The 2nd Division of the Andong Provincial Garrison was ordered to guard the city of Zeutoust, a small city at the foot of the Ural Mountains, to ensure the safety of the main force of the Royal Army of the Chinese Empire attacking the city of Ufa, so the new commander of the Andong Provincial Garrison, in order to strengthen the strength of the 2nd Division, transferred the only 1 tank regiment of the Andong Provincial Garrison to the 2nd Division, and now this tank regiment is in the city of Zwutoust.

In the process of the coalition army's attack on the positions outside the city of Zeutoust, the three commanders of the 2nd Division, Xu Yong, the deputy division commander, Ding Hui, the deputy division commander, and Gao Yuanpeng, the chief of staff, once let the tank regiment, which has 30 Black Wolf light tanks and 60 Z1 armored vehicles, launch several local counterattacks against the coalition forces, inflicting heavy casualties on the coalition attacking forces, but the artillery of the coalition forces and the explosives bags in the hands of the coalition soldiers also brought a lot of losses to the tank regiment, and 4 Black Wolf light tanks and 9 Z1 armored vehicles were destroyed on the positions outside the city.

Later, as the positions outside the city of Zeutoust were gradually captured by the coalition forces, the space for the tank regiment to operate was compressed, so the tank regiment stopped the local counterattack and retreated to the city of Zeutoust.

In the temporary division headquarters of the 2nd Division of the Andong Provincial Garrison Army in Ziwutuost City, the division commander Xu Yong heard that the chief of staff Gao Yuanpeng was preparing to disperse the tank regiment throughout Ziwutoust City to help the troops of the 2nd Division in the city to conduct street battles, and hesitated for a moment and said: "To be honest, this tank regiment is the treasure of our Andong Provincial Garrison, if it is dispersed to the entire Ziwutoust City, the losses in the street battles must be very, very large, but now I can't care about anything else, Lao Gao." You make a plan right away, believing that when the battle is over. The Ministry of Defense will definitely rebuild the tank regiment of our Andong Provincial Garrison, and when the time comes, it will have to ask the tank regiment to be equipped with stronger Panther heavy tanks. ”

Deputy Division Commander Ding Hui continued: "In addition, we must also be prepared for the worst. The large-caliber artillery of our division must not fall into the hands of the coalition forces, and I am going to arrange for people to plant explosives on each large-caliber artillery, and if the coalition forces enter the city and get close to the artillery position in the center of the city, we will blow up all the artillery. ”

Division Commander Xu Yong nodded and said, "Okay!" Lao Ding will do as you say! In addition, let all the personnel of the division headquarters take up arms and be ready to fight at any time! By the way, what happened to the field hospital? ”

Chief of Staff Gao Yuanpeng said: "The entire field hospital, including the seriously wounded, has been moved to a large air-raid shelter that has just been dug underground, and there are three entrances to this large air-raid shelter, and the locations are very hidden. Moreover, even if the coalition forces discovered the underground field hospital, our troops defending the hospital can also use the fortifications at the entrance of the large bomb shelter to resist the coalition forces for a while. ”

Division Commander Xu Yong glanced at the night sky that was still pitch black outside, listened to the sound of gunfire coming from the east, south, and north directions of Ziwutoust City, and raised his voice a little and said: "Convey my order to all departments, all the officers and soldiers of the 2nd Division of the Andong Provincial Garrison, even if there is only one person left in the division, as long as there is one breath left." The battle for the city of Zwutoust must not stop, and we will fight the coalition forces to the death here! ”

Wang Chenglong, who became the acting company commander, led the remaining 18 soldiers of the whole company under the guidance of Lieutenant Shao of the regiment headquarters. More than 30 artillery officers from one platoon and artillery company of the logistics support company and four 57-mm anti-aircraft guns of Gaoping dual-purpose caliber were gathered, and two Type 96 heavy machine guns were taken from the regimental guard company, and they went to the bomb shelter where ammunition was loaded. Fetching a large amount of ammunition, he took the mixed unit with him to the church on the western edge of the city of Zwutoust.

The church is a 2-storey building. However, the lower floor is very high, which is enough to catch up with the two and a half floors of other normal buildings. On the second floor of the church, there is a bell tower, the front of the church faces the direction of the city of Zwutoust, and there is a small courtyard, which is also surrounded by stone walls, only about 1.5 meters high.

Soon after the Allied and Allied forces were defeated in the Battle of Chelyabinsk, the Russians in Zwutoust knew that the war would definitely reach them, so before the Chinese Imperial troops arrived in Zwutoust, the Russians in the entire city, including the godfathers and nuns of this church, had already evacuated the city, so there were no Russian civilians in the current city of Zwutoust.

