At 0:00 on November 14, 1937. Northern Latvia, Valmiera.

Suddenly a flash of light swept over the front of the Soviet Red Army that turned the night almost into day. Many Chinese officers and soldiers who were nervously staring at the direction of the dark Soviet position opposite felt that their eyes were dazzled, and then an unimaginably loud roar sounded in their ears, which immediately turned into a scream like a ghost crying wolf. The shelling of the Soviet Red Army began! And as many as 1,370 medium and heavy howitzers, 2,160 light howitzers, field guns, mountain artillery, and hundreds of 120mm heavy mortars burst out at the same time on a not-so-long front! The fiery red trajectory suddenly intertwined in the sky, a huge web of firelight. In just a few seconds, groups of shells exploded above the positions of the squadron, the earth trembled, and the mountains and rivers changed color!

Wei Lihuang and Du Yuming, who were sitting at the general headquarters ten kilometers away from the front line, saw that everything in the room was shaking, and the glass windows that had been taped with tape were trembling. The lights flickered on and off. Bursts of dust fell from the ceiling. All the people in the headquarters stopped moving around at this moment, put down their work, and just listened to the continuous explosion with their ears pricked up, and they couldn't tell the explosion point at all!

After I don't know how long, Du Yuming suddenly said in a deep voice: "Listen to the sound, at least 3,000 cannons are firing at the same time!" By the standards of the Soviet army, there were almost 60 regiments...... That's standard for 12 infantry corps! ”

Wei Lihuang raised his eyes and looked at Du Yuming, who was worried, and said lightly: "There is also the artillery of the direct headquarters...... There should not be 12 corps, but 8 or 10 corps must have. 400,000 to 500,000 people in Valmiera alone! This Tukhachevsky is really a ruthless character! ”

"Junzuo, it looks like we're the main direction of attack here."

"There is a road to Riga, and they want to open the gap as quickly as possible, and then use mechanized and cavalry units to quickly assault Riga, destroy the airfield there, and at the same time attack the German Sixth Army or Seventh Army from the flank......"

"Army Group North is now in an emergency on three sides, and there are no reinforcements to send." Du Yuming raised his eyebrows and calculated, "Reinforcements can only be sent by Lithuania's Central Army Group. The road conditions for these two days, I am afraid that I will not be able to reach Riga without three or four days. ”

"Well, it will take at least five days for reinforcements to come in. This is already the most optimistic estimate. During these five days. We cannot be defeated by the Soviet Red Army...... Light Pavilion. You stay at the headquarters. I went to the headquarters of the Eighteenth Army. Keep in touch and deal with any situation ahead of you in a timely manner. That's right. Grand Duke Alexander (Commander of the First Russian Army. Wei Lihuang's nominal boss) There is also a Russian army and an Italian regiment to be sent there, you communicate with him, how about giving two Russian divisions. After Wei Lihuang gave the order, he was ready to go to the front line, Du Yuming glanced at him, knowing that the determination of this Wei chief was unshakable. He just nodded silently: "Okay, Chief Wei goes to the front line to unify the command, which is a blessing for the whole army." When it comes to reinforcements, I will try my best to fight for them, and there is no problem with the custody of two Russian divisions! ”

After Du Yuming finished speaking, he solemnly gave a military salute to Wei Lihuang. And Wei Lihuang also returned the salute solemnly. The commander of the Chinese expeditionary force, Commander Wei, strode out of the headquarters without looking back. Du Yuming, Chief of Staff Du also stood solemnly and watched his back go away. Before the unprecedentedly tragic war that is coming, no one knows if they will see each other in the next life!

