A series of strange-looking trains slowly drove out of Bialystok to the east, it had a huge and hideous, thick iron locomotive, and a rotating turret with a short barrel sticking out of the turret, the train was very short, there were only four carriages behind the locomotive, and from a distance it looked like a large, fat caterpillar.

In the last carriage, the creep Niko. Frome held the handle of the machine gun and nervously looked out through the firing port.

The train was captured the day before their raid on the Bialystok railway station, and Niko and his company were ordered to reconnoiter along the railway to the east.

"Don't be nervous, kids! We sat in it safely, and we heard from the officers that there were only Russian cavalry to the east. As long as you don't get out of the car, those cavalrymen can't do anything about the carriages with thick steel plates! When the time comes, we'll sweep them down one by one, oh, row by row! You see, the Russians have left us a lot of bullets, which they should enjoy themselves! ”

It was Niko's squad leader who had just spoken, and each carriage of this train had six Maxim heavy machine guns, except for two shooting holes on each side of the carriage wall, and a simple machine gun battle position was formed at the door on both sides of the carriage with sandbags, and nearly 20 boxes of ammunition were piled up in the carriage, all of which were equipment left by the Russians on the train. When the Germans captured the train, the Russians inside were all drinking in the city, and the remaining two sentries saw that the Germans were outnumbered, and surrendered without firing a shot.

"Didn't the cavalry have artillery?" Niko finally looked away from the narrow firing port, and he turned to his squad leader and asked.

"This ...... Seems like no! I only saw Russian Cossacks wielding sabers. Sometimes they dragged a heavy machine gun on wheels behind a couple of horses, but I never saw them pull a cannon! The squad leader was a little panicked when he said this, some of their own cannons were still being pulled by horses and mules, and presumably the Russian cavalry would also carry some small-caliber cannons, but he didn't want to worry poor Niko even more.

"Oh! That's good! Niko said and then put his eyes on the firing port, worrying if he would become cross-eyed when he stared at a small hole for a long time.

Despite the fact that it is summer, the prognosis is very cool. After a brief lunch, some of the soldiers lay comfortably on the floor of the carriage, and those who were awake dozed off without stopping. After a morning of unfast and slow marching, they had entered the Belarusian region. A dozen miles from Volkovysk, 80 miles from Bialystok. During this time, they found only a few reconnaissance squads of Russian cavalry nearby, but the Russians only watched them from a distance, and soon disappeared without a trace.

"Forget it. It doesn't seem like there's going to be much to gain today! Let's go back! Niko's company commander picked up the phone in the car and gave the order to the driver inside the locomotive to return to Bialystok. The train had just started to retreat shortly after that. A roar sounded in the distance, like thunder before the rain,

Several young soldiers were about to get up and walk to the door of the carriage to take a look, when the veterans shouted: "It's a cannon!" The artillery of the Russians! Get down! ”

The shells quickly whistled down near the armored train, and the shock wave of the huge explosion shook the steel-walled carriages, and after a choking puff of smoke and the smell of gunpowder, several soldiers at the door of the carriage fell in pools of blood.

"Quick! Accelerate back! The company commander quickly picked up the phone and gave the order, but fortunately the telephone lines between the carriages were not blown up. After putting down the phone. While directing the soldiers to rescue the wounded, he looked out through the shooting hole. There were several large smoking craters near the train, but he didn't see anything else, and there were sparse or dense woods on both sides of the railway.

"Hell! Such a large crater was definitely caused by a large-caliber howitzer! The experienced veteran cursed in a low voice. This cannon is not a weapon that a cavalry division should have, and a direct hit from one of these shells will cost the entire armored train a ride.

In the locomotive, the coal filler desperately added coal to the boiler, and the train quickly recoiled.

"Squad leader, aren't we here to scout?" After bandaging the wounded man's wound briefly, Niko suddenly spoke. The squad leader froze there, then looked at their company commander with a pleading gaze.

The company commander was also stunned, indeed, there was a very unusual situation in this area, and the Russians did not have fortresses and fortresses here.

"Quick, send a report to Command!" As soon as the company commander gave the order, a wave of more dense and heavy artillery fire fell on the head, and then a violent explosion occurred at the locomotive, and a large area near the train was enveloped in steam and smoke. When Niko and his squad leader, the company commander jumped out of the carriage coughing, they were all stunned, the first half of the train including the locomotive no longer existed, the third carriage was also blown off, the whole carriage was bloody and blurred, only the fourth carriage they were in was not directly blown up, but the wall of the carriage was blown through by shrapnel, and most of the soldiers in the fourth carriage had been killed, and now only Niko, the squad leader, the company commander and another wounded soldier remained.

"Quick! Grab your weapons and retreat to the woods to the west! The company commander said, drawing his pistol and running west.

Empty-handed, Niko tried to climb back into the carriage to get his weapon, but the squad leader shoved him a grenade and asked him to help the soldier with the wounded leg get out of the compartment quickly.

