On 16 August, the Belgian fortress of Liege, the strongest fortress in Europe, was conquered by the Germans, who suffered 25,000 casualties, but the Germans' much-needed westward advance was opened.

Liège is a small city, but it is the transportation hub of Western Europe. In fact, Liège is not a city, but rather a fortress. It is a huge fortress complex surrounded by 12 giant fortresses. Each fortress has an armored turret, equipped with 8~9 cannons, reinforced with concrete, which can withstand the bombardment of the world's heaviest artillery, and Belgium also has 3.3 officers and soldiers in Liège.

After 12 days of bloody fighting, the Germans destroyed Liège and opened the necessary passage for the "Schlieffen" plan, and a new star emerged in this battle, and the talented Major General Ludendorff entered the field of vision of the German army's upper echelons.

On August 17, the Russian army entering East Prussia formally engaged the Germans at a place called Staprulun, and the battle broke out in the form of an encounter, and the Germans were forced to retreat, but captured about 3,000 Russian troops. The Russian army entered the battlefield much faster than Germany expected, and the fighting on the Eastern Front made the German Chief of the General Staff Moltke Jr. deeply worried, and the Eastern Front would involve a lot of Germany's energy before the Western Front was decided. East Prussia was not a place to be given up casually, it was too sacred among the Germans, especially among the senior officers, it was the homeland of the Junker aristocracy, and the Junker officer corps was the core of the German army.

There was one more trouble for the Central Powers on this day, the Serbs launched a counterattack against the Austro-Hungarian army, leaving the Austro-Hungarian army in vain. The Serbs exposed the weakness of Germany's only ally, which added to Moltke's annoyance.

Little Moltke is called Little Moltke. Not because he's young. In fact, he was already in his sixties this year. In order to distinguish the Germans from the German war god Marshal Moltke, the war hero who won the Battle of Sedan and defeated France, the Germans called the nephew of Marshal Moltke, who was the chief of the German General Staff (de facto commander-in-chief), Moltke the Younger.

Obviously, Moltke Jr. came to his current post because of his uncle's light. There is a big gap between his personality and abilities and the position he bears. The crisis in East Prussia (Moltke Jr. believed that more Russian troops would arrive on the battlefield in a steady stream) and the disrespect of the Austrian army put Moltke under tremendous pressure to resign.

That is, on this day, Colonel Duanmuliang, chief of staff of the Central Military Region, entered the Qingdao fortress on the order of Feng Guozhu, met with Major General Strauss, and handed over a personal letter from General Feng Guozhu to Commander Strauss. In this letter, Feng Guozhu said that according to intelligence, Japan has decided to send troops to Qingdao, and in order to prevent this incident from happening, the Wehrmacht will have to occupy Qingdao in advance! In order to avoid a bloody clash between the Chinese and German armies, which have a long history of cooperative relations. Commander Strauss is asked to recognize the current situation. Evacuate all warships from the harbor, immediately arrange for the evacuation of the expatriates and make a final decision by 22 August to accept the "protection" of the Wehrmacht defenders.

The euphemistic letter was an ultimatum. The Chinese clearly informed the German army that if they did not lay down their arms and withdraw peacefully from Qingdao, the Chinese Wehrmacht would have to take Qingdao back by force.

Major General Strauss, who had been busy refurbishing armaments for several days, did not dare to slack off. Immediately telegraph to Berlin. August 19th. Berlin called back. Ask the defenders to hold the fortress and fight for the honor of Germany to the death!

Strauss already smelled the strong smell of war. Before domestic instructions arrived, Strauss had already begun evacuating German-Austrian expatriates in Qingdao. This is not contrary to domestic directives. However, the sea route was no longer passable, and in order to carry out the task of breaking diplomatic relations, and in order to avoid being blockaded in the harbor by the British and Japanese fleets, the six cruisers of the German East Asian Fleet had left Qingdao and headed south under the command of General Si Pei. Although merchant ships could enter the port, in consideration of the safety of the expatriates, Strauss still chose to evacuate by land, which was greatly assisted by the Chinese, and a large number of German-Austrian civilians withdrew to Jinan along the Jiaoji Railway, and then turned south and returned from Shanghai on neutral merchant ships, and about thirty percent of the expatriates chose to stay in China, and the resettlement places were Jinan and Nanjing. In this process, China's friendship towards Germany was fully demonstrated, and both the German and Austrian expatriates who chose to return to China and those who chose to stay in China were taken care of very well. Although Major General Strauss kept receiving reports of Chinese troops advancing into the suburbs of Qingdao (mostly reports of expatriates), Strauss wrote to Feng Guozhu to express his gratitude to China for its assistance in evacuating overseas Chinese.

