On February 10, 1899, today is the traditional Spring Festival of the Chinese, and on the Svobodny front, although there was a tense atmosphere before the war, the officers and men of the six divisions of the Dingbei Army, more than 100,000 people, were still ready to celebrate the New Year with joy, and the northeast rear also sent many New Year goods to the officers and men on the front, so that the officers and men on the front line could have a good New Year as much as possible.

At 1 o'clock in the afternoon, Lin Jianming, the commander of the 3111 Regiment, walked into the tunnel inside the Heights, and the 3111 Regiment was responsible for a total of 3 mountain fortifications, and the 138 Heights was one of them.

Cai Xiangyu, the commander of the 1st Battalion, who was responsible for guarding the 138 Heights, took the regiment commander Lin Jianming into the tunnel at the entrance of a relatively secret tunnel. The two of them and their guards took kerosene lamps and turned a few corners in the tunnel, and the more they walked into the tunnel, the warmer it became, and Cai Xiangyu said as he walked: "Commander, or stay with us today for the New Year." ”

Lin Jianming said: "After you finish walking here, I still have to go to the positions of the other two battalions, so I won't spend the New Year in your battalion." How was the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner prepared? The commander personally gave an order to Division Commander Yu that the soldiers on the front line must be allowed to eat dumplings on Chinese New Year's Eve. ”

Lin Jianming, as the commander of the regiment, came to the position to visit the officers and men of his regiment on the day of the Spring Festival, which is also the tradition of the Dingbei Army; if it were not for wartime, the officers of the Dingbei Army would also stand guard for the soldiers on duty, so that the soldiers could have a Chinese New Year's Eve meal at ease.

Cai Xiangyu said with a smile: "Don't worry, the regiment commander, the supplies sent from the rear are very sufficient, our battalion not only prepared dumplings stuffed with sauerkraut and pork tonight, but also prepared braised carp, chicken stewed mushrooms, braised pork, eight or nine kinds of hard dishes, enough to eat!" ”

Lin Jianming nodded: "The big war is coming, although it is winter, Lao Maozi's army may come over at any time, the alcohol ban on the front line is still in effect, and a lot of fruity drinks are not sent from the rear!" Let the fighters replace the bar with drinks, and when they finish beating Lao Maozi, let the soldiers have a drink. ”

As they spoke, the two walked into the headquarters of the 1st battalion of more than ten square meters in the depths of the tunnel, and at this time, a second lieutenant officer with a phone in the command saw the regiment commander and the battalion commander walking in, and shouted: "The observation post on the top of the mountain reports that the vanguard of the Russian army has been found!" ”

Lin Jianming and Cai Xiangyu said in unison: "It's finally here!" Then the two turned around and hurried down the tunnel to the observation post at the top of the mountain. The two of them took the guards to the observation post on the top of the mountain, looked north with a telescope, and sure enough, they found a long dragon with no edge in sight, which was approaching the direction of the mountain fortification group.

The vanguard of the Russian Second Siberian Front, the Russian 19th Army and the Russian 31st Army, first rushed to the mountain fortification group outside the inner city of Svobod.

So the commander of the two Russian troops ordered the army to stop at a distance of about 10 kilometers from the mountain fortification group and began to build the camp of the Russian army, and not only the camp where the two armies lived, but also the camp where the large army of the Siberian Second Front lived.

The two commanders of the Russian army, Chekryv, commander of the 19th Army, and Chaledoev, commander of the 31st Army, came to a hill and observed the group of mountain fortifications 10 kilometers away from Svobodny through a telescope.

After the two commanders of the Russian army held the binoculars and looked at them for a long time, the two put down the binoculars with a stern face, and Chekriv said in a deep voice: "I didn't expect that the Qing Dynasty people built fortifications on this mountain, and not only the fortifications on the surface, but also the fortifications under the mountain, it may not be easy for us to capture this mountain." ”

Charedeyev frowned and said: "If you want to reach the inner city of Svobod, you must pass a road between these mountains, and there are more than a dozen hills on both sides of the mountain road, plus the mountains connected to these hills, the Qing Dynasty people have built at least nearly a hundred mountain fortifications on this hill, which is really not easy to do!" ”

Chekryv shook his head, originally he thought that as the vanguard of the entire Siberian Second Front, it was his chance to express his chance, originally he was ready to go to Svobodne, without waiting for the large army behind, directly attacked, if the two armies led by himself could capture the inner city of Svobod, then he would be famous in Russia, and even His Majesty the Tsar would definitely reward him.

However, the two armies first set out from the vicinity of the city of Haktu, walked about 200 kilometers to Ulan-Ude to take the train, then took the train and walked nearly 1,400 kilometers to the city of Tegeda in the Far East, and then walked nearly 400 kilometers to get here. Along the way, more than 60,000 people in the two armies have been tired from a long distance, because the severe cold has been reduced to almost half, that is to say, nearly 3,000 people have been unable to fight, of which nearly 1,000 people have been killed by the cold weather, and the other more than 2,000 people are still sick, most of them are because of the cold weather, they have been frozen into a severe cold, and a severe cold in this era will kill people.