After the steam around the train had cleared, the Russian artillery did not continue firing, and a few minutes later a group of brightly dressed cavalry appeared near the wreckage of the train, and one of the leading horsemen came to the side of the fourth carriage to peek inside, and after making sure that there was no room for action, he left with his cavalry.

"Those don't seem to be Cossacks!" The squad leader, who was lying in the woods, whispered, "The clothes of the Cossacks are ugly, these people are dressed like royal guards!" ”

"Oh God, you're right!" The company commander also realized the seriousness of the situation at this time, indeed, it was not an ordinary Gosako cavalry at all.

"There are four of us now, Glitz has a leg injury but can barely walk, and the others are basically just scratching a little bit of skin. Our transmitter was blown up along with the second carriage. It is no longer possible to communicate with superiors. I decided that we would choose one to escort the wounded back first, and report back what we found here! The remaining two people stayed to find out what was going on with the Russians! ”

The squad leader and Niko glanced at each other, neither of them speaking.

"Okay, let's draw lots for the three of us! Drawn to the long draw and Glitz withdrew to Bialystok first! The company commander held the three long and short branches in his hand and handed them them.

The squad leader pulled out one without blinking, and it didn't seem to be very long. Niko hesitated between the two remaining branches for a few seconds before deciding to pull one out.

The company commander spread out his palm, and the remaining one was the longest.

"You two try to be careful. Rush back as soon as you find out what's new! Good luck! After the company commander finished speaking, he helped Glitz to walk west along the woods.

After seeing the company commander leave, Niko climbed back behind the bush near the train, and about half an hour after the cavalry left, a group of Russian infantry came from a distance with two empty wagons, and finally stopped by the wreckage of the train.

"Squad leader, what should we do!"

"Don't do it, just lie on your stomach here," said the squad leader, moving behind the bushes, lying there quietly watching the Russians' every move. The group of Russian soldiers removed the remaining weapons and ammunition from the train while searching the corpses of the German soldiers, stuffing valuable items into their pockets.

The squad leader pulled out a small piece of paper. Write quickly with a pencil. Russian heavy artillery, brightly dressed cavalry, an ominous number of infantry.

After the Russian soldiers loaded their weapons and ammunition into the wagon, they left with the wagon.

"Niko. Go, follow the carriage! The squad leader picked up Nico and left.

The Russian soldier and the two wagons walked slowly and leisurely eastward along the railway, while Niko and the squad leader followed them through the woods with cats hunched over. After they had been walking for a while, there was a sudden burst of gunfire from the west, but it soon stopped. The Russian infantry outside paused and looked around for a moment, and then went on the road as if nothing had happened, only Niko and the squad leader knew what was happening, and their hearts suddenly became heavy.

"Niko, it's up to the two of us to scout this time! Be careful not to make any noise! The squad leader motioned to a frustrated Niko to crouch down. Then he whispered a few words in his ear.

"Yes!" Niko nodded slightly, and slipped the grenade in his grip into his belt.

A few minutes later, the Russian soldiers and carriages turned north at a fork in the railway, where there was an exit from a valley with a sentry in front of it and the barking of dogs.

"Can't go any further!" The squad leader took Niko to lie behind the bushes at the edge of the woods, and a few hundred meters east of this fork was a railway station. Several trains were slowly moving into the small station, and in the valley was a very large camp, and countless flags were faintly appearing, fluttering in the wind.

"Squad leader. The Russians seem to be massing their army here! Niko tried to keep his voice to a minimum.

The squad leader did not answer, but looked around.

"Niko. Can you climb trees? ”

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"Climb up to that tree and take a look!" The squad leader pointed to a big tree with a thick bowl mouth more than ten meters behind them.

"Be careful! Don't break branches or anything like that, if the Russians find out we're done! Before Niko began to climb the tree, the squad leader said two more words.

Like an agile monkey, Niko climbed the trunk of a tree more than three meters high, and what appeared to him was a corner of the valley, where many tents, horses, and cannons were lined up neatly, stretching into the valley. At the same time, a group of Russian troops was jumping out of the train that was parked at the small train station, and then began to march in a formation to the valley.

Niko slipped down from the tree with a thud, and after describing the situation to the squad leader, the squad leader added a few more words to his paper: the Russian army assembly point, the scale is huge, and the number of Russian troops is unknown.

"Quick! We must get back to Bialystok as soon as possible, where the Russians have already assembled a large number of troops, from where they will be able to attack Bialystok in half a day! Damn it! Yesterday the reconnaissance plane also reported that no Russians were found in this area!

The squad leader put away the pieces of paper and muttered, and they immediately began to return the same way.

Along the way, there seemed to be a lot more Russian reconnaissance patrol cavalry, and a team of five of them searched around like hounds. Several times Niko and the squad leader had to lie tightly behind the bushes to avoid the Russian cavalry approaching or entering the woods. So much so that it took them nearly an hour to complete the half-hour journey. When they returned to the wreckage of the train, they found that the Russian cavalry there was even denser, and several groups were even stationed in the woods, and in order to avoid them, Niko and the squad leader had to make detours again and again. After walking further west for more than ten minutes, they saw the bodies of the company commander and Glitz in the clearing between the two woods, the company commander staring straight at the sky with his empty eyes, and Glitz lying face down. They were heavily wounded by stabs and appeared to have been attacked by Russian cavalry.