But with the arrival of domestic instructions not to cede the fortifications to China, General Strauss knew that the German and Chinese armies, who had worked closely together, were about to meet each other.

The first line of Xiaozhan Mountain is definitely the main direction of attack of the Chinese army, opposite the two support points of Xiaozhan Mountain and the north of Xiaozhan Mountain, the strength of the 17th Brigade of the Chinese Army is deployed, and from the 18th, with the martial law of Qingdao Fortress, several batches of Chinese military planes fly over the fortress every day to reconnoiter and take pictures. Strauss regretted that he had not completely completed the fortress according to the blueprints! It was too late to strengthen the more complex fortifications, so we had to strengthen the fortifications and firepower as much as possible.

On August 22, an hour before the time limit set by the Chinese, Strauss sent a captain through the Chinese cordon to deliver a printed but signed letter from Strauss to the headquarters of the 16th Brigade and handed it to Brigadier General Qu Zhiyong, the brigade commander.

"There's no way around it." Qu Zhiyong read the letter written in Chinese but signed Strauss's German name, "We don't want to fight you, but Qingdao is ours." Now we're going to take it back! Write him a receipt. ”

The German captain stood upright, saluted Brigadier General Qu with a standard German military salute, took the receipt written by the adjutant, and withdrew from Qu Zhiyong's brigade headquarters without saying a word.

The task of the 16th Brigade was to take the two main positions of Xiaozhan Mountain and the north of Xiaozhan Mountain, force the Haibo River, and attack the core of the fortress from the southeast. To this end, the 6th Division deployed the main artillery force in the direction of the 16th Brigade, and in addition to the artillery regiment of the 16th Brigade, two battalions of the heavy artillery regiment under the division and a heavy artillery battalion directly under the artillery headquarters (under the jurisdiction of 4 280mm mortars purchased from Krupp in Germany) were also deployed in this direction.

It looks like the 16 Brigade is the main attack. However, Qu Zhiyong knew that the real direction of attack was the 17th Brigade a little northerly, and after the 16th Brigade attracted the main German defensive forces to the direction of Xiaozhan Mountain, they would carry out a decisive assault on the No. 4 battery in Taitung Town. In order to break through the German defense line and penetrate directly into the city, in order to take Qingdao in the form of a quick battle, the only combat engineer regiment of the Central Military Region used to break through the fortified area was assigned to the 17th Brigade.

In order to deceive the German army (judging that the German army had a large number of eyelines in the suburbs of Qingdao), the troops of the 17th Brigade entered the attack area west of Taitung Town under the banner of the 16th Brigade, and the 17th Brigade even established a false headquarters in the north of Qingdao to deceive the German army.

"This is a thankless errand," General Feng Guozhu said to Qu Zhiyong at the final operational meeting five days ago, "if you think that the 16th Brigade is the main force of the 6th Division and should not do this job, bring it up." I let the 18 brigade go up. ”

"Nope. This is the task of the 16 Brigade. Not waiting for 17 brigades. My troops are inserted into the rear of Taitung Town! It is estimated that there will be a large number of wounded, please ask Commander Feng to let the 17th Brigade prepare more stretchers. Qu Zhiyong said calmly.

"Good! That's what you want! Remember, once the battle has begun, don't be afraid of the Germans' friendship with you. Beat me to death! ”

"Be as prepared as possible. After all, we do not have the experience to capture a fortress of this magnitude in real combat. Be brave, but don't be reckless, and use all the weapons and methods of attacking. Major General Qu Hongxiang, the commander of the 6th Division, who wore a pair of black-framed glasses and looked polite, lifted his glasses, "All the training and exercises of your brigade this year have played the role of the attacking party, which is the main reason why Commander Feng enabled you to attack Xiaozhan Mountain, and it is also Commander Feng's trust in the 16th Brigade. Brigade Commander Qu, your task is to break through and attract the main German army to reinforce the Xiaozhan Mountain line, and don't have the idea of competing with the 17th Brigade. ”

Qu Hongxiang was very worried that Qu Zhiyong would not be able to exchange Qingdao with a main force brigade that could be counted in the whole army.

"Master Qu is right. There is also a possibility that the Germans recognize the form shì, so that it is simple. Situ Jun said, "The Liege Fortress fought back and forth for 12 days, and the Germans paid heavy casualties, and we cannot compare with the Germans in terms of equipment or training, even if you have the 6th Division, I am afraid there is still a gap between the Germans." Qingdao is one of the best fortress cities in the Far East, and attacking Qingdao will accumulate valuable experience for our army. Do you understand? ”

"Understood! The 16 Brigade guaranteed the fulfillment of the tasks assigned to it by the command. Please rest assured. ”

Qu Zhiyong clearly remembered the exhortation given to him by the chief of the general staff, the commander of the military region, and other senior generals at that operational meeting, especially the issue of multi-service coordination, which was repeatedly mentioned, and this time not only artillery and engineering troops, but also aviation units participated in the battle.

