Chapter 22: The Encirclement

After receiving the order, the two accompanying artillery brigades quickly washed the Russian front with shells again. Every time a cannonball falls www.biquge.info the earth shakes. Dirt splattered, shrapnel shot everywhere, and gunpowder smoke hung over the land.

The artillery brigade was only formed after the explosion of steel production capacity in the Northwest Town Guard. Each separate artillery brigade was divided into an observation battalion, a cannon regiment and a howitzer regiment. The total number was about three thousand people, and there were twelve 120mm cannons, twelve 105 light howitzers and twelve 75mm rapid-fire guns.

There was also another type of artillery brigade formation in the plan, which removed the 75mm rapid-fire guns and replaced them with four-gun 155 howitzers. Such firepower is enough on the battlefield in the Far East, if not too much.

When Li Dingyuan and the others fought in Langfang and other places before, they were beaten by the heavy artillery of the allied forces of the great powers and couldn't raise their heads. Since then, most of the participants have become advocates of artillery. The larger the caliber, the better, and the more in number, the better. The so-called "more is good, big is beautiful" This kind of saying quickly became popular among generals and officers.

As for the ordinary soldiers, they are also in favor of this. Those thick tubes that are hard and black make people feel powerful when they look at them, and they feel reassuring when they look at them.

Two artillery brigades plus two divisions of divisional artillery combined with a total of nearly two hundred artillery pieces, and the projection per minute was enough to reimburse the infantry of one brigade. Seeing countless shells falling on the Russian defense line, Li Dingyuan was greatly excited, and then said: "The power of this light howitzer is not as powerful as the heavy one." ”

He has also seen the power of the 155mm howitzer, and the feeling of shaking the mountains as soon as the cannon goes down makes people feel a feeling of blood gushing when they think about it. He was conceited of his martial arts, and there were no more than three people in the army who could defeat him. But even a master like him can't resist that kind of power.

And as far as he knows, Taiyuan Heavy Industry is developing a super-heavy howitzer of 280mm caliber. The 155mm caliber is no longer something that manpower can compete with, and the 280mm caliber cannon does not know how powerful it will be.

After another two hours of shelling, there was no sign of defensive facilities on the positions of the Russian army. In fact, the first saturation shelling wiped out nearly a third of the Russians' troops in the front line. Never before had the Russians been subjected to such heavy shelling.

In the Battle of Shangganling, the Americans once said that "Chinese shells fall like raindrops, and every six seconds a shell explodes, making people feel like they are in hell." The Chinese on Shangganling lamented that the Americans' shells were like not wanting money, six shells fell every second, and there could be no living people on the ground.

Now the war is fought in hell of fire, and the army that can endure such fire and throw the same fire on the enemy's head will be able to win. The Russians are very brave and are called gray animals, but even if they are, it is impossible to use their flesh to compete with steel.

Unless there is a fortress like Arthur, otherwise, a positional battle with a side with such a large firepower advantage on the plains will only be crushed into powder like a praying mantis in front of the wheel of history.

To say that the equipment of the Russian army, a few years ago, could be regarded as a world-class level, how can it not disgrace the Tsarist Empire as a great power. However, the 20 th century was a decade of the great explosion of science and technology, and it was not possible to keep up with the new generation of weapons. Twenty years ago, the Russian Empire may have been a major power in the world, but now it is a regional power.

Even if it still has a vast land and a large population, the current Russian army, whether it is the number of extremely strong aggregates or the number of artillery, is at an absolute disadvantage. As for the quality of the cannon, that's not to mention.

On the first day of the war, the Russians' artillery also showed a sense of presence. Then it was found by Chinese artillery equipped with laptops in twenty minutes, and then, three salvos of cannon artillery regiments, reimbursed the Russian artillery positions in those two places, along with the artillery above.

The ensuing battle is dull, one might even say a little boring. According to Li Dingyuan's words, "the artillery bombards the infantry and the infantry charges the artillery." The fixed routine and rigid tactics have exerted unexpectedly good results because of their heavy firepower that far surpasses that of the Russians.

The Russians did not hold the first line of defense, the second line of defense did not hold under the same tactics, and during this time, the Cossack cavalry tried to make a detour to attack the rear of the Chinese army, but ran headlong into the Mongol cavalry, who were waiting on the flank.

War horses galloped, swords flashed, and on the plains, cavalry had a natural advantage over infantry.

Those Cossacks, who had been in the army for generations, had left a great name in Europe and Asia. However, this is no longer an era in which individual bravery can run rampant in the world, and in front of rapid-fire guns and heavy machine gun positions, no amount of cavalry can only break their heads and bleed.

After the Russian cavalry cluster was crushed, the Chinese Mongolian horse team took advantage of the situation and outflanked the rear of the Russian army. This is not a script arranged by Li Dingyuan's vision, but a spontaneous act of officers on the front line. On the Mongolian plateau, they often used this tactic of defending first and then counterattacking, and it worked well.

This time, the officers leading the team only used the skillful combined infantry and cavalry tactics they used. The Cossacks, who had been overtaken, lost the will to fight and scattered in all directions. The Mongols didn't care about the fleeing enemy, they had a lot of men, and the infantry that caught up behind would deal with the enemy who had lost their organization.

They kept moving forward, and kept going until they chased the enemy to the edge of a river. Seeing the increasing number of enemies gathering by the river, the Mongols slowed down their horses and slowly reorganized their ranks, harvesting the enemy unhurriedly in the distance with a platoon of guns.

There were more and more Mongols, and the Cossacks, after arguing for a while, turned around the dock and rushed towards the frozen water. Although it was the end of October, the river had just frozen, and the rider fell into the icy water along with the war horse under his crotch.

There was a commotion among the Mongols in the rear, and they had fought with these enemies on the steppe many times, knowing that the other party was very difficult, but they did not expect that they would rather jump into the river now than turn back and fight hard.

The officer leading the group was stunned at first, and then ordered the soldiers to shoot at the enemy who were still trudging through the icy water. The corpses of horses and men flowed down the river, and blood stained most of the river.

Then the Mongols turned, and the Russians, who had no time to retreat, were semi-surrounded by the dragoons who had rushed over.