Niko and the squad leader's mood almost fell to the bottom, but they could not bury their comrades at this time. Not even a chance to close their eyes.

Time is passing through your fingertips minute by minute. Niko felt his stride getting heavier and heavier. The energy replenished by lunch has long been depleted, and the stomach is getting more and more empty. The sun was already setting, and there was still no end in sight to the way back, and perhaps the only good news was that there were fewer and fewer Russian cavalry nearby.

"Squad leader, how long do we have to go?" Niko sat down under a large tree and moistened his chapped lips with the last sip of water from the kettle.

"It took us 5 hours by train, and it took about a whole day to walk!" The squad leader gasped for breath at this time.

At this time, a reconnaissance plane flew over their heads.

"It's our reconnaissance plane!" Niko was about to rush out of the woods, but was pulled by the squad leader.

"Wait! There was nothing under the wing of that plane, it was a reconnaissance plane of the Russians! Oh, my God! The squad leader quickly took out a piece of paper and added a few more words.

"The Russians also have planes?" Niko looked surprised. The Russian troops of the two armies in the East Prussian counterattack also did not have a single aircraft.

"Yes, don't you see? All our planes will be painted with an iron cross under the wings! ”

In Bialystok, the news of the loss of an armored train, which the command of the East Prussian regiment appeared to be very concerned about. At their insistence, the first reconnaissance plane finally barely took off an hour before the sun went down, but that was only enough time for it to search 50 miles east along the railway line.

So the middle strip, 50 miles east of Bialystok and 30 miles west of the Russian assembly point, was also present in the middle of the Russian plane, less than 5 minutes after the departure of the Russian planes. It was this short 5 minutes that delayed the first air encounter between the German and Russian pilots by a day, and also caused the command of the East Prussian Corps to miss this important information.

"Hey! We're here! Seeing the familiar Iron Cross, the squad leader ran out of the woods with Niko, waving their hands to the sky.

Unfortunately, the pilot did not notice it, and fearing that it would not be too late to return to the airport before dark, the plane quickly circled the air and headed west.

As the watcher departed, the squad leader reluctantly lowered his hands, but the sound behind him made the hairs on his body stand on end.

"Niko, run! Run into the woods! The squad leader ran into the woods without looking back.

Niko turned his head differently, and on the hillside not far away, several Russian cavalrymen were galloping down, their swords reflecting the blood-red glow of the setting sun from time to time. Seeing the shocking sight, Niko hesitated for a few seconds before starting to run towards the woods.

"Keep running into the woods, running to the woods!" The squad leader shouted as he ran ahead.

It is a pity that this is a very sparse wood, which can neither hide nor slow down the cavalry.

After a dozen seconds, the horses of the Russian cavalry leaped high, and they easily stepped over the bushes at the edge of the woods, and then the horses' hooves made a muffled pop on the soft earth, and the swords reflected the figures of the two German soldiers running desperately.

The Russian cavalry shouted loudly, they raised their sabers in the air, and in a few seconds they were ready to hunt their prey.

Hearing the sound of horses' hooves getting closer and closer behind him, Niko had an idea, felt for the grenade tied to his waist, pulled out the pull tab, and threw it directly at his feet, a few seconds later he shouted and flew forward.

"Lie down!"

Grenades exploded through the woods with a thud, and dirt and branches fell. Niko got up to find that the three Russian cavalrymen who rushed to the front were all lying in a pool of blood, and one of the horses had a huge cut in the belly, and the internal organs and blood were flowing all over the ground. One wounded Russian cavalryman struggled to his feet, he staggered towards Niko with his saber in hand. Niko groped around his body, and he had no weapons other than a bayonet.

Bang!

Niko had just drawn his bayonet when he saw the Russian cavalryman fall straight backwards.

Behind him, the squad leader lowered the muzzle of his rifle, and with a crisp click, he quickly fed another round into the chamber, and not far away two Russian cavalrymen and their mounts, frightened by the explosion, were spinning in place.

Ten seconds later, the third shell landed softly on the dirt, leaving only two ownerless horses galloping away from the woods.

The squad leader slowly walked past Niko, walked to a Russian cavalryman who had not yet died, looked at the other party's frightened eyes, raised his gun and shot him in the chest, and then picked up the cavalry short gun on the ground and threw it to Niko, who was sitting on the side in a daze.

"God forbid! Let's go! ”

Night fell, and then the darkness was protected, and Niko and the squad leader were moving faster again. In the early hours of the next morning, before they reached Bialystok, they heard the rumbling sound of running from there, and the Russian troops transferred from Galicia had already launched an attack on the East Prussian regiments in the dark of night. By the time Niko returned to Bialystok, the battle on the periphery had already begun for more than four hours......