……

“…… The artillery of the Soviet Red Army was undoubtedly formidable. In Valmiera, the preparation time for their artillery fire was also unprecedentedly long. It's the longest I've ever had! They gathered about 3,000 cannons and bombarded them for 12 hours, a way of fighting that almost made people think they were back in Verdun in the First World War. Fortunately, before the Soviet artillery bombardment was launched, the command ordered us to abandon our forward positions and shrink into reserve positions to avoid shelling. Their first tens of thousands of shells were just in vain! However, after the barrage bombardment of Soviet artillery began, the platoon under my command was ordered to return to the first line of field positions! Before that, all of us left a suicide note! Because we know that the time has come to dedicate oneself to the great cause of the country! ”

“…… Our platoon consisted of forty brothers, three MG37 general-purpose machine guns, one 12.7mm anti-tank gun, and before the war we received three Min-26 automatic rifles, in addition to 15 Zhongshan rifles and 14 Min-18 submachine guns. Such equipment was very good at the time, better than that of the Wehrmacht. Stronger than those Soviet infantrymen. So we weren't particularly worried before we went up. But when we saw with our own eyes the tide of people rolling in, and heard the frenzied sound of Ullah faintly dragging out the guns, we knew what real war was! ”

This is part of the content of General Hao Baixiong, who later became the chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht, in his "Memoirs of the Expeditionary Force".

"Fire! Fire! Hurry up and fire...... "Hao Baixiong, who was still a second lieutenant at the time, had the only thought in his heart at that time was to block the surging crowd offensive of the Soviets as far away as possible. So as soon as the enemy came within effective range of rifles and machine guns, he shouted and gave the order to open fire.

Although the textbooks of the Whampoa Military Academy require commanders to put the enemy as close as possible to fight in order to maximize the advantage of firepower. However, on that day, no front-line commander dared to do so on the entire Valmiera front. At the moment when Hao Baixiong gave the order to open fire, the long-suppressed gunfire suddenly erupted in the trenches, and hot bullets rained down. The approaching crowd slowed down a bit, and in some places retreated, but it didn't last long. Soviet mortars, which followed the infantry movement, began to fire fiercely, suppressing the positions of the Chinese Wehrmacht. Balls of fire, shrapnel, and other things rolled up by the shock wave rolled through like a whirlwind, and many people died for their country without even screaming! And most people, including Second Lieutenant Hao Baixiong, who graduated from the 12th phase of Whampoa, had to retreat into the trenches in order to save their lives. As a result, the firepower on the position was suddenly reduced by a large margin, and the Soviet offensive became even more unstoppable.

Rumble! Rumble! Boom -

Just when everyone thought that the position was about to be lost, a dense and urgent artillery fire suddenly smashed into the dense charging formation of the Soviets. The battlefield was filled with the sound of Russian-speaking screams! This is more than a thousand cannons of the 12 artillery regiments of the Chinese Expeditionary Force and the 3rd Infantry Corps of Russia. At a very high frequency, a high wall of artillery fire swept past the charging Soviet troops......

This artillery attack was ordered by Wei Lihuang. He was now in a shelter on a hillside just 3 kilometers from the front-line position. He and Huang Wei, the commander of the 18th Army who was with him, each guarded an artillery mirror. Seeing that the arrogant sea of people offensive of the Soviet army was swept away by the fire of the squadron, he scolded hatefully: "Fuck! More than others! These Russians are really blind......"

……

At this time. On the opposite side of Wei Lihuang. Tukhachevsky, the god of the Red Army, also came to the front to supervise the battle.

"This Malinovsky is an idiot!" Tukhachevsky saw another round of the offensive of the Red Army overwhelmed by Chinese artillery fire. In a fit of rage, he raised his hand and threw the telescope in his hand to the ground, smashing two precious Zeiss lenses to pieces. "After a whole afternoon, not even the enemy's first line of defense was broken! Fight like this......" Speaking of this, he couldn't help but wave his fist heavily, not knowing whether he wanted to smash Major General Malinovsky's head or smash the Chinese defense line?