After Wang Chenglong walked into the church and walked around, he asked people to arrange 1 Type 96 heavy machine gun and 1 light machine gun on the bell tower of the church, and another Type 96 heavy machine gun and 4 Gaoping dual-purpose caliber 57 mm anti-aircraft guns were arranged on the second floor of the church, and the remaining 3 light machine guns and 2 gun grenades were also placed on the second floor of the church.

The fortifications on the west side of the city of Zwutoust are less than 50 meters away from this church, in fact, there is nothing wrong with counting this church as a part of the fortifications, and the machine guns, anti-aircraft guns and grenades arranged on the second floor of the church bell tower and the second floor of the church can provide fire support to the city fortifications in front of them.

Wang Chenglong summoned Zou Dalei, deputy company commander of the regimental artillery company in charge of the four Gaoping dual-purpose 57-millimeter anti-aircraft guns, and Song Guibo, the platoon commander of the logistics support platoon, and said: "Company Commander Zou and Platoon Commander Song, considering the difficulty of the next battle, I am going to temporarily reorganize our three teams, draw people from the artillery company, and mix them with the officers and men of the logistics support platoon and the remaining soldiers of our three companies. ”

Zou Dalei, deputy company commander of the regimental artillery company, nodded without hesitation and said: "Company Commander Wang, you can give an order, I brought 34 people, plus I am a total of 35 people, except for each anti-aircraft gun must leave 3 people, I can take out 23 people for you, the battle is like this, our artillery can also become infantry!" ”

Song Guibo, the platoon commander of the logistics support platoon, continued: "Our logistics support company has little training in peacetime, and when it comes to the battlefield, it is similar to the recruits, and there are veterans of the 3rd company with them, so they can learn a lot of life-saving means on the battlefield. We had a platoon of 26 people, completely obedient to orders! ”

Wang Chenglong nodded and said, "Company Commander Zou, I will leave 4 people for each anti-aircraft gun." The formation of the artillery platoon was temporarily in charge of Company Commander Zou, and the remaining 19 people were drawn out. Plus the 26 people of the Song platoon commander, and the remaining 19 people of our 3rd company. There were a total of 64 people, forming 2 platoons, each platoon had 32 people, I was in charge of 1 platoon, and Platoon Commander Song was in charge of the other 1 platoon. ”

Zou Dalei, deputy company commander of the regiment's artillery company, and Song Guibo, the platoon commander of the logistics support platoon, had no opinion on Wang Chenglong's arrangement, so Wang Chenglong seized the time to get out the structure of the troops guarding the church, Wang Chenglong's platoon was responsible for the second floor of the church, and Song Guibo's platoon was partially responsible for the church's bell tower. Part of the reserve, of course, this arrangement refers to the situation that the city fortifications in the west are not lost, if the city fortifications are lost, Wang Chenglong is ready to give up the courtyard outside the church, everyone retreats into the church to hold on, can hold until when, even when, anyway, as long as he lives, he must not let the church fall into the hands of the coalition army.

Fortunately, the soldiers of the artillery company and the soldiers of the logistics support platoon. They all carried a rifle on their backs, and most of the artillery and logistics soldiers did not have guns, but now at least Wang Chenglong did not have to scratch his head to arm these soldiers.

Wang Chenglong looked at the church. I thought to myself, although the church was made of stone, it would never withstand the bombardment of heavy artillery. Perhaps before the coalition forces broke through the fortifications, the church where they were located had to be bombarded by the large-caliber artillery of the coalition army.

The coalition forces attacking the city of Zwutoust did not make Wang Chenglong think much about it. Soon the Russian army launched an attack on the fortifications of the 2nd Division of the Andong Provincial Garrison, west of the city of Zutousst.

Taking advantage of the light of the fires left over from the previous battle on the positions outside the city, Wang Chenglong stood next to a window on the second floor of the church. You can see the dense figure of Russian soldiers, who are quickly rushing towards their own city fortifications, and the shells of the coalition artillery also fall on the city fortifications, but there do not seem to be many shells.

The artillery of the 2nd Division then launched an artillery bombardment on the charging Russian officers and soldiers with unusually heavy artillery fire, and the explosions in the positions outside the city continued, and countless Russian officers and soldiers fell on the way to the charge, but the other Russian officers and soldiers were completely indifferent and continued to charge in the direction of the city of Zeutoust.

