The road to Valmiera is a bustling scene. The wagons, trucks, and half-track armored transports of the brigade carried all the weapons and supplies that could be carried to the distant place where the artillery was densely fired. Hordes of infantry marched forward with their heads bowed. There is one direction in which the infantry, artillery, and baggage here. It is Valmiera, which is related to the victory or defeat of this war, that is, the place where the Chinese expeditionary force is fighting bloodily.

The commander-in-chief of Army Group North, General Rundsteadt, finally regained his composure from the initial panic. After carefully analyzing the current situation on the battlefield, the German army veteran quickly confirmed that the main direction of the Soviet army's assault was Valmiera, 120 kilometers north of Riga, and as long as the Soviet army broke through the Chinese, Russian, Italian and other allied forces there, at most, the surging hundreds of thousands of Red Army troops could reach the city of Riga in two days! Once Riga is occupied by the Soviet army, the German Sixth Army on the Southern Front and the German Seventh Army on the Eastern Front will immediately fall into the dilemma of being attacked on their backs. After figuring out the goal of the Soviet army, General Rundstedt couldn't help but be secretly taken aback, it turned out that the Soviets had such a big appetite that they actually started to defeat or even annihilate the main force of Army Group North in one fell swoop! Knowing the intentions of his opponent, where did Rundstedt dare to slack off, the reinforcements from Lithuania and East Prussia, as soon as they got off the train, were immediately sent to Valmiera to reinforce the squadron there!

The road to Valmiera was originally a low-level road, but after the German takeover of Latvia, several more roads were built to facilitate the entry and exit of large armies. In this rainy and snowy weather right now. These roads were already muddy, and the pace of reinforcements was seriously slowed down! And the big army moved up. It will also take time to unfold and form a combat state. Until then, will it be possible to withstand the menacing Red Empire in Valmiera? It's up to those yellow-skinned middle-class people!

Wei Lihuang, commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, and Du Yuming, chief of staff, naturally also received an urgent telegram from Rundstedt, in addition to inquiring about the situation at the front. It is to inform them that at present, Army Group North has mobilized a large number of reinforcements and will soon rush to the battlefield. Until then, the Chinese Expeditionary Force must hold on to the end! Rundstedt's order Wei Lihuang could not care, but then Luo Yaoguo also sent a sternly worded order, severely criticizing the expeditionary force for the mistake of losing the important Ramier position on the first day of battle, Wei Lihuang, Du Yuming, and Huang Wei each recorded a major mistake, and at the same time strictly ordered the expeditionary force not to take a step back! Even if you fight to the last man, you must firmly defend Valmiera! After receiving Luo Yaoguo's order, Wei Lihuang and Du Yuming immediately felt the seriousness of the matter. And as a high-ranking officer. They also now know the importance of holding Valmière. But the Ramier Heights have been lost, and now the Soviets can launch an attack on Valmière, and if they want to hold this gateway to Riga, they must recapture this crucial heights!

Du Yuming's face was already a little unshaven. It seems that he is ten years old and haggard all of a sudden. He had been standing in front of the radio station that communicated directly with Wei Lihuang and Zheng Dongguo, the commander of the Seventeenth Army, anxiously waiting for every bit of news ahead. Then, according to the changes in the situation, adjust the firepower in the hand, and send the reserves in the hand in time to increase.

The tactics of the Soviets' infantry artillery put great pressure on the expeditionary force, and the attack on November 14 occupied the commanding heights of Ramier on the left flank of the entire defense line at once! Then the Soviets took advantage of the victory and marched again, and the battle continued from the afternoon until late at night, and the Red Army's offensive did not appear to stop. The artillery fire is getting more and more intensive. During the day, tanks and infantry take turns to assault. At night, it is a pure infantry tactic of fighting people. One of the first attacked Valmière from two directions, as if to pile up corpses. It is also necessary to submerge this strategic place!