And Lieutenant General Zhukov, the deputy chief of staff of the 1st Baltic Front, who had just arrived, squinted at the sweaty Malinovsky. To be honest, he was a little dissatisfied with the current way of fighting in order to preserve the strength of tank troops, and simply using infantry + artillery to tear apart the enemy's defense line. What is the difference between this style of play and positional warfare in World War I? If you use this tactic against a weaker opponent like Poland, you can barely make do, but you will encounter enemies like Germany and China...... Naturally, the results are very limited.

So Zhukov opened his mouth and suggested: "The situation is very urgent. I think. We should send Baghramyan's 3rd tank corps in advance and let the tanks lead the infantry to attack. After a pause, he added: "Comrade Marshal, now is the best time to throw tanks." ”

"Konstantin, the number of our tanks is too small to afford to consume, and we can only put it in until the most critical moment." Tukhachevsky patiently explained. In fact, he was still very optimistic about Zhukov, a young Red Army general, whose performance in this Belarusian campaign was very eye-catching. And in the Battle of Vovomin in Poland, Zhukov actually had a good performance, and the reason for the defeat was really not him. It's really Chinese tank that's too powerful...... Thinking of this, Tukhachevsky suddenly woke up. Isn't the opponent this time Germany with a powerful tank corps? Those T-26s of the Soviet army are simply not enough for the 10 German armored divisions, and now they are fighting with the idea of fighting fast and slow, so they are not afraid of losing tanks, only of losing time.

"Konstantin. Comrade Zhukov, I understand what you mean. Tukhachevsky's face darkened. We don't have many tanks, but we have less time, so let's go and prepare a battle plan...... We're going to trade tanks for time, let Balagmiyan's 3rd Tank Corps send two battalions, assigned to Lukin's 46th Infantry Corps, and let Lukin go up from tonight. ”

"Okay! Comrade Commander. Zhukov sighed softly, and then hurriedly went to arrange the attack of the tank troops.

Although the Soviet army is redeploying its troops, it is preparing to launch a coordinated attack on infantry and tanks, trying to crush the squadron in one fell swoop. But their shelling did not stop. Moreover, in order to cover the focus of the attack and kill and wound the Chinese infantry, the Soviet artillery began to shift between various positions, bombarding this position for a while, and then shifting to other positions to spread the wilderness. Every time the artillery fire shifted, the defenders thought that the Soviet infantry attack was about to begin, but whenever the troops entered the trenches, they were often greeted by overwhelming fire that suddenly turned around. After a few casualties, the squadron will no longer easily move from the reserve position to the front-line position.

And this is exactly what the Soviet army wanted. At 10:20 p.m. that night, the originally somewhat messy Soviet artillery fire suddenly burst into unison, and a high wall made by artillery fire formed in front of the Ramier Heights held by the 108th Regiment of the 36th Division of the Chinese National Defense Forces, and then slowly pressed towards the Ramier Heights at a speed of about 10 meters per minute. Behind this wall of fire, which the Chinese observation posts could not see, 50 T-26 tanks marched slowly in a row, and groups of Red Army infantry wearing steel helmets and white overalls followed them steadily forward.

When the wall of artillery fire finally swept past the front-line positions on the Ramier Heights and extended backwards, the observation posts on the heights finally spotted the surging Soviet tanks and infantry, and in the flash of the explosion, they were black and pressed in groups! The commander of the defending corps, Colonel Deng Yaozai, already knew at this time that the forward position was about to be lost. However, in order to buy the troops in the reserve position time to set up an anti-tank blocking position, he gritted his teeth and ordered one of his battalions to immediately enter the forward position. At the same time, heralds were sent to request reinforcements. Calls for artillery support also reached the artillery command.

