On March 16, 1941, the Austro-Hungarian 16th Army, which had just completed its formation and primary training in China, was deployed to the North Caucasus front. The Russians, having just captured Stavlopol and Elista, are approaching the Kuban steppe and the lower Don region. In the upper reaches of the Kuban, the Don River was entangled with the positions of the Austro-Hungarian forces and the Russians, and the Austro-Hungarian 9th Army's defensive line defending the upper Kuban River was in danger of being breached, and the 5th Army, which had returned from domestic leave, and the newly formed 16th Army were urgently sent to the North Caucasus front to strengthen the defenses here.

In Transcaucus, the Caucasus and Austro-Hungarian armies had already launched a counteroffensive and regained Tbilisi and all of Armenia before winter. The Caucasians slowly recovered, and with the support of the Axis powers, the total size of the army had reached 500,000 people, with the strength of three army groups, plus the Austro-Hungarian 3rd and 8th armies that supported them in the Transcaucasus, the total strength of the Axis countries on the national front line had exceeded 800,000, while the Soviet Transcaucasian Front had only 450,000 men and could only be in a passive defensive state.

In order to coordinate the war against the Soviet Union, the Axis Joint Operations Command was established in Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula to unify the command and coordination of the military operations of the Axis powers on the Don River and the Caucasus Federation.

The Austro-Hungarian 16th Army was urgently transported from the country to the port city of Sochi on the Black Sea coast to disembark, and the 46th Division of the 136th Army was the second group to land. More than 15,000 young people who had just completed their training in China marched from here to the front line with high morale to receive the "baptism" of war.

The steep mountain roads of the North Caucasus were filled with Austro-Hungarian soldiers, and over the next few days, more and more troops joined the torrent.

The mountains gradually became gentler, and the troops advanced to the edges of the Stavlopol Hills and the Kuban steppes. In the area of the Kuban, the fighting was raging, and as for the state of the battle, none of the ordinary soldiers and junior officers knew the situation and could only guess haphazardly.

As the front line got closer, the march became unsafe. Several transports were blown up by enemy planes right on the road. Black smoke billowed from the side of the road, as if to remind the soldiers that this was already the front line. Of course, they saw more Austro-Hungarian fighters: Saker fighters, Etterich Gulls, and SM28B Revenge twin-engine bombers, flying overhead in groups, as if on an air review.

Karadzic and Chak sat at the furthest end of the truck's cargo compartment, dusty after days of marching. To avoid air strikes, the convoy had left the road and was driving on the edge of the undulating grassland. In spring, the prairie has just turned green. But it was ruined by many ruts.

After the convoy had dropped them off at the town of Pushkar, about 40 kilometres east of Maikop, they would not advance, from where the soldiers, after a short rest, would march to the front line, with the exception of the armored and artillery units, of course.

On the afternoon of the second day after arriving in Pushkar, Karadzic received orders to assemble and then go to the warehouse to replenish the ammunition they had brought with them, with ordinary infantry like Karadzic being rationed 160 rounds of 6.5 mm semi-automatic rifle rounds and four grenades, while Hawk, a sniper, received 80 rounds of 7.92 mm Islaya rifle rounds.

The Austro-Hungarian infantry squad consisted of 12 people. There was a sergeant and a sergeant in the squad, and two more corporals. Sergeant Ingres and Sergeant Mikroti are the squad leaders and are armed with STK automatic rifles, Corporal Kalosh is a machine gunner and he has an ammunition player under him, and Corporal Chak is a sniper. The armament of each Austro-Hungarian infantry squad was one light machine gun, two automatic rifles. One Israia Type 1903 manual rifle with a 4-6x scope and seven YLG1931 semi-automatic rifles.

Each infantry platoon consisted of three infantry squads, a total of 39 men plus two officers and a walkie-talkie communicator, and each infantry company consisted of three infantry platoons and a fire support platoon, which was equipped with four heavy machine guns, three 60-mm mortars and three rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

The Austro-Hungarian rifle company was similar in size to the German army, with the only slight difference being that the Germans had been using 7.92 Mauser rifle cartridges. The reliability of automatic rifles has always been in question. The G40 semi-automatic rifle was only distributed to troops after the introduction of reduced charges, and the STG41 automatic rifle has only recently begun mass production.

It is somewhat puzzling that Germany, which has always paid attention to the development of individual weapons, lags behind Austria-Hungary, the United States, and even Soviet Russia in semi-automatic and automatic rifle equipment.

After receiving the ammunition, the atmosphere became tense and the soldiers were assembled and driven to the forward positions more than 20 kilometers away. After walking for half a day amid the rumbling of artillery, Karadzic's 5th company was assigned to a defensive position immediately in front of the positions of the divisional artillery regiments. Behind the positions of the 136th Division was the shelter of the 16th Panzer Division, where tanks, armoured vehicles and tracked self-propelled guns were parked in the woods, and the bodies were covered with artificial or natural twigs and camouflage nets.

As Karadzic passed in front of the tanks, he saw an armored lieutenant sitting at a table on the side of the tanks with several tank commanders, studying a military map.

It looks like the battle will soon begin.

In the afternoon and night, other troops also rushed to the surrounding area.

The 5th Company was placed on a small hillside with sparse bushes outside the woods, and some troops were already digging trenches nearby.

"Alright, stop, now our mission is to hold this place!" The company commander, Captain Barbor, said, "The sergeant major of each squad immediately took your soldiers to the designated position to repair the trenches!" ”

After half a day of emergency repairs, a winding trench had basically taken shape, and only a small number of "unlucky ghosts" were assigned to continue digging traffic trenches in front of them. The defensive position of the 407th Infantry Regiment was basically centered around a hill with a relative height of about 50 meters, and the width of the defensive front was about 5 kilometers.

"Obviously, we're going to get beaten first!" Kalosh mounted his machine gun on the side of a tree root and said to Karadzic, who was resting in the trench.

"Didn't you attack first?" Hawke picked up the kettle and took a long sip of water before speaking.

"Look at this plane, it doesn't look like an attack." Kalosh said that he previously served in the 3rd Army, and that he fought in Transcaucasia for several months last year, and is considered a veteran.

"So the Russians will be coming soon?" Bolokovic's face turned pale and he stammered. Most of the soldiers of the 136th Division came from the Hungarian province of Timish, and most of them were Serbs.

"Hey, for the sake of the face of the great Marshal Boloyevich, you have to appear brave!" "Your surname is so similar to his!" ”

Many laughed, and the name of Marshal Tōlojevich, one of the greatest military commanders in Austro-Hungarian history, still gave them a great encouragement. (To be continued......) R1292