha Division were sweating and digging trenches, they were the last Russian troops to cross the Leif River bridge in addition to the artillery team, and they left less than half an hour before the positions on the east side of the bridge were recaptured by the Germans, and they not only lost their way back, but also lost their supplies. Behind them, a convoy of more than 500 artillery pieces was bombed by the Germans, and then attacked by German armoured vehicles and motorcycles. When they rushed back to reinforce them, they were met by dense German machine-gun fire, and after losing a full two infantry regiments, they retreated to defend four miles from the Leif River bridge, and with them as the Russian rearguard were three other divisions, which were lined up 13 miles wide from east to west, and they would be the vanguard of the Russian army in the counterattack on the Leif River bridge.

The Sprokhov cavalry division, which was closest to the Kartsa division, was now all in the woods behind the Kartsa division's position. The cavalry and their horses leisurely hid in the shade and watched the infantry brothers do their duty, much to the envy of the soldiers of the Karcha division.

"The cavalrymen are comfortable! It is the most majestic when charging, the safest when retreating, and even when defending! Unlike us, the attack is the slowest, the retreat is the slowest, and we have to keep digging and digging!" A Russian soldier put down his shovel and complained.

"Yes! We died so many brothers this morning, and all of them were dozing off behind the camp. After our infantry has taken the bridge, we have to help them clean the bridge deck and respectfully let them pass first! The creep's complaint resonated. Soon the cavalry troubles came, however, and the Prokhov Cavalry Division, along with two other cavalry divisions, was sent to attack the German mechanized infantry division and armored units on the Leif River defense line, but in less than an hour, only half of the cavalry division of more than 10,000 men was withdrawn.

"Retribution!" The creep from before gloated at the dejected cavalrymen. Just now they were so arrogant, in the face of the powerful machine-gun fire of the German army, they became a flock of helpless sheep.

"Don't be stupid, if you can't break through the Germans, you can't defend us, and no one can escape!" Another veteran slapped the creep on the head hard.

"That's right! But why are we surrounded by the same number of Germans? ”

The veteran looked at him, shook his head, and continued to dig the trench with his shovel. Just as their trenches were almost 1 meter deep, the German assault force suddenly appeared to the southwest of them. The Russian soldiers dropped the shovels in their hands and started shooting in a panic that had not yet been fully arranged, and the soldiers armed with rifles either bowed or crouched and shot from the trenches in an extremely awkward position, the Karcha division now had only 8 rapid-fire guns and a small number of shells, and they hurriedly fired at the rapidly approaching armored vehicles and motorcycles of the German army, and as a result, most of the shells fell behind the Germans. The shells that occasionally fell in the ranks of the German army posed a huge threat to the German soldiers on the motorcycles, and the 3 or 4 motorcycles around the point where the shrapnel fell suddenly lost control, and the serial impact made the German motorcycle queue sink a small piece, and the colliding motorcycles burst into a high ball of fire, and the surviving German soldiers rolled on the ground with a large body full of fire.

By the time the Russian soldier began to press the second row of bullets into the rifle magazine, the veteran beside him had already brushed the ground and loaded the bayonet onto his rifle. At this time, the first 10 German armored vehicles had rushed in front of them, they first stopped in front of the trench, used the two machine guns in the front to frantically strafe the soldiers in the trench, and then turned the head of the car to drive back and forth along the trench, the machine guns on the roof and the wall of the car began to exert their might, forcing the Russian soldiers to flee the trench one after another. The remaining German armored vehicles and motorcycles bypassed the sides of the trenches and swept down the Russian soldiers who tried to flee the area. The soldiers of the entire Karcha division were pinned down alive near their positions, they and the Prokhov cavalry division were already surrounded in a small area, and the road to the rest of the Russian army was completely cut off. After a while, there was billowing smoke and dust in the west, and six German infantry regiments arrived in trucks to pick up the separated Russian troops.

Colonel Karcha, the commander of the Karcha Division, was extremely frustrated and desperate, the artillery in his hand was useless at such a close distance, most of the machine guns were suppressed by those damned German armored vehicles near the trenches, and now the Russian soldiers lying on the ground could only let those German machine guns fire wildly.

At this moment, the remaining thousands of cavalry of the Prokhov cavalry division suddenly rushed out of the grove, and they desperately charged the Germans, and the Russian infantry looked at them with both expectant and worried eyes. As German fire was scattered across the cross-section, the soldiers at the front fell from their horses as fast as they sprinted, and as the German machine gunners began to change their belts, they rushed in front of the motorcycles and armored vehicles. The soldiers on the German motorcycles opened their frightened eyes, and a bright light crossed by, many German soldiers were cut off from the car before they could shout, and dozens of motorcycles were besieged by thousands of Russian cavalry, and the scene was very bloody and cruel. Only the German soldiers in the armored vehicles tried to stop them with few machine guns and rifles, but they were powerless to change the carnage.

The Russian cavalry roared through the German blockade, leaving dozens of intact motorcycles and nearly a hundred German corpses covered in knife wounds on the ground. The soldiers of the Kartsa Division climbed up from the ground with cheers, and they desperately rushed towards the breakthrough opened by the cavalry, but five armored personnel carriers quickly blocked the opening, and hundreds of German infantry jumped from it, and they repelled the Russian infantry with machine guns, rifles and grenades on motorcycles. Ten minutes later, a large number of German soldiers finally arrived, and although many brave Russian soldiers fought with bayonets and fists, the German infantry, which was equal in number but in good formation, quickly gained the upper hand, and the surrounded Karcha division gradually began to crumble.

The cavalry of the 3,000-plus Prokhov Cavalry Division, which had just broken out of the blockade, soon made a comeback, and with the cooperation of another Russian infantry division nearby, they launched an assault on the German troops who were encircling and annihilating the Karcha Division.

In this cutting battle, more than 3,000 soldiers of the Russian Karcha Division, including the division commander, were killed and wounded, and the division lost 80% of its combat effectiveness. The Prokhov Cavalry Division also had only two cavalry regiments left, but Olg's armored forces also paid a heavy price, 3 armored combat vehicles, 2 armored personnel carriers and 78 motorcycles were destroyed, and a total of 711 German soldiers, including infantry regiments, were killed.

Subsequently, the Panzer Army launched two larger-scale cutting operations, annihilating 1 infantry division and half a cavalry division of the Russian army, due to the exhaustion of ammunition, the Russian army began to shrink the defense, and the Olg Panzer Army also began to wait for ammunition supplies, and the offensive was temporarily stopped.