The commander of the Siberian theater of operations of the Russian army, Kuropatkin, was worried about the logistics of the troops, so on the third day of the capture of the mountain fortifications outside Darkhan, that is, on May 10, he tentatively launched an attack on the fortifications under Darkhan. ← Top Novel, www.

The city of Darkhan is actually not very large, so the Dingbei army not only built a group of mountain fortifications outside the city of Darkhan, but also built trenches crisscrossing the city of Darkhan.

Although the artillery units of the Russian army attacking the city of Darkhan suffered considerable losses in the artillery battle of attacking the mountain fortifications, they still have nearly 1,200 artillery pieces so far, because several reinforcements brought a lot of artillery to supplement the losses. The tragic artillery battles between the Russian artillery units and the artillery of the Dingbei Army these days are not fake, the Russian artillery has lost more than 1,600 guns, of course, the artillery units of the 6 divisions of the Dingbei Army guarding the mountain fortifications have also lost a lot, but the arrival of the new divisions of the Dingbei Army has made the number of artillery of the Dingbei Army exceed the artillery units of the Russian army.

Early in the morning of the 10th, the Russian artillery just launched an artillery bombardment of the Dingbei Army position under Darkhan City, and was violently returned by the Dingbei Army artillery, and at the same time, the Russian army sent more than 8,000 people to launch a charge on the position of the Dingbei Army in Darkhan City, and was also strafed by countless light and heavy machine guns of the Dingbei Army on the position, plus the artillery of the Dingbei Army shelled the Russian assault troops, and the Russian 8,000 charging troops fell in front of the Dingbei Army's position one by one.

In fact, the 8,000-strong Russian assault force is already 1 infantry corps, and this Russian infantry corps lost nearly 22,000 people in the brutal mountain fortification offensive and defensive battles.

In the face of such a powerful firepower of the Dingbei Army. Especially the fierce shelling of the artillery of the Dingbei Army, the Russian army suddenly became a little unable to hold on. The shells of the Russian artillery were already insufficient, so the shelling of the Russian artillery did not last long. He took the initiative to stop and quickly transfer his position, and no longer continued the artillery battle with the artillery of the Dingbei Army.

The infantry, which had no artillery to support the charge, finally retreated under the orders of the commander Kuropatkin, and under the welcome of shells and bullets from the Dingbei Army, but the number of people who could successfully retreat was already less than 2,000.

Kuropatkin shook his head with a sigh when he saw this situation, the officers and soldiers of the Russian army were not brave enough, and the Russian army lost more than 500,000 in the battle to capture the entire mountain fortification group outside Darkhan. The number of dead reached 470,000, and his own troops were equal to more than half of the losses even if they added reinforcements later, and now they can still fight completely relying on their own strength, otherwise an army with a loss of more than 50 percent will not be able to fight.

But now the shells of the Russian artillery are a big problem, there are not many shells on the front line at the moment, otherwise the artillery will not be fired for a while, and the Russian artillery will stop, and there is no artillery suppression. The infantry's desire to get close to the position of the Dingbei Army was wishful thinking.

What made Kuropatkin frown even more was that he found that the number of artillery of the Dingbei Army in Darkhan City was very large, as if he had not experienced more than ten days of tragic artillery battles, and it seemed that the reinforcements of the Dingbei Army had arrived. It was not easy to capture Darkhan, but Kuropatkin's determination to capture Darkhan had never wavered, and he was prepared to pay no matter what the cost. It was also necessary to capture the city of Darkhan and open the way to the four northeastern provinces.

Next to Kuropatkin, the commander of the 2nd New Siberian Front. Antonovich, the commander of the 3rd Army, who is also the main Russian army, said: "Commander, my tank armored brigade of the 3rd Army still has 10 steam tanks and 20 armored vehicles. You can cover the infantry for a charge, so don't hand it over to our 3rd Army for the next attack! ”

In the fierce battle to capture the entire group of mountain fortifications outside Darkhan, all the legions on the front line of Darkhan participated in the attack, only the 3rd Army, Kuropatkin, was never sent, and the 3rd Army was taken by Kuropatkin, the commander, as his killer weapon, and was ready to be used at the most critical moment.

Kuropatkin nodded to Antonovich, who took the initiative to ask for help, and then shook his head and said: "Antonovich, it is still not time to use the 3rd Army, when you send your 3rd Army to attack, you must take Darkhan City for me in one fell swoop, your 3rd Army is our killer weapon, I will not use it until the critical moment." ”

Antonovich smiled helplessly, the various Russian infantry corps on the front line of Darkhan City, it can be said that except for the 3rd Army, the rest all suffered heavy casualties, which made the other army commanders complain about the 3rd Army, your 3rd Army is still the main army of the empire, but now in such a difficult battle, your 3rd Army is hiding behind, and it is in vain that His Majesty the Tsar has taken the weight of the main army.