The front line was originally two Chinese infantry corps and one Russian infantry corps, and later received two Russian divisions to garrison it. After two days of bloody fighting. The 108th Infantry Regiment has been completely annihilated, the 36th Division has also lost more than half, and the other two divisions of the 18th Army have also suffered more than 30% casualties. The situation of the 17th Army was slightly better, the right flank they held was not the main direction of the Soviet army's assault, so it did not encounter a joint attack by Butan, and after two days of fierce fighting, the losses were about one and a half percent, and they could still hold on. Two of the five Russian divisions (one whole army plus two divisions) that were in reserve had already been sent to reinforce them, and six infantry regiments of the 35th and 55th infantry divisions of the Russian Army had been reinforced, but they were repeatedly cut off and covered by Soviet artillery fire, and almost half of them were lost on the road moving forward! The rest also suffered heavy losses in the fierce fighting. Wei Lihuang still looked calm on the phone, the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force was probably forced by Luo Yaoguo's harshly worded message, and he was probably ready to die on the front line. But Du Yuming knows that now is not the time to "repay the gentleman's kindness with death". Luo Yaoguo's telegram made it very clear that the First World War of Valmière was directly related to the course of the anti-Soviet war, and also directly related to the national fortunes of the country and the nation! Who is a hero of the ages and who is a sinner for the ages depends on the hard work of the kings on the front line!

Du Yuming didn't think much about what Luo Yaoguo's words meant, nor did he think about whether this anti-Soviet war was just, his biggest advantage was obedience! In history, I listened to Chiang Kai-shek's words to fight the anti-G and anti-people civil war, and now I listen to Luo Yaoguo's words to fight the anti-G and anti-people world war! Since Luo Yaoguo wants the expeditionary force to defend Valmière at all costs, then he will defend it well!

He pondered in front of the map for half a night, and finally gritted his teeth and dialed the phone of Wei Lihuang, who personally sat in the military headquarters of the 18th Army to supervise the battle: "Chief Wei, it can't go on like this, the Soviet army has occupied the Ramier Heights, and our rear will lose the barrier, and their artillery fire can unscrupulously bombard and block the road to the front line!" The department proposes to raise as many forces as possible, mobilize the 117th and 118th tank regiments, and launch a counterattack on the left flank in the early hours of tomorrow morning in an effort to recapture the heights"

The battle was still raging around Valmière. The flares and the flames of the explosion of the shells have illuminated the entire battlefield. The Soviet Red Army did not seem to have stopped attacking. They seem to have an endless army and a dead man. Infantry division after infantry division was filled into this furnace. One after the other was maimed! And the new infantry division was immediately replaced! Under the command of Tukhachevsky. The 1st Baltic Front also showed its maximum combat effectiveness. The top brass of the Soviets also seemed to know that this was the moment to decide the fortunes of the Soviet Union, and millions of shells were smashed. After repeated attacks by hundreds of thousands of infantry and thousands of tanks, the Chinese reactionaries and White Russian traitors who were holding on to Valmière should have reached the brink of collapse! Just one more blow. Perhaps victory will come to the Soviet Fatherland again!

The small village where Wei Lihuang was seated was the headquarters of the 18th Army was now almost on the front line, with three winding trenches lying outside the village, and the command post of the 18th Army in the sturdy basement of the Orthodox Church inside the village. When Du Yuming talked to him on the phone. It was when a new infantry division of the Soviets, in conjunction with their powerful artillery group, launched a frontal night assault. The Soviet infantry of the first ** formed a dense wave of people and rushed to the dense fire net of the squadron! Go forward and follow each other, and treat death as home!

But fortunately, their tanks did not appear, and Zhukov's infantry joint offensive finally met a nemesis before dark today, that is, several anti-aircraft artillery battalions belonging to the Luftwaffe! These battalions were armed with the famous 88mm anti-aircraft guns, and the Hans' 88 guns were still as they were in history. It's the nemesis of tanks! Zhukov and Bagramyan's tank corps lost 226 T-26s in a single attack, leaving Tukhachevsky to tears. Hurriedly sent this tank corps and Zhukov back to Leningrad for rest. Although Tukhachevsky was reluctant to use tanks again, the Soviet heavy artillery was as sharp as ever, and the shells of the heavy artillery kept falling. The explosion around the bunker where Wei Lihuang was located shook the people in the bunker from time to time. Huang Wei stood up with difficulty against the wall again, looking at the guard chief with a blank eye.