Now he encountered a group of mountain fortifications that were not easy to mess with at first glance, which made Chekcliff directly dispel the unrealistic idea of capturing the inner city of Svobod with 2 armies.

Chekriv said: "Our two armies are still building camps here, waiting for the arrival of a large army of our Siberian Second Front, this group of mountain fortifications let the commander His Excellency Oleg go to the nerves!" ”

Charedov nodded in agreement and said: "Only wait for the arrival of the large army, let the commander His Excellency Oleg Lev figure out a way!" ”

Yu Lichen, the commander of the 14th Division, invited the other five division commanders to prepare for the New Year at the division headquarters and prepared a large table of dishes, but no wine was prepared, and the prohibition of alcohol in the front-line troops was that these division commanders must also abide by it, and they must also set an example.

Before the six division commanders were seated, they received the news that the vanguard of the Russian army had arrived at the group of mountain fortifications outside the inner city of Svobod, and Yu Lichen frowned and asked the adjutant who reported the situation: "Has the vanguard of the Russian army launched an attack?" ”

The adjutant of the 14th Division said: "No, the Russian army began to build a camp about 10 kilometers from the mountain fortification complex. ”

Yu Lichen turned his head to the other five division commanders and said: "The Russian army is just the vanguard has arrived, and it is still too early for them to attack!" If the main forces of their 2nd Siberian Front do not arrive, they should not have the confidence to launch an attack on the mountain fortifications outside our city. ”

Liu Genbaojian, the commander of the 31st Division, said: "Use the airship that doesn't need to contact Hailan Pao to bomb the vanguard of the Russian army, and give the Russian army a little bit of power first?" ”

Yu Lichen thought about it for a while and said: "Forget it, don't toss the brothers of the airship unit for the New Year, besides, the large army of the Russian army has not yet arrived, good steel should be used on the blade, and the bombs of the airship force should be kept for the main force of the Russian Second Siberian Front!" ”

Sun Xingwen, the commander of the 32nd Division, said: "I don't think we need to be nervous, we can do what we have to do, there is still some time before the Russian army launches an offensive!" ”

Yu Lichen said with a smile: "Yes, yes, I got a table of dishes, don't waste it, let's open it." ”

From the day of the Spring Festival, the troops of the Russian Second Siberian Front arrived outside the inner city of Svobod, and the Russian battalion about 10 kilometers away from the mountain fortification group grew in size.

On February 20, the commander of the Russian Second Siberian Front, Oleglev, also arrived at the Russian camp, and the commander of the 19th Army, Chekryv, welcomed the commander into the temporary headquarters built for him in the camp. ”

Chekcliff said: "Your Excellency, the Dingbei army of the Qing Dynasty has built countless fortifications on a hill 10 kilometers outside the inner city of Svobod, which are not only built on the surface of the mountain, but also have countless firing ports inside the mountain, and if our army wants to attack the inner city of Svobod, we must pass a road between this mountain, otherwise we must make a detour of hundreds of kilometers. ”

Oleg Leviv walked to the map hanging on the wooden wall in the temporary headquarters, looked at the map and said: "It seems that we have only captured this hill, now we have gathered 18 armies here, more than 500,000 people, 8 heavy artillery divisions, tank and armored divisions have also arrived here, and in another 5 days, except for the 2 armies guarding our rear road, all other armies can also arrive here." ”

After a pause, Oleg Lev continued: "We cannot afford to delay too much time here, there is still more than a thousand kilometers to go from the inner city of Svobod to Vladivostok, and we must reach Vladivostok before June to crush the Dingbei army besieging Vladivostok." In this way, tomorrow we will launch an attack on this hill, and occupy this mountain fortification of the Dingbei Army that is blocking our advance, and clear the way for us to capture the inner city of Svobod. Chekriv, you go and inform the army commanders to come to me for a meeting, and also call the commanders of the heavy artillery division and the commander of the tank and armored division Yuritav to the headquarters. ”

Chekryv nodded and said, "Okay, Your Excellency Commander, I'll send someone to inform you right away." ”

In fact, as the commander of the Second Siberian Front, Oleg was not willing to launch an offensive in this way, he had not yet gone to the scene to observe the mountain fortifications of the Dingbei Army, but with a rough introduction by Chekryv, he knew that it would be very difficult to capture this hill.

Moreover, in the vicinity of the city of Haktu and the city of trading, rushed to the Far East, because of the cold winter, the non-combat attrition of the troops, according to preliminary statistics, nearly 10,000 people were killed by the cold weather, and nearly 15,000 people almost lost their combat effectiveness because of illness, and the field hospital in the camp of the Russian army here was already overcrowded before the war began, and the morale of the army was greatly affected. In addition, the supplies and ammunition were not very sufficient, and the army needed to rest for a while after a long journey.

But the situation in Vladivostok was there, forcing Oleg to order his troops to attack the mountain fortifications that stood in front of him. R1152