Early morning. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

There are still thirty minutes left before the scheduled time for attacking.

Earlier, the mercenaries had checked their war machines for the last time, convinced that every single part of them was in the best condition and was able to hold out until the end of the battle, and now, they gathered together, talked in whispers, and waited for orders from their commanders.

He arrived quickly, but instead of walking into the middle of the crowd, he climbed into an armored car.

"Quiet." The sound with a thick Scottish accent penetrated everyone's ears, and as a result, the conversation stopped, and people began to move their positions, forming a circle next to the armored car.

"I discussed today's mission with Colonel Felsov and revised the original battle plan." The Scotsman said loudly, so that everyone could hear, "Colonel Felsov believes that the mobility of armored vehicles should be fully utilized, so we will attack alone, and not accompany the infantry into battle." ”

The whispers resumed, mostly directed at the Russian colonel, whom most of the mercenaries had not yet met: from what they knew about him, he was an arrogant and conservative old soldier who had always been an infantry officer. They did not expect that he would be able to clearly understand the tactical characteristics of armored vehicles and be willing to make plans based on these characteristics.

"That's a good sign." Someone made their own comment.

"Quiet!" Before more people could comment or agree, the voice of the Scots rang out again, "When the battle begins, the artillery will first prepare for fifteen minutes of artillery fire, and during this time, we will use the noise of the explosions as cover to move to the flanks of the Japanese." Then Colonel Felsov's infantry went on the offensive, and as soon as they came into contact with the Japanese, we began a surprise attack. ”

"So, the colonel intends to let his soldiers act as bait to attract the attention of the Japanese?" A mercenary asked.

"Think so." The commander nodded, and continued, "Our priority targets are the Japanese headquarters and artillery positions, and I have decided to use four squads for this task, while the other six squads are responsible for clearing the positions—"

An impatient voice interjected. "How did you assign it, Commander?"

It's William. Butz.

"I was about to mention that, Mr. Butz, please be patient." The Scotsman smiled and continued: "There were six armored vehicles equipped with .50 caliber machine guns that the Pentagon had urgently delivered, so I adjusted the grouping, and the Echo, Foxtrot and Golf squads each had two of these armored vehicles, and the task of destroying the artillery positions of the Japanese was entrusted to them. ”

"Gentlemen, it looks like we've got the most dangerous job." The leader of Team Echo smiled and patted the Foxtrot Team Commander on the shoulder next to him, then gave a thumbs up to the Golf team guys not far away.

The captain of the Golf squad responded with a wry smile. "I knew that assigning those few armored vehicles to my squad would not end well."

Some of the mercenaries laughed, and the Scots had to emphasize the word again, "quiet" - no matter what emotions the mercenaries intended to express, he still had nothing to say.

"Delta Squad is in charge of taking out the command of the Japanese." He paused and raised his voice. "I don't think I need to name any more squads, only one thing I'm going to say, clean up the Japanese positions, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." The mercenaries shouted, and some of them gave a military salute, half serious and half joking.

"Good." The commander glanced at his soldiers, "Now, what's the problem?" ”

No one spoke, so the meeting ended.

"Then, gentlemen, take your place." He gave a military salute in return to those just now, "Good luck to you." ”

The crowd quickly dispersed. The mercenaries rushed to their war machines as fast as they could, climbing into their positions. Everything is ready to go.

Fifteen minutes to go.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, Kotaro Ita of the 47th Infantry Wing was assessing the situation and trying to make a difficult choice: wait for the opposite Lucia army to attack, then use the field fortifications built yesterday to thwart the operation, or preemptively start the battle and crush the opponent with a ferocious and rapid assault.

At no other time would Kotaro Ita feel that making a choice was a difficult thing to do, or even that he didn't need time to think about it at all - attacking, crushing his opponents, driving them back to his hometown, was his choice, the only one. But the problem now was that the command of the 12th Division demanded that he scrupulously carry out the task of guarding the flank of the division, and not attack the positions of the Lucians without authorization.

Because Lieutenant General Inoue Hikaru had been warned by Kuroshima's intelligence agency, it was possible that the Lucia would use their new weapon, the Rice-made ironclad chariots, in the combat area of the 12th Division. Although not entirely believing this unconfirmed information, the division command decided to shrink the line and take a cautious stance on future battles until the alarm was lifted or the unknown unit of ironclad chariots was found.

So he got a shackle spell.

Ita was full of resentment at this decision, as well as at the Kuroshima Intelligence Agency, whose work had hardly been effective, but who had always issued sensational, seemingly deliberately fabricated warnings, which he could not really ignore, and the explicit directives of the divisional command.

