As soon as the Soviets fled from Utena, Locke led a battalion of troops in accelerated pursuit. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The Soviet army was attacked by the Separate Regiment in the morning before eating, and after a tense battle, all of them became very tired and weak.

"Sir, I haven't eaten breakfast, and I really don't have the strength to continue running. Let's stay and fight the Poles! A soldier pressed his stomach to look at the Polish troops who were getting closer and closer.

A few of the soldiers who were left behind stopped panting and sat down on the edge of the rocks on the side of the road to rest.

The Polish troops were in hot pursuit, and the Soviet soldiers lay down behind the stones and fired.

"I'm out of bullets, who's going to give me some evenness!" A Soviet soldier shouted.

"I still have two." Another soldier said.

"I still have five bullets."

Several Soviet soldiers looked at each other helplessly, and one of them shouted with a reward: "We surrender!" Don't shoot! ”

Several empty guns were thrown from behind the stones, and then the Soviet soldiers slowly walked out with their hands raised.

Along the way, more and more Soviet soldiers were exhausted and fell behind, wanting to resist, many of the soldiers' weapons had already been thrown at Utena, and there were not many bullets in their hands. So one by one the Soviet soldiers collapsed weakly on the side of the road, waiting for the arrival of the Polish army.

"Take away their weapons and ammunition. They are mostly Lithuanians, be kind to them and are not allowed to insult them. Locke said as he looked at the Soviet soldiers on the side of the road, escorted by Polish soldiers.

"Sir, we have captured seven hundred prisoners, and there is no Soviet soldier in sight." An officer reported.

"Keep chasing, there are at least fifteen hundred of them." Locke said.

"Along the way, I saw many Soviet soldiers fleeing into the woods on either side. Sir, are we going to follow up? The officer said.

"No, beware of an ambush in the woods. We've fought so beautifully, I don't want to make a mistake. Locke stopped, "We sent men to guard this section of the road, they didn't bring food, they must still come out of the woods." ”

"Yes, sir."

The gunfire in Utena had stopped, and Koval was in the center of town with a few officers to check.

The 105mm howitzer turned the center of the town upside down and the houses collapsed.

Koval looked at the mess of the streets and said, "Jonsson, I'm so sorry to have ruined so many houses. ”

Johnson immediately said: "Most of the houses destroyed this time were the houses of the Soviet troops, and the ordinary residents were not affected much. ”

"However, the explosion at the arsenal was just too powerful." Koval looked at the smoke that kept drifting over the ruins of the arsenal and said, "If it weren't for it, we might not have been able to drive the Soviet troops out of the city so smoothly." ”

"It's just a bit of luck on our part." Ivanovsky said proudly.

Koval couldn't help but think of those earth-shattering lucky events in the history of war, and said with a smile: "I stopped such a real thing on the Western Front. During the Battle of Verdun, the tiny Verdun turned into a dense artillery position. As the saying goes, the first strike is stronger, and the second strike suffers. At the very beginning of the operation, the German army, relying on its artillery superiority, made a great use of the power of the "artillery god", and in the first fire assault, at a speed of 100,000 rounds per hour, 2 million shells rained down on the French artillery position. Just for the capture of the French Douaumont battery, the Germans fired 120,000 shells. This overwhelming artillery fire dealt a heavy blow to the French army.

After the end of the first round of German attacks, the French used their remaining forces to retaliate against the German artillery positions and heavy concentration areas, destroying part of the German artillery positions. However, the return fire did not last long. Because, except for an inferior dirt road from Verdun to the city of Baleduk, all other roads to the rear were cut off by the Germans, and the ammunition could not be replenished in time. The French army had to use shells sparingly, one shell at a time, which made the situation of the French army, which was already passive, even more serious. If the Germans attacked at this time, the French would have no choice but to tie their hands and capture. Thankfully, the Germans were completely unaware of this. The two sides are at a stalemate.

Just when the French army was at a loss, dramatic changes occurred. On this day, the French army was still fighting back with shells on the German positions in a painless manner. A gunner, who did not know whether he had added the wrong amount of medicine or installed the wrong ruler, a French shell happened to penetrate through the vent of the German army's fortified ammunition depot, and all the ammunition in the ammunition depot was detonated. This triggered the largest explosion in World War I. The Germans were reimbursed 90% for ammunition reserves. After the earth-shattering roar fell silent, the German ammunition reserves were reduced to ashes, leaving only a scorched earth where the ammunition was stored.

In an instant, the lack of ammunition for the guns on the German positions turned into piles of scrap metal. After receiving the information, the French seized the advantageous fighter opportunity and carried out a "point-and-shoot" attack on the artillery of the German position. The German artillery became a fixed target for the French army, and all of them were destroyed. The Germans suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Verdun, and that lucky shell really contributed to it. ”

"It's amazing how a single shell can affect a battle with millions of dead and wounded." Ivan sighed.

"It's just luck, and it may never happen again." Parker said.

Koval remembered the German Dora artillery in World War II, and during the attack on Sevastopol, a shell destroyed the Soviet ammunition depot located 30 meters underground.

"This incident illustrates the power of artillery, and even if we can't always explore the arsenal across the road, it can still play a huge role in bombarding the enemy's barracks, grain depots, bridges, and other important places." Koval said: "Ivan, you have to think of more ways to use the power of our artillery. This time you did a very good job, greatly reducing the losses of our army. I have decided to give you a third-class meritorious service for the artillery company. ”

Ivan smiled and said, "It's still the commander's command." ”

In the afternoon, Locke led a battalion of prisoners back to Utena.

"Sir, this time our army took a total of 1,200 prisoners, most of them Lithuanians, and some of them Belarusians and people from other regions. Are we going to send them to the prisoner of war camps in the rear? Locke reported.

"Well, let's stay here for now." As soon as Koval heard the words "POW camp", he knew it was not a good place.

I suddenly remembered the news that the Polish army had mistreated Soviet prisoners of war. (To be continued.) )