Ivanov, the commander of the Siberian Third Front and the commander of the 6th Army, understood the approach of Commander Kuropatkin, and the current situation is to use other Russian troops to consume the strength of the Dingbei Army, and finally the 3rd Army, which is recuperated, to capture the city of Darkhan, is a good tactic, the key is whether other units of the Russian army can play a role in consuming the strength of the defenders of the Dingbei Army in Darkhan City, and create favorable conditions for the final attack of the 3rd Army.

However, Ivanov saw the current situation, it seemed that there were some difficulties, the Russian artillery unit was almost out of shells, so how could the Russian infantry charge, if there was no artillery support, it would not be called a charge, but a death.

So Ivanov said: "Commander, the firepower of the Dingbei Army in Darkhan City is strong, especially their artillery, as if the artillery battle some time ago did not affect the artillery of the Dingbei Army, and our artillery shells are very short, it seems that we must wait for the rear to transport the shells to us before we can launch another attack, otherwise there is no artillery support, and the losses are too great." ”

Kuropatkin nodded and said, "Okay! Today's offensive has already tested the situation of the defenders of the Dingbei Army in Dar Khan City, and as I expected, although we have conquered the mountain fortifications outside R Khan City, it is still very difficult to attack R Khan City, and we can only wait for the artillery shells to come from the rear before we launch an offensive. ”

Therefore, the Russian army's attack on May 10 only tested the reality of the defenders of the Dingbei Army in Darkhan City, and ended the day's offensive in a hurry, and the Russian army's large force retreated to the Russian army camp newly established in the north of the mountain fortification group, which was on the edge of the mountain fortification group, so that the Russian army could quickly attack Darkhan City through the Guò mountain fortification group.

After the Russian army retreated to the camp, it waited for the artillery shells delivered from the rear to the front line, but the Russian army waited until May 13, and did not wait for the shells sent from the rear, but waited for a shocking bad news.

On May 10, the day when the Russian army launched a tentative attack on the positions of the Dingbei Army in the city of Darkhan, a large number of tanks, armored vehicles and infantry of the Dingbei Army suddenly appeared near the cities of Haktu and Maimaicheng, and launched an attack on the Russian troops remaining in the two cities.

Because the Russian army in Haktu City and Maicheng supported the front line of Darkhan City, only 1 Russian infantry corps remained, and as a result, this army did not last long at all, and was annihilated by the armored division of the Dingbei Army and 2 B divisions, and the rest of the Russian army was defeated, and the city of Haktu and the city of Maimai fell into the hands of the Dingbei Army.

The rout of the Russian infantry corps in the cities of Haktu and Mamai fled to the Russian battalions on the front line of Darkhan, and this terrible news was learned by the commander of the Siberian theater of operations, Kuropatkin.

After Kuropatkin at the command heard the news, his body, which had not rested well because of the battle for several days, collapsed suddenly, Kuropatkin's face instantly turned pale, and his body shook for a while, "poof-" and fell to the ground, which made the surrounding Russian officers shocked, and quickly carried Kuropatkin to the bed, and quickly brought the military doctor to the command Kuropatkin for treatment, but he still did not wake up until the night of the 13th, The military doctor said that Commander Kuropatkin should have not rested well recently, and he was suddenly stimulated by bad news today, so he fell unconscious, but the military doctor did not know how long it would take Kuropatkin to wake up.

It's over, this is to make matters worse, now that the back road is occupied by the Dingbei Army, it means that the supply of hundreds of thousands of Russian troops here has been interrupted, and their commander is unconscious, what now?

At about 9 o'clock in the evening of the 13th, the entire 30 commanders of the Russian army gathered in the command headquarters to discuss how they should deal with the current situation, and the other 28 army commanders all focused their eyes on the two army commanders, that is, the commander of the Siberian Second Front, who was also the commander of the 3rd Army, Antonovich, and the commander of the Siberian 3rd Front, who was also the commander of the 6th Army, Ivanov.

Antonovich smiled bitterly and asked Ivanov: "What shall we do now?" Your Excellency the Commander suddenly fainted, and I don't know when I will come to my senses, will we continue to attack the city of Darkhan? But there are no supplies. Are we retreating backwards? Then we will fall short, and lose nearly 500,000 troops in the mountain fortification group outside Darkhan! ”

Ivanov's face was gloomy, he didn't speak for a long time, he thought for a long time before he said: "I can't attack anymore, after no supplies, in the face of the lion of the Dingbei Army, our remaining hundreds of thousands of troops are like lambs without resistance, even if they continue to stay here, it is very dangerous, there is a possibility of being surrounded and annihilated by the Dingbei Army, you must know that the tentative attack a few days ago, the artillery fire of the Dingbei Army was suddenly much fiercer, that can only mean that the reinforcements sent by the Dingbei Army to Darkhan City have arrived, I guess it is definitely not a small number, So we are in a very dangerous situation now! (To be continued......) R527