"Company Commander Zou! Use anti-aircraft artillery to shoot flat and kill these bitche-raised foreign devils! Wang Chenglong shouted at Zou Dalei, who was standing next to a 57-mm anti-aircraft gun of Gaoping dual-purpose caliber not far away.

Now the Russian officers and soldiers at the forefront of the charge had to be about 450 meters away from the fortifications of the city, so that they had to be about 500 meters away from the church, and this distance was no problem at all with 57-mm anti-aircraft guns.

Zou Dalei, who received the order, shouted loudly: "Aim at the foreign devils who are charging, open fire!" ”

At a rate of fire approaching 10 rounds per minute, the four Gaoping dual-caliber 57 mm anti-aircraft guns continued to fire at the charging Russian officers and soldiers, and these four anti-aircraft guns fired high-explosive shells, and one by one the high-explosive shells fell into the ranks of the Russian charge, which brought very large losses to the Russian army, but the Russian officers and soldiers seemed to be numb, and no matter how big the losses were, they seemed to turn a blind eye, and continued to shout Ulla, and launched a fierce attack on the positions of the Chinese Imperial Army west of the city of Zwutoust.

As some Russian officers and soldiers approached the fortifications, the officers and men of the 2nd Division on the fortifications also opened fire, and the torrential rain of bullets enveloped the Russian officers and soldiers who charged in front, and the Russian officers and soldiers were killed one by one, but the Russian officers and soldiers in the back immediately made up for it.

Wang Chenglong stood by the window on the second floor of the church and shouted: "Fire!" Fire them all! Wang Chenglong took a rifle and aimed at the Russian army more than 150 meters away and pulled the trigger, and Wang Chenglong didn't need to aim at the dense Russian officers and soldiers, as long as he shot at the charging Russian army, basically he couldn't miss.

The light and heavy machine guns and rifles of the entire church immediately opened fire on the charging Russian troops, helping their comrades on the city fortifications to resist the attack of the Russian army.

At about 8 o'clock in the morning of January 3, 1909, the coalition forces were still attacking the fortifications on all sides of the city of Zwutoust, and outside the fortifications on all sides, the corpses of the coalition officers and soldiers had been paved, and in some places several layers had been paved, but the coalition forces still did not break through the fortifications of the 2nd Division of the Andong Provincial Garrison on any side, and the officers and soldiers of the Russian, French and German armies were still stepping on the corpses of their comrades and continued to attack.

After daybreak, the commander-in-chief of the allied forces attacking the city of Zeutoust, the French Lieutenant General Carl Manster, as well as the German Lieutenant General Harmanheide and the Russian General Pimenovich, came to an artillery hole dug in a hill less than 2 kilometers from the city, from which the battle to the west of the city of Zwutoust could be seen.

The commander-in-chief, French Lieutenant General Carl Munster, took the telescope and looked at the battle situation in front of him for a while, put down the telescope in his hand, and said to the other two in a deep voice: "We must provide artillery support to the attacking troops, our losses are too great if we continue to attack so hard, and it is difficult to break through the city fortifications of the Chinese Imperial Army in a short time, unless the Chinese Imperial Army has no ammunition." ”

The officers and men of the 2nd Division of the Andong Provincial Garrison, which guarded the fortifications of the city of Zeutoust, did not resist like the positions outside the city, but fought with the attacking troops of the coalition forces on the fortifications, and last night the officers and men of the coalition army attacked the fortifications with their lives, and launched a fierce white-knuckle battle with the officers and men of the 2nd Division above the fortifications, but the artillery of the 2nd Division quickly blocked the support of the coalition forces with artillery fire, and the officers and men of the coalition troops who rushed to the fortifications were quickly wiped out by the officers and men of the 2nd Division with bayonets.

Russian General Pimenovich also put down his binoculars and said with a wry smile: "We are running out of shells, and we can't provide enough artillery support for the attacking troops. ”

German Lieutenant General Harmanheide also put down the binoculars in his hand, and then said: "We can't hope that the army of the Chinese Empire will run out of ammunition, in that case it will really be realized, how many troops do we have to lose, so far our attack on the city of Zwutoust has at least killed more than 100,000 troops, not counting the more than 40,000 people we froze to death in the blizzard, if our officers and soldiers use their lives to consume the bullets and shells of the Chinese Imperial Army, how many officers and soldiers will we have to lose?" Is it 200,000? Or 300,000? ”

Russian General Pimenovich said helplessly: "General Harmanhead, do you have any good ideas?" I knew it wouldn't work, but I couldn't think of any other way. (To be continued.) )