Like all Japanese officers who reached his position, Hirotaro Ita was eager to go one step further and become a respected general, which meant that he could not make mistakes.

Success is good, while failure is bad.

Kotaro Ita's heart was full of contradictions. To take risks, or not to take risks, this is a serious question.

He hesitated, and time slipped away.

Then he doesn't have to choose.

He heard the sound of artillery fire and the explosion of shells.

After just a moment of silence, Hitotaro Ita's command became noisy, and the staff officers quickly rushed to their posts, asking questions, confirming information, discussing the situation, studying countermeasures, and finally drawing conclusions, and then all these conclusions were gathered again and sent to Kotaro Ida.

"According to observations and calculations, Lucia's army is about to launch a wing-level attack on our position."

"A team-level offense?" Kotaro Ita was a little surprised, because according to the intelligence of the previous day, his opponent was only the size of a wing. "The whole army is assaulted, and the commander of Lucia's army burns out his brain?"

"Maybe he's got reinforcements." A staff officer made his own point of view.

"Maybe he has some other conspiracy." Kotaro Ita also has a guess, and he believes it. After thinking about it for a while, he gave the order, "Let the artillery carry out a counterattack." The infantry entered the position, ready to meet the Lucians, and at the same time, reminded every junior officer and non-commissioned officer that it was strictly forbidden to launch a counterattack without my orders. ”

"Yes, Dazuo."

"Send a search detachment to the flank of our position, and as soon as an anomaly is detected, immediately fire red flares."

"Understood, Dazuo."

"And notify all officers above the squadron leader level to come to my headquarters to discuss the battle plan."

Kotaro Ita waved his hand, and the soldier who conveyed the order immediately rushed out of the headquarters, while he focused his gaze on the military map.

If the Lucian commander had any other plan, the most likely would be to send a force back to the flank, or even the rear, of his position, and then launch a surprise attack at a suitable time - the question is where this force has arrived, what size, and ......

What kind of troops is it?

Kotaro Ita thought of the ironclad chariot unit mentioned in the warning of the Kuroshima Agency. Some bad thoughts began to gather in his head. He shook his head vigorously and kicked them out of his brain.

He couldn't accept those ideas - they couldn't be true, he was very sure.

One or two new weapons cannot change the outcome of a war.

Both of his hands clenched, and then he let go. Kotaro Ita let his attention return to the front of the battlefield.

The sound of artillery fire and shell explosions had become so fierce - and indeed in the size of the two armies - and the artillerymen of the two countries were passionately exchanging ammunition, producing one climax after another, only in the midst of the noise every person with a keen hearing could accurately distinguish that the Russians had a clear advantage, firing almost three times as many shells per minute as their opponents.

And the caliber of the artillery they used also surpassed that of their opponents.

Colonel Felsov gazed with satisfaction at the eight heavy mortars of one hundred and twenty mm caliber on his artillery position. According to him, this was the best weapon that St. Petersburg had purchased in the United States, surpassing the larger caliber of 160-millimeter heavy mortars - they were too bulky; It also surpasses the technologically advanced armored vehicles - they are too delicate and prone to breakdowns.

The War Office should procure this weapon in large quantities, with the "thousand" as the basic unit, and then equip each infantry regiment with at least sixteen guns, so that the Reich could easily win the war - drowning the Japanese monkeys with shells and tearing them all to pieces.

Felsov raised his chin, fantasizing about the wonderful, intoxicating picture, almost unable to extricate himself until his lieutenant interrupted his thoughts.

"Colonel, the time for the infantry to attack is coming, and there is less than a minute left."

"Hmm." Felsoff exhaled a breath of air, trying to stay calm. "Signal."

The adjutant handed the order to a sergeant, turned around, and asked suspiciously: "Colonel, will those Yankees be able to attack on time?" ”

"They are at least more reliable than our bureaucrats."

Dropping this almost accusatory answer with understatement, Felsov ignored his lieutenant and turned his gaze to the infantrymen who were about to charge, watching their movements through binoculars.

The junior officers seem to have received orders, and they are giving orders to the soldiers.

"Attention everyone, get on the bayonet!"

Some slight noises were made. The Russian soldier completed the officer's instructions almost simultaneously, skillfully inserting the gun into the muzzle and waiting.

An officer pulled out his Nagan pistol, raised his right hand, and pointed it at the sky. "For His Majesty the Tsar, for the sake of Great Russia, soldiers, forward!"

"Ulla!" With a loud shout, the Russian soldiers began to charge. (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )