"Spread out! Disperse! Nauminko shouted that he had discovered that the enemy's shelling was extremely accurate, that the shells always fell on the most densely populated places, and that every explosion could inflict great casualties on the Russian army.

Kondrachenko hid under a large tree, and at this time the enemy shelling began to extend to the other side, far from his hiding place, Kondrachenko carefully straightened up, raised his binoculars, and began to look around, looking for the enemy's artillery positions.

Soon, he spotted a cloud of white smoke on a high ground in the distance, and then a cannonball flew with a piercing whistling sound, just falling into the woods and exploding, Kondrachenko saw a cloud of smoke rise, several Russian soldiers and broken pieces of wood were lifted up by the air wave, and then the screams came.

"Shoot at the enemy!" Colonel Nikolsky also spotted the position of the enemy's artillery and shouted loudly, but no one listened to him, and he tried to get to a cannon on his horse, but was stopped by the crowd.

Seeing that the Russian army on the main road was in a mess and had not dispersed until now, Kondrachenko couldn't help but roll his eyes when he looked up to the sky.

He did not expect that he would be such a scene when he left the "Hound Dog" unit and participated in the operation of a large army for the first time.

Kondrachenko cursed, beckoned to Naumenko, and pointed to a cannon not far from him, which was no longer manned.

Nauminko understood what he meant, nodded, and squeezed hard in the direction of the cannon, but no one gave way to him, and he was tall and thin, unable to advance. He was furious. Pulled out a pistol. fired two shots into the sky, and the Russian soldier in front of him panicked out of the way, he strode over, and soon came to the side of the cannon.

Kondlachenko also quickly crowded next to the cannon, he looked around anxiously and shouted: "Gunners! Where are the gunners ?! ”

"Sir! We're here! Someone answered, and Kondrachenko turned his head to see a ravine on the side of the road. Several Russian soldiers were hiding there in panic, and when they saw Kondrachenko watching them, some of them bowed slightly and raised their hands to salute Kondrachenko, their faces were covered with muddy water, which looked very funny.

"Come here! You pigs! Nauminko scolded, "Open the ammunition box!" ”

Several gunners panicked and removed the ammunition box from the ammunition truck and opened it, and two other gunners came over and began to operate the gun under the command of Kondlachenko.

Although graduated from the Engineer Academy, but for the operation of artillery. Kondrachenko is no stranger, and Nauminko seems to have experience in this area as well. The two of them cooperated very tacitly, and soon, the cannon was loaded.

Kondrachenko and Naumenko corrected their aiming, and Naumenko waved his pistol and gave the loud order to fire.

"Boom!"

The huge muzzle of the cannon spewed out a cloud of dark red flames, carrying a large amount of black smoke, and the huge cannonball came out of its chamber and flew straight towards the high ground in the distance.

In order to be able to overwhelm the Satsuma army in firepower, the Russian army brought a large number of artillery from the country, including 87mm field guns, 107mm field cannons, 152mm siege cannons, in order to conquer the strong fortresses built by the Japanese, the Russians even pulled the heavy 279mm mortars to Japan, this time Kondlachenko and Nauminko commanded the fire, it was a 107mm field cannon.

After the end of the Crimean War, the Russians realized the huge gap between the army weapons and equipment and Britain and France, so they began to make efforts to update the equipment of the Russian army, in the Franco-Prussian War, the artillery of the Prussian army had caused great damage to the French army, which attracted the attention of the Russians, and it was at the end of the Franco-Prussian War, shortly after the reunification of Germany, the Russians and the Germans began to develop and cooperate in artillery, this 107 mm field cannon, is the product of this cooperation background.

The 107 mm cannon specially developed by the Germans to help the Russians equip the Russian Army is 19 times the caliber, the upper and lower firing angles are 0 to 20 degrees, the shell weighs 12.5 kilograms, and the maximum firing range can reach 5300 meters, which comprehensively exceeds the artillery used by the Russian army. However, this new type of artillery has only been equipped in the Russian army for more than two years now, and although this artillery has shown excellent performance in tests and exercises, it is not easy for those soldiers in the Russian army who generally do not have a high level of education to master the operation. And now, this evil effect is already being felt on the battlefield.

As Kondrachenko feared, the cannon did not hit the target, and the 107-mm shell fell far on the left side of the high ground and exploded, but it failed to hit the target except for the black smoke that rose into the sky.

However, this artillery showed the beginning of an organized counterattack by the Russian army, although it did not hit the enemy, but it greatly boosted the morale of the Russian army, and some Cossack cavalry identified the direction of the enemy and began to prepare to attack the enemy.

The enemy's shelling continued, one shell after another flew in, exploding in the crowd, although many people had fallen to the ground, but some poorly disguised soldiers were still swept by the shock wave generated by the explosion of the shell, Kondrachenko saw the moment an enemy shell landed, many people flew up from the ground to the shock wave, some people were not injured, just lying on the ground with a dry cough, several medical soldiers were busy around him for a while, and a stretcher team came up to carry him away, Kondrachenko saw that he was coughing up blood, apparently viscerally broken.

Nauminko did not bother with the damage caused by the enemy's shells, he continued to direct the gunners to load and fire, and soon the second shot was fired, but it also failed to hit the enemy's position, but landed in the direction of the right, and smashed a large tree there.

Although the enemy's shelling caused a lot of casualties to the Russian army, Kondrachenko noticed that the enemy's artillery fire was not violent, and he observed it again and determined that the enemy only had two cannons firing, and a hanging heart finally let go.

At this time, an artillery captain ran over and took over the command of Kondrachenko and Naumenko, and with the arrival of professionals, the accuracy of the Russian gunners was noticeably improved. Although they fired two guns in quick succession under the command of this artillery captain. None of them were able to hit the enemy's positions. But it's not that far from the goal.

The bombardment of the Russian 107-mm cannon obviously attracted the attention of the enemy, and after a while, a shell was fired in this direction, and the gunners of the Satsuma were obviously much more skilled than the Russian gunners, and Kondrachenko saw that the shell exploded not far from them, and the two soldiers who could not dodge there were directly hit, and immediately turned into flying pieces of meat.

"Hidden!" Nauminko shouted loudly and jumped into a ravine with his head in his hands. Kondrachenko jumped in after him, and then the artillery captain and several gunners scattered and hid.

Another enemy shell flew in, exploding very close to the 107-mm field cannon, this time because everyone was well concealed, and there were no casualties, but the scattered shrapnel, the deafening explosion, the heat wave and the earth and rubble falling overhead, still shocked Kondrachenko like never before.

Although they gave up firing in order to avoid artillery fire, it was not long before several more 87-mm field guns and 107-mm field cannons of the Russian army began shelling. Soon. There was sporadic shelling, which Kondrachenko knew was the gunner correcting the impact point. Immediately after the first round of artillery fire from the temporary artillery positions of the Russian army began, Kondrachenko, huddled in a ravine on the northwest side of the woods, saw the most spectacular fireworks display he had ever been born in: artillery of various calibers planted the entire Laoshan area with orange fire trees and silver flowers, the violent explosions drowned out all sounds, Kondrachenko and Nauminko lay there without saying a word, the overwhelming shelling made the people feel like they were seasick, and their bodies trembled incessantly in the violent shock wave; Kondrachenko's heart was in turmoil, and what Kondrachenko was thinking about most at this time was his mother: Mom, mother from afar, what are you doing? Your son is about to go into battle, I miss you, Mom!

Only five minutes after the Russian artillery bombardment, the counter-artillery bombardment of the Satsuma Army began, and countless large-caliber shells fell from the sky with fire; The explosion point is extremely close to the area where Kondrachenko is invisible, the shrapnel tears the air, the smoke and dust kicked off by the explosion are almost suffocating, Kondrachenko's heart is twisted to the extreme, this is war, Kondrachenko's life may be drawn in the next suddenly falling cannonball to become eternal, the strange thing is that Kondrachenko did not feel deeper fear except for nervousness, what kind of psychology is this, death is so close to Kondrachenko, but Kondrachenko is so indifferent to its existence; Kondrachenko asked himself, am I a real fighter?

Kondlachenko suppressed the inexplicable thoughts and focused his attention on the battle in front of him.

He never imagined that the enemy would be so cunning and good at fighting.

At first, the enemy only had two cannons to shoot, showing a lack of firepower, just to lure the Russian artillery to attack, and when the Russian artillery began to shoot, and the cavalry and infantry also gathered and prepared to charge, the enemy launched all the artillery to attack!

"Attack! Offensive! In the distance, Colonel Nikolsky rode his horse, brandished his saber and commanded loudly. Under such heavy artillery fire from the enemy, many people around him were blown to pieces, and he himself was unscathed, which cannot but be said to be a miracle, or a blessing from God.

As soon as the Russian artillery bombardment began, the infantry and Cossack cavalry used the smoke barrier caused by the artillery bombardment to launch an attack on the road at the front of the high ground, but unfortunately, the deep and dense grass terrain seriously hindered their movement.

At this time, the trumpet of the attack sounded, the attack finally began, and the whole battlefield boiled.

In addition to the explosion of shells, the sound of rifle and horse pistol fire suddenly set off a storm. Just as Kondrachenko got up and left the hideout, the Russian army began to charge forward like a tide.

Seeing that the front of the enemy position was very flat, Kondrachenko, a sapper major, suddenly remembered something, and his heart began to tense again, he wanted to warn, but he didn't know what to say.

He did not go to the front to investigate, because he was not sure whether the Satsuma, who were skilled in underground demolition operations, would turn the land in front of their position into a terrible minefield.

But before Kondrachenko could recover his senses, the Russian offensive troops plunged headlong into a minefield.

Kondrachenko saw a Cossack officer rushing over on horseback, from entering the minefield to the time when he was seriously wounded and fell to the ground with his men and horses. Time seems to freeze at this moment. People's hearts twitched with the sound of being trampled on again and again. Behind him, more Cossack cavalry rushed into the minefield with him, and the entire Cossack cavalry rushed directly into it, one after another cavalry overturned in the explosion of the mines, and the dying horses let out a piercing wail, and they stubbornly got up, overturned, and then advanced. Until the last breath of life.

The follow-up Russian infantry was frightened silly, and at this time, the Cossack cavalry who rushed into the minefield had no way to retreat, they seemed to be the warriors who died generously in ancient times, just rushed forward without stopping, and then were blown up one after another, they can be said to be using their lives and blood to open the way for the follow-up troops.

What a feat! Many years later, many of the combat situations in which Kondrachenko sacrificed his comrades were somewhat blurred, and only they, only this group of "heroes" who used their flesh and blood to open up minefields, have become a monument forever engraved in Kondrachenko's memory.

Kondrachenko felt his blood boil all over him. A wave of anger from the bottom of his heart burned through Kondrachenko's body and mind, and the distance of the attack from the forward minefield to the enemy positions on the high ground was a blank in Kondrachenko's memory. Kondrachenko only remembered that until the time of the attack on the high ground, he still did not fire a shot, his mouth opened wide and he didn't know what he was shouting, Kondrachenko's brain seemed to stop, and his thoughts were only about the bloody faces and the stumps and severed arms scattered all over the place.

About an hour later, the Russian army finally occupied the high ground occupied by the enemy, the entire high ground has long been unrecognizable in the repeated shelling of the warring sides, the anger of the Russian officers and soldiers has not found a real catharsis, the brutal shelling and locust-like bullets have wiped out all the Satsuma troops defending here, there are also few intact corpses, the same blood is sprinkled all over the land, but these can only arouse greater hatred and hatred in the hearts of Kondrachenko and the Russian officers and soldiers, Many Russian soldiers repeatedly stabbed the corpses abandoned by the Satsuma army with bayonets, and there were no officers to stop their almost crazy moves. Kondrachenko's eyes were already filled with tears, and he couldn't tell whether he was scared or in pain, and there was only one thought that was very clear, and that was to attack more enemy positions and kill more Satsuma!!

Half an hour later, Colonel Nikolsky began to direct the troops to move towards the second position of the Satsuma Army to meet the enemy, Kondrachenko followed the movement of the first infantry company with a Mosin Nagant rifle, at this time the company commander Vsholgov crossed the crowd and broke into the front of the battle formation, when he passed Kondrachenko, he asked Kondrachenko if he wanted to smoke, and then without waiting for Kondrachenko to answer, he threw Kondrachenko a pack, Kondrachenko wanted to say something, but he couldn't find the words for a while, He hurried to the front of the group, and that was the last word he left for Kondrachenko.

Kondrachenko advanced to the southwest side of this high ground with the first and second companies, and the observation post of the Satsuma army quickly discovered them, and in an instant, the Satsuma army firepower from both directions of the high ground and the main position covered the entire valley, and the Russian soldiers around Kondrachenko were knocked down one after another, and the attack formation was chaotic, and the soldiers crouched in all corners to return fire at the Satsuma army position above, Kondrachenko and Vsolgev and a group of Russian soldiers were stared at by the Gatling machine guns of the Satsuma army, The dense rain of bullets weighed down the Kondlachenkos at all; Kondrachenko's heart was full of despair, Vsholgev was finally hit when the second round of barrage came, the bullet pierced his head and torso, his death was instantaneous, even before the pain came, he had already choked, blood and brains were all over the ground, at that moment Kondrachenko felt fear instantly occupy his heart, the sacrifice was tragic, and Kondrachenko's stomach was even more overturned. Soon, the suppressive artillery fire of the Russian army began to violently knock on the positions of the Satsuma army, and the fire of the Satsuma army was significantly weakened.

I don't know who used the heavy 279mm giant mortar cannon, Kondrachenko saw the huge cannonballs like meteors falling from the sky, smashing straight into the enemy's position, the enemy's position seemed to be opened by the hand of the Greek mythological Titan, countless earth and wood fell from the sky, like a rain of mud, although there was still some distance from the enemy's position, but Kondrachenko could still feel the terrible shock, his stomach was even more uncomfortable, and finally couldn't help but vomit.

The ferocious fire suppression of the Russian artillery effectively supported the offensive operations of the infantry, the position of the Satsuma people was once again covered by a rain of bullets, many soldiers were killed, Kondrachenko saw that the unique hat-shaped helmet of the Satsuma army was blown up half a day high, and a broken katana flew far away and fell in front of Kondrachenko.

Kondrachenko saw the severed hand attached to the hilt of the katana.

At this time, Kondrachenko's face was still stained with Vsholgoff's blood, there was no order, there was no command, Kondrachenko shouted, and together with the other Russian soldiers, he picked up his rifle and began to charge desperately towards the high ground. (To be continued......)

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