Wei Lihuang put down the phone in his hand and sighed softly: "What Guangting said is also right, if we don't recapture the Ramier Heights, even if we can defend it, we will run out of troops." But the Soviets attacked so tightly. Where do we have the strength to fight back? Wu me (Huang Wei), do you have any spare strength in the 18th Army? How many soldiers do you have on hand now? ”

Huang Wei just shook his head: "50,000 brothers are here to support the artillery superiority of the Soviets!" Our 18th Army is crippled in this battle, I'm sorry to resign, this 18th Army was brought out by his old man! ”

glanced at Huang Wei, who looked distressed. Wei Lihuang showed a wry smile on his face, shook his head and said, "It's rare that you still remember Chen Cixiu's cultivation grace." But this is no longer the case. Auxiliary Marshal Luo's strict order has come down, and we must hold this place to buy time for the Germans to mobilize troops to counterattack the Soviet Union. He suddenly perked up some of his spirits and said to Huang Wei: "It's already the early morning of the 16th, and the Soviets have been attacking for two days in a row, so it is estimated that they may have to adjust it!" Many of their troops have suffered heavy losses in the face of our defense, and I am afraid that they will not be able to fight until they rest. Enlighten me, you go and mobilize the tank regiment, organize the 118th and 117th regiments, and collect as many infantry as you can. When the Soviets' offensive stops for a while, let's counterattack to the Ramier Heights! ”

……

"The offensive plan must change, it must change! If we continue to fight like this, the Red Army will dry up its blood! Our Soviet Motherland is also going to perish! Comrade Tukhachevsky! Can't you attack from somewhere else? From Aluksne or Rezekne, or even Daugavpils, the progress in those places is better than Valmiyère! The phone came from Russian, with an indistinct Georgian accent, and the Kremlin's master's voice was almost drowned out by the cacophony of the phone because of the distance and the backwardness of Soviet telecommunications technology.

Tukhachevsky just had no choice but to explain there. It's been 2 days since the battle was fought! It will take several more days to adjust the offensive plan now, and by then the reinforcements from the Germans have arrived, and the weather will almost clear. The Soviet Red Army still played a hair? Seven or eight thousand planes that were bombed by the Germans were also blown up! When the time comes, it's time to grab your tail and go back to the Stalinist lines. Then you would be waiting to die, and there would be no hope. Now it's just a few more deaths, and the casualties of those Chinese may not be small, and besides, they have enough troops at hand, as long as they work harder, they will definitely be able to crush them, they will definitely be able to!

He held his temper and explained it to Stalin. Guaranteeing that the Latvian campaign would be ended as scheduled, Stalin was also rare and unobstinacy. Just let him pay attention to the loss of troops, especially tank units. Tank groups must no longer be used to raid enemy positions, and then hung up the phone.

Tukhachevsky sighed softly and called his chief of staff: "How's it going?" ”

"The three-day plan to capture Valmières seems impossible to achieve, and the troops suffered very heavy casualties. Division by division was filled into this furnace, and the enemy was still stubbornly resisting. Their positions are very resilient. A trench was laid, and another was dug out. If you don't use tanks, you won't be able to rely on infantry artillery for another week. Now that Comrade Stalin gave the order, should we adjust the offensive line a little? How about changing the direction of the breakthrough to Aluks? There were several White Russian and Italian troops guarding" The face of the chief of staff, General Yaquil, was also not good, the battle was now off to a bad start, the Chinese defense was unusually tenacious, and as time passed, German reinforcements would soon arrive. And there is always a time when bad weather will pass.