"I don't have to say anything," Qu Zhiyong waited for the German captain to leave, and said to Chief of Staff Zhang Ping, "Report to the headquarters immediately, you stay behind, and I'll go down for a turn." ”

Qu Zhiyong's first stop was the 46th Regiment, which was responsible for attacking and capturing Xiaozhan Mountain.

Five years ago, during the bloody war in Dezhou, Qu Zhiyong was the commander of the 46th Regiment, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he entered the Jinan Military Academy for half a year of advanced study and was promoted to the commander of the 16th Brigade, and was awarded the rank of brigadier general in 1911. In 1912, in order to flatten the so-called "mountain", senior officers of the National Defense Army were frequently transferred, but the Shandong Army was much less mobilized than the two major front armies of the south and the north. Two months ago, the Political Department of the Central Military Region had already talked to him and was ready to transfer him to the post of chief of staff of the 16 th Division, but he immediately expressed his opposition, and although the appointment of chief of staff of the division was a promotion, he was unwilling and still liked to be the chief officer. With the implementation of the "Fortress of Peace" exercises, about his promotion was also put down.

"How's the preparation?" Qu Zhiyong asked Li Shaoqian, the head of the 46th regiment.

Li Shaoqian is also the "old man" of the 46th Regiment, and the commander of the second battalion during the bloody battle in Texas, "Report to the brigade commander, you are ready, just waiting for the order?" ”

"Ready?" Qu Zhiyong glared at his old subordinates, "The Germans' firepower has been clarified?" ”

"It's basically clear. According to the information provided by the aviation unit, the final adjustment has been made, and the German army in Xiao Zhanshan has two companies of the second battalion of the 66th regiment, with a strength of about 400 men, equipped with eight Maxims and eight light machine guns, and a mortar platoon......"

"Relying on aircraft reconnaissance is simply unreliable! Fools believe them! Heavy machine guns and mortars? And what about the artillery of the Germans? How are you going to cope? Qu Zhiyong scolded loudly.

Cannon? Li Shaoqian thought to himself, weren't those cannons destroyed by heavy artillery? Rely on my soldiers to take explosive bags to blow up the reinforced concrete fortresses of the Germans?

"Don't count on artillery! It is always us infantry who solve the problem! Let's go, look at the troops to go. ”

Li Shaoqian knew that the brigade commander was not criticizing, but a habit, and that a gentle drizzle was often followed by a storm, and many high-ranking generals were actually satisfied and praised by their subordinates.

Major Chen Hao, commander of the first battalion, was explaining the tactics to his four company commanders at the battalion headquarters.

"When your company arrives at this position, stop, organize light machine guns and mortars to violently suppress this fortress, cover the sappers to rush up and blow it up, pay attention to your right, don't accidentally injure the assault team of the first company......" Chen Hao saw the brigade commander and regiment commander coming in, stopped explaining, and saluted the chiefs.

"Well, yes, the model is well done." Qu Zhiyong looked at the model made of mud and nodded to Chen Hao, "How about it, do you have the confidence to solve the problem with a surprise attack?" ”

"There is confidence, but this open land is hated, I have already reported to the regiment and asked to dig a traffic trench in advance, but ......" Chen Hao looked at the regiment commander.

"Now you can." Qu Zhiyong nodded, "The Germans officially refused to surrender and can now act." ”

"What else do you want?"

"No, I just want to know when it will start, the troops are suffocating." Chen Hao grinned.

"I don't know, just wait for the order." Qu Zhiyong looked around the room and there was no chair, his left leg injured by falling from a horse couldn't stand for a long time, but now he couldn't order his subordinates to move a chair, "Okay, tell me about your attack plan." ”

"Yes!" Chen Hao approached the table and began to explain the mission and attack plan he had received to the model.

"Not bad." Qu Zhiyong patted Chen Hao on the shoulder, "Sand table deduction can never replace the ever-changing enemy situation, and no matter how good the plan is, it needs brave soldiers to carry it out." Let's go, go see your soldiers. ”

"There is no problem with my first battalion, you can rest assured."

Li Shaoqian looked at Qu Zhiyong's love for Chen Hao with mixed feelings. This is a very well-established battalion commander, it is said that he is related to Commander Ye, otherwise with his experience of being captured in Texas, it is impossible for him to be escorted to study at the military academy, come back and continue to lead the troops and soon become the battalion commander.

Li Shaoqian, who was walking behind Chen Hao, thought silently. "Don't let the artillery fire at us this time!" Chen Hao's laughter came clearly. (To be continued......)