The middle ** people, who were already a little haggard and tired, poured out of the shelter. Quickly entered the forward positions, but the Soviet Red Army was also in sight! There was no time to set up the machine gun and open fire. The first time was to fight grenades. The long-handled grenades of the Chinese Defense Forces and the wooden-handled grenades of the Soviet Army flew each other in the air. The sound of explosions inside and outside the trenches rang out! The infantry on both sides was blown to pieces. But this grenade was not much of a threat to the Soviet T-26 tanks with steel armor. The tracks of the tank quickly drove through the trenches of the squadron, and then countless Soviet bayonets poured in! Hand-to-hand combat immediately began on top of the covering position. At this time, the artillery units of the expeditionary force also opened fire desperately, trying to block the input of the follow-up units of the Soviet army with firepower. But under the suppression of the more powerful Soviet artillery, the interference of Chinese artillery was also very limited in what it could provide! Thousands of Soviet troops in the trenches have already drowned the ** people, the equipment of the Wehrmacht infantry is not prepared for hand-to-hand combat, and in front of the Soviet Red Army, which is the world's first in white-knuckle combat, even if they have enough bayonets, most of them will be defeated. A reddish flare rose into the air. That was the Soviet Red Army reporting to the rear, and the forward position of the squadron has now been captured by the Soviet army!

With red eyes, Colonel Deng Yaozai ordered the regimental artillery company to concentrate on bombarding the newly lost defensive line, and asked the artillery group to open fire at the same time...... Although there are still many Chinese ** people there who are making the last resistance! After giving this order, he once again sent a telegram of 100,000 urgent requests for help to the headquarters of the 36th Division. Then he grabbed an automatic rifle and walked with his regimental personnel to the reserve positions on the heights of Ramier......

The reserve position built on the high ground has three trenches and a number of anti-tank gun emplacements, and the reserve position is connected to the shelter where the regimental headquarters is located by a long communication trench, but this communication trench has been destroyed by Soviet artillery in many places! Deng Yaozai and the others didn't care about it so much, and crawled over directly with their hands and feet, and stumbled and ran like this for about ten minutes, and the group finally arrived at the last barrier of the Ramier Heights. At this time, the reserve position has been arranged, and at a glance there are Wehrmacht soldiers who are waiting for the battle, and all of them are as pale as iron, their eyes are red, and it seems that the "jade shatter" in the forward position just now has stimulated their fighting spirit! However, the anti-tank weapons on the position were still insufficient, with only a few 37mm anti-tank guns and some 12.7mm anti-tank guns.

It looks like the anti-tank capabilities of the Wehrmacht infantry are also insufficient! Deng Yaozai felt that it was not easy to stop the steel torrent of the Soviet army with such anti-tank firepower! That's when it happened.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

The sound of landslides and explosions shook the earth again, and the powerful artillery group of the Soviet army was now starting to exert its might again, and the target was the last line of defense on the Ramier Heights, which was held by the 2 battalions of the 108th Regiment of the Wehrmacht! The shelling did not last long, only four or five minutes. However, the effect is very good, in Deng Yaozai's sight, part of the trench has collapsed, more than half of the obstacles at the front of the trench have been cleared, and the rest is no longer enough to stop the tide of Soviet tank infantry, fortunately, the 4 37mm anti-tank guns and 3 75mm mountain guns are still intact. But when he stood on the steps of the trench and set his eyes on the front, he suddenly felt a tremor in his heart. Because in the open area opposite the position, hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles poured in like ant colonies, and in the distance thousands of Soviet soldiers. From a distance, it seems that a white tide is surging, relying on the remnants of more than 1,000 people in the 108th regiment, how long can it last?

Deng Yaozai was not sure at all.

Brutal battles were soon ensued, with anti-tank guns, mountain artillery, cluster grenades, explosive packs, ...... All the anti-tank weapons that could come in handy were thrown into the fight by the Wehrmacht soldiers against the Soviet tank clusters. Although the thin armor of the T-26 could not withstand the blow of the 37mm anti-tank gun, although the Chinese officers and soldiers on the front line did not hesitate to sacrifice and fight to the death, the defenders still could not stop the fierce offensive of the Soviet army sea + fire sea + tank sea...... The Ramier Heights were finally broken through by the Soviets in the early hours of November 15! The defending Wehrmacht's 108th Infantry Regiment is fully smashed!

But the battle continues......