After listening to General Yakir's analysis, Tukhachevsky's eyebrows also became tighter and tighter, and it was clear that he was also in a dilemma. At this time, the sound of guns on the battlefield of Valmiera gradually became quieter. It was not that Stalin was commanding the troops at a higher level, but that it took two days and three nights of bloody fighting. The Soviets' offensive was finally somewhat untenable. The artillery emptied the ammunition reserves, and the ammunition vehicles that were replenished did not arrive on time because of the muddy roads. The starting position was full of fallen Red Army infantry, who were crowded in the cold and damp trenches of the trenches, the formation was disorganized, everyone was exhausted, and fell asleep under the sound of artillery. The troops need to be adjusted, the ammunition needs to be replenished, a new round of the offensive. It will take time to start again.

The Soviets, who had temporarily halted the offensive, retreated to the Ramier Heights, and at this moment the battlefield finally calmed down. Even the artillery fire was much sparser than in the previous two days. Only the goose-feathered snow was still falling. Visibility on the battlefield has again decreased. Even the flares that rose high could barely reflect a small part of the battlefield. And the remnants of the three infantry regiments of the 135th Infantry Division of the Soviet Red Army, which had just retreated from the front, were more than 5,000 people. Now he is crowded in the trench dug by the original squadron, holding his rifle and falling asleep. The division's mission has been accomplished, and tomorrow morning they will be able to leave this hell on earth and return to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, to rest for a few weeks, and perhaps never to return! So they were very relaxed and slept very soundly this night, and no one thought that those Chinese reactionaries who had survived in the sea of fire for two days would have the idea of counterattacking!

At this time, behind the positions of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, it was a different scene. In an open field, about two regiments of infantry were lined up, and behind them were about 300 light tanks No. 1, each flanked by a tank crew wearing black berets. Huang Weirong was pretending to be upright and was inspecting the troops accompanied by Fang Tian, chief of staff of the army. The commanders of the three infantry regiments and the commanders of the two tank regiments, as well as the deputy commander of the 35th Division, Colonel Luo Zemin, who was in charge of the operation, all spontaneously came to this commander of Huang Weihuang.

Huang Wei glanced at a few of them with a deep face, and said slowly in a hoarse voice: "You already know your mission, and the Soviets' attack has been temporarily stopped. Let's use this opportunity to launch a counterattack! When did our Chinese Defense Forces ever fear the Soviet Red Army? They have already made it impossible for their brother troops to fight in the Far East, and the Airborne Forces have also won a great victory in Siberia, and we must teach these Bolsheviks a hard lesson in Europe! Let's not talk about other nonsense, this time the way to play is to charge the tanks, and the infantry will follow, and there will be no artillery preparation. Well, taking advantage of this blizzard, you guys are just in time to attack! Good luck to everyone! After speaking, Huang Wei stood up and gave a solemn military salute to the five regiment commanders and all the officers and soldiers who participated in this counterattack.

The tanks of the two regiments formed a triangular attack formation and rumbled towards the Ramier Heights, while the infantry of the three regiments formed a formation and marched together around the tanks. But the troops had not yet approached the high ground, and the flares rose into the sky as if they were not paying for money. The sound of the roar of tanks eventually alarmed the Soviet defenders. Infantry fire on the heights of Ramier immediately began to fire, and immediately after that, the Soviet artillery group began to speak, and bursts of shells whistled in! However, the artillery of the Chinese Expeditionary Force was not to be outdone at this time, and began to roar! Shells flew into the Soviet positions and deep into their rear.

The engines of the tanks also began to roar at maximum power, and 300 tanks guided thousands of infantry, leading the Soviet artillery to charge, and in the blink of an eye, they rushed into the Soviet positions above the Ramier Heights. The 20mm cannon of the No. 1 tank, the Min-26 automatic rifle of the Chinese infantry, the medium formal rifle, the MG37 general-purpose machine gun, as well as grenades and mortars simultaneously threw ammunition at maximum speed. The 135th Division of the Soviet Army caught the squadron ** team that counterattacked quickly by surprise! Once again, the Ramier Heights became the focal point of the entire battlefield.

，